Bram (wrestler)

Thomas Raymond Latimer (born 6 August 1986)^[3] is an English professional wrestler and occasional actor, signed with TNA under the ring name Bram. Before signing to TNA, he performed under the ring name Kenneth Cameron for WWE's developmental territories FCW and NXT.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2003–2010)

Although Latimer didn't grow up watching professional wrestling, he discovered a video recording of WrestleMania 8 and later King of the Ring 1998 and from then on in he was hooked on wrestling.^[1] Latimer initially debuted in wrestling as a referee in 2002 and eventually began to wrestle with no prior training.^[1] He began wrestling small promotion called SWWA in Birmingham where he wrestled as Tom Savage until 2003 when he moved to Harrogate and joined a wrestling school in Leeds run by World of Sport veteran Jeff Kaye.^[1] He changed his name to Brendon Fraser at a festival called the Bulldog Bash. Later in 2005 before a squash match WWE wanted him to change his name, therefore he changed Brendon to Brandon and because he was nicknamed T at Jeff Kaye's wrestling school he put the two together to become Brandon T.^[1] In said squash match he teamed up with fellow Jeff Kaye wrestling school member, Chris Chaos to take on Snitsky and Tyson Tomko on Heat on 21 November 2005.^[4] Latimer debuted for All Star Wrestling on 7 July 2008, losing to Drew McDonald.^[4] He would spend most of the remaining decade wrestling for ASW until signing with WWE. His last match was tag team over the top rope elimination match when he teamed with Kid Cool, Shadow Phoenix and Tony Spitfire and lost to Dave Mastiff, Mikey Whiplash, Rampage Brown and Spud.^[4]

World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE

Developmental territories (2010–2012)

Latimer signed with WWE in late 2010 and debuted at WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling on 20 January 2011 as Kenneth Cameron. He teamed with fellow British debutant Monty Lynch in a losing effort against the FCW Florida Tag Team Champions Damien Sandow and Titus O'Neil in a non-title bout.^[5] The pair won their first match in FCW only a week later against Jacob Novak and an unknown wrestler.^[4] Cameron's first few television appearances came in the form of losing to established FCW talent such as Brodus Clay, this is customary in most wrestling promotions around the world.^[4]

On 28 August 2011, Ricardo Rodriguez announced the formation of a stable called The Ascension, with members including Cameron, Conor O'Brian, Tito Colon, and Raquel Diaz.^[6] The first match to include all members in some capacity came on 1 September 2011, and saw Cameron, Colon and O’Brian, accompanied by Diaz, defeating CJ Parker, Donny Marlow and Johnny Curtis.^[7] On 30 September, Cameron and Colon had a shot at the FCW Tag Team Championship but lost to the current champions of CJ Parker and Donny Marlow. By October, however, the Ascension was no longer associated with Rodriguez, as video packages promoting the Ascension in new supernatural dark characters only featured the other four Ascension members without Rodriguez. By the end of November the Ascension had all but disbanded because O'Brian was injured, Colon had been called up to WWE to team with his cousin Primo, and Diaz became Queen of FCW and distanced herself from the group. This left Cameron as the sole survivor of the Ascension and he continued to use the Ascension gimmick during his appearances. However the disintegration of the Ascension would prove to be beneficial for Cameron as he would go onto a three-month singles winning streak beating the likes of Jiro and Calvin Raines until he finally lost to Colin Cassady on 23 February 2012.^[4] On 15 March 2012 Cameron was accompanied to the ring by the returning Conor O'Brian in his match against Byron Saxton, the match ended in disqualification when O'Brian interfered. Cameron and O'Brian began wrestling as a tag team using the name The Ascension, and their first tag team match together came on 23 March when the two defeated Jason Jordan and Xavier Woods.^[4] The Ascension suffered their first loss when the pair lost to the FCW Tag Team Champions, Corey Graves and Jake Carter, in a title bout.^[8] After this loss the Ascension would go on another winning streak which included defeating Adam Mercer and Chad Baxter, Jason Jordan and Mike Dalton, Brad Maddox and Rick Victor in a fatal four way elimination match.^[9]

When WWE rebranded its developmental territory, FCW, into NXT Wrestling,^[10] Cameron and O'Brian (wrestling as the Ascension) debuted on the 20 June 2012 episode of the rebooted of WWE NXT taped at Full Sail University, where they defeated Mike Dalton and CJ Parker.^[11] The Ascension then started a feud with The Usos,^[12] defeating them on the 5 September NXT,^[13] and also scored a win over Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd on the 3 October NXT.^[14] Two weeks later, the Ascension teamed up with Kassius Ohno to defeat Richie Steamboat and The Usos.^[15]

Latimer was released from WWE on 30 November 2012 after being charged with battery of a law enforcement officer and disorderly intoxication in St. Petersburg, Florida. Latimer had previously been arrested in January 2011 for driving under the influence.^[16]

Independent circuit (2013–present)

After his non-compete clause expired, Latimer began competing on the independent circuit while reusing the Kenneth Cameron ring name and The Ascension gimmick, as he lost to Tommy Taylor at an NWA Florida Underground Wrestling event on 9 February 2013. He made his debut for World Xtreme Wrestling on the 27 February episode of WXW Rage where he lost to CJ Doyle.^[17] Cameron would wrestle at Full Impact Pro Establish Dominance and defeated Johnny Vandal. After the match, Larry Dallas, who was at ringside with Scott Reed, Trina Michaels and Buggy Nova offered Cameron a spot with The Scene, which Cameron turned down. Vandal then attacked Cameron and asked to join The Scene.^[18] On the 3 April episode of WXW Rage, after defeating Tony Torres, Kenneth came out to the ring and demanded a shot at the recently vacated WXW Television Championship which he got after laying out Doyle.^[19] He would go on to lose to Doyle. At FIP Ascension, Cameron would team up with Tommy Taylor to take on new Scene members, the Bravado Brothers (Harlem and Lance), which they lost after interference by the Scene.^[20] At FUW Throwdown 2, Cameron took on Bruce Santee in a match for the NWA FUW Bruiserweight Championship, which he would lose. At FUW Throwdown 3, Cameron helped Rule Britannia (Andreas Rossi and Tommy Taylor) defeat JD Maverick and James Alexander after interfering in their match and also becoming the third member of Rule Britannia.^[21] On 9 June at an FUW event, Cameron was defeated by Michael Tarver in a NWA FUW Heavyweight Championship match.^[22] On 1 September FUW TV tapings, Cameron defeated Tommy Taylor, after the match, both men shook hands in a sign of respect for each other. At FUW Throwdown 7, Cameron took on Kahagas for the NWA North American Heavyweight Championship and lost.^[23] On 20 December 2014, Cameron defeated Valkabious to win the EPW World Heavyweight Championship.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Teaming with Magnus (2014–2015)

On 11 April 2014, Latimer had a tryout with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling before One Night Only: X-Travaganza II. On the 1 May 2014 episode of Impact Wrestling, Latimer debuted as Bram in a backstage segment with Magnus where he would chastise his kayfabe childhood friend, claiming he had "gone soft". Bram would make his in ring debut on the 15 May episode of Impact Wrestling, where he and Magnus would lose to Willow in a handicap match. During the match and those that proceeded it, Bram would encourage Magnus to let out a more intense side and use weapons but Magnus would refuse. On the 29 May episode of Impact Wrestling, Bram quickly defeated Tigre Uno in his first singles match and would proceed to beat down Uno after the match only to be stopped by Magnus. On the 5 June episode of Impact Wrestling, Bram lost to Willow by disqualification following interference by Magnus after he attacked Willow with a steel pry bar. Following Slammiversary XII, Bram and Magnus lost a TNA World Tag Team Championship match against The Wolves after a chair shot from Magnus; they continued to beat the champions until Willow and Abyss made the save. On the 26 June episode of Impact Wrestling, Bram and Magnus defeated Willow and Abyss in a Monster's Ball match.^[24] On 20 August, at Hardcore Justice, Bram defeated Abyss in a Stairway to Janice Match.^[25] He injured his hand during the match and later had surgery to repair it. On the 22 October episode of Impact Wrestling, Bram declared himself the new "King of Hardcore" and would go on to feud with hardcore legends, including Devon and the "Innovator of Violence" Tommy Dreamer.

On the 23 January 2015, episode of Impact Wrestling, Bram competed in the Feast or Fired match, after which he argued with his tagteam partner Magnus, who had grabbed the final case later revealed to have contained a TNA World Tag Team Championship match.^[26] The following week Bram attacked Magnus backstage, effectively ending their partnership. They would continue to attack each other, with Bram even threatening Mickie James Magnus' wife. The feud culminated in a No DQ match, which Magnus would win.

Various feuds (2015–present)

Bram would then appear in vignettes about his hatred of everyone and everything, attacking cameramen and backstage officials. At Destination X, he would cut a promo stating he would "rewrite history" and challenged any TNA wrestler from the past to an No Holds Barred match. Crimson would answer the challenge and be defeated by Bram. The following week, he defeated Joseph Park. On the 24 June 2015 episode of Impact Wrestling, Bram lost to Vader by disqualification. At Slammiversary XIII, Bram defeated Matt Morgan in a Street Fight. On 31 August 2015, Bram was suspended indefinitely due to his domestic battery arrest and felony charges of false imprisonment.^[27] On the 16 September episode of Impact (taped before Bram's suspension), Bram would turn face for the first time in TNA when he was revealed as the final team member for Team TNA in TNA vs GFW's Lethal Lockdown match. Bram's suspension was lifted on 19 October when all of the charges against him were dropped.^[28] Following his return, Bram took part in the TNA World Title Series and reverted back to his heel persona where his placed second of his block by defeating Rockstar Spud and Grado and one loss to Drew Galloway receiving 6 points and advance himself into to the round of 16 where he lost to Davey Richards. despite failing to advance the round of 8 and being eliminated from the tournamement.

Personal life

Latimer was married to fellow professional wrestler Ashley Fliehr, who performs in WWE as Charlotte. This made him the son-in-law of Ric Flair.^[29] On 30 August 2015, Latimer was arrested in Gulfport, Florida and charged with two felony counts of domestic battery by strangulation and false imprisonment.^[27][30] The incident did not involve Fliehr, but did involve a woman being reported as Latimer's girlfriend.^[31] Latimer was released from jail on 1 September, after posting a $5,000 bond.^[32] On 19 October, all charges against Latimer were dropped.^[33] On 29 October, Latimer and Fleihr finalized their divorce.^[34]

Filmography

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • As Bram
    • The Brighter Side of Suffering^[35] (Lifting DDT)^[36]
  • As Kenneth Cameron
    • Hair-pull head stomp^[37]
    • Velvet Noise^[38] (Spinning sitout jawbreaker)

• Signature moves
  • Chinlock with bodyscissors^[39]
  • Elbow drop^[40]
  • Exploder suplex^[41]
  • Jumping knee drop^[40]
  • Rope hung neckbreaker^[12]
  • Vertical suplex lifted and dropped into a neckbreaker slam^[39][42]

• With Conor O'Brian
  • Double team finishing moves
    • Downcast (Velvet Noise by Cameron followed by a flapjack by O'Brian)^[43]
    • Fall of Man^[44] (Legsweep (O'Brian) / Spinning heel kick (Cameron) combination)^[45]

• Managers
  • Raquel Diaz

• Nicknames
  • "King of Hardcore" (TNA)
  • "The Human Hate Machine" (TNA)
  • "The Chesterfield Plague" (TNA)

• Entrance themes
  • "Let Battle Commence" by Daniel Nielsen (2011–2012; used while a part of The Ascension)
  • "Vs The World" by Under The Influence (2014; used while teaming with Magnus)
  • "Catatonic" by Dale Oliver^[46] (2014–present)

Championships and accomplishments

• EPW American Wrestling
  • EPW World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[47]

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him 124 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2015^[48]

• Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
  • Global Impact Tournament (2015) – with Team International (The Great Sanada, Drew Galloway, The Great Muta, Tigre Uno, Magnus, Rockstar Spud, Khoya, Sonjay Dutt and Angelina Love)

References

External links

• Bram's TNA profile
• Bram's Twitter