Doug Williams on his runs with TNA/Impact Wrestling and Ring of Honor, IWGP Tag Title controversy, working in the X Division

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By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast with Doug Williams
Host: JP John Poz
Twitter: @TwoManPowerTrip
Website: www.tmptempire.com
Interview available at Tmptow.podomatic.com

ROH: “They said what they were all about and they followed through on it in large, in large part. And the fans respected that because the fans expected something and knew what to expect and they were, and they were given that. In Great Britain, obviously, you are a British wrestler and you get booked as a British wrestler on shows. I was then booked as if I was a foreign talent. You know, I was booked as a Ring of Honor wrestler coming in for a special appearance, you know, much akin to many of my American counterparts were booked in the same way. So that was kind of looked as a special attraction, more than just a regular British guy on the tour with everybody else. And that was was an odd feeling, but it was also flattering.”

On his run in TNA: “They were looking to run a tour of the UK in 2008, and they wanted British representation on the tour. So they contacted me to be part of that tour as well. Off the back of that, they signed me for a deal to go back to the States. So that would’ve been June, 2009. I think their tour was August, 2008. I worked those shows from in the UK. It was Jeff Jarrett that brought me in. Jeff and Dutch Mantell at the time, were the two who saw me and decided to make that decision to bring me in. I actually worked a dark match for him back in 2003 at the National Fairgrounds, funnily enough. Um, and yeah, I obviously kept tabs on them over the years and I’d seen a lot of my friends there and were doing well. So yeah, I was pretty familiar with them.”

IWGP Tag Team controversy: “Well, we were, were supposed to win them in context of we were booked to win them in the match, whether New Japan were happy about it or knew about it or not, different story. Personally, I wasn’t too happy about the fact that it, it didn’t put me in a comfortable position. I think the Dudley Boys took more heat for it than we did, to be honest with you. It’s on live pay per view, so what are they gonna do? Everyone’s seen it, you know, you can’t say no, I’m not doing that at the end of the day. I didn’t know that it hadn’t been authorized at that point. It’s only the aftermath where it came apparent to me that this wasn’t necessarily signed off by the Japanese, you know, and then that’s when I became very uncomfortable with that situation.”

On his X Division run: “I loved it because it gave me a chance to do something really different to what I had done before, you know, getting that whole anti-X Division gimmick over and just working. And I worked with guys that were great. I worked with guys I knew really well and just, yeah, no, it was fantastic. And also it’s funny because, um, It’s a little less pressure when you are, when you are, when you…. when you are the world champion, there’s a lot of pressure on you to deliver every time and be the main center of attention. When you are something like the X Division champion, you can have a lot more, you know, you, the, it’s just a lot less pressure on you. As long as you are doing what the promotion require of you within the context of the stories they’ve given you and the matches they want you to have.”

Other topics include breaking into the business, his thoughts on current wrestling, Jeff Jarrett, his time in TNA, Vince Russo, AJ Styles, his in-ring comeback, and more.

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