Athletes - Nelson Erazo

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	Athletes - Nelson Erazo

Nelson Rodriguez Erazo (born in Brooklyn, New York, New York) is an American professional wrestler of Puerto Rican ethnicity, better known by his ring name, Homicide. His stiff wrestling style, extensive use of weapons during matches and gangsta gimmick have led to frequent, sometimes pejorative, comparisons to New Jack.

Career

Erazo was a wrestling fan from the age of five, and decided that he wanted to become a wrestler at the age of fifteen. After ammassing a series of athletic qualifications including football and amateur wrestling, he was offered a scholarship to the University of Miami, which he rejected, preferring to pursue "fast money". Erazo trained himself as a wrestler in a bodega, debuting on March 5, 1993. After wrestling for three years without any formal training, Erazo attended a professional wrestling school in New Jersey operated by Manny Fernandez.

Erazo initially wrestled as The Latin Terror, a reference to his Puerto Rican ethnicity. He grew bored with the gimmick in 1995, and decided to create a new character based on his own past. Erazo had been a gang member as a youth, and he incorporated this into the Homicide character, taking his ring name from an episode of America's Most Wanted where a man was arrested for the crime of homicide.

As Homicide, Erazo worked on the independent circuit throughout the 1990s. While on a year-long hiatus from wrestling, he operated a training school in New York known as The Doghouse along with Laithon and Lowlife Louie. The Doghouse produced approximately twenty two graduates, including a number of ROH wrestlers, most notably Low Ki.

Erazo also formed a tag team called The Natural Born Sinners with Boogalou (which saw Boogalou wear a Leatherface mask and Homicide wear a Michael Myers mask).

Jersey All Pro Wrestling

Homicide joined Jersey All Pro Wrestling on September 7, 1997 and quickly became a mainstay of the promotion. He formed a tag team with Kane D known as The Nation of Immigration, and on March 22, 1998 The N.O.I. defeated The Sickness and The Blood Angels in a three way tag match for the JAPW Tag Team Championships in Newark, New Jersey. They lost the titles to The Skin Head Express on March 20, but regained them on August 25, defeating Russ and Charlie Haas in a weapons match. Their second reign lasted until January 29, when they lost to D-Sex. Homicide would later hold the titles twice more, with Don Montoya and with B-Boy.

Homicide won the JAPW Heavyweight Championship for the first time on July 9, 1999, defeating Don Montoya in Bayonne, New Jersey. He lost the title to Chino Martinez on August 29. His second reign began when the champion, ECW alumnus Jason, vacated the title on November 18, 2000. Homicide defeated Jay Lover for the vacant title that same night in the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He lost the title to one of his students, Low-Ki, on July 7, 2001. Three more Heavyweight Championship reigns followed in 2001 and 2002, with Homicide firmly establishing himself as a dominant player in JAPW.

Homicide's increasing commitments, including tours of Japan with Big Japan Pro Wrestling and ZERO-ONE, led to a decline in his involvement in JAPW after late-2002.

The Dan Maff title controversy

Dan Maff, another student of Homicide's, won the JAPW Heavyweight Championship on December 13, 2003. He held the title throughout 2004, dominating the title scene. However, in March 2005, Homicide and Maff had a legitimate falling-out, with Homicide announcing that Maff had betrayed him, and that he would refuse to work for any promotion which employed Maff. This effectively led to Maff being blackballed from professional wrestling. As a result, the JAPW Heavyweight Championship was vacated.

Jay Lethal had pursued the JAPW Heavyweight Championship for several months, and was widely expected to be the next champion. The title was put on the line in a match between Lethal and an undisclosed opponent on March 26. The opponent was revealed to be the returning Homicide, who defeated Lethal for an unparalleled sixth JAPW Heavyweight Championship. His reign lasted until May 21, when Lethal finally won the belt in a four way match. The following week, Homicide announced that he was temporarily leaving JAPW, but promised to go on a "murdering spree" and become a seven time JAPW Heavyweight Champion when he returned.

On October 22, 2005, Homicide teamed with his long-term nemesis Teddy Hart to defeated Trent Acid and Johnny Kashmere for the JAPW Tag Team Championships. Their reign lasted until November 12 of that year, when Kashmere and Acid regained the titles.

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