Nick Mondo

Nick Mondo
Born	(1980-03-28) March 28, 1980 Minneapolis, Minnesota[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Nick Mondo[1]
Billed height	6 ft 1 in (185 m)[1]
Billed weight	202 lb (92 kg)[1]
Trained by	Bodyslammers Gym[1]
Debut	March 1999
Retired	November 2003[1]

Matthew "Matt" Burns^[1] (born March 28, 1980) better known by his ring name "Sick" Nick Mondo is a retired American professional wrestler. Burns is best known for his appearances with Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW). He was known throughout his career for his willingness to take extremely dangerous bumps, such as being hit with a weed wacker, getting thrown into a table covered with barbed wire, slammed from a distance of 40 feet onto lightubes and concrete and other ultraviolent spots. In 2004, Burns was inducted into CZW's Hall of Fame.^[2]

Professional wrestling career

1999

During his start out in 1999, In Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling, he would feud to the likes of Eddie Valentine. His CZW debut was on May 6, 2000 against Trent Acid, at A Living Hell.^[3] At Caged to the End on June 10, 2000, he was involved in a Three Way Dance against Mercury and Ty Street. He fought Justice Pain on June 25, 2000, in a field in the Champs Arena, titled They Said It Couldn't Be Done, A few months later he teamed up with Ric Blade and fought The Backseat Boyz (Trent Acid and Johnny Kashmere), which saw Blade at the end of the match after a Senton bomb off the Champs Arena wall through two stacked tables with Acid on top, and Kashmere under. Mondo would turn on his partner.

The feud would still go on as at Crushing The Competition on February 10, 2001 in Sewell, New Jersey, Blade would team up with Super Crazy to take on Mondo in a Handicap 3-way ladder match.^[4] The feud would end in a "Barbed Wire Ladder Match" as well a huge swanton an off the Champs Arena wall on to Mondo through a table, As well as breaking Mondo's nose during the match.^[5]

2001

The fans bring the weapons tag-team match featuring Mondo and Jun Kasai vs Justice Pain and Johnny Kashmere at Un F'N Believable in April 2001 included plenty of blood, (Kashmire was a sub for Wifebeater), Kasai competed in a match which was later dubbed Un F'N Believable, in reference to the shows name. During the match, Kasai was crucifix bombed over the top rope into lightubes, barbed wire and tables, causing Kasai's elbow bone to pop out of his skin, he continued the match after having his elbow taped up.^[6] Mondo's first title capture was the Iron Man title win against Wifebeater and Mad Man Pondo at Breakaway Brawl in June 2001,^[7] Mondo was involved the extremely violent 6 man tag team match with Zandig, Wifebeater, and Nick Mondo vs The Backseat Boyz and Justice Pain at H8 Club Dead? in July 2001, in this match his back was a mess of blood.^[8] Mondo was in an unforgettable no rope barbed wire match in the pouring rain, with Nick Mondo vs Nick Gage at And Justice And For All in August 2001, he was splashed through a table by Gage,^[9] taking a huge bump off the entrance way during a falls count anywhere three way vs Adam Flash and Nick Berk at CZW's biggest show ever Cage of Death 3 in December 2001.^[10]

2002

The first battle with Messiah at This Time it's Personal in February 2002,^[11] taking Justice Pain to his limit and coming within an eyelash of winning the World title at A Higher Level of Pain in April 2002,^[12] a 64 minute four way classic with Mondo, Messiah, Flash, and Justice Pain at High Stakes May 2002,^[13] another confrontation with Messiah and coming up short against Wifebeater at CZW's first Tournament of Death in August 2002,^[14] a leg drop through a pane of glass in a tag-team match with Mondo and Wifebeater vs. Necro Butcher and "Mr Insanity" Toby Klein at Ultraviolent Freedom of Expression in September 2002.^[15][16]

His partner Blade returned at Beyond The Barrier on October 12, 2002, with Nick Mondo defeating Johnny Kashmere,^[17] At Cage of Death 4, in 2002 he competed in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match, vs. The Backseat Boyz with Mondo as his partner. But ended up losing, The Backseats won in the end with the Acid Bomb with Blade's head in the ladder.^[18] a three way with Zandig and Nate Hatred at Live Again January 2003, another Messiah vs Mondo classic at Uncivilized February 2003. Finally Mondo's swan song a bump that will never be forgotten vs Zandig and victory over Ian Rotten to win CZW's 2nd annual Tournament of Death in July 2003.^[19]

2003-retirement

Burns retired in 2003 after suffering several injuries during his career, the last of which was a severely punctured back which he suffered during his match against John Zandig at Tournament of Death 2 (which Burns won), a match in which he was already wrestling with three broken bones in his right wrist. There was a rumour that Burns was to return at CZW's Cage Of Death XII, which was false.^[20] In addition to his ring work, Burns has been featured as a playable character in Backyard Wrestling 2: There Goes the Neighborhood along with Zandig.^[21]

Return (2013)

Burns would make his return to CZW at their Cage of Death XV Internet pay-per-view as he would run down to the ring to help Lucky 13 during his match against Cage of Death match. Afterward, Rory Mondo would then come back out after being eliminated in the match with Lucky 13 to be shocked to see his idol in the ring again. Mondo would tell Rory that he returned to prevent Rory from mutilating himself in honor of Mondo. He would then tell Rory that he has earned his respect. Rory would then retire.^[22]

Personal life

Burns attended Cocalico Senior High School and later graduated from Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2005.^[23]

Burns had been working on a film of his own, Fighting the Still Life, which was supposed to be released, but due to funding issues the film was not able to be released.^[24] The film would have featured Burns and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling superstar Mr. Anderson. The trailer though, was released on YouTube.

During his wrestling career, Burns worked at Blockbuster, a DVD and video game rental company. In 2008, while working as an English language teacher in China, Burns travelled to Dengfeng to study Kung Fu. Burns has been living in Japan for the past number years working on various film projects and as an English teacher. In 2008 Burns released his first short film Incubus Drone. On February 14th 2014 Burns film Match Perfect premiered at the 39th annual Boston Sci-fi film festival

Filmography

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Assault Driver (Electric chair iconoclasm, sometimes from the top rope or another elevated surface)
  • Life Cutter (Cut-throat backbreaker rack dropped into a facebuster)
• Signature moves
  • Fisherman driver
  • M. Bison (Jumping or a diving double foot to the top of a seated opponent's head)
  • Mondo Sledge (Springboard corkscrew senton)
  • Moonsault
  • Northern Lights suplex
  • Roundhouse kick
  • Running somersault plancha
  • Slingshot spin–out powerbomb
  • Springboard leg drop

• Nicknames
  • "Slick"
  • "Sick"
  • "Hardcore"

• Entrance themes
  • "Last Resort" by Papa Roach

Championships and accomplishments

• Combat Zone Wrestling
  • CZW Iron Man Championship (3 times)^[1]
  • CZW World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ric Blade^[1]
  • Tournament of Death (II)^[1]
  • CZW Hall of Fame (2004)
  • Match of the Year (2002) vs. Wifebeater^[1]
  • Match of the Year (2003) vs. Justice Pain^[1]

References

Notes

Bibliography

• An interview with Nick Mondo, conducted by Genickbruch.com
• Unscarred at Amazon.com

External links

• Match History at Indy Wrestling News