Greg Bownds

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Greg Bownds
Statistics
Ring name(s) Aussie Ozbone
TNT
TNT Kid
Tommy the Cat
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 720 lb (100 kg)
Born February 20, 1977 (1977-02-20) (age 31)
Sydney, Australia
Trained by Shane Fenton
Rey Misterio, Sr.
Debut April 5, 1994

Greg Bownds (born February 20, 1977) better known by his stage name TNT, is an Australian professional wrestler and promoter, currently working for the Australian Wrestling Federation.

Bownds is often regarded as one of the most well-known wrestlers in Australia, not only becoming an established headliner amongst numerous promotions across the country but also in Japan, where he has worked for Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX [1][2], one of very few Australian wrestlers to do so, he also has studied Mexican lucha libre wrestling whilst in Mexico.

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] Beginning

Bownds wrestled as "Tommy the Cat" and then "TNT Kid" for World Wide Wrestling and Australian Championship Wrestling. He won the Australasian Tag Team Championship with Kiss before leaving the promotion after a backstage dispute and vacated the title. In 1998 Bownds defeated Mark Mercedes for the ACW Heavyweight title in Fairfield, New South Wales. From here Bownds moved to International Wrestling Australia in 1998 where he became a popular face. An ankle injury put him out of action for six months in 1999 until he formed the Australian Wrestling Federation. ===Australian Wrestling Federation===

[edit] 1999 - 2005

In 1999 Bownds formed the AWF and toured Australia with the likes of Sabu, Marty Jannetty, Super Dragon and Chris Candido[3]. Bownds has made his biggest impact here, he has wrestled in, and booked for, the promotion since its inception in 1999. In August 2001 Bownds (wrestling as TNT) won an eight man tournament to become AWF Australasian Champion, defeating Lobo in the finals, holding the title for the next 12 months before losing it to Il Cognito.

In November, 2002, TNT regained the AWF Australasian Heavyweight Championship after defeating Il Cognito. He then proved himself to the Australian fans after he defended it for months on end against all challengers. In March 2003, TNT lost the title to the same man he won it from, Il Cognito, in a 30-minute Iron Man match.

Throughout late 2002 and early 2003, Bownds went to Mexico and studied the Lucha libre wrestling style under Rey Misterio, Sr.[4] and Phobia, two of the sports' most respected wrestlers.

In April 2004 TNT attempted to regain the AWF Heavyweight Championship in a championship-crowning fatal fourway match after the title was vacated by the injured Il Cognito. In the match finale TNT was pinned by high flyer Mark Hilton.

Throughout 2005 Bownds feuded with Hilton, Scotty Club and Dean Draven. He also toured Australia, wrestling as part of the World Series Wrestling events (marketed as International Assault)[5], defeating American stars Frankie Kazarian and Super Dragon in a triple threat match at the New South Wales show.[6]

[edit] 2006 - Present

In mid-2006 Greg toured Japan where he wrestled as Aussie Ozbone in Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX, he wrestled alongside TNA stars such as Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin.[1][2]

In January 2007, TNT defeated Steve Ravenous to win his third AWF Championship but lost it to Dragon Gate wrestler CIMA soon after, Bownds then regained the title the next night.

In March 2007, TNT defeated Steve Corino in the suburb of Cardiff in Newcastle, New South Wales to win the AWA World Heavyweight Championship[7]. However, the title would soon be returned to Corino and the title change negated when the "proper paperwork" could not be found.

In May of 2007 TNT and the AWF went to Queensland for two shows featuring Bryan Danielson. TNT defeated Danielson on the second show's main event. In June of 2007 TNT defended his AWF Heavyweight Championship at International Assault 2 (a co-promotion of the AWF and World Series Wrestling) against Kid Kash, Austin Aries and Billy Kidman.

TNT then toured Japan with the Dragon Gate Promotion. Whilst over there he wrestled three matches. TNT teamed with Masaaki Mochizuki and defeated Super Shisa and Super Shenron, then teamed with Ryo Saito and defeated Shingo Takagi and Jack Evans and finally teamed with K-ness and Lupin Matsutani and was defeated by the team of Taka Iwasa, Akira Tozawa and Keni'chiro Arai.

TNT defeated Masaaki Mochizuki at the AWF Double Dragon Challenge in July 2007, he also defeated Ryo Saito to successfully retain his AWF Heavyweight Title. In August TNT once again toured with WSW and defended the AWF title against Kid Kash. Later that month the AWF ran a show in which TNT once again successfully defended the AWF Heavyweight Title against Lee Starr.


TNT continued to successfully defend his AWF Australasian Heavyweight Championship throughout 2007 against a variety of opponents including Mana, Lebo Ceda, Billy Flyswat, Sean Waltman, Harry Hardshaw (of Irish Whip Wrestling) in Australia and against Sabu (which was a no-contest) and Super Shenron of Dragon Gate. During his tenure as champion he also teamed with Raven to defeat the Platinum Players and the Bastard Brothers on AWF shows. He was named AWF's wrestler of the year for 2007 and was also sought as a contender for the vacant AWA World Heavyweight Championship in late 2007.[8]

[edit] 2008

So far in 2008, TNT continued his title reign throughout Australia and New Zealand and formed a group known as The New Detonation Crew with AWF wrestlers Billy Flyswat, Chris X and Powerhouse Theo. On the 11th of April 2008, at an AWF tour event at Penrith New South Wales TNT lost the AWF Heavyweight Championship to former WWE and TNA veteran Raven, by pinfall. He later regained the title on April 18th 2008, in Palmerston North, New Zealand.

Bownds is the head trainer of the AWF School of Pro Wrestling and has trained over 50 active Australian professional wrestlers. He is currently the AWF's head booker.

[edit] In wrestling

  • Finishing and signature moves[9]

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

  • Australian Championship Wrestling
    • ACW Australian Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • Australian Wrestling Federation
    • AWF Australasian Heavyweight Championship (4 times)
    • AWF Wrestler Of The Year 2007
  • World Wide Wrestling Australia
    • WWW Australasian Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kiss

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Official review of the show on July 29, 2006
  2. ^ a b Official results of the show on July 29, 2006 - Bownds as Aussie Ozbone defeating Osamu Namiguchi
  3. ^ Interview with Greg Bownds
  4. ^ Interview with Greg Bownds
  5. ^ Official WSW website at the time
  6. ^ International Assault NSW results and review
  7. ^ Review of AWF show
  8. ^ AWA's headline page
  9. ^ Online World of Wrestling profile

[edit] External links