Axl Rotten

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Brian Knighton
Statistics
Ring name(s) Axl Rotten
Billed height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Billed weight 285 lb (129 kg)
Born April 21, 1971
Baltimore, Maryland
Billed from Newcastle upon Tyne
Trained by Jim Leon,
Joey Maggs
Debut 1986

Brian Knighton (born April 21, 1971 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name, Axl Rotten.

Contents

[edit] Career

After watching a professional wrestling match on television, Knighton decided to become a wrestler. He trained under retired professional wrestler Jim Leon in a boxing gym in his hometown of Baltimore, receiving supplementary training from former World Championship Wrestling (WCW) jobber Joey Maggs. Knighton debuted in 1986, shortly after Leon was murdered, and adopted the ring name "Axl Rotten".

In the early 1990s, Rotten trained Ian Rotten, who formed a tag team with Axl, masquerading as his brother. The duo, known as the Bad Breed, wrestled primarily in the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation. Rotten later opened his own professional wrestling promotion in Maryland called "Universal Independent Wrestling". The promotion featured wrestlers such as the Bad Breed, Bam Bam Bigelow and Scotty The Body, and had a television series that aired on Saturday nights on the local ABC channel. The promotion closed in the mid 1990s.

In 1991, Rotten had a short stint with WCW, where he feuded with wrestler/rapper PN News.
After leaving WCW, Axl and his trainee Ian Rotten had a run with the Global Wrestling Federation in Texas, being featured on their daily ESPN show. While in GWF Axl succeeded in winning both the GWF Commonwealth title and the GWF Tag Team Championship, with Ian Rotten.

In 1993, the Bad Breed were hired by Paul Heyman, the then-booker of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion. They competed in the ECW tag team division until November To Remember 1994 on November 5, 1994, when they lost a tag team match to The Pitbulls with the stipulation that the losing team would be forced to separate. Both Rotten brothers blamed one another for the loss, leading to a feud between the two. The former partners wrestled their first match against one another in ECW at Double Tables on February 4, 1995, with Ian pinning Axl. They faced one another in a variety of hardcore matches over the subsequent seventeen months, fighting in "barbed wire baseball bat" matches , "hair versus hair" matches and "barbed wire baseball bat, barbed wire chair" matches. Their feud finally ended at Hardcore Heaven 1995 on July 1, 1995 when Axl defeated Ian in a "Taipei Death Match" (a match that saw each man coat their taped fists with shards of broken glass) which turned out to be one of ECW's bloodier matches. The Bad Breed eventually reconciled, and teamed together once again in early 1996.

Rotten competed in the ECW heavyweight division as a singles wrestler throughout the remainder of 1996. In 1997, he formed a tag team with Balls Mahoney known as The Hardcore Chair Swingin' Freaks. Mahoney and Rotten teamed together until 1999, occasionally wrestling one another. Rotten eventually left ECW in 1999, and appeared with Xtreme Pro Wrestling and the Japanese Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling promotion. Rotten then wrestled on the independent circuit throughout the early 2000s.

On the June 6, 2005 episode of "RAW", Rotten debuted in WWE, storming the ring with several other ECW alumni. Rotten went on to appear at the two ECW reunion shows taking place that month. At Hardcore Homecoming on June 10, 2005, the Bad Breed reunited, losing to The Gangstanators. At ECW One Night Stand 2005 on June 12, 2005, Rotten, Mahoney and Kid Kash attacked the bWo after they interfered in the main event tag team match. Following the events, Rotten and Mahoney wrestled several dark matches for WWE, but were not signed to contracts. At the second Hardcore Homecoming event on November 4, 2005, Axl defeated Ian Rotten in another bloodly "Taipei deathmatch" (Each man had there hands dipped in super glue then glass).

Recently, Axl Rotten was contacted by Tommy Dreamer about working at the ECW One Night Stand 2006 pay per view. There was a report on powerwrestling.com about an interview of what Axl thinks about the reformed ECW and said that the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has sent him a contract an also said that he signed the deal with the WWE and has sent it back to them. WWE confirmed this on May 5, 2006 on WWE.com along with 5 other ex-ECW Wrestlers.

Axl Rotten was listed as an ECW wrestler on the official ECW.com website. However, recent events may have put his future with WWE in jeopardy. Confirmed reports on ECWWrestlingNews.com report that Axl Rotten was scheduled for the June 5 edition of Raw in an angle involving several other ECW wrestlers. He did not show up for this event and has yet to appear on WWE television during the current ECW storyline. WWE management was not happy with Rotten no showing at Raw. Furthermore, it was confirmed that Rotten was not backstage at the WWE vs. ECW Head to Head special that aired on USA Network on June 7. Rotten also did not appear at the ECW One Night Stand 2006 pay per view event that was held on June 11. He is no longer listed on the ECW.com website.

Numerous fans of the local wrestling circuit in Maryland reported in 2000 that Axl Rotten was now a cab driver working for a Baltimore County company, Rosedale Sedan. [citation needed] Fans tell how Rotten was obviously addicted to heroin (Baltimore addicts "drug of choice"), which only further substantiates Ian Rotten's claims. [citation needed]

[edit] Finishing and signature moves

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

  • AAWA
  • 1-time AAWA Heavyweight Champion
  • Eastern Wrestling Alliance
  • 1-time EWA Hardcore Champion
  • Independent Wrestling Association
  • Mid-America Wrestling
  • 1-time MAW Heavyweight Champion
  • Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation
  • 2-time MEWF Heavyweight Champion
  • 1-time MEWF Tag Team Champion (with Corporal Punishment)
  • 1-time NWA Jersey Heavyweight Champion
  • 1-time NWA Light Heavyweight Champion
  • National Wrestling League
  • 1-time NWL Hardcore Champion
  • 1-time NWL Tag Team Champion (with Morgus the Maniac)
  • PWI ranked him # 437 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003
  • PWI Feud of the Year Award, versus Ian Rotten (1995)
  • SCW
1-time SCW Heavyweight Champion
1-time SCW Tag Team Champion
  • Universal Independent Wrestling
  • 1-time UIW Heavyweight Champion

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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