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Wright Spinal Solutions - Dr. David Wright - Elma, NY wrightspinalsolutions.com | and Chestertown, MD (Maryland) Wright Orthodontics, Orthodontist... orthowright.com |
For other persons of the same name, see Alexander Wright.
Alex Wright (born May 17, 1975) is a German former professional wrestler. The son of British wrestler Steve Wright (one of many early rivals of the original Tiger Mask, Satoru Sayama) and nephew of British wrestler Bernie Wright, he wrestled professionally in Germany and Japan before signing with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1994.[1] He became known for his distinctive pre-match dancing as well as his technical in-ring ability that would ultimately lead him to WCW championship gold. He remained a successful wrestler during his seven-year tenure with WCW, including reigns as a one time Cruiserweight Champion,[3][4] a one time World Television Champion[4][5] and a one time World Tag Team Champion with Disco Inferno,[4][6] as part of the tag team The Boogie Knights.
[edit] Career[edit] Early careerAlex was trained by his father Steve Wright, a British professional wrestler.[1] He wrestled his first match in 1991 in Germany when he was sixteen years old.[1] He wrestled in his hometown during his early career and also worked in Japan.[2] [edit] World Championship Wrestling (1994–2000)[edit] Das Wunderkind (1994–1996)Wright was discovered by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in mid-1994 during a German tour of WCW.[1] He signed a contract with WCW and trained there at the WCW Power Plant. He originally wrestled as a babyface and was known as "Das Wunderkind" (The Wonder Kid) Alex Wright. His first feud was with Jean-Paul Levesque, whom he defeated at Starrcade in both men's pay-per-view debut.[1][7] In his early career, Wright went undefeated in matches against several WCW superstars including Bobby Eaton on January 25, 1995 edition of Clash of the Champions[1][8] and Paul Roma at SuperBrawl V; however, the latter saw Roma's contract later terminated by WCW because of his stiff performance and his ignorance of instructions to put Wright over during the match.[9] Wright's first loss was to World Television Champion Arn Anderson at Slamboree in a match for the Television Title.[1][10] Due to WCW's partnership with New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), Wright participated in NJPW's Best of the Super Juniors Tournament and finished third in the tournament.[1] He started feuding with fellow cruiserweight Brian Pillman, whom he defeated in the opening match at The Great American Bash.[1][11] On the July 16 edition of Main Event before Bash at the Beach, Wright teamed up with Marcus Bagwell to face Dick Slater and Bunkhouse Buck in a losing effort.[12] He had encounters with upcoming WCW stars, Diamond Dallas Page on August 4 edition of Clash of the Champions,[13] Eddie Guerrero on The Main Event before Fall Brawl 1995: War Games[14] and Dean Malenko on January 23, 1996 edition of Clash of the Champions.[15] At World War 3, Wright took part in the first-ever three-ring 60-man battle royal for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship, which was won by Randy Savage.[16] At Starrcade, WCW wrestlers faced NJPW wrestlers in a World Cup of Wrestling. Wright represented WCW against NJPW's Koji Kanemoto (for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship but WCW never announced it such) but ended up losing the bout.[17] Wright then began a feud with Dick Slater, to whom he lost at Uncensored in a singles dark match[18] and at Slamboree in a tag team match.[19] On August 10 edition of Saturday Night before Hog Wild, Wright defeated Bobby Eaton.[20] At World War 3, Wright participated in a three-ring, 60-man battle royal, with the winner getting a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship. The battle royal was won by The Giant.[21] On January 21, 1997 edition of Clash of the Champions, Wright lost to NJPW wrestler Masa Chono.[22] [edit] Heel turn, Cruiserweight Champion and World Television Champion (1997)Wright was then pushed as a heel in the summer of 1997. On the July 28 edition of Nitro, he defeated Chris Jericho to win the Cruiserweight Championship.[2][3][23] After winning the title, Wright began a feud with Jericho at that point, including a successful title defense against Jericho at Road Wild,[24] before dropping the title back to Jericho on August 16 edition of Saturday Night.[2] However, five days later, he defeated Último Dragón on the August 21 edition of Clash of the Champions to win the World Television Championship.[2][5][25] Upon winning the Television Title, Wright started dancing during his entrance to mock his arch-nemesis at the time and fellow dancer, Disco Inferno. At Fall Brawl, Wright made a successful title defense against Último Dragón in a rematch[26] before dropping the title to rival Disco Inferno on September 22 edition of Nitro.[2][27] Wright feuded with Steve McMichael after McMichael's valet Debra left him and became Wright's valet. She ordered the feud[2] and in the rivalry, Wright defeated McMichael at Halloween Havoc,[28] with help from Goldberg before losing to McMichael in a rematch at World War 3.[29] [edit] The Dancing Fools (1998)Wright would then begin to patch things up with former rival Disco Inferno as they began teaming in 1998 to form a moderately successful tag team called the Dancing Fools, which at times also featured Japanese wrestler Tokyo Magnum in the role of a tag-along who regularly attempted to imitate their dancing styles.[2] Wright and Inferno feuded with The Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock), including a loss to Grunge and Rocco at Road Wild.[30] Wright then began an angle where he claimed that he was the best WCW wrestler to come out of Europe.[2] British Bulldog, however, disputed Wright's proclamation,[2] leading to a feud between Wright and Inferno against Bulldog and Jim Neidhart. The feud culminated at Fall Brawl, where the Dancing Fools lost to Bulldog and Neidhart.[31] After suffering losses, Wright and Inferno split and began singles careers again. Wright feuded with another fellow European wrestler, Fit Finlay, because he blamed Finlay for ending his father's career.[2] Wright took his father's revenge from Finlay by beating him at Halloween Havoc.[2][32] [edit] Berlyn (1999)At the beginning of 1999, Wright was kept off WCW television for an extended length of time until May, when promotional spots began appearing on WCW television featuring Wright as a surprising new Rivethead-style character named Berlyn (an intentional misspelling of the city Berlin, the capital of Wright's home country Germany), with a black Mohawk and goatee replacing his blond hair. He was clad entirely in black with a long trench coat and arrogantly refused to speak English. He spoke through a interpreter who was a knockout blonde. The promos coincided with the aftermath of the Columbine school massacre, which threw a hitch in WCW's plans. Sensing the unintentional similarities in dress between Berlyn and the teenage killers, WCW delayed the debut of Berlyn for several months. Despite the shock value upon his debut, which occurred on August 30 on Nitro, Berlyn never really got over with fans. This was due in part to his debut match in which he was booked to defeat Buff Bagwell, but Bagwell had refused to lose to Wright and even going as so far to miss a flight in order to avoid having to. "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan substituted for Bagwell at Fall Brawl, but Duggan no-sold all of Wright's offense and was totally uncooperative with him in the ring, though Wright picked up the win in the end.[2][33] Although Berlyn went over Bagwell in the end, irreparable damage had already been done to the character. WCW would then push The Wall, the bodyguard Berlyn hired, leaving Wright to flounder in the mid-card.[2] Berlyn took revenge on Bagwell, and defeated him the next night on Nitro.[2][34] Berlyn attacked Scott Armstrong and began a feud with Brad Armstrong. The two had a match at Halloween Havoc, which Berlyn lost but after the match, Berlyn and The Wall attacked Armstrong.[2][35] On the October 25 edition of Nitro, it was announced that a tournament would be held for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship and the finals would occur at Mayhem.[2][36] On the following edition of Nitro, Berlyn participated in the tournament but lost his first round match to Vampiro.[2][37] Berlyn began a small feud with Vampiro and cost him his second round match in the tournament against Buff Bagwell.[2][38] At Mayhem, Vampiro defeated Berlyn in a Dog Collar match after the Wall turned on Berlyn.[2][39] Berlyn then feuded with the Wall but they never competed on any pay-per-views. Wright then again, disappeared from WCW television. [edit] Boogie Knights, World Tag Team Champion and departure (2000–2001)After some time off from wrestling, Wright returned to wrestling under his real name on the September 27, 2000 edition of Thunder with a bald head (but he was still dancing) during a match between former partner Disco Inferno, now renamed "Disqo", and Konnan. Wright helped Disqo in getting the victory and the duo reunited as the Boogie Knights.[2][40] The Boogie Knights began a feud with the Filthy Animals while they also feuded with two members of the Natural Born Thrillers (Sean O'Haire and Mark Jindrak), who were the World Tag Team Champions at the time. At Halloween Havoc, the three teams participated in a triangle match but Haire and Jindrak won the match.[2][41] They were scheduled to take on O'Haire and Jindrak in a match for the titles, but Disqo was sidelined with an injury, leading to General Rection substituting for him. Rection and Wright would then go on to win the World Tag Team Championship from O'Haire and Jindrak at Millennium Germany on November 16.[2][6][42] However, four days later, on Nitro, Wright and another substitute Elix Skipper lost the titles to Chuck Palumbo and Shawn Stasiak, two other members of the Natural Born Thrillers.[2][43] Wright then started an angle where he kept KroniK (Brian Adams and Bryan Clark) as his bodyguards to squash other cruiserweights. At Mayhem, Wright and KroniK faced Billy Kidman and Rey Misterio, Jr. in a 3-on-2 handicap match. However, KroniK betrayed Wright by abandoning him, leading to him being pinned.[2][44] Disqo eventually returned from his injury and the Boogie Knights gimmick lasted until WCW was purchased by World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in March 2001. [edit] RetirementWright fell out of the spotlight after the folding of WCW, and has not appeared on American television since then. In the years following, Wright has stayed away from active competition, only wrestling on rare occasions in Germany. Despite this, Wright is still well-respected as a wrestler, as indicated by Ring of Honor (ROH) fans chanting his gimmick name at ROH shows. Today, he is working as a banker and fitness instructor in Nürnberg, in addition to opening a school called "The Wright Stuff" in Germany. [edit] In wrestling
[edit] Championships and accomplishments
[edit] Other mediaWright appears in the wrestling themed episode of Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends. In this episode, Wright mentions that he was to appear that night in the WCW for the first time. [edit] References
[edit] External links
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