Peter Williams III (born August 26, 1981) is a Canadian professional wrestler and musician. He is signed to WWE as a backstage producer. He is best known for his time in Impact Wrestling, where he is a two-time X Division Champion. He is also known for his time in Lucha Libre USA (LLUSA), where he held the Tag Team Championship with Jon Rekon. He is known by his nickname "The Canadian Destroyer", a reference to Doug Chevalier (Scott D'amore's original mentor) and also the name of his front flip piledriver finishing move.
Professional wrestling career Early career (2001–2004) Williams was trained alongside Chris Sabin by Scott D'Amore at the Can-Am Wrestling School. Williams debuted in D'Amore's Windsor, Ontario-based Border City Wrestling promotion in 2001. He spent the next four years working on the independent circuit in Canada for Border City Wrestling; Blood, Sweat and Ears; and in the Northern United States for promotions such as NWA Cyberspace and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
Team Canada (2004–2006) Williams debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on February 25, 2004, a member of Team Canada. He and the remainder of Team Canada took part in the TNA 2004 World X Cup Tournament, but were defeated by Team Mexico and Team USA.
On August 11, 2004, Williams won the X Division Championship in a twenty-two man Gauntlet for the Gold match, entering at number eleven and pinning the Amazing Red to win the bout.
Early in his title reign, Williams claimed that the Canadian Destroyer could not be countered. According to Williams, Bully Ray told him to focus the entire match in his finishing move. However, after Williams successfully retained the title in a match with A.J. Styles at Victory Road on November 7, 2004, Chris Sabin began claiming that he was capable of countering the move. He went on to counter the Canadian Destroyer into his own finishing move, the "Cradle Shock", on three occasions in the month following Victory Road. However, Sabin was unable to defeat Williams for the X Division Championship at Turning Point on December 5, 2004. Williams's reign would last for five months and five days, (which would become the longest X Division title reign until Christopher Daniels won the title in 2005), before ending on January 16, 2005, at Final Resolution, where he was defeated by A.J. Styles in an Ultimate X match that also featured Sabin. At Lockdown on April 24, 2005, Williams and fellow Team Canada member Eric Young unsuccessfully challenged America's Most Wanted for the NWA World Tag Team Championship. They challenged then-champions The Naturals at Slammiversary on June 19, 2005, but were once again defeated.
Williams returned to the X Division on July 17, 2005, at No Surrender, unsuccessfully challenging X Division Champion Christopher Daniels. Williams, along with the rest of Team Canada, would go on to join Planet Jarrett upon TNA's debut on Spike TV in October 2005. After winning an Ultimate X match at Bound for Glory on October 23, Williams received a title shot against A.J. Styles at Genesis on November 13, but was again defeated. Williams would resume wrestling in the X Division and faced off against Chris Sabin, Elix Skipper, Shark Boy, Puma and Chase Stevens in an Xscape Match at Lockdown. Williams and Sabin were the final two competitors, but Williams lost after Sabin was able to climb over the cage and escape.
Williams again acted as the captain of Team Canada in the 2006 World X Cup Tournament. He lost to Jushin Thunder Liger at Sacrifice in a Captain vs. Captain semifinal match, but won the Gauntlet Match final to tie the points with Team USA. On the following edition of Impact!, he lost to Team USA captain Chris Sabin in a tiebreaker singles match.
On the June 29 episode of Impact!, Jim Cornette announced that Team Canada would be disbanded immediately. However, they were given one last chance to stay intact if they won a match a week later against Jay Lethal, Rhino, and Team 3D. Team Canada lost the match when Lethal pinned A-1, officially disbanding Team Canada once and for all. On the July 27 edition of Impact!, Williams won an X Division four-way match by defeating Sonjay Dutt, Johnny Devine, and Shark Boy after hitting Shark Boy with the Canadian Destroyer. On the following week's Impact!, he defeated Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, Kazarian and Alex Shelley and became the number one contender to the X Division Championship.
At Hard Justice, Williams challenged the X Division Champion Senshi in a triple threat match also involving Jay Lethal. During the match, Williams used the Canadian Destroyer on Lethal and was about to attempt a pinfall until Senshi dropkicked Williams out of the ring and pinned Lethal to retain his championship.
Various feuds (2006–2007) Williams was invited to watch Latin American Xchange burn the American flag during the November 16 edition of Impact!, but he would make his first face turn after refusing to torch the flag. Williams was then involved in the feud between America's Most Wanted and the Latin American Xchange. At Genesis, Homicide had Gail Kim set up for Da Gringo Killa, but Williams came in with a lead pipe to make the save.
On the following Impact!, Williams was later named as Kurt Angle's tag team partner to face LAX for the NWA World Tag Team Championship, but he was ambushed before the match by LAX. Samoa Joe would then replace Williams as Angle's partner. On the following week, Williams would go one on one against Homicide and defeated him via roll-up. After the match though, Homicide, Hernandez and Konnan started to beat down Williams followed by Hernandez hitting him with the Border Toss. AMW would then come out to make the save and then steal the Mexican flag. At Turning Point, Williams came out to help AMW in their flag match against LAX. During the match, he attempted the Canadian Destroyer on Konnan, but he was stopped by Hernandez. On the December 14 edition of Impact!, the LAX defeated AMW in a title vs. team match after James Storm hit Chris Harris with a beer bottle, permanently disbanding AMW. After AMW's dissolution, their former manager Gail Kim became Williams' valet. The two later faced and were defeated by James Storm and Jacqueline Moore at Against All Odds. Petey soon split from Kim and then became involved in a storyline with former Team Canada partners Eric Young and Robert Roode as Williams' tried to help Young get out of a contract that Roode had Young signed to. The feud continued until Lockdown, where Williams faced Roode. Despite using a hockey stick, Williams was pinned by Roode after a Payoff to win the match. He later competed in the Ultimate X match at Victory Road, but was the second competitor eliminated from the match. Soon after, he remained completely unseen on television. On the October 25 edition of Impact!, he participated in a fatal four way X Division style match against Havok, Sonjay Dutt and Shark Boy, but the match went to a no-contest after Team 3D interfered and put both Williams and Havok through tables. On the November 1 edition of Impact!, Williams and the entire X Division attacked Team 3D.
Maple Leaf Muscle (2007–2008) After the feud between the X Division and Team 3D died down, Williams began talking about bodybuilding and was often working out during interviews and referring to himself as "Little Poppa Pump". At Turning Point, he won one of the briefcases in the Feast or Fired match. Scott Steiner, who also won one of the briefcases, would later trade cases with Williams, which unintentionally gave Petey a World Heavyweight Championship shot in the process.
In subsequent matches, Williams would bring down the briefcase to the ring and place it near the turnbuckle. During one of his matches, Steiner entered the arena and switched Petey's world title match briefcase with the original X Division Championship match briefcase. During a tag team match with Williams and Steiner against Rock 'n Rave Infection, Steiner stole both cases and left him to be pinned by Jimmy Rave. Williams and Steiner faced off at Against All Odds with the winner getting both briefcases. Steiner would go on to win the match and officially claim both briefcases. On the following Impact!, Williams once again came up short against Steiner, but after the match Steiner showed Williams respect.
Following this, Williams formed a team with Steiner and acquired the managerial services of Rhaka Khan in the process. Upon forming their alliance, Steiner and Khan put Williams through numerous initiations to prove himself worthy of their team. Williams and Steiner faced the Motor City Machine Guns in a tag team match, Petey won after pinning Alex Shelley. After the match, Williams had one more initiation to complete. Rhaka Khan brought out a black bag that contained a pair of scissors and a shaver. Steiner then cut and shaved Williams' hair, and gave him a chainlink headdress similar to Steiner's, cementing Williams' heel turn in the process. This also gave emphasis to the nickname "Little Petey Pump", a variation of Steiner's "Big Poppa Pump" nickname.
Williams later competed in the "Cuffed in the Cage" match at Lockdown, but lost to the eventual winner Eric Young. On the April 17 edition of Impact!, Steiner gave him the X Division title shot briefcase. Later in the same episode, after Jay Lethal's match against Johnny Devine, Williams attacked Lethal from behind, cashed in the title shot and won his second X Division Championship. Two weeks later at a taping of Impact!, Williams' orbital bone was fractured during a match. However, Williams recovered from his injury and returned at Slammiversary to successfully defend his title against Kaz and again on the Impact! after Slammiversary.
At Hard Justice, Williams retained his X Division Championship against Consequences Creed due to interference from Sheik Abdul Bashir. At No Surrender on September 14, he lost the X Division title in a triple threat match after Bashir pinned Consequences Creed. Upon losing his title, Williams had a face turn when he was attacked by Bashir as well as Rock 'n Rave Infection. Williams would then participate in the Steel Asylum Match at Bound for Glory IV, but came up short as Jay Lethal won.
The Frontline (2008–2009)
On the October 30 edition of Impact!, Williams along with A.J. Styles, Samoa Joe, Jay Lethal, Consequences Creed, Eric Young, O.D.B. and The Motor City Machine Guns formed a faction of younger wrestlers, known as The Frontline, to oppose The Main Event Mafia (Sting, Kurt Angle, Kevin Nash, Booker T and Sharmell). Later that night, Scott Steiner returned from his injury, attacked Williams' allies and joined the Main Event Mafia. Unlike the rest of the MEM, Steiner spared Williams from a beating.
On the November 13 edition of Impact!, after seemingly being in-between the two sides, Williams suffered a beating at the hands of the Main Event Mafia, which included Steiner tossing Williams off a ladder and busting him open and as a result, ended his affiliation with Williams thus turning Williams into a face character. Williams returned on the January 15 edition of Impact! attacking Scott Steiner while referee Earl Hebner was distracted by guest enforcer Mick Foley. Williams cost Steiner the match with a missile dropkick leading to AJ Styles hitting the Pelé on Steiner for the win. Williams and AJ embraced after the match. Williams would go on to lose to Steiner at Against All Odds, and once again on the following Impact! in a "Head Dress on a Pole" match, effectively ending their feud.