1.
Grand Rapids, Michigan
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Grand Rapids is the second-largest city in Michigan, and the largest city in West Michigan. It is on the Grand River about 30 miles east of Lake Michigan, as of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 1,005,648, Grand Rapids is the county seat of Kent County, Michigan. A historic furniture-manufacturing center, Grand Rapids is home to five of the leading office furniture companies. Its more common nickname of River City refers to the landmark river for which it was named. The city and surrounding communities are diverse, based in the health care, information technology, automotive, aviation. Grand Rapids is the hometown of U. S. President Gerald Ford, for thousands of years, succeeding cultures of indigenous peoples occupied the area. Over 2000 years ago, people associated with the Hopewell culture occupied the Grand River Valley, later, a tribe from the Ottawa River traveled to the Grand River valley, fighting three battles with the Prairie Indians who were established in the area. The tribe later split, with the Chippewas settling in the lower peninsula, the Pottawatomies staying south of the Kalamazoo River. In 1740, an Ottawa man who would later be known as Chief Noonday, between 1761 and 1763, Chief Pontiac visited the area annually, gathering over 3,000 natives and asking them to volunteer to fight the British in Detroit, which would culminate into Pontiacs War. The Potawatomi attacked the Ottawa in 1765, attempting to take the Grand River territory but were defeated, by the end of the 1700s, there were an estimated 1,000 Ottawa in the Kent County area. After the French established territories in Michigan, Jesuit missionaries and traders traveled down Lake Michigan, at the start of the 19th century, European fur traders and missionaries established posts in the area among the Ottawa. They generally lived in peace, trading European metal and textile goods for fur pelts and they were French-speaking and Roman Catholic. They likely both spoke Ottawa, Madelines maternal ancestral language, La Framboise, whose mother was Ottawa and father French, later merged her successful operations with the American Fur Company. By 1810, Chief Noonday established a village on the west side of the river with about 500 Ottawa, madeline La Framboise retired the trading post to Rix Robinson in 1821 and returned to Mackinac. The first permanent European-American settler in the Grand Rapids area was Isaac McCoy, general Lewis Cass, who commissioned Charles Christopher Trowbridge to establish missions for Native Americans in Michigan, ordered McCoy to establish a mission in Grand Rapids for the Ottawa. In 1824, Baptist missionary Rev. L. Slater traveled with two settlers to Grand Rapids to perform work, the winter of 1824 proved to be difficult, with Slaters group having to resupply and return before the spring. Slater then erected the first settler structures in Grand Rapids, a log cabin for himself, in 1825, McCoy returned and established a missionary station
2.
Kalamazoo, Michigan
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Kalamazoo /ˌkæləməˈzuː/ is a city in the southwest region of the U. S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County, as of the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a total population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolitan Statistical Area. Kalamazoo is equidistant from the major American cities of Chicago and Detroit, one of Kalamazoos most notable features is the Kalamazoo Mall, an outdoor pedestrian shopping mall. The city created the mall in 1959 by closing part of Burdick Street to auto traffic, Kalamazoo is home to Western Michigan University, a large public university, Kalamazoo College, a liberal arts school, and Kalamazoo Valley Community College, a two-year community college. Originally known as Bronson in the township of Arcadia, the names of both the city and the township were changed to Kalamazoo in 1836 and 1837, respectively, the Kalamazoo name comes from a Potawatomi word, first found in a British report in 1772. However, the Kalamazoo River, which passes through the city of Kalamazoo, was located on the route between Detroit and Fort Saint-Joseph. French-Canadian traders, missionaries, and military personnel were quite familiar with this area during the French era, the name for the Kalamazoo River was then known by Canadians and French as La rivière Kikanamaso. The name Kikanamaso was also recorded by Father Pierre Potier, a Jesuit missionary for the Huron-Wendats at the Assumption mission, while en route to Fort Saint-Joseph during the fall of 1760. Legend has it that Ki-ka-ma-sung, meaning boiling water, referring to a footrace held each fall by local Native Americans, still another theory is that it means the mirage or reflecting river. Another legend is that the image of boiling water referred to fog on the river as seen from the hills above the current downtown, the name was also given to the river that flows almost all the way across the state. The name Kalamazoo, which sounds unusual to English-speaking ears, has become a metonym for exotic places, today, T-shirts are sold in Kalamazoo with the phrase Yes, there really is a Kalamazoo. The area on which the city of Kalamazoo stands was once home to Native Americans of the Hopewell culture. Evidence of their early residency remains in the form of a mound in downtowns Bronson Park. The Hopewell civilization began to decline after the 8th century and was replaced by other groups, the Potawatomi culture lived in the area when the first European explorers arrived. René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, passed just southeast of the present city of Kalamazoo in late March 1680, the first Europeans to reside in the area were itinerant fur traders in the late 18th and early 19th century. There are records of several traders wintering in the area, during the War of 1812, the British established a smithy and a prison camp in the area. The 1821 Treaty of Chicago ceded the territory south of the Grand River to the United States federal government, however, the area around present-day Kalamazoo was reserved as the village of Potawatomi Chief Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish
3.
Professional wrestling
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Professional wrestling is a dramatized athletic performance that portrays a combat sport. Various forms of weaponry are sometimes used, the content – including match outcomes – is scripted and choreographed, and the combative actions and reactions are performed to appear violent without injuring the wrestlers. Before the 1980s, these facts were considered trade secrets, in the mid-90s, the presentation of scripted events as legitimate is known as kayfabe. Although the combative content is staged and communicated between the wrestlers, there are physical hazards involved - including permanent injury and death. While it has declined in Europe, in North America it has experienced several different periods of prominent cultural popularity during its century. The advent of television gave professional wrestling a new outlet, unlike in Europe, show wrestling has become especially prominent in Japan and in North America. In Brazil, there was a popular wrestling television program from the 1960s to the early 1980s called Telecatch. High-profile figures in the sport have become celebrities or cultural icons in their native or adopted home countries, although professional wrestling started out as petty acts in sideshows, traveling circuses and carnivals, today it is a billion-dollar industry. Revenue is drawn from live event ticket sales, network television broadcasts, pay-per-view broadcasts, personal appearances by performers, branded merchandise, pro wrestling was also instrumental in making pay-per-view a viable method of content delivery. Annual shows such as WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Royal Rumble, and formerly Bash at the Beach, Halloween Havoc, home video sales dominate the Billboard charts Recreational Sports DVD sales, with wrestling holding anywhere from 3 to 9 of the top 10 spots every week. Due to its persistent cultural presence and to its novelty within the performing arts, there have also been many fictional depictions of wrestling, the 2008 film The Wrestler received several Oscar nominations and began a career revival for star Mickey Rourke. Because actual events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines for the performers, special care must be taken when talking about people who perform under their own name. The actions of the character should be considered fictional events, wholly separate from the life of the performer and this is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers will incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and those who participated felt that it was necessary that spectators should be kept in a constant and complete illusion of a real competition to keep audience interest. For decades, up until the mid-1980s, wrestlers lived their lives as though they were their characters. Wrestlers, bookers and promoters all rigorously enforced the illusion and very few were allowed into the society of professional wrestling to maintain suspension of disbelief. The practice of keeping the illusion, and the methods used to do so, came to be known as kayfabe within wrestling circles. An entire lexicon of slang jargon and euphemism developed to allow performers to communicate without outsiders knowledge of what was being said, occasionally a performer will deviate from the intended sequence of events
4.
Glossary of professional wrestling terms
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Professional wrestling has accrued a considerable nomenclature throughout its existence. Much of it stems from the origins in the days of carnivals and circuses. In the past, professional wrestlers used such terms in the presence of fans so as not to reveal the nature of the business. In recent years, widespread discussion on the Internet has popularized these terms, many of the terms refer to the financial aspects of professional wrestling in addition to performance-related terms. A-show A wrestling event where a companys biggest draws wrestle, a-team A group of a wrestling promotions top stars who compete at an A-show. Abort To discontinue a feud, angle, or gimmick suddenly, usually without explanation or due to a lack of fan interest, ace A term typically only used in Japanese puroresu for a wrestler designated as the face of the promotion. Not necessarily the same as the top champion, examples of modern aces include Hiroshi Tanahashi in New Japan Pro Wrestling and Suwama in All Japan Pro Wrestling. Agent A management employee, often a former wrestler, who helps set up matches, plans storylines. Often acts as a liaison between wrestlers and higher-level management, referred to as producers by WWE and sometimes by other companies. Sometimes they help train and teach younger active wrestlers and give criticism, Alliance A cooperative relationship developed between two or more wrestlers, whether wrestling as a tag team or in individual matches. Alliances are often formed for the purpose of retaining titles between the members of the alliance, or to counter a specific foe or group of foes. The formation of an alliance can be a storyline of its own, an angle usually begins when one wrestler attacks another, which results in revenge. An angle may be as small as a match or a vendetta that lasts for years. It is not uncommon to see an angle become retconned due to it not getting over with the fans, Apter mag An old-style professional wrestling magazine that sticks to kayfabe articles. The term refers to the magazines at one time connected to journalist Bill Apter, B-show A wrestling event featuring the middle and lower-level talent of a wrestling promotion. Sometimes includes well-known wrestlers making a return or finishing up their career, b-team The group of wrestlers on a B-show. Babyface A wrestler positioned as a hero, who the crowd are typically cheering for in a match, often simply known as a face. Beat down A situation in which a wrestler or other performer is the recipient of a one-sided beating, blading A wrestler intentionally cutting themself to provoke bleeding
5.
Truth Martini
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Martin Krcaj is an American professional wrestler, manager, and trainer better known by the ring name Truth Martini. He is perhaps best known as the manager of The House of Truth stable in Ring of Honor, Martini made his professional wrestling debut for Insane Championship Wrestling in a loss to Andy Muscat. He later joined Juggalo Championship Wrestling and participated in their first show, Truth teamed up with Chris Sabin in their first match for Independent Wrestling Revolution where they were defeated by Frankie The Face & Jaimy Coxxx. On July 24,2002, Martini and Anthony Rivera, calling themselves The Threat, beat Chris Sabin and they lost the titles a month later to Kamikaze and Tenacious Z, but regained them the next day. After almost a year the pair would lose the championships to Gavin Starr, on October 25,2003, Truth and Rivera defeated the team of Popular Mathematics for the vacant IWR Tag Team Championships. At the beginning of 2004 they lost the titles to The Bump N Uglies and they would subsequently lose the championships to The Bump N Uglies in a three way tables match that also included Jaimy Coxxx and Jimmy Shalwin. The Threat then recruited Breyer Wellington and N8 Mattson, however, on April 16,2005, Truth defeated Breyer Wellington, Eddie Venom, Gutter, Jaimy Coxxx, and Stevie Lee for IWR King Of The Indies Championship. The title was declared vacant the following July, but Truth regained it in October, Truth held the championship until May 6,2006, when he lost it to N8 Mattson in an eleven man gauntlet match. His last match for the company was in October 2007, on December 15,2005, N8 Mattson and Truth Martini defeated Gary Havok and The Golden Ninja in their debut match at All American Wrestling. The two formed a tag team called The Michigan Invasion and had matches for the AAW Tag Team Championships in 2006. They participated in AAW Tag Team Championship tournament in June, and reached the semifinals before being knocked out by Dan Lawrence and they would hold the championships until April 2007 where they lost them to Krotch and Zach Gowen. A self-professed Life Intervention Expert, Truth Martini and his House of Truth stormed onto the scene of Ring of Honor in 2009, Martini debuted at Violent Tendencies as a heel, managing the team of Josh Raymond and Christin Able in a loss against Kevin Steen and El Generico. In 2013 Martini became the manager of Matt Taven, at Supercard of Honor VIII on April 4,2014, Truth Martini helped Jay Lethal win the ROH Television Championship and became Lethals manager. This resulted in matchmaker Nigel McGuinness booking Lethal and Briscoe in a winner-take-all Battle of the Belts at Best in the World 2015 with both championships on the line, with Martinis backing, Lethal defeated Briscoe after two Lethal Injections to retain the Television Championship and win the World Championship. On January 4,2016, Martini made his New Japan Pro Wrestling debut, the following month, Martini returned to Japan to take part in the NJPW and ROH co-produced Honor Rising, Japan 2016 event, during which he and Lethal joined the Los Ingobernables de Japon stable. After months of inactivity due to suffering an injury, on September 17,2016
6.
Impact Wrestling
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Impact Wrestling is a privately held American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee and founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett in 2002. The promotion was known as NWA, Total Nonstop Action and was associated with the National Wrestling Alliance. After the agreement ended in 2007, the company created its own TNA World Heavyweight and it is the only major American promotion to predominantly make use of a six-sided wrestling ring. The concept of TNA originated shortly after World Championship Wrestling ended in 2001, bob Ryder, Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett went on a fishing trip and contemplated their futures in the professional wrestling business. Only one wrestling product remained on United States national television, the World Wrestling Federation, the Jarretts found the financial backing they needed and the company put on its first show on June 19,2002. That night, however, in a match just before they went on the air. The estimated repair time was 30–60 minutes, which they did not have because the schedule called for them to go live in a few minutes, whether the ring was ready or not. Backstage, the producers shuffled the schedule so that some non-wrestling segments went first to give the crew some more time. The ring crew fixed the rope with the help of Ron and Don Harris, initially, TNAs weekly pay-per-view show operated as the companys main source of revenue, in place of monthly pay-per-view events used by other promotions. These shows took place mostly at the Tennessee State Fairground Sports Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, after 27 months and 111 pay-per-view events, TNA began holding a weekly television show and monthly three-hour pay-per-views. The last weekly pay-per-view took place on September 8,2004, Xplosion launched on November 27,2002 as TNAs first regular cable show and featured exclusive matches from the TNA Asylum as well as exclusive interviews with TNA wrestlers. On November 18,2004, the became a recap show of the previous weeks Impact. in light of alterations in the taping schedule. Xplosion resumed airing exclusive matches once more on October 7,2005 in addition to recapping Impact, the Xplosion Xclusives also aired on the now-ceased TNA Global Impact. Airing of Xplosion in the United States ceased at the end of 2006, in May 2004, TNA introduced a television program, Impact. produced at Soundstage 21 at Universal Studios Florida and broadcast on Fox Sports. In November 2004, TNA held the first of these pay-per-views, Victory Road, the television contract with Fox Sports expired in May 2005 and was not renegotiated, leaving TNA without television exposure. This prompted TNA to air Impact, via webcasts – originally made available via BitTorrent and eventually via RealPlayer – and on Urban America Television replacing Xplosion. During this time, TNA continued pursuing a television deal for regular broadcasting, would later secured a deal with Spike TV. In October 2006, TNA began holding select pay-per-views outside of its filming location
7.
Ring of Honor
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Ring of Honor is an American professional wrestling promotion, founded in 2002 by RF Video owner Rob Feinstein. ROH holds TV tapings, pay-per-view events, live events, and Internet pay-per-view events throughout the United States and it has also held shows in the United Kingdom and Japan. Annual shows include the Anniversary Show, Supercard of Honor, Best in the World, Global Wars, Death Before Dishonor, Glory By Honor, and Final Battle. ROH records all of its shows and sells them on DVD through mail order via its online store, in 2009, ROH signed a television deal with HDNet, which aired shows every week until 2011. As of September 2011, ROHs flagship broadcast Ring of Honor Wrestling has been syndicated by parent company Sinclair Broadcasting, ROH is also broadcast on Samurai TV in Japan, and is the third-largest professional wrestling promotion in the United States, behind WWE and after Impact Wrestling. On June 22,2014, ROH had its first live pay-per-view broadcast, Best in the World, from Nashville and it was followed-up on December 7 with their biggest show of the year Final Battle, from Terminal 5 in New York City. Their next pay-per-view aired March 1,2015, which was their 13th Anniversary Show, from Las Vegas, RF Video also videotaped events held by other, less-popular, regional wrestling promotions, it sold these through its catalog and website. The first event, titled The Era of Honor Begins, took place on February 23,2002 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the former home area of ECW. In its first year of operation, Ring of Honor confined itself to staging live events in a number of venues and cities – primarily in the northeastern United States. Ten shows ran in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, two in Wakefield, Massachusetts, one in metro Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and, one in Queens, in 2003, ROH expanded to other areas of the United States, including Ohio, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Maryland. It also began to build its international identity by co-promoting an event with Frontier Wrestling Alliance in London, England on May 17,2003. In 2004, Feinstein was caught in a sting operation. After this was publicized by some outlets, Feinstein resigned from ROH in March 2004. J. Styles and Christopher Daniels, who each either held or were about to hold ROH championships, doug Gentry eventually bought Feinsteins stake in ROH, and later sold it to Cary Silkin. Under Silkin, ROH branched out across the world, on January 23,2007, ROH announced plans for a Japanese tour, resulting in a show on July 16 in Tokyo co-promoted with Pro Wrestling Noah and a show on July 17 in Osaka co-promoted with Dragon Gate. Shortly before this, in March 2007, ROH had become the first U. S. On May 2,2007, Ring of Honor announced the signing of a PPV and VOD deal with G-Funk Sports & Entertainment to bring ROH into homes with In Demand Networks, TVN, the deal called for six taped pay-per-view events to air every 60 days. Because of the move to pay-per-view, TNA Wrestling immediately pulled its contracted stars from ROH shows, the first pay-per-view, titled Respect is Earned, taped on May 12, first aired on July 1 on Dish Network
8.
WWE
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Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd. was an American professional wrestling promotion and the sanctioning body for the World Wide Wrestling Federation and later World Wrestling Federation. Founded by Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt in 1953, Capitol Wrestling Corporation is the precursor to todays WWE, run by Jess grandson, Jess McMahon was a successful boxing promoter who began working with Tex Rickard in 1926. With the help of Rickard, he began promoting boxing at the third Madison Square Garden, a few years prior, professional wrestler Toots Mondt had created a new challenge of professional wrestling that he called “Slam Bang Western Style Wrestling”. He convinced wrestler Ed Lewis and his manager Billy Sandow to implement this new solution, after much success, a disagreement over power caused the trio to dissolve and, with it, their promotion. Mondt later formed partnerships with other promoters, including Jack Curley in New York City. Mondt eventually took over the New York wrestling scene, due to the fact Curley was dying, with the aid of several bookers, together, McMahon and Mondt created the Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd. which later joined the National Wrestling Alliance in 1953. In November 1954, Jess McMahon died and Ray Fabiani, one of Mondts associates, both men left the company in protest following the incident and formed the WWWF in the process, awarding Rogers the new WWWF World Heavyweight Championship in April of that year. He lost the championship to Bruno Sammartino a month later on May 17,1963, after gaining a television program deal and turning preliminary wrestler Lou Albano as a manager for Sammartinos heel opponents, the WWWF was doing sell out business by 1970. Mondt left the company in the late 1960s and although the WWWF had withdrawn from the NWA, Vince McMahon, at the annual meeting of the NWA in 1983, the McMahons and WWF employee Jim Barnett all withdrew from the organization. By March 1979, for marketing purposes, the World Wide Wrestling Federation was renamed the World Wrestling Federation and that same year, Vincent J. McMahons son, Vincent K. McMahon, founded Titan Sports, Inc. incorporated on February 21,1980, originally in Massachusetts. In 1982, Titan Sports Inc. acquired Capitols operations, effectively relocating its headquarters to Greenwich, in an attempt to make the WWF the premier wrestling promotion in the world, McMahon began an expansion that fundamentally changed the industry. In the end, the elder McMahon would never live to see his company grow from a promotion to what is now a worldwide organization. He died from cancer at 69 years old on May 24,1984. By 1985, Titan moved to Stamford, Connecticut then establishing a new entity in 1987 in Delaware which later merged with the old company in 1988. Titan later changed its name to World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. before finally becoming World Wrestling Entertainment, list of independent wrestling promotions in the United States
9.
Color commentator
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A color commentator is a North American term for a sports commentator who assists the main commentator, often by filling in any time when play is not in progress. In other regions this role is referred to as an analyst or summariser. The color analyst and main commentator will often exchange comments freely throughout the broadcast, the color commentator provides expert analysis and background information, such as statistics, strategy and injury reports on the teams and athletes, and occasionally anecdotes or light humor. Color commentators are often former athletes or coaches of the sport being broadcast, the term color refers to levity and insight provided by a secondary announcer. A sports color commentator customarily works alongside the play-by-play broadcaster, commentary teams typically feature one professional commentator describing the passage of play, and another, usually a former player or coach, providing supplementary input as the game progresses. Additionally, former players and managers appear as pundits, carrying out a role to the co-commentator during the pre-game show preceding a given contest. In American motorsports coverage, there may be as many as two color commentators in the booth for a given broadcast, in the United Kingdom, the term color commentator is relatively unknown, rather the role is called analyst, summarizer, or simply commentator. Cricket coverage on ESPNcricinfo uses similar terminology, in Australia, the term is not used. Those giving the analysis alongside the main commentator are sometimes said to be giving additional or expert analysis, or are special comments, there is no mention or translation to the term color. In Denmark, Norway and Sweden the term ekspertkommentator / expertkommentator is used for a sidekick to the play-by-play announcer. In Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries, the position is known as a comentarista and comentador, respectively, similarly, in Finland kommentaattori is used for the second commentator, and selostaja for the main one. In France, the term for a commentator is consultant. In Italy, the commentator is usually referred to as responsible for the commento tecnico whereas the play-by-play commentator is the main telecronista. In Italy, too, the commentator is usually a person formerly directly involved in the sport. Recent Formula 1 races have no fewer than three commentators, the telecronista, a pilot, and an engineer, the last two sharing the commento tecnico. In Turkey, the term spiker is used for the play-by-play announcer whereas the color commentator is referred to simply as yorumcu, in some countries, the two-person commentating team is not used as much as elsewhere. In Germany, most broadcasts of sports matches traditionally feature a single play-by-play announcer who provides commentary, background information. If the broadcast is on TV, the announcer will usually not comment on visually obvious things, in those cases, a current or former athlete or coach is often used as co-commentator or Experte
10.
Bankruptcy
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Bankruptcy is a legal status of a person or other entity that cannot repay the debts it owes to creditors. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, Bankruptcy is not the only legal status that an insolvent person may have, and the term bankruptcy is therefore not a synonym for insolvency. In some countries, including the United Kingdom, bankruptcy is limited to individuals, in the United States, bankruptcy is applied more broadly to formal insolvency proceedings. In France, the cognate French word banqueroute is used solely for cases of fraudulent bankruptcy, in Ancient Greece, bankruptcy did not exist. If a man owed and he could not pay, he and his wife, children or servants were forced into debt slavery, until the creditor recouped losses through their physical labour. Many city-states in ancient Greece limited debt slavery to a period of five years, debt slaves had protection of life and limb, which regular slaves did not enjoy. However, servants of the debtor could be retained beyond that deadline by the creditor and were forced to serve their new lord for a lifetime. An exception to rule was Athens, which by the laws of Solon forbade enslavement for debt, as a consequence. The Statute of Bankrupts of 1542 was the first statute under English law dealing with bankruptcy or insolvency, Bankruptcy is also documented in East Asia. According to al-Maqrizi, the Yassa of Genghis Khan contained a provision that mandated the death penalty for anyone who became bankrupt three times, a failure of a nation to meet bond repayments has been seen on many occasions. Philip II of Spain had to declare four state bankruptcies in 1557,1560,1575 and 1596, at the edge of Europe, Egypt, Russia, and Turkey have histories of chronic default as well. For private households, it is argued to be insufficient to merely dismiss debts after a certain period and it is important to assess the underlying problems and to minimize the risk of financial distress to re-occur. In most EU Member States, debt discharge is conditioned by a partial payment obligation, in the United States, discharge is conditioned to a lesser extent. The spectrum is broad in the EU, with the UK coming closest to the US system, the Other Member States do not provide the option of a debt discharge. It is almost impossible to discharge student loan debt by filing bankruptcy, unlike most other debtors, the individual with student debt must give a series of reasons and tests to prove that the debtor could not pay the debt. If the person were to file bankruptcy, he or she is encouraged to do so under Chapter 13. In order to avoid bankruptcy, one could negotiate with the lender to lower monthly payments, student loan bankruptcy is considered a last resort. However, some find themselves being forced to file bankruptcy, as the lender refused to lower payments
11.
Referee (professional wrestling)
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In professional wrestling, a referee is an authority figure present in or near the ring during matches. Like wrestlers, referees are also responsible for maintaining kayfabe, and they also have a key role in ensuring that the wrestlers are physically capable to continue, and to stop the match/inform the opponent if there is a risk of injury present. Presently, referees wear wireless earpieces, to allow officials to communicate with them during matches. The purpose of this discrepancy is purely to emphasize the height, weight and musculature of some of the larger wrestlers. Although professional wrestling is worked, real injuries can be sustained, in such an event, the referee raises his hands above his head into an X shape to alert backstage officials and paramedics, as well as any other wrestlers that what is going on is really happening. An X sign across the chest is a warning, it signifies that a wrestler may be injured, in recent times, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and WWE have used the X Sign to signify storyline as well as legitimate injuries. An example of this is when A. J, styles was kayfabe injured after being hit with a powerbomb off the stage through a table by Bully Ray. Flair re-entered the match minutes afterwards, showing he was not legitimately injured, after the X sign is given, the officials backstage would communicate to the referee, if necessary, revised plans to end the match quickly. There is also a blow off sign, raising both arms straight up, if a wrestler seemed injured but feels he can continue, most professional wrestling promotions have a kayfabe rule that referees do not make decisions based on anything they do not personally witness. Distraction or incapacitation of the referee is usually a precursor to the wrestler either performing a normally illegal move without any consequence. Less commonly, the heroic wrestler might appear to win the match by pinfall or submission if not for the referee being distracted or incapacitated and these pre-planned temporary injuries to the referee are known as bumps. Distracting the referee is usually a deliberate tactic done by the villain, his manager and it can also take the form of the referee taking an inordinate amount of time to talk to the heroic wrestler for violating the rules. When any of these happen, the referee appears to be knocked unconscious for a period of time by a move that is not considered particularly devastating when applied to a wrestler. Also known as special guest referee is any match in which the referee is replaced with a guest filling in as the official. Celebrities, managers and other wrestlers can guest as the special referee, in some cases, a special referee is put into a match which is already a different match type or stipulation. The special referee would often be biased towards or against one of the competitors or could be assigned as the referee to ensure the match is called down the line. Also known as special enforcer or special guest enforcer is same as the special referee, special enforcers can become regular referees if the original inside referee becomes permanently incapacitated. An effective gimmick for the wrestlers is to have a personal referee
12.
Holland, Michigan
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Holland is a city in the western region of the Lower Peninsula of the U. S. state of Michigan. It is situated near the shore of Lake Michigan on Lake Macatawa. The city spans the Ottawa/Allegan county line, with 9.08 square miles in Ottawa, as of the 2010 census, the population was 33,051, with an Urbanized Area population of 95,394. Holland is the largest city in Ottawa County, and as of 2013 part of the Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Muskegon Metropolitan Statistical Area, Holland was founded by Dutch Americans, and is in an area that has a large percentage of citizens of Dutch American heritage. It is home to Hope College and Western Theological Seminary, institutions of the Reformed Church in America, Ottawa County was originally populated by Ottawa Indians. In 1846, Reverend Alex Tomasik established the Old Wing Mission as an outreach to the native population, Holland was settled in 1847 by Dutch Calvinist separatists, under the leadership of Dr. Albertus van Raalte. Dire economic conditions in the Netherlands compelled them to emigrate, while their desire for freedom led them to unite. Van Raalte and his colony settled on land in the midst of the Ottawa peoples Old Wing Mission Colony near the Black River where it streamed to Black Lake which, in turn, joint occupation by the two communities was not a marriage made in heaven. Eventually, the Dutch settlers purchased the land from the natives, in 1848, Michigan suffered from a smallpox epidemic. In Hollands early history, Van Raalte was a spiritual leader, in 1847 Van Raalte established a congregation of the Reformed Church in America, which would later be called the First Reformed Church of Holland. On March 25,1867, Holland was incorporated as a city with Isaac Cappon being the citys first mayor, the city suffered a major fire on October 8–9,1871, the same time as the Great Chicago Fire in Illinois and the very deadly Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin. Because of the Great Michigan Fire, Manistee and Port Huron, Holland was known as the City of Churches. There are 170 churches in the greater Holland area, many of which are with the Reformed Church in America, the city is the home to the church that started the trend of the What Would Jesus Do. bracelets in 1989. In 1987, a 23-year-old City Council member Phil Tanis was elected mayor of Holland, the Holland Museum contains exhibits about the citys history. Another, the Cappon House Museum, was built in 1874 and is a museum that once housed the first mayor of Holland. The Settlers House Museum, a building that survived the fire, contains furnishings. Hollands downtown is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, nearby Holland State Park is a Michigan State Park. Across the channel from the State Park is the Holland Harbor Light, De Zwaan, an original 250-year-old Dutch windmill, is situated on Windmill Island, a municipal park
13.
Michigan
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Michigan /ˈmɪʃᵻɡən/ is a state in the Great Lakes and Midwestern regions of the United States. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, Michigan is the tenth most populous of the 50 United States, with the 11th most extensive total area. Its capital is Lansing, and its largest city is Detroit, Michigan is the only state to consist of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula, to which the name Michigan was originally applied, is noted to be shaped like a mitten. The Upper Peninsula is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, the two peninsulas are connected by the Mackinac Bridge. The state has the longest freshwater coastline of any political subdivision in the world, being bounded by four of the five Great Lakes, as a result, it is one of the leading U. S. states for recreational boating. Michigan also has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds, a person in the state is never more than six miles from a natural water source or more than 85 miles from a Great Lakes shoreline. What is now the state of Michigan was first settled by Native American tribes before being colonized by French explorers in the 17th century, the area was organized as part of the larger Northwest Territory until 1800, when western Michigan became part of the Indiana Territory. Eventually, in 1805, the Michigan Territory was formed, which lasted until it was admitted into the Union on January 26,1837, the state of Michigan soon became an important center of industry and trade in the Great Lakes region and a popular immigrant destination. Though Michigan has come to develop an economy, it is widely known as the center of the U. S. automotive industry. When the first European explorers arrived, the most populous tribes were Algonquian peoples, which include the Anishinaabe groups of Ojibwe, Odaawaa/Odawa, the three nations co-existed peacefully as part of a loose confederation called the Council of Three Fires. The Ojibwe, whose numbers are estimated to have been between 25,000 and 35,000, were the largest, French voyageurs and coureurs des bois explored and settled in Michigan in the 17th century. The first Europeans to reach what became Michigan were those of Étienne Brûlés expedition in 1622, the first permanent European settlement was founded in 1668 on the site where Père Jacques Marquette established Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan as a base for Catholic missions, missionaries in 1671–75 founded outlying stations at Saint Ignace and Marquette. Jesuit missionaries were received by the areas Indian populations, with relatively few difficulties or hostilities. In 1679, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle built Fort Miami at present-day St. Joseph, in 1691, the French established a trading post and Fort St. Joseph along the St. Joseph River at the present day city of Niles. The hundred soldiers and workers who accompanied Cadillac built a fort enclosing one arpent, cadillacs wife, Marie Thérèse Guyon, soon moved to Detroit, becoming one of the first European women to settle in the Michigan wilderness. The town quickly became a major fur-trading and shipping post, the Église de Saint-Anne was founded the same year
14.
Secondary school
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A secondary school is both an organization that delivers level 2 junior secondary education or level 3 secondary education phases of the ISCED scale, and the building where this takes place. Level 2 junior secondary education is considered to be the second, Secondary schools typically follow on from primary schools and lead into vocational and tertiary education. Attendance is compulsory in most countries for students between the ages 11 and 16, the systems and terminology remain unique to each country. School building design does not happen in isolation, schools need to accommodate students, staff, storage, mechanical and electrical systems, storage, support staff, ancillary staff and administration. The number of rooms required can be determined from the roll of the school. A general classroom for 30 students needs to be 55m2, or more generously 62m2, a general art room for 30 students needs to be 83m2, but 104 m2 for 3D textile work. A drama studio or a specialist science laboratory for 30 needs to be 90 m2, examples are given on how this can be configured for a 1,200 place secondary. The building providing the education has to fulfil the needs of, The students, the teachers, the support staff, the adminstrators. It has to should meet health requirements, minimal functional requirements- such as classrooms, toilets and showers, electricity, textbooks, Government accountants having read the advice then publish minimum guidelines on schools. These enable environmental modelling and establish building costs. Future plans are audited to ensure that standards are not exceeded. The UK government published this downwardly revised space formula in 2014 and it said the floor area should be 1050m² +6. 3m²/pupil place for 11- to 16-year-olds + 7m²/pupil place for post-16s. The external finishes were to be downgraded to meet a build cost of £1113/m², a secondary school, locally may be called high school, junior high school, senior high school. Sweden, gymnasium Switzerland, gymnasium, secondary school, collège or lycée Taiwan, Junior High School, Senior High School, Vocational High School, Military School, in Nigeria, secondary school starts from JSS1 until SSS3. Most students start at the age of 10 or 11 and finish at 16 or 17, Students are required to sit for the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination. To progress to university students must obtain at least a credit in Maths, English, in Somalia, secondary school starts from 9th grade until 12th. Students start it when they are around 14 to 15 years of age, Students are required to study Somali and Arabic, with the option of either English or Italian depending on the type of school. Religion, chemistry, physics, biology, physical education, textile, art, design, when secondary school has been completed, students are sent to national training camp before going to either college, or military training. In South Africa, high school begins at grade 8, Students study for five years, at the end of which they write a Matriculation examination
15.
Furniture
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Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating, eating, and sleeping. Furniture is also used to hold objects at a convenient height for work, Furniture can be a product of design and is considered a form of decorative art. In addition to furnitures functional role, it can serve a symbolic or religious purpose and it can be made from many materials, including metal, plastic, and wood. Furniture can be using a variety of woodworking joints which often reflect the local culture. People have been using natural objects, such as stumps, rocks and moss. Archaeological research shows that from around 30,000 years ago, people began constructing and carving their own furniture, using wood, stone, early furniture from this period is known from artwork such as a Venus figurine found in Russia, depicting the goddess on a throne. The first surviving extant furniture is in the homes of Skara Brae in Scotland, complex construction techniques such as joinery began in the early dynastic period of ancient Egypt. This era saw constructed wooden pieces, including stools and tables, sometimes decorated with valuable metals or ivory. The evolution of furniture design continued in ancient Greece and ancient Rome, with thrones being commonplace as well as the klinai, multipurpose couches used for relaxing, eating, the furniture of the Middle Ages was usually heavy, oak, and ornamented. Furniture design expanded during the Italian Renaissance of the fourteenth and fifteenth century, the seventeenth century, in both Southern and Northern Europe, was characterized by opulent, often gilded Baroque designs. The nineteenth century is defined by revival styles. The first three-quarters of the century are often seen as the march towards Modernism. One unique outgrowth of post-modern furniture design is a return to natural shapes and textures, the English word furniture is derived from the French word fourniture, the noun form of fournir, which means to supply or provide. Thus fourniture in French means supplies or provisions, the practice of using natural objects as rudimentary pieces of furniture likely dates to the beginning of human civilisation. Early humans are likely to have used tree stumps as seats, rocks as rudimentary tables, during the late palaeolithic or early neolithic period, from around 30,000 years ago, people began constructing and carving their own furniture, using wood, stone, and animal bones. The earliest evidence for the existence of constructed furniture is a Venus figurine found at the Gagarino site in Russia, a similar statue of a Mother Goddess was found in Catal Huyuk in Turkey, dating to between 6000 and 5500 BC. The inclusion of such a seat in the figurines implies that these were already common artefacts of that age, a range of unique stone furniture has been excavated in Skara Brae, a Neolithic village in Orkney, Scotland. Each house shows a degree of sophistication and was equipped with an extensive assortment of stone furniture, ranging from cupboards, dressers and beds to shelves, stone seats
16.
College
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College is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university. In ancient Rome a collegium was a club or society, a group of living together under a common set of rules. Aside from the educational context - nowadays the most common use of college - there are various other meanings also derived from the original Latin term. In the United States, college can be a synonym for university, in Singapore and India, this is known as a junior college. The municipal government of the city of Paris uses the sixth form college as the English name for a lycée. In some national education systems, secondary schools may be called colleges or have college as part of their title, in Australia the term college is applied to any private or independent primary and, especially, secondary school as distinct from a state school. Melbourne Grammar School, Cranbrook School, Sydney and The Kings School, there has also been a recent trend to rename or create government secondary schools as colleges. In the state of Victoria, some high schools are referred to as secondary colleges. Interestingly, the pre-eminent government secondary school for boys in Melbourne is still named Melbourne High School, in Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory, college is used in the name of all state high schools built since the late 1990s, and also some older ones. In New South Wales, some schools, especially multi-campus schools resulting from mergers, are known as secondary colleges. In Queensland some newer schools which accept primary and high school students are styled state college, in Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory, college refers to the final two years of high school, and the institutions which provide this. In this context, college is an independent of the other years of high school. Here, the expression is a version of matriculation college. This is because these schools have traditionally focused on academic, rather than vocational, subjects. Some private secondary schools choose to use the college in their names nevertheless. Some secondary schools elsewhere in the country, particularly ones within the school system. In New Zealand the word normally refers to a secondary school for ages 13 to 17
17.
Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South
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Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South is an American independent professional wrestling promotion based in Louisville, Kentucky. It was formed by Ian Rotten in 1996, independent Wrestling Association, Mid-South formed in 1996 in Louisville, Kentucky. The owner, Ian Rotten, is one of the first to bring hardcore style of wrestling to the United States with his feud with tag team partner Axl Rotten. He formed the shortly after leaving Extreme Championship Wrestling in the mid-1990s. IWA Mid-South first came on the scene on October 10,1996 with the first, of what would become weekly shows in Louisville, Kentucky. On April 3,1997 IWA Mid-South crowned its first Heavyweight Champion, Tower of Doom, in early 2000, IWA Mid-South moved its operations to Charlestown, Indiana. In late 2000, IWA Mid-South started to make a shift to more technical based wrestlers. During that year Dave Prazak became a manager, ring announcer. He played a prominent role in bringing in Colt Cabana and CM Punk to join Chris Hero, with this change brought the birth of the Ted Petty Invitational Tournament, then known as Sweet Science 16. The first TPI was held in 2000 and won by Chris Hero, during this time, a match featuring Punk and Hero lasted 92 minutes and has since been referred to by ESPNs SportsCenter as one of the longest sporting events. In 2002 IWA Mid-South moved its base to Clarksville, Indiana, from 2003 to 2007, IWA Mid-South ran shows in a wide variety of venues, mostly Indiana and Illinois. During this span, they had a 51-month streak of running at least one show in every calendar month, IWA Mid-South then went on a planned hiatus, restarting operations with their 500th show on March 1,2008. On August 26,2009, IWA Mid-South announced that it would cease its operations after the Kings of the Crimson Mask show on August 28. However, on November 3, IWA Mid-South announced that it would return with smaller shows, starting with Chapter 2. On March 28,2011, IWA Mid-South announced it would end operations immediately, in July 2011, IWA Mid-South re-opened under new ownership. On September 16–17,2011 the company returned with its annual King of the Death Match tournament, during that autumn, IWA Mid-South promoted a number of small shows in the Bellevue, Illinois area. IWA Mid-South then closed once again. In July 2013, Ian Rotten announced he was again promoting shows under the IWA-MS banner
18.
Delirious (wrestler)
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He is known for his outrageous antics, such as running around aimlessly and screaming wildly when the opening ring bell sounds, and speaking in a rambling and mostly incoherent fashion. He is the booker and the Senior Producer of Ring of Honor Television, while also running the companys wrestling school. Delirious started his career in Gateway Championship Wrestling, an independent wrestling promotion based out of St. Louis while also working at his local Best Buy and he trained Daizee Haze as a wrestler while they were both in Southeast Missouri State University. He made several appearances with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling from 2003 to 2005, Delirious started working for Ian Rotten and Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South during the latter part of 2003. In November, he wrestled Matt Sydal, a fellow St. Louis wrestler, the two quickly developed a rivalry, wrestling several times over the next few months. Eventually, Delirious was able to beat Sydal at the night of the 2004 King of the Death Match Tournament. After that, Delirious began a feud with Jimmy Jacobs, the two exchanged in several matches with the title trading hands. Jimmy won the belt in early August on a Coliseum Championship Wrestling event in Evansville, two weeks later in Highland, Indiana, they wrestled to a double pin for the title. On the first night of the 2004 Ted Petty Invitational weekend, after that, Delirious went to Japan for a tour. When he returned, he won the belt on December 12, Delirious then finished the feud with a win in a Steel Cage match in Valparaiso, Indiana on February 4,2005. Delirious held the Light Heavyweight title until June 11, when he lost it to Josh Abercrombie in Philadelphia, Delirious then wrestled several matches over the fall, against the likes of Roderick Strong, Ace Steel, and Brandon Thomaselli. He also formed a team with old rival Sydal and they challenged The Iron Saints for the IWA-MS Tag Team Championships on a couple of occasions, but could not win the belts. Delirious started to less in 2006, but he defeated fellow masked wrestler El Generico in April. Delirious debuted in the Philadelphia-based promotion Ring of Honor at Reborn, Delirious continued to work for Ring of Honor sporadically throughout the next few years, gaining a cult following despite never winning a match. At Better Than Our Best on April 1,2006, ROHs commissioner Jim Cornette said that he would face a wrestler of his choosing and if he did not win, Delirious chose and defeated Ricky Reyes with the Cobra Stretch, retaining his spot on the roster. The following show, Delirious defeated Jimmy Rave, Jimmy Yang, later in the show, Bryan Danielson granted Delirious a shot at the ROH World Championship after Danielson had retained it in five minutes against Colt Cabana. Danielson retained the belt when the referee stopped the match, Delirious hand was also sliced on the ring post, Delirious would get a second shot at the ROH World Championship in a losing effort against Bryan Danielson on May 13. Delirious went on to earn a shot at the ROH Pure Championship against Nigel McGuinness, throughout the rest of the year, Delirious continued to impress with matches against Matt Sydal and McGuinness
19.
Ladder match
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A ladder match is a type of match in professional wrestling, most commonly one where an item is hung above the ring, and the winner is the contestant who climbs a ladder and retrieves the item. However, there were few matches in which the hung item must be used in a special manner in order to win the match, such as striking the opponent with the item. Ladder matches are used as a finale to storylines and it is more common to have symbolic briefcases or championship belts hung above the ring. Ladder matches and their variants are used in feuds that involve a dispute over possession of an item. Ladder matches are almost always fought under no disqualification rules, the ladder match could have been invented by either Dan Kroffat of the Stampede Wrestling organization out of Calgary, Alberta, Canada or British wrestler Kendo Nagasaki. In September 1972, Stampede Wrestling held the first ever match between Dan Kroffat and Tor Kamata, where the object to be grabbed was a wad of money. In 1987, Kendo Nagasaki competed in a Disco Challenge ladder match against Clive Myers on the popular World of Sport, the aim of this match was to retrieve a gold coloured disco record suspended above the ring. In July 1983, Stampede Wrestling held a match in which Bret Hart faced off against Bad News Allen. The first ever match in the WWF, in which Hart defeated Shawn Michaels to retain the WWF Intercontinental Title, was held in Portland. The two performers tell interviewer Jim Ross how the match was planned along with an intended ladder rematch that never materialized, many ladder matches, while not officially recognized by the WWE have taken place at house shows. One featured Razor Ramon retaining the Intercontinental Championship against Shawn Michaels months before their WrestleMania X encounter, another featured Razor Ramon winning the same title from Jeff Jarrett in Montreal in 1995, only to lose it back to Jarrett two nights later. Another featured Jeff Hardy retaining his World Heavyweight Championship against CM Punk in Denver, three ladder matches took place at consecutive house shows in 2006, where each saw Jeff Hardy defend his Intercontinental Championship. The first of these three saw Shelton Benjamin, Johnny Nitro and Carlito as contenders, the next two nights did not feature Benjamin as he was too injured to participate. Similar to a Stairway to Hell match, during Triple H and Kevin Nashs ladder match, the first participant to retrieve it could use it as a weapon. The only way to have won was by pinfall or submission, participant list This match began as a Battle Royal but when it came down to 2 competitors it became a ladder match. The big red X, usually associated with the Ultimate X match, was used instead of a belt to win the match. King of the Mountain match – Used in TNA, essentially a match in reverse. However, wrestlers cannot go for the belt until theyve scored a pinfall, Ultimate X match – Used in TNA, essentially a ladder match contested by the TNA X-Division
20.
Arik Cannon
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He is also the only wrestler officially sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon. Arik Cannon was trained at Midwest Pro Wrestling and is known for wrestling in IWA Mid-South, there, he became the IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Champion by defeating Petey Williams in the Ted Petty Invitational Tournament. He defended it against Roderick Strong and Austin Aries, but was forced to give it up due to injury in 2004. He returned to wrestling in 2005 and entered Chikaras Tag World Grand Prix 2005 with partner Claudio Castagnoli and made it to the finals to face Superfriends, Chris Hero and Mike Quackenbush. That night, Hero turned on Quackenbush and joined Cannon and Castagnoli, leading Cannon, the three began calling themselves The Kings of Wrestling. The began feuding with Quackenbush, but Cannon left the group in 2005, Cannon competed in the Tag World Grand Prix 2006 with Jigsaw as his partner, but lost in the second round. During June 2006, Arik Cannon wrestled in Chikaras fourth annual Young Lions Cup tournament, in the final round, he defeated Cheech to win the tournament. At Chikaras Cibernetico Forever event in October 2006, however, Max Boyer managed to beat him for the Cup, in November 2006, Arik Cannon partook in the Wrestling Society X promotions first season of television tapings, which later aired on MTV. In October 2007, Cannon went to Japan for a tour with Dragon Gate and was brought into the Muscle Outlawz faction by Naruki Doi along with fellow gaijins Kevin Steen and Jimmy Rave. On September 6,2009, Cannon made his debut for Dragon Gate USA at the tapings of the promotions second pay-per-view titled Untouchable and he would wrestle in an eight-way dark match, which was won by Johnny Gargano. After making several appearances for the promotion in 2010, Cannon was entered into the Breakout Challenge tournament on April 1,2011, after defeating AR Fox, Facade and Shiima Xion in his first round match, Cannon defeated Jimmy Rave in the finals to win the tournament. Two days later at Open the Ultimate Gate, Cannon and Sami Callihan wrestled in a six–way match, before deciding to walk out on the match. Later in the event, Cannon and Callihan announced they would be forming a tag team named the D. U. F. Cannon started a promotion out of Minneapolis First Avenue and 7th Street club. The promotion normally does shows out of the club but has extended to other clubs in Minneapolis. He won the F1RST WrestlePalooza Championship in January of 2017 from Ariya Daivari, Cannon was not scheduled for the match but the scheduled Heidi Lovelace was WWE bound so he filled in. In 2017, Cannon appeared on the March 7 episode of 205 Live and he was introduced by Brian Kendrick as Bryan Kendrick and lost to Akira Tozawa. Cannon is currently an assistant coach at The Academy, School of Professional Wrestling, a training facility led by WWE alumini Shawn Daivari and Ken Anderson
21.
Josh Abercrombie
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Joshua Raymond is an American professional wrestler, also known by the ring name Josh Abercrombie. He continued competing across Midwestern independent promotions before returning to IWA Mid-South in October 2004, between January and February in 2005, he began a feud against Ian Rotten, which included a match that Rotten won as part of the NWA Indiana State Championship tournament. The feud culminated in a wire rope match the next day. Abercrombie, afraid of being hurt, humorously entered the contest covered in bubble wrap, during the match, Rotten broke his hand as he punched Abercrombie in the head. Abercrombie used that to his advantage and managed to win the bout via submission, following his feud with Rotten, Abercrombie returned to singles competition while also teaming with Brandon Thomaselli in tag team matches. Abercrombie then faced Light Heavyweight Champion Delirious at the debut at The Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 10 in. Abercrombie would go on to win the match and thus win his first title in the promotion and it was also his first win over Delirious, as the two had competed against each other a few times earlier in the year for the promotion. During the summer of 2005, Abercrombie began a feud with Tyler Black over the title, while holding the Light Heavyweight Title, Abercrombie entered the Ted Petty Invitational. On September 23, Abercrombie won in the first round after defeating Jamie Noble before losing in the round to Chris Sabin. Abercrombie then continued his feud with Black, leading to a defense in a 30 Minute Iron Man tables match on October 15. During the last few seconds of the match, Black was able to superplex Abercrombie through two tables and managed to pin him, thus giving Black the win and the title. Following the match, Black offered a handshake, which Abercrombie accepted only to follow it up by spitting in Blacks face, the new group of the Thomasellis and Abercrombie were later joined by Eddie Kingston, and even aligned for a short period with Heavyweight Champion Jimmy Jacobs. Annoyed by this, the pair went back to their family, on January 12,2006, Black retained the title by pinning Abercrombie with one of Abercrombies own moves, the corkscrew 450° splash. Abercrombie demanded a rematch, stating that Black received multiple shots at him during his title reign, the match took place eight days later on January 20. After hitting two corkscrew 450° splashes, Abercrombie scored the pinfall and won his second Light Heavyweight Championship. Abercrombie would later go on to hold the title a record breaking 449 days, the longest reign in the titles history, Abercrombie then reignited his feud with Tyler Black and on August 11, both took part in a hair versus mustache match. In the weeks proceeding the match, Black grew a mustache of his own in mockery, Black would go on to win the match, but Abercrombie pointed out that a line in the contract for the match stipulated it was his hair versus Tylers mustache. Abercrombie allowed Tyler to cut his hair, but when Black went for his mustache, Josh ran off, Josh then challenged Tyler to one last match, with the title on the line, stipulating that this time the loser would leave the promotion for six months
22.
B.J. Whitmer
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Benjamin B. J. Whitmer is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to Ring of Honor, where he is a four time World Tag Team Champion, Whitmer was trained by Les Thatcher and debuted on January 23,2000 in Thatchers Ohio-based Heartland Wrestling Association. Whitmer feuded with Ice Cream Man Tony B. before forming a tag team with Jamie Knoble in 2002, on May 8,2002 he won the Cruiserweight Championship by defeating Knoble, Shannon Moore and Matt Stryker in a four-man elimination match. He lost the title to Rory Fox on August 10, in addition to the HWA, Whitmer also began performing for Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South. On April 9,2004, he defeated Jerry Lynn in a thirty-minute Iron Man match for the Heavyweight Championship, in June 2001, Whitmer toured Japan with Pro Wrestling Noah, teaming on several occasions with fellow gaijins Matt Murphy and 2 Cold Scorpio. He was entered in the GHC Junior Tournament, but was eliminated by Tsuyoshi Kikuchi in his match in Japan on June 21 in Toyama, Toyama. Whitmer toured with Noah once more in August and September 2005 and his last appearance in Noah featured him in a three-way match for the ROH World Championship against Kenta and the then-reigning champion Nigel McGuinness. Whitmer debuted in Ring of Honor in January 2003 at Revenge on the Prophecy and his first major match was a bout with CM Punk at Epic Encounter on April 12,2003. The match was declared a no-contest after Punk gave Whitmer a German suplex off the apron and through a table on the outside, leaving Punk stunned. Whitmer returned on May 31, losing to Dan Maff, and on June 14 he teamed with Punks other enemy, Raven, to face CM Punk, Whitmer and Raven lost when Cabana pinned Whitmer, apparently settling the issue. Whitmer faced the champion, Samoa Joe, at Wrath of the Racket on August 9. Between August and November, Whitmer took part in the Field of Honor event, a brawl broke out with The Prophecy on one side and Punk and Colt Cabana on the other. Whitmer then approached the ring and announced that he had been behind the attack, the events on December 22 led to a match on January 10,2004 at The Battle Lines Are Drawn between The Second City Saints and The Prophecy. The match descended into a brawl, and the referee declared it a no contest after Lucy returned to ROH for one night, after the match, Punk injured Daniels after performing the Pepsi Plunge through a table, marking Daniels last appearance in ROH until June 2005. Whitmer and Maff continued to team together as The Prophecy, accompanied by Allison Danger and they defeated the Saints for the Tag Team Championship at Round Robin Challenge III on May 15, but lost the title to the Briscoe Brothers later that evening. On June 12,2004, at World Title Classic, Maff, furious over this turn of events, Danger subsequently placed a bounty on the heads of Maff and Whitmer. They spent several months feuding with teams sent after them by Danger, including Slash Venom and Chicano, on December 26 at Final Battle 2004, they defeated the Carnage Crew in a Fight Without Honor, and shook hands with their opponents after the match. However, Whitmer injured his elbow in the course of the match, Whitmer and Maff captured the Tag Team Championship for a second time on February 19,2005, defeating the Havana Pitbulls
23.
Alex Shelley
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Patrick Martin, is an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Alex Shelley. He is best known for working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as one half of The Motor City Machine Guns with Chris Sabin and he first gained fame on the independent circuit working for Ring of Honor, as well as in Japan, for Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max. He has also worked for New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he is a former three-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion. Aside from wrestling, he is the singer of a rock band called The High Crusade. Martin initially started training in the fall of 2002 under Breyer Wellington and he then joined the BCW Can-Am Wrestling School and began training under Scott DAmore and Joe E. Legend. Six months into his career, he was hospitalized with a shattered jaw when he slipped on a wet ring, Shelley had steel plates inserted into his jaw as a result. After eight months, Shelley joined Ian Rottens IWA Mid-South promotion and he worked in the IWA for six months before joining the Philadelphia-based Combat Zone Wrestling. Not long after that, he joined Ring of Honor, on June 12,2005, Shelley made an appearance on the international version of WWE Heat, losing to Simon Dean after being hit with the Simonizer. His appearance was a tryout, but nothing came of it. Shelley debuted in Ring of Honor on June 28,2003, at WrestleRave 2003, facing B. J. Whitmer, Tony Mamaluke and Jimmy Jacobs in a Four Corners Survival match, which was won by Whitmer. He appeared with ROH sporadically throughout the remainder of 2003 and early 2004, feuding with Jacobs, at Generation Next on May 22,2004, Shelley formed a stable, Generation Next, with Austin Aries, Jack Evans and Roderick Strong. Generation Next, led by Shelley, spent the entirety of the event attacking other wrestlers and they began feuding with wrestlers with a respect for tradition such as Matt Stryker, Jimmy Rave and John Walters. On July 17,2004, at Reborn, Completion, Shelley lost to Doug Williams in the finals of a tournament for the vacant ROH Pure Championship. That same night, Generation Next attacked Ricky Steamboat during his confrontation with CM Punk, the match was won by Generation Next, with Shelley and Aries surviving. Following the match, Shelley announced his intention of challenging Samoa Joe for the ROH World Championship, Aries then announced he too was going after the title, with Shelley telling him to remember where your loyalties lie. On December 26,2004, at Final Battle 2004, Shelley and Strong were defeated by CM Punk, before Shelley could give an answer, he was attacked by Aries and Strong and kicked out of Generation Next, turning him into a fan favorite in the process. Shelley feuded with Generation Next throughout early 2005, unsuccessfully challenging Aries for the ROH World Championship at Manhattan Mayhem on May 7, on July 23, Shelley was in a tag match against Aries and Strong, with him choosing a mystery partner. Shelley gave speculation in a promo as to who his partner would be
24.
Tag team
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Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. A tag team may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, in most team matches, only one competitor per team is allowed in the ring at a time. This status as the active or legal wrestler may be transferred by physical contact, the team-based match has been a mainstay of professional wrestling since the mid twentieth century, and most promotions have sanctioned a championship division for tag teams. g. A couple tag-teaming in an argument with another person, in 1901 the first tag team match was held in the United States, in San Francisco. San Francisco promoters introduced tag team wrestling as a way of improving the sport’s entertainment value, while tag team wrestling is now almost traditional in American professional wrestling, the innovation didnt become especially popular outside San Francisco until the 1930s. The first World tag team championship was also crowned in San Francisco in the early 1950s, typically, a tag team championship is awarded to and defended by team of two. In kayfabe, this made it difficult for challengers to prepare for their title fights. This was a gimmick, and is still utilized by other wrestling companies. The stipulation has become known as the freebird rule. A common storyline is former tag team partners turning on each other and this can be used when one member is being called on to develop a new gimmick. The basic tag team match has two teams of two facing off against each other. All standard rules for singles wrestling apply to a team match, however, only one wrestler from each team, called the legal man is allowed in the ring at a time. All other members of the team wait outside the ropes in the teams specified corner, only an active/legal wrestler is allowed to score a fall or have a fall scored against him/her. But any wrestler, legal or outside, may face disqualification for himself or his team for violating rules, once a tag is made, the wrestler tagging out has a grace period to leave the ring before risking disqualification. The wrestler outside the ring must be touching the tag rope tied in the corner, tags are legal as long as the two team members touch. The referee has to see and/or hear the contact between the two wrestlers in order for the tag to be legal. As the ultimate authority over the match, a referee may overlook any of these at his discretion, in some multi-man tag matches in lucha libre, a wrestler can make himself the teams legal man simply by setting foot in the ring, and his partner then leaves. This allows for action to become nearly continuous, two referees, one stationed inside the ring and one on the floor, are employed to maintain order for this type of match
25.
Dan Maff
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Daniel Lopez is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Dan Danny Maff. He retired in March 2005 following an as of yet undisclosed incident involving his trainer, Homicide, Lopez attended Jersey All Pro Wrestling shows as a fan, and enrolled in the JAPW training school when it opened in the late 1990s. After training for months in the JAPW school, Lopez began attending Homicides training school, The Doghouse. When his training was completed in 1999, Lopez adopted the name Mafia and formed a tag team with another Doghouse graduate who he resembled, Mafia and Mack, collectively known as Da Hit Squad, began wrestling on the northeastern independent circuit. They won tag team title in JAPW in 1999 and in Jersey Championship Wrestling in 2000, in 2001, Da Hit Squad won titles in World Xtreme Wrestling and USA Pro Wrestling. At one stage held a total of six titles between them. After Mack injured his leg, he was unable to defend his half of the JAPW Tag Team Championship in a match on January 25,2003 against the Dirty Rotten Scoundrelz. Lopez unsuccessfully defended the title singlehandedly in a handicap match, Lopez won his first singles Heavyweight Championship on February 22,2003 in Woodbridge, New Jersey, defeating his trainer, Homicide. Inspired by his victory, Lopez turned face by leaving Mack, following a successful title defence against Slyk Wagner Brown, Lopez announced his retirement from professional wrestling, much to the dismay of the JAPW fans. That same evening, Lopez reverted to being a heel by renaming himself Dan Maff, Lopezs title reign came to an end on August 1,2003, when he was defeated by Al Snow, a WWE employee brought into JAPW as an outside challenger. He won the title for a time on December 13,2003, defeating Jerry Lawler in Secaucus. On February 28,2004, Lopez defended the JAPW Heavyweight Championship against his former partner, Lopez retained the title, and embraced Mack after the match in a show of respect and camaraderie. The Dirty Rotten Scoundrelz were disgusted by the show of sportsmanship, Mack returned to the ring, but, instead of helping his former partner, assisted the Soundrelz with their assault on Lopez. Mack then formed a new version of La Familia with the Soundrelz, Lopez fought off a number of challengers, including ECW alumnus Mike Awesome. He eventually turned heel again, and engaged in a lengthy feud for the JAPW Heavyweight Championship with the number one contender. To this day, Lopez remains the longest reigning JAPW Champion of all time, Lopez and Mack appeared on The Era of Honor Begins, the inaugural Ring of Honor event, on February 23,2002, attacking the Christopher Street Connection. They feuded with the CSC for several weeks before beginning a series of matches with The Carnage Crew. In 2003, Da Hit Squad formed an alliance with Homicide
26.
Homicide (wrestler)
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Nelson Rodriguez Erazo is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Homicide. A native of Brooklyn, Erazo was a fan from the age of five. Erazo trained himself as a wrestler in a bodega, debuting on March 5,1993, after wrestling for three years without any formal training, Erazo attended a professional wrestling school in New Jersey operated by Manny Fernandez. Erazo worked on the independent circuit throughout the 1990s, in 1997, Erazo was part of faction called The Wrecking Crew in Bobby Lombardis Long Island Wrestling Federation. Then while on a hiatus from wrestling, he operated a training school in Cypress Hills New York known as LIWFs The Doghouse along with Laithon. The Doghouse/LIWF produced approximately 22 graduates, including a number of ROH wrestlers, Erazo also formed a tag team called The Natural Born Sinners with Boogalou. Homicide joined Jersey All Pro Wrestling on September 7,1997 and he formed a tag team with Kane D known as The Nation of Immigration, and on March 22,1998, The N. O. I. Defeated The Sickness and The Blood Angels in a three way tag match for the JAPW Tag Team Championship in Newark, New Jersey. They lost the title to The Skin Head Express on May 20 and their second reign lasted until January 29, when they lost to D-Sex. Homicide would later hold the title more, with Don Montoya. Homicide won the JAPW Heavyweight Championship for the first time on July 9,1999 by defeating Don Montoya in Bayonne and he lost the title to Chino Martinez on August 29. His second reign began when the champion, Jason, vacated the title on November 18,2000 by no-showing the event, Homicide defeated Jay Lover for the vacant title that same night in the ECW Arena in Philadelphia. He lost the title to one of his students, Low Ki, three more Heavyweight Championship reigns followed in 2001 and 2002, with Homicide firmly establishing himself as a dominant player in JAPW. Homicides increasing commitments, including tours of Japan with Big Japan Pro Wrestling and ZERO-ONE, dan Maff, another student of Homicides, won the JAPW Heavyweight Championship on December 13,2003. He held the title throughout 2004, in March 2005, however, Homicide and Maff had a legitimate falling-out, with Homicide announcing that Maff had betrayed him, and that he would refuse to work for any promotion which employed Maff. This effectively led to Maff being blacklisted from the professional wrestling indy circuit, as a result, the JAPW Heavyweight Championship was vacated. Jay Lethal had pursued the JAPW Heavyweight Championship for several months and was expected to be the next champion. The title was put on the line in a match between Lethal and an opponent on March 26
27.
Samoa Joe
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Nuufolau Joel Joe Seanoa, better known by his ring name Samoa Joe, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE and performing on the Raw brand. He was previously best known for his time with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and Ring of Honor, Joe established himself in ROH from the promotions beginning in 2002, holding the ROH World Championship for a record 21 months from May 2003 to December 2004. He left TNA in February 2015, briefly competing again in ROH, Joe officially debuted in WWEs developmental territory NXT in May 2015, and signed a full-time contract with the company in June, he went on to become the first ever two-time NXT Champion. Seanoa was born and raised in Orange County, California and he resided mainly in Huntington Beach and spent time during his childhood in Ewa Beach, Hawaii. Seanoas family founded a Polynesian dance troupe in the United States called Tiare Productions, Seanoa made his stage debut at the 1984 Summer Olympics opening at the age of five. He became a California State Junior Judo Champion and was an all league football player while attending Ocean View High School, before becoming a wrestler, Seanoa worked as a mortgage broker. Joe was the first graduate of the UIWA West Coast Dojo, training under Cincinnati Red, along with Johnny Hemp and, occasionally and he debuted in December 1999 in a match against Uncle Jess Hansen just three months after beginning training. Joe quickly signed with former WWF developmental affiliate Ultimate Pro Wrestling and he tagged with Mike Knox at UPW Proving Ground on December 12,2000 in the Galaxy Theatre of Santa Ana, California and defeated the debuting Al Katrazz with Basil. He eventually captured the UPW Heavyweight Championship and he later became the longest reigning UPW Heavyweight Champion ever. When Joe was in UPW, he met Bruce Pritchard and Jim Ross, Joe continued to work for the promotion throughout 2002, participating in a number of their biggest shows and tournaments. After forming a team with Keiji Sakoda, they became the inaugural NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Champions and he worked as both Samoa Joe and later King Joe, but ultimately chose to leave the promotion when he was asked to take on a more gimmicky character. Back in the United States, Joe joined the ranks of the East Coast-based Ring of Honor promotion in 2002 and he made his debut at Glory by Honor as Christopher Danielss hired assassin, brought in to take out Danielss chief enemy, Low Ki. He held that title for twenty one months before losing it to Austin Aries at Final Battle 2004 on December 26,2004, during this time, he had a trilogy of title defenses against CM Punk. He held the title for three months before losing it to Nigel McGuinness on August 27 at Dragon Gate Invasion. In October 2005, when Japanese heavyweight superstar Kenta Kobashi made a trip to the United States. ROH officials selected Joe to face him in a match on the first night. Joe proved to be an opponent for Kobashi, in a back and forth match. The match went on to win the Wrestling Observer Newsletter award for Match of the Year, in 2006, Joe was one of the principal wrestlers representing Ring of Honor in their war against rival Philadelphia promotion Combat Zone Wrestling
28.
Jay Lethal
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Jamar Jay Shipman, better known by the ring name Jay Lethal, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to Ring of Honor. Lethal is also known for working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he was a six-time X Division Champion, between ROH and TNA, Lethal has won 11 total championships. Jamar Shipman was born to Ronald and Shirley Shipman on April 29,1985, in Elizabeth, New Jersey and is the middle child of three brothers and two sisters. On July 7,2001, at age sixteen, Shipman entered a contest held by Jersey All Pro Wrestling which entitled the winner to a lifetime of training in the JAPW professional wrestling school. Shipman won, and spent half a year training, at the end of which the JAPW school closed down, Shipman then began training under Extreme Championship Wrestling alum Mikey Whipwreck and Dan Maff. Shipman made his debut under the ring name Jay Lethal on October 26,2001, at JAPWs Class Of 2001 Student Show. He won his first Championship, the JAPW Television Championship, on September 13,2002, in Bayonne, New Jersey, at Never Forget, defeating the champion, Ghost Shadow, and Rain in a three-way match. His reign lasted an unprecedented and unreplicated eleven months, with Lethal finally losing to Crazy Ivan on August 22,2003, in Rahway, New Jersey at Counter-Strike. Lethal also held the JAPW Light Heavyweight Championship, defeating the champion, Azrieal, Insane Dragon and Jack Evans on February 28,2004, at Revolution, Azrieal tried to regain the title for eight months, but repeatedly lost to Lethal. Azrieal was able to win the match, thus ending their lengthy feud, on January 29,2005, at Wild Card, Lethal pinned Maff in a title match, but the decision was overturned by crooked referee Sean Hanson. In March 2005, Maff left JAPW and retired from wrestling following an argument with Homicide, JAPW mainstay Homicide then challenged Lethal to an impromptu match for the vacant title, which Homicide won. This led to a tag match on July 16, at Gored pitting Lethal and his father against Corino, Landell and Landells manager. Lethal and his father were outnumbered, but managed to pull off a win at the last minute after Lethals mother introduced their partner, the returning Charlie Haas. After Haas attacked Lethal during the celebrations, a title match was booked between Haas and Lethal for Haas of Pain held on September 10, which was won by Lethal. On October 22 at 8th Year Anniversary Show Lethal ended his feud with Corino by defeating him for the title in a Dog Collar match with help from Tommy Dreamer. Lethals next feud would be with The D-Factors Rhino, who, on November 12,2005, at Fall Out, on June 9,2007, at Back to Business, The Latin American Xchange of Homicide and Hernandez defeated Lethal and Azrieal for the titles. At the beginning of 2009 Lethal proclaimed that it was his destiny to win back the JAPW Heavyweight title, held by Kenny Omega. On February 28,2009, in Jersey City, at Jersey City Rumble Lethal won a 21-person Jersey City Rumble to earn the right to challenge for Omegas title that same night
29.
Sal Rinauro
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Salvatore Rinauro is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in Ring of Honor, after honing his skills at NWA Wildside as well as winning the promotions Junior Heavyweight Championship, Rinauro debuted under the name Mellow as a member of Special K in Ring of Honor. Rinauro, along with Tony Mamaluke, won the ROH World Tag Team Championship at the show Joe vs. Kobashi on October 1,2005 by defeating B. J. Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs. During their reign, they defended against teams such as Whitmer and Jacobs, Homicide and Ricky Reyes. They lost the title to Austin Aries and Roderick Strong of Generation Next at Final Battle 2005 on December 17,2005. Rinauro also appeared at Total Nonstop Action Wrestlings Slammiversary event in 2005, as a fan who was attacked by Jeff Jarrett before the King of the Mountain match, causing Jarrett to be arrested. After losing the title, Rinauro competed in the 2006 Trios Tournament at Tag Wars 2006 with Tony Mamaluke and Jay Fury, competing against the likes of The Briscoe Brothers. In 2006, Rinauros partner Tony Mamaluke signed with World Wrestling Entertainment to be a part of the new ECW brand, at Death Before Dishonor IV, it was revealed that Rinauro was the newest member of The Embassy. That night, he teamed with fellow Embassy member Jimmy Rave and they successfully defeated Colt Cabana, the two continued teaming for a few months, but after the Embassy disbanded, the team suffered a roadblock. On October 28,2006, Rave split the team up, since then, Rinauro makes occasional appearances in ROH. Rinauro also works for ROHs sister promotion Full Impact Pro and he achieved tag team success in FIP after winning the Tag Team Championship once with Spanky by defeating Jimmy Rave and Fast Eddie Vegas on August 6,2005. After a singular title defense against Rave and his new tag partner Jay Lethal on September 2 and he also won the Florida Heritage Championship by defeating Erick Stevens on November 9,2007. After successful title defenses against Tyler Black, Delirious, and Joey Ryan, on July 26,2007, Rinauro and Caleb Konley defeated Simon Sermon and Pretty Boy Floyd to win the vacant Tag Team Championship. Rinauro and Konely would end up being the final DSW Tag Team Champions after DSW closed down on October 11,2007 and he appeared as an enhancement talent on the November 18,2008 edition of ECW where he was defeated by debuting DJ Gabriel. In October 2009, Rinauro wrestled on two shows for Chikara, being defeated by Mike Quackenbush and Claudio Castagnoli. Rinauro teamed with another volunteer, Austin Consequences Creed as part of the Road to Goad Tournament, Rinauro became a permanent fixture in Great Championship Wrestling based on his initial appearance, and now wrestles weekly for the promotion. Rinauro also wrestles for RAMPAGE Pro Wrestling, a promotion based out of Warner Robins Georgia and he has also held the RPW heavy-weight and cruiserweight titles. In summer 2010 Rinauro was named Commissioner of RPW after Nick Patrick left, Rinauro was involved in the 4-corners match to crown the 1st ever RPW T. V. champion where he was unsuccessful
30.
Tony Mamaluke
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Charles John Spencer is a retired American professional wrestler. After being trained by Dean Malenko, Spencer began his career in 1998. He then appeared as a fan invader during many of Lodi and his brother Lennys matches until the angle was dropped when Lenny and Lodi were removed from television in late 1999. He returned shortly as Tony Marinara, a New York mobster who managed the team of Big Vito and Johnny the Bull and his storyline included a feud with Disco Inferno, who kayfabe owed his family money. At one point, the feud also involved Lash LeRoux and his last appearance came at the 2000 Souled Out pay-per-view. In an interview with Gene Okerlund, he said he had to care of some business and then left. Not long after his release, he started working in Extreme Championship Wrestling and he took on the name Tony Mamaluke, with the last name being a reference to the former tag team he managed in WCW, as well as a play on Philadelphias famous Tony Lukes restaurant. He joined The Full Blooded Italians, which consisted of Little Guido, as part of his gimmick, the ring announcer announced his weight in liquid ounces rather than pounds or kilograms, due to his unusually small stature. The two also began using the liquid ounce measurement as a reference to the difference between the two smaller active wrestlers, and their large manager. His debut match was against Mikey Whipreck on ECW on TNN, the two teams feuded for several months, with their respective managers, Big Sal and The Sinister Minister creating further conflict. They lost the title, however, on December 3,2000 at Massacre On 34th Street to Danny Doring, during this time, he also feuded with Super Crazy and Kid Kash. He stayed with ECW until the company was declared bankrupt in April 2001, after ECW folded, Mamaluke worked for NWA Wildside, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, and World Wrestling All-Stars. He then joined Ring of Honor, where he feuded with his former-partner Little Guido, in late 2003, Mamaluke relocated to Los Angeles to train in martial arts at the New Japan Pro Wrestling Inoki Dojo. He eventually returned to pro wrestling in 2005, winning the ROH World Tag Team Championship with Sal Rinauro in his first match back in Ring of Honor, the duo held the belts from October 1,2005 to December 17, when they lost them at Final Battle 2005. Mamaluke retired from wrestling in December 2012. During 2005, WWE held a reunion ECW show entitled One Night Stand, Little Guido and Mamaluke appeared with other original Full Blooded Italians at the pay-per-view. In April 2006, WWE decided to revive ECW as a new brand, Mamaluke debuted on June 7,2006 at WWE vs. ECW, Head to Head, participating in the battle royal between ECW and a contingent of Raw/SmackDown. Mamaluke made his debut at One Night Stand 2006, reviving his role as a member of the Full Blooded Italians with Little Guido
31.
Professional wrestling match types
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Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called concept or gimmick matches in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some of them occur relatively frequently, while others are developed so as to advance an angle, because of professional wrestlings long history over decades, many things have been recycled. These match types can be organized into several loose groups, the singles match is the most basic of all professional wrestling matches, which involves only two competitors competing for one fall. Victory is obtained by pinfall, submission, knockout, countout or disqualification, commentators and bookers generally explain it as saying the challenger must beat the champion. Playing into this, some storylines have heel champions protect their titles by losing in such ways. Time Limit matches were invented during the days of professional wrestling as a way to stop matches that went on for too long. A Battle of Respect is often held in tribute to another wrestler, on most occasions, one member of the team competes in the ring with one or more of his/her teammate standing behind the ropes. Wrestlers switch positions by tagging one another, usually similar to a five and, as a result. This can create tension during the match as a wrestler in the middle of the ring attempts to reach his/her teammate. In typical tag team matches, standard wrestling rules apply with an ending by pinfall, submission, countout. Promotions usually have established tag teams that most often compete in team matches rather than singles matches, though teams will often break up to pursue a singles career, teams often consist of real-life friends or relatives. On other occasions, teams are booked together by promoters based on their face or heel alignment in order to increase the amount of wrestlers on the card or to advance multiple storylines at once. Though common in Mexican lucha libre, at one point, World Championship Wrestling had a championship for teams of three, matches in which the entire team competes at once is often referred to as a tornado tag match, specifically in WWE. Matches can be held under standard rules or as a specialty match, such as a cage match or a ladder match. One famous example of this match is the Survivor Series match held in WWE at their annual Survivor Series pay-per-view, teams of four or five, though on some occasions as many as seven, compete under elimination rules. All other standard rules apply, and team members may tag in, while some teams are already established stables, others may need to recruit members for their team. In lucha libre promotions, a torneo cibernetico is a type of match between teams of up to eight wrestlers who enter in a predetermined order. A Winner Takes All match is a match where both wrestlers are champions going into the match, and the winner receives the championship of the loser and this is not the same as a championship unification match
32.
Dragon Gate
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Dragon Gate is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion formerly known as Toryumon Japan. On July 4,2004 Último Dragón left the Toryumon Gym in Mexico and took the name, the promotion subsequently changed its name to Dragon Gate and declared Cima its first Open the Dream Gate Champion. Both Ring of Honors All Star Extravaganza III on March 30 and Supercard of Honor II on March 31,2007, in Detroit, in 2008, Dragon Gate promoted their first set of shows in the United States. The first show place in Los Angeles on September 5 and featured El Generico, Necro Butcher. Their second show was in Hawaii on September 8, in 2009, Dragon Gate debuted in the United Kingdom. Their first show was held on November 1,2009, in Oxford, furthermore, they ran the first of what would become annual visits to Europe, in particular the United Kingdom, in October and November. Japans Dragon Gate promotion announced its expansion into the United States with Dragon Gate USA on April 14,2009, also in 2009 it was announced that they created another branch promotion Dragon Gate UK. Dragon Gate Nex is a project of Dragon Gate, which gives the young wrestlers of the more experience. In mid-2006, the NEX project was announced, virtually all of the shows take place in the Dragon Gate Arena, the main training ring at the Dragon Gate offices in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan. In addition to the recent graduates, comedy characters, gaijin talent, the occasional main card member of the roster will compete as well. This is done to enhance the experience to be gained for the trainees. The vast majority of NEX shows are called Sanctuary and are twice a month. They generally draw an attendance of around 90 fans due to the limited size, there are also special event shows called Premium, which are the equivalent in atmosphere to a pay-per-view. These shows involve the main members of the roster and will draw up to 100 in attendance. Early in NEX, they ran two shows at Shin-Kiba 1st RING in Tokyo, Japan, although this has since been discontinued. The following is a list of Japanese wrestlers who have graduated from the Dragon Gate Dojo in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan, along with the USA Dojo in Houston, Texas. Graduates are regarded as Dragon Gate Trueborn, having trained in the Dragon System exclusively through Dragon Gate as opposed to the Ultimo Dragon Gym. They are listed in alphabetical order
33.
Powerbomb
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A powerbomb is a professional wrestling throw in which an opponent is lifted and then slammed back-first down to the mat. The standard powerbomb sees an opponent first placed in a standing headscissors position and he is then lifted on the wrestlers shoulders and slammed down back-first to the mat. A prawn hold is used for a pinning powerbomb. Powerbombs are sometimes used in mixed martial arts competitions, when a fighter attempts to slam another fighter who has him trapped in a triangle choke, in professional wrestling, it is also sometimes used by a bigger wrestler as a counter to an attempted hurricanrana by a smaller wrestler. While it was associated with super-heavyweight wrestlers, the move was innovated by Lou Thesz, often the wrestler drops to a seated position while spinning the opponent. Styles with the name Rack Bomb, also known as a sitout two-handed chokeslam and a choke driver. The most common move referred to as a chokebomb sees a wrestler grasps an opponents neck with both hands and then lift them up into the air. From here the wrestler would throw the opponent back down to the mat while falling to a seated position. This would see the opponent land in a position where their legs are wrapped around the wrestler with their back and this allows the attacking wrestler to lean forward and place both his/her arms on the opponent for a pinfall attempt. A falling version exists, and usually ends with the attacking wrestler pinning the opponent immediately while still holding the throat after the move has already been executed. The wrestler places his opponents head in between his legs then grabs the opponents stomach and lifts his opponent over his shoulder and holds both his arms in a position over his head. The wrestler finally runs or falls to his/her knees and throws his opponent onto the mat back/neck first, WWE superstar Sheamus employs the running variation, dubbing it the High Cross. The falling variation is associated with Razor Ramon, who called it Razors Edge. This move is used by Roman Reigns as a signature move and was also commonly performed by Matt Hardy. A top rope version was used by Konnan as well, one opponent is placed on the attackers shoulders as per a standard powerbomb, then the other will be placed on the first opponents shoulders, facing in the same direction. This is normally performed by putting the first opponents head between the legs while they are sitting on the second or top turnbuckle. Finally, both opponents will be slammed to the mat, also known as a Tiger Bomb. The wrestler faces a bent over opponent, and hooks each of the arms behind the opponents back
34.
Colt Cabana
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Scott Colton is an American professional wrestler and podcaster better known by his ring name Colt Cabana. He is currently working for Ring of Honor and Global Force Wrestling, Colton also wrestled as Scotty Goldman in World Wrestling Entertainment and as old school masked wrestler Matt Classic in Wrestling Society X and Chikara. Cabana began his wrestling career in the Midwest. He competed routinely in St. Paul, Minnesota, for Steel Domain Wrestling in 2000 and 2001, often teaming or facing rival, Cabana and Punk competed extensively from Michigan to Pennsylvania, and notably for IWA-Midsouth across Indiana and Illinois. Cabana made a name for himself when he joined ROH, where he was placed in a rivalry with Punk before uniting with Punk and he later formed a tag team with Punk to win the World Tag Team Championship twice. He also had rivalries with Homicide and then-World Champion Bryan Danielson and he made several appearances, as Scotty Goldman, with WWE on its SmackDown brand before being released from his contract in February 2009. Cabana is a former one-time JCW World Heavyweight Champion, and two-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Colton was born in Deerfield, Illinois to a family of Jewish heritage and faith. He attended Western Michigan University and played on their team until graduating in 2002 with a degree in Business marketing. Scott Colton was trained by Ace Steel and Danny Dominion, alongside Phil Brooks and he broke into Ring of Honor with the name Colt Cabana as CM Punks rival before joining with Steel and Punk as the Second City Saints. Cabana and Punk later became two–time ROH Tag Team Champions, with Punk becoming a singles star, Cabana feuded with Austin Aries and Nigel McGuinness. On August 13,2005 Cabana defeated Punk in a two out of three match in their hometown of Chicago in what was supposed to be Punks last ROH match before going to World Wrestling Entertainment. On April 1,2006 in Chicago, Cabana finally got his revenge and earned the respect of Homicide after a Chicago Street Fight, which saw the feud settled with a handshake and an embrace. After his decisive victory against Homicide, Colt Cabana challenged the ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson for the World Championship at Ring of Honors 100th show on April 22,2006 in Philadelphia, Danielson defeated him in less than five minutes. Feeling he lost the match because he had spent the past eight months brawling as opposed to wrestling and he eventually earned a rematch against Danielson at Chi-Town Struggle on June 24, though he once again lost. Cabana received one last shot against Danielson for the ROH World Championship on August 26, the two fought to a 60-minute time limit draw in a two out of three falls match, with each wrestler earning one fall. In October 2006, Cabana was involved in an accident with fellow Ring of Honor stars Adam Pearce. Cabana was driving from a Ring of Honor event in Dayton, the car was totaled but everyone was wearing seat belts, which saved their lives. It was initially reported that Cabana had to have a toe amputated, despite the injury, Cabana wrestled the next night in Chicago Ridge, Illinois
35.
Daizee Haze
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Daizee Haze is an American former professional wrestler. Haze was trained by Kid Kash and Delirious, Haze honors her mentors, especially Delirious, in the ring by imitating some of their mannerisms, particularly Delirious incoherent speech and performing some of their trademark wrestling moves. In March 2002 she made her debut for Gateway Championship Wrestling based out of Missouri using a hippie stoner gimmick. Around the same time MsChif began working for the same promotion, Haze also began working for IWA Mid-South as the valet of Matt Sydal, and then went on to compete in the womens division. Haze made her IWA Mid-South debut in 2003, as the manager of Matt Sydal and her first match was against Mickie Knuckles at the Revenge Served Cold event on October 23. In May 2004 the NWA Midwest Womens Championship was introduced, Haze defeated Sumie Sakai in the first round and Rain in the second, but lost in a three-way final, when Lacey beat her and Mercedes Martinez. After three months, however, Haze dropped the championship to MsChif on May 7, Haze continued making sporadic appearances in IWA Mid-South, at one point donning Delirious style attire and dubbing herself Shelirious in a match against Mickie Knuckles on July 9,2005. On May 2,2008, Haze captured the Championship for a time after defeating the defending champion Knuckles. Haze competed in the Volcano Girls 2 tournament but was eliminated in the semi-finals by Knuckles, the winner of the tournament, Rachel Summerlyn, earned a title shot against Haze at King of the Deathmatches. Summerlyn did not get her match, however, and at the end of 2008 the championship was deactivated. Around the same time as her debut in IWA Mid-South, Haze, at the time womens wrestling was not common practice for the promotion, but Haze engaged in an in-ring program with Allison Danger, who was spending time away from The Prophecy. Soon after Haze became a member of Generation Next when Sydal joined the faction, in November 2005 at ROHs Vendetta show she managed Generation Next and A. J. Styles in a war against The Embassy. Haze was joined by Jade Chung who had broken free of the abuse at the hands of The Embassy since becoming the kayfabe girlfriend of Strong. During the eight-man war Prince Nana, of The Embassy, dragged Haze into the ring by her hair. Austin Aries and Sydal made the only to have Haze turn on them as she low-blowed both men and proceeded to deliver a Mind Trip to Jade Chung before siding with Prince Nana. Outside of the promotion Haze had a rivalry with Lacey which was carried over into Ring of Honor. At the Dedicated show in January 2007, Haze teamed with Whitmer and Cabana in six-person tag match against Lacey, Jacobs, Jacobs, Lacey and Albright won the match after Jacobs put Haze through a table
36.
Mercedes Martinez
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Mercedes Martinez is an American professional wrestler, currently performing for Shimmer Women Athletes, where she is the current two-time Shimmer Champion. As well as numerous independent promotions including World Xtreme Wrestling, Full Impact Pro, and Women Superstars Uncensored, Mercedes got involved in professional wrestling after an injury sustained playing basketball in college. Mercedes was a basketball player in high school. She later transitioned to professional wrestling due to her love for contact sports, as Mercedes explained in an article for the Boston Herald in 2004, Wrestling just came at the right time. Mercedes Martinez began her training under Jason Knight in October 2000 and she defeated a male wrestler by the name of Juice in her first match on November 12,2000. In 2001, she gained exposure under promoter Sheldon Goldberg, Goldberg subsequently formed a womens division in New England Championship Wrestling around Martinez, including bringing in foreign talent such as Yoshimoto Ladies Pros Sumie Sakai. The duo traded the North American Womens Championship, through 2003 and 2004, Martinez competed in various promotions in New England such as Connecticut Championship Wrestling, Combat Zone Wrestling, and Ian Rottens IWA Mid South. In IWA, Martinez was brought in to face the star of the womens division, Martinez wrestled Sara Del Rey in a 20-minute time limit draw, and both were given a standing ovation after their match. Martinez continued to wrestle for Shimmer and various independent promotions across America through 2006. On March 25,2006, Martinez made her Ring of Honor debut in New York City where she competed in a Shimmer sanctioned match versus her counterparts of Allison Danger, Daizee Haze, and Lacey. On December 22, Martinez suffered an injury in an ROH match teaming with Jimmy Jacobs against Haze and she returned to Ring of Honor by the end of December 2007, aligning herself with The Vulture Squad. On May 27 it was announced that Martinez and ROH had amicably parted ways, on May 2,2009 she took part in Shimmers Volume 23 where she lost to Awesome Kong. Later in the night, as part of Volume 24, she defeated Madison Eagles. The next day, she lost to Serena Deeb for Volume 25, and teamed with Deeb to take on Sara Del Rey and Kong for Volume 26, but had a losing effort in that match. On October 2,2011, Martinez turned heel for the first time in her Shimmer career and she lost the title to Kellie Skater on November 12, only to regain it the following day. In 2005, Martinez joined World Xtreme Wrestling and she participated in several matches, and then started feud with Talia Madison for the WXW Womens Championship. On July 8, Martinez defeated Madison to become the new Womens Champion, however, the title was declared vacant on September 3, when she won the WXW Cruiserweight Championship from Drew Blood on February 19,2006. On January 6,2007, Martinez defeated Cindy Rogers to regain the Womens Championship and she made her surprise return on February 10,2008 to challenge Carlisle for the WXW Womens Championship but did not regain it
