- Brian Lee
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This article is about the professional wrestler. For other uses, see Brian Lee (disambiguation).
Brian Lee Ring name(s) Brian Lee
"The Undertaker"
ChainzBilled height 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) Billed weight 290 lb (130 kg) Born November 26, 1966
St. Petersburg, FloridaResides Santa Fe, New Mexico Billed from Death Valley Debut 1988 Retired December 26, 2004 Brian Lee Harris (born November 26, 1966) is a retired American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name "Prime Time" Brian Lee. In addition to his time in ECW, he is well known for his first tenure in the World Wrestling Federation, where he portrayed the impostor Undertaker and subsequently feuded with the "real" Undertaker.
Contents
Career
Continental Wrestling Association and United States Wrestling Association (1988–1991)
Brian Lee made his debut in 1988 for Jerry Jarrett's Continental Wrestling Association in Memphis. In 1989, the CWA merged with World Class Championship Wrestling to form United States Wrestling Association. He would remain with the USWA until 1991.
World Wrestling Federation and Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1991–1995)
He appeared in a dark match at the World Wrestling Federation's 1991 special Tuesday pay-per-view event This Tuesday in Texas.
He appeared in Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) from 1992-1995 as "Prime Time" Brian Lee. Lee was a two-time SMW Heavyweight Champion and twice won the SMW Tag Team Championship with partner Chris Candido. Lee was the first-ever SMW Heavyweight Champion, and was also the first wrestler to ever be managed by Tammy Sytch.
In 1994, he briefly joined the World Wrestling Federation to perform as an impostor version of The Undertaker (Mark Calaway). Ted DiBiase, who originally introduced The Undertaker into the WWF at Survivor Series 1990, claimed to have done it again following The Undertaker's disappearance after the 1994 Royal Rumble. The impostor, who competed for several weeks, was not guided by urns, but rather by "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase's money. Paul Bearer, the manager of The Undertaker, accused DiBiase of lying and claimed that he had "made contact" with the real Undertaker. At SummerSlam '94, the two Undertakers competed in a match (distinguished by grey vs. purple accents on their ring gear), which was won by Paul Bearer's Undertaker. After the match, DiBiase fled from ringside while The Undertaker rolled the impostor into a casket that was taken away by Druids.
After SummerSlam, Lee returned to SMW and also returned to the United States Wrestling Association. It was in the USWA that Lee first teamed with his real life cousins, Ron and Don Harris, then known as the Bruise Brothers.
Extreme Championship Wrestling (1996–1997)
By early 1996, Lee began competing in Extreme Championship Wrestling. While there, he went by the nicknames "Bulldozer" (or Bulldozer for Hire) and later "Killdozer" and was allied with Raven as a hired bodyguard for his stable.
Lee and Tommy Dreamer then got involved in a very violent and personal feud, which began through Dreamer's feud with Raven. At the ECW event Fight The Power on June 1, during a 6 man tag match, Brian Lee chokeslammed Dreamer from the ECW balcony through 3 stacked tables, then pinned Dreamer for the win. The footage was frequently used during ECW's opening video montage.
On June 22, at Hardcore Heaven, after losing a singles match to Dreamer after Dreamer's valet Beulah McGillicutty got involved, Lee again chokeslammed Dreamer off a balcony through 3 tables. At Heat Wave, during a 3 on 3 "Rage in the Cage" tag team cage match, Lee again chokeslammed Dreamer, this time from the top of the cage through three tables set up on the outside by Raven's henchmen. Finally, on October 5 at Ultimate Jeopardy during a tag match also involving Sandman and Stevie Richards, Lee once again chokeslammed Dreamer from the ECW balcony, this time through 4 tables set up below.
At several house shows released on ECW Fan Cam, Lee and Dreamer had Falls Count Anywhere matches which resulted in the two men brawling in moving traffic outside the building. The feud culminated at ECW's High Incident event, in the match Lee is most remembered for from his ECW tenure. During his Scaffold Match with Dreamer, Lee took a major bump from the scaffolding high above the ring through a series of tables stacked up inside the ring.
At November to Remember, the main event was a tag match pitting Dreamer with Terry Funk against Shane Douglas and Lee. From here, Lee began a feud with Funk, which lasted until 1997. Lee also became a part of the revived Triple Threat stable with Douglas and Chris Candido, while a masked man who was hinted at to be Rick Rude began stalking Douglas. At ECW's first pay per view event, ECW Barely Legal, it was revealed that the masked man was Lee himself. He was promptly attacked and kicked out of the group and his spot was subsequently taken by Bam Bam Bigelow. Lee left ECW soon after.
Return to the WWF (1997–1998)
In 1997, Lee returned to the WWF as "Chainz", a member of the biker faction Disciples of Apocalypse (or DOA) along with leader Crush and his cousins, the Harris Brothers, who were renamed Skull and 8-Ball. The foursome feuded with Los Boricuas, the Nation of Domination, and the Truth Commission during the WWF's "Gang Warz" storyline. Lee remained in the WWF until the summer of 1998 when he was released once again.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2002–2003)
After several years out of the spotlight, Lee debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2002, teaming with Slash as the Disciples of The New Church under the leadership of manager Father James Mitchell. On November 13, Lee and Slash won the NWA World Tag Team Championship when they defeated America's Most Wanted ("Cowboy" James Storm and "Wildcat" Chris Harris), thereby ending their undefeated streak. The later lost the titles back to AMW on January 8, 2003.
Lee left the company soon after the title loss and has only appeared from time to time on smaller independent events since, until he retired in 2004, after wrestling a Legends event for Memphis Wrestling on December 26.
Other media
Lee appeared in the Bollywood film Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi under "The Undertaker" name.
In October 2010 during an interview on Tha O Show, Brian James (Road Dogg/B.G. James) claimed that Brian Lee had recently died. Internet speculation is that he simply confused him with Brian Adams (Crush), a previously deceased wrestler.
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Cancellation (Canadian backbreaker rack drop)[1]
- Primetime Slam (Chokeslam)
- Signature moves
- Death Valley driver
- Diving knee drop
- Drop toe-hold
- Implant DDT
- Kneeling belly to belly piledriver
- Neckbreaker
- Running leaping clothesline
- Seated senton to an opponent's leg draped over the first rope
- Spinebuster
- Standing camel clutch
- Managers
- Ted DiBiase
- Downtown Bruno[2]
- Ron Fuller[3]
- James Mitchell
- Nicknames
- "The Bulldozer" / "The Bulldozer for Hire"
- "The Killdozer"
- "Prime Time"
- Theme Music
Championships and accomplishments
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- CWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- CWA Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Robert Fuller (1) and The Grappler (1)
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- NWA Southeast Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Jimmy Golden
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- NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Slash
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- WCWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Robert Fuller
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- PWI ranked him # 476 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the PWI Years in 2003
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- Worst Feud of the Year (1997) vs. Los Boricuas
References
- ^ "Finishing Moves List". Other Arena. http://www.otherarena.com/nCo/finish/finish.html. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
- ^ "Bruno Lauer's profile". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/h/harvey-wippleman.html. Retrieved 2009-08-03.
- ^ "Stud Stable". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/s/stud-stable.html. Retrieved 2009-09-08.
Categories:- American professional wrestlers
- 1966 births
- Living people
- Finishing moves
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