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74-455: Austin Matelson (born March 10, 1985), better known by his ring name Luchasaurus , is an American professional wrestler . He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs under the ring name Killswitch . He is a member of The Patriarchy stable , and he is a former one-time AEW World Trios Champion . Matelson began his professional wrestling career in 2009. He then signed

148-431: A developmental contract with WWE in 2012 and was sent to train at the former Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) under the ring name Judas Devlin ; FCW was then rebranded as NXT that same year where Matelson remained until he was released in 2014. After a two-year hiatus, he signed with Lucha Underground as Vibora and worked there from 2016 to 2018. He also began working on the independent circuit in 2016 under

222-643: A single-elimination tournament to determine the number one contender to the CZW World Junior Heavyweight Championship, and in the end, he defeated Ryan McBride to win the tournament. On December 3 at Cage of Death 13 , Fox unsuccessfully challenged new World Junior Heavyweight Champion Sami Callihan for his title. On April 14, Fox took part in the Best of the Best 11 tournament. After wins over A. C. H. and Lince Dorado in

296-631: A brief time at Big Y World Class Market, a grocery store, with TJ Guerrero, that he left shortly after finding popularity in wrestling. In 2007, Ballester turned his backyard wrestling hobby into a career in professional wrestling , debuting after being trained by Curtis "Mr." Hughes at his World Wrestling Alliance 4 (WWA4) promotion's wrestling school in Atlanta, Georgia. He later also underwent further training in WWE 's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). Originally working under

370-465: A few others, their real name. One notable exception was made for David Otunga because of his real marriage to singer Jennifer Hudson at the time, which gave WWE some mainstream exposure. Low Ki used the alias "Senshi" during his second TNA stint to reserve his primary ring name for other use. A similar example is the team known as The Dudley Boyz in ECW and WWE and Team 3D elsewhere. WWE trademarked

444-574: A four-way main event to become the inaugural CLL International All Star Champion. On August 30, Fox returned to PWG to take part in the 2013 Battle of Los Angeles , but was eliminated from the tournament in his first round match by Roderick Strong . From October 3 to 6, Fox took part in Westside Xtreme Wrestling 's (wXw) 2013 World Triangle League, which also marked his debut for the German promotion. Fox finished his tournament with

518-606: A main event on November 2; as a result, Ricochet was forced to tell Fox that he respected him. The following day, Fox and Cima defeated Genki Horiguchi and Ryo Saito to retain the Open the United Gate Championship. On November 4, Fox received another shot at the Open the Freedom Gate Championship in a four-way elimination match with champion Johnny Gargano, Akira Tozawa and Ricochet. Fox was

592-743: A mask and the ring name Vibora, made his Lucha Underground debut as a part of the Reptile Tribe stable. On May 7, 2016, Vibora along with Pindar and Drago won the Lucha Underground Trios Championship . On October 11, at Ultima Lucha Tres , Reptile Tribe lost the Lucha Underground Trios Championship against Dante Fox , Killshot and The Mack . On the July 18, 2018 episode of Lucha Underground , Vibora defeated Johnny Mundo . On

666-528: A match for the CZW World Junior Heavyweight Championship, immediately after he had regained it from Drake Younger . In the end, Fox was victorious, finally winning the World Junior Heavyweight Championship for the first time. After a successful title defense against Alex Colon on August 11, Fox defeated Dave Crist on September 8 in a ladder match to not only retain the World Junior Heavyweight Championship, but to also win

740-414: A number of opponents within minutes, all at Cage's direction. At week two of Fyter Fest , Luchasaurus turned on Christian Cage to realign with Jungle Boy. However, this was also a short-lived reunion, as at All Out , Luchasaurus cemented himself as a heel by attacking his tag partner once again and solidifying his alliance with Cage. As a result, Luchasaurus began feuding with Jungle Boy, who by this point

814-571: A record of one win and two losses, failing to advance from his block. On September 20, 2014, Fox made his debut for Chikara , entering the Rey de Voladores tournament and losing to The Great Sanada in a four-way match, which also included Amasis and Orlando Christopher. On June 20, 2015, Fox made his debut for Ring of Honor (ROH), working in a dark match at a Ring of Honor Wrestling taping. On July 10, Fox made his debut for Global Force Wrestling (GFW), defeating Aaron Draven and Chuck Taylor in

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888-412: A series of multi-man matches, Fox wrestled his, up to that point, highest profile Dragon Gate USA match on June 4, where he was defeated by Akira Tozawa . On June 5, Fox defeated Pinkie Sanchez at Dragon Gate USA's second anniversary event, after which he was beaten down by Sanchez and his D.U.F. (Dirty Ugly Fucks) stablemates Arik Cannon and Sami Callihan, starting his first storyline rivalry in

962-656: A singles competitor, most notably participating in the Casino Ladder match at Double or Nothing on May 23, 2020. On the August 12 episode of Dynamite , Jurassic Express unsuccessfully challenged Page and Kenny Omega for the AEW World Tag Team Championship . The following year, Christian Cage began mentoring Jungle Boy, which saw Cage become a prominent figure as an associate of the stable, and led to Stunt being eventually phased out. On

1036-546: A six-man tag team match, where they were defeated by Brian Cage , Kevin Steen and Michael Elgin . On March 29, Fox made his debut for the Mexican AAA promotion, teaming with Dr. Cerebro and Eterno in a six-man tag team match, where they were defeated by Crazy Boy , Joe Líder and Willie Mack . On June 8, Fox made his debut for Chilean promotion Chile Lucha Libre (CLL), defeating Beto Velez, Bunny and Sito King in

1110-450: A six-way match to earn another shot at the CZW World Junior Heavyweight Championship. On May 14, Fox faced Adam Cole for the third match between the two for the CZW World Junior Heavyweight Championship. After debuting his new finishing maneuver, Lo Mein Pain, Fox had the match won when CZW owner D. J. Hyde entered the ring and hit him with a lariat , leading to Cole retaining his title. At

1184-669: A surprise opponent, the returning Robert Anthony . On March 9, 2013, at the Wanted internet pay-per-view , Fox made another successful defense of the title against Azrieal. On March 31, Fox successfully defended the title against Flamita at a Desastre Total Ultraviolento (DTU) event in Mexico City. On April 13, Fox entered the Best of the Best XII tournament, defeating Andrew Everett and Uhaa Nation in his first round match. After defeating Tommy End in his semifinal match, Fox

1258-492: A tag team loss against Zero Gravity (Brett Gakiya and CJ Esparza) on March 27, Fox picked up his first win in CZW on April 10, when he defeated Aaron Arbo and Unbreakable Andy in another three-way match. Fox then entered a storyline, where it was rumored that CZW officials did not believe he had what it took to be a wrestler for the promotion. On September 10, Fox defeated Alex Colon, Facade, Ricochet , Ruckus and tHURTeen in to win

1332-616: A three-way match to qualify for the Best of the Best X tournament. He entered the tournament on April 9, but was eliminated by Sami Callihan in a first round three-way match, which included Jake Crist . Despite his early elimination, Fox earned praise from Callihan, who named him the "people's choice", giving him the People's Choice Award he had won himself. This effectively ended the story, where CZW officials were doubting Fox's abilities. On April 10, 2011, Fox defeated Alex Colon, Jonathan Gresham , Ryan McBride, Ryan Slater and Ty Hagen in

1406-543: A three-way match, and Samuray del Sol in a semifinal match, Fox was defeated in the finals of the tournament by Sami Callihan. Winning the Best of the Best 11 People's Choice Award, Fox was granted the right to challenge for any CZW title whenever he wanted. On July 14, Fox unsuccessfully challenged Masada for the CZW World Heavyweight Championship. Later that same event, Fox used his title challenge right and challenged Sami Callihan to

1480-437: A three-way match. In March 2016, Fox started working for Lucha Underground as Dante Fox , a storyline military friend of Killshot , who had supposedly been killed in combat. Fox feuded with Killshot until June 25 and the season three concluding Ultima Lucha Tres event, where he was defeated by Killshot in a "Hell of War" match. The following day, Fox and Killshot, having seemingly made up, teamed with Willie Mack to win

1554-495: A three-way tag match against Team Taz ( Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs ) and Swerve In Our Glory ( Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland ). After Jurassic Express lost the championship to the Young Bucks in a ladder match at Road Rager , Cage turned on Jungle Boy, with Luchasaurus also turning heel when he joined Cage. At the start of his alliance with Cage, Luchasaurus was presented as a "monster heel" and started squashing

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1628-754: A variation of it, sometimes modifying the spelling to better fit their gimmick , such as Dave Bautista becoming Batista (later reverting to his real name for his Hollywood acting career), Patricia Stratigeas becoming Trish Stratus , Jonathan Good becoming Jon Moxley , Bryan Danielson becoming Daniel Bryan (when he wrestled in WWE), Richard Fliehr becoming Ric Flair and Randall Poffo becoming Randy Savage . Others simply use part of their name, such as Bill Goldberg using Goldberg , Nicole Garcia-Colace using Nikki Bella , Mike Mizanin using The Miz , Cody Runnels using Cody Rhodes , and Michael Wardlow using Wardlow . Many female wrestlers go solely by their first name such as. It

1702-646: Is a highly respected tradition in Mexican lucha libre for performers to hide their true identities, usually wrestling under masks, and revealing a luchador's identity without their permission is considered a serious offence with real-life consequences. Professional wrestlers are often referred to by their contemporaries by their ring name. In interviews, Bret Hart regularly referred to Mark Calaway, Curt Hennig, and Kevin Nash by their ring names ( The Undertaker , Mr. Perfect , and Diesel ). Ring names are often trademarked by

1776-448: Is also common for wrestlers of all genders to use a nickname in addition to their real name for marketability and other reasons. Ricky Steamboat is an atypical instance of a wrestler adopting a ring name to sound less intimidating, as his legal name of Richard Blood was considered unfitting for his babyface persona. Some (mostly independent ) wrestlers still go to great lengths to ensure that their real names are not publicly known. It

1850-793: Is an American professional wrestler signed to All Elite Wrestling . He is also known for his work in promotions like Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), Dragon Gate USA , and Evolve . Fox has also worked for Dragon Gate in Japan, Full Impact Pro (FIP), where he won the 2011 Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup , and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). He currently serves as the head trainer of the WWA4 wrestling school in Atlanta, Georgia. Growing up in Ansonia, Connecticut, Ballester studied Bruce Lee tapes and eventually channeled his love of doing backflips, handstands and scaling walls into backyard wrestling . Fox worked for

1924-419: The 19th season for the "BB Comics" competition with other former contestants, including Dan Gheesling and fellow wrestler Jessie Godderz . Before beginning studies at California State University, Northridge , Matelson had been entirely homeschooled . He earned two history degrees at CSUN — a B.A. in 2008 and a M.A. in 2010, with his master's concentration and thesis in medieval literature . While in

1998-632: The Evolve promotion, defeating Rich Swann, Scott Reed and Tony Nese in a four-way match. On January 29, 2011, Fox made his debut for Evolve's close affiliate, Dragon Gate USA , losing to Sami Callihan in a six-way match. The following day, Fox defeated Cheech for his first win in Dragon Gate USA. On May 20, Fox defeated Rich Swann, Jon Davis and Sami Callihan during a one-night tournament to win Evolve's inaugural Style Battle tournament. After

2072-495: The Lucha Underground Trios Championship . In October 2022, AR Fox began making appearances for AEW on their AEW Dark and AEW Dark: Elevation programs. He picked up his first victory against Serpentico on the November 9 edition of Dark: Elevation . Fox made his AEW Dynamite debut on November 16, 2022, forming a trio with Dante Martin and Darius Martin in a losing effort to Death Triangle . On November 30, it

2146-587: The NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship on March 19, 2011. On October 28, Fox picked up his first win in FIP, when he defeated Jake Manning in the first round of the 2011 Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup . The following day, Fox defeated Flip Kendrick, Bobby Fish and finally Johnny Gargano to win the entire tournament. On February 1, 2013, FIP held its first event in fifteen months, which saw AR Fox being defeated by Jon Davis in

2220-437: The promotion that creates a character or gimmick for a performer. It is common to see one performer use a variety of ring names throughout their career, even if their overall persona remains similar. This is especially true in WWE , which has largely forced most wrestlers that have debuted since 2006 to use a WWE-owned ring name instead of a ring name that they used on the independent circuit or, such as with Daniel Bryan and

2294-621: The ring name "Ampliflyer", Ballester spent the next couple of years working minor promotions on the American independent circuit including WWA4 and Prime Time Pro Wrestling (PTPW). Ballester eventually adopted the ring name "AR Fox", feeling that due to his small size, he needed to "outfox" his opponents to gain an advantage. Ballester, as AR Fox, made his debut for Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) on February 13, 2010, losing to Aaron Arbo in an "Opportunity Knocks" three-way match, which also included Unbreakable Andy. After teaming with Chip Day in

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2368-528: The vacant Open the United Gate Championship. On October 6, Fox started his second tour with Dragon Gate with a win over Jimmy Kagetora . During the tour, which lasted until October 28, Fox and Cima successfully defended the Open the United Gate Championship, first against World-1 International representatives Masato Yoshino and Naruki Doi on October 7, and then against Jimmyz representatives Jimmy Susumu and Mr. Kyu Kyu Toyonaka Dolphin on October 8. Upon his return to Dragon Gate USA, Fox defeated Ricochet in

2442-737: The "Dudley Boyz" name, leading them to have to change their name when they went to TNA. The members' individual names were also trademarked by WWE, forcing them to have to change their names. WWE partially repealed the policy in 2015, allowing wrestlers who were well known in other promotions such as Samoa Joe , A.J. Styles , Shinsuke Nakamura , Austin Aries , Bobby Roode , and Eric Young to use their long-standing ring names (or, in Nakamura's and Roode's cases, their real names) as well as wrestlers who sign "Tier 2" NXT brand contracts such as Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa , who wrestle both on NXT and

2516-600: The AEW World Trios Championship in a four-way London ladder match to Pac and Blackpool Combat Club ( Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta ), ending their reign at 37 days. Later in the event, Killswitch and Cage entered the Casino Gauntlet Match , where Killswitch assisted Cage to win the match. On September 30, it was reported that Matelson was hospitalized due to double pneumonia after his fiancé found him collapsed at home. He

2590-408: The August 1 episode of Lucha Underground , the character Vibora was "killed off" via decapitation by a sword-wielding Taya Valkyrie . On May 25, 2019, Matelson debuted for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) at Double or Nothing as a part of the pre-show Casino Battle Royale . He lasted until the final three, before being eliminated by Adam Page . Three days later, it was revealed that he had signed with

2664-534: The August 18, 2021 episode of Dynamite , Jurassic Express received a title shot for the World Tag Team Championship against The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson), but failed to win. Following that, Jurassic Express participated in a tournament to determine the #1 contenders for the World Tag Team Championship. On the August 20 episode of Rampage , they defeated Private Party in

2738-1171: The Big Brother house, Matelson began a relationship with Liz Nolan. The two continued to date for five months before breaking up in February 2016. In late February and March 2015, several former NXT trainees previously working within the WWE developmental system alleged misconduct by head trainer Bill DeMott , with Devlin and Brandon Traven publicizing complaints which they claimed they had submitted to WWE management about DeMott back in March 2013, when they were still employed with WWE. Meanwhile, other ex-trainees like Briley Pierce and Derrick Bateman also made allegations in 2015, while previous allegations made in 2013 by Chad Baxter and Chase Donovan were also noted. They accused DeMott of making trainees perform dangerous drills, physically assaulting and bullying trainees, using homophobic and racial slurs amongst other derogatory terms, and condoning sexual harassment . WWE released statements regarding some of

2812-532: The Blood Warriors stable. Back in Dragon Gate USA on September 10, Fox teamed with the debuting veteran wrestler Sabu to defeat Cannon and Sanchez in a No Disqualification match . The following day, D.U.F. came back, in the form of Callihan and Cannon, to defeat Fox and Yamato in a tag team match. On November 13, Fox, Jon Davis and Sabu were defeated in a six-man "Extreme Warfare" main event by Callihan, Cannon and Sanchez, with Callihan pinning Fox for

2886-576: The CZW Wired TV Championship for the second time. Following the match, the World Junior Heavyweight Championship was retired with Fox recognized as the final champion. On November 10, Fox made his first defense of the Wired TV Championship, defeating Lucky 13, Rich Swann and Shane Strickland in a four-way match. On December 8 at Cage of Death XIV , Fox successfully defended the CZW Wired TV Championship against

2960-655: The Chris Cash Aerial Assault ladder match and become the number one contender to the CZW World Junior Heavyweight Championship . However, he would go on to fail in his title challenge against Adam Cole on October 9. After defeating Alex Colon on November 13, Fox was granted another shot at the title on December 11, but was again defeated by Cole, following interference from his new manager, Mia Yim . On March 12, 2011, Fox defeated Alex Colon and Ryan McBride in

3034-569: The Evolve Championship against Nick Jackson. Two days later at Evolve 22, Fox defeated Lince Dorado for his second successful title defense. On July 28 at Enter the Dragon 2013, Dragon Gate USA's fourth anniversary event, Fox was defeated by Trent Barreta in a non-title match. Immediately afterwards, Fox agreed to defend the Evolve Championship against Barreta and defeated him to make his third successful title defense. Post-match, Fox

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3108-582: The January 5, 2022 episode of Dynamite , Jurassic Express defeated the Lucha Brothers to win their first World Tag Team Championship. At the Revolution event on March 6, Jurassic Express successfully defended the championship against the Young Bucks and reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly ) in a three-way tag team match . At Double or Nothing on May 29, they retained the championship in

3182-618: The Luchasaurus gimmick until he signed with AEW in 2019. He continued his partnership with Jungle Boy as Jurassic Express , becoming a one-time AEW World Tag Team Champion . He later aligned with Christian Cage , which saw him win the AEW TNT Championship , and later took on the ring name Killswitch in September 2023. During his two-year wrestling hiatus from 2014 to 2016, Matelson appeared on Access Hollywood and

3256-528: The November 22 episode of Dynamite , Cage renamed Luchasaurus as Killswitch (named after Cage's finishing move ) and dubbed Killswitch as his "finisher". At Worlds End , Killswitch won a 20-man battle royale for a future TNT Championship title match. Later that night, Cage lost the TNT Championship to Copeland in a no disqualification match. As Killswitch was about to sign off his title match contract on Copeland, Cage demanded Killswitch to hand over

3330-541: The Open the Freedom Gate Championship, but was again defeated by Johnny Gargano. On April 8, 2015, Fox announced his departure from WWNLive due to lack of communication with the office regarding future bookings. On December 3, 2010, Fox made his debut for Full Impact Pro (FIP), unsuccessfully challenging Jon Moxley for the FIP World Heavyweight Championship. This was followed by Fox also unsuccessfully challenging Craig Classic for

3404-579: The SuperKliq ( Adam Cole and the Young Bucks), with Luchasaurus taking the pin. On the October 6 episode of Dynamite , Cage, Jurassic Express and Bryan Danielson were defeated by Cole, Omega and the Young Bucks. At Full Gear , Cage and Jurassic Express defeated the SuperKliq in a falls count anywhere match. On the November 19 episode of Rampage , Jurassic Express defeated Cole and Bobby Fish . On

3478-604: The Vibora character in Lucha Underground, he started to use the character in the independent circuit. He changed the name to "Luchasaurus", after fans chanted that during his Lucha Underground debut. On November 17 and 18, Matelson wrestled for House of Hardcore under the new gimmick and ring name Luchasaurus , defeating Alex Reynolds on the first night and winning on the second night in a three-way by defeating Matt Riddle and Willie Mack . In May 2016, Matelson, under

3552-483: The Wired TV Championship to Alex Colon in a four-way ladder match, which also included Andrew Everett and Shane Strickland. On February 8, 2014, at CZW's 15th anniversary event, Fox defeated Blk Jeez , Chris Dickinson and Drake Younger in a four-way match to become the number one contender to the CZW World Heavyweight Championship. Fox received his title shot on March 8, but was defeated by the defending champion, Drew Gulak. On November 20, 2010, Fox made his debut for

3626-399: The championship. After the match, Cage, Luchasaurus, and Nick Wayne (who turned on Allin) assaulted Allin and Sting; they were interrupted by the debuting Adam Copeland , who ran out to confront Cage and save Allin. Cage's faction was later called The Patriarchy . At Full Gear , The Patriarchy lost to Copeland, Sting, and Allin in a six-man tag team match with Luchasaurus taking the pin. On

3700-669: The claims that came to light in 2013 and 2015, saying that investigations were done and no wrongdoing was found. On March 6, 2015, DeMott denied the allegations, but resigned from WWE "to avoid any embarrassment or damage" to the company. Ring name Ring names are much more common in professional wrestling than any other sport; famous examples include Terry Bollea becoming Hulk Hogan , Michael Shawn Hickenbottom becoming Shawn Michaels , Roderick Toombs becoming Roddy Piper , Dwayne Johnson becoming The Rock , Christopher Irvine becoming Chris Jericho , and Phillip Jack Brooks becoming CM Punk . A number of wrestlers adopted their real name or

3774-523: The company full-time as Luchasaurus. He would then continue his tag team with Jungle Boy , as he managed him at Fyter Fest . At Fight for the Fallen , they were defeated in a Triple Threat tag team match involving The Dark Order ( Evil Uno and Stu Grayson ) and The Hybrid 2 ( Angélico and Jack Evans ). At All Out , Luchasaurus, alongside Jungle Boy and Marko Stunt , would debut as the stable Jurassic Express . Luchasaurus also sporadically competed as

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3848-485: The contract and Killswitch relented. Cage then defeated Copeland to regain the TNT Championship. Cage eventually lost the TNT Championship to Copeland again in March 2024. On the July 21 episode of Collision , The Patriarchy defeated the Bang Bang Gang ( Juice Robinson and The Gunns ) for the vacant AEW World Trios Championship , after interference from Mother Wayne. On August 25 at All In , The Patriarchy lost

3922-506: The first man eliminated from the match by Ricochet. On April 5, 2013, Fox defeated Jon Davis, Ricochet and Sami Callihan during a one-night single-elimination tournament to become the inaugural Evolve Champion . The following night at Open the Ultimate Gate 2013, Fox and Cima lost the Open the United Gate Championship to The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson). On May 30 at Evolve 20, Fox made his first successful defense of

3996-570: The following event on June 11, Fox won his first title in CZW, when he defeated Drew Gulak for the CZW Wired TV Championship . However, he would lose the title to Jake Crist in his first title defense on July 9. On October 7, Fox received his first shot at the CZW World Heavyweight Championship , but was defeated by the defending champion, Devon Moore. From November 5 to 12, Fox took part in

4070-482: The independent circuit to keep their ring names (or, in Gargano's case, his real name). Gargano and Ciampa have since signed exclusive WWE contracts. "In-house" WWE wrestlers still use WWE-owned ring names. In rare cases, the rights to a wrestler's ring name may be owned by a company with little or no connection to professional wrestling, such as Marvel Comics ' ownership of the name Hulk Hogan until early 2003, which

4144-483: The main event for the vacant FIP World Heavyweight Championship . On March 22, Fox made his debut for Southern California-based Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) during the promotion's All Star Weekend 9, teaming with Samuray del Sol in a tag team match, where they were defeated by the Inner City Machine Guns (Rich Swann and Ricochet). The following day, Fox teamed with the Inner City Machine Guns in

4218-451: The main event. Fox then went on to fail in his title challenge against the defending champion, Johnny Gargano . Back in Dragon Gate USA in July 2012, Fox formed a tag team with Cima , who had been told to find a partner for an upcoming Open the United Gate Championship match. The two defeated El Generico and Samuray del Sol in their first match together on July 28. The following day, Fox and Cima defeated Rich Swann and Ricochet to win

4292-600: The opening round. On the August 27 episode of Rampage , they lost to the Lucha Brothers ( Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fénix ) in the final. For three months, Jurassic Express feuded with various members of The Elite . On the September 1 episode of Dynamite , they partnered the Lucha Brothers in a loss to the Good Brothers ( Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson ) and the Young Bucks. On the September 24 episode of Rampage , Cage and Jurassic Express were defeated by

4366-637: The prefix "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Numerous boxers have used ring names or nicknames as their mode of identification during their professional boxing careers, particularly during the late 19th century and the early 20th century. The ring name "Kid" was particularly popular, indicating the boxer's comparative youth. Since the mid 20th century, ring names for boxers have typically been less common, although nicknames have become more popular in recent years. Famous examples of boxers who used ring names include: AR Fox Thomas James Ballester (born September 5, 1987), better known by his ring name AR Fox ,

4440-459: The promotion. In July, Fox made his first trip to Japan for a tour with Dragon Gate USA's parent promotion, Dragon Gate. He made his debut on July 23, when he teamed with Junction Three members Gamma and Masato Yoshino in a six-man tag team match, where they were defeated by the Blood Warriors trio of Genki Horiguchi , Naruki Doi and Yasushi Kanda . During the rest of the tour, which lasted until August 8, Fox continued working mainly against

4514-489: The ring name Austin Draven , he defeated Ryan J. Morales. On September 30, 2016, under the ring name Just Judas , he defeated Danny Divine to become MPW Heavyweight Champion. On November 9, 2017, Matelson teamed with fellow Big Brother contestant Jessie Godderz under the team name "Team Big Brother", they defeated HATE ( Peter Avalon and Ray Rosas ) in a match for Bar Wrestling. After Matelson became known for his work as

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4588-541: The title against Drew Gulak on February 22, Fox lost the title to Chris Hero in his eighth title defense the following day. In November, Fox took part in Dragon Gate USA's parent company WWNLive's tour of China, during which he unsuccessfully challenged Ricochet for the Open the Freedom Gate Championship on November 14 and Rich Swann for the FIP World Heavyweight Championship on November 16. On March 26, 2015, Fox received another shot at

4662-458: The title for three months, retaining against Shawn Spears at Battle of the Belts VII , Brock Anderson on the August 12 episode of Collision and Darby Allin at All Out . Luchasaurus would later lose the title to Cage in a three-way match that also involved Allin on the September 23 episode of Collision . At WrestleDream , Cage defeated Allin in a two out of three falls match to retain

4736-459: The win. Fox started off his 2012 by losing to Callihan in an Anything Goes Tables match on January 27. On May 11, Fox returned to Evolve, which was now unified with Dragon Gate USA, defeating Callihan in a main event grudge match. The following day at Evolve 13, Fox defeated Jigsaw , Ricochet and Samuray del Sol in the opening match to earn a shot at the Open the Freedom Gate Championship later in

4810-409: The wrestler's gimmick changes, either subtly or dramatically. After debuting in WWE as the " Connecticut Blueblood " Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Paul Levesque's character later morphed into Triple H . A more drastic change sometimes occurs when a wrestler turns heroic or villainous , such as when Hulk Hogan joined the villainous nWo (New World Order) and became "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan. His new attitude

4884-602: Was a house-guest on the reality competition, Big Brother 17 , in which he placed 5th. He also appeared on The Price Is Right . Matleson started his wrestling career out in California working in various independent promotions. In 2012, Matelson signed a developmental contract with WWE and was sent for training at Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) where he was given the ring name Judas Devlin . On August 1, 2012, he made his FCW debut teaming with Corey Graves defeating Briley Pierce and CJ Parker . In 2012, FCW

4958-651: Was attacked by Mr. A and Su Yung, whose managee Anthony Nese he then defeated on September 21 at Evolve 23 for his fourth successful defense of the Evolve Championship. The following day at Evolve 24, Fox ended his rivalry with Ricochet by defeating him in an "Evolution's End" match. On November 16, Fox made his fifth successful defense of the Evolve Championship in a four-way match against Fire Ant , Mr. Touchdown and Shane Strickland. On January 10, 2014, Fox made another successful title defense against Davey Richards . Fox's next two title defenses took place during Dragon Gate USA's February events. After successfully defending

5032-559: Was defeated in the finals of the tournament by Alex Colon. On May 11, Fox teamed with Athena in the 2013 Queen and King of the Ring tournament , which CZW co-promoted with the Women Superstars Uncensored (WSU) promotion. After wins over Ezavel Suena and Latin Dragon, and Addy Starr and Matt Tremont , Fox and Athena defeated Drew Gulak and Kimber Lee in the finals to win the tournament. On September 14, Fox lost

5106-596: Was due to Hogan being advertised as " The Incredible Hulk Hogan" early in his career, while Marvel owned the trademark for their comic book character. Sometimes, a wrestler will buy the rights to their own ring name; for example, Steve Borden owns the rights to the name Sting and licenses it to the musician of the same name . The wrestler formerly known as Test took this one step further and legally changed his name to "Andrew Test Martin". Jim Hellwig, known as The Ultimate Warrior , had his name legally changed to simply "Warrior". In many cases, ring names evolve over time as

5180-604: Was enhanced by changing his costume color scheme from his famous red and yellow to nWo's black and white. Steve Williams adopted the ring name Steve Austin to avoid confusion with the then-more established performer "Dr. Death" Steve Williams . Austin would wrestle under that name for several years before signing with the WWF and being given the name "the Ringmaster". This gimmick failed to catch on, and Austin reverted to his established name, reaching his greatest level of success with

5254-604: Was going by "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry, defeating him in a match on the October 12 episode of Dynamite . However, Luchasaurus lost to Perry in a steel cage match at Full Gear to end the rivalry. Following the loss, Luchasaurus went on a hiatus. He returned to AEW in April 2023 and reunited with Cage. On the June 17 premiere episode of Collision , Luchasaurus defeated Wardlow to win the TNT Championship . Luchasaurus held

5328-415: Was rebranded as NXT and Devlin transferred to the new development brand, performing mainly at house shows. Matelson was released in 2014 after a severe hip injury suffered in March 2013. He would be inactive from wrestling. Matelson made his return to professional wrestling in 2016, having not competed since his release from WWE in 2014. On June 17, 2016, in a match for Millenium Pro Wrestling (MPW) under

5402-605: Was reported AR Fox officially signed with AEW. Following a loss to Orange Cassidy in a match for the AEW International Championship on the July 26, 2023 episode of Dynamite , AR Fox joined the Mogul Embassy after helping Swerve Strickland defeat Darby Allin , turning heel in the process. On the August 23, 2023 of Dynamite , Prince Nana fired Fox and The Mogul Embassy attacked him after his defeat from Nick Wayne , turning face once again in

5476-410: Was rushed to the hospital where they found his blood oxygen level was below 80% and was days away from permanent lung damage. Matelson has been told his recovery period could take up to a month so it is unclear when he will return. In the summer of 2015, Matelson appeared as a contestant in the 17th season of Big Brother . He was evicted during the twelfth week and placed fifth. He returned during

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