Alex Wright

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Alex Wright
Statistics
Ring name(s)	Berlyn[1] Alex Wright[1]
Billed height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[2]
Billed weight	225 lb (102 kg)[2]
Born	May 17, 1975 (1975-05-17) (age 33)[1] Nürnberg, Germany[1]
Trained by	Steve Wright[1]
Debut	1991[1]
Retired	2000

Alex Wright (born May 17, 1975) is a German former professional wrestler. The son of British wrestler Steve Wright (one of many early rivals of the original Tiger Mask, Satoru Sayama), he wrestled professionally in Germany and Japan before signing with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1994.^[1] He became known for his distinctive pre-match dancing as well as his technical in-ring ability that would ultimately lead him to WCW championship gold.

He remained a successful wrestler during his seven-year tenure with WCW because he was a 1 time Cruiserweight Champion,^[3][4] 1 time Television Champion^[5][4] and 1 time World Tag Team Champion with the popular Disco Inferno,^[6][4] as part of the tag team Boogie Knights.

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Early career 1.2 World Championship Wrestling (1994-2000) 1.2.1 Das Wunderkind (1994-1996) 1.2.2 Heel push (1997) 1.2.3 Dancing Fools (1998) 1.2.4 Berlyn (1999) 1.2.5 Boogie Knights (2000) 1.3 Post-WCW 2 Wrestling facts 3 Championships and accomplishments 4 In popular culture 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Career

[edit] Early career

Alex was trained by his father Steve Wright, a British professional wrestler.^[1] He wrestled his first match in 1991 in Germany when he was sixteen years old.^[1] He wrestled in his hometown during his early career and also worked in Japan.^[2]

[edit] World Championship Wrestling (1994-2000)

[edit] Das Wunderkind (1994-1996)

Wright was discovered by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in mid-1994 during a German tour of WCW.^[1] He signed a contract with WCW and trained there in WCW Power Plant. He originally wrestled as a babyface and was known as "Das Wunderkind" (The Wonder Kid) Alex Wright. His first feud was with Jean-Paul Levesque, whom he defeated at Starrcade 1994: Triple Threat in both men's pay-per-view debut.^[1][7] In his early career, Wright went undefeated in matches against several WCW superstars including Bobby Eaton on January 25, 1995 edition of Clash of the Champions and Paul Roma at SuperBrawl V,^[1][8][9] before losing to World Television Champion Arn Anderson at Slamboree 1995: A Legend's Reunion in a match for the Television Title.^[1][10]

Due to WCW's partnership with New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), Wright participated in NJPW's Best of the Super Juniors Tournament and finished 3rd in the tournament.^[1] He started feuding with fellow cruiserweight Brian Pillman, whom he defeated in the opening match at The Great American Bash 1995.^[1][11] On July 16 edition of Main Event before Bash at the Beach 1995, Wright teamed up with Marcus Bagwell to take on Dick Slater and Bunkhouse Buck in a losing effort.^[12] He had encounters with upcoming WCW stars, Diamond Dallas Page on August 4 edition of Clash of the Champions,^[13] Eddie Guerrero on The Main Event before Fall Brawl 1995: WarGames^[14] and Dean Malenko on January 23, 1996 edition of Clash of the Champions.^[15]

At World War 3 1995, Wright took part in the first-ever three-ring 60-man battle royal for the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship, which Randy Savage won.^[16] At Starrcade 1995: World Cup of Wrestling, WCW wrestlers faced NJPW wrestlers in a World Cup of Wrestling. Wright represented WCW against NJPW's Koji Kanemoto (for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship but WCW never announced it such) but ended up losing the bout.^[17] Wright began a feud with Dick Slater, to whom he lost at Uncensored 1996 in a singles dark match^[18] and at Slamboree 1996: Lord of the Ring in a tag team match.^[19] On August 10 edition of Saturday Night before Hog Wild, Wright defeated Bobby Eaton.^[20]

At World War 3 1996, Wright participated in a three-ring, 60-man battle royal, with the winner getting a shot at the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. The battle royal was won by The Giant.^[21] On January 21, 1997 edition of Clash of the Champions, Wright lost to NJPW wrestler Masa Chono.^[22]

[edit] Heel push (1997)

Wright was pushed as a heel in the summer of 1997. On July 28 edition of Nitro, he defeated Chris Jericho to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship.^[3][23][2] Wright began a feud with Jericho at the point. He made a successful title defense against Jericho at Road Wild 1997,^[24] before dropping the title back to Jericho on August 16 edition of Saturday Night.^[2] However, five days later, he defeated Ultimo Dragon on August 21 edition of Clash of the Champions to win the WCW World Television Championship.^[5][25][2] Wright started dancing during his entrance to mock his arch-dancing-nemesis at the time, Disco Inferno.

At Fall Brawl 1997: WarGames, Wright made a successful title defense against Ultimo Dragon in a rematch^[26] before dropping the title to rival Disco Inferno on September 22 edition of Nitro.^[27][2] Wright feuded with Steve McMichael after McMichael's valet Debra left him and became Wright's valet. She ordered the feud^[2] and in the rivalry, Wright defeated McMichael at Halloween Havoc 1997,^[28] with help from Goldberg before losing to McMichael in a rematch at World War 3 1997.^[29]

[edit] Dancing Fools (1998)

Wright would then patched things up and paired with former rival, Disco Inferno in 1998 to form a moderately successful tag team called the Dancing Fools, which at times also featured Japanese wrestler Tokyo Magnum in the role of a tag-a-long who regularly attempted to imitate their dancing styles.^[2] Wright and Inferno feuded with The Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock), including a loss to Grunge and Rocco at Road Wild 1998.^[30] Wright began an angle, where he claimed that he was the best WCW wrestler to come out of Europe.^[2] British Bulldog however, disputed Wright's proclaimation.^[2] Wright and Inferno began a feud with Bulldog and Jim Neidhart and at Fall Brawl 1998: WarGames, the duo lost to Bulldog and Neidhart.^[31] After suffering losses, Wright and Inferno split and began singles careers again.

Wright feuded with another European wrestler, Fit Finlay because he blamed that Finlay had ended his father's career.^[2] Wright took his father's revenge from Finlay by beating him at Halloween Havoc 1998.^[2][32]

[edit] Berlyn (1999)

At the beginning of 1999, Wright was kept off WCW television for an extended length of time until May, when promotional spots began appearing on WCW television featuring Wright as a surprising new Rivethead-style character named Berlyn, with a black Mohawk and goatee replacing his blond hair and movie-star looks. He was clad entirely in black with a long trench coat and arrogantly refused to speak English. The promos coincided with the aftermath of the Columbine school massacre, which threw a hitch in WCW's plans. Sensing the unintentional similarities in dress between Berlyn and the teenage killers, WCW delayed the debut of Berlyn for several months. Despite the shock value upon his debut, which occurred on August 30 on Nitro, Berlyn never really got over with fans.

This was due in part to his debut match in which he was booked to defeat Buff Bagwell, but Bagwell had refused to lose to Wright and even going as so far to miss a flight in order to avoid having to. "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan substituted for Bagwell, at Fall Brawl 1999 who then no-sold all of Wright's offense and threw him around like a ragdoll even though Wright picked up the win in the end.^[33][2] Although Berlyn went over Bagwell in the end, irreparable damage had already been done to the character. WCW would then push The Wall, the bodyguard Berlyn hired, leaving Wright to flounder in the midcard.^[2] Berlyn took revenge from Bagwell, and defeated him the next night on Nitro.^[2][34] Berlyn attacked Scott Armstrong and began a feud with Brad Armstrong. The two had a match at Halloween Havoc 1999, which Berlyn lost but after the match, Berlyn and Wall attacked Armstrong.^[2][35]

On October 25, 1999 edition of Nitro, it was announced that a tournament would be held for the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship and the finals would occur at the November pay-per-view.^[2][36] On the following edition of Nitro, Berlyn participated in the tournament but lost his first round match to Vampiro.^[2][37] Berlyn began a feud with Vampiro and cost Vampiro, his second round match in the tournament against Buff Bagwell.^[2][38] At Mayhem 1999, Vampiro defeated Berlyn in a Dog Collar match after Berlyn's bodyguard Wall turned on him.^[2][39] Berlyn feuded with Wall but they never competed on any pay-per-view. Wright disappeared from WCW television again.

[edit] Boogie Knights (2000)

After some time off from wrestling, Wright returned to wrestling on September 27, 2000 edition of Thunder with a bald head (but he was still dancing) during a match between former partner Disco Inferno - now christened "Disqo" and Konnan. Wright helped Disqo in getting the victory and the duo reunited as the Boogie Knights.^[2][40] Boogie Knights began a feud with Filthy Animals, while they also feuded with Natural Born Thrillers (Sean O'Haire and Mark Jindrak), who were the World Tag Team Champions at the time. At Halloween Havoc 2000, the three teams participated in a Triangle match but Haire and Jindrak won the match.^[2][41] They were scheduled to take on Haire and Jindrak in a match for the titles but Disqo was sidelined with an injury, so General Rection substituted for him and they won the WCW World Tag Team Championship from Haire and Jindrak at Millennium Germany on November 16.^[2][6][42] However, four days later, on Nitro, Wright and another substitute Elix Skipper lost the titles to Chuck Palumbo and Shawn Stasiak.^[2][43]

Wright started an angle where he kept KroniK (Brian Adams and Bryan Clark) as his bodyguards to squash other cruiserweights. At Mayhem 2000, Wright and KroniK faced Billy Kidman and Rey Misterio, Jr. in a 3-on-2 handicap match after KroniK betrayed Wright by leaving the match and abandoning Wright which lead to their loss.^[2][44] Disqo eventually returned from injury and the Boogie Knights gimmick lasted until WCW was purchased by World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in April 2001. In the beginning of 2001, Wright was named the #1 contender to the WCW World Heavyweight Championship but Kevin Nash didn't like the idea and attacked Wright.

[edit] Post-WCW

Wright fell out of the spotlight after the folding of WCW, and has not appeared on American television since then. In the years following Wright has stayed away from active competition, only wrestling on rare occasions in Germany. Despite this, Wright is still well-respected as a wrestler, as indicated by Ring of Honor (ROH) fans chanting his gimmick name at ROH shows. Today he is working as a banker and fitness instructor in Nuremberg, in addition to opening a school called "The Wright Stuff" (Das Wright Material) in Germany.

[edit] Wrestling facts

• Finishing and signature moves
  • Hangman's neckbreaker
  • German suplex
  • STF
  • Diving crossbody
  • Missile dropkick
  • Spinning sidekick
  • Running swinging DDT

• Managers
  • Debra

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

• World Championship Wrestling^[4]

• WCW Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)^[3]
• WCW World Television Championship (1 time)^[5]
• WCW World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Disco Inferno^[6]

[edit] In popular culture

• Alex Wright appears in the wrestling themed episode of Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• OWW Profile
• Interview conducted by genickbruch.com
• another Interview conducted by genickbruch.com
• The Wright Stuff
• The Wrestling Rollercoaster Bio
• [1]
• Interview at Gerweck.net