Misplaced Pages

#405594

139-580: Hassan Hamid Assad (born Alvin Antonio Burke Jr. ; October 28, 1973), better known by his ring name Montel Vontavious Porter or MVP , is an American professional wrestler , manager , and submission grappler . He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the on-screen manager for The Hurt Syndicate . He has also worked in WWE , Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Between these three promotions, he

278-626: A 5-on-5 tag team elimination match . Although both MVP and Henry were eliminated, Team Kofi would go onto to win the match. After beginning a feud with The Miz , MVP faced him for the WWE United States Championship at the Royal Rumble on January 31, 2010, but was unable to win. After the match, both also participated in the Royal Rumble match itself. MVP entered 14th and was surprise-attacked by The Miz (who

417-636: A ROH World Tag Team Championship title shot at ROH's 17th-anniversary pay-per-view and a spot in the Crockett Cup tournament. However, MVP and King lost in the semi-finals of the tournament to Brody King and PCO . On January 22, 2018, MVP made a special appearance on the 25th-anniversary episode of Raw as a guest WWE legend, in a poker segment also involving The APA ( Bradshaw and Ron Simmons ), and Ted DiBiase . This marked his first WWE appearance of any kind in since December 2010, at that point. When Paul Heyman worked as executive director of

556-489: A three-way match . In 2005, after a number of live events and dark matches , Assad signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) and was assigned to their developmental territory Deep South Wrestling . He originally wrestled under his "Antonio Banks" ring name, but then developed the Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) in-ring persona : an arrogant , self-obsessed athlete. He

695-633: A 2-on-1 handicap match at Hell in a Cell , where MVP and Omos lost to Lashley, ending their feud. He would accompany Omos to the ring throughout 2023 and 2024. His last appearance was accompanying Omos to the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on the SmackDown before WrestleMania XL . On August 16, 2024, MVP’s contract expired and his profile on WWE's website was moved to the alumni section officially ending his second tenure with

834-542: A 60% cut in pay and TNA founder Jeff Jarrett would resign from the company, but remained as minority shareholder until his temporary return on June 24, 2015, with the deal for his return including the transfer of his minority stake to Dixie Carter, making her sole shareholder. The following year Jarrett revealed plans to start a new professional wrestling promotion, Global Force Wrestling . Further departures in 2014 included TNA veterans Sting , Chris Sabin , Hernandez , Christopher Daniels and Kazarian all leaving

973-425: A bodyguard, and talking to SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long about the contract his (unseen) agent was supposedly aggressively negotiating. Throughout his segments, commentators described MVP as arrogant, noting that he would stop conversations in the middle to answer his mobile phone or admire his own jewelry while people were speaking to him. Finally, on September 26, a video of a press conference announcing

1112-512: A creative writer and would assist in the writing and production of the shows. Russo states that he coined the name "Total Nonstop Action", the initials of the company "TNA" being a play on " T&A ". The original intention, as they were exclusive to pay-per-view, was to be viewed as an edgier product than WWE. Initially, TNA's weekly pay-per-view show operated as the company's main source of revenue, in place of monthly pay-per-view events used by other promotions. These shows took place mostly at

1251-709: A deal with Pop TV to air Impact Wrestling , where it premiered on Tuesday, January 5, 2016, in a live special held at the Sands Hotel and Casino in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania . With this move to Pop, Impact Wrestling introduced a new HD set, graphics and theme music. This show saw the semi-finals and finals of the TNA World Title Series , which was won by Ethan Carter III . Husband and wife team Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis would debut soon after. Subsequent shows would include episodes taped during

1390-633: A deal with New Motion, Inc. which led to the introduction of TNA Mobile service. TNA has also launched "TNA U TV"; podcasts aired through YouTube to help promote the company. In August 2007, live-events coordinator Craig Jenkins stated that TNA intended to stage eight pay-per-views and 96 house shows outside Orlando, Florida, in 2008. From 2007 to 2008, TNA first toured Europe, hosting two shows at Porto and Lisbon in Portugal , with TNA later conducting its first tour of England , with most shows selling out which later broke TNA's attendance records with

1529-612: A feud with Jack Swagger , which culminated in a match at SummerSlam on August 23, which MVP won. He then formed a tag team with Mark Henry , and they challenged Jeri-Show ( Chris Jericho and Big Show ) for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship at the Breaking Point pay-per-view on September 13, but they failed to win the championship. At Survivor Series on November 22, MVP and Henry made up part of Team Kofi, competing against Team Orton in

SECTION 10

#1732790928406

1668-465: 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

1807-401: A lien on TNA for unpaid taxes. Anthem Sports & Entertainment , parent company of Impact Wrestling ' s Canadian broadcaster, Fight Network , offered to help TNA and repay Corgan for the loans, while also offering additional financial assistance to TNA to help keep them from filing for bankruptcy. On October 31, Corgan lost his injunction that kept TNA from selling the company, but TNA

1946-747: A live house show at MCU Park , which also broke the TNA domestic attendance record at the time and being the most attended live TNA house show in the United States, with a capacity crowd of 5,550. During the May 3, 2011, Impact! television tapings, the show would change its name to Impact Wrestling . On November 7, 2011, TNA revealed that Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) would become TNA's official developmental territory . In December 2011, TNA debuted their new India-based subsidiary promotion Ring Ka King . On May 31, 2012, Impact Wrestling began airing live at

2085-570: A loan to Carter. Then on August 12, Billy Corgan became the promotion's new president, while Carter transitioned from president to the company's new chairwoman and chief strategy officer. It was reported on September 16 by the New York Post that Canada's Fight Network, through its parent company, Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corporation, had taken a stake in TNA. On October 13, Corgan sued TNA due to unpaid debt which Corgan claimed TNA had defaulted on. The State of Tennessee also put

2224-539: A major victory when he tapped IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi out with the TTB in a tag team match, where he teamed with Satoshi Kojima and Tanahashi with Hirooki Goto . On May 3, the returning Minoru Suzuki took over as the new leader of Kojima-gun, after its members Taichi and Taka Michinoku had turned on Satoshi Kojima. In May 2011, MVP took part in the Invasion Tour 2011 , New Japan's first tour of

2363-485: A majority stake of TNA, re-organizing TNA's parent company with Aroluxe having 10 percent while Carter retaining a five percent minority stake in the company, but resigned as chairwoman after 14 years with the company, while joining the advisory board of Fight Media Group. The promotion's parent company, TNA Entertainment, was changed firstly to Impact Ventures and then to Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions, LLC., with Anthem's Executive Vice President Ed Nordholm becoming President of

2502-751: A master toy license agreement with Toy Biz , with various action figures and playsets releasing between 2005 and 2007. TNA would subsequently discontinue producing weekly pay-per-views in favor of a traditional monthly pay-per-view schedule, beginning with Victory Road in November 2004. TNA's television contract with Fox Sports expired in May 2005. Without television exposure, Impact! would continue to air through webcasts – originally made available via BitTorrent and eventually via RealPlayer  – and replace Xplosion' s timeslot on Urban America Television . On September 11, 2005, TNA held its Unbreakable pay-per-view. Unbreakable

2641-464: A match against Callihan, that MVP lost. MVP continued his feud with Callihan by defeating one of Callihan's partners Leon Scott by DQ on the June 8 episode of MLW Fusion . On July 1, 2018, MVP revealed he had parted ways with MLW and MLW Radio. His final match for the promotion aired on July 6, 2018. It was a Boiler Room Brawl that was won by Sami Callihan ending their feud. On January 25, 2019, MVP made

2780-531: A match where he beat Eddie Kingston . During early 2019 he wrestled most frequently for World Class Revolution (WCR), a promotion based out of Oklahoma . Also during 2019 he wrestled for Oakland 's Hoodslam Wrestling and Alberto El Patron 's new Mexican promotion Nación Lucha Libre . Due to his podcast on Court Bauer 's MLW Radio Network, MVP was chosen as one of the wrestlers for the newly relaunched Major League Wrestling (MLW). He appeared at their first show since 2004, One Shot beating Sami Callihan in

2919-649: A match. On November 24 at Josh Barnett's Bloodsport XII , MVP was defeated by Barnett via technical submission . On September 25, 2024 at Grand Slam , MVP made his surprise debut for All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he interrupted Prince Nana 's interview about Swerve Strickland's condition and offered to take over for Nana as Strickland's manager, accusing Nana as the reason for Strickland's recent losses. The following week on AEW Dynamite 's fifth anniversary episode , MVP introduced former Hurt Business member Shelton Benjamin as one of his business partners. MVP and Benjamin would go on to reform The Hurt Business under

SECTION 20

#1732790928406

3058-496: A new start time of 8 p.m. EST on Thursday nights. The live schedule would continue throughout 2012. In 2012, Panda Energy divested itself of its stake in TNA. Dixie Carter , the daughter of Panda Energy founder Robert Carter, who had been serving as TNA's president, acquired that stake, making her TNA's majority shareholder. In March 2013, TNA began taping Impact from different venues around the United States and terminated its lease with Universal Studios . On March 14, TNA introduced

3197-514: A new universal HD stage which would be used for all weekly programming. On November 2, TNA ended its relationship with OVW. TNA formed a relationship with Japanese promotion Wrestle-1 beginning in July 2013 with a meeting between TNA founder Jeff Jarrett and Wrestle-1 head Keiji Mutoh . It was arranged for Jarrett to wrestle for W-1 in October 2013. In November, A.J. Styles successfully defended

3336-401: A no-disqualification match October 5, 2017. He also joined the company as an agent , producing talent promos and matches. In February 2018, MVP participated in the tournament to crown a new MLW World Heavyweight Champion , the first one since the promotion's revival. He was beaten in the first round by Tom Lawlor . Two months later he made his debut on their new weekly program MLW Fusion in

3475-543: A partnership where the streaming service will distribute select non-live shows in most countries except the United States, South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa . On May 8, 2023, Impact announced their first ever Australian shows named Down Under Tour , a four-day tour with two marquee wrestling shows that took part on June 30 and July 1 in Wagga Wagga , New South Wales . At the conclusion of Bound for Glory on October 21, 2023, Impact announced that it would revive

3614-425: A rare condition that causes the heart to beat faster than normal . The condition was found in his time with WWE, when he had undergone a routine check-up in accordance with WWE's Talent Wellness Policy, which otherwise would have gone undetected until it was too late. Assad has many tattoos through his life, including a portrait of Malcolm X on the upper left portion of his chest, the sarcophagus of King Tut &

3753-574: A record of three wins, one over the reigning IWGP Tag Team Champions K.E.S. ( Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer), and three losses, failing to advance from their block. On January 4, 2013, at Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome, MVP teamed with Akebono , Manabu Nakanishi and Strong Man in an eight-man tag team match, where they defeated Bob Sapp , Takashi Iizuka , Toru Yano and Yujiro Takahashi. On February 26, Assad announced that he had parted ways with New Japan and would be next focusing on

3892-565: A rematch against McIntyre for the WWE Championship in a tag team match that also involved MVP and R-Truth, but he lost again when the latter pinned MVP. On the July 20 episode of Raw , Shelton Benjamin joined his stable, now known as The Hurt Business . MVP then started a feud with the United States Champion Apollo Crews , after MVP would offer him his services but Crews turned him down. During

4031-547: A report on August 7, TNA filed a new business name of Impact Ventures, LLC. Destination America gained over 41.94 million viewers over the course of 2015's first quarter, making this the channel's best first quarter ever, followed by their best May ever in prime time. In both cases, Discovery Communications touted Impact Wrestling as one of the reasons for the increase in viewers. Despite this success, Discovery Communications dropped Unlocked and Greatest Matches from their programming in May 2015. On November 19, TNA signed

4170-621: A return to Ring of Honor (ROH) at their Road To G1 Supercard show in Houston, Texas . This was his first appearance for the company since one match in 2005, where he wrestled as Antonio Banks. At the show he debuted as a surprise partner of Kenny King , reforming the Beat Down Clan . They would go on to defeat the team of Willie Mack and Colt Cabana advancing them in the Tag Wars tournament. The winners of Tag Wars were set to receive

4309-551: A series presenting the best matches in the company's history. From December 2014 to March 2015, several employees re-signed with TNA, including Kurt Angle , Jeff Hardy, Gail Kim , Mr. Anderson, Abyss and Matt Hardy . Awesome Kong also re-joined the company following several years of absence. During this period, veteran Samoa Joe and commentator Tazz left the company by mutual consent. On April 27, 2015, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan joined TNA as senior producer of creative and talent development. According to

Montel Vontavious Porter - Misplaced Pages Continue

4448-695: A tag team match by making Honma submit to his Take it to the Bank crucifix neck crank. On March 6, MVP entered the 2011 New Japan Cup , used to determine the new number one contender to the IWGP Heavyweight Championship , defeating Karl Anderson in his first round match. On March 19, MVP suffered his first loss in New Japan, when he was defeated by Togi Makabe in the second round of the New Japan Cup. The following day, MVP achieved

4587-489: A tag team match. MVP reunited with Benjamin on June 16 at Dominion 6.16 , where they defeated Karl Anderson and Tama Tonga in a tag team match. In August, MVP took part in his second G1 Climax tournament , where he won four out of his eight matches and failed to advance to the finals. In November, MVP took part in the 2012 World Tag League , where he teamed with Shelton Benjamin under the tag team name "Black Dynamite". MVP and Benjamin finished their tournament on December 1 with

4726-589: A television project with Lionsgate Television . He later explained his reasons behind leaving the promotion, saying that he wanted to stay closer to his home in addition to just "recharging the batteries". At the January 30, 2014, tapings of Impact Wrestling , Assad returned to TNA using the MVP name, where he was pointed as the storyline "investor" of TNA. As an authority figure, he signed The Wolves and counteracting TNA President Dixie Carter 's agenda. Both feuded over

4865-426: A third title match on July 18, where MVP was once again victorious. After the match MVP was attacked and challenged by Yano's Chaos stablemate Masato Tanaka . In August, MVP took part in the 2011 G1 Climax , where he managed to win six out of his nine matches, but a loss to Karl Anderson on the final day of the tournament caused him to narrowly miss advancing to the finals. On October 10 at Destruction '11 , MVP lost

5004-485: A title match by countout at Armageddon on December 16) and Ric Flair (losing a career threatening match at the Royal Rumble on January 27, 2008). At No Way Out on February 17, he competed in the SmackDown Elimination Chamber match for a World Heavyweight Championship opportunity at WrestleMania XXIV on March 30, but was eliminated by Finlay after The Undertaker chokeslammed him off

5143-515: A tour of England, which would be the last TNA appearances for Kurt Angle . TNA returned to taping Impact Wrestling at the Impact Zone at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, beginning with a live Impact Wrestling on March 15. On March 19, longtime TNA wrestlers Eric Young and Bobby Roode left the promotion after 12 years. On April 22, Velvet Sky , another longtime TNA wrestler, left

5282-754: 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

5421-567: A visa but that he would be debuting in February. As WWE owned the rights to the name Montel Vontavious Porter, but not MVP, Assad was able to continue working under the abbreviated ring name. In storyline MVP was brought in to the promotion by Nosawa Rongai , who wanted him to join the villainous Kojima-gun , led by Satoshi Kojima . In his debut match for the promotion on February 20 at The New Beginning , MVP teamed with fellow Kojima-gun member Taichi to defeat Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma in

5560-467: Is a two-time WWE United States Champion , a one-time WWE Tag Team Champion (with Matt Hardy ), and was NJPW's first IWGP Intercontinental Champion . He was trained by Soulman Alex G and Norman Smiley . After concluding his training, he began wrestling for numerous independent promotions , including a stint in TNA. During his time in these promotions, he won various championships in singles competition. Assad first signed with WWE in 2005 and

5699-646: 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

Montel Vontavious Porter - Misplaced Pages Continue

5838-448: 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

5977-584: Is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee . It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment . Founded by Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett in 2002, following the end of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 2001, the promotion was initially known as NWA: Total Nonstop Action ( NWA-TNA ) and was affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) governing body. The promotion dropped

6116-526: Is remembered for the three-way match main event for the TNA X Division Championship , between AJ Styles , Christopher Daniels , and Samoa Joe , which received a rare 5   Star match rating from wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer , the first one the company received. Later that year, TNA would secure a television deal with Spike TV ; Impact! debuted on the network on October 1, 2005. The episode saw Team 3D make their TNA debut. TNA would gain attention for

6255-485: Is still in action, comprising now of just him and Lashley, and that it was open for new members. On the July 5 episode of Raw , MVP wrestled for the first time since his injury earlier in the year, in a tag match with Bobby Lashley against Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods , also known as The New Day . The team of MVP and Lashley lost the match. On the August 30 episode of Raw, MVP and Lashley would challenge RK-Bro for

6394-624: The TNA Impact ! video game . On October 23, 2008, TNA began producing its programming in HD . In addition, a new HD set for Impact was introduced, including new lighting, and large high-resolution screens. On June 21, 2009, TNA launched an online video-vault subscription-service where subscribers could watch past pay-per-views by choosing one of three payment options. In October 2009, TNA President Dixie Carter hired Hulk Hogan and former WCW President Eric Bischoff . Hulk Hogan first appeared on

6533-582: The TNA World Heavyweight Championship at a Wrestle-1 show in Japan. From the period of 2013 to 2014, many well-known names or veterans of the company left TNA. In October 2013, Hulk Hogan 's contract with TNA expired, ending his time as creative consultant with the company. In December, AJ Styles left TNA after his contract expired. Styles later said that he could not accept TNA's new contract offer, which would see him take

6672-654: The Tennessee State Fairground Sports Arena in Nashville , nicknamed the "TNA Asylum". In October 2002, Panda Energy International purchased a controlling interest (72%) of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling from Jerry Jarrett. TNA (which originally traded as "J   Sports and Entertainment") was re-organized as "TNA Entertainment", LLC, in the process. Dixie Carter was appointed president of TNA Entertainment in spring 2003. Xplosion launched on November 27, 2002, as TNA's first regular cable show and featured exclusive matches taped at

6811-648: The United States . On May 13 in Rahway , New Jersey , he entered the tournament to determine the first ever IWGP Intercontinental Champion , defeating Kazuchika Okada in his first round match. The following day in New York City , MVP defeated Tetsuya Naito to advance to the finals of the tournament. On the third and final day of the tour in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , MVP defeated Toru Yano in

6950-625: The WWE Championship in the Championship Scramble match, but was unsuccessful, continuing his losing streak. The losing streak meant that, in storyline, MVP did not receive "his contract incentive bonus", and also was no longer allowed his usual entrance with the NFL-like inflatable tunnel. During this losing streak he had a short feud with The Great Khali . On the January 16, 2009 episode of SmackDown , MVP finally broke

7089-437: 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

SECTION 50

#1732790928406

7228-737: 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

7367-415: The "Impact Zone", at Universal Studios Florida and broadcast on Fox Sports Net (FSN). With the show's première, TNA introduced a six-sided wrestling ring, the implementation of the "Fox Box" displaying competitors and timekeeping for the match and a generally more sports-like style than the sports entertainment style exemplified by WWE. In June 2004, TNA issued a press release stating it had signed

7506-559: The "NWA" brand from its name in 2004, becoming Total Nonstop Action Wrestling . TNA continued to use the NWA World Heavyweight and Tag Team championships until this agreement ended in 2007; after which, the company would create its own World Heavyweight and World Tag Team championships. The promotion was purchased by Anthem at the beginning of 2017. In March of that year, it was rebranded to Impact Wrestling after its weekly flagship television show , but returned to

7645-406: The $ 2.7   million debt that was owed to him by TNA and, as such, he was considering suing, as well as converting the debt into a 36 percent stake. As the result of a settlement between Corgan and TNA, Anthem Sports & Entertainment acquired the loans Corgan made to Carter in the process. Anthem Sports & Entertainment , a company owned by former Canwest CEO Leonard Asper , purchased

7784-602: The April 20, 2003, episode of TNA Xplosion . He appeared again for TNA on the August 6, 2004, episode of Impact! , with Sal Rinauro as his tag team partner, losing to America's Most Wanted . He also wrestled for Coastal Championship Wrestling (CCW) and Elite Wrestling Entertainment in 2005, competing against wrestlers like Jerry Lynn and D'Lo Brown . In CCW, he won the Heavyweight Championship on August 20, 2005, by defeating Blackhart and Bruno Sassi in

7923-526: The August 3 episode of SmackDown! . When MVP was given an interview segment during SmackDown! , the VIP Lounge , it was used to bow out of a scheduled boxing match on the August 18 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event —with Evander Holyfield replacing him, and eventually punching out MVP during the bout. On the August 24 episode of SmackDown! , MVP bragged to General Manager Theodore Long that he

8062-512: The Bank on May 10, MVP was scheduled to face R-Truth , but was replaced by Bobby Lashley , who quickly defeated Truth. The following night on Raw , MVP aligned himself with Lashley. At Backlash , MVP managed Lashley as he challenged Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship , but he was unsuccessful in capturing the title due to an altercation between MVP and Lashley's storyline wife, Lana , that distracted Lashley and allowed McIntyre to retain his championship. The following night on Raw, Lashley had

8201-451: The GFW rights; the lawsuit was ultimately settled out of court. Don Callis and Scott D'Amore became executive vice presidents in January 2018, taking charge of Impact Wrestling's day-to-day operations. At the first tapings under their tenure, the company reverted to a traditional four-sided ring, and the show also saw the return of former World Heavyweight Champion Austin Aries , as well

8340-493: The IWGP Intercontinental Championship to Masato Tanaka, ending his reign at 148 days. MVP received a rematch for the title on December 4, but was again defeated by Tanaka, following interference from his stablemate Yujiro Takahashi . On January 4, 2012, at Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome, MVP teamed with Shelton Benjamin, making a special one-time appearance, to defeat Tanaka and Takahashi in

8479-575: The Impact (abbreviated as BTI ), and Xplosion was canceled after 19 years the following month. During No Surrender Impact announced a new partnership with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Don Callis' time as Impact executive vice president and on-air talent ended in May. Slammiversary 2021 marked the return of in-person spectators for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. That month, BTI and Impact! would crossover for

SECTION 60

#1732790928406

8618-470: The January 4, 2010, episode of Impact! . Both obtained a position behind the scenes; with Bischoff part of creative and Hogan as a consultant. Under their tenure, TNA would see several revamps in 2010. Beginning with Genesis in January, TNA returned to using a four-sided ring. That month, Jakks Pacific announced a five-year agreement to produce TNA action figures. Impact! would also begin airing on Monday nights directly opposite of WWE Raw , marking

8757-674: The Legend . His June 22, 2018, return to APW resulted in a loss to Penta El 0M . In early 2018 MVP wrestled two matches for Booker T 's promotion Reality of Wrestling . On February 25, 2018, he won a battle royal for the Big League Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship, a title he still holds. In March 2018 he wrestled in Istanbul, Turkey for Turkish Power Wrestling in the main event. He debuted for AAW Wrestling on August 4, 2018, in

8896-579: The MVP-Lashley-King trio as the foundation of the BDC as a faction). However, Lashley turned on them and the Beat Down Clan attacked him. At Impact Wrestling: Lockdown (2015) , Team Angle (Kurt Angle, Austin Aries , Gunner , and Lashley) defeated The BDC (MVP, Samoa Joe, Low Ki, and Kenny King) in a Lethal Lockdown match . On February 27 broadcast of Impact Wrestling , MVP faced Lashley for

9035-507: The Miz instead. They lost the match and the titles, and immediately afterwards, MVP invoked the rematch clause, but they lost that match as well. MVP then attacked Hardy, targeting his knee, which in storyline had been injured during the matches, and put him "out of action". Hardy suffered a legitimate ruptured appendix while he was off television, putting their feud on hold. While Hardy recovered, MVP engaged in short feuds with Rey Mysterio (losing

9174-528: The Money in the Bank ladder match for the second year in a row, but failed to win. On the April 13 episode of Raw , MVP was drafted as the first overall pick to the Raw brand as a part of the 2009 WWE draft . As a result of being the reigning WWE United States Champion, he transferred the title to Raw for the first time in history. He lost the title to Kofi Kingston on the June 1 episode of Raw , before beginning

9313-500: The November 19 episode. The final episodes of 2014 were Best of TNA clip shows. On January 7, 2015, Impact Wrestling moved to Destination America , with a live debut from The Manhattan Center 's Grand Ballroom in New York City. In addition to Impact Wrestling , which was now airing on Friday nights, two new shows produced were Impact Wrestling: Unlocked , hosted by Mike Tenay , and TNA Wrestling's Greatest Matches ,

9452-458: The November 5 episode of Impact Wrestling , MVP lost to Bobby Roode in a TNA World Heavyweight Championship match. In January 2015, MVP formed a new group, the Beat Down Clan with King, Samoa Joe , Low Ki , and Eric Young, helping Lashley to regain the championship from Roode. MVP attempted to present Lashley as the centerpiece of the Clan as well as a "founding member" (officially establishing

9591-645: The Raw Tag Team Championships, but were unsuccessful in winning the titles. On the September 13 episode of Raw, MVP suffered a broken rib after receiving an RKO from Randy Orton, which put him out of action indefinitely. He returned on the November 8 episode of Raw , accompanying Lashley to the ring for his match with Dominik Mysterio . On the April 4, 2022 episode of Raw , MVP turned on Lashley and aligned himself with Omos . MVP helped Omos defeat Lashley at WrestleMania Backlash . This led to

9730-510: The Raw brand, Assad called him asking for a spot on the Royal Rumble match, since it was going to be held in Houston. Heyman agreed if he had also one match on Raw the next day. At the end, WWE and Assad made an agreement to work as a wrestler, manager, producer and commentator. On January 26, 2020, at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, MVP would return again, as a face, as a surprise entrant at #12 in

9869-423: The Royal Rumble match, where he was quickly eliminated by Brock Lesnar ; this marked MVP's first time in a WWE ring in 10 years. The next night on Raw , MVP had a match with Rey Mysterio , which he lost. On the February 10 episode of Raw , MVP brought back "The VIP Lounge," with his guest being 2020 Royal Rumble winner Drew McIntyre . During the segment, MVP turned heel for the first time since 2009, insulting

10008-492: The September 7 episode of Raw, Cedric Alexander joined The Hurt Business when he betrayed Crews and Ricochet during a six-man tag team match, attacking them and helping The Hurt Business win the match. At TLC , he was present when Alexander and Benjamin won the Raw Tag Team Championship . In early 2021, MVP suffered a leg injury and began using a crutch to move around, taken him out of in-ring action. He

10147-525: The TNA Asylum as well as exclusive interviews with TNA wrestlers and the promotion's original weekly pay-per-view shows took place mostly at the Tennessee State Fairground Sports Arena in Nashville, Tennessee . The last weekly pay-per-view took place on September 8, 2004, with a total of 111 weekly pay-per-views. In May 2004, TNA introduced its second weekly television program, Impact! (stylized as iMPACT! ), produced at Soundstage 21 , nicknamed

10286-656: The TNA branding in January 2024. From its inception, TNA had been considered the second-largest in the United States behind WWE a position it would hold for most of the 2000s and early 2010s. The promotion was known for featuring former top talent from WCW, WWE, and ECW , such as Raven , Jeff Jarrett , and Sting , free agents that were released from the WWE such as Kurt Angle , Jeff Hardy , and Mr. Kennedy (who wrestled as Mr. Anderson in TNA), as well as more homegrown wrestlers who had not appeared in WWE yet and mainly performed for

10425-539: The Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) name. From October 26 to 28, Impact held events in Scotland and England , marking their first United Kingdom tour since 2015. In December 2023, the promotion announced it had signed a new toy license with PowerTown, to release its first line of product in August 2024. The name change to TNA took effect in January 2024, with the first event under

10564-564: The World Wrestling Federation (WWF, later WWE ) gaining a monopoly on the industry. While on a fishing trip, Bob Ryder , Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett contemplated their futures in the professional wrestling business under a parent company known as J   Sports & Entertainment, LLC. Ryder suggested a company not reliant on television, but rather one going straight to pay-per-view . In July 2002, Vince Russo joined Jeff and Jerry Jarrett's NWA-TNA promotion as

10703-656: The burns he was "out of action" for a short time, during which on the December 22 episode of SmackDown! , color commentator JBL expressed rage with the fans for cheering a match where the only way of achieving victory is to set an opponent on fire. When his feud with Kane ended, MVP began a feud with the WWE United States Champion Chris Benoit over Benoit's title. During the buildup for a title match with Benoit, MVP appeared on SmackDown! introducing various supposed champions from around

10842-686: The company due to inadvertently violating terms of his contract by interviewing members of the roster for his podcast. On October 10, 2016, MVP defeated Jody Kristofferson for the All Pro Wrestling (APW) Universal Heavyweight Championship. MVP fought Rob Van Dam for the PCW Ultra Heavyweight Championship on March 24, 2017, in a losing effort. The following day, MVP lost the APW Universal Heavyweight Championship to Luster

10981-477: The company during this period. In April 2017, it was announced on Impact! that the promotion would "merge" with Jarrett's newer Global Force Wrestling (GFW) promotion. In the lead-up to the Slammiversary ;XV PPV, Anthem officially announced its intent to acquire GFW to formalize the merger. The company subsequently announced that they were re-branding again and taking the GFW name in June;

11120-561: The company in that year, and the contracts of TNA Hall of Famers Bully Ray and Devon reportedly expired in October 2014, with TNA moving them to the alumni section of their roster in January 2015. In late July, the TMZ website reported that Spike TV was not renewing Impact Wrestling beyond October. TNA would refute the report, stating that negotiations were still ongoing. On August 14, Impact Wrestling moved to Wednesday nights. On August 20, TNA signed an extension with Spike TV until

11259-427: The company. It was reported near the beginning of 2016 that Aroluxe Marketing, a Brentwood, Tennessee–based marketing agency, had taken a stake in TNA at the start of 2016 in return for providing partial funding, as well as taking over TNA's production operations. It was reported in June 2016 that Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan acquired a minority stake in TNA from Dixie Carter, but he had instead provided

11398-411: The competition on August 17, finishing fifth overall. On the November 5 episode of SmackDown , MVP fought in a triple threat match for the number one contendership of Dolph Ziggler 's Intercontinental Championship against Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre . The match was won by MVP, and the championship match was set for the following week's SmackDown , but MVP was unsuccessful in winning the title. MVP

11537-418: The control of TNA until Lockdown , where two teams, representing MVP and Carter, face each other. MVP's team defeated Dixie's team with an assist from special referee Bully Ray , earning MVP total control of wrestling operations. However, MVP turned heel when, on the May 8 episode of Impact Wrestling , he attacked TNA World Heavyweight Champion Eric Young and announced himself as the number one contender to

11676-525: The debuts of Karl Anderson and Heath Slater . After the events of AEW Winter Is Coming on December 2, 2020, Impact began a partnership with All Elite Wrestling (AEW), which lasted until Bound for Glory 2021 . AEW-contracted wrestlers Kenny Omega and Christian Cage held the Impact World Championship during this time; this marked Cage's first in-ring return to the promotion since 2008. In February 2021, Impact launched Before

11815-529: The debuts of new wrestlers such as Kiera Hogan , Su Yung , Pentagón Jr. , Fénix and Brian Cage . The company also announced a partnership with live streaming service Twitch to produce content for their platform, starting with Brace for Impact , which was co-promoted with New Jersey–based promotion WrestlePro. Their first live show was Impact vs. Lucha Underground , a co-promoted show with Lucha Underground . Impact! subsequently moved to Pursuit Channel beginning January 11, 2019. Two months later,

11954-433: The end of 2014. In November 2014, TNA announced a new agreement with Discovery Communications to distribute its programming in the United States on Destination America and to selected international markets. Spike's outreach at the time was estimated to be more than 97 million homes while Destination America was estimated to reach 59 million households. Impact Wrestling ceased airing new televised events on Spike after

12093-553: The fans chanted Power Ranger . On the following episode of SmackDown! , MVP made a demand for a tougher opponent to prove his mettle, which was answered by Kane making his SmackDown! debut. The two feuded for the next two months, with MVP narrowly scoring wins over Kane in a Street Fight , a Steel Cage match and tag team matches with Mr. Kennedy against the reunited Brothers of Destruction , before losing to Kane in an Inferno match at Armageddon on December 17, from which he suffered storyline first-degree burns . Because of

12232-457: The fans, and trying to advise McIntyre to be managed by him. However, McIntyre disregarded the advice and subsequently attacked MVP. The following week, MVP announced that he was hired by WWE as a backstage producer , while still being an on-screen performer. On the April 20 episode of Raw , MVP faced Apollo Crews to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match , but was defeated. At Money in

12371-455: The finals to become the first IWGP Intercontinental Champion . Earlier in the event, MVP showed his allegiance to Satoshi Kojima by saving him from the debuting Lance Archer , thus breaking away from the newly renamed Suzuki-gun . On June 18 at Dominion 6.18 , MVP made his first successful defense of the IWGP Intercontinental Championship by defeating Toru Yano. After the match, Yano attacked him and cut his hair. The two would face each other in

12510-611: The first time that two major professional wrestling promotions would go head to head since the launch of WCW Monday Nitro in 1995. The show would permanently move to Mondays on March 8, 2010, Spike would keep the Thursday night slot open for repeats of the Monday night shows. During this time, Ric Flair , Rob Van Dam , Mr. Anderson would make their debuts, while Jeff Hardy would make his return. Impact! would later return to Thursday nights on May 3. On July 2, 2010, TNA hosted

12649-435: The first time, when Josh Alexander faced T. J. Perkins for the X Division Championship in Impact's first-ever 60-minute Iron man match , which began on BTI and concluded in the opening minutes of Impact! . Impact subsequently announced the end of their partnership with Twitch that August and launched a new YouTube membership program called "Impact Wrestling Insiders". In November 2022, Impact and DAZN signed

12788-482: 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

12927-657: The independent circuit using the name Antonio Banks, including appearances with Full Impact Pro (FIP) and Future of Wrestling (FOW), where he won the latter's Tag Team Championship with Punisher. During his time in FIP, he wrestled Homicide for the World Heavyweight Championship at the Ring of Honor show Do or Die IV on February 19, 2005, but did not win the title. He also made sporadic appearances for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), and wrestled on

13066-573: The losing streak by defeating Big Show in a Last Man Standing match with help from Triple H , as he was fighting to ensure that Triple H would be allowed to compete in the Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble on January 25, in the process turning him face for the first time in his career. On the 500th episode of SmackDown on March 20, MVP won the United States Championship for the second time by defeating Shelton Benjamin . At WrestleMania 25 on April 5, MVP competed in

13205-549: The many high-profile talent that would join the promotion during the show's run on Spike. From 2005 to 2009, these include Kevin Nash , Rhino , Christian Cage , Sting (who made appearances at previous "Asylum" shows), Scott Steiner , Kurt Angle , Booker T , and Mick Foley . In April 2006, TNA launched a YouTube channel, featuring clips from Impact and exclusive content. Beginning with Bound for Glory in October 2006, TNA began holding select pay-per-view events outside of Orlando, Florida. In January 2007, TNA announced

13344-515: The match, he challenged for WCR's World Class Championship against the champion Chavo Guerrero Jr. Due to the disqualification finish, the two had a rematch at the following night's Victory Road Impact Plus Monthly Specials . MVP has made frequent appearances for Tommy Dreamer 's House of Hardcore (HOH) promotion. He wrestled at the second and third events when the promotion was starting up in 2013. After his stint in TNA, MVP defeated Moose at House of Hardcore XVI in August 2016 in his return to

13483-401: The new name " The Hurt Syndicate ". On October 12 at WrestleDream , MVP confronted Strickland, who responded by rejecting MVP's services and remained loyal to Prince Nana. On October 30 at Fright Night Dynamite , MVP and Benjamin reunited with Bobby Lashley , as the trio beat down Strickland and Nana to close the show. In August 2007, Assad was diagnosed with Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome ,

13622-494: The new parent company. Shortly after Anthem's acquisition of TNA, it was re-branded to Impact Wrestling. On January 5, 2017 Jeff Jarrett was brought back by Anthem to serve as a consultant and later promoted to executive producer and chief creative officer. Anthem re-branded the promotion as Impact Wrestling, after its primary television series two months later. Wrestlers Drew Galloway , Matt Hardy , Jeff Hardy , Jade , Crazzy Steve , Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis left

13761-404: The pandemic, the promotion cancelled its planned TNA: There's No Place Like Home event, and Tessa Blanchard , who became the first woman to win the promotion's World Championship earlier that year at Hard to Kill , was fired and stripped of the championship after a long absence. Slammiversary saw the returns of The Motor City Machine Guns , Eric Young , Doc Gallows and EC3 , as well as

13900-641: 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: Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (abbreviated as TNA Wrestling or TNA )

14039-624: The promotion announced that Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) would serve as its developmental territory once again. In May, Impact Plus replaced the Global Wrestling Network as the official streaming app for the promotion. Impact! began airing on Anthem-owned AXS TV after Bound for Glory in October. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , Impact would hold events behind closed doors at Skyway Studios in Nashville. During

14178-637: The promotion before leaving in 2013. He subsequently returned to the independent circuit and made appearances in TNA (which had been renamed to Impact Wrestling in 2017 but reverted to TNA in 2024) and Ring of Honor (ROH). He returned to WWE in January 2020 but left in August 2024. He then debuted for AEW at Dynamite : Grand Slam on September 25, 2024. Alvin Antonio Burke Jr. was born in the Liberty City neighborhood of Miami , Florida , on October 28, 1973. He grew up in Opa-locka, Florida . His father

14317-613: The promotion later touring in Germany , Scotland and Ireland in 2009, France , Wales and the United Arab Emirates in 2010 and Belgium in 2012. In February 2008, Jakks Pacific announced it had signed a multi-year master toy license agreement with TNA, to release products starting in 2010. In March 2008, Tristar Productions acquired an exclusive license deal to produce and distribute TNA trading cards and memorabilia. On September 9, 2008, Midway Games released

14456-432: The promotion such as AJ Styles and Samoa Joe . (Some of whom would later be signed by WWE during the mid to late 2010s as TNA suffered financial issues). From 2015 to 2017, the promotion was viewed by some to have fallen behind longtime rival Ring of Honor ; with the loss of their U.S. television contract with Spike in 2014, as well as monetary and personnel issues, being noted as factors to their decline. By 2019,

14595-712: The promotion was viewed to have recovered through its sustained international distribution, and the purchase by its parent company of AXS TV ; which subsequently began carrying the promotion's programming. TNA is currently viewed as being the third-largest wrestling promotion in the United States; following the establishment of All Elite Wrestling (AEW) in 2019, and its current television deals with Warner Bros. Discovery 's TNT and TBS (both of which are seen in more households than AXS). Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s The concept of TNA originated shortly after World Championship Wrestling (WCW) ended in 2001, with

14734-575: The promotion. Prior to MVP's departure from WWE during a June 2024 interview, it was revealed that The Hurt Business was planned to be reformed but after Vince McMahon retired in 2022, a new creative regime led by Paul "Triple H" Levesque was against the reformation of the group. MVP also accused the WWE for stealing the group's gimmick and giving it to The Bloodline . On July 28, 2024, MVP debuted for Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) at Josh Barnett's Bloodsport XI , where he announced that he'd be leaving WWE, confronted Josh Barnett , and challenged him to

14873-431: The promotion. He went on to appear at nine straight shows for the promotion in 2017, wrestling the likes of Jack Swagger, Tommy Dreamer, Billy Gunn and Matt Cross among others. At December 1, 2018, he made his most recent appearance for the promotion, defeating Big Cass at HOH 51. He announced on March 31, 2016, that he would be joining Lucha Underground . However, days later, on April 8, he announced his release from

15012-447: The pyramids on his left upper biceps, the word MonteCristo with the phrase "the best revenge is living well" in script on his right forearm, both references to the book The Count of Monte Cristo , the Eye of Horus on the back of his left arm, and a star on his right shoulder. He also has a number of homemade gang-related tattoos that he had done when he was a teenager. Assad said that he

15151-730: The rank of purple belt after winning the gold medal at the Houston Open in the Masters 3 Ultra Heavyweight Division. He also won gold in the Open Division at the Houston Open, and silver at the IBJJF Masters World Championship in the Masters 4/Male/Purple/Ultra-Heavy Category. In December 2020, he won a gold medal at the IBJJF masters world championship in the Masters 4/Male/Purple/Ultra-Heavy Category, and

15290-562: The re-branding was short-lived as they severed ties with Jarrett that October and the deal for Anthem to acquire GFW was never completed. During that time, Anthem launched the Global Wrestling Network , a new streaming service which featured content from to their tape library and other sources. Jarrett subsequently filed a lawsuit against Anthem in the District Court of Tennessee for copyright infringement over

15429-467: The reinstated TNA banner being Hard To Kill . On February 7, Anthem Sports & Entertainment announced that Scott D'Amore's contract with TNA was terminated , with D'Amore being removed from his position as President of TNA, later being replaced by Anthony Cicione. From June 2002 until September 2004, the promotion's original weekly pay-per-view shows took place mostly at the Tennessee State Fairground Sports Arena in Nashville, Tennessee , nicknamed

15568-537: The signing of MVP to "the largest contract in SmackDown! history" was uploaded to WWE.com. MVP made his in-ring debut at No Mercy on October 8 as a heel with a ring entrance featuring an NFL-like inflatable tunnel, before defeating Marty Garner . During the match, commentators Michael Cole and John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) decried the choice of opponent, since it had been implied that it would be someone "more competent", and joined in with fans mocking his athletic suit styled ring gear, calling him "pathetic" while

15707-461: The song, featuring cameos from Carlito and Hernandez, was released the following October. The song was released as a single through iTunes on April 5, 2012. On March 18, 2013, he released his second song entitled "Tokyo". On January 30, 2014, MVP released his third single, titled "Return of the Ronin". The song also became MVP's entrance theme in TNA. MVP has been featured as a playable character in

15846-493: The storyline, MVP proclaimed himself the real United States Champion when he unveiled a new belt design. At The Horror Show at Extreme Rules , Crews did not appear for their scheduled match, so MVP declared himself as the champion. However, MVP faced Crews two times, one at Raw and the other at SummerSlam , failing both times. At Payback , Lashley defeated Crews to win the United States Championship . On

15985-405: The team. In the months coming, MVP started getting along better with Hardy, including helping him defeat Finlay on the October 19 episode of SmackDown! . Their reign together came to an end on the November 16 episode of SmackDown! after Hardy demanded a shot at the United States Championship, but MVP declined, and announced they had a WWE Tag Team Championship defense against John Morrison and

16124-667: The title at Slammiversary XII . However, MVP suffered a legit torn meniscus and was removed from the match. According to PWInsider, the original plans were to crown MVP as champion. After that, MVP and Kenny King helped Lashley win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship from Eric Young , but MVP was substituted by Kurt Angle as the on-screen authority figure. From there, MVP acted as Lashley and King's manager (and occasional partner after his knee's condition improved), while feuding with Angle in promos. He defeated Kazma Sakamoto at Bound for Glory and, on

16263-416: The title, but was defeated. In April, The Beat Down Clan started a feud against the newly formed The Rising ( Drew Galloway , Eli Drake and Micah ), having several matches between the stables until the June 24, 2015 (aired July 1) episode of Impact Wrestling , where The Beat Down Clan defeated The Rising in a 4-on-3 Handicap match, forcing The Rising to dissolve. On July 17, 2015, MVP officially left TNA. He

16402-416: The title. His first major feud as the champion was against Matt Hardy , whom he started claiming to be better than at everything, after defeating him at The Great American Bash on July 22. When MVP was legitimately diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome , it was written into the storyline , with MVP blaming the condition for his losing an arm wrestling match against Hardy on

16541-412: The top of a chamber pod. He would instead participate in the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania, and during the match, Hardy made an unannounced return and knocked MVP from the ladder with his signature Twist of Fate maneuver, costing him the match and reigniting their feud. At Backlash on April 27, MVP lost the United States Championship to Hardy, ending his record reign at 343 days, which

16680-736: The video games WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 , WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 , WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 , WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 , and WWE 2K22 , his first WWE licensed video game in 11 years. He also appeared in WWE 2K23 and WWE 2K24 . 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

16819-523: The world, defeating them in squash matches . MVP lost to Benoit at WrestleMania 23 on April 1, 2007 and at Backlash on April 29, but finally defeated Benoit in a Two out of three falls match at Judgment Day on May 20, with MVP winning the United States Championship, his first WWE title, in two straight falls. MVP credits his time working with Benoit for improving his in-ring skill. In his first pay-per-view championship defense at Vengeance: Night of Champions on June 24, MVP defeated Ric Flair to retain

16958-409: 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

17097-592: Was a police officer. He joined a gang when he was 12, describing it as a " graffiti gang" which later turned into a street gang . He spent six months in a juvenile detention center after a robbery. He later completed nine and a half years of an 18.5-year prison sentence for armed robbery and kidnapping, which he started at the age of 16. He converted to Islam while in prison, though he is now an atheist . Due to his criminal record, his visits to other countries on international tours are subject to permits and background checks for recent behavior. Unrelated to his record, Burke

17236-558: Was a video game fan and that his finisher used on the independent circuit, the Malicious Intent , was inspired by a similar move performed by Eddy Gordo from the Tekken series. He has been a fan of Manchester United FC since he was 13, naming Eric Cantona as his favorite player. Despite his earlier conversion to Islam, he has since described himself as an atheist . Assad practices Brazilian jiu-jitsu , in which he gained

17375-552: Was able to win the match with Rey Mysterio and Big Show being sole survivors. MVP's last match with the WWE aired on the December 3 episode of SmackDown , teaming with Kaval in a losing effort against Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler; afterward, he and Kaval were attacked by Kane. MVP was released from his WWE contract earlier on December 2. In 2011, Assad signed a one-year contract with New Japan Pro-Wrestling , pursuing his noted passion for puroresu . TMZ reported that Assad's prior convictions had made it difficult for him to acquire

17514-400: Was also on an episode of SmackDown! on January 13, 2005, being one of the police officers in the ring with Kurt Angle . As MVP, he made his first appearance on WWE television on the August 4, 2006 episode of SmackDown ! , during which announcers described him as a coveted free agent . The initial angle involved MVP appearing backstage and in arena crowds, often flanked by women and/or

17653-609: Was also unable to attend WWE's shows in Saudi Arabia , as his status as a former Muslim is considered a punishable capital offense in the Kingdom . Assad entered the professional wrestling business through the help of a corrections officer in his prison who also worked as a wrestler in the independent circuit . After being trained by former professional wrestlers Soulman Alex G and Norman Smiley , Assad made his wrestling debut in 2002. He worked for many different companies on

17792-417: Was announced as part of Team Mysterio, teaming with Rey Mysterio, Big Show, Chris Masters and Kofi Kingston to take on Team Del Rio ( Alberto Del Rio , Tyler Reks , Jack Swagger , Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes) at Survivor Series on November 21. At Survivor Series, MVP was the first man eliminated in the match by McIntyre, who was aided by Del Rio holding MVP's foot down so he could not kick out. MVP's team

17931-457: Was assigned to Deep South Wrestling (DSW), one of the company's developmental territories at the time. After being promoted to the SmackDown brand, he made his WWE wrestling debut in October 2006. During that time, he became the longest-reigning United States Champion in SmackDown history. After his departure from WWE in 2010, he joined NJPW in February 2011. He spent the next two years with

18070-483: Was at the time the longest reign of the WWE era, and the third longest in the entire history of the championship (the record has since broken by Dean Ambrose in 2014). He then subsequently failed to regain the championship in a rematch on the May 2 episode of SmackDown . Beginning on the August 29 episode of SmackDown , MVP developed a losing streak that lasted over five months, losing in both singles and tag team matches. At Unforgiven on September 7, he challenged for

18209-596: 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

18348-604: 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

18487-529: Was not yet an official entrant) who hit him with the United States title belt. MVP later recovered and entered the match (having not been eliminated) to eliminate both himself and The Miz. MVP challenged The Miz for the title a second time at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view on February 21 but was once again unable to win after interference from Big Show. He also competed in the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania XXVI on March 28, but

18626-492: Was present when Bobby Lashley won the WWE Championship on the March 1 episode of Raw . On the March 29 episode of Raw , Lashley attacked Alexander and Benjamin due to them losing the Raw Tag Team Championships and losing to Drew McIntyre in a 2-on-1 handicap match, thus kicking the tag team out of the faction in the process. Lashley would proclaim that The Hurt Business was over. MVP later stated on Twitter that The Hurt Business

18765-598: Was promoted to brown belt at the medal presentation. He continues to train in the sport, with fellow wrestler Dave Bautista . In April 2024, he was awarded his black belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu by Andre Santos at Gracie Barra Boca Raton. Assad made a cameo appearance in the film MacGruber , alongside fellow WWE Superstars Chris Jericho , The Great Khali , Big Show , Kane , and Mark Henry . MVP released his first hip hop song titled "Holla to da World" featuring Dwayne Swayze in June 2011. A music video for

18904-499: Was reportedly released in the fallout of a contract dispute between TNA and Lucha Underground . MVP had pushed for TNA to sign Hernandez , even though he was at the time still under contract to Lucha Underground. When Lucha Underground contacted TNA, they released Hernandez and were forced to re-edit all segments he had been involved in at the past tapings. On September 13, 2019, he made an appearance for TNA, now known as Impact Wrestling at their Operation Override Twitch special. In

19043-463: Was required to pay Corgan back by November 1. It was possible that one of the other minority owners could pay Corgan, effectively making them the majority owner of TNA. On November 3, the company revealed that Anthem Sports & Entertainment provided a credit facility to fund operations for TNA and that Corgan was removed as the promotion's president. However, Corgan himself stated that neither TNA nor Anthem Sports & Entertainment had yet repaid

19182-650: Was so good, he could win the WWE Tag Team Championship with anybody, prompting Long to grant him a championship match alongside the next person who entered the room, who turned out to be Hardy. The following week on the August 31 episode of SmackDown! , MVP and Hardy won the WWE Tag Team Championship from Deuce 'n Domino , making MVP a double champion. MVP and Hardy's contentious relationship had them competing with each other in various ways while MVP proclaimed himself "Captain" of

19321-401: Was unable to win. As part of the 2010 WWE supplemental draft , MVP was drafted back to the SmackDown brand. He made his SmackDown return on the April 30 episode, interrupting CM Punk 's promo, and later teaming up with Rey Mysterio to defeat Punk and Luke Gallows . On June 1, MVP was announced as the mentor of Percy Watson for the second season of WWE NXT ; Watson was eliminated from

#405594