is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Scott Steiner. Steiner is known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) alongside his older brother Rick as the Steiner Brothers and as a member of the New World Order. He is also known for his appearances with Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA), World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment (WWE) and Impact Wrestling.
Among other accolades, Steiner is a three-time world champion (a one-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, one-time WWA World Heavyweight Champion, and one-time WWC Universal Heavyweight Champion), a two-time WCW United States Heavyweight Champion, two-time WCW World Television Champion and a one-time TNA World Tag Team Champion.
Career
Steiner first began training under The Sheik and debuting in the Indiana-based World Wrestling Association in 1986 as Scott Rexsteiner which was a variation of the spelling of his real last name. On August 14, 1986 in Dearborn, Michigan, Steiner defeated "The Great Wojo" Greg Wojciechowski for the WWA World Heavyweight Championship. He held the title until May 3, 1987, when he lost to Wojciechowski in Toledo, Ohio. Steiner then formed a tag team with Jerry Graham, Jr. and the partners defeated Chris Carter and Mohammad Saad with their manager, The Dark Angel, for the WWA Tag Team Championship on October 6, 1987.
World Wrestling Federation (1992-1994)
The Steiner Brothers left WCW in November 1992, with Scott vacating the WCW World Television Championship. They quickly signed contracts with the World Wrestling Federation, making their televised debut in an interview on the December 21, 1992 edition of WWF Prime Time Wrestling as babyfaces. They also appeared on the debut episode of Monday Night RAW on January 11, 1993. They made their WWF pay-per-view debut on January 24, 1993 at the Royal Rumble, defeating the Beverly Brothers (Blake and Beau). At WrestleMania IX on April 4, 1993, the Steiner Brothers defeated The Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu).
Extreme Championship Wrestling (1995)
The Steiner Brothers debuted in Extreme Championship Wrestling on July 28, 1995 at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Middletown, New York, defeating Dudley Dudley and Vampire Warrior. They next appeared with ECW in The Flagstaff on August 4, 1995 in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, defeating Dudley Dudley and 2 Cold Scorpio. The Steiner Brothers made their debut in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ECW Arena on August 5 1995 at Wrestlepalooza, teaming with Eddie Guerrero in a loss to Scorpio, Dean Malenko, and Cactus Jack. On August 25 1995 in Jim Thorpe they defeated Scorpio and Malenko, and they went on to defeat Scorpio and Chris Benoit the following evening. On August 28 1995, they defeated Dudley Dudley and Dances With Dudley in the Big Apple Dinner Theater in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.
Leon Allen White better known by his ring names Big Van Vader or Vader, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. White is best known for his time with New Japan Pro Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, WWE and All Japan Pro Wrestling in the 1990s. A super-heavyweight wrestler capable of aerial maneuvers such as the moonsault and the dropkick, White was both a face and a heel in several professional wrestling promotions. During his career, he became an eight time world champion, having won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship three times, the IWGP Heavyweight Championship three times and the AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship twice. Vader returned to Japan, wrestling at a NJPW Wrestle Land show. He also worked in the independent circuit as Big Van Vader, including a tag match against Samoa Joe and Dan Maff in Jersey All Pro Wrestling with Mike Awesome as his tag team partner. On May 12, 2007, Vader faced Brutus Beefcake at Spartan Slamfest, a World Wrestling Coalition charity show. The match was held at the Kingston Armory in Kingston, Pennsylvania. After wrestling his last match in 2007, White began working as a high school football coach.
O April 29, 2010, White made a return to wrestling under his Vader ring name at the event Vader Time 5 Return of the Emperor. At the event, he teamed with his son Jesse and former tag team partner 2 Cold Scorpio to successfully defeat Makoto Hashi, Tamon Honda and Tatsumi Fujinami in the main event.
In May 2016, Will Opsreay and Ricochet faced each other during the NJPW tournament Best of the Super Juniors. During the match, both wrestlers performed a high flying, fast paced sequence. When Vader saw the sequence, he complained in social media about the current direction pro wrestling is taking. During the following weeks, Vader and Ospreay feuded in Twitter, so England-based promotion Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro) booked a match between them. The match took place on August 12, 2016, where Vader defeated Ospreay. Two days later, he made an appearance in Colchester, England for the XWA Wrestling (XWA) promotion, where he defeated "Savvy" Sid Scala.
On April 20, 2017, Vader made an appearance in Japan at Korakuen Hall as part of the Dradition show to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the debut of Tatsumi Fujinami. Following a six-man tag team match, Vader collapsed due to being dropped on his head during the match, but he was able to walk backstage under his own power and he remained in Japan as he was scheduled to work two more shows in Fukuoka and Osaka.[On April 22, Vader, Takuma Sano, and Yoshiaki Fujiwara lost a six man tag team match to Koji Kanemoto, Shiro Koshinaka and Tatsumi Fujinami. On April 23, Vader, Riki Choshu, and Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Shiro Koshinaka, Takuma Sano, and Yoshiaki Fujiwara. The final match of his career took place May 25, 2017 at WrestleJam V, where Vader defeated The Ironman.
Return to AJPW (2011–2012)
In the aftermath of the 2011 natural disasters in Japan, Vader and his son Jesse wrestled on special tribute cards for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and Pro Wrestling Zero1. On December 7, 2012, Vader returned to AAJPW, teaming with Keiji Mutoh and Kenso to defeat Bambi Killer, Franz Dynamite and Mazada in a six-man tag team match.
Johnathan Randall Hennigan is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring names John Morrison and Johnny Nitro. Hennigan entered Tough Enough III, a televised competition that would award the winner a WWE contract. He was one of the winners in the competition and assigned to their developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), to continue his wrestling training. While situated at OVW, he was placed in a tag team with Joey Mercury, and the duo won the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship on one occasion. Alongside their manager Melina, the stable was called MNM. After signing with WWE, MNM was called up to the SmackDown! roster and on their debut in April 2005, Hennigan and Mercury went on to win the WWE Tag Team Championship. When their third and final reign ended in May 2006, Hennigan and Melina turned on Mercury. Hennigan and Melina were let go from the SmackDown! roster and debuted on the Raw brand. During his time with the brand, Hennigan competed in singles competition and won the WWE Intercontinental Championshiptwice. In June 2007, Hennigan was drafted from Raw to the ECW brand. During that time, he won the vacant ECW World Championship once, which was his first world championship; Hennigan went on to headline multiple pay-per-views for WWE, occasionally in world championship contention. He formed a partnership with The Miz in late 2007, with the two capturing the WWE Tag Team Championship and the World Tag Team Championship on separate occasions. They split in April 2009, and Morrison returned to SmackDown, where he won the Intercontinental Championship for the third time in September 2009. In November 2011, Hennigan left WWE, and began wrestling overseas and on the United States independent circuit.
Matt Hardy is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand, and he is one half of the SmackDown Tag Team Champions with his brother Jeff Hardy
Along with his real-life brother Jeff, Matt gained notoriety in WWF's tag team division due to the Hardys' participation in tables, ladders, and chairs matches. As a tag team wrestler, he is a 14-time world tag team champion, having held six WWF/World Tag Team Championships, three WWE/Raw Tag Team Championships, one SmackDown Tag Team Championship, one ROH World Tag Team Championship, one WCW Tag Team Championship and two TNA World Tag Team Championships.
Wrestling in three separate decades, Hardy has managed to keep himself relevant through a variety of different gimmicks, character changes as well as his use of social media. In 2002, Hardy began a solo career in WWE and his subsequent "Version 1" persona was named Best Gimmick by Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Hardy's eccentric "Broken" gimmick, which he debuted in 2016, earned him multiple awards and praise from wrestling critics, including a second Best Gimmick award (in 2017, the character was renamed "Woken" within WWE). As a singles wrestler, Hardy is a three-time world champion, winning two TNA World Heavyweight Championships and one ECW Championship. In 1999, Matt, along with his brother Jeff, appeared as an uncredited wrestler on That '70s Show episode "That Wrestling Show". Matt and Jeff also appeared on Tough Enough in early 2001, talking to and wrestling the contestants. He appeared in the February 25, 2002 episode of Fear Factor competing against five other World Wrestling Federation wrestlers, including his brother. He won $50,000 for the American Cancer Society. Hardy also appeared on the October 13, 2009 episode of Scare Tactics, as a mental patient who threatens to attack the prank's victim.
Hardy's first WWE video game was WWF Wrestlemania 2000 in 1999 on the Nintendo 64 shortly followed by WWF SmackDown! in early 2000 on the PlayStation. He made several appearances later in WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role, WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It, WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth, WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain, and WWE SmackDown vs. Raw. He later returned to the series in WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010, and WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011, which was his last WWE video game before his departure to TNA. Following his return to WWE in 2017, he was revealed as a DLC character in WWE 2K18 on September 25 that year alongside tag team partner and brother, Jeff Hardy. Hardy was revealed as a playable character in WWE 2K19 on August 30, 2018.
Franklin Roberto "Bobby" Lashley is an American mixed martial artist, actor, and former collegiate amateur wrestler as well as a professional wrestler. Lashley attended Missouri Valley College, where he won three national college amateur wrestling championships. In 1997 and 1998, Lashley was the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) National Wrestling Champion. He later joined the United States Army, where he continued to wrestle. He is best known for his time in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he has been a one-time United States Champion, a two-time ECW World Champion, and a two-time Intercontinental Champion.
Sean Michael Waltman is an American professional wrestler currently signed with WWE under their WWE Legends program. He wrestled there under the ring names 1–2–3 Kid and X-Pac off and on from 1993 to 2002,World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under the ring name Syxx, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) under the ring name Syxx-Pac and also under his real name. Waltman has won a dozen total championships between WWE, WCW, and TNA, with the majority of them being cruiserweight and tag team titles. He is the only wrestler in history to have held the TNA X Division Championship, the WCW Cruiserweight Championship and the WWE Light Heavyweight Championship; he also held the WWF/WCW Cruiserweight and Light Heavyweight titles simultaneously at one point. Waltman is a member of the group known in wrestling as The Kliq; which consists of Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. On April 2, 2011, Waltman returned to WWE television to celebrate, with Kevin Nash and Triple H, their longtime friend Shawn Michaels' induction into the 2011 WWE Hall of Fame.
Waltman attended the Hall of Fame again, with The Kliq. On July 23, he, Billy Gunn and Road Dogg returned to join Shawn Michaels and Triple H for a D-Generation X reunion on the 1000th episode of Raw. In early 2013, The Kliq/DX reunited for an episode of NXT.
In early March 2013, Waltman signed a WWE Legends contract (a long-term contract which gives WWE merchandising rights to a wrestler's name and likeness, requires occasional appearances and prevents them from working for competing major promotions, but allows for independent appearances).
On April 5, 2014 the night before WrestleMania XXX, Waltman joined Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and Kevin Nash at Scott Hall's WWE Hall of Fame induction, reuniting The Kliq.
On the January 19, 2015 episode of Raw, labelled Raw Reunion, Damien Mizdow appeared with Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels, Scott Hall and Triple H dressed as X-Pac, only for X-Pac to confront him (finding the impersonation funny), until The Miz interrupted them to tell them that Mizdow was only his stunt double, and that the party was over. He appeared again with Hall and Nash, being interrupted by The Ascension, who were attempting to attack them, only to be joined by The APA and The New Age Outlaws in fending off The Ascension. At WrestleMania 31, X-Pac along with the New Age Outlaws and Shawn Michaels helped Triple H win his match against Sting. They were backstage at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn in August 2015. Waltman returned at Raw 25 and reunited with DX and Scott Hall. He also appeared at NXT TakeOver: WarGames (2018) in the crowd with his dog.