Rodney Begnaud

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rodney Begnaud
Statistics
Ring name(s)	Redd Dogg / Redd Dawg Gavin Archibald Badd Dogg Rodney Mack
Billed height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Billed weight	265 lb (120 kg/18.9 st)
Born	October 12, 1971 (1971-10-12) (age 36) Lafayette, Louisiana
Billed from	New Orleans, Louisiana
Trained by	Junkyard Dog
Debut	1998

Rodney Begnaud (born October 12, 1971) is a professional wrestler. He has previously worked for Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment on the RAW and SmackDown! brands under the ring name Rodney Mack and currently wrestles under the name Redd Dawg.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Career 2.1 Independent circuit / Extreme Championship Wrestling (1998-2002) 2.2 World Wrestling Entertainment (2003-2004) 2.3 Downsouth Championship Wrestling (DCW) (2005-Present) 2.4 Return to World Wrestling Entertainment (2006-2007) 2.5 Return to the independent circuit (2007) 2.6 MMA (2008) 3 In wrestling 4 Championships and accomplishments 5 Personal life 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Early years

Rodney first started wrestling during high school. He was on the varsity team at Northside High School in Lafayette, Louisiana. Begnaud was also a successful football player, becoming a three-year letter winner at the University of Arkansas at Monticello and earning All-Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference honors in 1994.

[edit] Career

[edit] Independent circuit / Extreme Championship Wrestling (1998-2002)

Rodney started wrestling in 1998 as Redd Dogg (also spelt as Red Dogg) in the Southwest independents.^[1] He made his debut in NWA Southwest losing to Scott Putski in 29 seconds. However he would become a major star and capture the title in almost all Texas independent promotions he worked for including NWA Southwest, PCW, IHW, and XCW. After working on the independent circuit, Mack signed on with Extreme Championship Wrestling in 2000, making his debut as a member of Da Baldies.

[edit] World Wrestling Entertainment (2003-2004)

After ECW's closure, Begnaud was signed by WWE to wrestle in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) and he changed his name to Gavin Archibald. When he made his debut on the January 16, 2003 episode of SmackDown!, he went by his original Redd Dogg name.^[2] He was placed alongside John Cena in an enforcer role, replacing Bull Buchanan, who was betrayed by Cena (and then released soon after), but Begnaud didn't last long in that role before he was switched over to RAW and renamed Rodney Mack. He made his RAW debut, attacking D'Lo Brown on HEAT, replacing him to be managed by Theodore Long.^[3][4]

Mack re-started Theodore Long's group Thuggin' And Buggin' Enterprises, which eventually turned into a group of African Americans who worked a race angle in which they felt they were victims of racism and were being held down by the white man.^[5] Jazz joined the group in April. ^[6]

On RAW, he often competed in "White Boy Challenges".^[7] In these challenges, usually, a Caucasian wrestler would wrestle Mack for five minutes and attempt to beat Mack. He was undefeated in these matches until he was challenged and defeated by Goldberg in 26 seconds.^[8]

Mack also teamed with Christopher Nowinski when Nowinski joined Theodore Long's Group as a white male who helped with Long's race angle,^[9] until Nowinski suffered from post-concussion syndrome and retired from wrestling.^[10]

A few months later, manager Theodore Long announced a new tag team partner for Mack: the World's Strongest Man, Mark Henry. Mack and Henry competed as a team for about two months and were fairly successful and caused some upsets over some household WWE tag teams.^[11][12]

In November 2003, he suffered a knee injury which prevented him from wrestling.^[1] Begnaud was supposed to return to action between March and June 2004, but was sent back to OVW and worked RAW dark matches throughout June and July of 2004. Mack made his return to WWE television on July 26, 2004 participating in an over the top rope battle royal for a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship.

There were a few plans to push Mack's career. One idea was to under go a make-over and re-debut with a "Junkyard Dog" gimmick similar to Sylvester Ritter, who trained him. After those plans were scrapped, WWE Creative wanted to form a tag team consisting of Rodney Mack and Chuck Palumbo, who had been a mainstay on HEAT due to his lackluster Custom Chucky P gimmick that received no push. These two worked together at a number of house shows throughout September and October 2004,^{[13][14][15][16]} but these plans were also dropped. On November 4, 2004 WWE released Mack from his contract along with a few others including his wife Jazz.^[17]

In 2005, Rodney competed in NWA Cyberspace and the independents of the Southwest.^[18]

[edit] Downsouth Championship Wrestling (DCW) (2005-Present)

In late 2005, Jazz and Rodney Mack opened Downsouth Championship Wrestling, an independent promotion based in Louisiana. DCW would be renamed Downsouth Championship Wrestling due to copyright issues. Throughout 2006, Rodney would feud with "Texas Legacy" Austin Rhodes. Rhodes is the real-life nephew of wrestling great Dusty Rhodes and a cousin of TNA Superstar Dustin Rhodes and WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes. Rodney would also compete in his famous "White Boy Challenges" while in DCW. DCW went into hiatus in 2007 but now periodically runs shows in the South.

[edit] Return to World Wrestling Entertainment (2006-2007)

On September 15, 2006, it was reported on WWE.com that Rodney Mack along with Marty Jannetty and Brad Armstrong had been hired by WWE.^[19] He started wrestling at ECW house shows on September 30, 2006. Mack was brought back in September at the request of Paul Heyman. He wanted to use him as a tough guy to do a program with CM Punk, where Punk would win in a stepping stone of climbing the ladder. However, after Mack was signed, Heyman's plan was overruled and he never made it on to television. On January 18, 2007, Mack along with several other superstars (including his wife Jazz) were released by WWE.^[20]

[edit] Return to the independent circuit (2007)

Mack currently wrestles for Untamed Championship Wrestling in Arkansas. He is also a trainer with UCW. He recently took part in a UCW show entitled "Wrestle for the Cure" with proceeds going to help fight breast cancer.

Mack also returned to the Texas independents following his release from WWE, working most notably for PCW and XCW. He was referred to as "Redd Dogg" Rodney Mack. In PCW he came in as a heel, teaming with Canyon against Mike Foxx and Action Jackson. Mack only lasted there a few weeks as after no-showing a couple shows in a row, PCW claimed that Mack had gone back to WWE as a storyline reason for his absence. In XCW, Mack shortly re-captured the XCW Heavyweight Championship before losing it to Hernandez.

In May 2007, Mack and Jazz were booked by the Queens of Chaos promotion in France. They wrestled in front of 72,000 people, which is the 2007 record for a wrestling show. A documentary will be released in 2008 from the event.

In November 2007, in an interview with ClubWWI.com, when asked if he was interested in signing with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, Mack claimed that he and Jazz had called TNA many times. However, TNA had told him that he would call him back when they had more room on the roster but has yet to receive one phone call back. Mack says that the two were trying to sign with TNA since their first release from the WWE. Mack went on to say that he feels that Jazz and himself have been "blackballed" by the wrestling industry.

[edit] MMA (2008)

Rodney Mack will be making his MMA Debut on June 7, 2008 in his hometown of Lafayette, LA. In an interview with the Daily Advertiser in Louisiana in regard to his WWE release in 2007, he commented, "Yes, I'm bitter, very bitter. I didn't feel like I did anything to hamper my career. I'm always the hardest worker on my team. I just didn't feel like I got a fair shot. If it wasn't for that, I'd still be in WWE."

[edit] In wrestling

• Finishing and signature moves

• Dawg Pound (Sitout double underhook powerbomb)
• Blackout (Cobra clutch with body scissors) - WWE
• DDT
• Running powerslam
• Spinning spinebuster
• STO
• Spear
• Double leg slam

• Managers

• Theodore Long
• Jazz
• Sekou Berthe

• Theme songs

• Nas - "Hate Me Now" (Independents)
• Chopping Block (OVW)
• Dawgs Out Here (OVW)
• I Don't Care (WWE)
• McMillitant (WWE)
• Atomic Dog (DCW)

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

• Hazeltown Wrestling Alliance

• HWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Insane Hardcore Wrestling

• IHW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• NWA Southwest

• NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship (3 times)^[21]

• Northeast Wrestling Federation

• NWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Ohio Valley Wrestling

• OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Shelton Benjamin^[22]

• XCW Wrestling

• XCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[23]

[edit] Personal life

He is married to Carlene Begnaud, who also competed on RAW and recently competed (but was never seen) on the ECW brand under the alias Jazz. He has 2 children from a previous relationship. His youngest daughter name is Shakyla. His son's name is Shane.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

His oldest son Shane died in a car accident in McGehee,Arkansas when he was 1 years old in 1997.

[edit] External links

• Rodney Mack's Official Website

• Rodney Mack Speaks On WWE's Backstage Politics, XCW
• Rodney Mack at Online World of Wrestling
• Rodney Mack at MySpace
• Rodney Mack at XCW

Persondata
NAME	Begnaud, Rodney
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION
DATE OF BIRTH	October 12, 1972 (1972-10-12) (age 35)
PLACE OF BIRTH	Lafayette, Louisiana
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH