Chris Candito

Christopher Candito (March 21, 1972 – April 28, 2005) was an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Chris Candido. Throughout most of his career, he was accompanied by his high school sweetheart Tammy Lynn Sytch, though despite a long-term relationship, the two were never legally married.

Candido held major titles in Extreme Championship Wrestling, the National Wrestling Alliance, World Championship Wrestling, and the World Wrestling Federation. His highest-profile role was in the World Wrestling Federation as Skip, part of the successful tag team known as The Bodydonnas with Zip, and his girlfriend and valet Sunny.

Candito was the grandson of "Popeye" Chuck Richards, a wrestler for the World Wide Wrestling Federation, a precursor to the WWF. He started training at age 14 with Larry Sharpe and wrestled for Sharpe's World Wrestling Association. He began using the alternate spelling of Candido for his ring name.

While in high school, he met and fell in love with Tammy Sytch, and the two began a lifelong relationship. Sytch would later become his valet.

In the early 1990s, Candido was a part of Eastern Championship Wrestling (later Extreme Championship Wrestling). While in ECW, he was part of a stable called The Suicide Blonds with Johnny Hotbody and Chris Michaels. The trio had two stints as the Tag Team Champions; the first from April 2, 1993 to May 15 after winning them from Tony Stetson and Larry Winters. They lost the titles to the Super Destroyers, only to regain them the same day. They later vacated the titles when Candido left the promotion.

Candido became famous in Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW), alongside his manager and girlfriend Tammy Lynn Sytch.

On November 19, 1994, Candido won a 10-man tournament, defeating Al Snow, Dirty White Boy, and Tracy Smothers to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, which had been won and immediately vacated by Shane Douglas and ECW that August.

Candido's reign came at a time when national exposure for the National Wrestling Alliance was at an all-time low, as there was no national television outlet for the organization. His title defense matches were mostly held in small independent federations and SMW. Candido dropped the belt to Dan Severn on February 24, 1995, whose subsequent reign lasted over four years.

Candido and Sytch moved on to the WWF where Sytch was dubbed Sunny and Candido Skip, the fitness fanatics The Bodydonnas. On March 31, 1996, Candido won the WWF Tag Team Championship with Zip (Tom Prichard) from The Godwinns during the finals of a tournament for the vacated titles. However, they lost the titles on May 19, 1996 at a house show. According to Tammy Sytch in interviews post Candido's death, Candito and Sytch had a brief separation behind the scenes while working for the WWF.

After leaving the WWF, Candido joined ECW again, becoming part of the revived Triple Threat stable alongside Shane Douglas. While in the Triple Threat, he developed a rivalry with fellow member Lance Storm, who was soon replaced by Bam Bam Bigelow. However, Candido teamed with Storm to win the ECW Tag Team Championship. They won the tag titles on December 5, 1997 from Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon. Despite being a reluctant team who hated each other, Candido and Storm had a lengthy championship run. The duo held the titles for approximately six months until they lost them on June 26, 1998 against Rob Van Dam and Sabu.

He also had a brief run in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), which started when he was cleared to compete on March 16, 2000. During his stint there, he won the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. He won the title on April 16, 2000 in a six-way match at Spring Stampede 2000 against The Artist, Juventud Guerrera, Shannon Moore, Lash LeRoux, and Crowbar. He lost the title on May 15 of that same year. Later, the Triple Threat reformed in WCW, with Candido, Douglas, and Bam Bam Bigelow. However, the reformation was short lived, after Tammy was released from WCW due to backstage problems with Kimberly Page.

Candido had two runs with Xtreme Pro Wrestling. The first was in 2000, and he won the XPW World Heavyweight Championship before leaving for WCW. The second run was from late 2002 until the company's final show in 2003.

Candido wrestled with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in early 2005, until he died from a post-surgery blood clot. Due to the fact that his last performance was taped to air later in the week, he was featured on an episode of TNA iMPACT! after his death.

In addition to wrestling, Candido also trained new wrestlers, including his brother Johnny Candido.

Mike Awesome, part 1

Mike Lee Alfonso (January 24, 1965 – February 17, 2007) better known by his ring name Mike Awesome, was an American professional wrestler best known in America for his work in ECW, WCW, and in WWE and also in Japan for his work with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling under the name The Gladiator. Throughout his career, he was known for being exceptionally agile for his size.

Alfonso grew up with Michael Bollea. As a result of Awesome's aunt (his father's sister) marrying Hulk Hogan's brother, Awesome and Bollea (the future Horace Hogan) were cousins and the two began to consider a career in wrestling during Hulk Hogan's famous WWF run in the 1980s. Alfonso received training from Steve Keirn's training camp based out of the Pro Wrestling Federation (PWF). After wrestling for the PWF in 1989, teaming occasionally with Brett Sawyer, Alfonso moved around throughout various independent promotions, including a brief stint in the United States Wrestling Association (USWA) under the tutelage of Nate The Rat, a manager there. In that same year, he made his first television appearance for World Championship Wrestling -- as a masked jobber from San Juan, Puerto Rico named The Pro.

Early 1980s: "Big Mike" graduated from King High School in Tampa and worked out at the infamous Stan's Gym on 56th Street. He exuded energy and had an aggressive sense of humor, the baseline of his career to come. Mike was known to say "I can’t see him, but I can smell the smallness". His work ethic made him a fixture and standout at the hardcore bodybuilding cauldron.

Alfonso moved on to Japan, joining Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) in late 1990 and using the name The Gladiator.

In 1993, Alfonso appeared in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) for a short period (as "Awesome" Mike Awesome) before returning to FMW. In 1994, the Gladiator finally captured his first title, teaming with Big Titan to defeat Atsushi Onita & Katsutoshi Niyama in the finals of the FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship Tournament. They lost the title that April, but Awesome won them again with new partner Mr. Pogo in October. As the Gladiator, he faced and defeated Hayabusa for his first major singles title, the FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship in September of 1995, but was forced to vacate it due to (legit) injury the next February. In May of 1996 he won the title for a second time, then unified it with the FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship after defeating W*ING Kanemura in that December. The next August, teaming with Hisakatsu Ooya & Mr. Gannosuke he won the vacated FMW World Street Fight 6-Man Tag-Team Titles, holding all three belts at once, but within a month lost all three during an epic feud with Masato Tanaka.

Awesome was involved in a backstage altercation with members of a Yakuza group at an FMW event, as a result of several Yakuza members beating up his friend and fellow wrestler Sabu. As a result, Awesome, along with the rest of the foreign wrestlers, didn't leave their locker room for over two hours, because Yakuza members were waiting in the hallway. It took Atsushi Onita to smooth things over with the group and get the foreign wrestlers safe passage out of the arena.

In the summer of 1998, Awesome began appearing for ECW again, continue his feud with Masato Tanaka in the United States. Awesome began in ECW by losing to Tanaka on an episode ECW's weekly Hardcore TV. However, following the match, he delivered an Awesome Bomb to Tanaka over the top rope through a table set up on the outside. In his final appearance of his second ECW stint, Awesome lost to Tanaka again at the August Heat Wave pay-per-view event (which Awesome claimed he was never paid for).

After returning to Japan, Alfonso seriously injured his knee during a match with Super Leather, taking him out of wrestling for nearly a year. When he returned, he continued to wrestle as The Gladiator for a brief period in All Japan Pro Wrestling before returning to ECW. Almost immediately upon arriving in ECW for his third stint, he shocked the wrestling world by winning the ECW World Heavyweight Championship at Anarchy Rulz by defeating the reigning champion Tazz and arch nemesis Masato Tanaka in a three-way dance, which was signed on the spot.

Road Warrior Animal, Joe Laurinaitis, part 1

Joseph "Joe" Laurinaitis (born January 26, 1960) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Road Warrior Animal. Along with Road Warrior Hawk, Laurinaitis was one-half of the tag team known as the Road Warriors

Joe Laurinaitis grew up in Minnesota, having to work for a living from a very early age. Because of his size and love of power lifting, Joe was an imposing figure and thus a very effective bouncer. He worked as a bouncer at Grandma B's in the Twin Cities where he caught the eye of Eddie Sharkey, a well known wrestling trainer. Sharkey thought that Joe along with Mike Hegstrand, Richard Rood, and Barry Darsow could make it big in professional wrestling. He believed in them so much that he trained all four of them personally.

Joe made his debut in November 1982, competing as The Road Warrior using a biker gimmick. After only a few matches as a singles competitor, Joe’s career and life would change forever thanks to an idea by Paul Ellering.

When Paul Ellering was looking to put together a stable of heels in Georgia Championship Wrestling called The Legion of Doom, it was decided to put Joe together with his good friend Mike Hegstrand and change their names to Animal and Hawk respectively. Thus, the Road Warriors were born. To look more intimidating, the two shaved their heads into Mohawks and started wearing studded dog collars, spiked shoulder pads, and face paint. The look and name was taken from Mad Max 2, helping to paint the two as no-mercy monsters. Their interview style was vicious, yet charismatic and a bit humorous.

The team was an instant hit, revolutionizing the tag-team scene with their power moves, no mercy attitudes, and innovative face paint that would spawn many future imitators in wrestling. In Georgia, they won the NWA National Tag Team Championship four times before moving on to bigger promotions, such as the American Wrestling Association in the US and All Japan Pro Wrestling in Japan, and winning more tag team titles.

Their hard hitting style, no nonsense attitude, and winning ways made the Road Warriors fan favorites. Even when they were booked as heels, the fans refused to boo them. They started to split their time between the AWA and the National Wrestling Alliance until finally leaving the AWA for big money contracts with the NWA and a huge push for the monster duo. The move paid off instantly as they won the inaugural Jim Crocket Sr. Memorial Cup Tag-Team Tournament and feuded with the top stars of the NWA such as The Four Horsemen and the Russian Team (which included the Road Warriors’ old training buddy Barry Darsow). During their initial run in the NWA, they helped popularize the WarGames match, the Scaffold match, and their trademark Chicago Street Fight.

In 1988, the Road Warriors engaged in a violent feud with The Powers of Pain (The Barbarian and The Warlord) the first team that could truly match the Road Warriors in power (and who were one of the most well known Road Warrior clones). The Powers of Pain even went so far as to injure Animal’s eye (kayfabe) during a weightlifting competition. When Animal returned, he initially wore a hockey goalie mask to protect his eye. The angle abruptly ended when the Powers of Pain left the NWA after finding out they were booked against the Road Warriors in a series of Scaffold Matches and they did not want to get hurt by falling off the scaffold.

Near the end of 1988, the Road Warriors captured the NWA World Tag Team Championship from The Midnight Express whom they mauled in short order to win the titles. After being the “Uncrowned champions” for a long time the Road Warriors’ run with the tag-team titles was short lived. Teddy Long used a fast count to cheat the Road Warriors out of their titles. In their last year with the NWA, the Warriors feuded mainly with The Varsity Club, The Samoan Swat Team, and The Skyscrapers before leaving the NWA in the summer of 1990.


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WCW: Arn Anderson

Martin "Marty" Lunde, better known by his ring name of Arn Anderson (born September 20, 1958 in Rome, Georgia), is a retired American professional wrestler, regarded by some professional wrestling experts as the greatest professional wrestler never to have won a world title. His career has been highlighted by his alliances with Ric Flair and various members of the elite wrestling stable, "The Four Horsemen". He currently serves as the senior Producer for WWE's RAW brand.

technorati tags: wcw, ecw, eddie guerrero, pro wrestling, wrestlemania, hulk hogan, ric flair, booker t, tna

WCW: Chris Adams

Christopher Adams (February 10, 1955 – October 7, 2001) was a professional wrestler, wrestling promoter, trainer and judoka. By the time Adams was 21 years old, he had won three British National Judo Championships for his age and weight. Adams wrestled primarily in the Texas promotions, most notably for World Class Championship Wrestling, where he became one of the most popular wrestlers in the promotion's history.

Adams is well known for being one of the trainers of Scott Hall in 1984 and training Stone Cold Steve Austin on his own in 1989. He also is credited for bringing the Superkick to American wrestlers. Adams was also among the first wrestlers to use the Sharpshooter, which he called the Superlock (around 1985). He was also famous for using back flips and somersaults to catch his opponent off-guard. Moreover, Adams was known for diving from the canvas through the ropes to his opponent on the floor, one of the few wrestlers to execute this dangerous maneuver.

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"Crush" Brian Adams dead at 43

CANOE -- SLAM! Sports - Wrestling - "Crush" Bryan Adams dead at 43: "According to WWE.com, Brian Adams, who worked as Demolition Crush and was half of the KroniK tag team, has been found dead. He was 43. A Tampa Police Department report obtained by TMZ.com indicated that Adams 'was found by his wife unconscious in bed not breathing.' She called 911, but medical personal were unable to revive him. He was pernounced dead at the scene. No reason for his death was noted in the report."

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"Tank" Abbott

David Lee "Tank" Abbott (born April 26, 1965 in Huntington Beach, California) is an American mixed martial artist. He has described his fighting style, which he developed fighting on the streets of Huntington Beach, California, as "street fighting." In addition to being a mixed martial arist, Abbott wrestled professionally between 1999 and 2001 under the ring name Tank Abbott.
Abbott worked as a professional wrestler with World Championship Wrestling (WCW); initially he was brought in as an opponent for Goldberg, on the understanding he was a "legitimate" fighter - who could render any opponent unconscious with a single punch, which became his wrestling finisher, 'The Phantom Right' - and could boost Goldberg's reputation. This feud never developed, and Abbott remained mostly a comedic wrestler, frequently being featured in segments with the boy band parody stable, Three Count. The most success he had in his wrestling career was when he teamed with Rick Steiner to feud with Scott Steiner. He also nicknamed the head of WCW security, Doug Dillinger, "Mr. Smiley," and would make quacking noises at him. Many wrestling fans consider his career irreparably damaged after he jobbed to actor (and then WCW Champion) David Arquette, losing by pinfall. Recently, he signed on to be with the WWE Classic Superstar Action Figure line set to be released in July 2007. He says his favorite wrestling game is WCW/nWo Revenge for the n64.

His bad boy image and tough biker look have led many people to believe that Abbott is nothing more than a common hoodlum with a natural ability to throw punches. In reality, he never practiced any style called "Pit Fighting" and had been boxing for up to 13 years before his UFC debut and had been wrestling since high school and during his years at college. He had been coached in boxing under Jesse Reid and Tyrone Bennett and his wrestling career began at the age of 9 and by the age of 18 he became a Junior college All-American. He is also an educated man, holding a degree in history.

Abbott was the UFC fighter who appeared on the TV show Friends, fighting (and beating) Jon Favreau's character, the millionaire Pete Becker, who was dating Monica at the time. In Pete's own words he suffered "a torn rotator cuff, a hairline fracture in my right forearm, and a severely bruised Adam's Apple." Tank has also appeared on an episode of Kenan and Kel, where he swore to get revenge on Kenan for sending him to prison. His character's name was John "The Jackhammer" Rogan.

In 2003, Abbott performed a 600 pound bench press which was recorded on video. It is alleged the press was improperly done because the barbell bounced off Abbott's chest, alleviating part of the force needed to lift the weight up. Abbott responded to this claim during an interview, highlighting the ridiculousness of someone "bouncing" 600 pounds of weight off their chest without sustaining massive injury.

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Super Calo

Name Super Calo
Real name Rafael García
Nicknames El Rapero (The rapper)
Name history El Greco Jr. (debut - ??), El Hijo de Superzán (90 - 91?),El Diabólico Chucky (91 - 92), Super Caló (05/92 - ), Love Warrior (96 - 97)
Family Bello Greco (father), Alan & Chris Stone (brothers)
Trained by: Bello Greco, Pepe Casas
Birth date February 22, 1971 - Guadalajara, Mexico
Wrestling Debut August 5, 1990 - Arena San Juan Pantitlán - Mexico City
Height 5'8"/173 cms
Weight 192 lbs/87 kg
Signature moves Top-Rope Headscissors, Tope Con Giro, Flying Dropkick, Slingshot somersault senton plancha
Titles: Distrito Federal Trios Titles (w/ Alan & Chris Stone), Aztecas Middleweight Title

Rafael García (born February 22, 1971) is a Mexican professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Super Calo. A longtime mainstay of Asistencia Asesoría y Administración during the 1990s, he also competed in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW).

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ,PWI ranked him # 273 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003

Calo's brother Chris Stone may have worked under the Super Calo name in 2005 when he jumped to AAA. Chris jumped back to CMLL a few months later, and Calo was last reported retired and not living in Mexico, so it's unclear who's currently using the name and image.

http://www.luchawiki.org/index.php?title=Super_Cal%C3%B3

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WCW: Kevin Sullivan, part 2

Kevin Sullivan went to the ECW in early 1993 and teamed with Tasmaniac (Tazz) . Along with with Devil Angel, who was now called Woman, they won the ECW Tag Team Wrestling Titles and then feuded with "Public Enemy" Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock. Sullivan had a bloody feud with Abdullah The Butcher. In the spring of 1994, Sullivan left Woman behind and headed to WCW.

In WCW, he formed a tag team with his kayfabe brother Dave Sullivan, a dyslexic character who referred to himself as "Evad" who was being picked on by The Nasty Boys .Kevin enlisted Cactus Jack's help and beat the Nasty Boys for the ECW Tag Team Titles. Dave was injured and out of action for awhile and Sullivan split with Cactus Jack after losing the titles. Kevin later defeated Cactus in a Loser Leaves WCW Match at Fall Brawl on September 18, 1994.

Dave came back and dressed like his idol, Hulk Hogan.( Can you say Eugene?) This infuriated Sullivan, who hated Hogan, and so the two "brothers" began feuding. Sullivan brought in Hogan's best friend, Ed Leslie, as The Butcher to feud with him. He also brought in Avalanche calling themselves 3 Faces of Fear. They feuded with Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and Sting.

Early in 1995 , after not being able to end Hogan's career, Avalanche left the group and Sullivan turned on Butcher. Sullivan started putting together a new group with the help of his mentor, The Master. They called it the Dungeon of Doom. It was a huge stable and included Kamala, The Barbarian, Meng, Manager Jimmy Hart, Shark (formerly Avalanche), Zodiac (formerly Butcher, formerly Brutus Beefcake), Yeti, Hugh Morrus, One Man Gang and for a very short time, Vader and Big Bubba Rogers.

During this time, Sullivan began calling himself the Taskmaster. Four Dungeon of Doom members lost to The Hulkamaniacs in a WarGames match at September's Fall Brawl. As a result of Hulk Hogan's win over Zodiac, he got to spend five minutes alone with The Taskmaster. The Dungeon started a feuded with the Four Horsemen, and Sullivan acquired a certain disliking for Brian Pillman.

Once Sullivan had sent Pillman packing, the Dungeon and the Four Horsemen rejoined forces to get rid of Hogan and his friends. They brought in The Giant ( Paul Wight) , Maxx Muscle and Big Bubba Rogers. They formed the Alliance To End Hulkamania with the Horsemen in a failed attempt to do so. When they couldn't get the job done, Sullivan and Chris Benoit of the Horsemen picked up where Pillman left off and started a feud. This was a brutal feud and lasted over a year, with Benoit "stealing" Woman from Sullivan in the course of the feud. Sullivan brought in Jacquelyn to help him and also added Konnan to the Dungeon.

At Bash at the Beach on July 13, Sullivan lost a retirement match to Benoit. Kevin was already the booker so it gave him more time to do his job. Sullivan stayed on as the booker or a member of the WCW booking committee and made a brief onscreen appearance with the reformed Varsity Club of Rotunda and Rick Steiner with their cheerleader, Leia Meow. After a couple of months, he was back off TV.

Sullivan was among those blamed for the 2000 departure of Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero and Perry Saturn from WCW, though by no direct action of his own. After the departure of Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo, the resulting chaos led to Sullivan's promotion to head booker. This move angered a number of WCW wrestlers, given Sullivan's history of professional rivalries (notably Benoit) and poor decisions. At Souled Out 2000, Sullivan booked Benoit to win the WCW title in a desperate attempt to quell the uprising, but Benoit, Malenko, Guerrero and Saturn would quit the night after, immediately signing with the WWF. Sullivan would be fired before WCW's sale in 2001.

Sullivan makes occasional appearances on the independent circuit, mainly in Florida. He owns a gym in the Florida Keys called Froggy's Fitness.

In 1985, Sullivan married Nancy Daus (née Toffoloni), his valet. In the mid-1990s, Sullivan, the then WCW booker, scripted a storyline in which Daus would leave him in favor of his on-screen rival, Chris Benoit. During the execution of the storyline, Daus legitimately left Sullivan in favour of Benoit, divorcing Sullivan in 1997 and marrying Benoit in 2000. Insiders would say that Sullivan booked his own divorce.

Between June 22 and June 25, 2007, Benoit allegedly murdered Daus and their son, Daniel, before committing suicide. Following the incident, Sullivan expressed shock at Benoit's actions, stating "I'm in the dark...I wrestled with him a lot. I thought he was a great performer...it was shocking, just shocking."
On June 28, 2007, FOX News noted in an article on the incident that Sullivan had links to both Benoit and Sherri Martel, who had died earlier that month.

Source:
http://www.answers.com/topic/kevin-sullivan-wrestler

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WCW: Lance Storm

Lance Timothy Evers (born April 3, 1969), known professionally by his ring name Lance Storm, is a semi-retired Canadian professional wrestler. He is best known in the western world for his work in World Wrestling Entertainment, Extreme Championship Wrestling, and World Championship Wrestling. He runs a pro wrestling school Storm Wrestling Academy in Calgary, Alberta, and occasionally works in the independent circuit.

Lance Storm was trained for professional wrestling by Stu Hart in Calgary, Alberta and debuted in 1990. He mainly wrestled in Calgary, but also spent time in Japan for Genichiro Tenryu's Wrestling Association "R" (WAR) promotion. He also wrestled in Smoky Mountain Wrestling in Tennessee then moving on to a Winnipeg-based WFWA, forming a tag team with Chris Jericho called The Thrill Seekers.

In 1996, Storm joined Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). He made a name for himself by becoming a heel and first teaming with Chris Candido, then being placed with valet Dawn Marie and teaming with Justin Credible as the Impact Players, racking up two tag team title reigns along the way. During this time Storm also gained a position as a booker in ECW and had a hand in much of the product content on TV and Pay-Per-View. He also took part in a memorable match vs Rob Van Dam in ECW's 1st PPV Barely Legal 1997, though at the end of the match he was booed by the crowd for two visibly "weak" chairshots to Van Dam.

Storm left ECW in 2000 to join WCW, where he became a singles wrestler. He quickly became one of WCW's most important on-screen characters, winning the United States Heavyweight Title, World Cruiserweight Title, and Hardcore Championship in rapid succession. He renamed the titles to the Canadian Heavyweight Championship, 100 kg and Under Championship, and Saskatchewan Hardcore International Title, respectively-- complete with large stickers that covered the belts' faceplates. Storm was the first triple-champion in WCW history, and tried to win the WCW Championship as well, but his efforts were defeated by champion Booker T. Storm eventually gave up the Cruiserweight/100 kg title, presented it to Elix Skipper, as well as the Hardcore/S.H.I title, passing it on to Carl Ouellet (who lost in his first defense of said title).

Storm's stable, Team Canada, feuded with General Rection's stable, the Misfits in Action, for several months. In particular, Storm and Rection feuded with each other over Storm's "Canadian" Heavyweight Title, which Rection finally won from him and promptly renamed back to the U.S. Heavyweight Title.

Storm's three-belt championship reign is more incredible considering that WCW apparently had a rule in place that a wrestler could not hold more than one singles belt at the same time (even though Storm eventually did give up two of the belts after winning them).

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WCW: "Dangerous" Devon Storm

Chris Ford is a professional wrestler best known by his ring names, Devon Storm or Crowbar.

Chris Ford was trained by Mike Sharpe while still in high school. He wrestled for many years on the independent scene under the ring name Devon Storm, a name which Ford came up with many years earlier while dreaming to be a pro wrestler. He had many notable feuds on the indys, including having several matches with Sabu. After years working on the indys and a short stint with ECW, Storm signed a developmental deal with WCW.

Storm went to World Championship Wrestling where they sent him to the Power Plant, WCW's main training facility. After being trained as "Dangerous" Devon Storm, he was placed in a stable with David Flair and Daffney Unger, where was given the name Crowbar. In WCW, he held the WCW World Tag Team Championship and the WCW Hardcore Championship. He also had a memorable feud with Terry Funk that culminated at the last WCW Starrcade pay-per-view.

After WCW, he spent some time in the now defunct World Wrestling All-Stars where he and Sabu resumed their feud.

He has wrestled some dark matches for WWE on both WWE Velocity and WWE Sunday Night HEAT.

In 2003, he joined TNA Wrestling and was part of Father James Mitchell's stable, The New Church. He was let go from TNA as they were still a small company at that time and could not afford to fly him down to Nashville every week.

Chris Ford now has a full time job as a physical therapist (a job he has had since the late 1990s). He still works some independent shows on the weekends, but has relaxed his schedule so that he can spend more time with his family.


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WCW: Tracy Smothers

Tracy Smothers (born September 2, 1962) is an American professional wrestler and is the current Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Champion.

Steve Armstrong and Tracy Smothers started teaming as The Southern Boys in Florida Championship Wrestling in 1987 where they feuded with The New Breed. They moved on to Southeast Championship Wrestling where they feuded with The Stud Stable.

Smothers and Armstrong competed in World Championship Wrestling for a number of and were known as the Southern Boys and later the Young Pistols. The tag team changed names when WCW decided to attempt to portray a more "national" image as opposed to a "southern" image (thus the "Southern Boys" became "The Young Pistols" when the duo turned heel) Smothers and Armstrong had a long feud with The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin). Smothers' last major appearance for WCW was on January 21, 1992 at The Clash of Champions, as he teamed with Terry Taylor in a loss to Marcus Alexander Bagwell and Brian Pillman.

Smothers achieved his greatest singles success in Jim Cornette's Smoky Mountain Wrestling promotion which was based out of Knoxville, Tennessee. Between 1992 and 1995, "The Wild Eyed Southern Boy," competed as a babyface for SMW and won the Heavyweight title twice, the tag team titles once (with "Dirty White Boy" Tony Anthony, known as the "T.H.U.G.'S"), and the "Beat the Champ" TV title on three separate occasions. Smothers had notable feuds during this time against "Prime Time" Brian Lee, Chris Candido, Tony Anthony, The Heavenly Bodies, and The Gangstas. He also competed as a heel in the United States Wrestling Association during the SMW vs. USWA feud in 1995.

After SMW folded, Smothers continued to work for the USWA (and the WWF). Smothers at one point even joined the USWA branch of the Nation of Domination, changing his name to Shaquille Ali (a take off of NBA star Shaquille O'Neal and legendary boxer Muhammad Ali).

Before SMW folded in late 1995, Smothers began wrestling in the summer of that year as Freddie Joe Floyd in the WWF as a babyface jobber to various up and comers, most notably Hunter Hearst-Helmsley and Stone Cold Steve Austin. His only meaningful win under the Floyd gimmick was an upset of Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw in his debut, which resulted in Bradshaw beating Floyd in a subsequent rematch. He also scored a count out win over Triple H, thanks to Mr. Perfect distracting Helmsley. His entire gimmick was a rib on Gerald Brisco and Jack Brisco, as they both came from Bowlegs, Oklahoma (the same home town Freddie Joe Floyd was billed as being from). Jack Brisco’s real name is Fred Joe Brisco, and Gerald’s full name is Floyd Gerald Brisco.

Later in his career he joined Extreme Championship Wrestling as "The Main Man" Tracy Smothers and was part of the Full Blooded Italians (or F.B.I.). He was most notably remembered for doing a goofy dance, that ECW announcer Joey Styles often commented on by saying "what the hell is with that awful dance." The FBI during this time was mostly a comedy heel tag team, which also featured Little Guido, "The Big Don" Tommy Rich, and the "Italian Stallion" John T. Smith. Smothers, long associated with being a stereotypical southern wrestler, was billed as being from "Nashville, Italy" during this time.

Smothers wrestled at both of the June 2005 ECW reunion shows, defeating The Blue Meanie at Hardcore Homecoming with the help of J.T. Smith, and accompanying Little Guido to ringside for his match with Yoshihiro Tajiri and Super Crazy at ECW One Night Stand 2005. On June 18, 2005 at a Championship Wrestling event, Smothers challenged WWE employee John "Bradshaw" Layfield to a fight after JBL shot on The Blue Meanie during a brawl at the end of One Night Stand. He also wrestled at all 4 Hardcore Homecoming events.

Smothers still competes on a regular basis in various independent promotions throughout the country, although based largely in the south/mid-south/midwest area. He formed a tag team with fellow SMW and ECW alum Chris Hamrick known as "Southern Comfort" and together they won several tag team championships on the indy circuit. The Smothers/Hamrick duo was known for using the theme song from The Dukes of Hazzard as their intro music.

Smothers is known for proclaiming himself a "'tweener." A "'tweener" is a wrestler who is neither a babyface nor a heel. Smothers is also known for dancing in the ring and challenging opponents to "dance offs" before or during a match.

In late 2005 and early 2006, Smothers worked a full-time schedule at various independent promotions in Tennessee and around the midwest and eastern United States. He also toured the United Kingdom and teaming with Chris Hamrick on 1 Pro Wrestling shows as 'Southern Comfort', where they competed in a tag team ladder match for the Tag Team Championship against Team SHAG (Darren Burridge and Colt Cabana) and Jonny Storm and Jody Fleisch, eventually losing to Team SHAG.

In late 2006, he worked a multi-month, full-time tour of Europe for a number of small independent promotions in the UK, Germany, and Scotland, such as Wrestle Zone Wrestling where in Hartlepool, England, Smothers was crowned the new wZw Heavyweight Champion. He later relinquished that title.

On February 25, 2007 in Cincinnati, Ohio, Smothers defeated Corporal Robinson to win the Pro Wrestling Unplugged Hardcore Championship.

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