Brent Albright

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brent Albright
An image of Brent Albright.
Statistics
Ring name(s) Vinnie Valentino
Vance Vain
Smoke
Slater Vain
Gunner Scott
Brent Albright
Billed height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1]
Billed weight 230 lb (100 kg/16 st)
Born November 28, 1978 (1978-11-28) (age 29)
Louisiana
Resides Tulsa, Oklahoma[1]
Billed from Tulsa, Oklahoma
Trained by APW Boot Camp, Michael Modest
Debut 1998[1]

Brent Alan Albright (born November 28, 1978 in Louisiana) is an American professional wrestler, currently working for Ring of Honor. He is perhaps best known for his appearances on World Wrestling Entertainment's Friday Night SmackDown! brand as Gunner Scott, and as well as his time in WWE's developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling.

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] World Wrestling Entertainment

[edit] Ohio Valley Wrestling

Albright signed a development contract in early 2004 and was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling. During his time with Ohio Valley Wrestling, Albright was both OVW Heavyweight Champion and OVW Television Champion, as well as co-holder of the OVW Southern Tag-Team Championship with former World Wrestling Entertainment wrestler Chris Masters. Albright was the first 'Triple Crown' winner in OVW, winning all 3 major titles.

Albright was the first-ever OVW 'Beat the Champ' TV champion, which is now simply called the OVW TV title. He defeated Seth Skyfire on January 26, 2005 to win the title. He held that title until April 30, 2005 when he won his first Ohio Valley Wrestling Championship by defeating Matt Morgan with the 'Crowbar'. Albright vacated the TV title shortly after winning the OVW title. He was also the first 'Dual Title Holder' in OVW history. He held the OVW championship until August 3, when he lost to Johnny Jeter.

Shortly after losing the OVW title, Albright began a feud with Ken Doane over the OVW TV title in a feud that started over Doane accusing Albright of disrespecting the TV title. In October 2005, in the midst of the feud with Doane, Albright also began feuding with CM Punk, who had recently debuted in OVW, when Punk refused to shake Albright's hand after he pinned him in a match. This would be the issue that their feud centered around. Albright would offer his hand, but Punk would refuse to shake it. Punk would then mock Albright and extend his hand out for a handshake, but then pull it back at the last second. In the end, Albright would pick up the victory and would force CM Punk to finally shake his hand. Punk would actually attack Albright prior to his TV title match against Doane and then took Albright's place, going on to win the TV title when Albright accidentally hit Doane with a chair.

Albright and Punk would fight week after week with a challenge for the TV Title. And week after week, Albright's frustrations grew more as he would somehow manage to find a way to defeat Punk in the ring but on each occasion Punk would find a way to maintain his title, using either a time limit or an injury to hang on to the belt. Punk would continue to tell Albright that he was the better wrestler in the ring, but Punk was the smarter wrestler and was still the champ. He would tell Albright "You got Punk'd"

In December 2005, Albright, Ken Doane and CM Punk competed in the first ever Triple Threat match in Ohio Valley Wrestling for the TV Title. Punk won the match when he made Albright tap out to the Anaconda Vice while Albright also had Doane in a Sharpshooter. On January 4, 2006, Albright was in a rematch with Doane and Punk for the title. Doane was forced to leave the match early due to injury and was replaced by Aaron Stevens. Albright seemingly gained his revenge on Punk, eliminating him from the match with the crowbar, only to have Punk return and attack him, leading to Stevens winning the championship.

On the January 11, 2006 OVW show, Albright won a chance for a match against Stevens for the TV Title at an upcoming WWE house show in Louisville, Kentucky by actually teaming up with CM Punk in a match against Paul Burchill and Ken Doane. Punk and Albright won the match when Punk made Burchill tap out to the Anaconda Vice, but Albright went on to lose the rematch against Stevens. The feud between Punk and Albright took a new turn when the two began teaming together weekly, competing with each other in a game of oneupmanship. Punk challenged Albright to see who could make their opponent tap out the quickest in a match with the Highlanders. Albright made Rory tap out in less than a minute, only to be attacked by Punk and choked out with the Anaconda Vice. Afterwards, just like many times before, Punk would tell Albright that he got 'Punk'd'. After saving Punk from a 5 on 1 attack by the Spirit Squad, Albright told Punk that they would never be able to settle their differences as long as the Spirit Squad was around. The next week, Punk and Albright teamed up to take on all 5 members of the Spirit Squad in a match that saw Albright set-up Punk. Albright turned on Punk, giving the impression that being 'Punk'd' for months had finally gotten into his head to the point to where he was obsessed with returning the favor on Punk. Albright introduced a new element to their feud upon his heel turn: his grandfather's thick leather strap, which Albright used to continually whip Punk.

On the March 1, 2006 OVW show, CM Punk and Brent Albright met in the finals of a tournament to crown a new OVW Heavyweight Champion (vacated by Matt Cappotelli). Punk suffered a knee injury in the match, and had to be carried out on a stretcher only to be attacked and whipped by Albright with the strap. Albright drug Punk back to the ring, and after surviving a comeback by Punk, managed to lock in the STF. Though Punk did not tap out, Albright managed to hold the lock in so that Punk would pass out, giving Brent the victory and making him a two-time OVW Heavyweight Champion. The next week, Albright vowed that Punk would never get a title shot at the OVW title unless he shook Albright's hand. A defeated Punk came out, but instead of shaking Albright's hand he hand-cuffed him to the top rope and viciously strapped him with Albright's own leather strap. This led to a strap match between the two on the May 3, 2006 OVW show, where Albright lost the title to Punk.

[edit] SmackDown!

Albright made his WWE SmackDown! debut on April 7, 2006 feuding with Booker T. He was billed as Gunner Scott, getting no (on screen) entrance and portrayed as a jobber until he suddenly defeated Booker (due to the Boogeyman's music being played and distracting Booker T). Later during the show Chris Benoit met him backstage and praised him on his winning debut, setting the stage for Gunner Scott being groomed as Benoit's protégé.

On the May 19, 2006 edition of SmackDown! Gunner Scott would team up for the first time with his "mentor", Benoit, to take on Booker T and Finlay. Scott would win the match, pinning Booker T once again with another distraction in the form of Bobby Lashley. On the June 16 episode, Albright teamed up with Matt Hardy to take on Finlay and William Regal in a losing effort.

On June 28, 2006, Albright was sent back down to OVW. His last appearance on SmackDown was on the June 30 edition, against Mr. Kennedy in a losing effort. After the match he was placed in a body bag by The Great Khali.

After that, Albright returned to OVW and went back to using Brent Albright as his ring name. He engaged in a feud with Charles Evans for Evans' OVW Television Championship. He would eventually be released from his contract on October 12, 2006.

[edit] Ring of Honor

Brent Albright made his debut for Ring of Honor on October 27 in Dayton, Ohio with a loss to Christopher Daniels. In his second outing he participated in a gauntlet match where he defeated both Trik Davis and Jason Blade, after which the crowd chanted "Please Come Back" and "Welcome Home".

After competing in Ring of Honor for over a month to earn a roster spot, he finally did on November 26, 2006.

Shortly after earning a roster spot, he turned heel after attacking Colt Cabana on the orders of Lacey. He became known as "The Gun for Hire" Brent Albright, willing to take payments to inflict injury on an opponent. At the International Challenge, he received a payment from Bryan Danielson to injure Homicide's shoulder shortly before their ROH World Championship match at Final Battle 2006.

He was, alongside B.J. Whitmer and Adam Pearce, a member of ROH's Hangmen 3 stable. In April 2008 "Sweet N'Sour" Larry Sweeney bought all three men's contracts and merged them into Sweet N'Sour Inc. Whitmer balked and was booted from the group. On May 10, 2008 Albright quit the group himself following a Tag Team Scramble match where he and Chris Hero lost to Delirious and Pelle Primeau. He suplexed every member of the group minus Sweeney who escaped.

On June 6 Albright lost to Erick Stevens in a Three Way Dance that also included Necro Butcher. The following night on June 7 he teamed with Delirious and Pelle Primeau to defeat the Sweet N'Sour Inc. team of Chris Hero, Adam Pearce, and Eddie Edwards.

[edit] In wrestling

  • Finishing and signature moves
  • Nicknames
  • "The Shooter"
  • "The Gun For Hire"
  • Kaci Kannon
  • Steve Hartley
  • Beth Phoenix
  • Brent was once the valet of hip hop artist, X-Cal, due to a stipulation in SRPW

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

  • NWA Universal Heavyweight Championship (1 time, current)
  • Oklahoma Championship Wrestling
  • OCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • OCW Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Rocco Valentino
  • Oklahoma Wrestling Alliance
  • OWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • OWA Ironman Championship (2 times)
  • Steel Rage Pro Wrestling
  • SRPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

[edit] Personal information

  • Albright is the older brother of professional wrestler Blake Albright
  • Albright is married to his former manager Kaci Kannon

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c PWI Almanac Staff. "Statistics for Professional wrestlers", PWI Presents: 2007 Wrestling Almanak and book of facts, Kappa Publications, p. 38. 2007 Edition. Retrieved on 2007-07-11. (English) 

[edit] External links

Professional wrestling
Portal
Languages