| D'Lo Brown | |
|---|---|
| Ring name(s) | Ace the Animal Ace Brown D'Lo Brown D-Lo Brown |
| Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[1][2] |
| Billed weight | 257 lb (117 kg)[1] |
| Born | October 22, 1970 Burlington, New Jersey[2][3] |
| Resides | Orlando, Florida[2] |
| Billed from | Chicago, Illinois[1] |
| Trained by | Al Snow |
| Debut | 1994[2] |
Accie Julius Connor[4] (born October 22, 1970) better known by his ring name D'Lo Brown (also written D-Lo Brown), is an American professional wrestler. Well known for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment, he is currently working as an agent for Impact Wrestling.
Connor has held forty-eight championships in various promotions during his career. Among other accolades, he is a four-time WWF European Champion,[5] one-time WWF Intercontinental Champion[5] and one-time NWA World Tag Team Champion.[6]
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Connor began his wrestling career in New Jersey as Ace the Animal. He then wrestled Earthquake in the WWF in 1993 under his given name as a jobber. This led to his first widely known accomplishment in Smoky Mountain Wrestling, becoming the head of security for The Gangstas. When the Gangstas left SMW in 1995, he signed a deal with the WWF and was sent to the Heartland Wrestling Association for more training while making more appearances as a jobber on WWF television.
Connor made his official WWF debut in 1997 as a member of Faarooq's Nation of Domination heel stable, most notably along with Rocky Maivia, Kama Mustafa, and Mark Henry. In early 1998, the group turned on Faarooq, allowing Maivia to assume leadership, now going by the name "The Rock". Kama also changed his name to "The Godfather" and began portraying a pimp character. D'Lo and Henry eventually turned on both Rock and Godfather separately, moving into a feud with the Rock before finally branching out as a moderately successful tag team, later turning face along the way. Prior to the face turn, Brown had started wrestling with a chest protector, supposedly for a torn pectoral muscle sustained in a match against Dan "The Beast" Severn. Instead, he used the chest protector to his advantage, making his finishing move, the Lo Down, more effective. In 1998 he had a tremendous feud with X-Pac over the WWE European Championship. His career peaked when he held the European and Intercontinental Championships simultaneously during a feud with Jeff Jarrett and Mark Henry. This feat was only duplicated by Jeff Jarrett, Kurt Angle, and Rob Van Dam, all of whom became World Heavyweight Champions in some form since said double reigns.
Brown was involved in inadvertently ending the career of Droz on October 5, 1999 when a running powerbomb was botched due to Droz' baggy shirt. The match was to be aired on the October 7 edition of SmackDown!. The match was never aired and Droz suffered a severe neck injury, leaving him a quadriplegic.[7] During the rest of the year and into some of the next, Brown became an ally of former fellow Nation member The Godfather, emulating his dress and walking motions. The teaming ended when Brown turned heel on the Godfather.[7]
Brown then formed a tag team in July 2000 with Chaz named Lo Down. The team mostly wrestled on Sunday Night Heat and WWE Jakked / Metal. Shortly after the team formed, Tiger Ali Singh joined the team to become their manager. The tag team then came dressed towards the ring in Sikh attire and took on a gimmick very similar to Tiger's.[7] The team was removed from WWF TV in January 2001. Chaz and Singh were later released by WWE while Brown stayed in WWE's developmental territory. Brown returned to TV on the April 28, 2002 episode of Heat, losing to Eddie Guerrero.
For the rest of the year, Brown mostly wrestled on Heat, did a little bit of commentary on the show, and even started a brief feud with Raven. In late 2002, Theodore Long retired as a WWE referee and managed D'Lo, who had complained about acts of racism being talked about on him during his matches. D'Lo started Long's group Thuggin' and Buggin' Enterprises which eventually turned into a group of African Americans who worked an angle in which they felt they were victims of racism and were being held down by the "white man." With Long's managerial services, D'Lo Brown went undefeated for several weeks.[7]
Brown faced Booker T in a losing effort on the February 10, 2003 episode of Raw. His involvement with Thuggin' and Buggin' Enterprises was brought to a close when footage was shown on the February 16 episode of Heat of Theodore Long kicking D'Lo Brown to the curb and introducing his replacement Rodney Mack.[7] He was then released from his WWE contract on February 14, 2003.[7]
Connor, still under the D'Lo Brown name, went on to wrestle for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling, competing in regular tours with the Japanese company as a member of Roughly Obsess and Destroy (RO&D).[7] During one of these tours on September 17, 2006, Brown betrayed RO&D to join the rival Voodoo Murders faction. Brown left All Japan in 2007 and rejoined RO&D in Pro Wrestling Noah.
When not in Japan, Brown was regularly found touring the United Kingdom, as well as working for Irish Whip Wrestling in Ireland. In April 2005, Brown became one of the lead trainers of the ill-fated Celebrity Wrestling on ITV. This Saturday evening reality show saw celebrities learn wrestling and compete in challenge matches. After a few weeks the programme was to be cancelled, but was instead moved to Sunday mornings to finish its final episodes. During his time wrestling in England, he would face off in a series of matches against his Celebrity Wrestling opposition's trainer, Joe Legend.
In 2008, Brown began wrestling in a number of dark matches for WWE. On June 5, WWE announced that Brown had been signed to a contract, and he began working more dark matches for the company.[8] He made his television return on the July 21, 2008 edition of Raw, defeating Santino Marella. Following this, Brown's appearances on television became more sporadic, and on January 9, 2009, it was announced on WWE.com that he had been released from his WWE contract.[9]
Brown debuted for Ring of Honor during Proving Ground 09 weekend in February. He was defeated by Nigel McGuinness in an ROH World Championship match. He also wrestled at the ROH 7th Anniversary Show on March 21, 2009 in Manhattan, defeating Jay Briscoe. Brown also appeared on Ring of Honor Wrestling on HDNet. Varsity Pro Wrestling has also announced that Brown will be making his third appearance for the promotion on their February tour. Brown also made a surprise appearance in Chikara, where he filled in as a substitute for Iceberg of The Cold Front at the 2009 King of Trios tournament. Brown came up short in a ROH Championship match at Take No Prisoners (2009). At ROH's Manahttan Mayhem III on June 13, Brown tapped out to Colt Cabana in a four way match also involving Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli. On June 27 on an ROH show he was defeated by Colt Cabana.
Throughout April and May 2009, Brown flew to Japan to take part in the 13-night Pro Wrestling Noah Global Tag League with his partner Buchanan. During the course of the event they won and lost three matches with one contest went to a draw giving them seven points placing them sixth of the eight teams.[10] Outside of the tournament Brown was undefeated in six-man tag team competition, adding Keith Walker to the team, including a victory over Noah founder Mitsuharu Misawa in one of his last matches.[11]
On the September 15, 2009 edition of Between The Ropes, Brown announced that after his current tour with Ring of Honor, he would retire from in-ring action. Also on this edition of Between The Ropes, Brown announced he would become a semi-regular co-host when his TNA scheduling allowed him to be in studio.
In September 2009, Connor was resigned by TNA as their lead agent. Additionally, D'Lo is in charge of talent development and acquisitions heading up TNA's GUT CHECK program.[12]
Connor is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) graduating from the University of Maine.[2][3] He and his wife Jennifer were married in 2001 have two daughters, born in 2004 and 2009 respectively.[2] [13]