Athletes - Cassidy O'Reilly

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	Athletes - Cassidy O'Reilly

Cassidy O'Reilly (born November 21, 1976 in Monroe, Louisiana) is a Cajun American professional wrestler, also known as Cassidy Reilly and Cassidy Riley. He wrestles primarily in the South.

Career

Cassidy O'Reilly became interested in wrestling at the age of six after seeing a gory picture of Abdullah the Butcher in an issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated, and at the age of eight he received a pair of wrestling tights from his mother and aunt as a Christmas present.

O'Reilly trained under Lolly Dude, a promoter in Dallas, for eight months, receiving supplemental training from Terry Taylor and Tommy Rogers, who were working for Dude at the time. He debuted in 1995 under his own name, facing Cedric Crain in Brighton, Tennessee. He then began wrestling on the Southern independent circuit.

Mississippi

O'Reilly began competing for the NWA: Mississippi promotion, and won the vacant NWA Mississippi Heavyweight Championship (also designated the NWA Southern Television Championship) on June 5, 1999 in Grenada, eliminating the penultimate survivor, Big Don Brodie, to win a battle royal. He held the title for over four months before losing to Ricky Murdock on November 6 in Charleston.

Nashville

During his reign as NWA Mississippi Heavyweight Champion, O'Reilly worked for the Nashville-based Music City Wrestling promotion. He formed a tag team with Air Paris, and on August 14 they defeated Ashley Hudson and Corey Williams in a match for the vacant MCW Tag Team Championships (also designated the NWA North American Tag Team Championships). They held the titles until December 25, when they lost to Mike Rapada and the Colorado Kid. The team of O'Reilly and Paris was split when Paris was signed by World Championship Wrestling.

World Championship Wrestling

O'Reilly began working for Bert Prentice's USA Championship Wrestling promotion, and in 2000 WCW began a talent exchange programme with Prentice which saw WCW wrestlers train in Nashville while Prentice's employees would work for WCW. O'Reilly worked for WCW for a year and a half until the promotion was bought by the WWF in March 2001. Along with wrestlers such as James Storm and Chris Harris, O'Reilly was part of "R & B Security", a group of jobbers who were billed as the bodyguards of Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff. They would be involved in one-sided confrontations with bigger stars on Nitro and Thunder, and would wrestle one another on Worldwide.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

O'Reilly formed a new tag team with Chase Stevens known as The Hotshots. The Hotshots worked in Nashville before appearing with the fledgling NWA:TNA promotion in July 2002, when they were signed to full time contracts. Following a feud with America's Most Wanted, the team split in October 2002 when O'Reilly left TNA due to travel problems, returning to Louisiana and taking a hiatus from wrestling.

O'Reilly returned to TNA in 2004 as Cassidy Riley, with his earlier appearances never acknowledged by the promotion. He was booked as a face underdog who regularly lost to physically more powerful heels. O'Reilly faced Raven on the January 21, 2005 episode of TNA iMPACT!, and was promptly squashed, with Raven passing on several chances to pin him before finally pinning O'Reilly and then casually breaking two of his fingers after the match. O'Reilly was saved by Dustin Rhodes, who he subsequently developed an onscreen friendship with. O'Reilly teamed with Rhodes on several occasions until Rhodes left the company, then resumed his singles career.

On July 8, 2005, O'Reilly was squashed by the number one contender to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, Abyss. After Abyss continued to attack O'Reilly after pinning him, Raven (the reigning champion) ran to ringside and attacked Abyss, but was overpowered. The following week, O'Reilly thanked Raven and told him that he would be there if Raven needed him. On July 17 at TNA No Surrender 2005, O'Reilly was seen in the audience dressed in Raven's signature "grunge" style. His continued emulation of Raven's dress style and mannerisms made him a target for Raven's enemies, Jeff Jarrett and Rhino, who attacked him on the July 29 episode of iMPACT!. However, Raven interrupted the proceedings and spared O'Reilly a piledriver at the hands of Rhino.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Cassidy O'Reilly ]

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