Adam Pearce

Infobox Wrestler
name=Adam Pearce


img_capt=Adam Pearce carrying the NWA World Title
names=Masked Spymaster II
Scrap Iron
Scrap Daddy
Adam O'Brien
"Scrap Iron" Adam Pearce
height=height|ft=6|in=2
weight=convert|245|lb|kg|abbr=on
birth_date=Birth date and age|1978|6|24|mf=y
death_date=
birth_place=Lake Forest, Illinois, U.S.
death_place=
resides=San Diego, California
billed=San Diego, California
trainer=Sonny Rogers
Randy Ricci
Ace Steel
Danny Dominion
WCW Power Plant
New Japan Dojo
debut=May 16, 1996
retired=|

Adam Pearce (born June 24, 1978), is an American professional wrestler. Since his debut, he has become one of the most hated heel wrestlers on the independent circuit. He previously worked for Ring of Honor. He is also the current NWA World Heavyweight Champion.

Early life and career

Pearce was born in Lake Forest, Illinois, and grew up in Waukegan, Illinois. He played football and baseball at Waukegan High School. Pearce was also voted "Class Non-Conformist" by his 1996 high school senior class peers (per Waukegan High School 1996 Yearbook). He began his wrestling training as a Senior in November 1995 with Sonny Rogers' Pro Wrestling International school on the north side of Chicago, while going to school half-days. Notables in his class were Midwest indy worker Adrian Lynch and fellow Waukegan High alumnus, now Southern California-Based referee and actor Joe Furrer. Pearce soon began working independents, most notably for Carmine DeSpirito's Mid American Wrestling, where he feuded with Billy Joe Eaton.

Career

1998-2007

Pearce toured Europe in late 1998 with a crew put together by DeSpirito and defended the MAW Championship throughout the tour. His 50 minute, 2-out-of-3 falls defense against Billy Joe Eaton was viewed as the match of the tour. At this time, he also began traveling throughout Michigan with Dave Prazak, and he began working for Dan Curtis' Northern States Wrestling alliance (NSWA). He was part of the "East Coast Invasion" angle where he had an early breakout match near Thanksgiving 1997 against Reckless Youth. Pearce sided with the local Michigan babyfaces charged with fighting off Youth, Don Montoya, Lance (Simon) Diamond, and Twiggy Ramirez. A rematch between Pearce and Youth took place in Ian Rotten's IWA-Mid South company, where Pearce had captured their Light Heavyweight Title by defeating Cash Flo.

Also stateside, he soon moved on from the PWI camp and right into the newly opened Steel Domain Training Center. He became the first trainee under Ace Steel, Danny Dominion, and Kevin Quinn (along with Lynch, who came with him). Together Steel, Dominion, and Pearce became regulars in Minnesota, working under the St. Paul Championship Wrestling (later Steel Domain Wrestling) banner. Once again, Pearce's feud with Eaton grabbed headlines as they engaged in a Garbage Can Match. It was one of the first "ECW" style matches in the area. He went on to feud with Danny Dominion over the Northern States TV Title, which was showcased on ex-AWA announcer Mick Karch's weekly TV show, "Slick Mick's Bodyslam Revue". Later, future Domain trainees CM Punk and Colt Cabana debuted in Minnesota and begin their careers under the guidance of Steel, Dominion, and Pearce. Later on, Pearce became a member of the Gold Bond Mafia with CM Punk, Colt Cabana, Dave Prazak, and Chuck E. Smooth.

At the same time, Pearce began working in All-Star Championship Wrestling based in Green Bay, Wisconsin, as the promotion's top babyface and later, top heel. His matches against Dino Bambino were viewed as being among the area's best, and their 1999 Cage Match in Green Bay was voted the 1999 Upper Midwest Match of the Year. Pearce captured the ACW Heavyweight Title by defeating longtime rival Adrian Lynch in Green Bay, and held it until losing to Rob Norwood in a 3-Way-Dance months later.

During this time, Pearce also made appearances in Nashville, Tennessee for Bert Prentice's Music City Wrestling, in Pittsburgh for Norm Connors' Steel City Wrestling, a couple of ECW tryouts, and made many appearances on World Wrestling Federation (WWF) TV as Adam O'Brien.

Pearce gained considerable attention wrestling for the very short lived WXO promotion in early 2000. After being portrayed in the series as the "Golden Rookie", the show was canceled with only a few episodes aired via National syndication. He was the tag team partner of former "Fantastics" member, Tommy Rogers, and they were embroiled in a budding feud against "The Bodies" - once again, Ace Steel and Danny Dominion. Just as things got going, and Pearce turned heel on Rogers, the series was canceled. Right after WXO, Pearce got what many thought was his big break, being noticed by both WWF and World Championship Wrestling (WCW).

Pearce was noticed in both cases by Terry Taylor (currently working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling). Taylor was said to have liked Pearce's work and vocal skills as seen on tape and invited him to a WWF camp, which at that time were held in Connecticut in the original Trax training center. Taylor then moved on to WCW. Shortly thereafter, Pearce was contacted by J.J. Dillon and Paul Orndorff of the aforementioned promotion. After attending the WCW Power Plant on two occasions, Pearce was offered (and declined) a WCW developmental contract in 2000, choosing instead to relocate to Southern California and leave the wrestling business for personal reasons. Pearce was rumored to have been the original choice as the mouthpiece of the Natural Born Thrillers featured in the company (eventually Mike Sanders filled that role).

After his relocation, Pearce began wrestling for the now defunct Millennium Pro group after being recommended by Christopher Daniels, most notably coming out of "retirement" to face Spanky in a highly anticipated match for the time. He also began working in Rick Bassman's UPW, where he was teamed with Aaron Aguilera in a tag team called "Hardkore Inc." Pearce has worked several UPW events, most notably against Diamond Dallas Page at UPW's biggest event, "Overload", held in Las Vegas. He also wrestled Chris Masters in his last independent match before being signed by WWF (now WWE).

He also was signed to be a part of the King of Indies 2001 Tournament, promoted by Roland Alexander's All Pro Wrestling (APW). He faced and was defeated in the opening round by Doug Williams of the United Kingdom. Pearce also competed in IWA-Mid South's 2001 Sweet Science Sixteen (later the Ted Petty Invitational). He defeated Chris Hero and BJ Whitmer only to be defeated by Ace Steel.

Pearce was generally inactive in a national sense, making sporadic appearances on California independent shows put on by Millennium Pro Wrestling and AWS (both based in Los Angeles, CA) and WCWA (based in San Diego, CA). He also made a few appearances for Mid American Wrestling (based in Milwaukee, WI). This would change when Gary Yap contacted Pearce about the soon-to-be-debuting EPIC promotion.

He then signed on to wrestle in the upstart EPIC promotion, which eventually failed under Gary Yap's leadership, but that led him to Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, where he was an early fixture of the promotion feuding Joey Ryan, Aaron Aguilera, and Frankie Kazarian among others. He became the second ever PWG World Champion defeating Frankie Kazarian on February 22, 2004 at PWG's "Taste the Radness". He was the promotion's first heel champion feuding with Aguilera and Babi Slymm until he lost the title on July 10, 2004 in Hollywood, California back to Kazarian at PWG's One Year Anniversary Show "Reason for the Season" in a Steel Cage "Loser Leaves PWG" Match. Many speculated that Pearce would return to PWG soon thereafter, however Pearce has yet to return to PWG.

Upon leaving PWG, Pearce almost immediately debuted in Mexico for Promociones XLUM, where he feuded with Venum Black, Extreme Tiger, Nicho el Millonario, and Rey Misterio, Sr. XLUM's premiere event of 2004 entitled "Jaulamania" drew a sold out crowd to see El Hijo del Santo on top, while Pearce and his cohorts worked underneath, and ran in on a bloody cage match, attacking Damien 666 and Halloween. Other notable matches included a wild 8-Man-Tag filmed by Fox Sports Español which saw Pearce and his partners (Al Katrazz, Aaron Aguilera, and Jason Allgood) brawl all over the famous Auditorio de Tijuana. Pearce eventually turned babyface, even cutting promos in Spanish as part of his Dusty Rhodes-esque character. Pearce left Mexico when XLUM went belly-up in early 2005.

Pearce was then very active in Southern California, working for Bart Kapitzke's Alternative Wrestling Show, as both wrestler and matchmaker. Many in the Social industry credit Pearce's booking as the reason for a huge upswing in AWS's attendance despite the lack of well-known or flown-in talent. Pearce won the AWS Title under a mask as "The Masked Spymaster II", defeating Babi Slymm (The mask of the Masked Spymaster II was later given as a gift to Colt Cabana for his MTV Wrestling Society X character, Matt Classic). Pearce lost the title months later to Human Tornado in a cage match at AWS' "Halloween Slaughterhouse II". Shortly thereafter, he began a feud with former tag team partner Aaron Aguilera. The feud advanced and was tied into a huge War Games Cage Match in March 2006, where AWS drew their largest attendance to date. The feud ended in July 2006 when Aguilera defeated Pearce in a brutal Strap Match in City of Industry, California just two weeks after Ring of Honor's Cage of Death event in Philadelphia. Pearce was also very instrumental in early NWA Pro events in the area, serving as booker and matchmaker.

Pearce also became involved with the Los Angeles New Japan Dojo and trained there in addition to being a part of their short-lived television product, "Toukon Fighting Spirit", which aired for 6 weeks in Los Angeles County. Pearce was involved in a storyline with NJPW talent Toru Yano, which eventually led to them tagging as "The Beer and Sake Connection." This led to Pearce's Japanese debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling on May 15, 2005 at the Tokyo Dome in a dark match against Don Frye's sparring partner, George Castro. Pearce was additionally offered a tour in place of Florida based wrestler Steve Madison, but was forced to decline due to work obligations. He has not returned to New Japan as of yet.

In July 2005, Pearce debuted for Full Impact Pro in Florida, facing Sal Rinauro and Azrieal. ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky was said to have liked Pearce's heel shtick, and that, on top of recommendations from Punk, Cabana, Samoa Joe, and others led him to book Pearce for Ring of Honor's "Glory by Honor IV" show in September 2005. At that point, the storyline had him displeased with the way Commissioner Jim Cornette had been treating him, not giving him high-quality matches or title shots.

This booking continued until January 2006, when Pearce became involved in ROH's war with CZW by challenging, and then pulling, Necro Butcher over the rail in Cleveland, Ohio. For this feud, Pearce put his differences with Cornette aside and became one of the main ROH wrestlers leading the fight against CZW. Because of Pearce's speaking and promo skills, he was appointed Lieutenant Commissioner of ROH during the storyline to voice Cornette's intentions on ROH events that he could not attend. During the seven month feud, Pearce was a part of many brawls with CZW's Chris Hero and Necro Butcher, and he was part of the match at ROH's "100th show", which saw CZW defeat ROH after Claudio Castagnoli betrayed ROH. Pearce suffered a severe cranial laceration early in the match which required 20 staples to close it. At Ring of Honor's "Death Before Dishonor IV" on July 15, 2006 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Pearce competed in and helped win the 8th Cage of Death match, teaming with Samoa Joe, Ace Steel, BJ Whitmer, and Bryan Danielson (Later replaced by Homicide) over CZW's Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli, Necro Butcher, Nate Webb, and Eddie Kingston. This feud carried the majority of ROH's 2006 profits, and in the process, brought many of the talents involved to higher levels.

This feud proved huge in storyline, and even more so for Pearce, as post-match Pearce and J.J. Dillon attacked and handcuffed Homicide to the ring post to allow Cornette to administer a beating. This action elevated Pearce into a main event level feud with Homicide, which began with Pearce turning on former friend and partner, BJ Whitmer, and siding with a returning Steve Corino. This was pivotal in the Corino versus Homicide feud which saw Homicide team with Samoa Joe to defeat Pearce and Corino at "Suffocation". Homicide went on to finally defeat Corino and rid ROH of him. Pearce at this point named ROH School Graduate, Shane Hagadorn, his "man-servant" and the two began working as a tag team.

Pearce's highest level ROH match since Cage of Death also came in a cage against Homicide at "The Chicago Spectacular; Night 2". Pearce had challenged Homicide to the first strap match in ROH history, only to have Homicide rebuke it and throw out the cage challenge. In perhaps Pearce's finest ROH display, he was defeated by Homicide in the cage. Pearce went on to attack and seemingly cost Homicide his chance at the ROH World Title at "Final Battle 2006" in Homicide's match against Bryan Danielson. ROH Senior Officials would have nothing of it and restarted the match, which Homicide eventually won. The feud with Homicide seemingly went to the wayside, as Pearce started interaction with Pelle Primeau and Delirious. Most recently, Pearce's vocal skills have brought him much praise in ROH, notably his interview segments on each of the first two ROH pay-per-view events. He's gone on to form a stable known as "The Hangmen Three", with BJ Whitmer, Brent Albright, and Shane Hagadorn. In April 2008 "Sweet N'Sour" Larry Sweeney purchased the contracts of The Hangmen and merged them into Sweet N'Sour Inc. Whitmer balked and was quickly beaten down and kicked out of the group while Albright quit on May 10, 2008.

In addition, ROH fans have been using chants of "Repo Man" to irritate Pearce due to his apparent likeness to Barry Darsow. On two occasions, Pearce has pulled a Repo Man mask from his tights to play to the chants. Most recently in an ROH World Title match with Takeshi Morishima, Pearce pulled the mask from his tights and put it on only to be defeated moments later.

Outside of ROH, Pearce has also been feuding with Sean Waltman over the NWA Heritage Title on NWA Pro events throughout the US on their "Wrestling Summit" arena events, notably at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, among other arena venues. Waltman took the title in El Paso, Texas on April 21, 2007, only to lose it back to Pearce in Laredo, Texas on April 29.

Pearce faced Brent Albright in the final of the tournament to crown a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion. He had lost in the semi-finals to Bryan Danielson, but Danielson pulled out due to injury and Pearce replaced him. Pearce defeated Albright in Puerto Rico at an International Wrestling Association event to become the new NWA World Heavyweight Champion, the first champion since the belt was stripped from TNA.cite web |url = http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/news/59191/Adam-Pearce-wins-NWA-Title.htm | title = Adam Pearce wins NWA Title | accessdate = 2007-09-02 | author = Larry Csonka | date = 2007-09-02 | publisher = 411mania.com | quote = Last night in Puerto Rico, Adam Pearce defeated Brent Albright to win the NWA Title in the tournament finals.]

On October 13, 2007, he defended the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in Irving, Texas against Sicodelico Jr.. The match ended in a 30-minute draw with Pearce retaining the belt.

On October 27, 2007, he was one of the six participants in a WarGames Cage Match in Houston, TX, teaming Karl Anderson and C. Edward Vander Pyle against Los Luchas and Sicodelico Jr. He and his team lost the match and were all busted open.

2008

On May 10, 2008, he defended the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in King and Queen County, Virginia against Damien Wayne. The match went the full 60 minute time limit with Pearce retaining the title. Pearce was managed in the contest by Baby Doll, the former valet for Tully Blanchard.

On June 7, 2008 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Pearce teamed with Hero and Eddie Edwards in a loss to Brent Albright, Delirious, and Pelle Primeau taped for ROH's Respect is Earned II pay-per-view event. After the match he revealed the NWA World Title to be the item he had been mysteriously carrying in a briefcase and struck Albright in the head with it. This marked the first time ROH recognized Pearce as NWA Champion since he won the title in September 2007. On June 27, 2008 in Dayton, Ohio, Pearce defeated ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness via DQ in a Title vs. Title match. Originally McGuinness had pinned Pearce to win his NWA World Title but the decision was reversed when the NWA's Over The Top Rule was enforced and since Pearce had been thrown over the top rope, McGuinness was DQ'd and both men retained their championships. Pearce's feud with Albright picked up steam, as on June 28, 2008 in Chicago Ridge, IL Pearce and newest Sweet N'Sour Inc. member Go Shiozaki lost to Brent Albright and FIP World Champion Roderick Strong when the referee stopped the match after Albright landed repeated knee strikes to the head of Pearce. Post match, Pearce threw a fireball into the face of Albright, leaving him laying. Pearce was suspended for 30 days while Albright was out of action to convalesce and recover from the burns. On August 2, 2008 in New York, NY, the feud took another turn when Brent Albright defeated Pearce via submission with the crowbar to win the NWA World Title. This came after NWA Officials presented Pearce with a replica NWA "Red" title belt, repeating history as Jack Brisco defeated Harley Race for the NWA Red Belt after Race was presented with it by Sam Muchnick in 1973 [cite web|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2XDurbFlHU| title=Brent Albright wins NWA Worlds Title in NYC|accessdate=2008-08-11|publisher=VIP Guide at youtube.com] .

On August 30, 2008, Pearce challenged and was defeated by Brent Albright in Mexico City, Mexico in a rematch for the NWA World Title. This match was part of the debut of NWA Mexico, promoted by Blue Demon, Jr.. Pearce pulled a pair of Brass Knuckles to presumably use on Albright, but Albright knocked them loose and hit Pearce for the pinfall. Post match, Pearce got into a slapping match with Blue Demon, Jr. over the decision [cite web|url=http://superluchas.net/?p=6973| title=Particularidades de la función NWA en México|accessdate=2008-09-03|publisher=Jorge Ocampo Alcazar; Superluchas.net] .

On September 20, 2008, Pearce continued his year-long feud with Brent Albright, as he defeated him in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at Ring of Honor's "Glory by Honor 7" event at the fabled ECW Arena. Pearce finished off Albright with Albright's own finishing hold, the Crowbar. This begins Pearce's second reign as champion [cite web|url=http://www.gerweck.net/news/1221970419.shtml| title=New NWA Champion crowned|accessdate=2008-09-21|publisher=www.gerweck.net] .

On September 25, 2008, it was announced Pearce had departed Ring of Honor due to company cost cutting measures [cite web|url=http://www.gerweck.net/news/1222379923.shtml| title=NWA Champion gone from ROH|accessdate=2008-09-25|publisher=www.gerweck.net] .

In wrestling

*Finishing and signature moves
**"Rack Bomb" (Torture rack powerbomb)
**"Iron Spike" (Thumb choke hold)
**Spike piledriver
**Diving double underhook facebuster
**Diving splash
**Spinebuster
**Spinning wheel kick
**Figure four leglock
**Chokeslam
**Diving leg drop

*Nicknames
**"Scrap Iron"
**"The Scrap Daddy"
**"The Maniac in Black"

*Managers
**Jim Cornette
**C. Edward Vander Pyle
**Dave Prazak
**Carmine DeSpirito
**Shane Hagadorn
**Larry Sweeney

*Theme Music
**"Walk" by Pantera
**"Skeletons of Society" by Slayer
**"Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd
**"Black Betty" by Ram Jam

Championships and accomplishments

*All-Star Championship Wrestling
**ACW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
**ACW Television Championship (1 time)
*Alternative Wrestling Show
**AWS Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
*Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South
**IWA Mid-South Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
*International Wrestling Association
**NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
*National Wrestling Alliance
**NWA Heritage Championship (2 times) (First) [cite web|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/other/2006-10.html | title=Independent Wrestling Results - October 2006 | accessdate=2008-07-04|publisher=onlineworldofwrestling.com]
*Mid-American Wrestling
**MAW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
*"'Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
**PWG Championship (1 time) [cite web|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/other/2004-02.html | title=Independent Wrestling Results - February 2004 | accessdate=2008-07-04|publisher=onlineworldofwrestling.com]
*Ring of Honor
**NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 times, Current)
*Steel Domain Wrestling
**SDW Northern States Television Championship (1 time)
*Ultimate Pro Wrestling
**UPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time) [cite web|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/other/2003-07.html | title=Independent Wrestling Results - July 2003 | accessdate=2008-07-05|publisher=onlineworldofwrestling.com]
*Pro Wrestling Illustrated
**PWI ranked him # 44 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the world in the PWI 500 in 2008 [cite web|url=http://fans.wwe.com/go/thread/view/691/4794373/PWI_500_2008_Finally_a_good_Number_1| title=PWI 500- 2008 | accessdate=2008-08-11|publisher=fans.wwe.com]

Personal life

Pearce currently resides in San Diego, California with his wife. He is an avid Green Bay Packers and Chicago Cubs fan.

Pearce has said many times that he'd love to pursue a career in acting at some point.

Pearce is considered by many people to look like Comedian Will Sasso and Wrestler Barry Darsow.

References

External links

* [http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/a/adam-pearce.html Profile at Online World of Wrestling]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1317836/ Adam Pearce at IMDB]