Danny Boy Collins

Danny Boy Collins
Ring name(s)	Danny Boy Collins
Born	21 February 1967 (44) Bristol, England
Trained by	Roy Harley; Stan Osborne
Debut	23 September 1983

Danny 'Boy' Collins is an English professional wrestler. Noted for his agile, gymnastic style in the ring, he has toured successfully across Europe and held British, European and World (European version) titles in four different weight divisions.

Career

Collins made his professional debut in 1983 against Adrian Finch before going on to be a regular star of ITV's World of Sport programme. Despite losing his TV debut to veteran heel "Crybaby" Jim Breaks, Collins would come back in 1984 to defeat Breaks first in an elimination tournament final, then in a £500-per-fall challenge, before finally capturing Breaks' British Welterweight Title.

The following year, Collins would capture the European Welterweight Championship from visiting champion Jorg Chenok (billed as Baron Von Chenok) in a match screened on ITV during World Of Sport's special 1985 FA Cup Final edition. As a result of this victory, Danny would tour France and northern Spain extensively during the late 1980s for local promoter Roger Delaporte. Collins was also a frequent tag team partner of Big Daddy as well as teaming with his younger brother Pete Collins.

He continued to have a successful wrestling career in the United Kingdom and across Europe despite an operation to have his kidney removed in the mid-1980s, using a high-flying style in his matches that was unusual for British wrestling at the time. He further developed the cartwheel escape from an arm lever first invented by Dynamite Kid in the mid 1970s - itself an advance on the traditional roll on the mat to untwist an arm lever.

After ITV's coverage of wrestling ended in 1988, he achieved even greater success, moving to All Star Wrestling, where he defeated Dave "Fit" Finlay to win the British Heavy-Middleweight Championship in 1989. Although he controversially lost the title by disqualification to Richie Brooks in Croydon in 1990, he would soon regain the belt that same year. In 1991, he defeated Owen Hart for the vacant World Middleweight Championship and would continue to claim the title until 1995 when he moved still further up the weights.

Around late 1994/early 1995, Collins became a heel after a (kayfabe) falling out with Robbie Brookside and Doc Dean. Rebranded 'Dirty' Dan Collins, in 1996 he defeated Alan Kilby to become British Light-Heavyweight Champion, but lost the title back to Kilby in 1997. He also teamed with fellow heel Drew McDonald, particularly for Otto Wanz's CWA in Germany and Austria. By the end of the 1990s, he had reverted back to being a blue eye but his brother Peter was still a devout heel, known by then as 'Mr Vain' Pete Collins. This led to a lengthy feud between the two.

Collins' career slowed down to near-inactivity around 2000 due to accumulated back injuries, but he still appears sporadically on the British wrestling scene. In 2007, he launched a major comeback tour with All Star Wrestling, frequently working as a tag team with Dean Allmark.In October 2008 he lost to Germany's Christian "Ecki" Eckstein at GL1 Gloucester Leisure Centre.

Championships and accomplishments

• British Welterweight Championship (3 times)
• European Welterweight Championship
• British Heavy-Middleweight Championship (2 times)
• World Middleweight Championship
• British Light-Heavyweight Championship

External links

• Danny Collins at Online World of Wrestling
• [1]

Persondata
Name	Collins, Danny Boy
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	21 February 1967
Place of birth	Bristol, England
Date of death
Place of death