Athletes - Dean Malenko

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	Athletes - Dean Malenko

Dean Simon (born August 4 1960 in Tampa, Florida) is a professional wrestler best known under the ring name Dean Malenko. He currently works for World Wrestling Entertainment as a road agent. During his career, his technical skill earned him the nickname "The Man of A Thousand Holds". Malenko was born into a wrestling family, and his father Boris Malenko was a prominent wrestling figure in his own right.

Career

Malenko has wrestled all over the world and has spent much time wrestling in Mexico and Japan. He wrestled along with his brother Joe, forming a tag team, until his brother retired. On January 24 1992, Malenko defeated "the Superstar" for the Suncoast Pro Wrestling (SPW) Southern title in Palmetto, Florida. Malenko defeated Jimmy Backlund for the ICWA Light Heavyweight title on March 12 1992, in Tampa.

Extreme Championship Wrestling

In Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), Malenko won the ECW Television title on November 4, 1994, the same night 2 Cold Scorpio had won the title from Jason. Chris Benoit and Malenko won the ECW tag team titles on February 25, 1995 from Sabu and the Tasmaniac in Philadelphia. Malenko won the Television title for a second time on July 21 1995, by defeating Eddie Guerrero.

World Championship Wrestling

In September 1995, Malenko and Benoit joined World Championship Wrestling. Malenko had a decorated career in WCW, winning many championships. On May 2 1996, Malenko defeated Shinjiro Ohtani for the WCW Cruiserweight title in Orlando. Malenko won his second Cruiserweight title on October 27 1996, beating Rey Mysterio, Jr. in the process. Último Dragón relieved Malenko of the title two months later. Malenko won the Cruiserweight title back from the Último Dragón on January 22, 1997, in Milwaukee. To show his versatility Dean won the WCW United States Championship on March 16 1997, defeating his former ECW foe Eddie Guerrero. Along with Chris Benoit, Malenko defeated Barry Windham and Curt Hennig for the WCW World tag team titles. During his stay in WCW, Malenko was engaged in a heated feud with Chris Jericho.

Malenko became the first wrestler to win the WCW Cruiserweight title four times. He also became a part of the newest incarnation of Ric Flair's Four Horsemen faction. Near the end of his WCW career, Malenko joined up with Ric Flair's real-life rival Shane Douglas and his faction "The Revolution." In 2000, Malenko had his last match in WCW; an infamous match with Billy Kidman. The match was a "catch-as-catch-can" match at the WCW Souled Out pay-per-view event which Malenko lost when his feet hit the arena floor. After the match was over, Malenko got back in the ring, apparently unaware that one of the match's stipulations provided that a wrestler could lose by being sent out of the ring.

World Wrestling Federation

After being granted his release from WCW the night after his last WCW match, Malenko signed with the WWF (now the WWE) debuted on WWF RAW on January 31 2000. Malenko first appeared in the crowd with the infamous "WCW Four" - himself, Chris Benoit, Perry Saturn and Eddie Guerrero - who all made exits from WCW at around the same time. While not having as much success in the WWF, Malenko was a force in the promotion's light heavyweight division. Along with Benoit, Saturn and Guerrero, he had some measure of success as part of The Radicalz faction. On March 13 2000, Malenko pinned Essa Rios for the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship in East Rutherford, New Jersey. After dropping the Light Heavyweight title to Scotty 2 Hotty, Malenko regained it on April 25 2000.

After a brief absence from TV, Malenko returned to reform the Radicalz with Benoit, Guerrero, and Perry Saturn. Around this time, Malenko briefly became known as Double Ho Seven, a parody of the fictional character James Bond, special agent 007. The gimmick was born out of a match with The Godfather, who offered Malenko one of his female escorts to Malenko instead of the two wrestling a match. Malenko gladly accepted his opponent's offer. As Double Ho Seven, Malenko competed for the affections of Lita and feuded with her tag team The Hardy Boyz. The feud culminated with Lita pinning Malenko (with some assistance from Matt Hardy) in a match on the February 19, 2001 edition of RAW. Finally, Malenko dropped the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship after holding it for nearly twelve months to Crash Holly on an edition of Sunday Night HEAT. After both Benoit and Guerrero drifted away from the Radicalz, Malenko teamed with Saturn for several months before quietly dissapearing off television as the WCW/ECW Invasion storyline began.

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