911 (wrestler)

911
Birth name Alfred Poling
Born January 22, 1957[1][2]
New York City, New York[3]
Resides West Creek, New Jersey[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) 911[3]
Al The Sledgehammer[3][4][5]
Big Al[6][7][8]
Sledge Hammer[9]
Tombstone[3][10]
Billed height 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)[3]
Billed weight 300 lb (140 kg)[3]
Trained by Larry Sharpe[3]
Debut 1990[4][5]

Alfred "Al" Poling[1] (born January 22, 1957),[1][2] is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, 911.

Professional wrestling career

Early career

Poling was trained as a wrestler by Larry Sharpe. He debuted in 1990, wrestling on the independent circuit under the ring name "Al the Sledgehammer".[4][5] In 1994, Poling won the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Rookie of the Year award.

Extreme Championship Wrestling

Poling achieved his greatest national exposure in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in the mid-1990s. He debuted in ECW as a "handler" to Sabu.[3] Later his gimmick was as an enforcer of the "extreme" attitude; he was named 911 and joined Paul Heyman's Dangerous Alliance stable with Sabu and Tazmaniac.[3] As part of his monstrous persona, he would frequently perform the chokeslam on others with little provocation.[11] At 1994's NWA World Title Tournament, he defeated Doink the Clown after four chokeslams.[12] Poling left the promotion by early 1996 after a falling out backstage with Heyman over the former's treatment of the ring crew.[13]

In 1998, Poling returned to ECW at UltraClash in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, chokeslamming Bill Wiles. Poling was then accompanied by manager Judge Jeff Jones, who proclaimed 911 to be the true giant of professional wrestling. They were then interrupted by Spike Dudley and had an impromptu match, which 911 lost in under a minute.

World Championship Wrestling

Poling wrestled in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1996 and 1997, under the names Tombstone,[10] Sledge Hammer[9] and Big Al.[6][7][8] Poling did not portray the Big Al who appeared in WCW in early 2000.

Independent circuit

Throughout the late 1990s, 911 appeared with the New Jersey based Jersey All Pro Wrestling promotion, winning the JAPW Heavyweight Championship on two occasions. At Hardcore Homecoming in 2005 he chokeslammed both Danny Doring and Roadkill.[3] He wrestled at New York Wrestling League in 2008.

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Intelius People Search Report". Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "911 - Wrestlers Database". Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 "911's OWOW profile". Online World of Wrestling. Archived from the original on 29 November 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Appenrodt, Steve (1999-08-30). "The Wrestling Booking Sheet - Issue #291". Retrieved 2013-08-30.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Russen, Rob (1990). "IWA Championship Wrestling - Derrick Dukes vs Al The Sledgehammer". YouTube. Retrieved 2013-08-30.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "WCW Saturday Night". WCW Saturday Night. 1997-01-11. TBS (TV channel).
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "WCW Saturday Night". WCW Saturday Night. 1997-04-12. TBS (TV channel).
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "WCW Saturday Night". WCW Saturday Night. 1997-05-10. TBS (TV channel).
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "WCW Saturday Night". WCW Saturday Night. 1997-02-15. TBS (TV channel).
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "WCW Monday Nitro". WCW Monday Nitro. 1996-12-23. TNT (TV channel).
  11. ↑ SLAM Wrestling staff (November 25, 2004). "SLAM! Speaks: What we miss about ECW". SLAM Wrestling. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  12. ↑ Williams, Scott E. (2013). "5". Hardcore History: The Extremely Unauthorized Story of ECW. Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
  13. ↑ Williams, Scott E. (2013). "10". Hardcore History: The Extremely Unauthorized Story of ECW. Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

External links