Ash Murdock

Ash "Gravedigger" Murdock aka Soulyss aka Replic Ant is currently a wrestler for the 101 Colony promotion.

Backyard Wrestling and Entry Into Wrestling
Ash Murdock started his love affair with professional wrestling in 1995. Soon he was diving off rooftops and and stylin' and profilin' with the best of the kids on his block. However, this simply would not do for his dreams of championships. So he tried to find out a place to get trained. His first attempts were in amateur wrestling, where he picked up the basics of mat work but tired of the singlets and banal characters.

So in 1995 he packed up shop and headed to one of his ancestral homelands, Mexico. There he began training in under the tutelage of Rey Misterio, Sr. He trained for a year before heading back stateside for the opportunity to train with the Homicidal, Genocidal, Suicidal SABU and the Whole F'n Show RVD is Philadelphia, PA.

As he completed his time training in Philly, he took it upon himself to train with several British mat technicians (Johnny Saint & Johnny Kidd) to round out his skills 1998.

Europe, Japan, ECW & XPW (1998-2000)
After a month of training in England he got the opportunity to work for Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling from 1998 to 2000 as a young boy while learning from greats like Hayabusa and Mr Gannosuke. From there he came back stateside and was able to work a dark match for ECW and tried out for XPW.

Return to Japan & Controversy
After his dismal taste of the American Wrestling scene Murdock returened to Japan where he met a young man named Rob Draven. The two hit it off and they formed a stable called the Young Dragons. Murdock wrestled as the Red Dragon and Draven as Green Dragon. They were joined by another young rookie who used the moniker of the Blue Dragon. As a team, they fought for the International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP) Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship on several occasions during 2000, but were never successful in obtaining them. At what would become their final show in September of 2000, Red and Green Dragon were scheduled to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, but their opponents, Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka, had decided that the two hadn't earned that right. During the match, Kanemoto intentionally botched a tiger suplex on Draven, nearly breaking Draven's neck. Murdock retaliated by intentionally botching a piledriver on Kanemoto. This led to a brawl between Tanaka and Murdock that spilled into the crowd, which resulted in the match being thrown out. Murdock was blamed for the incident, even though it was Tanaka that threw the first punches. After that show, Draven and Murdock chose to leave NJPW after management sided with Tanaka and Kanemoto.

WCW & WWF Tryouts (2000)
They then returned to the United States to look for a place in a wrestling promotion. Again, Draven used his contacts to try to get another chance with WCW. He learned that WCW was going out of business and that there would be no work there. They then went to Ohio Valley Wrestling, which at that time was the developmental ground for the WWF. They were given one match to show what they had. The match went off spectacularly, with Draven and Murdock putting on their best performance as a tag team, even though they were coming out as the losers. They were initially praised for their efforts, but shortly afterward, politics reared its ugly head again. They were called Hardy Boyz ripoffs and were told to leave and not to come back unless they had a new and better set of monikers.

WCPW (2000-2001)
Murdock and Draven headed to a US promotion Murdock had wrestled a few of his earlier matches for. Draven agreed, and they found a promotion in the western United States called West Coast Pro Wrestling. The promoter, a man by the name of Jak Slater, had seen some of their matches in Japan and jumped at the idea of them joining the promotion. Murdock changed his moniker to Soulless and Draven switched to Leech, The 2 then formed a team called the Unholy Alliance, debuting at WCPW's Wrestlestravaganza on January 9, 2001. In March, they were joined by Blue Dragon, who changed his moniker to Krownan, a man known as Pit Scorpion, and Murdock's younger brother, Zac Rufio. Together, they formed the faction Psycho Corpse and went on to terrorize WCPW. In April, Leech and Soulless won the WCPW Tag Team Championships. Also in April, Leech won WCPW's King of the Ring tournament, being the youngest winner of that tournament. In June, they lost the Tag Team Championships to Krownan and Pit Scorpion, causing a faction split.

Bushido Championship Wrestling (2001)
In July of 2001, WCPW had some major financial problems, with the discovery that Slater had been arrested for selling drugs. In August of 2001, Draven, Murdock, Krownan and Rufio joined with other investors to  purchase WCPW and subsequently changed its name to Bushido Championship Wrestling, absorbing all of the records of the former WCPW and retroactively changing them to the BCW name, a company Murdock had tried to start in 1999 that had run sporadic shows since. Murdock became this new BCW's first CEO. During this time, Rufio, Leech and Soulless feuded with Krownan and Pit Scorpion until a neck injury suffered in a match against Krownan on September 9th, 2001 nearly ended Draven's career. During this time, Leech and Soulless won and lost the tag team championship twice. While the injury was an accident, it was written into story as being orchestrated by Soulless.

Leech made a surprise return on December 12, 2001, as the final entrant in BCW's King of the Ring tournament. He went on to defeat Soulless for the BCW World Heavyweight Championship to win the tournament, being the first and only man to ever win that tournament two years in a row. Over the next six months, Leech and Soulless feuded, with Leech losing and winning back the championship twice, until Soulless decided to take some time off. Their final match of this feud was a Pits of Hell match, where both competitors fought on top of a fortified steel cage until one competitor threw his opponent off of the cage, with that competitor being declared the winner. This was the first time that deathmatches had ever occurred in BCW, and the fans loved every minute. Leech won the match by throwing Soulless off of the cage and through a stack of tables.

Big Japan Pro Wrestling & Death Matches (2002-2004)
Shortly after parting ways with BCW, Ash was called up by BJW to work deathmatches after they saw the tape of the Pits of Hell Match he had with Draven. Murdock jumped at the opportunity and soon became a mainstay and a constant at the BJW Dojo picking up tricks from Mitsuhiro Matsunaga and Mr. Pogo. This is also where he heard about CZW and the death match tournament circuit stateside.

Murdock finished with BJW in 2003 and came back to the US to work the death match circuit through until mid 2004 competing in CZW, IWA-MS & MAW.

BCW (2002-2006)
After a 9 month absence Murdock returned as Soulless, but changed the spelling of his name to Soulyss, in a high profile match that saw him win the BCW World Heavyweight championship for his first time. A championship which he took with him on his frequent tours with BJW.

In January of 2003 BCW Murdock and Draven reformed the Unholy Alliance and regained the BCW Tag Team Championship. For the following three years, the Unholy Alliance proved their skills in the BCW tag team division, winning the titles 5 more times. This set a record in BCW (that is still current) for the most Tag Team championships for a single team. In 2006, the Unholy Alliance disbanded in BCW due to Soulyss leaving the company.

During this time, Draven and Soulyss also had a healthy feud over the newly created BCW Kamikaze Championship, the first deathmatch title in BCW, with Draven winning it thirteen times over two and a half years. Their matches include the inaugural Science Lab of Pain match, where the goal of the match is to pin your opponent, place them into a coffin, and flip an electrical switch on; the aforementioned Pits of Hell match; and the Slaughterhouse of Fun, which is a one-fall match consisting of a ring with the ropes replaced with electrified barbed wire, lumberjacks with sledgehammers, and various other weapons (such as hacksaws, chairs, cinder blocks, et cetera) spread around the ring.

In addition to Murdock's success in the tag team and deathmatch divisions, he also won the BCW World Heavyweight Championship another 1 more time, making him the most decorated champions in BCW history.

Retirement
Due to the massive amount of injuries sustained during the death matches, Murdock was forced to take an extended leave of absence from wrestling in 2006, which was billed as a retirement.

The 101 Colony (2011-2013)
Murdock returned to the scene in 2011. He helped create a new promotion, called the 101 Colony. The company fused an elaborate love of comic books, death matches and pop culture and created a fun and exciting new concept. The company really took off after the guidance and model of Mike Quackenbush and the Chikara promotion.

Murdock took on the moniker Replic Ant to help elaborate the storyline of the company and immediately became one of its top stars along with new pal and co-booker, Ice Ant. He served as the Colony's 2nd Camenato del Hormiguero and a multi-time tag team champion. He was one of the most, if not the most decorated star on the roster at the time of his departure.

The End of the 101 Colony and Return to BCW (2013)
After 2 years of running the 101 Colony and massive turmoil and issues with the workers, Murdock closed up shop and the 101 Colony folded. Shortly after it was bought by a trainee of Murdock's, miscreANT who got the ball rolling again.

Meanwhile, Murdock got the band back together and did a BCW reunion show called, the Sm@sh/Terminator Invitational. It was a King of the Deathmatch style elimination tournement for 2013. Murdock as Soulyss won the tournament to become the only ever winner to date.

Congolese Fetish Wrestling (2013-2014)
After hearing about the voodoo fetish wrestling movement, Murdock headed to the Congo where he picked up a lot of new and interesting tricks.

Return to the 101 Colony (2014)
In mid-2014 Murdock returned to the the 101 Colony under the moniker of Ghost Ant II, a cocky loudmouth who frequently would harass and annoy many of the roster for an elaborate storyline. He has since unmasked and moves freely between his Soulyss and Replic Ant monikers going so far as to be cast as a character in a couple of short stories being penned by himself, Ice Ant and MachozillAnt. He also has won the 2014 Tag Title Tournament and Lords of the Underground tournament.

Personal Life
Ash Murdock is a writer who enjoys his life in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and son.

Finishing maneuvers:
As Ash Murdock:  

The Score (Gore)

Assassin Sleeper submission hold

Texas Clover Leaf Submission Hold

As Soulless/Soulyss:

Soul Stealer (Modified Samoan Driver)

Steiner Screwdriver

As Replic Ant:

Bio-Mass Destroyer (Steiner Screwdriver)

Warhead (Standing Diamond Dust)

Clone Lock (Straight Jacket Sharpshooter)

Signature maneuvers:
Gammegiri

Dragon Screw

LC100 (Leapfrog Double Kneedrop Driver)

Ankle Lock with Leg Grapevine

Sharpshooter

Sambo Suplex

Michinoku Driver

Tongan Death Grip

Kawada Driver

Curb Stomp

Rare Moves:
The Eraser (Swinging Neckbreaker Into Facebuster DDT)

Ash Murdock:
"The Great American Nightmare" - Rob Zombie: 1997-2002

"Love.Fury.Passion.Energy" - Boy Hits Car: 2002

Soulyss/Replic Ant:
"Progenies of the Great Apocalypse" - Dimmu Borgir: 2003-2006, 2012-2013

"Thank You Pain" - The Agonist: 2011-2012, 2014

Wrestlers Trained

 * tyrANT aka Joseph Duece
 * Toxic Ant aka Zac Rufio
 * DominAnt
 * Crazy Ant aka Honey Ant I aka MothrAnt aka Selena Beradoux
 * Questi-Ant?
 * miscreANT
 * Replic Ant IV
 * Replic Ant 666
 * Replic Ant 8