1.
Randy Orton
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Randal Keith Randy Orton is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand and is the current WWE Champion in his ninth reign. Orton is a professional wrestler, his grandfather Bob Orton, Sr. his father Cowboy Bob Orton. Before being promoted to the main World Wrestling Federation roster, Orton trained in and he was then sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling, where he held the OVW Hardcore Championship twice. Orton became a member of the stable Evolution shortly after his WWE debut and he also acquired the moniker The Legend Killer during a storyline where he began disrespecting and then physically attacking WWE Hall of Famers and wrestling veterans. At age 24, he became the youngest person ever to hold the World Heavyweight Championship, with this win, he departed from Evolution and a feud with his former stablemates began. In 2006, Orton joined forces with Edge in a tag team known as Rated-RKO, together, they held the World Tag Team Championship. After Rated-RKO disbanded in mid-2007, Orton gained two WWE Championship reigns in one night, when at 27 he became the youngest two-time WWE Champion and he formed the group The Legacy with Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase in 2008. It disbanded in 2010 and Orton returned to singles competition, from 2013 to 2015, Orton was aligned with The Authority, who named him the face of the WWE. In late 2016 he joined The Wyatt Family, winning the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship with stablemates Bray Wyatt, overall, Orton has won 16 total championships in WWE. Orton was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, the son of Elaine and Bob Orton and he is the grandson of Bob Orton, Sr. and the nephew of wrestler-turned-musician Barry Orton. He has a brother named Nate, who is a stand-up comedian. Orton attended Hazelwood Central High School, where he was an amateur wrestler, after graduating from high school in 1998, Orton enlisted with the United States Marine Corps. At the base, he received a bad conduct discharge in 1999 after going AWOL on two occasions and disobeying an order from a commanding officer. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, he was tried and convicted under a special court-martial, there, he was trained by both the promotion and his father, Bob Orton Jr. He wrestled for the promotion for one month, where he performed with such as Ace Strange. Orton also refereed a few matches with World Organized Wrestling, a promotion where his uncle Barry Orton worked. In 2001, Orton signed a deal with the then World Wrestling Federation and was sent to its territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling in Louisville, Kentucky
2.
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
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Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, commonly known as just Nassau Coliseum, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Uniondale, New York. It was open from 1972 through 2015 and is undergoing renovation with a completion in 2017. The Coliseum is approximately 19 miles east of New York City on Long Island, opened in 1972, the Coliseum occupies 63 acres of Mitchel Field, site of a former Army and Air Force base. The facility is located in the Town of Hempstead, within the Uniondale 11553 ZIP code. The Coliseum was used for sporting events, concerts, large exhibitions, plans are to have the arena become home to the Long Island Nets of the NBA D-League in the 2017–18 season and for the New York Islanders to return for the 2017-18 season. The Coliseum originally had a capacity of 13,000 to 15,000 depending on the event, before closing for renovations in 2015 the Coliseum seated 16,170 for hockey, up to 18,100 for concerts and 17,686 for boxing. The first event at the Coliseum was a Nets game against the Pittsburgh Condors on February 11,1972, the Nets won two ABA Championships in the Coliseum, with Hall of Famer Julius Erving headlining the team. In 1973–74 the Nets defeated the Utah Stars in 5 games to capture their first title, the Nets then captured the final American Basketball Association Championship in 1976, defeating the Denver Nuggets in 6 games. Following the 1976 season the Nets joined the National Basketball Association as part of the ABA–NBA merger, after their first season in the NBA, the Nets moved to New Jersey. The New Jersey Nets played four seasons at the Rutgers Athletic Center before completion of a new arena at the Meadowlands Sports Complex, the Coliseum also hosted the New York Arrows and later the New York Express of the original Major Indoor Soccer League. In NCAA Division I mens college basketball, the Coliseum hosted the ECAC Metro Region Tournament organized by the Eastern College Athletic Conference in 1978,1979,1980, and 1981. It also has hosted first- and second-round games of the NCAA Division I Mens Basketball Tournament in 1982,1994, the New York Sets of the World Team Tennis league played their first match at Nassau Coliseum on May 7,1974, and won the WTT championships in 1976. The team changed its name to the New York Apples for the 1977 season, and began playing at Madison Square Garden and the Felt Forum and repeating as champions. The New York Raiders, intended by the fledgling World Hockey Association to be their franchise, was slated to play in the new Nassau Coliseum in 1972–73. However, Nassau County didnt consider the WHA a professional league, Nassau County retained William Shea to get a National Hockey League team to play in the new building. The NHL responded by awarding a franchise to Long Island —the New York Islanders— which forced the Raiders to play in Madison Square Garden. On October 7,1972, the first Islanders game in Nassau Coliseum was played as the Atlanta Flames visited the Islanders. Flames forward Morris Stefaniw scored the first NHL goal in the building at 6,56 of the first period, while Ed Westfall scored the first goal for the Islanders, as the Flames won the game 3-2
3.
Over the Limit (2010)
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It was the first event promoted under the Over the Limit name. Nine matches took place at the event, eight of which were broadcast live on pay-per-view. In the main event from the Raw brand, John Cena faced Batista for the WWE Championship, matches on the undercard included Randy Orton against Edge, CM Punk facing Rey Mysterio, and Drew McIntyre defending the WWE Intercontinental Championship against Kofi Kingston. Other championships defended at the event were the WWE Divas Championship, the event drew 197,000 pay-per-view buys, and was attended live by 11,000 people. Reviews for the event were generally negative, with reviewers criticizing the endings of the matches, stoppages for blood, five wrestlers sustained legitimate injuries during the course of the show. Over the Limit involved different wrestlers from scripted feuds, plots, wrestlers portrayed a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated into a wrestling match or series of matches. John Cena retained the WWE Championship against Batista at Extreme Rules in a Last Man Standing match, the next night on Raw, Batista defeated Randy Orton and Sheamus to face Cena for the title. On the May 3 episode of Raw, they competed in a Beat the Clock challenge to determine the stipulation for their match. Batista defeated Daniel Bryan in 5,06, but Cena defeated Wade Barrett in 4,32 to win the challenge, the next week, Cena announced the match as an I Quit match. As part of the 2010 WWE Draft, The Big Show was drafted to SmackDown, over the next many weeks, Big Show chokeslammed Swagger through an announce table, and interrupted a promo on the May 14 episode of SmackDown, where Swagger boasted about his accomplishments. As part of the segment, Big Show destroyed Swaggers trophies, the next week, Big Show mocked Swagger in promos throughout the show and distracted Swagger during his match with Kofi Kingston, giving Kingston the win. As part of the 2010 WWE Draft on April 26, Edge was drafted to Raw, later that night, Edge interfered in a match to determine the number one contender to the WWE Championship, spearing Randy Orton and preventing Orton from receiving a WWE Championship match. The following week, Edge hosted an edition of his show, The Cutting Edge. During the show, Edge justified his actions by saying he was trying to make an impact, Edge faced The Undertaker, and lost intentionally by countout, while Orton faced Jack Swagger, and lost by disqualification when Edge interfered. The rivalry between Rey Mysterio and CM Punk was continued from several previous pay-per-views, after months of feuding, Mysterio challenged Punk to a Straight Edge Society Pledge vs. Hair match at Over the Limit. Had Punk won, Mysterio would have joined the Straight Edge Society, had Mysterio won however, Punk agreed to have his head shaved. On May 14, Mysterio and Punk faced each other in a singles match, later that night, Mysterio teamed with Montel Vontavious Porter to defeat Punk and Gallows in a tag team match. Another feud was over the WWE Intercontinental Championship between the defending champion Drew McIntyre and Kofi Kingston, SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long stripped McIntyre of the championship and fired him for repeatedly attacking Matt Hardy
4.
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
5.
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
6.
WWE The Bash
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This was the sixth show in WWEs production lineage for The Great American Bash event and the only one to be referred to as The Bash. It featured talent from the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands, there were eight matches on for the events card. The card for the event was a due to it having three main attraction bouts. The event had 178,000 buys, down on The Great American Bash 2008 figure of 196,000 buys, wrestlers portrayed a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated into a wrestling match or series of matches. All wrestlers were from WWEs Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands—a storyline division in which WWE employees are assigned to a program of the same name. Three weeks ago at Extreme Rules, CM Punk cashed in his Money in the Bank Contract and they had tense confrontations in the coming weeks, leading to Smackdown General Manager Theodore Long making a championship match between the two for the Bash on the June 15 episode of Raw. The next week on Raw, a Fatal 4-Way match was held to determine the new champion, which featured Orton, Triple H, John Cena, and The Big Show. The match ended in a draw when neither man was able to answer the referees ten-count, in the wake of their conflict, Finlay inserted himself into the rivalry on the June 16 episode of ECW on Sci Fi by attacking all three men. It was announced following the program that the four wrestlers, along with Mark Henry and this led to another match between the two at Extreme Rules, in which Jericho won the title after removing Mysterios mask. On the June 19 episode of SmackDown, it was announced that the Intercontinental title would be defended at The Bash in a match where if Mysterio were to lose, since being drafted to Raw in April, The Miz had been making challenges to John Cena. These were generally made after Cena either had been injured or was already in a match and this would continue until The Miz accumulated a record of 7–0. Prior to the show airing live on pay per view, the crowd in attendance was shown a match pitting R-Truth against Shelton Benjamin. The show started with the ECW Championship Scramble match, whoever was the interim champion as the time limit expired would be named the official champion. The first two competitors were Christian and Jack Swagger before the entrance of Finlay, Swagger became the first interim champion by pinning Finlay with a roll-up, Finlay retaliated with a Celtic Cross to Swagger. As the time limit was set to expire, Dreamer executed a DDT on Christian to remain champion, as the final minute of the match progressed, Dreamer spent the time preventing the four other men from scoring a decision to win the match and retain the title. The match continued with both men countering each others signature maneuvers in attempts to score a pin, third on the card was the No Disqualification match between Dolph Ziggler and The Great Khali. The match quickly went to the floor with both men trying to gain control of a steel chair to use as a weapon. Kane made his return in this match by assaulting Khali with the chair before Ziggler made a pin to win the match, the next match was between The Colóns and The Legacy for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship
7.
John Cena
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John Felix Anthony Cena Jr. is an American professional wrestler, rapper, actor, and reality television show host. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand, Cena started his professional wrestling career in 1999 with Ultimate Pro Wrestling and won the UPW Heavyweight Championship the following year. Cena signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation in 2001. From a generic character in 2002, Cena morphed into a rapper for the period of 2002–2004. Cena later transitioned to his current character, which he describes as a goody-two shoes Superman, in 2012, IGN described Cena as WWEs franchise player since 2005 and WWE credited Cena as being the face of WWE in 2015 since 2004. Industry veterans John Layfield, Paul Heyman and Kurt Angle have called Cena the greatest WWE star of all time. Throughout his WWE career, Cena has won 25 championships, with 16 reigns as a world champion and he is also a five-time United States Champion, and four-time world tag team champion. Furthermore, he is a Money in the Bank ladder match winner, a two-time Royal Rumble winner, Cena has the fourth-highest number of combined days as WWE Champion, behind Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, and Hulk Hogan. He has also headlined WWEs flagship event, WrestleMania, on five different occasions over the course of his career, as of 2016, John Cena is WWEs highest-paid wrestler. Cena has also made appearances on shows including Manhunt, Deal or No Deal, MADtv, Saturday Night Live, Punkd, Psych. He was also a contestant on Fast Cars and Superstars, The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race, Cena is also the host of American Grit on Fox. Cena is involved in philanthropic causes, most notably with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He has granted the most wishes in Make-A-Wish history, Cena was born on April 23,1977 in West Newbury, Massachusetts, to Carol and John Cena, Sr. He is the second oldest of five brothers, Dan, Matt, Steve and his maternal grandfather was baseball player Tony Lupien. His father is of Italian descent, while his mother has English, Cena originally attended Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, Massachusetts, before transferring to Cushing Academy, a private prep boarding school. After graduating from Cushing Academy, Cena attended Springfield College in Springfield, in college, Cena was a NCAA Division III All-American center on the college football team, wearing the number 54, which is still used on some of his WWE merchandise. He graduated from Springfield in 1998 with a degree in physiology, after which he pursued a career in bodybuilding. Cena started training to become a wrestler in 1999 at Ultimate Pro Wrestlings California-based Ultimate University operated by Rick Bassman
8.
Edge (wrestler)
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Adam Joseph Copeland is a Canadian actor and retired professional wrestler better known by his ring name Edge, currently signed to WWE. He is known for his tenure in the professional wrestling promotion WWE. Copeland was trained by professional wrestlers Sweet Daddy Siki and Ron Hutchison, throughout the 1990s, he wrestled in various U. S. independent promotions. During his time in these promotions, he competed in singles and tag team competition, in 1997, Copeland signed a developmental deal with the WWF and began competing for the company later that year, he made his televised debut the following June under the ring name Edge. In July 1999, he won the WWF Intercontinental Championship at a show in Toronto. He and Christian, billed as brothers and later childhood friends in WWF/WWE storylines, during this time, they gained notoriety in the tag team division, partly due to their participation in Tables, Ladders, and Chairs matches. He is WWEs 14th Triple Crown Champion and 3rd Grand Slam Champion and he headlined multiple pay-per-view events for WWE, including WrestleMania XXIV, and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by Christian in 2012. His wife Beth Phoenix joined the Hall of Fame in 2017, aside from professional wrestling, Copeland appeared in the fantasy film Highlander, Endgame and WWE Studios Bending the Rules. He has made guest appearances on shows such as Weakest Link, Mind of Mencia, Deal or No Deal, MADtv. He appeared on the SyFy series Haven as recurring character Dwight Hendrickson, Copeland was born in Orangeville, Ontario, the son of Judy Copeland, a single parent who worked two jobs to support her son. To this day, he has never met his father or seen a picture of him and he became interested in professional wrestling at a young age, his favorite wrestlers included Mr. Perfect, Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, Ricky Steamboat, Shawn Michaels, and Bret Hart. A notable photo exists of Copeland attending Wrestlemania VI wearing a Hulk Rules T-shirt, when he was 17, he won an essay contest with his local gym, and his prize was free wrestling training with Sweet Daddy Siki and Ron Hutchison in Toronto. He put his wrestling aspirations aside to pay the bills. He held numerous jobs and then attended Humber College, where he graduated with a degree in radio broadcasting, during Copelands training, he trained one weekday and all weekend. The schools practice ring was a 12-by-14-foot boxing ring with a harder mat than that of a wrestling ring. The ceiling above it was low, with exposed pipes, preventing top-rope moves from being performed, Copeland later credited this environment with forcing him to drill and improve his technical mat-based wrestling. His classmates included Johnny Swinger, Joe E. Legend, throughout the 1990s, Copeland wrestled on the independent circuit in Ontario and the Great Lakes region of the United States under the ring name Sexton Hardcastle. He became a part of the tag team Sex and Violence with Joe E. Legend, in the mid-1990s, he wrestled as Adam Impact for Tony Condellos Winnipeg promotion
9.
Sheamus
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Stephen Farrelly is an Irish professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, where he performs under the ring name Sheamus shortened from his previous ring name Sheamus OShaunessy and he currently appears on the Raw brand. Prior to joining WWE, Farrelly wrestled on the European circuit and was a two-time International Heavyweight Champion during his tenure in Irish Whip Wrestling. After becoming part of the WWE main roster in 2009, he would go on to be a world champion. He is also a two-time United States Champion, Farrelly was born in Cabra, Dublin, Ireland and was raised in the city. He speaks fluent Irish, having attended Scoil Caoimhin Primary and Coláiste Mhuire Secondary School, during his school years, he sang in the Palestrina Choir until the age of 13, during this time, he appeared on the Late Late Show and Live at Three. He played Gaelic football for the Erins Isle team where once he was proclaimed sports star of the month and he also played rugby for the National College of Ireland, where he gained a National Diploma. He has been a fan of Premier League football club Liverpool F. C. since childhood and also supports both rugby union clubs London Irish and Leinster and rugby league club the New Zealand Warriors. He is a former IT technician, and also worked as security for a nightclub, farrellys inspiration into a professional wrestling career came from watching both British wrestling from ITVs World of Sport and American wrestling from the World Wrestling Federation on Sky One. On the advice of Bret Hart, Farrelly began training in Larry Sharpes Monster Factory wrestling school in April 2002, alongside Tank Toland, Cliff Compton, six weeks later he officially debuted as a fan favorite under the name Sheamus OShaunessy against Robert Pigeon. It was during this time that he developed the nickname the Irish Curse after low-blowing an opponent and he soon suffered a serious neck injury after botching a hip toss which sidetracked his career for two years. Farrelly soon developed his character by drawing on Celtic mythology. Wanting to move away from limiting Irish stereotypes of lucky charms, leprechauns, going to a Gaelscoil, Farelly grew up aware of the four cycles of Irish mythology and, inspired by the artwork of Jim Fitzpatrick, incorporated the sword and axe-wielding imagery into his gimmick. In May 2004, still using the ring name Sheamus OShaunessy and he then made his debut match for the promotion at their Mount Temple show on 9 July against Mark Burns, where he picked out an easy win. He went on to win a battle royal the following month, OShaunessy spent the rest of the year engaged in a rivalry with Vid Vain after losing to his tag team partner Joey Cabray the same night he won the battle royal. On 22 and 23 October they traded wins, leading to OShaunessy recruiting help from CJ Summers to help defeat the tag team on 24 October, OShaunessy was still unsuccessful to defeat Vain in singles action the following day. Despite these losses, his impressive showings earned him a place against Alex Shane in a guest match for the Frontier Wrestling Alliance British Heavyweight Championship. Although he put on a proficient exhibit and came close to win, his friend Red Vinny interfered in the match, in March 2005, he avenged this loss by teaming with Raven to defeat Shane and Vinny
10.
Dave Bautista
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David Michael Dave Bautista Jr. is an American actor and former professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, and bodybuilder. He holds the record for the longest reign as World Heavyweight Champion at 282 days and he was the winner of the 2005 Royal Rumble match and went on to headline WrestleMania 21, one of the top five highest-grossing pay-per-view events in professional wrestling history. When Bautista returned to WWE in 2014, he won the 2014 Royal Rumble match, in August 2012, Bautista signed a contract with Classic Entertainment & Sports to fight in mixed martial arts. He won his MMA debut on October 6,2012, defeating Vince Lucero via TKO in the first round and he was representing the Philippines during the fight. Bautista first entered the world of acting in 2006, Bautista is set to reprise his role as Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 and Avengers, Infinity War. He has also appeared in several films since 2009. Bautista was born in Washington, D. C and his mother, Donna Raye, has Greek ancestry, and his father, David Michael Bautista, is the son of Filipino immigrants. His parents separated and eventually divorced and his paternal grandfather served in the Philippines military, worked as a taxicab driver, barber, and held other jobs to feed the family. Bautista has said that he is not ashamed to admit he lived in poverty and he has admitted to having a hard life, before he had reached the age of nine, three murders had occurred on his front lawn. As young as age 13, he was stealing automobiles, by age 17, Bautista was considered estranged from his parents and lived on his own. He later admitted, I am proud of my parents and they are good, honest, hard-working folks. They taught me the values of working hard and he became a regular bouncer for clubs until he was arrested after a fight that left two patrons injured, one of whom was rendered unconscious. After a trial, he was sentenced to one year of probation and he also worked as a lifeguard before pursuing a career in bodybuilding. He credits bodybuilding with potentially saving his life, Bautista tried out at the World Championship Wrestling Power Plant, but was told he would never make it in the wrestling business by Sgt. Bautista also trained with Marrese Crump in Muay Thai and Eskrima, most recently, he trained at Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu under Cesar Gracie and has become a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He made his Ohio Valley Wrestling debut in 2000 under the ring name Leviathan, as a member of the Disciples of Synn stable, he went undefeated until being beaten at Christmas Chaos by Kane with help from Stone Cold Steve Austin. He later won the OVW Heavyweight Championship from The Machine Doug Basham before losing the belt to The Prototype, a few months later, Bautista left OVW after he was promoted WWEs main roster. While still in OVW, Bautista began appearing on non-televised WWE events and he began his televised WWE career on May 9,2002 on an episode of SmackDown. as Deacon Batista, a villainous enforcer for Reverend DVon
11.
Bret Hart
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Bret Sergeant Hart, better known by the ring name Bret The Hitman Hart, is a Canadian-American retired professional wrestler, retired amateur wrestler, writer and actor. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling background, wrestling at Ernest Manning High School. Hart is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Sky Sports noted that his legacy is that of one of, if not the greatest, Hart joined his father Stu Harts promotion Stampede Wrestling in 1976, and made his in-ring debut in 1978. He gained championship success throughout the 1980s and 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation and he left for World Championship Wrestling following the controversial Montreal Screwjob in November 1997, where he remained until October 2000. Having been inactive from in-ring competition since January 2000, owing to a December 1999 concussion, he retired in October 2000. He returned to sporadic in-ring competition from 2010–2011 with WWE, where he won his championship, headlined the 2010 SummerSlam event. Throughout his career, Hart headlined WrestleManias IX, X, and XII, Hart has held championships in five decades from the 1970s to the 2010s, with a total of 32 held throughout his career, and 17 held between the WWF/WWE and WCW. He is a world champion, having held the WWF World Heavyweight Championship five times. Hart is also the 1994 Royal Rumble match winner, and the only two-time King of the Ring, winning the 1991 tournament and the first King of the Ring pay-per-view in 1993. Stone Cold Steve Austin, with whom Hart headlined multiple pay-per-view events as part of a rivalry from 1996 to 1997. The eighth child of wrestling patriarch Stu Hart, Bret Hart was born in Calgary and he is of Greek descent through his maternal grandmother and Irish through his maternal grandfather. His father was mainly of Scots-Irish descent but also had Scottish and English ancestry, Hart is a dual citizen of Canada and the United States since his mother Helen was born in New York. Hart has stated that he himself to be North American. Hart spent the vast majority of his childhood in the Hart family mansion which was owned by his father. Hart grew up in a household with eleven siblings and he was close with his older brother Dean who was the nearest to him in age of all his older brothers, being three years his senior. Together they would fight with Brets two older sisters Ellie, who was two years older, and Georgia, who was one year older. His introduction to professional wrestling came at an early age, as a child, he witnessed his father training future wrestlers like Billy Graham in the Dungeon, his household basement which served as a training room. Before school, Harts father, also a promoter, had him hand out fliers to local wrestling shows
12.
Jack Swagger
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Donald Jacob Jake Hager Jr. is an American professional wrestler, and former amateur wrestler best known for his time with WWE where he performed under the ring name Jack Swagger. Hager attended the University of Oklahoma as an athlete, participating in both football and wrestling. He switched to wrestling full-time in his year, and in 2006. Following a try-out, Hager signed a WWE contract in mid 2006, during his time with WWE he became a two-time world champion, holding WWEs World Heavyweight Championship and the ECW Championship once each, and a one-time WWE United States Champion. Hager started wrestling at the age of five and he wrestled in high school with Danny Hodges grandson and remains good friends with Hodge as he grew up living two blocks away from him in Perry, Oklahoma. Hager was an athlete in high school, competing in wrestling. He was also class president as a sophomore and junior, 5-ranked 215-pounder by Wrestling USA in 1999. He won the 215-pound division of the state wrestling championship as a junior after being a runner-up as a sophomore, Hager then joined the Junior National USA wrestling team as a heavyweight during the summer of 2000. His junior year, while playing football, he recorded 45 tackles and 6 sacks in 3 games in before breaking his ankle and he recorded 75 tackles and 3 fumble recoveries as a senior, helping Perry post a 10–3 mark. The University of Oklahoma recruited Hager as an athlete in football. He was the defensive tackle behind eventual National Football League players Tommie Harris. He stopped playing football and concentrated fully on wrestling his sophomore year, Ross encouraged Hager to contact him after graduating to see about a career in professional wrestling. At the 2005 NCAA Division I championships, he lost to University of Pennsylvanias Matt Feast in the second round, as a senior in 2006, Hager had a seventh-place finish in the NCAA championships and also defeated the future national champion, Dustin Fox from Northwestern University. Hager was named an All-American at seasons end while setting the Oklahoma record for most pins in a season with 30. In 2006, Hager graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a Bachelors degree in finance, following his graduation, he was going to work with a firm in Dallas, Texas, but signed with WWE after they offered a contract the day he was scheduled to start. In 2006, Hager had a WWE tryout in Deep South Wrestling and he competed mainly in dark matches before being moved to Ohio Valley Wrestling in January 2007. He debuted for the promotion by defeating Atlas DaBone, and in the following months began a feud with K. C. James, Hager began teaming with a multitude of opponents to feud with James and his tag team partner Cassidy James. During his time in the territories he appeared as a security guard during a brawl between John Cena and Umaga on Raw
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