| Brian Lee | |
|---|---|
| Ring name(s) | Brian Lee "The Undertaker" Chainz |
| Billed height | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) |
| Billed weight | 290 lb (130 kg) |
| Born | November 26, 1966 St. Petersburg, Florida |
| Resides | Santa Fe, New Mexico |
| Billed from | Death Valley |
| Debut | 1988 |
| Retired | December 26, 2004 |
Brian Lee Harris (born November 26, 1966) is a retired American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name "Prime Time" Brian Lee. In addition to his time in ECW, he is well known for his first tenure in the World Wrestling Federation, where he portrayed the impostor Undertaker and subsequently feuded with the "real" Undertaker.
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Brian Lee made his debut in 1988 for Jerry Jarrett's Continental Wrestling Association in Memphis. In 1989, the CWA merged with World Class Championship Wrestling to form United States Wrestling Association. He would remain with the USWA until 1991.
He appeared in a dark match at the World Wrestling Federation's 1991 special Tuesday pay-per-view event This Tuesday in Texas.
He appeared in Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) from 1992-1995 as "Prime Time" Brian Lee. Lee was a two-time SMW Heavyweight Champion and twice won the SMW Tag Team Championship with partner Chris Candido. Lee was the first-ever SMW Heavyweight Champion, and was also the first wrestler to ever be managed by Tammy Sytch.
In 1994, he briefly joined the World Wrestling Federation to perform as an impostor version of The Undertaker (Mark Calaway). Ted DiBiase, who originally introduced The Undertaker into the WWF at Survivor Series 1990, claimed to have done it again following The Undertaker's disappearance after the 1994 Royal Rumble. The impostor, who competed for several weeks, was not guided by urns, but rather by "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase's money. Paul Bearer, the manager of The Undertaker, accused DiBiase of lying and claimed that he had "made contact" with the real Undertaker. At SummerSlam '94, the two Undertakers competed in a match (distinguished by grey vs. purple accents on their ring gear), which was won by Paul Bearer's Undertaker. After the match, DiBiase fled from ringside while The Undertaker rolled the impostor into a casket that was taken away by Druids.
After SummerSlam, Lee returned to SMW and also returned to the United States Wrestling Association. It was in the USWA that Lee first teamed with his real life cousins, Ron and Don Harris, then known as the Bruise Brothers.
By early 1996, Lee began competing in Extreme Championship Wrestling. While there, he went by the nicknames "Bulldozer" (or Bulldozer for Hire) and later "Killdozer" and was allied with Raven as a hired bodyguard for his stable.
Lee and Tommy Dreamer then got involved in a very violent and personal feud, which began through Dreamer's feud with Raven. At the ECW event Fight The Power on June 1, during a 6 man tag match, Brian Lee chokeslammed Dreamer from the ECW balcony through 3 stacked tables, then pinned Dreamer for the win. The footage was frequently used during ECW's opening video montage.
On June 22, at Hardcore Heaven, after losing a singles match to Dreamer after Dreamer's valet Beulah McGillicutty got involved, Lee again chokeslammed Dreamer off a balcony through 3 tables. At Heat Wave, during a 3 on 3 "Rage in the Cage" tag team cage match, Lee again chokeslammed Dreamer, this time from the top of the cage through three tables set up on the outside by Raven's henchmen. Finally, on October 5 at Ultimate Jeopardy during a tag match also involving Sandman and Stevie Richards, Lee once again chokeslammed Dreamer from the ECW balcony, this time through 4 tables set up below.
At several house shows released on ECW Fan Cam, Lee and Dreamer had Falls Count Anywhere matches which resulted in the two men brawling in moving traffic outside the building. The feud culminated at ECW's High Incident event, in the match Lee is most remembered for from his ECW tenure. During his Scaffold Match with Dreamer, Lee took a major bump from the scaffolding high above the ring through a series of tables stacked up inside the ring.
At November to Remember, the main event was a tag match pitting Dreamer with Terry Funk against Shane Douglas and Lee. From here, Lee began a feud with Funk, which lasted until 1997. Lee also became a part of the revived Triple Threat stable with Douglas and Chris Candido, while a masked man who was hinted at to be Rick Rude began stalking Douglas. At ECW's first pay per view event, ECW Barely Legal, it was revealed that the masked man was Lee himself. He was promptly attacked and kicked out of the group and his spot was subsequently taken by Bam Bam Bigelow. Lee left ECW soon after.
In 1997, Lee returned to the WWF as "Chainz", a member of the biker faction Disciples of Apocalypse (or DOA) along with leader Crush and his cousins, the Harris Brothers, who were renamed Skull and 8-Ball. The foursome feuded with Los Boricuas, the Nation of Domination, and the Truth Commission during the WWF's "Gang Warz" storyline. Lee remained in the WWF until the summer of 1998 when he was released once again. Lee was said to have been released by the WWF for having a real life affair with the first wife of his real life good friend The Undertaker. This was also said to be the event that caused his career to have a tremendous downfall after the WWF.
After several years out of the spotlight, Lee debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2002, teaming with Slash as the Disciples of The New Church under the leadership of manager Father James Mitchell. On November 13, Lee and Slash won the NWA World Tag Team Championship when they defeated America's Most Wanted ("Cowboy" James Storm and "Wildcat" Chris Harris), thereby ending their undefeated streak. The later lost the titles back to AMW on January 8, 2003.
Lee left the company soon after the title loss and has only appeared from time to time on smaller independent events since, until he retired in 2004, after wrestling a Legends event for Memphis Wrestling on December 26.
Lee appeared in the Bollywood film Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi under "The Undertaker" name.
In October 2010 during an interview on Tha O Show, Brian James (Road Dogg/B.G. James) claimed that Brian Lee had recently died. Internet speculation is that he simply confused him with Brian Adams (Crush), a previously deceased wrestler.