Daniel Rodimer

Daniel Rodimer
Ring name(s)	Dan Rodimer[1] Dan Rodman[2] Daniel Rodimer
Billed height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)[3][4]
Billed weight	300 lb (140 kg)[3][4]
Born	May 22, 1978 (1978-05-22) (age 33)[5] Tarpon Springs, Florida[3][4]
Resides	Houston, Texas
Billed from	Clearwater, Florida[2]
Trained by	DSW
Debut	2004[5]

Daniel Rodimer (born May 22, 1978) is an American former professional wrestler better known by the ring name Dan Rodman. He is best known for his work with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) wrestling on its Raw brand (via Raw's sister program Heat).

Career

Before wrestling, Rodimer played football at the University of South Florida,^[6] where he was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. Rodimer also played semi-pro football for the Tampa Bay Barracudas, played for Arena Football League, and worked as a personal trainer.^[3][7] He got into wrestling by becoming a finalist in the 2004 Tough Enough competition,^[7] which was won by Daniel Puder, and also featured current RAW wrestlers Mike Mizanin and Ryan Reeves. After the competition, he wrestled on the independent circuit for Pro Championship Wrestling where he won the company's tag team titles with Rhino

World Wrestling Entertainment

On July 12, 2006, he was signed to a developmental contract with WWE and was assigned to Deep South Wrestling (DSW). His first match came on September 7, when he defeated Heath Miller (Heath Slater). On September 24, he had his first televised match in DSW as Dan Rodimer, defeating Tommy Suede.^[8]

Rodimer spent the first half of 2007 wrestling primarily in Ohio Valley Wrestling, a WWE developmental territory. He feuded with Atlas DaBone throughout February and March. They faced each other as part of a tag team match on February 17, which Rodimer and his partner won. On February 28, DaBone won an arm-wrestling match against Rodimer. One week later, DaBone was victorious again, as he beat Rodimer in a tug of war. Rodimer gained revenge, however, as he defeated DaBone in a weight lifting contest and a grudge match later that month.^[4]

Rodimer's contract with WWE enabled him to face several of the company's veterans. On February 2, Rodimer made his debut on Heat, losing to Eugene. Rodimer then returned to OVW, where he lost a match against Mark Henry on February 21.^[4] On the April 20, 2007 edition of Heat, Rodimer appeared as Dan Rodman, losing to Val Venis. On the May 25 edition of Heat, Rodman won his first on air match, defeating Eugene. Rodman wrestled John Cena for the WWE Championship on a house show on June 17, but ended in a losing effort.^[9]

Rodman was then transferred to the new Florida Championship Wrestling territory. However, Rodimer was released from his contract on August 22, 2007^[10] to resurrect his career in real estate. This was a mutual decision between WWE and Rodimer.

Personal life

One of Rodimer's idols growing up was Terry Bollea, better known as Hulk Hogan.^[11]

Rodimer opened a mortgage company in the Tampa, Florida area called Champion Home Lending.^[6]

Rodimer grew up in Rockaway, New Jersey and attended Seton Hall Preparatory High School in West Orange, New Jersey. He is oftentimes compared to Jeremy Shockey, formerly of the New York Giants.^{[citation needed]}

His uncle is Frank Rodimer, the former Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Paterson in New Jersey.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Full nelson slam^[8]
  • Military press gutbuster

• Signature moves
  • Bear hug
  • Delayed vertical suplex

• Managers
  • Brooke Adams^[12]
  • Beth Phoenix
  • Angel Williams^[12]

• Nicknames
  • "The Big Deal"^[8]
  • "The Real Deal"^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Dan Rodimer". Rajah.com. http://rajah.com/base/node/6713. Retrieved 2008-06-15. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "WWE Smackdown/ECW House Show Report". Pro Wrestling Torch. http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/WWE_News_3/article_20342.shtml. Retrieved 2008-06-15. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d} "$1,000,000 Tough Enough" Begins Tonight". WWE Corporate. 2004-10-21. http://corporate.wwe.com/news/2004/2004_10_21.jsp. Retrieved 2008-06-15. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d e} "OWoW Profile". onlineworldofwrestling.com. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/d/daniel-rodimer.html. Retrieved 2007-06-01. 
5. ^ ^{a b} "Dan Rodiman Biography". Accelerator. http://www.accelerator3359.com/Wrestling/bios/rodimer.html. Retrieved 2007-10-09. 
6. ^ ^{a b} "Ranking the Top Eight Prospects in WWE Developmental". Pro Wrestling Torch. http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/The_Specialists_34/article_20506.shtml. Retrieved 2008-06-15. 
7. ^ ^{a b} Keller, Wade. "Tough Enough final eight determined". Pro Wrestling Torch. http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/WWE_News_3/article_10447.shtml. Retrieved 2008-06-15. 
8. ^ ^{a b c} "Daniel Rodimer". ProWrestling.com. http://www.prowrestling.com/article/news/1924. Retrieved 2008-06-15. 
9. ^ "WWE Raw house show report". Pro Wrestling Torch. http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/Arena_Reports_10/article_20560.shtml. Retrieved 2008-06-15. 
10. ^ "Dan Rodman released". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/inside/news/danrodmanreleased. Retrieved 2008-08-28. 
11. ^ "Rockaway native 'Tough Enough'?". Daily Record News. http://www.dailyrecord.com/news/articles/news5-rodimer.htm. Retrieved 2007-10-09. ^{[dead link]}
12. ^ ^{a b} "Deep South Wrestling 2006 results". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/deepsouth/2006.html. Retrieved 2008-06-16. 

External links

• Rodimer Info
• OWoW Profile
• Daniel Rodimer on Myspace

Persondata
Name	Rodimer, Daniel
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	May 22, 1978
Place of birth	Tarpon Springs, Florida
Date of death
Place of death