Daryl Bonilla

Daryl Bonilla (born February 16, 1975 in Honolulu, Hawai'i^[1]) is an actor, comedian, professional wrestler and founder of the Hawaii based professional wrestling company Action Zone Wrestling (AZW), where he serves as booker, announcer and wrestler.

Acting

Bonilla began his acting career right out of high school, performing on stage in several local productions.

In 1996 Bonilla was cast as Keao in the indie film Beyond Paradise. Immediately after the film was wrapped, Bonilla started doing local commercials. A 2000 commercial for Bank of Hawai'i, in which Bonilla coined the phrase "That's My Bank!",^[1] became so popular in Hawai'i that the bank brought Bonilla back in 2002 and he's been doing commercials for Bank of Hawai'i ever since even getting a bobblehead created of him as well. The popular Bank of Hawaii campaign starring Bonilla ended Dec. 2006. His other film credits include To End All Wars, The Sand Island Drive In Anthem, All for Melissa and Beachfront. His TV credits include roles in the short lived series The Byrds of Paradise and the short lived remake of Fantasy Island. He has also appeared in commercials (both TV and radio) for Bud Light, Taco Bell, Oceanic Cable, McDonalds to name a few. He will be appearing in the upcoming Hawaii Five-0 remake airing on CBS starting September 20, 2010. In 2011 he appeared in the films Knots and The Short List both of which premiered at the Hawaii International Film Festival.

Professional wrestling career

In 1997 Bonilla entered the world of professional wrestling when he joined World League Wrestling—Hawai'i (run by former wrestler Lars Anderson) as the TV host of their weekly show. Bonilla, with his acting/comedy background, was a natural in front of the camera. He soon caught on with the fans and became a manager, donning the name DDB^[1] or "Dangerous" Daryl Bonilla (DDB was a nickname from middle school).

Bonilla left WLW in 1999 to join upstart promotion Super Wrestling Force (SWF). That promotion closed a few months later and was restarted in January 2000 as Third Wave eXplosion (TWX). That promotion also did not last long, closing in the summer of 2000.

Along with local wrestler Lopaka, Bonilla decided to help upstart promoter Parrish Ho officially launch his promotion NWA Hawai'i. So along with "The Rocker" Don Lee and "Hotstuff" Kris Kavanaugh, they "invaded" World League Wrestling in June 2000. It was at this time that Bonilla made his in-ring debut as a wrestler. Bonilla was the booker and Lopaka was the head trainer and together they quickly put NWA Hawaii on the map and the company started to grow and create a buzz among the local fans. After a falling out, Bonilla left NWA Hawai'i in June 2001. Under the new bookers wrestler morale and attendance dropped. He briefly returned in 2002 as a commentator but quickly left again, as he was bored and embarrassed by what had happened to the once-promising promotion.

In January 2003, Linda Bade created Hawai'i Championship Wrestling and asked Bonilla to join. Bonilla teamed with Ultimate Fighter Caruso as Caruso's manager and tag team partner, and the duo became one of the top fan favorites of the company, despite the fact that they were heels. In 2004, HCW bookers decided to break up the duo to put Caruso back with his former partner a move that flopped. Around that time, Bonilla left due to acting commitments as well as a lack of interest in HCW, which he felt was beginning to mirror NWA Hawai'i.

In 2005 Bonilla founded Action Zone Wrestling (AZW), which made its debut on June 25, 2005 in Waianae, Hawaii (his hometown) and has attracted talent from mainland US (A.J. Styles, James Gibson, Delirious, Larry Sweeney, Matt Cross, Jimmy Jacobs, Teddy Hart, Super Hentai to name a few) and Japan. AZW has featured several wrestlers from Dragon Gate and has had a working relationship with the organization since 2007 as Dragon Gate wrestlers CIMA, Naruki Doi, Susumu Yokosuka, Dragon Kid, BxB Hulk, Masato Yoshino have competed in AZW. On September 8, 2008 Bonilla participated in Dragon Gate's debut show in Hawaii at the Waikiki Shell teaming with Akua in losing effort against Nebulous & Kaniala, Bobby Bolt & Rocko Shinoda and eventual winners Nijuu Ninkaku & SABAKI. He wrestled for the company until the end of 2008. He lost the AZW Heavyweight Title to Kaniala on September 22 that year, and he and partner Nebulous dropped the tag team title to Nijuu Ninkaku & Sabaki in November. He announced at BattleClash 4 on January 24, 2009 that he is the owner and founder of AZW, a role he always held behind the scenes but never in front of the cameras.

Bonilla also competed against UFC fighter Jason "Mayhem" Miller (an AZW fan)at the event titled "Anything Goes" (an event where the fans pick the matches) on Oct. 2005 in a "Mixed Martial Arts Mayhem" match where he lost via submission due to armbar

Bonilla returned to the ring on June 29, 2009, teaming with Kenryu Takadoki to take on the Polynesian Power Trip (Ativalu & Kaimana) for the AZW Tag Team Championship. During the match DDB got into an altercation with Kenjiro Katahira (a former wrestler and part owner of defunct HCW), which led to Kenryu Takadoki fending for himself and eventually losing.

Bonilla has competed semi-regularly where he feuded with Katahira and Katahira stablemates Nijuu Ninkaku & SABAKI.

AZW celebrates it's 6th anniversary June 27, 2011 where Bonilla will team up with Bobby "The Lightning" Bolt and Hawaii entertainer and radio personality Gregg Hammer in a six man match against Katahira, Ninkaku & SABAKI. The event was main evented with AZW Champion Jeff Cobb defending the title against M-Dogg Matt Cross, who was returning to AZW for first time since 2006.

On Nov. 21st at the event titled FALLOUT, TNA superstar Christopher Daniels is scheduled to appear and El Generico is set to debut for AZW on Dec. 19th at their huge year end event "Battleclash VII"

Bonilla is a very popular personality known for his quick wit, entertaining promos and engaging persona.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Daryl Bonilla at the Internet Movie Database

External links

Professional wrestling portal

• Daryl Bonilla at the Internet Movie Database
• IWA Hall of Fame Listing (213)
• Honolulu Advertiser "'That's my bank' — and my bobblehead"
• Matt Cross returns to AZW for 6 year anniversary
• Action Zone Wrestling celebrates 6 years of wrestling action in Hawaii

Persondata
Name	Bonilla, Daryl
Alternative names
Short description	actor, comedian, professional wrestler, professional wrestling booker, professional wrestling promoter, and professional wrestling announcer
Date of birth	February 16, 1975
Place of birth	Honolulu, Hawai'i
Date of death
Place of death