Gary William Gallant (born June 2, 1972) better known by his ring name "Wildman" Gary Williams is a retired professional wrestler, actor, musician, and security specialist. He has been competing in Canadian independent wrestling circuits since the 1990s; and is best known for brief stints in World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation. He starred as one of the leading characters in the docu-drama series Wrestling With Reality.
Professional wrestling career
Early career
Born in Moncton, New Brunswick, Williams was a wrestling fan growing up and eventually contacted local referee Frank Parker and wrestler 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 in March 1997 before making his professional debut three months later on May 24 in Truro, Nova Scotia for Emile Dupre's Grand Prix Wrestling. Remaining with the promotion throughout the summer, he was eventually noticed at an event in Cocagne, New Brunswick by Leo Burke who was scouting talent in the Maritimes and invited Williams to train with Bret Hart 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 (Edge), Jason Reso (Christian), Mark Henry, Ken Shamrock, among others. 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, Leo Burke 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, 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 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 in Kitchener. After another tryout match in Winnipeg a year later, he contacted Kevin Kelly and received a tryout match on WWF Jakked as Wildman Austin against Billy Gunn at the Calgary Saddledome on May 28, 2001.
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 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, Eddie Watts and Duke McIsaac during the summer.
Feuding with 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.