| Rick Michaels | |
|---|---|
| Ring name(s) | Rick Michaels[1][2] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1][2] |
| Billed weight | 234 lb (106 kg)[1][2] |
| Born | September 8, 1974 [1][2] Atlanta, Georgia[1][2] |
| Resides | Jacksonville, Florida[2] |
| Trained by | Bobby Fulton[1] Ricky Morton[1] Ted Allen[1] |
| Debut | November 10, 1991[1][2] |
Raymond Rawls[1][2] (born September 8, 1974) is an American professional wrestler, best known under his ring name Rick Michaels.
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After training, Rawls began his professional wrestling career on November 10, 1991 and adopted the ring name Rick Michaels. After wrestling on the independent circuit, he co-founded National Championship Wrestling in 1997 and won the promotion's Television Championship in January 1997. After losing the title on June 5, Michaels reclaimed the title on July 24. He soon lost the title to Cham Pain and the title would ultimately be vacated until 1999, until Michaels defeated Scotty Wrenn to win the title in July 1999 before losing it for the final time to his student A.J. Styles the following month. Soon afterwards, NCW was turned into a National Wrestling Alliance territory and was renamed to NWA Wildside. Upon the renaming, Michaels went on to win the promotion's Heavyweight Championship in 1999 and 2001 and its United States Heavyweight Championship twice in 2004 before the territory folded in 2005.
In addition to singles success, Michaels also found success as a tag team competitor upon forming a successful tag team with David Young called Bad Attitude.[3] Together, they won the Tag Team Championship twice and would later win the NWA World Tag Team Championship three times before splitting in 2001 following a title loss. After splitting, Michaels feuded with Young and briefly formed a new team with Scottie Wrenn called the Union of Lost Souls to feud with Young.[4] In response, Young allied himself with Terry Knight to form a "new" Bad Attitude.[5] On July 7, Michaels and Young ended their feud when the Union of Lost Souls defeated the new Bad Attitude in an "Infernal Damnation" match.[6][7]
In late 2004, Michaels was hired by World Wrestling Entertainment as a tailor, but was released from his contract on September 29, 2005 due to Michaels having legal matters in his home state of Georgia.[1][2]
After winning a Reunion Rumble on March 25, 2005 at NWA Wildside's event Hardcore Hell, Michaels took a hiatus from wrestling.[8] On July 5, Michaels made his return to wrestling as he debuted in Deep South Wrestling in a tag team match, which he and his partner Tommy Too Much lost to Harley Crew (Brian Alexander and Pretty Boy Floyd).[8] One week later, Michaels defeated DOG to enter a tournament to determine the promotion's new Heavyweight Champion. He then defeated Pretty Boy Floyd in the first round before losing to Murder-1 in the semi-finals.[8] After defeating Scotty Blaze on July 19, Michaels wrestled his final match for the promotion on October 11 as he lost to Adrian Hawkins.[8]
After leaving DSW, Michaels made sporadic appearances on the independent circuit. On March 27, 2008, Michaels debuted in NAWA Ring Champions one half of The Exotic Ones with Simon Sermon, where they were awarded the promotion's Tag Team Championship after defeating Kyle Matthews and Kid Ego.[2] On January 9, 2009, The Exotic Ones lost to Micah Taylor and Tracy Taylor in the first round of a tournament to determine the new NWA Prime Time Tag Team Champions.[8][9] After a hiatus, The Exotic Ones reunited on February 12, 2011 as they, Chip Day and Josh Storm defeated Thunder and Lightning (Chris Ganzer and Chris Lightning), Frankie Valentine and Stupid.[8][9]
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