Neil Faith

Neil Andrew Horsfall (born April 29, 1981), better known as Neil Faith, is a semi-retired English professional wrestler and actor ^[1] trained by Bruce Hart in the Hart dungeon.

Faith at an Independent Wrestling Show in 2010

Professional wrestling career

Neil Faith was born Neil Andrew Horsfall in Colchester, England on April 29, 1981. He was Raised most of his youth in London and also Burnham-on-Crouch which is a small river town in Essex. He also attended the Thomas Adams High School in Wem, Shropshire.^[2]

After playing soccer and rugby at high school and winning most outstanding player by a regional soccer league. He studied kickboxing and was also a standout submission wrestler and competed in numerous shoot wrestling tournaments.Then in April 1999 he started training for professional wrestling in England at the Hammerlock Wrestling Academy.

After leaving the Hammerlock Wrestling Academy he travelled to Florida to wrestle for BANG TV on Fox, Then in January 2002 he moved to Calgary, Alberta, Canada to train with the Hart family.

Faith made his Stampede Wrestling debut in 02.22.2002 beating "Highlander" Rob Roy with a spinning tombstone piledriver. He then went on to team with fellow British wrestler Rick Vain to feud with Bruce and Teddy Hart in tag team matches.^[3]

After departing from Stampede Wrestling in April 2002, he traveled to Japan to train in the New Japan Dojo in Tokyo.

While in Japan Neil performed in front of 57,000 fans at the Tokyo dome.

Faith returned to Europe where he wrestled on independent wrestling shows. In 2002 he wrestled P.N. News in Dublin, Ireland at the national basketball arena.^[4] In 2002 he continued to wrestle all over Europe where he filmed a documentary called Ultimate Warriors on The Bravo Channel and appeared regularly on The Wrestling Channel on SKY TV.

Faith returned to Florida to wrestle for Dory Funk Jr.'s BANG TV show on Fox and Throwdown on The Brighthouse network.

After leaving BANG TV He returned again to Europe where he Worked tours for NWA - UK and made it to the Semi-Finals of The NWA-UK 2003 King of the Ring tournament.^[5]

From 2003- 2004 Neil wrestled all over Europe, In countries such as Germany, Ireland, Russia, Holland, Scotland, Wales and England. He wrestled his last match in Europe on 05.02.2005 appearing for Revolution British Wrestling in London, England.

In June 2005 Neil permantly moved to the United States where he began working for Southern Championship Wrestling and World Xtreme Wrestling's Rage TV, which airs on the brighthouse network in Central Florida and is owned and operated by WWE Hall of Famer Afa the Wild Samoan ^[6]

In October 2008, Faith had several WWE Tryouts in Tampa, Florida.

At Vintage Wrestling's first show "Ignition" held on 18.04.2009 in Sanford, Florida, he wrestled in the main event against Jake "The snake" Roberts in a grudge match.^[7]

In December 2009 he started a tag team with Adam Windsor called European Union. Quickly after joining WXW they defeated tag team champions Hatchet City All-Stars to become the WXW Tag Team Champions^[8]

As of July 2010 The European Union are regularly listed in the top 5 Tag Teams in the state of Florida in polls ran by wrestling911.com and marcuspitts.com, they are also currently listed in the top 5 tag teams for NWA Florida/NWA Fusion as well.

In 2010 Faith was also ranked #4 In the top 50 Wrestlers in Florida poll ran by www.marcuspitt.com and www.wrestling911.com ^[9] he was also rated #8 in the top ten most hated wrestlers in Florida list in January 2011 ^[10]

On September 11, 2010. The European Union defeated Los Ben Dejo's for the Vintage Wrestling Tag Team titles in a 2 out of 3 falls match.^[11][12]

Faith was also listed as a trainer at the Hard Knocks Wrestling Academy in Daytona Beach, Florida.^[13]

In February 2012, Faith announced on his personal Facebook page that he was retiring from the wrestling business temporarily to focus on his businesses.^{[14] [15]}

Personal life

Faith married his current wife in 2005, they have a daughter together, who was born in 2006.^[16]

In wrestling

Finishing moves

• Peruvian Necktie
• Spinning tombstone piledriver

Signature moves

• Diving knee drop
• Double leg slam
• European uppercut
• Frog splash
• Head kick
• High knee
• Multiple suplex variations
  • Exploder
  • German
  • Overhead belly to belly
• Senton bomb

Managers

• Sheik Mohammad Akbar
• Rico Moon
• Candi Lynn
• Phineas Pipwillow

Nicknames

• "Lord" Neil Faith
• The Whitechapel Ripper

Championships and accomplishments

!Bang!

BANG TV European Championship (1 time) BANG TV Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Adam Windsor

World Xtreme Wrestling

• WXW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Adam Windsor

Vintage Wrestling

• Vintage Wrestling Tag Team Championship - with Adam Windsor

First Class Championship Wrestling

• FCCW Heavyweight Championship

Other titles

• MECW Heavyweight Championship
• NWA-DCW Heavyweight Championship
• SWF Tag Team Championship - with Adam Windsor

Wrestling associations

• WWE
• New Japan Pro Wrestling (Japan)
• Stampede Wrestling (Canada)
• Irish Whip Wrestling
• Vintage Wrestling
• WXW
• Dynamite Championship Wrestling
• NWA Wildside
• NWA-UK
• NWA Florida
• AWA Spinebuster
• Funking Championship Wrestling
• World - 1 Fighting Arts
• WXW (Germany)
• Southern Wrestling Federation
• RBW
• Southern Championship Wrestling
• All- Star Wrestling
• CCW
• SWF
• ACW
• ASW

Film and television

Filmography

Film

Television

References

• Colchester#Notable Colchestrians Notable Colchestrians
• German Website with Match Information on Neil Faith
• Vintage Wrestlings Spotlight on Neil Faith
• cagematch.net profile on Neil Faith
• Online World Of Wrestling Profile on Neil Faith
• 1Wrestling.com Article "the Great Britons" (Paragraph 30)
• NWA Global Rankings (Neil Faith #9)
• Neil Faith Facebook Fan Page

External links

• European Union official site
• Official Biography
• Official European Union YouTube Site