Craig Anderson | |
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Birth name | Craig Stuart Anderson |
Born | October 25, 1993 (age 23) Worcester, England |
Resides | London, England |
Spouse(s) | Jessica Anderson |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Craig Anderson |
Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.82 m) |
Billed weight | 170 lb (77 kg) |
Billed from | Worcester, England |
Trained by | Randall Evans |
Debut | August 2012 |
Craig Stuart Anderson (born October 25, 1990) is an English professional wrestler who is currently a free agent. Anderson is a second-generation professional wrestler; his uncle Randall Evans competed in several federations until mid-2011 when he died aged 34, days after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
Anderson has enjoyed several championship reigns in his career, including his reign as WEW Champion. He is the husband of Jessica Anderson and younger cousin of Nicole Evans. Anderson is best known for his work on the Bebo Wrestling Network and at World Elite Wrestling.
Early life[]
Anderson was born on October 25, 1990 in Worcester, England. Son to Janet and George, Anderson has two older brothers; Daniel and Jacob and one sister; Bonnie. With both parents and Randall, younger brother to Janet, knowing how demanding the professional wrestling industry is, they convinced both Daniel and Jacob to stay away from it. But Craig was still determined and begun training at the age of thirteen, with the help of his uncle Randall. By age fifteen Anderson opted to pursue a career in professional wrestling instead of continuing his promising football career.
Professional Wrestling Career[]
World Turmoil Federation (2012)[]
On July 31, 2012 Anderson revealed that he would be signing for WTF. He slowly became a crowd favourite. He participated in his début match on August 12, 2012 in a fatal four way match with Scott Barron, Daniel Kennedy and Lucas Harrison. The match was eventually won by Barron. The next week, on August 19, 2012 Anderson was scheduled to team up with Trip Johnson to face Daniel Kennedy and Matt Young, but the match was cancelled as Craig was the only competitor to show up. Later that night it was announced that Anderson would compete at Vendetta for the Television Championship. On September 16, 2012 Anderson won the Television Championship at Vendetta, after defeating Trip Johnson, Max Mayhem and Lucas Harrison. On October 7, 2012 Anderson made an official heel turn after several weeks of using heel-like tactics.
On October 22, 2012 Anderson competed in his first WTF Main Event, teaming with Alyx Valquist to defeat Blair Holmes, Trip Johnson and Brandon Kheller. At Enclosed, Anderson successfully defended his Television Championship against Blair Holmes, to a chorus of cheers - prompting rumours of a face turn. At Crucifixion, on December 19, 2012, Anderson contested his first ever match for the WTF World Heavyweight Championship, in an Elimination Chamber match that included: Blair Holmes, Max Mayhem, Andre Young, Leo Hampton and Matt Rydell. Anderson successfully won the match, and thus entering his first reign as Champion. After the cancellation of the final show, Anderson is the last ever WTF World Heavyweight Championship.
Underworld Wrestling[]
On October 7, 2012 Underworld Wrestling marked its official return to the Bebo Wrestling Network with a bang, with the third ever Death's Door pay per-view. Anderson made his debut at the company, winning the Cruiserweight Championship in a four-way ladder match against Joey Diamond, Punk and Derek Scott. The next week on Underworld, October 16, 2012 Anderson defeated Derek Scott again in a non-title match, after which he threw his title into the crowd and walked up the ramp. Craig defeated James Gold in a non-title match on the October 23 edition of Underworld. During that same week, he threw away the Cruiserweight Championship, before naming himself the UWW Legends Champion, angering Johnny Viper. Following this, Anderson put his title on the line against Viper at Total Annihilation. Anderson retained the title despite getting himself intentionally disqualified. Following this event, it was announced that UWW and WTF were to merge, expanding WTF. Anderson's titles were unified.
Online Wrestling Alliance[]
On November 22, 2012 Anderson debuted on OWA Fusion, in a losing effort to then Galaxy Champion Zack Richards, after his body guard, Julio Zapien, interfered. The following week, on November 29, Anderson defeated Zapien after forcing him to submit. On December 6, Anderson defeated Richards by disqualification, after Zapien once again got involved. On December 14 it was announced that Craig and Zack would put their differences aside in order to team together to compete for the now vacant OWA Tag Team Championship. That same night, at Ramifications, Anderson teamed with Zapien to defeat the team of Chuck Jones and The DJK. At the end of the match Anderson and Zapien confronted each other, causing Anderson to roll out of the ring and walk away. On December 17, 2012 Anderson and Richards were awarded the Tag Team Titles after Trip Johnson accepted a bribe from Richards.
The Militia[]
On December 19, 2012 it was announced that Anderson and Richards had officially formed The Militia, which was a faction signed to Online Wrestling Alliance. The faction consisted of Anderson, Richards, Abigail Jade and Julio Zapien. On December 20, Anderson faced off against Joey Tierney on an episode of Fusion. The match was ruled as a no-contest after Anderson, Zapien and Jade blindsighted Tierney in a three-on-one attack. Anderson defeated Preston Scott on the December 27 edition of Fusion, after an attack by Anderson left Scott unable to compete. On January 3, 2013 Anderson defeated Kevin Norton, and attempted to end his career before security intervened. Anderson defeated Chuck Jones on the January 10 edition of Fusion.
Face Turn (2013)[]
At All or Nothing 2013 Anderson successfully claimed the Pot of Gold briefcase, entitling him to a guaranteed World Heavyweight Championship match. Later in the same night, Zack Richards retained his OWA World Heavyweight Championship. As Anderson and Abbie Jade made their way down to the ring to celebrate with Richards and Zapien, Anderson blasted Zapien with his newly won briefcase, thus leaving The Militia and turning face in the process.
Anderson defeated Zack Richards at a house show on March 27 for the World Heavyweight Championship, entering his first singles-championship reign in OWA. On April 7 at Effigy Anderson successfully defended his Championship against Preston Scott and Joey Tierney. On April 12, he lost the OWA Tag Team Championship to Sudden Impact after electing to have a Handicap Match when his partner Zack Richards didn't show up for the match, after which Jamo attacked him and demanded a title shot. He defeated Chris Daniels in a match the following week, and fended off an attack by Jamo, similar to the week before.
At Amicable Treason, Anderson successfully defended the championship against Jamo. He was assaulted by a returning Richards following the contest. A feud led up to Chained, where Anderson defended the title inside the Elimination Chamber. He went from the first entrant right up to the end, where he was pinned by the winner, Zack Richards. After the match, however, he used his Pot of Gold to regain the title. On June 21 Craig successfully defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Chris Hunter, setting up the main-event at OWA Stairway To Stardom IV against Joey Tierney for the World Heavyweight Championship. Craig lost the match, and then departed the company.
World Frontier Wrestling (2013)[]
On January 6, 2013 Anderson took to Twitter to announce that he had signed a contract that would see him actively compete for the returning WFW. He took part in an eight-person tournament to determine the destination of the World Heavyweight Championship at WFW Reborn on February 3, 2013. He lost to Taylor Westfall in the first round. He then won two matches in a row, pinning Trip Johnson in a tag-team match and Matt Rydell the following week in a number-one contenders match. He was scheduled to face Taylor Westfall again at Virtual Violence for the World Heavyweight Championship before WFW closed its doors.
World Elite Wrestling[]
On June 30, 2013 World Elite Wrestling revealed on Twitter that Craig Anderson had signed for the company. He was placed on the Animosity brand. He made his début on the July 8 episode of Burnout, in a losing effort against Rory Onasi. He lost again the week following, after being pinned by KJ Styles. He competed in a fatal four-way match at the Legacy: Hawaii pre-show for the WEW TV Championship, in which he successfully pinned Kevin Hunter to win the Championship. Craig made his Animosity début against Chris Dunn, one of his Legacy: Hawaii opponents, in a losing effort. On August 26, 2013 Anderson faced Chance Rugani for the WEW Championship, but came up short when Chance's father, Lucifer, got involved. On September 16, Craig defeated Sylvester Koslov and retained the TV Championship in the process. This meant that the championship was discontinued, making Craig the last person to hold it. On October 5, Craig defeated Brian James on the Animosity Supershow. On December 8, 2013 Craig defeated Chris McKenzie for the WEW Championship at Third Degree Burns. However, McKenzie reclaimed the Championship fifteen days later. He invoked his rematch clause at Free Fall To Fury, but was ultimately unsuccessful and took a short break in the following weeks.
On February 14, 2014 Craig was drafted to Adrenaline. He made his return to WEW programming in a triple threat match against Michael Hardy and Phoenix Winterborn, leaving as the victor. At Battlefied, he was on the winning Adrenaline team - though he was the first eliminated on his side after DeDe Johnson pinned him. During the match, he officially turned face. On April 11, he tapped out to Shady Layne. At Retribution, he was defeated by Damien Kingston and finished fifth in the Retribution Rumble. On June 20 he was pinned by Emily Poison in a Legacy Tag Team Championship qualifying match. On the July 18 edition of Adrenaline Anderson claimed that he was tired of being told what to do and then quit the company.
Infinity Wrestling Federation[]
On July 9, 2013 Craig revealed on Twitter that he had signed for the newly created Infinity Wrestling Federation. He competed against Lucian Shannon in the quarter finals of the World Heavyweight Championship Tournament, but was on the losing end. Two weeks later Craig came up short in a ladder match featuring Matt Young and Chris Michaels, which was won by the latter. After the match Craig stormed out, and returned the following show to apologize to the crowd, thus making an official face turn. On September 24, 2013 Craig competed against Neal Powers for the Purity Championship and didn't let the Champion get any offence in. However, Craig lost the match by disqualification after Powers' "brother", Panik, struck Neal and framed the furious Anderson. As a result, Craig had a rematch at Immortalis, featuring Powers and Matt Rydell. However, he was pinned by Powers. On the following Infinity episode, Craig registered his first victory, giving him the right to choose his own partner for a Harmony Championship match. Infinity closed shortly afterwards.
Inferno Wrestling[]
Craig briefly competed for Inferno Wrestling, at the end of the second season. He had two matches with the company, one a victory over Dr. Carnival and the other a battle royal - in which he finished as the runner-up.
Other Media[]
In January 2013 Anderson was officially confirmed as a playable character in OWA - The Official Video Game, appearing as one half of the default Tag Team Champions. He was announced as the protagonist in the video game Wrestle-ocalypse.
In wrestling[]
- Finishing moves
- Downgrader (Fireman's carry knee neckbreaker) 2016-present
- Slingsby Splash (Corkscrew shooting star press) 2016-present
- Signature moves
- Checkmate (Koji clutch), occasionally used as a finisher
- Rich tea kick (Super kick)
- Favourite moves
- Boston crab
- Diving crossbody
- Enzuigiri
- Fujiwara armbar
- Inverted facelock backbreaker
- Jumping corkscrew roundhouse
- Leg lariat
- Lifting single-underhook DDT
- Mongolian chop
- Multiple kick variations
- Short-arm clothesline
- Springboard clothesline
- Springboard moonsault
- Standing dropkick
- Tornado DDT
- Managers
- Nicknames
- The Messiah of Wrestling (2012)
- The Exception (2013)
- The First-Generation Asshole (2015)
- The Second Coming (2016)
- The Human Spitfire (2016-present)
- Entrance music
- "Away" by Mercy Drive (2012–2015)
- "Hell Yeah" by Rev Theory
- "Reach Up (Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag" by Perfecto Allstarz
Championships and accomplishments[]
- World Turmoil Federation
- WTF World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- WTF Television Championship (1 time)
- World Frontier Wrestling
- WFW Hardcore Championship (1 time)
- Underworld Wrestling
- UWW Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)
- UWW Legends Championship (1 time)
- Online Wrestling Alliance
- OWA World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
- OWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Zack Richards
- OWA Pot of Gold (1 time)
- OWA Hardcore Championship (1 time)
- World Elite Wrestling
- WEW Championship (1 time)
- WEW TV Championship (1 time)
Personal life[]
Craig Stuart Anderson was born on October 25, 1990 to Janet and George Anderson, and is the youngest of three boys, though has a younger sister. Craig has been a fan of wrestling for as long as he can remember, as his uncle was a wrestler. He decided as early as the age of nine, despite his parents and uncle's attempts to tempt him elsewhere, that he wanted to be a wrestler. Craig is a supporter of football team Chelsea F.C. and even considered becoming a professional footballer instead. On October 30th, 2010 Craig married childhood friend Jessica Anderson while the two were just eighteen. On April 1, 2013 Jessica gave birth to the couple's first child. He is currently living in London, England alongside his wife and daughter.