I was really psyched on the Doug Williams match vs Samoa Joe from a couple weeks ago. Williams has been a favorite of mine since seeing TNA in 2007. I remember how it really impressed me with how he used his knees for much of his striking offense. Knee drops, knee lifts and such really resonated with me at the time. Not only didn't you see them very often at that time, Williams used them in such a deliberate manner. It wasn't just one knee drop, it was a myriad of attacks. Its almost like when I first saw a Wanderlei Silva fight and how he used his knees. The style is different but the principle of using the knees seemed very smart and dangerous. That coupled with his mat wrestling and suplex skills, I was sold. Anyhow, I've never done a spotlight on the Anarchist and after watching a bunch of Steven Regal matches, I thought why not now? So without further ado, let's begin!

I'll post any YouTube videos below the match if they're posted by the folks that own the rights. Other stuff, you'll have to watch it anyway you can.

Doug Williams & Jun Akiyama vs. Go Shiozaki & Kenta Kobashi (Universal Uproar, November 12, 2005) : Very small ring and while they did give the fans Kobashi  vs Akiyama right away. They then had Akiyama in peril for a good while and it felt odd. It almost felt like they dominated him. Once Williams got in there it resumed the normal order of things and all was good. All was great in fact. Doug was on fire and Shiozaki in his rookie year was fantastic as well. Kobashi did his thing which is all anyone could want. Akiyama seemed really game to work with Doug. They functioned extremely well together. All of the knee strikes, it was awesome! The closing segment was so enjoyable. Not on par with Kobashi's ROH appearances but absolutely great stuff!

Doug Williams & Jody Fleisch vs Go Shiozaki & SUWA (ROH Unified 2006): Great golden age mid card magic. I mean this is also from the Unified show which is arguably one of if not the best shows. Jody keeps things simpler but does mess up a couple things but honestly I couldn't tell either way. The simple things he does work and is an astute partner for Doug. SUWA does his thing and Go in 2006 had all of the fucking tools already. Honestly, Doug vs either NOAH guy would have been just as good to me and really this match is really about those encounters with Jody in there for fun.

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Doug Williams & Go Shiozaki vs Davey Richards & Atsushi Aoki (RQW April 2007) : Very good tag match. Its pretty much a NOAH tag in the UK - good grappling to start, strong hits, quick action down the stretch. A couple bobbles as Richards/Go miss the body scissors or maybe hurricanrana and the bottom turnbuckle breaks during the end but they recover on both. Neither really hurts the match. Just good action with everyone going all out in front of the small UK crowd.

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vs Johnny Moss (3CW Remembrance Day 11/11/07): This was a quite fun & more technical style bout. Things get chippy from time to time especially towards the end but its more traditional than we see Doug in Japan, ROH or TNA. He does it all so very well. Moss you might remember from my wXw 16 Carat tournament posts from a couple years ago. Very nice to see him again. 

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Doug Williams & Nigel McGuinness vs. Akira Taue & SUWA (NOAH 10/13/06): This was pretty much all SUWA and the lads but that's not a bad thing at all. Take functioned kind of like a heel manager - interrupting pins, meddling, and assisting in some moves like the Dudley Boyz "Whassup" headbutt spot but SUWA dropped an elbow instead and looked to destroy Novel's dick in the process. The Brits worked their butts off this bout. Taue eventually gears up and we get some really exciting stuff in the last few minutes and this is a really good tag match. So many of these seemingly throw away tag matches are only perceived as such because of the quality of the high end stuff.

Doug Williams & Nigel McGuinness vs The Briscoe Brothers (RQW Indypendence Day 2008) -  Slight JIP but this is about 13 minutes of great tag wrestling. Its like the TNA PPV version of what they can do. Everyone looked really and mat wrestling at the beginning was awesome. Its very much what I want to see in Doug or Nigel's matches. 

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Kotaro Suzuki, Yoshinari Ogawa & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Atsushi Aoki, Bryan Danielson & Doug Williams (NOAH 10/25/08): Great 15 minute 6 man match. Lots of  action and a neat twist where Ogawa isn't really amiable with his teammates and vice versa. We used to see that on TV during the Attitude era but not too much in Japan. I'm not sure what the background is but it makes it a memorable match. All the talent in the ring ensures you'll find something to like here.

Excellent project! Its something I should have done a long time ago. If you're unfamiliar with Mr. Williams, check a couple matches out. If you're a fan or just want to look back to wrestling days of yore, give it a shot! 

Thanks for reading! Stay safe folks!