Doug Williams Discusses The “Retirement” Stipulation That Is Hovering Over His Match Against Trent Seven At ‘Hello Wembley’
The veteran could be hanging it up.
On September 30th PROGRESS Wrestling will be hosting their ‘Hello Wembley’ event at the SSE Arena and it will be biggest independent wrestling show in the United Kingdom in 30 years. There have been two matches and an appearance confirmed for ‘Hello Wembley’ thus far. One of the two matches will feature the WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne taking on Ilja Dragunov and the individual who has been confirmed for an appearance at the event is the recently signed NXT star Matt Riddle and it will be Riddle’s final independent date before he becomes WWE-exclusive.
The second match on the card is a PROGRESS Atlas Championship match. The champion Doug Williams will be putting the title on the line against Trent Seven. If Williams loses not only does he lose his championship but he will be forced into retirement.
Williams has been in the pro wrestling business since he was 16-years old and has worked for a plethora of promotions and companies and has collected plenty of championships along the way. To promote the forthcoming match, Williams spoke with the ‘Daily Star’ and shared his thoughts on his last pro wrestling match possibly being at the biggest independent wrestling show in the U.K. in three decades.
“Don’t assume just because I said I am retiring it’s going to be an easy win come September 30th. I’d rather choose my own retirement date than have it forced upon me.” He said. “There is life in this old dog still and I know that Trent will take me to the limit at Wembley but he won’t necessarily be showing me the exit door on my career.”
Doug Williams’ resume is one that is stacked and although he is not content with riding off into the sunset he realizes that the pain he has put his body through since the early 90’s with no rest periods is beginning to catch up to him.
“The build up of injuries is the main thing. At the very least I need time off for surgery and to let those heal. Aside from that I have pretty much done everything I want to in the ring. There’s nowhere for me to go except continuing to run the treadmill of the independent scene.” He explained. “I don’t really need to do that anymore. I would like some more time to myself. Funnily enough until 2013 then number of injuries I accumulated was very limited – only a partially torn meniscus and rotator cuff. However it’s clear in the past few years that wear and tear has been a big factor as my neck and knees are both suffering and they have probably taken the brunt of the beatings in my matches over the years.”
A PROGRESS World Championship match between Travis Banks and Zack Sabre Jr. was announced as the official main event of ‘Hello Wembley’ this past May but due to commitments with NJPW, Zack Sabre Jr. had to pull out the event and Travis Banks ultimately ended up dropping the World Title to WALTER.
