Adams was in charge of training Stone Cold Steve Austin and popularizing the superkick finisher, which was subsequently employed by many other performers.

Along with competing in football, rugby, cricket, and amateur wrestling, he also spent four years studying architecture outside of athletics.

[4][5] Adams made his debut in professional wrestling in June 1978[6] without having received any real official training and instead relying on his judo experience.

Adrian Street, Big Daddy, Dave "Fit" Finlay, Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith were among the British wrestlers whom Adams battled against.

He also wrestled for Don Owen's Pacific Northwest promotion, as well as being involved in several tours of Japan, Europe, Mexico and Canada.

[5] Before losing to Kamala in a WCCW match on 20 June in Fort Worth, Adams won his first eleven contests.

[11][6] Adams took on the guise of "the Masked Avenger" in a match on 21 October at the Sportatorium to earn a shot at the NWA American Heavyweight Championship, which he eventually won on Thanksgiving at the Reunion Arena.

This time, the chair shattered in two on contact, leaving a piece of wood trapped in Adams' nose, just next to his eye.

[8] Adams competed against NWA World Champion Ric Flair on multiple occasions, coming close to capturing the title twice.

When the One Man Gang interfered in a bout, Adams lost because Flair was pinned for at least 10 seconds while the referee was preoccupied.

Adams created a gimmick with Hernandez that Brutus Beefcake subsequently adopted: shaving his opponents' hair after a match.

[7] In 1985 on Christmas night, Adams and Hernandez reunited to face The Cosmic Cowboys, which ended up being Kevin and Kerry Von Erich.

Adams purposely tossed Kevin over the rope to end the match and slapped Hernandez for not tagging him and left the ring.

Adams then went on vacation to see his family in England and travel to Japan and Israel before returning to Texas to pursue his feud with Hernandez, which was written off as a result of the blinding incident.

He had several matches with Matt Borne, Blackjack Mulligan, Kabuki and Buzz Sawyer, and worked an angle with Rick Rude, whom he defeated for the World Class heavyweight title on 4 July.

In September 1986, Adams left World Class to join Bill Watts' Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF), which later merged into NWA.

[11] In late 1986, Adams defected to the Universal Wrestling Federation, where he and Terry Taylor became tag team champions in February 1987.

[7][15] Two months later, Taylor and Adams began a violent feud which eventually was carried over to WCCW in 1988, but he suffered nerve damage in his back during one of their matches.

[17] Austin later described Adams as a “con man deluxe” and “a pile of crap” since he was known for taking trainees money, stiffing them, and ill-preparing them.

He was intended to become part of The Blue Bloods, a stable consisting of his fellow Englishmen Lord Steven Regal and Squire David Taylor, but due to legitimate personal issues, this was short lived.

[14] Adams was involved in a relationship with Jeanie Clarke, an English model, who worked ringside and managed his career from the late 1970s to the early 1980s.

Six weeks prior to his death, Adams married a second time to Karen J. Burge on 25 August 2001 in Dallas, with his friend Brent Parnell serving as the best man at his wedding.

[23] While returning from a wrestling event in Puerto Rico, on 30 June 1986, Adams grabbed airline pilot John Bentley by the collar, headbutted him three times and punched a male flight attendant, which resulted in a 90-day jail sentence and a $500 fine in September.

[5] In April 2000, Adams and his girlfriend of four months, Linda Kaphengst, were both found unconscious inside a friend's apartment, the victims of an overdose of the drug GHB and alcohol.

[3] In June 2001, Adams was indicted and charged with manslaughter for the death of Kaphengst and turned himself in[14] but, while awaiting trial, on October 7, 2001, he was fatally shot in the chest with a .38 caliber handgun during a drunken brawl with a friend, William Brent "Booray" Parnell, at his home in Waxahachie, Texas.