James Mitchell (manager)

Infobox Wrestler
name=James Mitchell
names=Daryl Van Horn
James Vandenberg
The Sinister Minister
Jim Mitchell
Father James Mitchell
James Mitchell


height=5 ft. 9 in. (175 cm)
weight=210 lb. (95 kg)
birth_date =birth date and age|1965|2|26
death_date =
birth_place =Orlando, Florida
resides=Kissimmee, Florida
billed=
trainer=Gene Anderson
debut=1989
retired=|

James (Jim) Mitchell (born February 26 1965) is an American professional wrestling manager, known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as James Vandenberg, with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) as The Sinister Minister, and his work under his own name for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).

In addition to wrestling, Mitchell operates a karaoke business in Florida.

Career

Mitchell started out as a vocalist in an indie glam metal band, that in his words was, "40 pounds and a full head of hair ago." Afterwards, he got into wrestling. Mitchell wrestled in the Carolinas and in Virginia before joining Smoky Mountain Wrestling. He wasn't satisfied with his physical appearance as a wrestler, so he switched to being a manager.

moky Mountain Wrestling

Mitchell, known as Daryl Van Horne, made his Smokey Mountain Wrestling debut in 1994 managing Prince Kharis (Rob Mayze). Van Horne claimed Kharis was a "4000 year old mummy." The gimmick, based on a 1960s wrestler named "The Mummy" was a flop in the promotion and was dropped after only a few months. Van Horne went on to manage Kendo the Samurai (a masked samurai gimmick played at different points by Tim Horner and Brian Logan, among others) for a brief time before disappearing from the promotion. The Van Horne gimmick was that he was a "Collector of Human Curiosities."

World Championship Wrestling

Mitchell debuted in World Championship Wrestling as James Vandenberg, the manager of Mortis, a wrestler with a persona based on the characters Reptile and Scorpion from the fighting game "Mortal Kombat". Managed by Vandenburg, Mortis feuded with Glacier (modelled after the character Sub-Zero). Mortis faced Glacier at Uncensored 1997 on March 16 1997 in his pay-per-view debut, but lost to the undefeated Glacier. Following the match, Wrath debuted, siding with Mortis and Vandenburg and attacked Glacier.

Glacier defeated Mortis in a second match at Slamboree 1997 on May 18 1997 when Wrath interfered on Mortis's behalf, causing a disqualification. However, Glacier was spared a post-match beating when Ernest Miller ran to the ring to defend him. The four men fought one another over the following weeks, culminating in a match at Bash at the Beach 1997 on July 13 1997 which was won by Mortis and Wrath. Mortis and Wrath continued to team together until the angle was quietly dropped in late-1997.

Mitchell then tried to get a commentary segment off the ground on "WCW Saturday Night". The piece featured Mitchell standing alone in a darkly lit room. He would discuss current feuds such as that between Perry Saturn and Glacier, always finishing the segment with "And I "could" be wrong... But I doubt it." However, the segment was quietly axed after a few weeks when Eric Bischoff apparently found out it was being produced saying "No one wants to watch talking heads". With nothing planned for his character, Mitchell was sent home with pay until his contract ran out. However, the office was not checking up on his contract status which was for two years, so it rolled over and he stayed at home for another year with pay until he was finally cut loose in 1999.

Extreme Championship Wrestling

In late 1999, Mitchell unofficially debuted in Extreme Championship Wrestling in a backstage promo where he would "heal" a hurt Steve Corino, saying that his "gig" sucked but proclaiming it was better than his previous job in WCW.

In 2000, as The Sinister Minister he managed The Unholy Alliance (Yoshihiro Tajiri and Mikey Whipwreck) until the promotion closed in April 2001.

He met with an accident while loading a handheld machine whose purpose was shooting fireballs. The machine exploded and blew off a piece of his finger. [http://rspw.org/petrie/001106.txt]

Mitchell appeared at the WWE-produced ECW reunion pay-per-view ECW One Night Stand 2005 on June 12 2005. He accompanied Tajiri to ringside for his match with Super Crazy and Little Guido.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Mitchell debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on June 19 2002.On October 30 2002, going by the name "Father James Mitchell", he returned to TNA along with Slash and Brian Lee, collectively known as the Disciples of The New Church. The New Church feuded with America's Most Wanted throughout 2002.

In 2003, The New Church began feuding with Raven. On November 5, 2003, Mitchell fought Raven in a last man standing match that was won by Raven. In late 2003, Mitchell aligned himself with The Gathering, Raven's former protégés.

Mitchell returned to TNA on July 1 2005, aligning himself with Abyss. Mitchell led Abyss to victories over Lance Hoyt at TNA Sacrifice 2005 and Sabu at TNA Genesis 2005. At TNA Turning Point 2005 on December 11 2005 Abyss lost to Sabu in a barbed wire massacre.

At TNA Genesis 2006, Abyss won his first NWA World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Sting. The weeks after Abyss's title reign Sting seemed to control Abyss, and ordered Abyss to come to the ring alone were he would speak to Abyss without Mitchell speaking in Abyss's ear.Mitchell nearly lost control of Abyss, however soon scared him straight by showing Abyss a prison. Mitchell slammed Abyss into the fence and slapped him and reminded Abyss about his past. This act let Mitchell once again control Abyss with both men going into Final Resolution 2007 as a unit, manager and wrestler, to help Abyss defend his title against Sting and Christian Cage.

On January 14 2007, at Final Resolution Abyss lost his NWA World Heavyweight Championship to Christian Cage during a Three Way Elimination match against Sting and Christian Cage. Abyss was eliminated by Sting after a Scorpion Death Drop, and then Sting by Christian Cage.

The following week, Mitchell was later attacked and kidnapped by Sting, who threw him into the trunk of his car, and told Mitchell to leave Abyss alone. On January 25, 2007 he was able to give Sting by payback by launching a fireball right into Sting's face. The week after that, he told Abyss to find Sting while he later came into the ring and told Sting if he would accept his challenge at Against All Odds pay per view and on February 8 2007, he accepted. He was then kidnapped by Sting again only this time, he was locked up in a cage, until Abyss came to his recuse by attacking Sting while Mitchell grab his belt buckle and choked Sting with it. At Against All Odds on February 11 2007, Abyss lost to Sting in a prison yard match after he was powerbombed by Sting into a barbed wired table. Following this, Mitchell was attacked by Sting after the match, causing him to bleed heavily. Mitchell returned to on screen action on March 22 when he came up the ramp and distracted Abyss away from his tag team match by bringing Abyss' (kayfabe) mother to ringside.

It was then revealed at a meeting with Sting and Mitchell that Abyss' mother had actually shot his dad, and Abyss took the blame to protect his mother. Mitchell is once again Abyss' handler, as "Father Jim" has threatened to report Abyss' mother to the authorities if Abyss didn't come back to him, after which Mitchell allied Abyss [under his management] with Team Cage.

On the April 19 edition of iMPACT!, after months of abuse by Mitchell, Abyss turned on Mitchell, Black Hole Slamming him, and turning face. Later, Mitchell delivered a eulogy for Abyss, saying that he had moved on to bigger and better things, and implying that he had a new monster. This monster was eventually revealed as his "son" Judas Mesias, who first appeared as a hand cutting a hole in the ring and pulling Abyss through it. He made his official debut on the September 13 "iMPACT!", assaulting Abyss. [ [http://www.prwrestling.com/noticiasprw/4291.php Reporting of the "Monster's" identity] in Spanish at http://www.prwrestling.com/]

On the January 17 edition of iMPACT!, Mitchell finally revealed the secret that he had been threatening to reveal for months: that Abyss was his (Kayfabe) son.

James Mitchell was released from his TNA contract on July 7 2008. He has not been seen since February on TNA television.

Wrestlers managed

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.tnawrestling.com/roster/jamesmitchell/index.html TNA Profile]
* [http://www.wrestlingepicenter.com/articles/135505363.shtml Interview with WrestlingEpicenter.com]
* [http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2005/10/21/1272667.html "James Mitchell not so Sinister"]
* [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=16415788 "James Mitchell at Myspace"]