Athletes - Paul London

Home > Listing Index > Athletes > Paul London

	Athletes - Paul London

Paul London (born April 16, 1980 in Austin, Texas) is an American professional wrestler performing for World Wrestling Entertainment on the SmackDown! brand, in its cruiserweight division. He previously worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, Ring of Honor, and various independent and Japanese promotions.

Career

London's main exposure came from his work in the Ring of Honor (ROH) promotion. During his time working for ROH, London's matches were often accompanied by chants of "please don't die" as a reference to his wild style.

He had a short stint with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2003. He made three appearances for the promotion throughout the year.

London went on to sign a WWE Development deal in mid-2003, working a few dark matches before being sent to its farm federation Ohio Valley Wrestling on August 30, 2003.

London made his official SmackDown! debut on October 9, 2003, losing to Brock Lesnar in a try-out match.

He later began tag teaming with fellow cruiserweight Spanky. The team was a mainstay on SmackDown!'s sister show, WWE Velocity, until Spanky left the company.

After this London would be placed with a new tag team partner, Billy Kidman. This team had more success and went on to win the WWE Tag Team Titles from The Dudley Boyz on July 8, 2004.

The championship run of this face team came to an abrupt end after Kidman turned his back on London, leaving him to wrestle a tag team title match on his own. The heel turn came off the back of a legitimate injury on an August 24, 2004 taping of SmackDown!, where Billy Kidman's Shooting Star Press caused Chavo Guerrero to suffer a concussion and be taken to the hospital. London and Kidman continued their feud for a few months before London was placed in the hunt for the cruiserweight gold.

In 2005, he began a feud with Chavo Guerrero, which later saw London win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship from him in a Cruiserweight Battle Royal On March 31, 2005.

The pair continued their feud and had a Cruiserweight title match on June 23, 2005, but this title match was quickly interrupted by The Mexicools, who also interrupted a rematch the following week. On July 14, 2005, Paul London teamed with Scotty 2 Hotty and Funaki to face The Mexicools. The ending of the match saw Juventud perform London's 450 Splash on London for the win, almost injuring him in the process.

As a result of the number of injuries it was reported that WWE management told their cruiserweight stars to tone down their high flying nature, banning both the 450 splash and the shooting star press. Paul London, who used the shooting star on July 30th in a WWE Velocity match with Nunzio, was told afterwards not to use the move anymore, and to come up with a new finisher. He was said to be notably upset, and even went to Vince McMahon to air his views. London went on to lose the WWE Cruiserweight Title on August 6th, 2005 on the next edition of WWE Velocity to Nunzio, an apparent sign that his meeting with McMahon was not well received.

London was then taken off TV and was said to be at home dealing with a family illness. London then had a short-lived heel turn where he complained about his treatment in WWE, he used many non-crowd pleasing tactics, such as complaining to the ref while wrestling and tried out new moves which he could use for a new finisher. During this time he would go on a long losing streak before returning as a face and re-teaming with the newly rehired Brian Kendrick, who was before known as Spanky.

During late 2005 - early 2006 the pair remade their image, they began wearing masks like those used in theatre plays to the ring and matching shiny purple vests and shorts. The new image brought new life to the team who would go on to produce an impressive showing against then tag team champions, MNM.

Though the team were making waves in the tag team division both men would still compete in SmackDown!s cruiserweight division. On the March 18th edition of WWE Velocity, London emerged victorious from a fatal four way #1 contender's match for the Cruiserweight Title, beating out Jamie Noble, Kid Kash, and fellow teammate Brian Kendrick.
Finishing and signature moves

Calling London / Cosmic Cyclone (450 splash)

London Calling (Shooting star press)

Legsweep DDT

London Star Press (Standing shooting star press)

Waffle Face (Sky lift double chickenwing into a sit-out faceplant)

Over-the-shoulder neck hold into a faceplant

Bridging fallaway slam

Mushroom stomp

Running enzuigiri

Dragon suplex

Superkick

Dropsault

Somersault plancha

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Paul London ]

Searches on eBay