Luke Gallows
Andrew William Hankinson is an American professional wrestler and promoter, He is signed with WWE on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Luke Gallows. During his first stint with WWE, Hankinson appeared as an imposter of the wrestler Kane during 2006 and returned as Festus, a mentally handicapped character who teamed with Jesse, but the team achieved little success. After disappearing from television, Hankinson became the enforcer and "disciple" of CM Punk, sporting a cleaner, militant look, with the Festus character's "real identity" revealed as Luke Gallows, his first run in WWE ended in 2010. He is best known for working for New Japan Pro Wrestling under the ring name Doc Gallows, he wrestled prominently for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he was a member of the Aces & Eights faction under the ring name D. O. C.. Along with Karl Anderson, Hankinson has won the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship once and the IWGP Tag Team Championship three times. Hankinson began his career in West Virginia with Mason-Dixon Wrestling and in Pennsylvania with the World Star Wrestling Federation, Summit Wrestling Association of Southern Pennsylvania, Maryland-based promotions National Wrestling League and the Eastern Wrestling Alliance, wrestling as Dorian Deville, for West Virginia's Championship Pro Wrestling as the masked wrestler, Dargon.
In April 2005, despite failing to make it as one of the final ten contestants on the $1,000,000 Tough Enough, he was signed to a contract by World Wrestling Entertainment and was assigned to the Deep South Wrestling developmental territory. Hankinson wrestled in DSW as Dorian "Deacon" Deville before changing his ring name to The Freakin' Deacon, adopting the gimmick of a deranged, facepaint-wearing wrestler who came to the ring with a pet spider named Willow and sometimes spoke to it, he formed a partnership with executive Palmer Cannon and his posterior associate Dalip Singh, helping Cannon to gain DSW's ownership and attack his enemies, but Palmer and Singh betrayed Deacon and stole his spider. He formed an alliance with announcer and wrestler Bill DeMott, in a feud against The Gymini; the team proved to be effective, but Deacon abandoned DeMott during a match, causing him to be beaten down until other wrestlers made the save. It was revealed that Quintin Michaels had captured Willow and used it to blackmail Deacon, but he got his pet back, regaining his freedom.
On May 29, 2006, Hankinson debuted on Raw as an imposter Kane. Subsequently, Hankinson attacked the real Kane during or after his matches; the pair faced off in a match at the Vengeance pay-per-view, with Hankinson winning using one of Kane's trademark moves. One night however, the storyline was abruptly ended when the original Kane attacked the Impostor Kane, removed his mask, threw him out of the building. Hankinson returned to Deep South Wrestling, in addition to appearing at SmackDown! House shows. In August, he got involved in a storyline with The Bag Lady, who acted as his valet and love interest. Though he got distracted by her, she helped him to win matches. In October and Bag Lady formed an alliance with The Major Brothers against the team Urban Assault, as their enforcer G-Rilla had clashed with Bag Lady earlier. In December 2006, Deacon defeated G-Rilla in a singles match, causing the rest of Urban Assault to turn on him and beat him up. Deacon aided G-Rilla and formed a tag team with him, helping him to get revenge on Urban Assault.
The pair feuded with Team Elite for the DSW Tag Team Championship. However, in March 2007 Deacon was beaten up with steel chairs by Neikirk and Knox, needing to be carried to the hospital by G-Rilla. There G-Rilla sat accidentally over Willow, killing the spider and sending its owner to a mental breakdown. On the May 11, 2007, episode of SmackDown!, a vignette aired suggesting that Hankinson would be repackaged as Festus Dalton as part of a tag team using a Southern gimmick, alongside fellow WWE developmental talent Ray Gordy. On June 2, 2007, however, it was reported; the explanation for them not showing up on SmackDown was that they got lost on their way to the arena. Hankinson and Gordy had been sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling, where Hankinson changed his name to "Justice Dalton". Hankinson was renamed "Festus" while Gordy was dubbed "Jesse", on the June 29, 2007, episode of SmackDown!, vignettes hyping Jesse and Festus began to air. For weeks, Jesse was presented as the mouth-piece of the tandem, in awe of his tag team partner.
Hankinson, played a character, mentally challenged and unresponsive. In spite of Festus' dimwitted nature, Jesse kept claiming that Festus was an driven and physically unstoppable giant. On the September 7, 2007, episode of SmackDown!, there was a segment featuring Jesse and Festus now in the arena rather than in a studio. On October 5, Hankinson won his debut match on SmackDown! with Jesse. When the opening bell rang, Festus' personality changed into a focused and angry competitor as compared to the mentally challenged character he had portrayed; when the bell rang to signify the end of the match, Festus returned to his docile self. On the December 21 episode of SmackDown!, Festus defeated Deuce in a Santa Match, with both of them wearing Santa Claus outfits. On the January 25 episode of SmackDown!, Jesse explained the reason that they had not been
Prince Nana
Prince Nana Osei Bandoh is an American professional wrestler and manager of Ghanaian extraction, better known by his ring name, Prince Nana. He has stated. Although Nana was born in the United States and is signed to Ring Of Honor and is the Director of National Sales at www. MerchantAccountSaver.com, he states that he is the son of an Ashanti tribe member with royal heritage and the heir to the throne of Ashanti in Ghana. When Nana was three, his family relocated to Ghana for five years, returning so that Nana could be educated in America; as a teenager, he relocated to New York City in America as an exchange student. In 1992, at the age of fifteen, Nana watched WrestleMania VIII, was inspired by the WWF Championship match between "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Ric Flair to become a wrestler. A year he wrote to the World Wrestling Federation and asked their advice as to which professional wrestling school he should attend; the WWF recommended that he train under Larry Sharpe, but Nana felt that Sharpe's school was too far away.
Instead, Nana became a photographer for Johnny Rodz. Nana worked for Rodz, he debuted in 1996. Nana worked for the East Coast Wrestling Association in Delaware and USA Pro Wrestling in New York, as well as making appearances with the WWF and with Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX in Japan. In 2002, he joined the upstart Ring of Honor promotion, where in 2004 he formed a heel stable known as The Embassy. In storylines, Nana used his wealth gained from the taxes of people of Ghana to hire wrestlers to wrestle his opponents and rivals. Under his management John Walters defended his ROH Pure Championship and Jimmy Rave, Alex Shelley and Abyss won the Trios Tournament in 2006, he remained with Ring of Honor until September 2006. On October 24, 2008, in Danbury, Nana made a surprise return to Ring of Honor, saying he has no more riches, no more crown, just wants a job before he was dragged away by security; the next night, Nana made an appearance at Ring of Honor's Edison, New Jersey show and did the same thing.
Again, he was dragged away by security. The next time ROH was in Edison on January 17, 2009, Nana again appeared, only to be dragged away by security, he has since been featured in segments on the ROH Video Wire. In a March edition of the ROH Video Wire, Nana revealed that he had regained his riches due to President Obama's stimulus package, has been directing Bison Smith's attacks on ROH wrestlers. On March 20, at the ROH show in Elizabeth, PA, Nana declared that he had reformed the Embassy, with himself, Bison Smith and Ernie Osiris; the next day in New York City they were joined by the returning Jimmy Rave. Other members of the stable came to include Claudio Castagnoli, Joey Ryan, Erick Stevens, Shawn Daivari and Necro Butcher, but by October 2010 all of them, except Osiris, had left the group. On January 22, 2011, Nana debuted the latest version of the Embassy, consisting of Ernesto Osiris, Mia Yim, R. D. Evans, Tommaso Ciampa, who would take over Jimmy Rave's former role as Nana's number one wrestler.
The following April and June, both Dave Taylor and Rhino made appearances representing the Embassy. On the July 28 episode of Ring of Honor Wrestling, The Embassy disbanded, when Ciampa turned on Nana, after R. D. Evans had revealed his deal with Truth Martini, which had cost Ciampa the ROH World Television Championship. On Monday June 3, 2013, Nana received a tryout with WWE, Nana commented on the tryout on Facebook, writing, "Great day with the WWE... The future may be bright.... Fools." In mid-2013, Nana was given the new on-screen role of ROH Talent Scout. In late 2014, Nana formed yet another version of the Embassy with Moose, Stokely Hathaway and Veda Scott, disbanded. Nana was the manager of Donovan Dijak, after he sent him some envelopes every time he wrestled, until he departed from The House of Truth that took place on February 25, 2016 episode of ROH tapings. CyberSpace Wrestling Federation CSWF Tag Team Championship – with Sonjay Dutt East Coast Wrestling Association ECWA Heavyweight Championship ECWA Mid Atlantic Championship New York Wrestling Connection NYWC Tag Team Championship – with MEGA Pro Wrestling Illustrated PWI ranked him #311 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2010 USA Pro Wrestling USA Pro New York State Championship Ring of Honor profile Prince Nana on IMDb Interview
Hanson (wrestler)
Todd Smith is an American professional wrestler signed to WWE performing on its NXT brand under the ring name Hanson. He is best known for being part of the War Machine tag team, now known as the War Raiders with Raymond Rowe. Along with Rowe he is ROH World Tag Team Champion. Trained by Killer Kowalski, Smith made his debut in 2001. For the next several years, he worked for a number of independent professional wrestling promotions throughout New England, most notably New England Championship Wrestling and Chaotic Wrestling. Well known for his tag team background, he was part of The Trendsetters with Max Bauer and Pretty Psycho with Psycho, he and Brian Milonas were the head instructors at the Chaotic Wrestling training facility in North Andover, Massachusetts. Smith appeared on Velocity on December 2005, losing to Doug Basham; the following year, on September 15, 2006, he appeared on SmackDown as Todd Hansen in a losing effort to Sylvester Terkay. On February 16, 2008, Smith defeated Brandon Locke for the NECW Television Championship in Quincy, Massachusetts.
The title was vacated on April 2008, due to an injury Smith suffered in a title defense. On June 1, 2008, Smith became the champion again after defeating Chase Del Monte in a tournament final held at Suffolk Downs. In late 2008 a series of vignettes featuring Smith began to air during Chaotic Wrestling live events and on the web, showed Handsome Johnny discovering himself on a trip abroad and lead to the introduction of "The Duke of Elegance" Don Chesterfield into Chaotic storylines. Smith used this character for the Eastern Wrestling Alliance as well as Front Row Wrestling. In NECW, he changed his ring name in 2010 to "Handsome" Johnny Hayes. Smith made his ROH debut on July 27 a losing effort in a four-corner survival featuring Brian Fury and Vinny Marseglia. A few months after this, he was announced as the eighth participant in the 2014 edition of the Top Prospect Tournament, he defeated Cheeseburger and Andrew Everett in the opening rounds before going on to win the tournament at Wrestling's Finest by defeating Raymond Rowe in the final.
As a result, he earned an ROH World Television Championship match against reigning champion Tommaso Ciampa at the 12th Anniversary Show, but was unsuccessful. He formed a tag team with Raymond Rowe known as War Machine. On April 11, 2014, Hanson and Rowe both signed contracts with ROH. On August 22, 2015, War Machine defeated Killer Elite Squad in a non-title match and afterwards challenged them to a match for their GHC Tag Team Championship, a title owned by the Japanese Pro Wrestling Noah promotion. War Machine received their title shot in Japan on September 19, but were defeated by the Killer Elite Squad. On December 18 at Final Battle, War Machine defeated The Kingdom to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship, they lost the title to The Addiction on May 2016, at War of the Worlds. War Machine's final appearance with ROH was on December 16, 2017. On September 14, 2015, Hanson and Rowe made their Japanese debuts for Pro Wrestling Noah, teaming with Takashi Sugiura in a six-man tag team main event, where they defeated Suzuki-gun.
This led to a match five days where War Machine unsuccessfully challenged Smith and Archer for the GHC Tag Team Championship. In November 2016, War Machine made their debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling by entering the 2016 World Tag League, they finished the tournament on December 7 with a record of four wins and three losses, failing to advance to the finals. On April 9, 2017, at Sakura Genesis 2017, War Machine defeated Tencozy to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship, they lost the title to Guerrillas of Destiny on June 11 at Dominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall, regaining it in a no disqualification match on July 1 at G1 Special in USA. They lost the title to Killer Elite Squad in a three-way match involving Guerrillas of Destiny, on September 24 at Destruction in Kobe. On January 16, 2018, WWE announced that Hanson had signed a contract with the company and would be reporting to the WWE Performance Center. On March 17, 2018, Hanson and tag team partner, Rowe made their NXT debut at a house show, defeating the team of Adrian Jaoude & Cezar Bononi in their first match.
On the edition of April 11, 2018 of NXT, he and Rowe, dubbed War Machine, made their TV debuts, attacking Heavy Machinery and the team of Riddick Moss and Tino Sabbatelli. Two days on the April 13, 2018 edition of NXT they went on to defeat the team of Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan. Throughout the beginning of the year, the team of Hanson & Rowe, now dubbed the War Raiders would continue their winning streak, by defeating several tag teams in the NXT division, including The Mighty and Heavy Machinery. At NXT TakeOver: WarGames in Los Angeles, War Raiders would team up with Ricochet and Pete Dunne in the main event to defeat The Undisputed Era in the eponymous WarGames match. At NXT TakeOver: Phoenix, War Raiders would defeat the team of Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong to win the NXT Tag Team Championship. Todd Smith, along with his teammate Raymond Rowe, are straight edge. Brew City Wrestling BCW Tag Team Championship – with Raymond Rowe Chaotic Wrestling Chaotic Wrestling Heavyweight Championship Chaotic Wrestling Tag Team Championship – with Psycho Millennium Wrestling Federation MWF Heavyweight Championship MWF Tag Team Championship – with Beau Douglas New Japan Pro Wrestling IWGP Tag Team Championship – with Raymond Rowe NWA New England NWA New Eng
WWE
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. d/b/a WWE, is an American integrated media and entertainment company, known for professional wrestling. WWE has branched out into other fields, including movies, real estate, various other business ventures; the WWE name refers to the professional wrestling promotion itself, founded by Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt in 1952 as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation. As of 2019, it is the largest wrestling promotion in the world, holding over 500 events a year, with the roster divided up into various globally traveling brands, is available to about 36 million viewers in more than 150 countries; the company's global headquarters is located in Stamford, with offices in major cities across the world. As in other professional wrestling promotions, WWE shows are not legitimate contests, but purely entertainment-based, featuring storyline-driven and choreographed matches, though matches include moves that can put performers at risk of injury if not performed correctly.
This was first publicly acknowledged by WWE's owner Vince McMahon in 1989 to avoid taxes from athletic commissions. Since the 1980s, WWE publicly has branded their product as sports entertainment, acknowledging the product's roots in competitive sport and dramatic theater; the company's majority owner is its chairman and CEO, Vince McMahon, who retains a 42% ownership of the company's outstanding stock and 83% of the voting power. The current entity, incorporated on February 21, 1980, was known as Titan Sports, Inc., founded that same year in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts. It acquired Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd. the holding company for the World Wrestling Federation, in 1982. Titan was renamed World Wrestling Federation, Inc. in 1998 World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. in 1999, the current World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. in 2002. Since 2011, the company has branded itself as WWE though the company's legal name was not changed. WWE's origins can be traced back as far as 1952 when Roderick James "Jess" McMahon and Toots Mondt created the Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd. which joined the National Wrestling Alliance in 1953.
McMahon, a successful boxing promoter, began working with Tex Rickard in 1926. With the help of Rickard, he began promoting boxing and wrestling at the third Madison Square Garden, it was not the first time McMahon had promoted wrestling cards, as he had done so during the 1910s. In November 1954, McMahon died and Ray Fabiani, one of Mondt's associates, brought in McMahon's son Vincent James; the younger McMahon and Mondt were successful and soon controlled 70% of the NWA's booking due to their dominance in the populated Northeastern United States. In 1963, McMahon and Mondt had a dispute with the NWA over "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers being booked to hold the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Both men left the company in protest and formed the WWWF in the process, awarding Rogers the newly created WWWF World Heavyweight Championship in April of that year, he lost the championship to Bruno Sammartino a month on May 17, 1963, after suffering a heart attack a week before the match. Capitol operated the WWWF in a conservative manner compared to other pro wrestling territories: it ran its major arenas monthly rather than weekly or bi-weekly featuring a babyface champion wrestling various heels in programs that consisted of one to three matches.
After gaining a television program deal and hiring Lou Albano as a manager for Sammartino's heel opponents, the WWWF was doing sellout business by 1970. Mondt left Capitol in the late 1960s and although the WWWF had withdrawn from the NWA, Vince McMahon, Sr. re-joined in 1971. Capitol renamed the World Wide Wrestling Federation to the World Wrestling Federation in 1979. Vincent J. McMahon's son, Vincent K. McMahon, his wife Linda, established Titan Sports, Inc. in 1980 in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts. The company was incorporated on February 1980, in the Cape Cod Coliseum offices; the younger McMahon bought Capitol from his father in 1982 seizing control of the company. Seeking to make the WWF the premier wrestling promotion in the country, the world, he began an expansion process that fundamentally changed the wrestling business. At the annual meeting of the NWA in 1983, the McMahons and former Capitol employee Jim Barnett all withdrew from the organization. McMahon worked to get WWF programming on syndicated television all across the United States.
This angered other promoters and disrupted the well-established boundaries of the different wrestling promotions ending the territory system, in use since the founding of the NWA in the 1940s. In addition, the company used income generated by advertising, television deals, tape sales to secure talent from rival promoters. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, McMahon noted: In the old days, there were wrestling fiefdoms all over the country, each with its own little lord in charge; each little lord respected the rights of his neighboring little lord. No takeovers or raids were allowed. There were maybe 30 of these tiny kingdoms in the U. S. and if I hadn't bought out my dad, there would still be 30 of them and struggling. I, of course, had no allegiance to those little lords. McMahon gained significant traction when he hired American Wrestling Association talent Hulk Hogan, who had achieved popularity outside of wrestling, notably for his appearance in the film Rocky III. McMahon signed Roddy Piper as Hogan's rival, shortly afterward Jesse Ventura as an announcer.
Other wrestlers joined the roster, such as Jimmy Snuka, Don Muraco
Brock Lesnar
Brock Edward Lesnar is an American professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, former professional football player. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand. After his successful amateur wrestling career at Bismarck State College and the University of Minnesota, Lesnar signed with WWE in 2000, he was assigned to its developmental promotion Ohio Valley Wrestling, where he was a three-time OVW Southern Tag Team Champion with Shelton Benjamin. After debuting on WWE's main roster in 2002, Lesnar won the WWE Championship five months after his debut at the age of 25, becoming the youngest champion in the title's history, he was the 2002 King of the Ring and the 2003 Royal Rumble winner. Following his match with Goldberg at WrestleMania XX, Lesnar left WWE and pursued a career in the National Football League, he was named a defensive tackle for the Minnesota Vikings, but was cut prior to the start of the 2004 season. In 2005, Lesnar returned to professional wrestling and signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in his first match.
After a contractual dispute with NJPW, he wrestled as IWGP Heavyweight Champion in the Inoki Genome Federation. In 2006, Lesnar pursued a career in mixed martial arts, as he signed with Hero's and won his first fight, against Min-Soo Kim, in June 2007, he signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship the following October. Lesnar lost in his UFC debut against Frank Mir and won his second fight against Heath Herring. In November 2008, Lesnar defeated Randy Couture to become the UFC Heavyweight Champion. Shortly after a successful title defense in a rematch with Mir, Lesnar was sidelined due to diverticulitis, he would return at UFC 116 to defeat Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Shane Carwin and unify the heavyweight championships, becoming the undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion in the process. Lesnar lost the championship to Cain Velasquez at UFC 121. In 2011, he underwent surgery. Lesnar returned at UFC 141 in December, losing to Alistair Overeem and promptly retiring from MMA. Lesnar was a box office sensation in UFC, as he took part in some of the best-selling pay-per-view events in UFC history, including UFC 100 and UFC 116.
In April 2012, Lesnar returned to professional wrestling. Two years at WrestleMania XXX, Lesnar defeated The Undertaker to end his undefeated streak at WrestleMania, he achieved world champion status three times after this, having won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in 2014 and the WWE Universal Championship in 2017 and 2018. His first reign as Universal Champion was the longest world title reign in WWE since 1988 at 504 days. In June 2016, at UFC 199, the UFC announced that Lesnar would return to fight at UFC 200 though he was still contracted with WWE. Lesnar defeated his opponent Mark Hunt via unanimous decision. However, after Lesnar tested positive for clomiphene, a banned substance on the UFC's anti-doping policy, he was suspended from the UFC by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for one year and fined $250,000, his victory over Hunt was overturned to a no-contest. Lesnar retired from MMA for a second time in 2017. Lesnar is a six-time world champion in WWE, a one-time world champion in NJPW and IGF, a one-time heavyweight champion in the UFC, a one-time heavyweight wrestling champion in the NCAA, the only person in history to win a championship in each of those organizations.
He has headlined numerous pay-per-view events for both WWE and the UFC, including WrestleMania XIX, WrestleMania 31, WrestleMania 34, UFC 100 and UFC 116. Lesnar has been managed by Paul Heyman throughout the majority of his professional wrestling career. A 2015 ESPN.com article referred to Lesnar as "the most accomplished athlete in professional wrestling history". Brock Edward Lesnar was born on July 12, 1977, in Webster, South Dakota, the son of Stephanie and Richard Lesnar, he grew up on his parents' dairy farm in Webster. He is of German descent, he has two older brothers and Chad, a younger sister, Brandi. At age 17, Lesnar joined the Army National Guard, where he was assigned to an office job after his red-green colorblindness was deemed hazardous to his desire to work with explosives, he lost this job after failing a computer typing test and worked for a construction company. Lesnar attended Webster High School, where he played football and competed in amateur wrestling, placing third in the state championships his senior year.
He attended Bismarck State College, where he won the National Junior College Athletic Association heavyweight wrestling championship in his sophomore year. He transferred to the University of Minnesota on a wrestling scholarship for his junior and senior college years, where he was roommates with future WWE colleague Shelton Benjamin, his assistant coach. Lesnar won the 2000 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I heavyweight wrestling championship his senior year after being the runner-up to Stephen Neal the year prior, he finished his amateur career as a two-time NJCAA All-American, the 1998 NJCAA Heavyweight Champion, two-time NCAA All-American, two-time Big Ten Conference Champion and the 2000 NCAA Heavyweight Champion, with a record of 106–5 overall in four years of college. In 2000, Lesnar signed with the World Wrestling Federation and was sent to its developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling, where he first met future friend and manager Paul Heyman, he formed a tag team known as The Minnesota Stretching Crew with his former college roommate Shelton Benjamin and together they won the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship on three separate
Dash Wilder
Daniel Marshall Wheeler is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE. Along with Scott Dawson, he is one half of the former two time NXT Tag Team Champions and former Raw Tag Team Champions, The Revival. Wheeler was born on May 1987, in Asheville, North Carolina. Debuting in 2005, Wheeler wrestled extensively on the United States independent circuit under the ring name Steven Walters, he most notably appeared for NWA Anarchy, where he won both the NWA Anarchy Television Championship and the NWA Anarchy Tag Team Championship, for numerous other promotions such as OMEGA Championship Wrestling, Resistance Pro Wrestling and Dragon Gate USA. Wheeler performed internationally for promotions such as All Star Wrestling, Preston City Wrestling and Pro Wrestling ZERO1. Wheeler signed with WWE in 2014 and reported to the WWE Performance Center, taking the ring name Dash Wilder, he formed a tag-team with Scott Dawson, with the two performing extensively at live events under the name The Mechanics.
The duo made their debut on the July 17, 2014 episode of NXT, losing to Bull Dempsey and Mojo Rawley. The duo made only one further televised appearance in 2014, losing to Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady on the October 23 episode of NXT, but continued to wrestle extensively at house shows. Dawson and Wilder's team resurfaced and picked up their first televised win on the July 29, 2015 episode of NXT, defeating Amore and Cassady; the duo were involved in an 8-man tag-team match, taped prior to NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn. At NXT TakeOver: Respect and Wilder were defeated in the semi-finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic by eventual winners Samoa Joe and Finn Bálor. On the October 21 episode of NXT, The Mechanics' ring name was changed to Dawson; the duo would go on win the NXT Tag Team Championship from The Vaudevillains on the November 11 episode of NXT. They subsequently defended the titles against Colin Cassady at NXT TakeOver: London. Beginning in February 2016, the duo began performing under the team name The Revival.
The two made their main roster debuts on March 12, 2016 at Roadblock, again defending their championships against Amore and Cassady. On April 1 at NXT TakeOver: Dallas, The Revival lost the NXT Tag Team Championship to American Alpha but the two won back the titles from American Alpha two months at NXT TakeOver: The End. At NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II, The Revival retained the titles against Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa. In a rematch at NXT Takeover: Toronto, Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano won the NXT Tag Team Championship in a 2 out of 3 falls match. At NXT TakeOver: Orlando and Dawson lost to The Authors of Pain in a triple threat match for the NXT Tag Team Championship involving DIY. On the April 3 episode of Raw, The Revival answered an open challenge issued by The New Day; the Revival would defeat The New Day, afterwards attacked Kofi Kingston, not participating in the match. On April 14, Dash Wilder fractured his jaw during an NXT match in Spartanburg, South Carolina against Hideo Itami and Shinsuke Nakamura which required surgery and would keep him out of action for eight weeks.
Wilder returned to in ring competition on the June 26 taping of Main Event aired on June 30, teaming with Dawson to defeat Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows by pinfall. On the June 25, 2018 episode of Raw, Wilder pinned Roman Reigns in a tag team match. On SummerSlam pre-show, The Revival lost to The B-Team in an attempt to become the Raw Tag Team Champions. At Survivor Series, they were part of Team Raw, but lost to Team SmackDown in the 10-on-10 Survivor Series tag team elimination match. Following this they began a feud against The Lucha House Party and suffered various losses in handicap matches. On Raw, December 17, 2018 they defeated Lucha House Party, The B-Team and AOP in a Fatal 4-Way Match receiving a title shot for the Raw Tag Team Titles. During the next two Raw episodes they challenged Bobby Roode and Chad Gable for the titles but Dawson and Wilder were unsuccessful to win the matches in controversial fashion. Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer reported that the duo asked for their release from their WWE contracts following their match against Lucha House Party on the January 14, 2019 episode of Raw.
On February 11, 2019 episode of Raw and Wilder defeated the team of Roode and Gable to win the Raw Tag Team Championships. Anarchy Wrestling NWA Anarchy Tag Team Championship – with Derrick Driver NWA Anarchy Television Championship Pro Wrestling Illustrated PWI ranked him #132 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016 WrestleForce WrestleForce Tag Team Championship – with John Skyler WWE WWE Raw Tag Team Championship - with Scott Dawson NXT Tag Team Championship – with Scott Dawson NXT Year-End Award Match of the Year with Dash Wilder vs. #DIY in a two-out-of-three falls match for the NXT Tag Team Championship at NXT TakeOver: Toronto Tag Team of the Year with Dash Wilder Dash Wilder on Twitter Dash Wilder on WWE.com Daniel Wheeler on IMDb Dash Wilder's profile at Cagematch.net, Wrestlingdata.com, Internet Wrestling Database
A.J. Styles
Allen Neal Jones is an American professional wrestler signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name AJ Styles. Long regarded as one of the world's best professional wrestlers, Styles has headlined numerous pay-per-view events internationally. Styles debuted in 1998 and competed for various independent promotions, before gaining his first mainstream exposure in World Championship Wrestling in 2001. From 2002 to 2014, he became known for his tenure in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, who described him as "the cornerstone of the company since the inception in 2002". Within that organization, Styles held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship three times and the TNA World Heavyweight Championship twice and was the inaugural titleholder of the X Division Championship, which he won six times. Styles is the first professional wrestler to complete the TNA Grand Slam. In 2010, Styles became the first TNA-contracted wrestler to be ranked number one on the annual Pro Wrestling Illustrated PWI 500 list.
He appeared in Ring of Honor from 2002–2006, where he became the inaugural ROH Pure Champion. In 2014, Styles signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling and won his first of two IWGP Heavyweight Championships in his debut match becoming the third leader of the Bullet Club. Styles has won various titles on international independent circuits, including the PWG World Championship. Styles first appeared in WWE in 2002, but turned down a developmental contract he was offered with the company, he signed a multi-year contract with WWE fourteen years in January 2016, making his re-debut that month and going on to win the WWE Championship in September. Both PWI and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter voted him Wrestler of the Year for 2016 and in 2017 he was inducted into the WON Hall of Fame. With his second WWE Championship victory in Manchester, England in November 2017, Styles was recognized by WWE as the first wrestler to win the title outside of North America. At 371 days, this reign is the longest in SmackDown history under the brand extension, shattering the previous record of 280 days held by John Bradshaw Layfield from 2004–2005.
The reign is recognized as the eighth-longest overall. Allen Neal Jones was born at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina on June 2, 1977, he grew up in poverty with an alcoholic father. The family's poverty was such that they could not afford cable television, which resulted in Jones being unable to watch professional wrestling, his childhood passion, he attended Johnson High School in Gainesville, graduating in the class of 1996. Jones left Anderson University in Anderson, South Carolina, where he was on a partial wrestling scholarship, to try professional wrestling, he entered a professional wrestling school because his friends were doing it and to find out whether he had a natural aptitude for it. To supplement his income, he worked by driving an ambulance. Jones was trained by Rick Michaels and debuted in 1998. In the Georgia-based National Championship Wrestling promotion he wrestled as Mr. Olympia, a masked wrestler, losing to Michael Brooks in his first singles match.
By August 1999, he had won the promotion's Television Championship. From 1999 to 2001, he competed in less notable independent promotions. In December 1999, NCW merged with NWA Georgia to form NWA Wildside, Jones was renamed A. J. Styles, he appeared sporadically after signing with NWA-TNA, is a former NWA Georgia Heavyweight Champion, having defeated Rick Michaels for the title on December 22, 2001 at Christmas Chaos. Atlanta-based World Championship Wrestling had observed Styles' and Air Paris' program in NWA Wildside and offered each a contract in early 2001. Styles and Paris were placed in a tag team, named Air Raid; the team's gimmick saw both men dress with Air Raid appearing on Thunder three times. On the March 5, 2001 episode of Nitro, they were entered into a tournament for the newly created WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship, but were eliminated in the first round by eventual winners Elix Skipper and Kid Romeo. On July 9, 2001, Styles had his first WWF tryout match against his trainer, Rick Michaels, before the taping of Raw.
Styles was not offered a contract. On October 26, 2001, Styles participated in All Pro Wrestling's King of the Indies tournament, he defeated Jardi Frantz in his first round match, but was eliminated by Christopher Daniels in the quarter finals the following night. On November 13, 2001, Styles debuted in Xcitement Wrestling Federation, competing in a battle royal against Billy Fives, Christopher Daniels, Juventud Guerrera, Kid Kash, Prince Iaukea and Quick Kick for the XWF Cruiserweight Championship, but was unsuccessful in winning the title; that night, Styles defeated Josh Mathews in a match taped for XWF television. The following night, Styles was defeated by Daniels, again in a match taped for the XWF television program. Styles made two more appearances for the World Wrestling Federation in 2002: on the January 26 episode of Metal, in a losing effort against The Hurricane, in a dark match prior to the January 27 episode of SmackDown!, where he was defeated by Rico Constantino. After these matches, WWF offered Styles a developmental deal contract, where it would require Styles to relocate to Cincinnati, where the Heartland Wrestling Association developmental territory was located, Styles declined the d
