Gary Williams (wrestler)
Encyclopedia
Gary William Gallant better known by his ring name "Wildman" Gary Williams has been competing in Canadian independent wrestling circuits since the 1990s. Williams is also a musician, actor and a bodyguard for VIP artists and personnel. Williams first passion is professional wrestling and what he is better known for. He has had brief stints in World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...

 and the World Wrestling Federation
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...

. Prior to and in the earlier days of his wrestling career, Williams was the lead vocalist for a heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 band Tormented "later known as" Dead Reach. He has also been involved and starred as 1 of the 4 leading characters in the Wrestling With Reality docu-drama series. Williams has also made a few appearances and background work in motion pictures and television productions.

Early career

Born in Moncton, New Brunswick
Moncton, New Brunswick
Moncton is a Canadian city, located in Westmorland County, New Brunswick. The city is situated in southeastern New Brunswick, within the Petitcodiac River Valley, and lies at the geographic centre of the Maritime Provinces...

, Williams was a wrestling fan growing up and eventually contacted local referee Frank Parker and wrestler Todd Douglas|Todd "The Bodd" Douglas in 1996 to begin training for a career in professional wrestling.

Training with Douglas for a short time, Williams later trained with Atlantic Grand Prix and Stampede Wrestling veteran Hubert Gallant
Hubert Gallant
Hubert Gallant is a retired Canadian professional wrestler and trainer who competed in North American regional promotions during the 1970s and early 1980s including Stampede Wrestling and Emile Dupree's Grand Prix Wrestling as well short stints in the National Wrestling Alliance, specifically the...

 in March 1997 before making his professional debut three months later on May 24 in Truro, Nova Scotia
Truro, Nova Scotia
-Education:Truro has one high school, Cobequid Educational Centre. Post-secondary options include a campus of the Nova Scotia Community College, as well as the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in the neighboring town of Bible Hill.- Sports :...

 for Emile Dupre's Grand Prix Wrestling
Grand prix wrestling
Grand Prix Wrestling is a wrestling promotion run and owned by Emile Duprée. Grand Prix Wrestling has currently stopped touring due to heavy traveling costs...

. Remaining with the promotion throughout the summer, he was eventually noticed at an event in Cocagne, New Brunswick
Cocagne, New Brunswick
Cocagne is a Canadian community in Kent County, New Brunswick.It is located at the mouth of the Cocagne River on the Northumberland Strait....

 by Leo Burke
Leo Burke
Leonce Cormier is a retired Canadian professional wrestler. He was born in Dorchester, New Brunswick. He competed across Canada, in several American promotions, and wrestled internationally for both Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council and the National Wrestling Alliance in New Zealand...

 who was scouting talent in the Maritimes and invited Williams to train with Bret Hart
Bret Hart
Bret Hart is a Canadian on-screen personality, writer, actor and Semi-retired professional wrestler. Like others in the Hart wrestling family, Hart has an amateur wrestling background, including wrestling at Ernest Manning High School and Mount Royal College...

 in his personal home in Calgary, Alberta where he had a WWE ring set up. Hart and Burke trained potential WWE Talent such as: Andrew Martin (Test), Adam Copeland
Adam Copeland
Adam Joseph Copeland is a retired Canadian professional wrestler and actor, better known by his ring name Edge. He is currently signed to WWE under a Legends contract....

 (Edge), Jason Reso
Jason Reso
William Jason Reso is a Canadian professional wrestler and actor, better known by his ring names Christian and Christian Cage...

 (Christian), Mark Henry
Mark Henry
Mark Jerrold Henry is an American professional wrestler signed with WWE, where he performs on its SmackDown brand as the reigning World Heavyweight Champion. He is a 1992 Olympian, and winner of the 2002 Arnold Strongman Classic...

, Ken Shamrock
Ken Shamrock
Kenneth Wayne Shamrock is an American mixed martial arts fighter, UFC Hall of Famer and professional wrestler...

... Williams also spent a bit of time at the Hart Dungeon in Calgary, Alberta.

Arriving in Calgary in January 1998, Williams would spend much of the year training with Bret Hart
Bret Hart
Bret Hart is a Canadian on-screen personality, writer, actor and Semi-retired professional wrestler. Like others in the Hart wrestling family, Hart has an amateur wrestling background, including wrestling at Ernest Manning High School and Mount Royal College...

, Leo Burke
Leo Burke
Leonce Cormier is a retired Canadian professional wrestler. He was born in Dorchester, New Brunswick. He competed across Canada, in several American promotions, and wrestled internationally for both Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council and the National Wrestling Alliance in New Zealand...

 and Bad News Allen before returning to the Maritimes.

World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation

During the next few years, Williams would compete for numerous independent promotions including Stampede Wrestling
Stampede Wrestling
Stampede Wrestling is a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta and was for nearly 50 years one of the main promotions in western Canada and the Canadian Prairies...

, the Can-Am Wrestling Federation and promoter Tony Condello's IWA promotion feuding with Steve Rivers and Sean Dunster (Massive Damage) while continuing to compete for Grand Prix Wrestling during the summer months and eventually becoming one of the leading wrestlers on the Canadian independent circuit.

In March 1999, Burke negotiated with World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...

 for Williams to appear in several tryout matches which wrestling his former trainer Todd Douglas on Monday Night Nitro in Toronto and on WCW Saturday Night
WCW Saturday Night
WCW Saturday Night was a weekly Saturday night TV show on TBS produced by World Championship Wrestling. The program existed through various incarnations under different names before becoming WCW Saturday Night in 1992...

in Kitchener
Kitchener, Ontario
The City of Kitchener is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The city had a population of 204,668 in the Canada 2006 Census...

. After another tryout match in Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...

 a year later, he contacted Kevin Kelly
Kevin Kelly (announcer)
Kevin Foote is an American professional wrestling manager, pundit, sportscaster and ring announcer, better known by his ring name, Kevin Kelly...

 and received a tryout match on WWF Jakked against Monty Sopp
Monty Sopp
Monty Kip Sopp is an American professional wrestler, best known as Billy Gunn during his tenure for World Wrestling Entertainment. He is probably best known as one of the members of the New Age Outlaws. He also worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling under the ring name Kip James...

 (Billy Gunn) at the Calgary Saddledome.

Return to the Maritimes

Continuing to compete in Canada, spending his winters in Calgary and his summers in the Maritimes, Williams worked with several younger wrestlers in Grand Prix Wrestling including "Kowboy" Mike Hughes and Peter Smith (Brody Steele aka Kingman) during the late 1990s. One of several wrestlers who joined Hughes in Real Action Wrestling, a rival promotion of Grand Prix Wrestling, he would feud with Hughes and Robert Roode defeating them in several singles and tag team matches with Chi Chi Cruz
Chi Chi Cruz
Corey Peloquin is a Canadian professional wrestler who is known for working the independent promotions such as Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling, Real Action Wrestling, Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling, IWA-Mid South, All-Star Wrestling, and United States Wrestling Association as Chi Chi Cruz...

 before losing to Hughes on July 22, 2001.

While in the promotion, he would also feud with rival Massive Damage, Hughes and members of his stable The Kardinal Sinners as well as wrestling against Barry Horowitz
Barry Horowitz
Barry Horowitz is an American professional wrestler, best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation.-Career:Horowitz, who is Jewish, attended Florida State University, where he studied sports nutrition and wrestled...

, Eddie Watts
Eddie Watts
Edward Alfred 'Eddie' Watts was an English cricketer. He was born in Peckham, London.A right-arm fast-medium bowler and a useful right-handed batsman, he played for Surrey from 1933 to 1949...

 and Duke McIsaac during the summer.

Feuding with Chi Chi Cruz
Chi Chi Cruz
Corey Peloquin is a Canadian professional wrestler who is known for working the independent promotions such as Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling, Real Action Wrestling, Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling, IWA-Mid South, All-Star Wrestling, and United States Wrestling Association as Chi Chi Cruz...

 over the RAW Heavyweight title during 2002, Williams eventually lost to Cruz in a ladder cage match on July 29, 2002. During the next two years, he would tour Canada defeating Steve Wilde to win the Can-Am Heavyweight title on February 3, 2003 and won a three-way match over Aiden Pringle (Synn) and King Lau at an event for Monster Pro Wrestling in Edmonton, Alberta on February 4, 2004.

2004-2009

In September 2004, Williams permanently relocated to Halifax, Nova Scotia after the decline of wrestling events in the Calgary area and eventually opened his own wrestling school Wildman Academy on February 1, 2005. With his previous experience running many seminars and helping run training camps at Massive Damage's wrestling school in Edmonton, Alberta Wildman Academy soon became one of the leading wrestling schools in the Maritime Provinces. Williams shut down his training school in September 2009.

Williams also competed in the first and second annual Maritime Cup tournament held by Harold Kennedy (New Scott) which featured many of the top independent wrestlers in Canada including Brody Steele (Kingman), Duke MacIsaac, Trash Canyon, Scott Savage, Tony Armstrong, Cinder, Lincoln Steen, Marko Estrada and Vinny Glyde. Williams would defeat Paco Loco in the opening rounds and Scott Savage in the semifinals before losing to Duke McIsaac in the finals. He would also defeat Tony Armstrong and Scott Savage while in ECPW during early May.

Starting in September 2007, Williams was 1 of 4 main characters in the documentary-drama television series "Wrestling With Reality" which features many Canadian independent wrestlers including "Kowboy" Mike Hughes, Sidewinder, Marisa, Titus, and Krysta Lynn Scott
Krysta Lynn Scott
Krista "Krysta" Hanakowski is a Canadian professional wrestler, known by her ringname Krysta Lynn Scott, who has competed both in Canada and the United States having worked for All-Star Wrestling, Grand Prix Wrestling, Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling and Stampede Wrestling...

.

He would go on to win the first match on Wrestling Reality teaming with Robert Roode to defeat Rick Doyle (Trash Canyon) & Gary Jessom (Duke MacIsaac) on June 2, 2006; he would later defeat Roode in a singles match to become the first Wrestling Reality Heavyweight Champion. He would later face Titus, who recently won the third Maritime Cup Tournament, defeating him at the Halifax Forum
Halifax Forum
The Halifax Forum is located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is the former home of the Nova Scotia Voyageurs of the American Hockey League. Other former tenants include the Halifax Junior Canadians, Halifax Wolverines , and the Maritime Major Hockey League's Halifax St. Mary's. The Voyageurs moved...

 on August 18, 2006.

Defeating Titus and "Kowboy" Mike Hughes during early 2007, Williams and Trash Canyon lost a tag team match to "Kowboy" Mike Hughes and Ryan Mader (Lincoln Steen
Lincoln Steen
Ryan Mader is a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Lincoln Steen, who has competed in Canadian independent promotions since October 27, 2000...

) on May 2. Williams then teamed with James Mason
James Mason (wrestler)
James Atkins is a British professional wrestler best known under his ring name James Mason.-Career:A childhood fan of Big Daddy, Atkins began wrestling for All Star Promotions in 1993, adopting the ringname James Mason, after the film actor of the same name at the behest of ring announcer John...

, and they defeated Jeff Young (Tommy Osbourne) & Scott Savage in Sussex, New Brunswick
Sussex, New Brunswick
Sussex is a Canadian town in Kings County, New Brunswick.Sussex straddles the Kennebecasis River, 70 km northeast of Saint John, and is a major dairy products producer in the province...

 on May 4. Williams lost his title to Peter Smith (Brody Steele) in Bathurst, New Brunswick
Bathurst, New Brunswick
Bathurst is a Canadian city in Gloucester County, New Brunswick.Bathurst is situated on Bathurst Harbour, an estuary at the mouth of the Nepisiguit River at the southernmost part of Chaleur Bay....

 on May 5 due to outside interference by "Kowboy" Mike Hughes and Lincoln Steen. Trash Canyon and James Mason quickly came to Williams rescue and taunted Steele, Hughes and Steen to come back in the ring and have a 6 man tag team match but as the crowd cheered for the match, Steele, Hughes and Steen walked away and denied the challenge.

2009-Present

While competing for Ultimate Championship Wrestling, he defeated fellow Kardinal Sinner Trash Canyon to win the UCW heavyweight championship. This title win took place in October, 2009 .On November 28, 2009 he completed his first title defense beating Dynamite Dave Floyd in Spryfield, NS.

On January 29, 2010 in Timberlea, Nova Scotia Gary won 2 UCW slammy awards. The first for Best feud (w/ Lumber jack Johnson) and the second for being the best overall wrestler. The following night Gary once again defended his UCW Heavyweight Championship against Chris Cooke.

Over the coming months he fought and defended his UCW Heavyweight Championship against Dynamite Dave Floyd, Tristan Strife, And Chris Cooke. On April 3, 2010 Gary lost his belt to Lumber Jack Johnson in Spryfield, Nova Scotia.

During the Bushwacked II tour Williams picked up wins and losses but most notably his winning efforts in tag team matches with former WWE stars Bushwacker Luke and Marty Jennetty. He also competed in the UCW Summer Explosion Tour going back and forth with Former WWE Star and top competitor Charlie Haas.

In September, 2010, Williams signed with the upstart Legend City Wrestling based in Newfoundland,Canada, reuniting him with his former long time Wrestling mates, Mike Hughes, Kurrgan, and Brody Steele. www.legendcitywrestling.com

On April 28, 2011 at the UCW 4th Anniversary Show at the Forum, Williams became the UCW Heavyweight Champion for the 2nd time by defeating J.P. Simms in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Williams has successfully defended his Ultimate Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Championship to date.

Williams just signed a deal with Championship Wrestling International (CWI) out of Ontario, Canada and will be on tour with them from August 18, 2011 through to August 28, 2011 for the Maritime Invasion tour. Along with CWI Champion Scott Steiner
Scott Steiner
Scott Carl Rechsteiner is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Scott Steiner. Steiner is perhaps best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling alongside his older brother Rick as the Steiner Brothers and as a member of the New World Order...

 the CWI roster for this tour will also feature Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan
Terrance Gene "Terry" Bollea , better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American Semi-retired professional wrestler, actor, television personality, and musician currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ....

, Sean Waltman
Sean Waltman
Sean Michael Waltman is an American professional wrestler currently signed with WWE in their developmental program. He wrestled there under the ring names 1–2–3 Kid and X-Pac off and on from 1993–2002, World Championship Wrestling under the ring name Syxx, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ...

 (X-Pac), Monty Sopp
Monty Sopp
Monty Kip Sopp is an American professional wrestler, best known as Billy Gunn during his tenure for World Wrestling Entertainment. He is probably best known as one of the members of the New Age Outlaws. He also worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling under the ring name Kip James...

 (Billy Gunn), Road Dog
Brian Gerard James
Brian Gerard James is an American professional wrestler, currently signed to WWE as an agent and producer. He is best known for his tenure with the World Wrestling Federation as "The Road Dogg" Jesse James or simply Road Dogg...

, Mick Foley
Mick Foley
Michael Francis "Mick" Foley, Sr. is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, author, comedian, actor, voice actor and former color commentator. He has worked for many wrestling promotions, including WWE, WCW, ECW and TNA. He is often referred to as "The Hardcore Legend", a nickname he...

, "Bushwhacker" Luke Williams
Brian Wickens
Brian Wickens is a professional wrestler best known as Luke Williams, one half of the tag team known as "The Sheepherders" on the independent scene and in the National Wrestling Alliance and as The Bushwhackers in the WWF.-Career:Luke Williams started wrestling for NWA New Zealand in 1964...

, "The Highlander" Robbie McAllister and Kevin Nash. In Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Williams joined a group named "Mutiny" consisting of "Highlander" Robbie McAllister, Bolen and The Flatliners.

Championships and Accomplishments

  • Can-Am Wrestling Federation
    • Can-Am Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
    • Trans American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
    • Can Am Tag Team Championship (with Steve Wilde) (1 time)

  • Hardcore Wrestling/Outlaw Pro Wrestling
    • Hardcore Tag Team Championship (with Massive Damage) (1 time)

  • Grand Prix Wrestling
    • GPW International Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

  • International Wrestling Alliance
    • North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

  • Western Canadian Extreme Wrestling
    • WCEW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

  • Monster Pro Wrestling
    • Monster Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

  • Real Action Wrestling
    • RAW Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

  • Wrestling Reality
    • Wrestling Reality Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

  • Ultimate Championship Wrestling
    • UCW World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
    • UCW Tag Team Championship (with "Kowboy" Mike Hughes) (1 time)
    • UCW 2010 Slammy Award- Best Feud (with Lumber Jack Johnson)
    • UCW 2010 Slammy Award- Best Overall Wrestler


Finishing Move: The Wild Driver

Favorite Moves: Spinning DDT, Swinging Neck Breaker, Standing Dropkick

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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