Mid 20th Century
137-459: Andrew William Hankinson (born December 22, 1983) is an American professional wrestler . He is signed to WWE , where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Luke Gallows . Hankinson began his career in 2005 and participated in that year's WWE Tough Enough , a contest created by WWE to find new prospects. Despite not winning the competition, he signed a development contract and
274-507: A Lethal Lockdown match . On the March 18 episode of TNA Xplosion , D.O.C. lost to James Storm. At Hardcore Justice 2 , Aces & Eights (D.O.C., Wes Brisco and Knux) lost to James Storm, Magnus and Bob Holly in a Six-Man Hardcore Elimination tag team match. At World Cup , D.O.C. a part of Team Aces & Eights started off when D.O.C and Knux defeated Team International's Funaki and Petey Williams later that night Team Aces & Eights lost
411-430: A villain under the name Luke Gallows, sporting a new attire along with a goatee, shaved head, and a considerably well built frame. After accompanying CM Punk to the ring for his match with Matt Hardy , Punk revealed that Gallows was actually Festus' true identity and claimed that Gallows' family and friends enabled his alcoholic inclination , which led to the mental state he was in as Festus, before stating that Gallows
548-446: A " gimmick " consisting of a specific persona , stage name , entrance theme , and other distinguishing traits. Matches are the primary vehicle for advancing storylines, which typically center on interpersonal conflicts, or feuds , between heroic " faces " and villainous " heels ". A wrestling ring , akin to the platform used in boxing , serves as the main stage ; additional scenes may be recorded for television in backstage areas of
685-505: A Five-on-Five Elimination Tag Team match to Team USA ( Christopher Daniels , James Storm, Kazarian , Kenny King and Mickie James ) failing to win the cup. on the April 4 episode of Impact Wrestling, Aces and 8s (D.O.C., Devon, Knux, Wes Brisco and Garett Bischoff) defeated Kurt Angle, Eric Young, Samoa Joe, Magnus and Joseph Park in a ten-man tag team match. On the May 9 episode of Impact , D.O.C. lost
822-761: A NJPW and Ring of Honor (ROH) co-produced event, War of the Worlds , in New York City. On June 21 at Dominion 6.21 , Gallows and Anderson made their fifth successful defense against Ace to King ( Hiroshi Tanahashi and Togi Makabe). From July 21 to August 8, Gallows took part in the 2014 G1 Climax , where he finished ninth out of the eleven wrestlers in his block with a record of four wins and six losses. On September 21 at Destruction in Kobe , Gallows and Anderson made their sixth successful title defense against Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi . In December, Gallows and Anderson made it to
959-413: A background in authentic wrestling no longer mattered. After this time, matches became more outlandish and gimmicky and any semblance professional wrestling had to catch wrestling faded. The personas of the wrestlers likewise grew more outlandish. Gorgeous George , who performed throughout the 1940s and 1950s, was the first wrestler whose entrance into the arena was accompanied by a theme song played over
1096-671: A beer, but lost a match to Punk later in the night. Gallows, now officially established as a face , defeated Vance Archer on the November 4 airing of Superstars . His final television appearance was during a backstage segment in which Kane was looking for his father, on the November 19 episode of SmackDown . Hankinson was released from his WWE contract on the same day, along with several other superstars. Hankinson wrestled on December 3, 2010, as "Keith Hanson", at an Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) event, where he defeated The Predator . On January 29, 2011, he lost to ECW Original Tommy Dreamer in
1233-509: A brief hiatus from television before reappearing as Luke Gallows , the enforcer and "disciple" of CM Punk in the Straight Edge Society stable until his release from the company in 2010. After leaving WWE, he signed a contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in 2011, where he became member of the villainous stable Aces & Eights under the ring name D.O.C. (Director of Chaos ). He left TNA in 2013 and then signed
1370-520: A carny term for a shooting gallery gun whose sights were not deliberately misaligned. Wrestling in the United States blossomed in popularity after the Civil War , with catch wrestling eventually becoming the most popular style. At first, professional wrestlers were genuine competitive fighters, but they struggled to draw audiences because Americans did not find real wrestling to be very entertaining, so
1507-513: A central authority. Nor could any of them stomach the idea of leaving the NWA themselves to compete directly with McMahon, for that would mean their territories would become fair game for the other NWA members. McMahon also had a creative flair for TV that his rivals lacked. For instance, the AWA's TV productions during the 1980s were amateurish, low-budget, and out-of-touch with contemporary culture, which lead to
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#17328724110681644-574: A champion that Curley put forth: Dick Shikat . The National Wrestling Association shut down in 1980. In 1948, a number of promoters from across the country came together to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The NWA recognized one "world champion", voted on by its members, but allowed member promoters to crown their own local champions in their territories. If a member poached wrestlers from another member, or held matches in another member's territory, they risked being ejected from
1781-696: A contract with the Japanese promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) under the ring name Doc Gallows . He made his debut in the 2013 World Tag League as the partner of Karl Anderson , joining the infamous Bullet Club stable. Gallows and Anderson won the Tag League and, during the following three years, they won the IWGP Tag Team Championship three times. Gallows and Anderson would leave NJPW for WWE along with Bullet Club leader AJ Styles in 2016. Again as Luke Gallows, Gallows and Anderson would work as
1918-529: A dark 30-man battle royal, which was won by Yoshi Tatsu . On the April 13 episode of NXT , he challenged CM Punk's rookie Darren Young and the stipulation, if Young lost, he would have had to surrender his hair to Punk and have it shaved bald. Gallows came close to getting the victory when Young came up with a roll-up and saved his hair, with Punk showing some favor to his rookie and Gallows seeming unhappy. At Extreme Rules , during Punk's Hair match against Rey Mysterio , Gallows and Serena helped Punk throughout
2055-623: A degree. Vince Russo, the boss of WCW in 2000, completely disregarded kayfabe by routinely discussing business matters and office politics in public, which alienated fans. I watch championship wrestling from Florida with wrestling commentator Gordon Solie . Is this all "fake"? If so, they deserve an Oscar . Brian Mailhot Brian Mailhot (born August 12, 1975) is an American professional wrestler and mixed martial arts fighter, better known for his short stint in World Wrestling Entertainment 's SmackDown! brand under
2192-556: A fatal four-way match to become the number one contenders for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship. On the February 8 episode of Raw , The Straight Edge Society was eliminated in a Triple Threat elimination tag team match between them, The Miz and Big Show and DX for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship. Miz and Big Show became the new Unified WWE Tag Team Champions. At WrestleMania XXVI Luke Gallows competed in
2329-410: A fee, a visitor could challenge the wrestler to a quick match. If the challenger defeated the champion in a short time frame, usually 15 minutes, he won a prize. To encourage challenges, the carnival operators staged rigged matches in which an accomplice posing as a visitor challenged the champion and won, giving the audience the impression that the champion was easy to beat. This practice taught wrestlers
2466-414: A genuine sport, and the phrase "professional wrestling" therefore has a more literal meaning in those places. A notable example is India's Pro Wrestling League . In numerous American states, professional wrestling is legally defined as a non-sport. For instance, New York defines professional wrestling as: Professional wrestling means an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for
2603-993: A hardcore match at a National Wrestling Superstars (NWS) event in New Jersey. On March 25, 2011, Hankinson, working as Luke Gallows, made an appearance for the Japanese Apache Pro-Wrestling Army promotion, defeating Makoto Hashi . On May 29, 2011, Gallows debuted for NWA Rampage in Warner Robins, Georgia. Gallows defeated former Ring of Honor and TNA star by DQ after Rave's group, Jimmy Rave Approved, interfered. Afterwards an 8-man tag took place in which Gallows teamed with Kyle Matthews, J-Rod, & Frankie Valentine to defeat Rave, Sal Rinauro, Chip Day and Corey Hollis. On June 5 Gallows returned to NWA Rampage and lost to Heavyweight Champion Bull Buchanan. In August 2011, Hankinson and Cliff Compton traveled to wrestle in Nigeria. He
2740-405: A legitimate sport. Firstly, wrestling was more entertaining when it was faked, whereas fakery did not make boxing any more entertaining. Secondly, in a rigged boxing match, the designated loser must take a real beating for his "defeat" to be convincing, but wrestling holds can be faked convincingly without inflicting injury. This meant that boxers were less willing to "take dives"; they wanted to have
2877-572: A loss to Adam Booker , which led to a short feud between the two. Following that he captured the AWA Tag Team Championship on May 15, 2004, in Claremont, New Hampshire , with The Mighty Mini, his tag partner from Chaotic Wrestling . This turned into a phantom switch, though, when Mailhot changed to a new persona the next show. Since the switch took place outside of their typical venue in Nashua it
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#17328724110683014-711: A masked member of the Aces & Eights stable in September 2012. On September 4, Hankinson confirmed that he had signed a contract with the promotion. at Bound for Glory , Hankinson and Knux (still masked) defeated Bully Ray and Sting to gain full access to the Impact Zone. Hankinson was unmasked and revealed as a member of the Aces & Eights on the November 1 episode of Impact Wrestling . The following week, Hankinson, billed as D.O.C. (Director of Chaos), teamed with stablemate Devon in
3151-566: A match again until early 2002 when his dealings with Worthington finally escalated to an in ring encounter. In 2002 he began working for Chaotic Wrestling in Massachusetts as "Big League" Brian Black. He formed a tag team with The Mighty Mini, and the partners won the CW Tag Team Championships on two occasions, in 2003 defeating Atrition and 2004, defeating Peter Mulloy and Brian Buffet. Mailhot won his first singles championship,
3288-702: A match against Gus Sonnenberg in January 1929. Bowser then broke away from the trust to form his own cartel, the American Wrestling Association (AWA), in September 1930, and he declared Sonnenberg to be the AWA champion. This AWA should not be confused with Wally Kadbo's AWA founded in 1960. Curley reacted to this move by convincing the National Boxing Association to form the National Wrestling Association , which in turn crowned
3425-464: A match on television since they defeated The Usos in May 2018. In July 2019, it was reported that Gallows and Anderson had re-signed with WWE to five-year contracts. After he lost a United States Championship match to Ricochet , Gallows and Anderson helped Styles attack Ricochet, and reuniting The club as heels. On the July 22 episode of Raw , The club was renamed The O.C. , which means "Original Club". On
3562-539: A match to Magnus. At Slammiversary XI , D.O.C. and other members of the Aces and 8s helped Bully Ray defeat Sting in a No Holds Barred match to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. On the June 13 episode of Impact , D.O.C. participated in an Aces & Eights battle royal match for a spot in the 2013 Bound for Glory Series , but ended up being thrown out by Mr. Anderson after refusing to get out of
3699-440: A new city, attendance was high because there was a waiting fanbase cultivated in advance by the cable TV shows. The NWA's traditional anti-competitive tricks were no match for this. The NWA attempted to centralize and create their own national cable television shows to counter McMahon's rogue promotion, but it failed in part because the members of the NWA, ever protective of their territories, could not stomach submitting themselves to
3836-457: A non-tournament match, with Gallows pinning Bushi for the win. In the round-robin portion of the tournament, which ran from November 24 to December 7, Gallows and Anderson finished with a record of four wins and two losses, winning their block and advancing to the semi-finals. On December 8, Gallows and Anderson first defeated G.B.H. ( Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma ) in the semi-finals and then Tencozy ( Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima ) in
3973-482: A rematch. Their second defense took place on April 6 at Invasion Attack 2014 , where they defeated Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata . Gallows and Anderson's third successful defense took place just seven days later, during New Japan's trip to Taiwan , when they defeated Hirooki Goto and Captain Taiwan . On May 17, Gallows and Anderson made their fourth successful title defense against The Briscoes ( Jay and Mark ) at
4110-531: A returning Big E getting involved. At Clash of Champions , Gallows and Anderson failed to win the titles. In November, Gallows and Anderson were announced as part of Team Raw for the 10–on–10 Survivor Series Tag Team Elimination match at Survivor Series , which they won. On the January 18, 2017, episode of Raw , Gallows and Anderson appeared to defeat Cesaro and Sheamus by pinfall for the Raw Tag Team Championship; however, due to Sheamus having hit
4247-588: A tag team and, sometimes, as a stable with Styles known as The O.C. (The Original Club). They would win the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship twice, as well as the WWE Tag Team World Cup , a one night tournament between tag teams. They were released in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and, three months later, returned to TNA (which was known as Impact Wrestling from 2017 to 2024), where they won
Doc Gallows - Misplaced Pages Continue
4384-475: A tag team match, where they were defeated by Kurt Angle and Sting via disqualification. Having been told to show why he deserved a spot in Aces & Eights, D.O.C. afterwards put Sting through a table, before beating him with a ball-peen hammer . DOC made his TNA pay-per-view debut three days later at Turning Point , defeating Joseph Park in a singles match. On the December 6 episode of Impact Wrestling, D.O.C.
4521-424: A tag team using a Southern gimmick, alongside fellow WWE developmental talent Ray Gordy . On June 2, 2007, however, it was reported that WWE was dropping the "Dalton Boys" gimmick. The explanation for them not showing up on SmackDown was that they got lost on their way to the arena. Hankinson and Gordy had actually been sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling , where Hankinson changed his name to "Justice Dalton". Hankinson
4658-627: A tour with the Japanese Pro Wrestling Noah promotion, during which he often teamed with Bobby Fish and Roderick Strong . He appeared for Pro Wrestling Syndicate on May 18, 2013, along with Knux and D'Lo Brown . Hankinson made his last independent appearance on January 16, 2016, billed as Luke Gallows when he unsuccessfully challenged Chris Nelms in a Fatal 4-Way match for WrestleMerica Brass Knuckles Championship. On May 6, 2015, Global Force Wrestling (GFW) announced Gallows as part of their roster. Gallows and Karl Anderson main evented
4795-497: A typical American household only received four national channels by antenna, and ten to twelve local channels via UHF broadcasting . But cable television could carry a much larger selection of channels and therefore had room for niche interests. The WWF started with a show called All-American Wrestling airing on the USA Network in September 1983. McMahon's TV shows made his wrestlers national celebrities, so when he held matches in
4932-575: A victory for all the pain to which they subjected themselves. In the 1910s, promotional cartels for professional wrestling emerged in the East Coast (outside its traditional heartland in the Midwest ). These promoters sought to make long-term plans with their wrestlers, and to ensure their more charismatic and crowd-pleasing wrestlers received championships, further entrenching the desire for worked matches. The primary rationale for shoot matches at this point
5069-410: Is a true sport. Wrestlers would at all times flatly deny allegations that they fixed their matches, and they often remained in-character in public even when not performing. When in public, wrestlers would sometimes say the word kayfabe to each other as a coded signal that there were fans present and they needed to be in character. Professional wrestlers in the past strongly believed that if they admitted
5206-489: The DSW Tag Team Championship . However, in March 2007 Deacon was beaten up with steel chairs by Neikirk and Knox and needed to be carried to the hospital by G-Rilla. There G-Rilla sat accidentally over Willow, which killed the spider and sent its owner into 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
5343-556: The House of Hardcore 's first show. On September 22, 2012, Luke Gallows would debut for Dynamite Championship Wrestling at their Annual Breast Cancer Benefit Event. He won the American Pro Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship in 2012 with Knux , but they were later stripped of the title, as they were made inactive, on March 1, 2013. From June 3 to 13, 2012, Hankinson, as Luke Gallows, worked
5480-734: The Impact World Tag Team Championship in November. Their contracts with Impact expired in 2022 and that October, Gallows and Anderson returned to WWE and reunited with Styles as The O.C. Hankinson began his career in West Virginia with Mason-Dixon Wrestling and in Pennsylvania with the World Star Wrestling Federation ( AWA /World Star Wrestling), Summit Wrestling Association of Southern Pennsylvania, and Maryland -based promotions National Wrestling League and
5617-609: The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board that professional wrestling is not a real sport because its matches have predetermined outcomes. Shortly thereafter, New Jersey deregulated professional wrestling. The WWF then rebranded itself as a " sports entertainment " company. In the early years of the 20th century, the style of wrestling used in professional wrestling matches was catch wrestling . Promoters wanted their matches to look realistic and so preferred to recruit wrestlers with real grappling skills. In
Doc Gallows - Misplaced Pages Continue
5754-676: The Royal Rumble pre-show. At WrestleMania 34 on April 8, Anderson and Gallows competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal , but did not win. On April 17, Gallows and Anderson were both drafted to SmackDown as part of Superstar Shake-up . On the May 22 episode of SmackDown , Gallows and Anderson defeated The Usos to become number one contenders for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship , but they failed to win
5891-762: The United States , Mexico , Japan , and northwest Europe (the United Kingdom , Germany/Austria and France ), which have each developed distinct styles, traditions, and subgenres within professional wrestling. Professional wrestling has developed its own culture and community , including a distinct vernacular . It has achieved mainstream success and influence within popular culture , with many terms, tropes , and concepts being referenced in everyday language as well as in film , music , television , and video games . Likewise, numerous professional wrestlers have become national or international icons with recognition by
6028-589: The WWE Intercontinental Championship . Subsequently, Hankinson repeatedly attacked the real Kane during or after his matches. The pair finally faced off in a match at the Vengeance pay-per-view, with Hankinson winning using one of Kane's trademark moves. One night later, however, the storyline was abruptly ended when the original Kane attacked the Imposter Kane, removed his mask, and threw him out of
6165-510: The namesake pay-per-view , entering at No. 24 before being eliminated by Edge . He and Anderson appeared at WrestleMania 36 during Styles' Boneyard match against The Undertaker . On April 15, 2020, Gallows (along with Anderson) was released from his WWE contract as part of budget cuts stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic . On July 18, 2020, Gallows and Anderson announced that they had signed two-year contracts with Impact Wrestling (formerly TNA) and would be appearing at Slammiversary . At
6302-617: The ring name of Palmer Canon . Mailhot debuted in 1999 for the Eastern Wrestling Alliance, losing to Larry Huntley in a match in Portland, Maine. After his first match Mailhot elected to take more time to focus on his in ring training and worked for the Eastern Wrestling Alliance in a character role as their commissioner. As commissioner he feuded with Alexander Worthington III, often countering Worthington's devious exploits with his power as commissioner although he did not wrestle
6439-565: The "Too Sweet" hand gesture along with Omega and The Young Bucks . Gallows and Anderson were making appearances in AEW, due to a working relationship crossover deal with Impact Wrestling . In June 2021, it was announced that Gallows along with Anderson would be returning to New Japan Pro Wrestling for the first time since early 2016 as part of the United States–based show NJPW Strong and would compete in its Tag Team Turbulence tournament. On
6576-577: The 1920s, a group of wrestlers and promoters known as the Gold Dust Trio introduced moves which have since become staples of the mock combat of professional wrestling, such as body slams, suplexes , punches, finishing moves, and out-of-ring count-outs. By the early 1930s, most wrestlers had adopted personas to generate public interest. These personas could broadly be characterized as either faces (likeable) or heels (villainous). Native Americans, cowboys, and English aristocrats were staple characters in
6713-400: The 1930s and 1940s. Before the age of television, some wrestlers played different personas depending on the region they were performing in. This eventually came to an end in the age of national television wrestling shows, which forced wrestlers to stick to one persona. Wrestlers also often used some sort of gimmick, such as a finishing move, eccentric mannerisms, or out-of-control behavior (in
6850-506: The 1990s, WCW became a credible rival to the WWF, but by end it suffered from a series of creative missteps that led to its failure and purchase by the WWF. One of its mistakes was that it diminished the glamor of its World Heavyweight Championship . Between January 2000 and March 2001, the title changed hands eighteen times, which sapped fan enthusiasm, particularly for the climactic pay-per-view matches. In professional wrestling, two factors decide
6987-411: The 19th century, who later sought to make matches shorter, more entertaining, and less physically taxing. As the public gradually realized and accepted that matches were predetermined, wrestlers responded by increasingly adding melodrama, gimmickry, and outlandish stunt work to their performances to further enhance the spectacle . By at least the early 20th century, professional wrestling had diverged from
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#17328724110687124-495: The April 11 episode of SmackDown , after passing out while in the Hell's Gate . On April 15, 2009, Festus was drafted to the Raw brand as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft and, as a result, was separated from his tag team partner Jesse, who remained on SmackDown . After a three-month hiatus from television, Hankinson returned on the November 27, 2009, episode of SmackDown , repackaged as
7261-548: The April 11, 2016, episode of Raw , Gallows and Karl Anderson (with Gallows reverting to his former WWE ring name, Luke Gallows) made their debut, attacking The Usos , thus establishing themselves as heels. On the April 18 episode of Raw , Gallows and Anderson attacked WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns , following Reigns' promo with AJ Styles . During this time, Gallows and Anderson helped Styles in his feud with Reigns, with Styles at first reluctant for their help. Gallows and Anderson wrestled their first WWE match on
7398-454: The April 25 episode of NXT , defeating Edris Enofe and Malik Blade. Gallows and Karl Anderson along with fellow wrestler Rocky Romero run a podcast named Talk'N Shop . Professional wrestler 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling ) is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama , with
7535-521: The April 25 episode of Raw , defeating The Usos. On the May 30 episode of Raw , Styles would confront a returning John Cena who said the "new era" would have to go through him, before offering Styles his hand. Styles shook his hand, shortly before Gallows and Anderson interrupted. As Styles and Cena appeared ready to fight Gallows and Anderson, Styles instead beat down Cena repeatedly, reuniting The club. On July 19, as part of WWE draft , both Gallows and Karl Anderson were drafted to Raw , while AJ Styles
7672-641: The Atlantic Athletic Corporation (AAC). The AAC shut down in 1960. In 1958, Omaha promoter and NWA member Joe Dusek recognized Verne Gagne as the world champion without the approval of the NWA. Gagne asked for a match against the recognized NWA champion Pat O'Connor. The NWA refused to honor the request, so Gagne and Minneapolis promoter Wally Karbo established the American Wrestling Association in 1960. This AWA should not be confused with Paul Bowser's AWA, which ceased operations just two months prior. Gagne's AWA operated out of Minnesota . Unlike
7809-400: The Eastern Wrestling Alliance, wrestling as Dorian Deville, and for West Virginia's Championship Pro Wrestling as the masked wrestler Dargon. He also played college Football at Fairmont State University . In April 2005, despite failing to make it as one of the final ten contestants on the $ 1,000,000 Tough Enough , Hankinson was signed to a contract by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and
7946-413: The February 3, 2006, edition of SmackDown! , William Regal and Paul Burchill told Canon that they no longer wanted to be a tag team so they could go their separate ways. During this discussion Burchill informed Canon that his family heritage traces back to pirates, and that he wanted to do a pirate gimmick on SmackDown! Later, on the April 21, 2006, edition of SmackDown! , Canon remarked that The Miz
8083-511: The GTS on Gallows. On the September 16 episode of WWE Superstars , before a match with MVP , Gallows cut a promo announcing that he was no longer part of the Society by proclaiming he was his own man. Gallows went on to lose the match. On the September 24 episode of SmackDown , Gallows began a slow face turn when he confronted CM Punk in a backstage segment stating that after defeating him, he would have
8220-424: The July 29 episode of Raw , Gallows and Anderson became two-time Raw Tag Team Champions by defeating The Revival and The Usos in a triple threat tag team match. They held the titles for a mere three weeks before losing them to Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman . At Crown Jewel , Gallows and Anderson defeated eight other teams to win the WWE Tag Team World Cup . Gallows competed in the men's Royal Rumble match at
8357-408: The NWA, at which point his territory became fair game for everyone. The NWA would blacklist wrestlers who worked for independent promoters or who publicly criticized an NWA promoter or who did not throw a match on command. If an independent promoter tried to establish himself in a certain area, the NWA would send their star performers to perform for the local NWA promoter to draw the customers away from
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#17328724110688494-477: The NWA, which only allowed faces to be champions, Gagne occasionally allowed heels to win the AWA championship so that they could serve as foils for him. In August 1983, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), a promotion in the north-east , withdrew from the NWA. Vince K. McMahon then took over as its boss. No longer bound by the territorial pact of the NWA, McMahon began expanding his promotion into
8631-519: The October 10, 2022, episode of Raw , Gallows and Anderson made their unannounced return to WWE as faces , saving AJ Styles from an attack by The Judgment Day after Styles fooled Finn Bálor into thinking he had joined them by embracing in a hug. The O.C decided to take the Judgment Day on at Crown Jewel on November 5, 2022. The team ended up with a loss because of Rhea Ripley . After the loss because of
8768-571: The Palmer Canon/Miz feud had to be canceled. Mailhot returned to Portland, Maine . Brian made his amateur MMA debut on August 23, 2008, at Untamed 22 as Brian "Hacksaw" Mailhot. It was promoted by Full Force Fighting Championships, at the Plymouth Memorial Hall. He defeated Tony Rea via KO by slam in 1:01 of the second round. He has wrestled for All Out Mayhem in southern and eastern Maine since his departure from WWE in 2006. He won
8905-654: The WWE developmental Deep South Wrestling . Mailhot began training in WWE's auxiliary developmental territory, Deep South Wrestling . On May 2, 2005, he had a dark match against Todd Hansen, with Hansen gaining the victory. Mailhot debuted in WWE television on the January 6, 2005 episode of SmackDown! as a local competitor under the Brian Black name, where he was quickly defeated by Kurt Angle as part of Angle's Kurt Angle Invitational challenge. Later that year, he appeared as an authority figure called Palmer Canon. His character
9042-401: The arena's loudspeakers, his being Pomp and Circumstance . He also wore a costume: a robe and hairnet, which he removed after getting in the ring. He also had a pre-match ritual where his "butler" would spray the ring with perfume. In the 1980s, Vince McMahon made entrance songs, costumes, and rituals standard for his star wrestlers. For instance, McMahon's top star Hulk Hogan would delight
9179-418: The art of staging rigged matches and fostered a mentality that spectators were marks to be duped. The term kayfabe comes from carny slang. By the turn of the 20th century, most professional wrestling matches were "worked" and some journalists exposed the practice: American wrestlers are notorious for the amount of faking they do. It is because of this fact that suspicion attaches to so many bouts that
9316-550: The audience by tearing his shirt off before each match. The first major promoter cartel emerged on the East Coast, although up to that point, wrestling's heartland had been in the Midwest. Notable members of this cartel included Jack Curley , Lou Daro, Paul Bowser and Tom and Tony Packs. The promoters colluded to solve a number of problems that hurt their profits. Firstly, they could force their wrestlers to perform for less money. As
9453-437: The back of Theodore Long (e.g. he made Eddie Guerrero the number one contender, despite Long's wishes to have that right go to Rey Mysterio). He also introduced Marty Wright as "The Boogeyman" as a decision by the network for ratings, added "The Juniors", a midget wrestling division and the tag team "The Dicks" ( John Toland and Chad Wicks ), though all were later released. Wright's release only lasted two weeks, however. On
9590-406: 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 on television was because Festus has been seeing doctors about his "problems". In 2008, before
9727-525: The bell rang, Jesse explained that Festus had changed. However, Festus did not change and continued to make a determined and monstrous face after the bell had rung. On the March 21 episode of SmackDown , Jesse and Festus had a chance to face John Morrison and The Miz for the WWE Tag Team Championship , but Morrison and The Miz retained the title. Festus received his first loss when he wrestled against World Heavyweight Champion The Undertaker on
9864-410: The bid of Vice President to Mr. Anderson. On November 11, 2013, New Japan Pro-Wrestling announced Hankinson as a participant in the 2013 World Tag League , where he would be teaming with Karl Anderson as part of Bullet Club , thus establishing himself as a heel. Hankinson made his New Japan debut under the name Doc Gallows on November 23, when he and Anderson defeated Bushi and Kota Ibushi in
10001-412: The broader public. In the United States, wrestling is generally practiced in an amateur context. No professional league for competitive wrestling exists due to a lack of popularity. For example, Real Pro Wrestling , an American professional freestyle wrestling league, dissolved in 2007 after just two seasons. In other countries, such as Iran and India , wrestling enjoys widespread popularity as
10138-407: 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 often distracted by her, she helped him to win matches. In October, Deacon and Bag Lady formed an alliance with The Major Brothers ( Brian and Brett Major ) against
10275-424: The cartel grew, there were fewer independent promoters where independent wrestlers could find work, and many were forced to sign a contract with the cartel to receive steady work. The contracts forbade them from performing at independent venues. A wrestler who refused to play by the cartel's rules was barred from performing at its venues. A second goal of the wrestling cartels was to establish an authority to decide who
10412-418: The case of heels). The matches could also be gimmicky sometimes, with wrestlers fighting in mud and piles of tomatoes and so forth. The most successful and enduring gimmick to emerge from the 1930s were tag-team matches. Promoters noticed that matches slowed down as the wrestlers in the ring tired, so they gave them partners to relieve them. It also gave heels another way to misbehave by double-teaming. Towards
10549-423: The character in shows must be considered fictional, wholly separate from the life of the performer. This is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers also incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and their in-ring persona have different names. Kayfabe is the practice of pretending that professional wrestling
10686-461: The commission. The Commission did on very rare occasions hand out such authorizations, such as for a championship match between Jim Londos and Jim Browning in June 1934. This decree did not apply to amateur wrestling, which the commission had no authority over. Wrestling fans widely suspected that professional wrestling was fake, but they did not care as long as it entertained. In 1933, a wrestling promoter named Jack Pfefer started talking about
10823-468: The competitive sport to become an artform and genre of sports entertainment . Professional wrestling is performed around the world through various " promotions ", which are roughly analogous to production companies or sports leagues . Promotions vary considerably in size, scope, and creative approach, ranging from local shows on the independent circuit , to internationally broadcast events at major arenas. The largest and most influential promotions are in
10960-540: The current fashion of wrestling is the universal discussion as to the honesty of the matches. And certainly the most interesting phrase of this discussion is the unanimous agreement: "Who cares if they're fixed or not—the show is good." Newspapers tended to shun professional wrestling, as journalists saw its theatrical pretense to being a legitimate sport as untruthful. Eventually promoters resorted to publishing their own magazines in order to get press coverage and communicate with fans. The first professional wrestling magazine
11097-405: The end of the 1930s, faced with declining revenues, promoters chose to focus on grooming charismatic wrestlers with no regard for their skill because it was charisma that drew the crowds, and wrestlers who were both skilled at grappling and charismatic were hard to come by. Since most of the public by this time knew and accepted that professional wrestling was fake, realism was no longer paramount and
11234-507: The event, Gallows (reverting to his Doc Gallows in ring name) and Anderson, now known as The Good Brothers , appeared at the end of the show helping Eddie Edwards fend off Ace Austin and Madman Fulton before celebrating with Edwards, establishing themselves as fan favorites in the process. At Bound for Glory , Gallows and Anderson competed in a Four-way tag team match for the Impact World Tag Team Championship which
11371-544: The facade of kayfabe as best as they could. In 1989, Vince McMahon testified before the New Jersey government that professional wrestling was not a true sport and therefore should be exempted from sports-related taxes. Many wrestlers and fans resented McMahon for this, but Lou Thesz accepted it as the smart move as it gave the industry more freedom to do as it pleased, and because by that point professional wrestling no longer attempted to appear real. The demise of WCW in 2001 provided some evidence that kayfabe still mattered to
11508-572: The finals of the 2014 World Tag League , after winning their block with a record of five wins and two losses. On December 7, Gallows and Anderson were defeated in the finals of the tournament by Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata. Gallows and Anderson's year-long reign as the IWGP Tag Team Champions came to an end on January 4, 2015, at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome , where they were defeated by Goto and Shibata. Gallows and Anderson regained
11645-498: The finals to win the 2013 World Tag League and earn a shot at the IWGP Tag Team Championship . Gallows returned to New Japan on January 4, 2014, at Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome , where he and Anderson defeated K.E.S. ( Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer ) to become the new IWGP Tag Team Champions. Gallows and Anderson made their first successful title defense on February 9 at The New Beginning in Hiroshima , defeating K.E.S. in
11782-470: The first place. "Double-crosses", where a wrestler agreed to lose a match but nevertheless fought to win, remained a problem in the early cartel days. At times a promoter would even award a victorious double-crosser the title of champion to preserve the facade of sport. But promoters punished such wrestlers by blacklisting them, making it quite challenging to find work. Double-crossers could also be sued for breach of contract, such as Dick Shikat in 1936. In
11919-602: The first-ever GFW show on June 12, defeating the New Heavenly Bodies (Dustin and Justin) in a tag team match. On June 14, 2011, Hankinson wrestled a tryout dark match for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), in which he was defeated by Gunner . In December 2011, Hankinson took part in TNA's India project, Ring Ka King , under the ring name "The Outlaw" Isaiah Cash. On June 21, 2012, Hankinson wrestled another tryout dark match for TNA. Hankinson began working TNA house shows as
12056-610: The game is not popular here. Nine out of ten bouts, it has been said, are pre-arranged affairs, and it would be no surprise if the ratio of fixed matches to honest ones was really so high. The wrestler Lou Thesz recalled that between 1915 and 1920, a series of exposés in the newspapers about the integrity of professional wrestling alienated a lot of fans, sending the industry "into a tailspin". But rather than perform more shoot matches, professional wrestlers instead committed themselves wholesale to fakery. Several reasons explain why professional wrestling became fake whereas boxing endured as
12193-455: The government. They pledged to stop allocating exclusive territories to its promoters, to stop blacklisting wrestlers who worked for outsider promoters, and to admit any promoter into the Alliance. The NWA would flout many of these promises, but its power was nonetheless weakened by the lawsuit. Paul Bowser's AWA joined the NWA in 1949. The AWA withdrew from the Alliance in 1957 and renamed itself
12330-513: The independent. By 1956, the NWA controlled 38 promotions within the United States, with more in Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. The NWA's monopolistic practices became so stifling that the independents appealed to the government for help. In October 1956 the US Attorney General's office filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NWA in an Iowa federal district court. The NWA settled with
12467-492: The individual wrestlers are paid or have been paid for their performance in a professional wrestling exhibition. All engagements of professional wrestling shall be referred to as exhibitions, and not as matches. In the industry's slang, a fixed match is referred to as a worked match, derived from the slang word for manipulation, as in "working the crowd". A shoot match is a genuine contest where both wrestlers fight to win and are therefore "straight shooters", which comes from
12604-471: The industry was anything but a competitive sport. The first wrestling promoter to publicly admit to routinely fixing matches was Jack Pfefer . In 1933, he started talking about the industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , resulting in a huge exposé. The exposé neither surprised nor alienated most wrestling fans, although some promoters like Jack Curley were furious and tried to restore
12741-487: The industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , maintaining no pretense that wrestling was real and passing on planned results just before the matches took place. While fans were neither surprised nor alienated, traditionalists like Jack Curley were furious, and most promoters tried to maintain the facade of kayfabe as best they could. Not the least interesting of all the minor phenomena produced by
12878-563: The interference, Mia Yim decided to join The O.C and help them fend off Ripley. As part of the 2023 WWE Draft , Gallows was drafted to the SmackDown brand . On the February 20, 2024, episode of NXT , Gallows and Anderson attacked Axiom and Nathan Frazer and Chase University ( Andre Chase and Duke Hudson ) after the two teams faced each other, turning heel for the first time since 2022 and marking Gallows and Anderson's return to NXT. Gallows and Anderson wrestled their return NXT match on
13015-547: The match until they were banned from ringside. On the July 2 tapings of SmackDown , after a match between Luke Gallows and Kane, a security video was shown by Serena of her being caught drinking in a bar by Punk on the same day of The Undertaker's attack proving The Straight Edge Society's innocence in order to save Punk. Serena begged for forgiveness even after Punk warned her not to, but the Straight Edge Society simply left without her. The following week, however, Serena
13152-498: The members of wrestling cartels as the champion drew big crowds wherever he performed, and this would occasionally lead to schisms. By 1925, this cartel had divided the country up into territories which were the exclusive domains of specific promoters. This system of territories endured until Vince McMahon drove the fragmented cartels out of the market in the 1980s. This cartel fractured in 1929 after one of its members, Paul Bowser , bribed Ed "Strangler" Lewis to lose his championship in
13289-512: The premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship . The staged nature of matches is an open secret , with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction . Professional wrestlers perform as characters and usually maintain
13426-601: The process. Sabin and Alex Shelley then attacked Anderson but Gallows returned from injury and kicked Shelley in the head, turning heel as well. Anderson, Gallows and Kenny Omega laid out Swann and the MCMG and then reunited Bullet Club. On the February 19, 2022, at No Surrender, The Good Brothers rejoined the Bullet Club. Gallows with Anderson as The Good Brothers made their AEW debut at the end of AEW Dynamite New Year's Smash Night 1 , saving Kenny Omega from Jon Moxley and making
13563-714: The promotion's closing in 1991. In the spring of 1984, the WWF purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), which had been ailing for some time due to financial mismanagement and internal squabbles. In the deal, the WWF acquired the GCW's timeslot on TBS . McMahon agreed to keep showing Georgia wrestling matches in that timeslot, but he was unable to get his staff to Atlanta every Saturday to fulfill this obligation, so he sold GCW and its TBS timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). JCP started informally calling itself World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1988, Ted Turner bought JCP and formally renamed it World Championship Wrestling. During
13700-834: The promotion, along with Anderson and AJ Styles , before the trio broke off communication with TNA over the Christmas holiday. Though not under contract, Gallows was expected to honor previously booked dates through February. On February 14 at The New Beginning in Niigata , Gallows and Anderson received a rematch for the IWGP Tag Team Championship, but were again defeated by Makabe and Honma. On February 20, Gallows and Anderson wrestled their final NJPW match, where they teamed with Bullet Club stablemates Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga , losing to Bobby Fish , Hirooki Goto, Katsuyori Shibata, and Kyle O'Reilly in an eight-man tag team match. On
13837-439: The purpose of providing entertainment to spectators and which does not comprise a bona fide athletic contest or competition. Professional wrestling is not a combative sport. Wrestling constituting bona fide athletic contests and competitions, which may be professional or amateur combative sport, shall not be deemed professional wrestling under this Part. Professional wrestling as used in this Part shall not depend on whether
13974-509: The referee, the decision was reversed to a disqualification, leading to them winning the match but not the title. On the Royal Rumble preshow, Gallows and Anderson defeated Cesaro and Sheamus to win the Raw Tag Team Championship for the first time. They lost the title to the returning Hardy Boyz at WrestleMania 33 in a fatal four-way tag team ladder match. At the Payback kick-off show on April 30, Gallows and Anderson lost to Enzo and Cass . For
14111-461: The rest of 2017, Gallows and Anderson were mostly off television, only appearing sporadically on Raw and mainly being relegated to Main Event . On the January 1, 2018 Raw , the duo turned face, in effect this marked Gallows' face turn for the first time since 2010, by appearing as former Bullet Club stablemate Finn Bálor 's surprise tag team partners. After a brief feud, they lost to The Revival at
14248-408: The ring, though not turning face. On the July 11 episode of Impact Wrestling, D.O.C. lost his bid to become the vice president of Aces and Eights as Knux gave his deciding vote to Mr. Anderson, to D.O.C.'s disgust. On July 12, Hankinson's contract expired. Four days later, he announced he and TNA had officially parted ways. His departure was explained on screen as having turned in his kutte after losing
14385-440: The stamina for an hours-long fight. Audiences also preferred short matches. Worked matches also carried less risk of injury, which meant shorter recovery. Altogether, worked matches proved more profitable than shoots. By the end of the 19th century, nearly all professional wrestling matches were worked. A major influence on professional wrestling was carnival culture. Wrestlers in the late 19th century worked in carnival shows. For
14522-458: The team Urban Assault ( Eric Perez , Sonny Siaki , Afa Anoa'i Jr. and G-Rilla ), 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 G-Rilla and beat him up. Deacon then aided G-Rilla and formed a tag team with him, helping him to get revenge on Urban Assault. The pair also feuded with Team Elite ( Derrick Neikirk and Mike Knox ) for
14659-426: The territories of his former NWA peers, now his rivals. By the end of the 1980s, the WWF would become the sole national wrestling promotion in the U.S. This was in part made possible by the rapid spread of cable television in the 1980s. The national broadcast networks generally regarded professional wrestling as too niche an interest, and had not broadcast any national wrestling shows since the 1950s. Before cable TV,
14796-514: The title from The Bludgeon Brothers on the Money in the Bank pre-show and also lost a rematch on the June 19 episode of SmackDown . At WrestleMania 35 in April 2019, Anderson and Gallows wrestled in their second André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but again did not win. On the April 29 episode of Raw , Gallows and Anderson returned to the Raw brand, losing to The Usos. As of that match, they had not won
14933-570: The title from Goto and Shibata on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka . They lost the title to The Kingdom ( Matt Taven and Michael Bennett ) on April 5 at Invasion Attack 2015 . They regained the title from The Kingdom on July 5 at Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall . From July 20 to August 14, Gallows took part in the 2015 G1 Climax , where he finished last in his block with a record of three wins and six losses. On August 2, he faced AJ Styles and
15070-505: The trial, witnesses testified that most of the "big matches" and all of the championship bouts were fixed. By the 1930s, with the exception of the occasional double-cross or business dispute, shoot matches were essentially nonexistent. In April 1930, the New York State Athletic Commission decreed that all professional wrestling matches held in the state had to be advertised as exhibitions unless certified as contests by
15207-471: The truth, their audiences would desert them. Today's performers don't "protect" the industry like we did, but that's primarily because they've already exposed it by relying on silly or downright ludicrous characters and gimmicks to gain popularity with the fans. It was different in my day, when our product was presented as an authentic, competitive sport. We protected it because we believed it would collapse if we ever so much as implied publicly that it
15344-596: The vacant New England Championship , on April 30, 2004, in a twenty-eight man royal rumble . He won the Heavyweight Championship on March 18, 2005, defeating Maverick Wild, but vacated the title on April 1 after signing a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment in March 2005. During this time Mailhot was also wrestling for the now sold and renamed All-Star Wrestling Association based in Nashua, New Hampshire . He debuted as Brian Black on February 21, 2004, in
15481-405: The venue, in a format similar to reality television . Performers generally integrate authentic wrestling techniques and fighting styles with choreography , stunts , improvisation , and dramatic conventions designed to maximize entertainment value and audience engagement. Professional wrestling as a performing art evolved from the common practice of match-fixing among American wrestlers in
15618-535: The way of proceedings: the "in-show" happenings, presented through the shows; and real-life happenings outside the work that have implications, such as performer contracts, legitimate injuries, etc. Because actual life events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines of performers, the lines between real life and fictional life are often blurred and become confused. Special discern must be taken with people who perform under their own name (such as Kurt Angle and his fictional persona ). The actions of
15755-420: The wrestlers quietly began faking their matches so that they could give their audiences a satisfying spectacle. Fixing matches was also convenient for scheduling. A real ("shoot") match could sometimes last hours, whereas a fixed ("worked") match can be made short, which was convenient for wrestlers on tour who needed to keep appointments or share venues. It also suited wrestlers who were aging and therefore lacked
15892-425: Was Wrestling As You Like It , which printed its first issue in 1946. These magazines were faithful to kayfabe . Before the advent of television, professional wrestling's fanbase largely consisted of children, the elderly, blue-collar workers and minorities. When television arose in the 1940s, professional wrestling got national exposure on prime-time television and gained widespread popularity. Professional wrestling
16029-528: Was acting inappropriately, and had him escorted from the arena by security. On April 20, 2006, Mailhot abruptly flew himself home from a WWE tour in Italy and gave his notice to WWE officials, citing harassment from John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) and his " Wrestler's Court " as the reason for his resignation. He was granted his release on April 27, 2006. This forced the postponement of the Miz's planned wrestling debut, as
16166-447: Was an emotionally driven and physically unstoppable giant. On the September 7, 2007, episode of SmackDown! , there was a segment featuring Jesse and Festus now actually 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 very focused and angry competitor as compared to the mentally disabled character he had portrayed. When
16303-428: Was assigned to Deep South Wrestling , WWE's farm territory. In 2006, he started a feud with Kane , where Hankinson used Kane's old attire and mask, being called Imposter Kane . They faced each other at Vengeance where Hankinson was victorious. He was repackaged as Festus , a quiet man who turns insane when the bell rings. He teamed with Jesse for almost two years before the two were split. Following this, he went on
16440-738: Was assigned to the Deep South Wrestling (DSW) developmental territory . Hankinson wrestled in DSW as Dorian "Deacon" Deville before changing his ring name to The Freakin' Deacon . He adopted the gimmick of a deranged, facepaint-wearing wrestler who came to the ring with a pet spider named Willow, whom he sometimes spoke to. 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 then formed an alliance with announcer and wrestler Bill DeMott , who
16577-488: Was challenges from independent wrestlers. But a cartelized wrestler, if challenged, could credibly use his contractual obligations to his promoter as an excuse to refuse the challenge. Promotions would sometimes respond to challenges with "policemen": powerful wrestlers who lacked the charisma to become stars, but could defeat and often seriously injure any challenger in a shoot match. As the industry trend continued, there were fewer independent wrestlers to make such challenges in
16714-417: Was cured due to Punk showing him the straight edge lifestyle. On the December 11 episode of SmackDown , Gallows and Punk defeated Hardy and R-Truth , after Gallows pinned Hardy with his new finishing move, the "Twelfth Step". On the January 8, 2010, episode of SmackDown , Gallows defeated Hardy. The next week, Gallows and Punk defeated Matt Hardy and The Great Khali , The Hart Dynasty , and Cryme Tyme in
16851-450: Was defeated by Kurt Angle which ended by disqualification when Aces & Eights attacked Angle. On December 9 at Final Resolution , D.O.C. teamed with Devon and two masked members of Aces & Eights in a losing effort to Kurt Angle, Garett Bischoff , Samoa Joe , and Wes Brisco . on the December 13 episode of Impact Wrestling, D.O.C. and a masked man (members of Aces and 8's) lost to James Storm and Jeff Hardy . At Genesis , D.O.C.
16988-603: Was defeated by Sting in a singles match. On the February 7 episode of Impact Wrestling , D.O.C. and Devon were defeated by Bully Ray and Sting in a Tables match. On the February 21 episode of Impact Wrestling, Aces & Eights, consisting of D.O.C., Devon and Mr. Anderson defeated Sting, Hulk Hogan and Bully Ray in a six-man tag team match after they took Hogan out before the match. At Lockdown , Aces & Eights, consisting of D.O.C., Devon, Garett Bischoff, Knux , and Mr. Anderson were defeated by Team TNA, consisting of Eric Young , James Storm , Magnus , Samoa Joe, and Sting in
17125-596: Was defeated by The Great Power Uti of Nigeria who took his belt. Hankinson appeared on the World Wrestling Fan Xperience (WWFX) Champions Showcase Tour in Manila , Philippines on February 4, 2012, where he wrestled under the name Luke Gallow (using his heel S.E.S. gimmick) in a losing effort to Rhyno . He also appeared at Wrestlerama in Georgetown, Guyana. On October 6, 2012, he was defeated by Scott Steiner in
17262-508: Was defeated, taking the Bloody Sunday, resulting in a loss. On January 4, 2016, at Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome , Gallows and Anderson lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship to Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma. Hours after the event, it was reported that both Gallows and Anderson had given their notice to NJPW on the morning of January 4, announcing that they were leaving the promotion for WWE. TNA later claimed that Gallows had agreed to return to
17399-407: Was drafted to SmackDown, splitting up The club. On July 24 at Battleground , The Club wrestled together for the final time, in a loss to Cena and Enzo and Cass . Gallows and Anderson then dropped Styles from the group and resumed feuding with The New Day , leading up to a SummerSlam match for the WWE Tag Team Championship , which they won by disqualification because of show guest Jon Stewart and
17536-460: Was forgiven by Punk for her actions, as they embraced, but Gallows did not approve. The following week Gallows was set to fight Big Show but gave the match to the SES Masked Man, who was unmasked as Joey Mercury during the match. On the September 3 episode of SmackDown , Gallows and Punk faced The Big Show in a two-on-one handicap match, which Gallows and Punk lost. After the match Punk delivered
17673-579: Was 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 later revealed that Quintin Michaels had captured Willow and used it to blackmail Deacon into leaving, but he later got his pet back, regaining his freedom. On May 29, 2006, Hankinson debuted on Raw as an imposter Kane . Wearing Kane's old mask and ring attire, he chokeslammed Kane during his match against Shelton Benjamin for
17810-400: Was ostensibly a representative of the oppressive " Network ". This gimmick reflected what WWE perceived as increasing interference by UPN regarding the content of SmackDown! , most notably UPN's demand that WWE remove Mark Copani's controversial Muhammad Hassan character from television. His character and booking of matches that the fans disliked led to mainly heel reactions. The gimmick
17947-636: Was previously considered a niche interest, but the TV networks at the time were short on content and thus were willing to try some wrestling shows. In the 1960s, however, the networks moved on to more mainstream interests such as baseball, and professional wrestling was dropped. The core audience then shrunk back to a profile similar to that of the 1930s. In 1989, Vince McMahon was looking to exempt his promotion (the World Wrestling Federation ) from sports licensing fees. To achieve this, he testified before
18084-551: Was reminiscent of both Right to Censor , a stable created to parody the Parents Television Council , and The Network , an ECW stable led by Cyrus which claimed to represent TNN . The name Palmer Canon might have been a play with the initials "P.C." . This connection between his name and political correctness was made more evident when commentator Tazz called him P.C. when Canon came to do ringside commentary. His character also consisted of booking matches behind
18221-513: Was simply ignored and the titles were returned to The Swerve . On May 22, 2004, he debuted a German character of his own creation, Otto Von Schwartz . Taking full advantage of his German heritage and ability to speak German , he worked as a heel, feuding primarily with Greg "The Hammer" Valentine . He captured the AWA Heavyweight Championship from Valentine on September 25, 2004, but dropped it on April 9, 2005. He then departed to
18358-415: Was something other than what it appeared to be. I'm not sure now the fear was ever justified given the fact that the industry is still in existence today, but the point is no one questioned the need then. "Protecting the business" in the face of criticism and skepticism was the first and most important rule a pro wrestler learned. No matter how aggressive or informed the questioner, you never admitted
18495-417: Was the "world champion". Before the cartels, there were multiple wrestlers in the U.S. simultaneously calling themselves the "world champion", and this sapped public enthusiasm for professional wrestling. Likewise, the cartel could agree on a common set of match rules that the fans could keep track of. The issue over who got to be the champion and who controlled said champion was a major point of contention among
18632-421: Was then renamed "Festus" while Gordy was dubbed "Jesse", and 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, who was in awe of his tag team partner. Hankinson, however, played a character that was mentally challenged and unresponsive. In spite of Festus' dimwitted nature, Jesse kept claiming that Festus
18769-405: Was won by The North . At Turning Point (2020) , Gallows and Anderson defeated The North to win the Impact World Tag Team Championship for the first time. On the December 16 episode of Impact Wrestling, Anderson pinned Chris Sabin by rolling Sabin up while pulling on Sabin's shorts for leverage. When Impact World Champion Rich Swann confronted Anderson about it, Anderson attacked him, turning heel in
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