Alex Arion

Alex Arion
Birth name Alex Pilakos
Born September 28, 1977[1]
Manchester, New Hampshire[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Alex Arion
Billed height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[1]
Billed weight 205 lb (93 kg)[1]
Trained by Al Snow[1]
Steve Bradley[1]
Debut 1997[1]

Alex Pliakos (born September 28, 1977)[1] is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name "The Golden Greek" Alex Arion. Alex primarily competes in Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic independent promotions; such as, Chaotic Wrestling, the East Coast Wrestling Alliance, Eastern Pro Wrestling, Jersey All Pro Wrestling, New England Championship Wrestling and Top Rope Promotions. He has also made several appearances for Ring of Honor and the World Wrestling Federation.[1]

Career

Early career (1997-2001)

Trained at the Bodyslammers Wrestling Gym by Al Snow and Steve Bradley, Pliakas made his professional debut in 1997. Wrestling under the name "The Golden Greek" Alex Arion, he spent over three years on the independent circuit, including the Century Wrestling Alliance (or NWA New England)[2] and Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling,[3] prior to wrestling for New England Championship Wrestling in early-2000.[4] In 2001, Arion appeared on the April 14 edition WWF Jakked in a tag team match with Lo Ki against Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko.

Chaotic Wrestling and New England Championship Wrestling (2002–2007)

In March 2002, Arion defeated "Brutal" Bob Evans for the NECW Heavyweight Championship and held it for 9 months before losing the title to Maverick Wild on December 20, 2002. That same year, he also wrestled in Green Mountain Wrestling. Winning the GMW King of the Mountain Television Championship, he defended the title against Justin Powers and Fred Curry, Jr. at the GMW Dojo.[5]

He also made a brief appearance in Ring of Honor facing Maverick Wild at ROH Invades Boston on August 24. Manager Prince Nana also accompanied him to ringside in his match against Dunn a few weeks later. The match was originally scheduled to be a tag team match, however Nana suffered a concussion at ROH Road to the Title and was unable to compete. Arion defeated Dunn with a superfly splash in under two minutes and, afterwards, Prince Nana made an offer to Arion to become his servant. Arion seemingly agreed and went to shine his shoes but instead hit Nana with a superkick.[6] On November 16, he teamed with Don Juan and Fast Eddie in a 6-man tag team match against The Carnage Crew at ROH Scramble Madness held at the Americal Civic Center in Wakefield, Massachusetts.[7]

In early-2003, he made his last appearance for Ring of Honor defeating Hot Stuff Hernandez on March 15.[8] He also participated in the 2003 ECWA Super 8 Tournament being eliminated by Paul London in the opening rounds in Wilmington, Delaware.[9] He would also team and later feud with his kayfabe brother Frankie Arion.

On June 17, 2004, Arion faced Michael Sain for the NECW Heavyweight Championship at NECW's Fan Appreciation Night at the Goodtime Emporium in Somerville, Massachusetts. This was their second meeting, their previous match ending in controversy when outside interference by Sein's manager Alex Crowley caused Arion to lose the match.[10] By March 2005, he was also managed by Crowley.[11]

In April 2005, Arion wrestled Fred Curry, Jr. in Framingham, Massachusetts to for a title shot against then NECW Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion Chris Venom. This show was part of NECW's Spring Breakthrough Tour which also held shows in Seekonk and Somerville, Massachusetts.[12] He lost to Curry one year later at Defiant Pro Wrestling's Scorned held at the Naugatuck Portuguese Club in Naugatuck, Connecticut on April 16, 2006.[13]

Appearing in Top Rope Promotions during the fall,[14] he eventually joined Arch Kincaid and Max Bauer in the heel stable Intellectual Properties on December 1. He replaced Thomas Penmanship, an original member, who had turned on the group the same night.[15] Teaming with Max Bauer, while Arch Kincaid settled into a managerial role, the two feuded with The Logan Brothers throughout the next year.

Arion faced newly crowned NECW Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion DC Dillinger in his first title defense in Brockton, Massachusetts on March 3, 2007.[16] On May 18, he also challenged Chaotic Wrestling New England Champion Brian Fury but failed to win the title. At NECW Global Impact the following month, defeated to "Sensational" Scott Reed on June 30. Max Bauer and TJ Richter attempted to attack Arion after the match but was stopped by NECW officials who threatened them with suspension. Arion then confronted the three challenging Richter to a singles match to allow his brother Frankie Arion, who had been forced to leave the promotion 10 months earlier, to return to NECW. Richter instead proposed a gauntlet match in which he would have to defeat all three men or retire from wrestling which Arion accepted.[17]

On July 20, he won the gauntlet match defeating Scott Reed, Max Bauer (via disqualification) and TJ Richter to officially reinstate his brother. Following his victory, Frankie Arion entered the ring and embraced his brother. He and Frankie Arion later defeated DNA (T.J. Richter and Max Bauer), accompanied by Scott Reed, at NECW's Birthday Bash on August 18. He also received rematches against Brian Fury for the Chaotic Wrestling Heavyweight title defeated him by disqualification on September 7. Weeks later in NECW, he and Jason Blade lost to The Forgotten.

He and Max Bauer began teaming as Big Business and, October 19, they defeated Bryan Logan & Brian Fury. The following night, Arion won the New England Heavyweight Championship from Logan but lost to him two weeks later. On November 3, he also wrestled Bob Evans for the EPW Heavyweight Championship. In late-December, Arion took part in the NECW's annual Toxic Waltz tournament in which the loser of every match picks the opponent for the winner. Arion defeated "Die Hard" Eddie Edwards in the first round before losing to D.C. Dillinger.[18] He and Brian Fury teamed together to defeat Max Bauer in Syracuse, New York on December 29, 2007.

Recent years (2008-present)

Arion in March 2009

On January 19, 2008, he and Bobby Fish lost to Sabotage (Eddie Edwards & DC Dillinger) and to Bob Evans in a rematch for the EPW Heavyweight title several days later. On January 28, Arion teamed with Max Bauer, Brian Fury and Bobby Fish in an 8-man survival match against NECW Triple Crown champion Rick Fuller, Antonio Thomas, DC Dillinger and Eddie Edwards in the main event at NECW Snowbrawl. Although his team won the match, Arion was eliminated when he was pinned by Eddie Edwards.[19]

On March 29, he was accompanied by his sister Elektra Arion who was at ringside during his match against Scotty Osbourne at NECW March Badness.[20] That same month, he beat Antonio Thomas at a show for Eastern Pro Wrestling. Arion later replaced Thomas in the 5th annual Iron 8 tournament.[21] Defeating "The Japanese Terror" Kahagas in the first round, he later won the tournament pinning the previous winner Eddie Edwards in the finals.[2] A four-way match, the other wrestlers involved were Scott Osborne and Gran Akuma. On June 6, he defeated Bryan Logan for the Chaotic Wrestling Heavyweight Championship in Lowell, Massachusetts. He held both the Heavyweight and New England championships for two months until being forced to forfeit the New England title to Scott Reed on August 15. On September 20, Arion made a special appearance at NECW's show Autumn Unleashed as guest referee in the main event between Max Bauer and D.C. Dillinger for the NECW Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship.[22]

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 "OWOW bio". www.onlineworldofwrestling.com. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Goldberg, Sheldon (2007-06-04). "Hot Dog Safari Notes and IRON 8 Preview". SheldonGoldberg.com.
  3. ↑ Westcott, Brian (2008). "EWA United States Heavyweight Title History". Solie's Title Histories.
  4. ↑ "New England Championship Wrestling". K & D's Matchlists. ShootAngle.com.
  5. ↑ Nason, Josh (2002-07-15). "411 Monday Indy Update: Omori/Williams Are Iron, Kanyon, Cena, O'Haire, Results Galore". 411mania.com.
  6. ↑ "Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor – Unscripted". 411mania.com. 2006-03-31.
  7. ↑ "Past Results". TheCarnageCrew.com. 2005.
  8. ↑ "Ring of Honor". ColiseumWrestlingBoxing.com.
  9. ↑ Rasmussen, Dean; Rippa, Phil; Duffy, Ray; Stein, Pete (2003-04-05). "ECWA Super 8 2003 – April 5, 2003". DeathValleyDriver.com.
  10. ↑ Hassett, George (2004-06-16). "NECW Fan Appreciation Night at Good Time June 17". Somerville News.
  11. ↑ Tremley, Matthew; Goldberg, Eric (2005-03-07). "Indy News: Ringside Wrestling and NECW return to Plainfield, CT". LordsofPain.net.
  12. ↑ "NECW Presents the Spring Breakthrough Tour." DeclarationofIndependents.net. 2004. 29 September 2008 <www.declarationofindependents.net/doi/pages/pressreleases/necw.html>.
  13. ↑ "Events: Past Results". DefiantProWrestling.com. 2008.
  14. ↑ "Results". TopRopePromotions.com. 2008.
  15. ↑ "Intellectual Properties (Arch Kincaid, Max Bauer, and Alex Arion)". Chaotic Wrestling Profiles. ChaoticWrestling.com. 2006.
  16. ↑ "The Indy Buzz – New England Championship Wrestling". 1wrestling.com. 2007-02-27.
  17. ↑ Farrell, Errol Leigh (2007-07-07). "Power Trip Wrestling Results July 6, Results From NECW's GLOBAL IMPACT June 30". LordsofPain.net.
  18. ↑ Vetter, Chris (2007-12-31). "Torch Indy Weekend Report: ROH results, Blue Meanie, Sandman, James Storm". PWTorch.com.
  19. ↑ Martin, Adam; Bradley Grover (2008-01-28). "'Georgia Wrestling History' for 1/28, ROH Champ in Canada, NECW show". WrestleView.com.
  20. ↑ "Independent Wrestling News & Notes". Wrestle-Zone.co.uk. March 2008.
  21. ↑ "Huge Weekend Coming Up, Thoughts on Chikara & What It Means To Make Your Own Tracks". SheldonGoldberg.com. 2008-05-25.
  22. ↑ "The Indy Buzz - New England Championship Wrestling Celebrates 9 Years!". 1wrestling.com. 2008-09-18.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Palladino, Rich (2008). "Chaotic Wrestling Heavyweight Title History". Solie's Title Histories.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 "Chaotic Wrestling Heavyweight Title". Puroresu Dojo. 2003.
  25. ↑ McCaffrey, Sean; Brian Myers, Louie Ramos, and Michael Zevon. "The Declaration of Independents Top 250." DeclarationofIndependents.net. 2005. 29 September 2008 <www.declarationofindependents.net/doi/pages/pastissues/top250.html>.
  26. ↑ Westcott, Brian (2008). "EWA United States Heavyweight Title History". Solie's Title Histories.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 978-0-9698161-5-7.
  28. ↑ "N.E.C.W. Triple Crown Heavyweight Title". Puroreso Dojo. 2003.
  29. ↑ "N.E.C.W. Heavyweight Title". Puroreso Dojo. 2003.
  30. ↑ "NECW 5th Annual Iron 8". cagematch.net/. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
  31. ↑ "NECW Toxic Waltz 2008". cagematch.net. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
  32. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 Entries". www.profightdb.com/. Retrieved 11 March 2013.

External links

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