| Brian Knobbs | |
|---|---|
| Ring name(s) | Brian Knobbs[1] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |
| Billed weight | 306 lb (139 kg) |
| Born | May 6, 1964 Allentown, Pennsylvania[1] |
| Resides | Tampa, Florida[1] |
| Billed from | Allentown, Pennsylvania ("Nastyville") |
| Trained by | Verne Gagne Brad Rheingans |
| Debut | 1985 |
Brian Yandrisovitz[1] (born May 6, 1964), better known as Brian Knobbs, is an American professional wrestler, best known as one half of the tag team The Nasty Boys along with Jerry Sags.
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Knobbs was born and grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania and started his career in the American Wrestling Association as the masked Terrorist in 1985. In 1986, he formed a tag team called The Nasty Boys with Jerry Sags and wrestled in the Tennessee territory until they moved to Florida Championship Wrestling, where they won five Tag Team Titles from 1988 through 1990.
In 1990, they went to the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s Jim Crockett Promotions which had been purchased by Ted Turner and would be renamed World Championship Wrestling (WCW) before they left a few months later. They feuded with Rick and Scott Steiner over the WCW United States Tag Team Championship but could not defeat them. Later that year, they went to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) where they were managed by Jimmy Hart and won the World Tag Team Title from The Hart Foundation before feuding with and losing it to the Road Warriors.[2] They turned face in the fall of 1992 to feud with Hart's Money Inc. over the tag team title, but were unable to recapture the gold.
They left the WWF for WCW in 1993 and were quickly placed with manager Missy Hyatt, who led them to the WCW World Tag Team Championship. After she left them, they went feuded with Harlem Heat, The Blue Bloods, and the team of Dick Slater and Bunkhouse Buck. They won the tag team title a second time later in 1993, but they were defeated by Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan the following year. In May 1995, they defeated Harlem Heat for their third and final WCW tag title at Slamboree, but lost the belts back to Harlem Heat at Bash at the Beach.
In 1996, they were tricked by the nWo into thinking they were going to become members but were attacked as soon as they received their shirts. Sags had been injured previously in a shoot-altercation with Scott Hall and he had to retire due to this injury. On May 14, 2011, The Nasty boys returned to the Brantford Civic Centre for CWI's Brawl at The Bush II.
Following Sags's retirement, Knobbs became a singles wrestler and entered WCW's hardcore division. He feuded with Norman Smiley and defeated Bam Bam Bigelow at SuperBrawl in 2000.[3] In addition, he won the WCW Hardcore Championship three times. He lost the belt simultaneously to all three members of the boy band stable Three Count, making them the only co-holders of that belt, but he regained it from them later. Fit Finlay was briefly his manager as the "Hardcore Soldiers" with partner "The Dog". He also was briefly in Jimmy Hart's The First Family.
Knobbs has since returned to wrestling, including wrestling at the New Alhambra Arena (formerly the ECW Arena) for Pro Wrestling Unplugged on June 16, 2007. On November 20, 2007, Knobbs and Sags reformed as The Nasty Boys at the SmackDown! tapings from Tampa, Florida to wrestle their first WWE match in years. According to reports, the match was disastrous and the team were accused of unprofessionally working stiff with their opponents, Dave Taylor and Drew McIntyre.[4] On January 4, 2010, The Nasty Boys made an appearance on Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's television show, TNA Impact!, starting a feud with Team 3D.[5] On the January 21 edition of Impact! the Nasty Boys competed in their first match for TNA, defeating the team of Eric Young and Kevin Nash.[6] At Against All Odds The Nasty Boys defeated Team 3D in a tag team match, when Jimmy Hart made his return to the company and interfered in the match on the Nasty Boys' behalf.[7] On the February 25 edition of Impact! Team 3D defeated the Nasty Boys in a tables match, when Jesse Neal interfered on Team 3D's behalf.[8] The Nasty Boys and Hart continued their feud with Team 3D by defeating them and the returning Brother Runt, a replacement for Jesse Neal, whom the Nastys attacked prior to the match, in a six man tag team match. After the match Neal attacked the Nastys and helped Team 3D put Sags through a table.[9] On March 29, 2010, news broke that the Nasty Boys had been released by TNA following an incident at a TNA function with Spike executives present.[10][11]
Knobbs' wife is the sister of Greg "The Hammer" Valentine's wife. The couple has no children.[12] He is a close friend of Hulk Hogan and has appeared in several episodes of Hogan Knows Best and Brooke Knows Best, as well as featuring as an on-screen trainer for Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling and Hulk Hogan's Micro Championship Wrestling.
During the 2009 baseball season, Knobbs performed a "Pit Stop" on Raymond, the Tampa Bay Rays mascot. Since then, Knobbs has not been welcome back to Tropicana Field.
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