At tonight’s PROGRESS Chapter 76: Hello Wembley! event from Wembley Arena, British wrestling legend Doug Williams announced his retirement from professional wrestling. This comes after he lost the PROGRESS Atlas Championship to British Strong Style member Trent Seven, with the promise that he’d retire if he lost. The PROGRESS roster scattered on to the stage post-match to thank Doug for all he’s done for professional wrestling in the UK.

While typically based in England, Williams has also appeared for a number of Scottish promotions. With appearances for the likes of British Championship Wrestling, Discovery Wrestling, Premier British Wrestling, and WrestleZone (where he had an excellent bout with Johnny Lions at the 2015 Battle of the Nations), Doug’s most notable Scottish-based appearances came for Insane Championship Wrestling, where he was a member of a stable known as The 55. One of his last appearances for the company at Fear & Loathing VIII from the SECC Hall, teaming with fellow 55 stablemates Liam Thomson and Lionheart in a loss to Joe Hendry, Kenny Williams, and Noam Dar. What a collection of names in that one match.

Williams had a highly successful career with championship victories all over the world, including in Impact Wrestling, westside Xtreme wrestling, and Pro Wrestling NOAH. Alongside his old British Invasion partner Brutus Magnus (now known as former NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion, Nick Aldis), the duo were multi-time tag team champions. In total, he amassed a total of 41 different title reigns over the span of his career, according to Cagematch.net at least.

In other notable happenings from the evening, WALTER retained the World Championship over Tyler Bate, The Aussie Open became the new Tag Team Champions by winning the inaugural tag team Thunderbastard Match, Jinny retained her Women’s Championship after Laura Di Matteo turned on Toni Storm, and Eddie Dennis bested bitter rival Mark Andrews in a brutal Ladder Match to earn a future title opportunity. For full results, read this from our friends at Wrestle Ropes.

We here at the Scottish Wrestling Network wish Doug all the best for the future.