Chris Hero
From Ring of Honor Wiki
| Chris Hero | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Biographical information | |
| Real name: |
Christopher Spradlin |
| Height: |
6 ft 5 in (1.95 m) |
| Weight: |
240 lb (108 kg) |
| Born: |
December 24, 1979 |
| Wrestling information | |
| Names: |
Chris Hero |
| Billed from: |
Metropolis |
| Trained by: |
Dory Funk, Jr. |
| Wrestling debut: |
1998 |
| Currently: |
Ring of Honor |
| Website: | |
| MySpace: | |
| Ring of Honor | |
| Debut: |
Hell Freezes Over |
| Full Impact Pro | |
| Debut: |
N/A |
| SHIMMER Women Athletes | |
| Deubt: |
N/A |
Chris Spradlin (born December 24, 1979 in Dayton, Ohio) is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name, Chris Hero. A veterian of many independent promotions, Hero made his way to Ring of Honor in 2006 as the leader of Combat Zone Wrestling during their interpromotional feud with ROH. After the feud ended, Hero continued to compete for ROH, and is a former ROH World Tag Team Champion.
Contents |
[edit] Career
[edit] Early career
Chris Spardlin began his career in 1998 under the name Wifebeater, due to the fact he wrestled in a "wifebeater" undershirt. He would later change his name and gimmick to Chris Hero after being protested by a women’s group who found the name offensive. In 2000, Hero began competing for Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South, which would eventually become his “home” promotion. Of his numerous feuds in IWA: Mid-South, his most famous was against another up-and-coming wrestler in the independent circuit, CM Punk. Hero would later begin to compete for the Pennsylvania-based CHIKARA, where he would become the co-head trainer of the CHIKARA Wrestle Factory, and train the likes of Claudio Castagnoli, Jigsaw and Larry Sweeney.
[edit] Combat Zone Wrestling
Chris Hero first appeared in Combat Zone Wrestling in late 1999, competing in a match with Ruckus. He would return in 2003, securing a permanent spot on the roster. He won his first CZW championship in 2004, when he defeated Jimmy Rave for the CZW Iron Man Championship, and would hold the title for eight months. During this period, he would begin to refer to himself as the “Savior of CZW”.
In 2005, he would begin teaming with Claudio Castagnoli, his partner in CHIKARA, as the Kings of Wrestling. The would become two-time CZW World Tag Team Champions, and would have a length feud with Eddie Kingston and his stable, BLK OUT. Hero’s feud with Kingston and BLK OUT would last for almost two years, with at one point Hero winning the CZW World Heavyweight Championship from BLK OUT’s Ruckus after he had wrestled three matches in one evening, until Hero was forced to leave the promotion after losing a “Loser Leaves CZW” match in 2007.
Through Combat Zone Wrestling, Hero began appearing in Ring of Honor, when he started a seven month feud between the two companies. At Cage of Death 7 in December 2005, Hero announced CZW would be holding its next show on January 14, but that they would be running in the afternoon. He explained the reason they were holding the show so early was because ROH was also holding a show in Philadelphia that day, and "everything and everyone must stop for them". He then called out ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson, who had been sending open contracts to various promotions around to the world looking for challengers for his title, to show up at the CZW show and defend the ROH World Championship against him. He would challenge Danielson again two more times via his Live Journal. Danielson would show up at CZW's show, An Afternoon of Main Events, but said he wouldn’t defend the title there, and Hero would have to come to the Ring of Honor show.
[edit] Ring of Honor
[edit] 2006
Chris Hero made his Ring of Honor debut as a representative of Combat Zone Wrestling at Hell Freezes Over on January 14, 2006, challenging Bryan Danielson for the ROH World Championship. Before the match, he gave a promo stating how the promoters and fans of ROH said he wasn’t good enough for them, so when he won the title he was going to take it back to CZW and throw it in the trash. With Necro Butcher and other CZW wrestlers, Hero fought Danielson for over thirty minutes, before submitting to a Crossface Chickenwing. He would return to ROH a few weeks later when he and Necro Butcher appeared in the crowd at Tag Wars 2006. After heckling during a few matches, they were called out by ROH wrestler Ace Steel, who said that Necro was nothing but a “garbage wrestler” and Hero wasn’t good enough to be in Ring of Honor. Hero initially tried to restrain Necro from jumping the guardrail, but after being mocked by the fans, the two climbed over and started a brawl with the entire ROH locker room. Necro would do the same again the following night.
When Ring of Honor announced they would having a series of shows setting new milestones for the promotion, Hero responded by placing a threat on his Live Journal, stating he would be there to ruin every one. At the start of the series in February, ROH’s Fourth Anniversary Show, Hero, Necro and six other CZW wrestlers attempted to hijacked the ring, engaging in a brawl with the ROH locker room. Issues between ROH and CZW would reach boiling point the next month when they attempted to run a double-shot at the New Alhambra Arena. The end of the match saw both promotions’ locker rooms empty in a fight that stretched from the ring to the parking lot, with CZW capturing ROH wrestler BJ Whitmer and torturing him in the ring. However, despite starting the feud between the two companies, Hero was not at either event, as he was on a tour of Mexico with his tag team partner, ROH and CZW star Claudio Castagnoli. After the actions of CZW, Ring of Honor responded by allowing Hero and Necro Butcher to come to ROH and face any two wrestlers they wanted.
Hero and Necro Butcher would answer ROH's challenge and showed up at Best in the World on March 25, defeating ROH new comers Jason Balde and Kid Mikaze. However, the challenge was a setup as emediately after the match they were attcked by Adam Pearce, who had been leading the charge for ROH in the feud, with an impromtue match staring between Pearce and Necro. Pearce would win the match by disqualification was he was attacked by Hero. After continuing to attack him, Hero called out Claudio Castagnoli, his best friend and tag team partner in CZW, to join them in the fight against ROH. Claudio did come out, but sided with ROH by attacking Hero and Necro.
[edit] 2007
[edit] 2008
[edit] In wrestling
- Finishing and signature moves
- Hero’s Welcome (Rolling cutter, sometimes with a hammerlock)
- Hangman’s Clutch (Inverted cravate STF)
- Roaring elbow
- Backward roll into a standing corkscrew senton
- Cravate
- Cravate Cutter (Second rope diving front flip cravate bulldog)
- Cravate-O-Clasm (Cravate iconoclasm)
- Cravate-Plex (Cravate side suplex)
- Double leg slam
- Gutbuster
- Indian Deathlock piledriver
- Inverted crucifix powerbomb
- Inverted suplex stunner
- Johnny Saint Special
- Running boot
- Springboard back elbow smash
- Standing double stomp, sometimes followed by a senton
- Managers
- Wrestlers trained by Chris Hero
- Theme music
- "CZW Theme" – Combat Zone Wrestling
- "We are the Champions" – Queen (Kings of Wrestling)
- "Rock and Roll Part II" – Gary Glitter
- "It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane (Edit)" – Ralph Cardall
[edit] Championships and accomplishments
- Alternative Championship Wrestling
- ACW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- CHIKARA
- Campeonatos de Parejas (1 time) – with Claudio Castagnoli
- Coliseum Championship Wrestling
- CCW Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
- CCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with John Caesar
- Combat Zone Wrestling
- CZW World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- CZW Iron Man Championship (1 time)
- CZW World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Claudio Castagnoli
- Garage Professional Wrestling
- GPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Hard Core Wrestling
- HCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Danny Blackheart
- Impact Championship Wrestling
- ICW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Independent Wrestling Association East Coast
- IWA: East Coast Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South
- IWA: Mid-South Heavyweight Championship
- Sweet Science 16 winner (2000)
- Strong Style winner (2005)
- National Wrestling Alliance
- NWA VW/OH Junior Heavyweight Championship
- Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
- PWG World Championship (1 time, Longest reign)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Ranked #49 in the PWI 500 for 2007
- Ring of Honor
- ROH World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Claudio Castagnoli
- Survival of the Fittest winner (2007)
- Unified Championship Wrestling
- UCW Television Championship (1 time)
- Violent Championship Wrestling
- VCW Tag Team Championship (2 times)
- VCW Triple Threat Championship (2 times)
- Westside Xtreme Wrestling
- wXw World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- wXw Tag Team Championship – with Marc Roudin
[edit] Videos
| Chris Hero vs. Hallowicked (August 24, 2007) |
