Gregory James Bownds
Ring name(s)	Aussie Ozbone TNT TNT Kid Tommy the Cat
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight	220 lb (100 kg)
Born	20 February 1977 (1977-02-20) (age 32) Sydney, Australia
Trained by	Shane Fenton Rey Misterio, Sr.
Debut	5 April 1994

Gregory James Bownds (born 20 February 1977) better known by his stage name TNT, is a self serving promoter and Australian professional wrestler and promoter, currently owns, promotes and calls the shots in the Australian Wrestling Federation.

Bownds is often regarded as one of the biggest toe rags in Australia, not only becoming an established headliner by giving himself a huge push in his company the AWF at the expense of better talent promotions across the country but also in Japan, where he has worked for Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX^[1][2], one of very few Australian wrestlers to do so, he also has studied Mexican lucha libre wrestling whilst in Mexico.

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Beginning 1.2 Australian Wrestling Federation 1.2.1 1999 - 2005 1.2.2 2006 - present 1.3 2008 2 In wrestling 3 Championships and Accomplishments 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Career

[edit] Beginning

Bownds wrestled as "Tommy the Cat" and then "TNT Kid" for World Wide Wrestling and Australian Championship Wrestling. He won the Australasian Tag Team Championship with Kiss before leaving the promotion after a backstage dispute and vacated the title. In 1998 Bownds defeated Mark Mercedes for the ACW Heavyweight title in Fairfield, New South Wales. From here Bownds moved to International Wrestling Australia in 1998 where he became a popular face. An ankle injury put him out of action for six months in 1999 until he formed the Australian Wrestling Federation.

[edit] Australian Wrestling Federation

[edit] 1999 - 2005

In 1999 Bownds formed the AWF and toured Australia with the likes of Sabu, Marty Jannetty, Super Dragon and Chris Candido.^[3] Bownds has made his biggest impact here, he has wrestled in, and booked for, the promotion since its inception in 1999. In August 2001 bownds(wrestling as TNT) booked himself as the winner of an eight man tournament to become AWF Australasian Champion, defeating Lobo in the finals, holding the title for the next 12 months before losing it to Il Cognito.

In November, 2002, TNT regained the AWF Australasian Heavyweight Championship after defeating Il Cognito. He then proved himself to the Australian fans after he refused to pass the torch onto better talent for months on putting himself over against all challengers. In March 2003, TNT lost the title to the same man he won it from, Il Cognito, in a 30-minute Iron Man match.

Throughout late 2002 and early 2003, Bownds went to Mexico and studied the Lucha libre wrestling style under Rey Misterio, Sr.^[3] and Phobia, two of the sports' most respected wrestlers.

In April 2004 TNT attempted to regain the AWF Heavyweight Championship in a championship-crowning fatal fourway match after the title was vacated by the injured Il Cognito. In the match finale TNT was pinned by high flyer Mark Hilton.

Throughout 2005 Bownds feuded with Hilton, Scotty Club and Dean Draven. He also toured Australia, wrestling as part of the World Series Wrestling events (marketed as International Assault)^[4], defeating American stars Frankie Kazarian and Super Dragon in a triple threat match at the New South Wales show.^[5]

[edit] 2006 - present

In mid-2006 Greg toured Japan where he wrestled as Aussie Ozbone in Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX, he wrestled alongside TNA stars such as Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin.^[1][2]

In January 2007, TNT put himself over against Steve Ravenous to win his third AWF Championship but lost it to Dragon Gate wrestler CIMA soon after, Bownds then regained the title the next night.

In March 2007, TNT put himself over against Steve Corino in the suburb of Cardiff in Newcastle, New South Wales to win the AWA Superstars of Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship^[6]. However, the title would soon be returned to Corino and the title change negated when the "proper paperwork" could not be found.

In May 2007 TNT and the AWF went to Queensland for two shows featuring Bryan Danielson. TNT defeated Danielson on the second show's main event. In June 2007 TNT defended his AWF Heavyweight Championship at International Assault 2 (a co-promotion of the AWF and World Series Wrestling)putting himself over against Kid Kash, Austin Aries and Billy Kidman.

TNT then toured Japan with the Dragon Gate Promotion. Whilst over there he wrestled three matches. TNT teamed with Masaaki Mochizuki and defeated Super Shisa and Super Shenron, then teamed with Ryo Saito and defeated Shingo Takagi and Jack Evans and finally teamed with K-ness and Lupin Matsutani and was defeated by the team of Taka Iwasa, Akira Tozawa and Keni'chiro Arai.

TNT defeated Masaaki Mochizuki at the AWF Double Dragon Challenge in July 2007, he also defeated Ryo Saito to successfully retain his AWF Heavyweight Title. In August TNT once again toured with WSW and defended the AWF title against Kid Kash. Later that month the AWF ran a show in which TNT once again successfully defended the AWF Heavyweight Title against Lee Starr.

TNT continued to successfully defend his AWF Australasian Heavyweight Championship throughout 2007 putting himself over against a variety of opponents including Mana, Lebo Ceda, Billy Flyswat, Sean Waltman, Harry Hardshaw (of Irish Whip Wrestling) in Australia and against Sabu (which was a no-contest) and Super Shenron of Dragon Gate. During his tenure as champion he also teamed with Raven to defeat the Platinum Players and the Bastard Brothers on AWF shows. He named himself AWFs wrestler of the year for 2007 and was also sought as a contender for the vacant AWA Superstars of Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship in late 2007.^[7]

[edit] 2008

In 2008, TNT continued his title reign throughout Australia and New Zealand and formed a group known as The New Detonation Crew with AWF wrestlers Billy Flyswat, Chris X and Powerhouse Theo. On April 11, 2008, at an AWF tour event at Penrith New South Wales TNT lost the AWF Heavyweight Championship to former WWE and TNA veteran Raven, by pinfall. He later regained the title on April 18 2008, in Palmerston North, New Zealand.

Bownds is the head trainer of the AWF School of Pro Wrestling and has trained over 50 active Australian professional wrestlers. He is currently the AWF's head booker.

On November 14th, TNT traveled to Perth, Western Australia where he attended AAW's SUPERCLASH and was able to defeat AAW wrestler Rave, ending his 8 month reign, to win the AWA Australian Championship for the first time and is the second ever holder of the title. His first attempt to win the title was when he competed in a tournament and made it to the finals but was beaten in AAW's major show ANNIVERSARY 2 on March 8th 2008. Fellow interstate wrestlers Ryan Eagles and Carlo Cannon also competed in the tournament.

[edit] In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Detonator (Inverted double underhook facebuster)^[8]
  • Inverted facelock camel clutch

• Signature moves
  • Corkscrew senton^[8]
  • Diving neckbreaker^[8]
  • Hilo dive^[8]

[edit] Championships and Accomplishments

• Australian Championship Wrestling
  • ACW Australian Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Australian Wrestling Federation
  • AWF Australasian Heavyweight Championship (5 current times)
  • AWF Wrestler Of The Year 2007

• World Wide Wrestling Australia
  • WWW Australasian Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kiss

• All Action Wrestling/AWA Australia
  • AWA Australian Championship

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• AWF official website