96-561: Professional wrestling championship USWA Television Championship [REDACTED] Jesse James Armstrong , the first champion Details Promotion United States Wrestling Association Date retired November 3, 1996 Statistics First champion(s) Jesse James Armstrong Most reigns Jesse James Armstrong (2 reigns) Longest reign Wolfie D ( 73 days) Shortest reign Brickhouse Brown (4 days) The USWA Television Championship
192-916: A battle royal on 1000th USWA TV show. 2 Tony Falk May 4, 1996 USWA show Memphis, Tennessee 1 15 3 Jesse James Armstrong May 19, 1996 USWA show Memphis, Tennessee 2 22 — Vacated June 10, 1996 — — — — Armstrong lost a loser-leaves-town match to Jeff Jarrett 4 Brickhouse Brown June 15, 1996 USWA show Memphis, Tennessee 1 4 Defeated Bart Sawyer . 5 Wolfie D June 19, 1996 USWA show Memphis, Tennessee 1 73 6 Jamie Dundee August 31, 1996 USWA show Memphis, Tennessee 1 — Deactivated November 3, 1996 — — — — Championship abandoned Footnotes [ edit ] ^ The exact date
288-576: A dark match . Following this, James would alternate between the Brian Armstrong and The Dark Secret ring names, where he would find success in singles and tag team matches under the former and continue to job under the latter. In addition to SMW, James returned to WCW under his Brian Armstrong ring name on the November 30 episode of Saturday Night in a losing effort to Steve Austin . Beginning in 1994, James wrestled more frequently for WCW, including
384-419: A mask as The Dark Secret, where he lost to Tracy Smothers . As The Dark Secret, James was relegated to jobbing , as he would lose continuously in both singles and tag team matches throughout the rest of 1992 and into 1993. Following another tour of duty, James returned to SMW on July 2, 1993, where he lost to Bobby Blaze . On July 19, James, now using the Brian Armstrong ring name, defeated Killer Kyle in
480-797: A referee . Like his father, James served in the United States Marine Corps . His tenure lasted from 1987 to 1993 and he fought in Operation Desert Storm in 1991, where he was a platoon sergeant in command of thirty-three Marines. James is married to Tracy James, with three children and a grandchild. James is a longtime Pittsburgh Steelers fan , and owns a jersey of former tight end Jesse James . James admits to having had problems with drugs and alcohol throughout his life. He began taking painkillers during his time in D-Generation X . After being suspended and then released from
576-554: A 1997 interview with the Memphis Flyer , Lawler claimed he had improvised during their first match and the Letterman incident. Although officials at St. Francis Hospital stated that Kaufman's neck injuries were real, in his 2002 biography "It's Good to Be the King...Sometimes," Lawler detailed how they came up with the angle and kept it quiet. He also said that Kaufman's explosion on Letterman
672-474: A WWE offer. On August 4, James returned to the Boston -based Millennium Wrestling Federation 's Soul Survivor IV wrestling event and fanfest. James worked for the promotion when it opened in 2001, but no-showed a benefit for Superstar Billy Graham in 2002 due to his drug and personal issues. MWF subsequently brought the legitimate situation into a storyline. Despite this, James teamed with Beau Douglas to win
768-723: A championship match against the World Television Champion Lord Steven Regal which he lost. On the March 5, 1994 edition of the WCW Power Hour , Armstrong lost to Terra Ryzing – who would go on to become James' DX stablemate Triple H – in the latter's debut match for the promotion. Brian wrestled primarily on television tapings, and began to team frequently with his brother Brad, albeit in losing efforts. Meanwhile, his time in Smoky Mountain Wrestling
864-410: A host of other teams were regulars. During the mid-1970s the focal point of the territory changed from tag wrestling to singles action. In the mid-1970s the territory split in two, with separate promoters for each half. Jerry Jarrett was in charge of Memphis, Louisville, Lexington and Evansville while still part of NWA Mid-America, while Nick Gulas , who had been the primary booker, continued to promote
960-552: A large sum of money into what he thought was a 10%-share of the promotion and learned that Gulas had tricked him into paying for an option to buy less (which by the time he learned had already expired), he decided to go his own way. Jarrett decided to break away by starting competing cards at the Cook Convention Center in March 1977. Gulas, who lived in Nashville, eventually made "Music City" his home base, running weekly cards at
1056-830: A nod to James' and Killings' brief tag team in the World Wrestling Federation , they sang their own entrance music as they approached the ring. In addition to popularity, the Kru found championship success as well, as Killings won his second and final NWA World Heavyweight Championship as a member while all three men held the NWA World Tag Team Championship twice under the Freebird Rule . Tension arose when James' former partner Billy Gunn joined TNA as The New Age Outlaw (later shortened to The Outlaw) in 2005. The Outlaw repeatedly courted James, seeking to split
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#17328845501631152-473: A one-fall contest to a Texas death match. The stipulations of these matches varied from a title vs Cadillac match, where Lawler promised to take the Southern Heavyweight Title, the main championship in the promotion, from Dundee or he would give Dundee his Cadillac. Another stipulation was that Dundee said he would shave his head if he did not win the title from Lawler. Dundee lost this match, but
1248-502: A play on the way Jarrett spelled his name. (J E double S E, J A double M E S) suggested to Rockabilly that they form a tag team in order to end their unsuccessful runs as singles competitors. A change in creative direction in the WWF in late 1997 led Rockabilly to accept James' offer after subsequently attacking Honky Tonk Man with his own guitar to cement their alliance. Soon after, Rockabilly reverted to his Billy Gunn ring name and adopted
1344-760: A producer while Gunn resumed his role as a trainer in NXT . On the January 19, 2015 episode of Raw , the New Age Outlaws returned alongside The Acolytes Protection Agency and the New World Order to confront and ultimately drive off The Ascension after they had been disrespecting tag teams from the past. Six days later, the Outlaws challenged The Ascension at the Royal Rumble , but were defeated. at WrestleMania 31 , Road Dogg and
1440-454: A rematch. Funk wanted this rematch to take place in an empty arena. Funk's justification for this was that he did not trust the audience or referee, who he felt were on Lawler's side. The match took place in an empty Mid-south Coliseum on April 6, 1981, and it aired on television on April 25, 1981. The only people at this match other than Lawler and Funk was Lance Russell, a cameraman, and a photographer. The match ended after Lawler had stuck
1536-414: A steel chair since he originally vetoed Kip's offer. Kip instead saved Konnan from Team Canada, thus proving his original intentions. On the November 26 episode of Impact! , James brought Kip and the 3LK to the ring and asked Killings and Konnan to give Kip a yes/no vote to be accepted into the group. After James got heated with Konnan, both gave Kip yes votes and the 4 Live Kru was born. The 4 Live Kru
1632-553: A ten-year-long absence, James returned to WWE television on the December 12 episode of Raw under his Road Dogg ring name to present CM Punk with the Slammy Award for "Pipe Bomb" of the Year. On January 29, 2012, Road Dogg entered the Royal Rumble match as the twenty-third entrant and lasted nearly five minutes before being eliminated by Wade Barrett . Following this, he began hosting
1728-496: A totally separate promotion run by Jarrett. In 1980 after only three years, the Gulas territory folded when Gulas retired and the CWA took over some of the more profitable locations (e.g. Nashville). After the split from Nick Gulas, the CWA became a National Wrestling Alliance affiliate, which entitled the CWA to NWA World Heavyweight Championship defenses. The champion regularly toured through
1824-561: A wooden spike in Funk's eye. This was after Funk made the spike from smashing it against the ring post and tried to drive the spike into Lawler's eye. According to Jim Cornette, former wrestling manager and wrestling historian, Funk left the CWA for a month to wrestle in Japan. Funk did return later in 1981, where he came on television and asked where Lawler was. Lawler was not present in the studio, so Terry Funk decided to take out his anger by punching
1920-631: A would-be country singer. He wrestled on several pay-per-views and television shows, but most of his first WWF tenure was spent accompanying Jarrett and interfering in his matches. He fought against Razor Ramon and The 1-2-3 Kid . He participated in the King of the Ring 1995 tournament defeating Doink the Clown , and Bob Holly until losing to Savio Vega in the semi-finals. Roadie defeated The 1-2-3 Kid at In Your House 2: The Lumberjacks . In early 1995, Jarrett released
2016-538: Is XXX . They were interrupted by Imperium during their reunion. Beginning with the episode broadcast on February 1, 2024, Road Dogg served as color commentator on WWE Main Event , under his birth name of Brian James. James is a second generation wrestler and youngest brother of the Armstrong Wrestling Family, his father Bob wrestled, as did his brothers Scott , Brad , and Steve . Scott worked at WWE as
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#17328845501632112-756: Is an American professional wrestler signed with the WWE , where he performs as the Senior Vice President of Live Events, and as a commentator on WWE Main Event . James was best known for his initial tenure with World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) as The Roadie from 1994 to 1995 and as "Road Dogg" Jesse James from 1996 to 2001. He is also known for his appearances with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) as B.G. James from 2002 to 2009, and has also made appearances for several other promotions such as Smoky Mountain Wrestling , World Championship Wrestling ,
2208-596: The Championship Wrestling Association ) was a wrestling promotion managed by Jerry Jarrett . The CWA was the name of the "governing body" for the Championship Wrestling, Inc. promotion which was usually referred to as Mid-Southern Wrestling or the Memphis territory. This promotion was a chief NWA territory during the 1970s and early 1980s while operating out of Tennessee and Kentucky . The CWA
2304-533: The Destination X match as their partner, effectively making it a three-man tag team. "Bullet" was in fact added to the team and they won the match at Destination X. The following month, an arm wrestling match was booked between Armstrong and Konnan, where the losing team would get hit ten times with a leather whip. Armstrong prevailed with the victory, resulting in LAX being whipped several times upon trying to scramble out of
2400-580: The Freebird Rule as the 3 Live Kru. He twice competed for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on pay-per-view . WWE commentator John Layfield charted James's transition from "a cornerstone of the Attitude Era ; one of its greatest stars and one of its architects", to "one of the prime creative forces behind WWE". James is a second generation wrestler; his father Bob wrestled, as did his brothers Scott , Brad , and Steve . He
2496-520: The Intercontinental Championship in 1999. The team came to an end when Gunn was legitimately injured in early 2000 and, to explain the absence needed for his recovery, Gunn was expelled from DX due to losing his temper. James then teamed with fellow DX member X-Pac throughout the summer of 2000, but failed to regain any championship success. The team eventually split, with Road Dogg and X-Pac subsequently feuding with each other before
2592-530: The Mid-south Coliseum . In those matches, the pair sold out the Mid-south Coliseum once on August 1, where 11,300 people came to watch the two fight. Jimmy Hart would try to bring in wrestlers from other areas to fight Jerry Lawler. Hart did this because Lawler had broken his leg. So, Hart wanted to bring in a wrestler to break Jerry's leg. One of the wrestlers brought in was Terry Funk. Terry Funk
2688-519: The Royal Rumble kickoff show, the New Age Outlaws defeated Rhodes and Goldust to win their first WWE Tag Team Championship and sixth tag team title in WWE overall. They held the title until the March 3 episode of Raw , where they were defeated by The Usos . After losing the title, the Outlaws allied with Kane as part of The Authority to face The Shield at WrestleMania XXX , but they were defeated. Following WrestleMania XXX, James resumed his role as
2784-534: The Tag Team Championship . On April 2, 2011, James returned to WWE for the first time in over a decade to induct his father "Bullet" Bob Armstrong into the company's Hall of Fame . Several months later, James announced on October 11 via his Facebook account that he re-signed with WWE as a producer , and would return to the company in his new role on October 23 at the Vengeance pay-per-view . After
2880-531: The Total Nonstop Action Wrestling promotion on September 18, 2002, wrestling as B.G. James, as the Road Dogg gimmick was owned by WWE. He was initially a heel and one of the founding members of Vince Russo 's Sports Entertainment Xtreme faction. In 2003, James formed the stable known as the 3 Live Kru alongside Konnan and Ron Killings . The stable was popular from the outset and, as
2976-689: The United States Wrestling Association , the Catch Wrestling Association , and World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA). James has held numerous championships in a career spanning more than three decades. In the WWF/E, he achieved mainstream notoriety as half of The New Age Outlaws (who became part of D-Generation X ): he and partner Billy Gunn won the WWF World Tag Team Championship five times , and later held
USWA Television Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue
3072-596: The WWE Tag Team Championship once . Additionally, James found success in singles competition, becoming a one-time Intercontinental Champion and a one-time Hardcore Champion . Following his 2001 departure from the WWF, James became the inaugural WWA World Heavyweight Champion before once again finding success as a tag team wrestler in TNA, where he was a two-time National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) World Tag Team Champion with Konnan and Ron Killings under
3168-517: The AWA and the CWA into one federation in an attempt to counter the World Wrestling Federation ’s national expansion. The federation was renamed the Championship Wrestling Association in late-1987 when Lawler began co-promoting with Jarrett. Subsequently, all singles titles in the CWA ( AWA Southern , CWA/AWA International and NWA Mid-America Heavyweight ) were merged in order to recognize one CWA Heavyweight Champion. On May 9, 1988 in Memphis, Lawler took on
3264-1064: The Continental Wrestling Association. Throughout the existence of the CWA, there were notable feuds that took place. These feuds included Jerry Lawler vs Bill Dundee in 1977, and Terry Funk vs Jerry Lawler in 1981. The professional wrestling territory commonly referred to as the “Memphis Area” was originally part of the NWA Mid-America promotion that was founded in the 1940s. It operated in Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee, but also included stops in surrounding cities and states. The "NWA Mid-American" territory featured tag teams in nearly all of its main events, and sometimes featuring only one or two singles matches to complement an evening of tag matches. Such teams as The Von Brauners , The Interns, The Infernos, The Bounty Hunters, Tojo Yamamoto and Jerry Jarrett, Don and Al Green, Bobby Hart and Lorenzo Parente, The Fabulous Kangaroos , Jerry Lawler and Jim White , The Fabulous Fargos, and
3360-554: The December 9 episode of Raw , the New Age Outlaws appeared to present the Slammy Award for LOL Moment of the Year. On the January 6, 2014 episode of Raw , the New Age Outlaws saved CM Punk from an assault by The Shield and later stood in Punk's corner during his match against Roman Reigns . Later that week on SmackDown , they teamed alongside Punk to face The Shield in a six-man tag team match, although they were defeated after Gunn
3456-474: The Fairgrounds and all over mid-Tennessee. Originally Gulas was backed by many of the areas top draws. Jarrett, however, was backed by Jerry Lawler, who had just toppled Jackie Fargo as the headliner of the Memphis area. Gulas did attempt to run shows in Memphis for some time but without the headliner, Lawler, he could not compete. This split between Gulas and Jarrett created the Continental Wrestling Association as
3552-614: The February 17, 1995 episode of WorldWide , as he and his brothers Brad and Scott lost a six-man tag team match to The Three Faces of Fear ( Kevin Sullivan , The Butcher , and Avalanche ). After defeating Barry Hardy in a dark match on the August 16, 1994 episode of WWF Wrestling Challenge , James signed with the World Wrestling Federation towards the end of 1994. He was billed as The Roadie , an assistant to "Double J" Jeff Jarrett ,
3648-492: The Kru and recreate the New Age Outlaws . When The Outlaw began feuding with the Kru, James repeatedly found his loyalties divided, unwilling to fight either his former or current tag team partners. For a time, James stopped appearing with the Kru but did not align himself with The Outlaw, who had by then changed his name to Kip James as a "tribute" to James' father. At Sacrifice , he reasserted his allegiance with 3 Live Kru as
3744-536: The Legion of Doom and later the short-lived tag team of Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie before joining D-Generation X the night after WrestleMania XIV . The Outlaws amassed five Tag Team Championship reigns and managed to become singles champions while still together, with Road Dogg and Gunn each winning the Hardcore Championship once in 1998 and 1999, respectively, while Road Dogg would also go on to win
3840-589: The MWF's promoter Dan Mirade for sabotaging the Graham benefit and agreed to return in the future. At Turning Point , James won one of the cases in the Feast or Fired match, which was later revealed to contain a contract for a World Tag Team Championship match. Instead of teaming with Kip, he chose his father "Bullet" Bob Armstrong to be his tag team partner. B.G. and Bullet Bob lost their title match against A.J. Styles and Tomko in
3936-620: The Mid-South Coliseum shows wrestling women in the undercard matches, and after winning Kaufman would berate the Memphis crowd and proclaim his own greatness in the sport. He even went so far as to claim that no woman could beat him and if they did – he would marry that woman. Jerry Lawler, however, was a proud defender of wrestling and angry at Kaufman for mocking the sport that made him a star, so he decided to coach one of Kaufman's opponents. Kaufman still won despite Lawler's coaching and gloated until Lawler had enough and pushed Kaufman, sending
USWA Television Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue
4032-406: The Mid-South Coliseum wearing a neck brace, vowing to get even with Lawler. The feud got national exposure in several newspapers after Kaufman's supposed injury, and it would get even more press after Kaufman discussed it on Saturday Night Live . On July 27, 1982, Kaufman and Lawler were guests of David Letterman on Late Night with David Letterman . Kaufman still wore a neck brace even though
4128-583: The NBC network executives uneasy, believing that the hatred between the two was real and that mayhem could break out at any time. Kaufman and Lawler kept claiming that their hatred and actions were real, but they were later revealed to have been a staged " work ", as the two were actually friends. The truth about it being a work was kept secret for more than 10 years after Kaufman's death until the Emmy nominated documentary A Comedy Salute to Andy Kaufman aired on NBC in 1995. In
4224-523: The November 23 airing of Impact! , they drove around searching for their targets, but they ended up arriving at a Target store. At the end of the episode, VKM argued, and Kip pointed straight ahead to the WWE World Headquarters, which prompted James to respond, "We're back!" In 2006, as acknowledged by TNA's website, VKM accepted The Hardys' open challenge to a match at December to Dismember . WWE never acknowledged their acceptance, however. Over
4320-408: The WWE.com and YouTube web series Are You Serious? alongside Josh Mathews . On July 23, Road Dogg reunited with Billy Gunn , Sean Waltman , Shawn Michaels and Triple H to reform D-Generation X for one night only on the 1000th episode of Raw . On the December 17 episode of Raw , he and Billy Gunn appeared together as the New Age Outlaws and presented the Slammy Award for Comeback of
4416-458: The WWF, James joined the United States Wrestling Association under the ring name Jesse James Armstrong alongside Jarrett, where he won its Heavyweight , Television , and World Tag Team Championships before losing a Loser Leaves Town match to Jarrett. James, without Jarrett, returned to the WWF in October 1996 under the ring name Jesse James, where he revealed himself as "The Real Double J" and
4512-469: The WWF, he successfully underwent rehabilitation. On March 26, 2021, after returning from Orlando, James suffered an apparent heart attack and was hospitalized. He saw his kidney specialist and had a stress test done, and had also been taking medications for high blood pressure. James defended the championship with either Konnan or Killings under the Freebird Rule . Continental Wrestling Association Continental Wrestling Association (later
4608-421: The Year to Jerry Lawler . On the March 4, 2013 episode of Raw , Road Dogg and Billy Gunn made their in-ring return as the New Age Outlaws with a victory over Primo and Epico . A week later, the New Age Outlaws competed against Team Rhodes Scholars, but the match was rendered a no contest after Brock Lesnar interrupted and performed an F-5 to both Outlaws as part of his ongoing feud with Triple H . On
4704-493: The alleged injury had occurred 5 months before. Lawler described the neck brace as a "flea collar" and tensions rose between them until Lawler stood up and slapped the Kaufman out of his chair and off the stage. Kaufman unleashed a profanity-laced tirade on Lawler, culminating with Kaufmann throwing a cup of coffee at him. Kaufman continued cursing Lawler as he (Kaufmann) stormed out of the studio. The antics of Lawler and Kaufman made
4800-404: The cage for survival. Following their feud with LAX, James and Kip began feuding with Team 3D . The two teams cut promos arguing over their long-term histories with past promotions such as World Wrestling Entertainment and Extreme Championship Wrestling . The rivalry came to a head at Sacrifice when The James Gang beat Team 3D using a lead pipe. The James Gang and Team 3D feuded throughout
4896-1739: The championship was abandoned is unclear, which means that the championship reign lasted between 62 and 91 days. v t e Continental Wrestling Association and United States Wrestling Association Championships Continental Wrestling Association CWA Heavyweight Championship CWA Tag Team Championship CWA Southwestern Heavyweight Championship CWA Super Heavyweight Championship CWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship CWA World Heavyweight Championship CWA World Tag Team Championship NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship NWA United States Tag Team Championship NWA Six-Man Tag Team Championship CWA/AWA International Heavyweight Championship CWA/AWA International Tag Team Championship AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship AWA Southern Tag Team Championship United States Wrestling Association USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship USWA Southern Heavyweight Championship USWA Tag Team Championship USWA Texas Heavyweight Championship USWA Television Championship USWA Women's Championship USWA Junior Heavyweight Championship USWA Middleweight Championship Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=USWA_Television_Championship&oldid=1214601417 " Categories : United States Wrestling Association championships Television wrestling championships Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description matches Wikidata Articles with hCards Jesse James Armstrong Brian Girard James (born May 20, 1969)
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#17328845501634992-516: The comedian on a tirade. The fans loved every second of it, watching the local star defend the sport against the arrogant actor from Hollywood. During the inevitable Lawler/Kaufman match, Lawler executed two Piledrivers (a move that was "banned" in Memphis) after which Kaufman was carried out of the arena on a stretcher (kayfabe). The following day several newspapers reported that Kaufman had in fact broken his neck. Several weeks later, Kaufman returned to
5088-572: The cooperative attempt with the AWA failed, Jerry Jarrett bought WCCW from the Von Erichs and unified the two promotions as the United States Wrestling Association in 1989, thus ending the era of Continental Wrestling Association. Through the summer until the early fall of 1977, Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee had their first of many feuds take place. From July to September, the pair faced each other 10 times. The matches varied in types of wrestling matches and in stipulations. The types of matches varied from
5184-445: The early 1980s, Andy Kaufman routinely wrestled women during his shows, proclaiming himself the “Intergender Wrestling Champion” and offering women $ 1000 if they could beat him. As part of this performance, Kaufman would imply that these matches were “real” and thus also imply that professional wrestling was not “real”, which countered the sacrosanct belief of fans in that era that wrestling was "real". Kaufman even started appearing in
5280-730: The early 1990s. These shows showcased a series of wrestlers as they made their way through the Memphis territory including Hulk Hogan , Harley Race , Terry Funk , Jack Brisco , and Ric Flair . The biggest run of the promotion was the Jerry Lawler- Jimmy Hart feud which lasted throughout the early 1980s. Jimmy Hart's "First Family" included dozens of wrestlers who Hart brought in to face Lawler. Included in this list were The Iron Sheik , The Dream Machine, The Nightmares, Eddie Gilbert , Ken Patera , Jesse Ventura , Hulk Hogan, Bugsy McGraw , Kevin Sullivan , Bobby Eaton , "Killer Tim Brooks", and Paul Ellering . The feud ended when Hart
5376-466: The end of the match, Jimmy Hart showed up revealing the bandaged man to be Andy Kaufman. In the confusion Bockwinkel won the match. The Lawler/Kaufman feud ended in the early part of 1983 after Lawler threw a fireball at Kaufman, ending his run with the CWA. After Kaufman left, Lawler refocused his efforts on Jimmy Hart and his First Family stable . Lawler challenging for the World title and almost winning it
5472-504: The entirety of DX fell apart. Road Dogg then formed a tag team with newcomer K-Kwik , and competed in his last televised match on December 23. He was then indefinitely suspended, and later released from his contract in January 2001, due to personal problems. On March 26, 2001, James arrived at the final WCW Monday Nitro taping in Panama City, Florida , in order to negotiate a return to World Championship Wrestling , only to find out that
5568-414: The following weeks, VKM aired several more videos bashing DX and Vince McMahon. They also made a $ 1 million challenge to DX as announced on the TNA website. They declared "victory" at Final Resolution , after receiving no answer from WWE. In early 2007, however, James said in a shoot interview along with his tag team partner Kip that he would jump back to WWE if he could get out of his TNA contract and get
5664-711: The influx of new talent entering TNA. It was later reported that the segment was a worked shoot that Vince Russo had written in order to renew interest upon their eventual return. On the November 16 airing of Impact! , The James Gang announced that they would now be known as Voodoo Kin Mafia (VKM) (a pun on the name Vincent Kennedy McMahon ). They spent their airtime bashing McMahon and both members of D-Generation X , using their real names: Paul Levesque and Michael Hickenbottom . After calling Triple H "Triple Hollywood" and Shawn Michaels "Shawn Kiss-My-Bottom", VKM claimed they were declaring war on DX and Vincent Kennedy McMahon. On
5760-553: The lead writers. In January 2018, James made a one night return to Raw 25 Years , as part of the D-Generation X reunion. Later on at the show, they celebrated with the Balor Club , after attacking The Revival . James would later appear in the 2018 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony to induct Jeff Jarrett . On the January 28, 2019 episode of Raw , Road Dogg made a surprise appearance, where he joined Jeff Jarrett in interrupting Elias , and
5856-417: The main event. During that event, James was signing autographs and taking Polaroids during intermission, and became belligerent after being asked to leave the gymnasium when the intermission ended and matches were going on. James became irritated, started swearing and refused to leave. Police came and arrested him. He was charged for disorderly conduct. He also worked for IWA Mid-South . Then James worked for
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#17328845501635952-524: The most notable example being a rematch with Lord Steven Regal for the World Television Championship on the August 10 episode of Saturday Night . Around that time, he would adopt his signature undercut braids. On the November 14, 1994 edition of WCW Pro , Armstrong again lost to the future Triple H, who by that time had been repackaged as Jean-Paul Lévesque. Both men left the promotion before long. James wrestled his final match for WCW on
6048-479: The nickname "Badd Ass", while Road Dogg began to grow out and braid his hair, resurrecting his old look from his days in WCW. In addition to these esthetic changes, their mannerisms became consistently more controversial and antisocial, with the team ultimately becoming known as the New Age Outlaws following their victory over The Legion of Doom for their first Tag Team Championship . The Outlaws would continue to feud with
6144-428: The opening match of Against All Odds . He and Kip had turned face but on the February 21, 2008 edition of Impact! , Kip turned on James and Armstrong by hitting them both with a crutch, turning heel in the process. At Lockdown , he finally defeated Kip in a six-sides of steel match. At Final Resolution , James returned to TNA television for the first time in months and participated in the Feast or Fired Match, which
6240-403: The other half of the territory. Many of the wrestlers in the promotion were upset at Gulas for over booking his son George Gulas in the profitable Memphis half of the territory. It was very hard to believe that George could regularly beat his larger more experienced foes. George was given matches and wins over longtime veterans of the territory without "paying his dues". After Jarrett had invested
6336-490: The promotion had been purchased by the WWF, thus ruling out both companies as employment options. James would go on work the independent circuit after being fired from WWF, often no-showing scheduled appearances as a result of substance-abuse issues he was battling with at the time. On May 26, 2001, James appeared on an indy show at a high school in Conway, South Carolina where he was supposed to wrestle against The Barbarian for
6432-584: The promotion's Tag Team Championship from the Canadian Superstars (J-Busta and Dave Cole). During a pre-event question and answer session, James went into his hatred of Jim Ross and his feelings that WWE ruins families and lives. James and Douglas lost the title back to the Canadians on October 27, 2007, at a Special Olympics fundraiser in Salem, Massachusetts. After five years of bad blood, James made peace with
6528-539: The ratings for the weekly CWA show which drew previously unheard of shares behind the strength of Lawler's local popularity. Throughout the late 1970s, the 1980s and into the early 1990s, Jerry Lawler also engaged in feuds with Dutch Mantell , Robert Fuller , The Mongolian Stomper , Bruiser Brody , Jimmy Valiant , Austin Idol , Rocky Johnson , Tommy Rich , Randy Savage , Rick Rude , and Bill Dundee among others. These men were also on and off again partners to Lawler. In
6624-755: The reigning AWA World Champion Curt Hennig and won the title. As the year went on the AWA/CWA alliance was expanded to include the World Class Wrestling Association out of Texas, with a title unification match set for the AWA’s first (and only) pay-per-view , AWA SuperClash III . Lawler retained the AWA World Heavyweight Championship and won the WCWA World Heavyweight Championship in controversial fashion—the match
6720-430: The rest of D-Generation X (X-Pac and Billy Gunn) did a run in during Triple H's match against Sting which resulted in a brawl with the NWO (Hogan, Hall and Nash) at ringside. In December 2016 it was reported that James was going to be working on the writing team on SmackDown , and would be groomed for a bigger position. This led to James working as a producer and writer on SmackDown . He would later be promoted to one of
6816-401: The ring after he had his head slammed into a table by Lawler. This match is remembered as being the first time Lawler had ever dropped his strap on his wrestling singlet and not won the match immediately. Before this match, Lawler would drop his strap and immediately beat his opponent. After this match, Funk was extremely upset that he had lost. He wanted to get his revenge on Lawler during
6912-460: The short-lived World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) promotion in Australia with former WWF and WCW wrestlers. On October 23, 2001, he defeated former WWF colleague and tag team partner Jeff Jarrett for the vacant WWA World Heavyweight Champion where he was the inaugural champion. He dropped the title to Jarrett three days later. He continued feuding with Jarrett and Scott Steiner . James debuted for
7008-406: The song "With My Baby Tonight", which Jarrett claimed he had sung himself. The planned angle was to reveal that it was The Roadie, not Jarrett, who had really performed the vocals on this song, sparking a feud between the two wrestlers. Before this revelation could take place, James and Jarrett suddenly left the WWF following the second In Your House 2 pay-per-view on July 23, 1995. After leaving
7104-427: The special guest referee in a match between the other members of 3LK and the team of Kip James and Monty Brown . Kip tried to warm up to 3LK again in the lead-up to Bound for Glory by saving James several times from Team Canada . At Bound for Glory, he offered his protective services to them against Team Canada to neutralize Scott D'Amore . When they lost, Kip came down to the ring, appearing ready to hit Konnan with
7200-507: The summer. They were scheduled for a number one contendership match at Hard Justice but, due to a fire, the match was canceled. The match was rescheduled for Impact! , which the Gang lost. On the November 2, 2006 edition of Impact! , Kip and James announced that they were going to quit TNA. While attempting to speak about it, their microphones were cut off. When the show returned, the announcers speculated that they may have been frustrated due to
7296-846: The territory defending the title against top contenders. The main title of the CWA was the Southern Heavyweight Title, which was nominally sanctioned by the NWA (into 1978) or the AWA (beginning in 1978). The cornerstone of the CWA was the weekly Monday night shows from the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, where the cards regularly drew full houses. These shows were repeated in some form weekly in Louisville and Nashville (on Saturday nights). Having three major shows at all three cities, and additional shows through other towns in Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, and Northern Alabama provided significant profits into
7392-566: The title when Dysfunction picked Quinn as his new partner when Dysfunction and Quinn scored a double pin against each other during a title defense. On April 19, James resumed using his Road Dogg name and reformed the New Age Outlaws with Billy Gunn to compete in the Canadian Wrestling's Elite promotion. On May 28, James appeared at One Pro Wrestling 's event The Last Stand, where he teamed with Kevin Nash in an unsuccessful attempt at winning
7488-469: The true singer of "With My Baby Tonight". He languished as an undercard singles wrestler until beginning a feud with The Honky Tonk Man . After denying Honky Tonk Man's offer at becoming his manager by destroying his guitar, James also began feuding with Honky Tonk Man's protégé Rockabilly . After trading wins against each other on television and pay-per-view , James, now referring to himself as "The Road Dogg" Jesse James, originally spelled "Jammes" as
7584-570: The two sang "With My Baby Tonight" until they were both attacked by Elias, with both Road Dogg and Jarrett being smashed with a guitar. On the February 4, 2019 edition of Raw, he was in Jarrett's corner for his first match in WWE for 19 years against Elias. After Elias won the match, he attacked him from behind to set up a guitar shot from Jarrett. On April 7, 2019, Dogg was inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame as part of D-Generation X. After WrestleMania 35 , it
7680-445: The week after promised to beat Lawler for the title or else he would shave his wife's head. Dundee lost this match as well, and his wife's head was shaven. This was a notable feud in the CWA, as it did a lot of business in terms of ticket sales. According to newspaper clippings, the pair sold a total of 85,538 tickets over their 10-match feud. That is roughly an average of 8,500 people coming to watch wrestling every Monday night at
7776-458: Was a National Wrestling Alliance champion from 1975 to 1977, and was considered by many to be one of the best wrestlers of his generation. The first Lawler vs Funk match occurred on March 23, 1981, in the Mid-south Coliseum. This match was a No Disqualification match. Terry Funk had Jimmy Hart at ringside. The two men wrestled for about 11 minutes. Jerry Lawler won the match by count out, as Terry Funk had been incapacitated and could not return to
7872-543: Was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance until 1986 and affiliated with the American Wrestling Association until 1989. In 1989, the CWA merged with the World Class Wrestling Association to form the United States Wrestling Association thus ceasing to exist as a separate entity. Lance Russell and Dave Brown were the television commentators and hosts for the Memphis territory, including
7968-587: Was a recurring theme throughout the mid-1980s, with neither the AWA nor the NWA being willing to actually put their main title on Lawler. The NWA World title was not defended very often in the Memphis area, usually touring with companies that had more political clout in the Alliance, which meant that the CWA actually featured the AWA World champion more regularly than the group of which they were actually dues-paying members. In 1988, plans were set in motion to actually merge
8064-684: Was a secondary title in the United States Wrestling Association that was primarily defended on USWA Championship Wrestling , which was the USWA's television show. It existed from 1996. Title history [ edit ] Key No. Overall reign number Reign Reign number for the specific champion Days Number of days held No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref. Date Event Location Reign Days 1 Jesse James Armstrong April 13, 1996 USWA show Memphis, Tennessee 1 21 Won
8160-468: Was drawing to a close. Following a tag team match where he (as The Dark Secret) and Killer Kyle lost to The Rock 'n' Roll Express ( Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson ) on April 4, James left SMW and began competing solely for WCW as Brian Armstrong. However, he would find little success, as his only victories were in tag team dark matches where he teamed with his brother Brad while he, along with his brothers, were relegated to being jobbers on television, with
8256-460: Was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame ( Class of 2019 ) as part of D-Generation X . James, under the ring name Brian Armstrong, made his professional wrestling debut on December 1, 1986, where he defeated Kevin Sullivan in a match for NWA Southeast Championship Wrestling . Following this, James put his wrestling career on hold in order to enlist in the United States Marine Corps in 1987. Brian
8352-633: Was mentioned on WCW programming during the WrestleWar 91 PPV on February 24, 1991, when the commentary team mentioned that Brad's brother Brian was serving in Operation Desert Storm during a match between Brad and Bobby Eaton . Following his tour of duty , Brian wrestled his first match in five years and lost to Terrance Taylor on July 7, 1991, during the final night of World Championship Wrestling 's The Great American Bash house show tour. After completing another tour of duty, James made his debut for Smoky Mountain Wrestling on November 20, 1992, under
8448-482: Was pinned by Reigns. On the January 13 episode of Raw , the New Age Outlaws and Punk faced The Shield in a rematch before abandoning Punk as he was about to tag them, turning both Outlaws heel in the process for the first time in over a decade. Later that week on SmackDown , the New Age Outlaws defeated the WWE Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Goldust in a non-title match. On January 26 at
8544-500: Was released from his TNA contract. Upon leaving TNA, James returned to the independent circuit and resumed using his Jesse James ring name. On January 30, 2010, he teamed with Dysfunction to defeat Mason Quinn and J-Ca$ h, who substituted for Quinn's tag team partner Dave Demone, to win the All-Star Championship Wrestling Tag Team Championship for the first time. On May 1, James lost his half of
8640-663: Was reported Dogg resigned as head writer of SmackDown Live . It was later clarified that James will remain with the company and is currently seen as a "utility player". From May 2019 to January 2022, he held a position at the WWE Performance Center in which he taught classes on in-ring promos and character development. He was released by WWE in January 2022, but was rehired as Senior Vice President of Live Events in August 2022, replacing Jeff Jarrett . On January 23, 2023, Road Dogg, along with D-Generation X and Kurt Angle , made an appearance at Raw's 30th anniversary, Raw
8736-454: Was sent home from Against All Odds after complaining about being used as a jobber and was quickly replaced by a relative unknown named Machete . On a subsequent edition of Impact! , James' real life father "Bullet" Bob Armstrong informed The James Gang that he was sick of the shenanigans of LAX and how they always used strength in numbers to their advantage. He informed them that he was going to see Larry Zbyszko to have himself added to
8832-608: Was short lived as Konnan, still apparently upset at Kip's induction into the Kru, hit both James and Kip over the head with a steel chair at Turning Point . Konnan, still wanting Killings to be his "family", tried talking with Killings. Killings told Konnan that he was done with the Kru and wanted to leave it all behind him. After the incident, James and Kip regrouped, reformed their old tag team as The James Gang , and feuded with Konnan's new stable, The Latin American Xchange (LAX), which he formed with Homicide and Apolo . Apolo
8928-436: Was signed by the World Wrestling Federation in 1985, and Lawler won a match against Eddie Gilbert in which the stipulation was Hart leaving the territory. The federation also aired live Saturday-morning wrestling cards from the studios of WMC-TV in Memphis, hosted by Lance Russell and Dave Brown . In the territorial era of wrestling, many local promotions had huge ratings with their wrestling shows, but none of them topped
9024-507: Was stopped due to excessive blood loss from Kerry Von Erich —and was declared the “Unified World Champion”, cementing his claim by carrying the AWA and WCCW titles with him. Due to controversies following the PPV, the CWA (and WCCW) broke off their relationship with the AWA, and Lawler was stripped of the AWA World title. In retaliation, Lawler kept the physical AWA World Heavyweight championship belt for not getting his payoff for SuperClash III. After
9120-486: Was the comedian's own idea. At the end of 1982, Jerry Lawler had seemingly won the American Wrestling Association (AWA)'s World Title from Nick Bockwinkel , but due to the match's controversial ending, the title was returned to Bockwinkel with a rematch scheduled for January 1983. On the night of the match, manager Jimmy Hart showed up in Bockwinkel's corner, face bandaged after being beaten up by Lawler in December. Near
9216-428: Was won by Curry Man , Homicide , Hernandez , and Jay Lethal . James was also seen on Impact! two weeks later as he was trying to hold back Jeff Jarrett from fighting Kurt Angle . The week afterwards, he was punched by Angle while he and Jarrett were fighting. On the January 8, 2009 edition of Impact! , James faced off against Angle, but lost via submission due to Angle's ankle lock. On September 15, 2009, James
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