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 (1971-04-21) (age 37) Baltimore, Maryland
Billed from	Hostile City 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.

1 Career
2 In wrestling
3 Championships and accomplishments
4 References
5 External links

[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.

[edit] WCW & GWF

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.

[edit] ECW

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 5, 1994 from the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when they lost a tag team match to The Pulic Enemy 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 "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.

[edit] ECW reunions

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 bloody "Taipei deathmatch" (Each man had his hands dipped in superglue, then glass).

[edit] ECW Brand

Axl Rotten was listed as an ECW wrestler on the official ECW.com website, however events put his future with in the new ECW Brand in jeopardy. Rotten failed to show for the June 5 edition of Raw in an angle involving several other ECW wrestlers. 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 was then removed from the roster on the ECW.com website.

Brian "Axl Rotten" Knighton was released before he could even compete in the new ECW. His release was not announced on WWE.com. He has made a few appearances in IWA Mid South in tag team matches.