Athletes - Brian Gerard James

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	Athletes - Brian Gerard James

Brian Gerard (B.G.) James (born May 20, 1970 in Marietta, Georgia) is an American professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation as "The Road Dogg" Jesse James; a former member of D-Generation X, and the tag team partner of Billy Gunn, with whom he comprised the New Age Outlaws and The James Gang. He is currently working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

Career

The youngest son of wrestling patriarch Robert James, Sr., Brian James is without a doubt the most successful of the four James brothers (Brad, Robert, Jr., Steve and Brian). A former Marine who fought in Operation Desert Storm, James is likely to be better remembered for his formidable vocal skills than for his pure wrestling ability.

World Wrestling Federation

After wrestling for a year in Smoky Mountain Wrestling and making occasional appearance for World Championship Wrestling as Brian Armstrong, James began his career with the then World Wrestling Federation towards the end of 1994. He was billed as The Roadie, an assistant to "Double J" Jeff Jarrett, a would-be country singer. He wrestled on several PPVs and television shows, but most of his first WWF tenure was spent accompanying Jarrett and interfering in his matches, on his behalf. In early 1995, Jeff Jarrett would release a song, "With My Baby Tonight", that Jarrett claimed he had sung himself. The planned angle was that it would be revealed that it was the Roadie, not Jarrett, who had really performed the vocals on this song, sparking a feud between the two wrestlers. However, before this revelation could take place, Jarrett and James suddenly left the WWF following the second In Your House pay-per-view on July 23, 1995. James then joined the United States Wrestling Association as Jesse James Armstrong, winning the heavyweight and tag titles before being forced to leave as a result of a defeat at the hands of Jeff Jarrett.

James returned to the WWF in 1996 as Jesse James, "The Real Double J", and revealed himself, somewhat belatedly, to be the true singer of "With My Baby Tonight". He languished as a midcard singles wrestler until he formed a tag team with Billy Gunn. A change in creative direction in the WWF in late 1997 led Billy Gunn, who had formerly been stuck in the dead-end gimmick of "Rockabilly," to bleach his hair blonde and assume the name "Badd Ass" Billy Gunn (a.k.a. Mr. Ass), while James became "The Road Dogg" Jesse James. The appearance and mannerisms of the team became more and more controversial and anti-social. The team, known as the New Age Outlaws, feuded with the Road Warriors and the short-lived tag team of Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie before joining D-Generation X the night after WrestleMania XIV.

James's career peaked in late 1998 and 1999, with the New Age Outlaws and D-Generation X becoming more and more popular. The team split briefly in mid-1999, but soon reconciled. The Outlaws amassed five Tag Title reigns before Gunn was (legitimately) injured in early 2000, and was unceremoniously thrown out of D-Generation X to explain his absence. James then teamed with fellow D-Generation X member X-Pac throughout the summer of 2000, but failed to regain his former popularity or title success. The team eventually split and D-Generation X fell apart. James formed a tag team with newcomer K-Kwik, but was released from the WWF soon after. He was rumoured to have arrived at an arena under the influence of drugs. In November of 2000, in one of the funnier moments of professional wrestling, he forgot the name of the town he was visiting, showed up at a Cleveland wrestling taping, said 'Detroit rock city.....' , this got him boo'ed so much it had to be edited out of the broadcast.

Over the next two years, James's career lost momentum. His most prominent appearance were with the short lived World Wrestling All-Stars promotion.

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