Ace King (CZW)

Background
Eric Carr (born March 30th 1982) better known by his in-ring name, Ace King, is a professional wrestler currently on hiatus from CZW (Combat Zone Wrestling). During his time in CZW, King has held the World Heavyweight Championship, Intercontinental Title, along with being a former North American Tag Team Champion along with El Pablo, with whom he teams up regularly to form The Five Star Gamblers. King is one of two partners in the talent agency known as ThunderKing Media, the other member being his protégé, current SCW Global Champion AC Thunder.

Growing up under the bright lights of Las Vegas, Eric Carr wanted to do something that would surely make him the greatest entertainer to ever come out of “The Entertainment Capital Of The World”. While living in Las Vegas, he saw countless headlining bands come in and out of the city, and thought that he might one day want to make a living in the music industry in some capacity. However, his family thought otherwise, as they wanted young Carr to become a doctor... Or do something that made him a lot of money. Because he was in such strong disagreement with the rationale of his family, constantly escalating into physical and verbal altercations, Carr fell into a deep depression.

Eventually, Carr found himself immersed in the world of gambling, as he always loved the concept of taking a chance. After a short time, he found that he was quite good at it despite being so young. He was well on his way to earning a World Series Of Poker bracelet, when he decided to leave the table for a moment to use the bathroom. In his travels, he heard loud cheering coming from a different area of the casino. Curious, he followed the sound of the cheering, and what he found was an independent wrestling event taking place. It was at this point that Carr decided that he wanted to become a professional wrestler, much to the dismay of his family.

Mexico
Carr’s search for wrestling training led him south of the border to Mexico, where he found Jose Lothario, the same man who trained wrestling legend Shawn Michaels when he was younger. Lothario took Carr under his wing for eighteen months, taking the time to perfect the craft of wrestling before officially declaring the young Carr to be “ready for the ring”.

It was in Mexico that Carr developed the gimmick of a gambler who loves to take risks in the name of entertaining all audiences. When it came time to choose a name for this character, Carr immediately came up with Ace King, in homage to his favourite pocket hand in Texas Hold ‘Em Poker.

Independent Circuit
Following his graduation from Lothario’s strenuous program, the man now known as Ace King immediately began to actively seek opportunities to wrestle just so that he could get by. However, his hopes were crushed when inquiries made to WWE and TNA were emphatically rejected. Not wanting to allow his dream to die, King then began taking independent bookings. After about ten months on the independent circuit, he received a call from Derek Damage, the chairman of the fledgling promotion known as Combat Zone Wrestling.

Beginning
Having been made curious by the offer made by Damage, King wound up joining Combat Zone Wrestling, believing that this was to be his big break. On January 10, CZW held its first edition of War Zone in Rochester, New York, with the only match on the card being a Rumble For The Gold to determine CZW’s first World Heavyweight Champion. Making his entry at #21, Ace would end up making it to the Final Four of that match, only to lose the match to CZW’s first World Heavyweight Champion, The Zodiac Thrilla.

Intercontinental Title Run
On the January 17th edition of War Zone, held in Phoenix, Arizona, King was placed in a 5-Man Battle Royal to decide who would be the first to hold CZW’s Intercontinental Title, along with Mack Beaudin, Andrew Arashavin, Jeremy Dart, and Chris Dee. Ace went on to outlast all four men to become the first Intercontinental Champion in CZW history, ultimately defeating Mack Beaudin with a Blackjack Bomb. However, shortly following the end of that match, Beaudin, who had also been eliminated from the Rumble For The Gold by King, turned heel, engaging in a ruthless assault of King with a steel chair.

The following week, King was placed in an 8-Man Tag Match with then-World Heavyweight ChampionThe Zodiac Thrilla, then-CZW X ChampionEl Pablo, and ”The Serial Thrilla” Matt Stylez against the team of Mack Beaudin and newcomer Jesse Montana (Who combined to form The Upstarts), along with Caleb Walker and Adam Swinger, which King won with a Blackjack Bomb on Adam Swinger, followed by a Pablo Splash. Once again, King was attacked after the match (as was El Pablo), this time falling victim to both Mack Beaudin and Jesse Montana. This match was the first sighting of the stable that came to be known as AMP XTC.

The next show was Evil Intentions, where King was scheduled to defend the Intercontinental Title against Mack Beaudin. King won the match and retained, despite attempted interference from Jesse Montana, Jacqui Rhodes, and The Lovely Zoe. The next week, King teamed up with El Pablo to face The Upstarts. They lost the match thanks to the use of brass knuckles by Beaudin on El Pablo. However, following this match, King, Pablo, and Matt Stylez fought the tag-team known as Street 2 Street on the ramp, officially signalling the start of the AMP XTC era.

AMP XTC
After the events of the previous War Zone, in which AMP XTC formed, King was then booked to compete against Jesse Montana in a singles match in Baltimore, Maryland. Ace emerged victorious in this match, rolling Montana up for the pinfall. Ace’s winning ways continued in Boston the following week, as he made Tim Timmons tap out by using the Big Slick, a reverse figure-four.

Unfortunately for Ace, his winning streak came to an abrupt end at Broken Hearts, Broken Bones, as he lost the Intercontinental Title to Mack Beaudin in a Three Levels Of Pain Match, which is considered to be one of the greatest matches in CZW history. After losing the second stage of the match, Beaudin tied Ace to a tree (Which is something King is constantly teased about to this day), gaining a huge advantage in the third stage, a Ladder Match. Ace was shockingly able to make it back to the arena, but he couldn’t quite get to Mack before he grabbed the Intercontinental Title. Meanwhile, El Pablo and Matt Stylez had much more success on that night. El Pablo defeated Tim Timmons in a Greenhouse Match to retain the X-Title, while Stylez (who had become one-half of the Tag Team Champions only one week earlier) defeated The Zodiac Thrilla (The other half of the Tag Team Champions) to become World Heavyweight Champion, leaving Ace as the only stable member within AMP XTC without a title belt.

Following Broken Hearts, Broken Bones, CZW went overseas for the first time, making its first stop in Sydney, Australia. King and Ruthless Aggression (Whom he had attempted to befriend only a couple weeks earlier, only to be surrounded by rampant rumours of romance and ultimately given the cold shoulder) were scheduled to face Mack Beaudin and The Lovely Zoe. Ace won the match for his team after hitting the Blackjack Bomb on Beaudin.

The following week saw Ace team up with stablemate and friend El Pablo once again in the Tag Team Tandem Match, LIVE from Tokyo, Japan. This match was originally designed to determine the #1 Contender to the World Tag Team Titles, but due to The Zodiac Thrilla’s long-term injury (Jesse Montana ran over him with a car at Broken Hearts, Broken Bones), then-CZW Commissioner Michael K. Farley announced that Matt Stylez and The Zodiac Thrilla had been stripped of the belts, making the Tandem Match a Championship Match. Ace and El Pablo survived until the very end, only to lose the match to Tokyo natives and debuting tag team The Dragon Society, who pinned Ace after Matt Stylez hit him with the World Heavyweight Championship. This match marked the first time that Ace had been pinned in a CZW ring (His other defeats were in a Cage Match, Three Levels Of Pain, and a Tag Match where El Pablo had been pinned). Immediately following the conclusion of the Tandem Match, Commissioner Farley appeared on the entrance ramp to announce that Ace would be facing his best friend, El Pablo, in the main event on the next episode of War Zone, with the winner facing Matt Stylez for the World Heavyweight Championship at Road To Glory the following week in Hamburg, Germany.

Sensing that this was a blatant attempt by Farley to attempt to disband AMP XTC for good, Ace and El Pablo still gave the fans a show to remember in Sheffield, England, only a few miles from El Pablo’s hometown. El Pablo wound up winning the match, but both men wound up handcuffed to the ring by members of The Upstarts while the Upstart females took turns beating down Ruthless Aggression, as Ace could only watch helplessly from the ring.

As a result of being defeated the week before, Ace King was then placed in the Co-Main Event of Road To Glory: An elimination-style match simply known as the Tower Of Power, along with Special Ed Covey, Mack Beaudin, newly-anointed Upstart member Shawn Waters, new CZW acquisitions Kris Kash and Rave, Ronnie McNeil, and first-round opponent Tim Timmons. The winner of this match would become the #1 Contender for the World Heavyweight Championship and fight for the belt at No Remorse. For the second time in five weeks, Ace made Tim Timmons submit, this time to his newest submission maneuver, the All In, and he made the ascent to the second cage to fight Ronnie McNeil after 7:54, which was the quickest time of the four quarter-final matches. In the semi-final, Ace and Ronnie fought a brilliant match, with Ace coming out the victor with a Full House square to Ronnie’s jaw after 17 hard-fought minutes, bringing Ace’s time within the structure to an even 26 minutes. McNeil then planted Ace with Flawless after being eliminated, which hampered King’s efforts to get to the top structure of the cage. Once he did get up to the top, however, he found himself face-to-face with Upstart killer Special Ed Covey, who had recently become a friend of Ace and El Pablo. Ace and Ed fought an incredibly long match at the top of the structure before Ace finally put Ed away with a Blackjack Bomb from the top rope, securing himself a title shot at No Remorse against either one of Matt Stylez or El Pablo, both of whom he considered friends at the time. However, only moments after his match concluded, Ace (along with the entire CZW fanbase) watched in horror as Matt Stylez turned heel, retaining the World Heavyweight Championship in the process.

The following week, Ace, El Pablo, and CZW President Alan Fiscus were booked to face Jesse Montana and Matt Stylez in a 3-on-2 Handicap Match on War Zone in Beijing, China. However, as War Zone hit the airwaves, Ace was blindsided and brutally attacked in the parking lot of the arena by a masked figure following a heated argument with Ruthless Aggression, leaving him concussed, and his status for his World Heavyweight Championship Match at No Remorse was called into question. However, only three weeks later, Ace made his return to CZW in London, England, ambushing Matt Stylez while disguised as a fan. Shortly thereafter, Ace revealed Stylez to be the attacker back in Beijing, which put a permanent end to the AMP XTC era.

World Heavyweight Championship Run
At No Remorse, Ace finally got his World Heavyweight Championship Match against Matt Stylez at Madison Square Garden in New York City, hoping to set the mind of the seemingly unwell Stylez straight, even if it meant taking the World Heavyweight Championship from him. Ace was still struggling with the prospect of fighting a man he had trusted as a brother only one month earlier minutes before the match was scheduled to start. However, a completely unexpected event occurred. New York native Ruthless Aggression (who had become Queen Of Combat by this time) found Ace backstage and spoke to him. Shortly thereafter, the completely unexpected happened... Ruth stepped up and kissed Ace, signalling the beginning of a potential relationship between the two of them. Finally, Ace went out and fought Stylez, with El Pablo at ringside doing commentary. After an intense match that went back and forth the entire way, Ace finally planted Matt with a third Blackjack Bomb, winning the match and becoming World Heavyweight Champion. However, all was not right in CZW on that night.

Earlier in the night, Alan Fiscus and Jesse Montana had competed in a Riot Match, with stipulations for each man should they succumb to the five-count of a Riot Match. If Alan Fiscus were to lose, then Jesse Montana would become CZW President for a month. If Montana were to lose, The Upstarts would be forced to disband for a month. Fiscus wound up winning the match, only to have Derek Damage intervene and state that Montana would still become President for a month while The Upstarts were disbanded. President Montana was scheduled to have an “Appreciation Ceremony” the next week on War Zone. Naturally, having a bitter hate for Montana as an Upstart, new World Champion Ace King didn’t like the thought of an “Appreciation Ceremony” at all. He, along with El Pablo, thought that the ceremony needed a little bit of... horseplay. As a result, they, along with a few friends, decided to act upon that thought. Subsequently, a familiar name was able to rise from the ashes.

Revival Of XTC
To open the episode of War Zone from Montreal, Quebec, Ace and El Pablo came out and announced to the Montreal fans that AMP XTC had been re-born as Team XTC, with newly-minted XTC members Ruthless Aggression (Who eventually became Ace's girlfriend), Special Ed Covey, Hellena, and of course, Loki. Later on in the night, after Ace defeated Matt Stylez in overtime of an Iron Man Match, Team XTC appeared and crashed Jesse Montana’s ceremony by appearing in animal costumes. While they got some humor out of it, it was Jesse who got the last laugh, as he immediately booked a Title match at May Massacre, a Triple Threat Match between Ace, Matt Stylez, and El Pablo, with one of the World Heavyweight Championship or the X-Title being vacated that night. On the final War Zone before May Massacre, Ace was ordered to face Jesse Montana in a Three Stages Of Montana Hell Match. Ace, being the proud fighter he is, ordered the rest of Team XTC to stay backstage during the match. Eventually, Jesse (With the help of six other wrestlers and guest referee Matt Stylez) was able to defeat Ace by making him pass out. After that match, Ace was considered lucky to be alive, let alone fighting at May Massacre the following week. Ace did make it to May Massacre, only to lose the World Heavyweight Championship to Matt Stylez.

Tag Team Title Reign
After losing the World Heavyweight Championship, Ace’s focus turned to tag team wrestling. On the next episode of War Zone, The Five-Star Gamblers (Ace and El Pablo) were booked to face off against three other tag teams (Buck Evans and Dusty Davis, The All-American Nightmare and Jacob Havok, and The Samoan Wrecking Crew) for the newly-created North American Tag Team Titles, which were created in the wake of the brand extension where Assault became a primetime show. Ace and El Pablo were victorious, thereby becoming the first team to hold the North American Tag Team Titles. At Summer Showdown, The Five-Star Gamblers successfully defended their gold against The Samoan Wrecking Crew (As chosen by the CZW fans) in an Extreme Crazy 8 Match.

The following week, CZW rolled into Ace’s hometown of Las Vegas for the first time. Ace was booked to face newly-crowned World Heavyweight Champion Jesse Montana in a match that, if Ace lost, meant that he would never be able to challenge for the title as long as Montana was Champion (He remains Champion to this day). Ace defeated Montana, thereby guaranteeing himself a match with Montana at ...And Justice For All in a match known as the Cage Of Justice, with newly-minted face Shawn Waters serving as Special Guest Enforcer. In what may have served as an omen for his World Heavyweight Championship prospects, Ace lost an Iron Man Match to Buck Evans on the July 24th episode of War Zone. Ace was ultimately unsuccessful in his bid to become Champion for a second time, falling to Montana despite aid from Waters. After the match, Ace was attacked by an unknown assailant.

The following week was CZW’s Tribute to the Troops Show, from Houston, Texas. King was scheduled to be in the Main Event, a Triple-Threat Match against Jesse Montana and Shawn Waters. King and Waters ended up drawing in the match, as both men slapped a submission on Montana. Shortly thereafter, Krimzon Blaze emerged and hit the Kode Of Silence on Jesse Montana, thereby anointing both Shawn and Blaze, once-bitter rivals who now form the tag-team Fire And Ice, as new members of Team XTC.

The following War Zone saw a major monkey wrench thrown into the mix: Alan Fiscus revealed himself as the man who attacked Ace following his match, as well as claiming responsibility for interfering in El Pablo’s King Of Combat Qualifying Match against Rob Wright. He then took the opportunity to introduce the new stable Anarchy Rising, as well as stating his intent to challenge, along with ”Bad Ass” Matt Covey, The Five-Star Gamblers for the North American Tag Team Titles at CZW’s flagship Pay-Per-View, Hatewave.

Fiscus and Covey, better known as The Two-Man Apocalypse, defeated The Five-Star Gamblers at Hatewave in order to claim the North American Tag Team Titles (Which had been renamed the Global Tag Team Titles earlier in the night). It was shortly after this match that Ace announced that he would be taking an indefinite hiatus from Combat Zone Wrestling.

King’s final official CZW appearance in competition was as a manager for then-War Zone General Manager Gregory Grantham against Jesse Montana in a Red, White, And Blue Match on the September 11th edition of War Zone, which Grantham won. Ace made a special guest appearance during Mack Beaudin’s Farewell Address on the October 3rd episode of Assault, handing him the Intercontinental Title that Mack had won from him back at Broken Hearts, Broken Bones. No time estimate has been given on King’s in-ring return, although he is not expected to return before the year 2009.

Night Of Comedy
When they’re not wrestling, Ace King and El Pablo can be found on the wildly popular XTC Production A Night Of Comedy With XTC. So far, two DVD specials have been made. The first special, which featured special guest Matt Stylez, was released on March 12, 2008, and its popularity spawned a second special, featuring special guests Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie, which was released on June 26, 2008. Currently, there are rumours floating around that a third Night Of Comedy may be in the works, although it is unclear when such a production would be released.

Night Of Comedy has spawned a cult following, with classic Hoedown finishing lines “HIT PEOPLE WITH CARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRS!!!” (From Night Of Comedy 1) and “JACOB HAVOK’S TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEARRRRRRRRRRRRS!!!” (Night Of Comedy 2) becoming wildly popular, along with any joke related to The Upstarts.

Disney
Recently, Ace and El Pablo were offered jobs by The Disney Corporation as tour guides through the Animation Studio. However, after seeing the inside of the building for themselves (Where they were horrified to discover that most Disney characters were sexual deviants), both men decided to pass on the job offers in favour of continuing with CZW.

Finishers

 * Blackjack Bomb (Psycho Driver)


 * Full House (Roundhouse Kick)


 * All-In (Gogoplata, submission)

Signature Moves


 * High Roller (CodeBreaker)


 * AK Roulette (Suicide Senton)


 * Sinner’s Affliction (Corkscrew Neckbreaker)

Entrance Music

 * Ace Of Spades by Motörhead (Singles)


 * Writing’s On The Wall by The Tea Party (Five-Star Gamblers)


 * Guerrilla Radio by Rage Against The Machine (With Team XTC)


 * Whose Fist Is This Anyway? by Prong (With AMP XTC)

Accomplishments

 * CZW World Heavyweight Champion (x1)


 * CZW Intercontinental Champion (x1)


 * CZW Global Tag Team Champion (x1, w/El Pablo)


 * 2008 Tower Of Power Winner

Move Set

 * Dropkick (Standard or Missile)


 * Spear


 * DDT (Many variations, Tornado is the favourite)


 * Atomic Drop


 * Big Boot


 * Mule Kick


 * Neckbreaker (Corkscrew = Sinner’s Affliction; also uses Argentine Neckbreaker and Overdrive)


 * Bulldog


 * Knife-edged chops


 * Slingshot Crossbody


 * Clothesline


 * Suplexes (German or Slingshot)