Asylum

Steve Burke, better known as "Asylum" is an Irish professional wrestler, currently working for various promotions around the globe.

Early Life
Steve Burke grew up in the suburbs of Limerick City, Ireland. Growing up, he had always intended to follow his dream of becoming a pro wrestler, and at the age of 19 moved to Newcastle, England to train as a pro wrestler in PZW Academy. Renamed Asylum, Burke was called up to the main PZW roster a month prior to his 20th birthday.

PZW
While in PZW, Burke attained a relatively high level of success. Dispite PZW being a small independent federation based in the Newcastle region, Burke caught the attention of various other European promotions, and captured the PZW Xtreme Title on five seperate occasions.

PZW was invaded by a dying federation named RBW, which managed to take PZW to the grave with it, but not before one final match, the PZW/RBW War Games, which was won by team PZW, of which Steve was a member.

Once PZW shut down in 2004, Steve retired from professional wrestling. Then, in November of 2005, he received a phone call from the offices of RIW, the developmental federation for the FTW/WOF union, and after being offered a contract, moved to the United States. At the same time, he was also picked up by the GCW's developmental federation, GPW and would begin working for both promotions in December of 2005.

Late 2005 - Early 2006
Steve quickly found a man he could trust in RIW, and formed the team known as The Inmates with Damien Riggs. The pair were largely unopposed while in RIW, being the only "real" tag team as they put it, and it was true, with them being the only team allied by choice, and not by the booking of the heads of RIW.

At the same time, based on his past in PZW, Steve was drafted to GPW's Malice show, which was based for the companies large X-Core division. Steve's fortune in his early GPW career was the exact opposite to that in his early career in FTW/WOF/RIW. While undefeated while tagging with Damien Riggs, Steve faltered badly in GPW, and after twelve matches, had been beaten ten times, with only one win, and one no contest.

However, Steve remained a member of the GPW roster and kept working hard on his craft, while at the same time, The Inmates were called up to the WOF brand of FTW/WOF. The Inmates in their first match defeated The Harrison Sisters, GWL and The Guerrera Brothers to capture the WOF Tag Titles, while Steve, as a singles competitor in GPW, defeated Mark Foley to earn a shot at Justin Dreamers X-Core Title in a 6 man tag team match, where he would team up with Mitch Xtreme and Pyro to take on Dreamer and The Justice League in a match where the Tag Team Championships were also on the line.

WOF folded and merged with FTW into FTWO, and Steve and Riggs put their WOF Tag Titles on the line against FTW Tag Champions, The Atlantic Connection. The Inmates successfully unified the Titles, after Asylum rolled up Jim Dakota and placed his feet on the rope.

At GPW Stardom, Steve, Pyro and Mitch Xtreme became the GPW X-Core and Tag Team Champions respectively, and along with Dexter St. Croix, went on to form Platinum Plus, with the group holding the Tag Team, International and X-Core Championships respectively.

The Inmates made successful defences in FTWO for the next six months, before a neck injury forced Damien Riggs to the sidelines, an injury which he has to this day not recovered from, and as such The Inmates had to leave FTWO.

Mid 2006 - GPW
At the same time, GPW split into two regions, GPW United States and GPW Canada, splitting Platinum Plus in half, with Asylum and Xtreme being drafter to Canada, and Pyro and St. Croix to GPW US. Asylum was elected the leader of GPW Canada, and quickly ordered an attack on GPW US.

While this went on, a new group emerged in GPW, the sXwa, made up of Trent James, his brother Joshua, Pyro, The Priest, and VIP, led by GPW World Champion, Silver. As the war between GPW US and Canada faded away, a new war took over, with the sXwa attempting to kill GPW entirely, being fended away by The Revolution, made up of Psychonesis, The Big Sexy Freaks, WSG, Mari, and led by El Psycho Diablo.

Asylum would later join the sXwa, but after winning the GPW US Title, and being thrown into a match with Silver and Mitch Xtreme at GPW Hellraizer for the GPW Title, left the group, feeling that Silver would attempt to sabotage his chances of winning the Title by having the rest of the sXwa attack him before the match.

Hellraizer never went ahead, as due to internal problems within GPW, the fed went on a temporary hiatus. Silver, Pyro and El Psycho Diablo, the Champion and his top two challengers would then leave the company in September, leaving the company without a Champion.

GPW organized The Blood & Bones Tour, a tournament featuring the entire roster, who would compete for the honour of being crowned the federations Champion. The tournament final was held at GPW Halloween, which was the final GPW show, where Asylum defeated long time tag team partner and rival Mitch Xtreme in a Hell In A Cell match.

Mitch Xtreme, Grady Smithson, Justin Dreamer and Asylum were all called up to the main GCW roster, with the GPW Titles remaining on their holders, and the GPW gold to be defended on GCW television.

GCW
Asylum, despite being the current GPW World and United States Champion, got off to a poor start in the bigger leagues of GCW. Asylum struggled to build momentum, until the night of Sole Survivor. GCW owner Gametime issued an open challenge, which Asylum accepted, and pinned the former GCW Undisputed Champion cleanly, and would pin him cleanly again that same night, in the Strive to Survive Match, in which he would finish second.

(Section Incomplete)

CWF
In early 2007, Asylum signed a contract with the CWF and became the first ever holder of the CWF Heavyweight Championship when he defeated Ironsides, Judgment and Bay-B Dogg in a battle royal to become Champion. He would later lose the belt to "Bandit" Dane West but regained the Championship just weeks later at the No Man's Land Pay Per View on the 20th of May 2007.

HustlePRO
Asylum also signed a contract with new Japanese promotion, HustlePRO in April 2007. Adopting a new gimmick, "The New Age Anarchy" Asylum was entered into a tournament to become the first HustlePRO Grand Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion. Asylum won the tournament in what was somewhat an upset to many, defeating Mark Fletcher in the finals of the tournament, which also featured Matt Storm and Shane Fenix among many others.

Other Federations - To Be Added At A later Date
FCW (under the name XWE during Asylum's run there) EWA - Extreme Wrestling Alliance WCWA - West Coast Wrestling Association IXWA - International Xtreme Wrestling Alliance ROPE - Ring Of Pride And Excellence WRW - World Rage Wrestling UCW - Ultimate Championship Wrestling

Finishing And Signature Moves
As "The Hardcore Wolf" Asylum The Near Death Experience (Pumphandle Piledriver) The Lockdown II (Top-Rope Double Underhook Flip Piledriver) The Breakout (Evenflow DDT) Fury Unleashed (Samoan Driver)

As "The New Age Anarchy" Asylum Dolce et Decorum (Modified Standing Armbar) Bittersweet Anarchy/Anarchy In The EWA (Shoulderbreaker)