Johnny Swinger
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| Joseph Dorgan | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Ring name(s) | Johnny Hollywood Swinger[1] Johnny Paradise[1] Johnny Parisi[2] Johnny Swinger[1] Swinger[1] |
| Billed height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2] |
| Billed weight | 250 lb (110 kg)[2] |
| Born | July 3, 1975 [2] Buffalo, New York, United States[1] |
| Resides | Atlanta, Georgia, United States[2] |
| Billed from | Long Island, New York[2] |
| Trained by | Charlie Fulton Ron Hutchinson [3] Sweet Daddy Siki[2] |
| Debut | 1993[1] |
Joseph Robert "Joe" Dorgan (born July 3, 1975)[2] is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as Johnny Swinger and with World Wrestling Entertainment as Johnny Parisi.
Contents |
[edit] Career
After training in Toronto, Ontario, Dorgan started wrestling on the independent circuit in 1993 as Johnny Paradise. After he discovered that another wrestler was already using that name, he renamed himself Johnny Hollywood Swinger and began to make a name for himself as a heel as part of Scott D'Amore's "Syndicate" faction in Border City Wrestling. [1] [3] [4]
Swinger began working for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as a jobber in 1997, shortening his ring name to Johnny Swinger. He remained in WCW for three years without receiving a push before joining Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in 2000. He was placed in a tag team with Simon Diamond by booker Paul Heyman in May 2000, and shortened his name to Swinger. He remained with ECW until the promotion folded in April 2001. [3] [5]
He had a brief stint in the earlier part of 2003 in the World Wrestling All-Stars promotion. On July 9, 2003, Simon and Swinger debuted as a team in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). They feuded with America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm) for some time before winning the NWA World Tag Team Championships. The team split on February 18, 2004 when Swinger turned heel by pledging allegiance to Jeff Jarrett, and feuded with one another. Swinger eventually formed a stable known as The New York Connection with Glenn Gilberti, Vito and Trinity. [1]
Dorgan signed a developmental deal with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2005, and began training at Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in May 2005. He made his WWE debut on the July 31, 2005 episode of Sunday Night Heat as Johnny Parisi winning his debut match for the company. His ring name was derived from his great uncle Tony Parisi, a former World Wide Wrestling Federation performer. However, since then he was relegated to jobber status, losing every match he was in since that victorious debut.
In September 2005 Parisi was sent to Deep South Wrestling wrestling there for 2 months until being taken off of television in November due to an injury. He came back in December 2005 being sent back to DSW until he was released on June 29, 2006. Parisi has the dubious distinction of being one of the only WWE wrestlers to never appear on camera or wrestle on his brand's main show: RAW.
Johnny Swinger has resurfaced as a TNA agent, at least on trial basis. After being released from the WWE he went back to wrestling on the independent circuit mainly wrestling for Great Championship Wrestling (GCW). He has great title success there winning the GCW Heavyweight title on 2 occasions and the GCW Tag Titles twice, once with Glenn Gilberti and currently with Bull Buchanan. Raven came to GCW to help Swinger with his feud against Michaels Inc. in December 2006. After winning the GCW title from Chris Stevens, Swinger turned on Raven and joined Michaels Inc. In January 2007, Swinger began challenging TNA wrestlers to try to come to challenge him in GCW. In response to this, TNA Director of Authority, Jim Cornette came to Phenix City, AL. (GCW's location) to confront Swinger. Swinger and Bull Buchanan were defeated by Raven and David Young on 1/31/07. Afterwards, David Young challenged Swinger for the GCW title. He later lost the title to Scotty Beach in a steel cage match via submission. On 9/15/2007 he defeated Scotty Beach for the GCW title once again. On Saturday 09/29/2007 he faced Bull Buchanan in a losing effort within a steel cage at Fred Ward Memorial. He recently returned to WWE to face Ron Simmons in a match on WWE Heat, and on October 14 2007, appeared for TNA's flagship pay-per-view, Bound for Glory, competing in a dark match with Joey Matthews against the Motor City Machine Guns.
Johnny Swinger recaptured the GCW Heavyweight Championship from Bull Buchanan on December 15th, 2007, in a triple threat match that also included another TNA veteran, Sonny Siaki.
Swinger has spent most of 2008 fighting off challenges of various contenders for the GCW Championship, including Scotty 2 Hotty, The Disco Inferno, and Bull Buchanan.
On January 31st 2008, Swinger broke the arm of David Young following a triple threat match, setting the long and epic stage for GCWs Wargames event on April 24th. It was announced that Young will captain his team, while Swinger captains Michaels Inc (Named after Michaels Inc C.E.O., Quentin Michaels)
[edit] Personal life
- Johnny and his wife Melanie have a daughter.[6]
[edit] In wrestling
- Finishing and signature moves
- Shaft (Running spike DDT)
- Swing Thing (Cobra Clutch Legsweep)
- Long Island Legsweep / Swing Shift (Half nelson legsweep)
- Long Island Stinger / Swinger Stinger (Sitout shoulder jawbreaker)
- Mood Swing (Forward Russian legsweep)
- Swing Time (Swinging neckbreaker)
- Double-leg slam
- Shin breaker
- With Simon Diamond
- Problem Solver (Flapjack DDT)
- Managers
- Glenn Gilberti (TNA)
- Dawn Marie (ECW)
- Trinity (TNA)
- Angel Williams (DSW)
[edit] Championships and accomplishments
- Border City Wrestling
- BCW Can-Am Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
- BCW Can-Am Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Otis Apollo
- Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling
- CAPW North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Elite Wrestling Federation
- EWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Scott D'Amore
- Georgia / Great Championship Wrestling
- GCW Heavyweight Championship (4 times)
- GCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Glenn Gilberti
- Independent Championship Wrestling
- ICW Northern States Championship (1 time)
- International Wrestling Alliance
- IWA Euro Championship (2 times)
- Maximum Pro Wrestling
- MXPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Simon Diamond
- Mid-West Championship Wrestling
- MWCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Motor City Wrestling
- MCW Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Scotty Summers
- Palmetto Pride Championship Wrestling
- PPCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Scotty Summers
- Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
- NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Simon Diamond
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Wojcik, A. (October 29, 2003). Interview with Simon Diamond and Johnny Swinger. AlanWojcik.Tripod.com. Retrieved on August 13, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Johnny Swinger Profile. Online World Of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-05-02.
- ^ a b c Milner, J. and Giberson, T.. Swinger looking for WWF action. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved on August 13, 2007.
- ^ Sawyer, M. (May 5, 2004). Johnny Swinger interview. WrestlingObserver.com. Retrieved on August 13, 2007.
- ^ Kapur, B. (July 3, 2001). Nova, Swinger, Whipwreck reflect on life on the indy circuit. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved on August 13, 2007.
- ^ Editor's Note: Johnny Swinger wasn't there because his wife gave birth to a daughter the day before.
