Dan "Cypher" Kilburn

Dan "Cypher" Kilburn
	[[Image:{{{image}}}\|{{{image_width}}}px\|Image of Dan "Cypher" Kilburn]]
Statistics
Real name	Dan Kilburn
Ring Names	{{{names}}}
Height	6'1
Weight	218 lbs.
Date of birth	July 1st, 1986
Place of birth	Ann Arbor, MI
Date of death	{{{death_date}}}
Place of death	{{{death_place}}}
Resides	Lafayette, LA
Billed from	{{{billed_from}}}
Trainer	{{{trainer}}}
Current; federation(s)	TKOW, Twilight Wrestling International, Next Generation Wrestling
Previous; federation(s)	WOF, HVW, XOW, XDF, TKOW, WFF, PWE, FTWO, WFC, EWA, TWI, NGW
Handled by	{{{handler}}}
Win/Loss Record	{{{winloss_record}}}
Debut	June 2005
Retired	{{{retired}}}

Dan Kilburn, better known as Cypher, is a wrestler in Twilight Wrestling International. He has also wrestled in multiple other feds such as Wrestling Online Federation, High Voltage Wrestling, X-Treme Online Wrestling, Wrestling Federation Conference, Elite Wrestling Association, TKOW, and a few other federations. He is a former WOF and HVW Tag Team Champion, WFC World Champion, WFC Z-Division Champion, and UHWF United States Champion. He was a member of the Black Velvets with former tag team partner Merrill "Shadowbird" Waters. He is currently a member of Serendipity with tag team partner Shion Hikari. His entrance theme is "Sharp Dressed Man" by Brad Paisley. His favorite finisher is the Crucifix Moonsault.

Life and history[]

Childhood[]

Dan was born on July 1, 1986, parents to James and Marianne Kilburn. His parents were verbally abusive to him almost his entire life and later that verbal abuse soon turned into physical. His parents always were angered at him because he did not wish to take up the family business of dentistry when he wanted to start a business of his own. He had an interest in economics and engineering, which was a rather strange combination for a kid of his age to hold interest in.

During high school, he was constantly teased and bullied around for his size. After his growth spurt, he was teased and bullied for being so skinny. One famous story that Cypher would talk about was the time that two high school bullies Jordan McQueen, who would later take the ringname Steve McQueen one of the jocks in his school and Johnathan Stewart, who would later take the ringname Communist John amongst a gang of four other teenagers brutally beat Dan to the point of a coma.

When he was fifteen, due to being "accident-prone" with medical bills piling up and their dislike for him, his parents kicked him out of the house, and left him homeless for four years. They died in 2003. Problems during his time as being homeless forced him back a grade and he graduated at the age of 19.

Early Wrestling Career and His First Business[]

In June 2005, shortly after his graduation, Dan was given a tryout in WOF by the current owner at the time, Jonny B. Jonny handed Dan an advance to allow him to get an apartment to live in over in Michigan. He was given the ring-name Cypher, and was given a gimmick of an ice-cold lonely soul, which fit him quite well, and used it in advantage to talk back at everyone who had abused him in his past. After his first few matches, the brass at WOF were impressed enough to push Cypher up the card rather quickly. During his time in WOF's developmental fed HVW (not the current fed), he became friends with Merrill "Shadowbird" Waters and created the Black Velvets. To this date, the team has never been pinned, submitted, and had only lost once in a Triple Threat Ladder match early 2006 in XOW.

In WOF, they got their first big break as a tag team by defeating Fyr & Ice and the Guerrera Brothers to become the WOF Tag Team Champions, which they would hold until WOF split in December 2005 after a short feud with the Kings of War.

XeroCreative Dueling Federation[]

Using some of the money he frugally saved, Dan started a unique federation around the end of August 2005 that combined the trading card game Duel Monsters with the excitement of professional wrestling known as the XeroCreative Dueling Federation. Despite critics claiming that the federation would bust, the roster eventually grew to as large as seventy members, and produced many top stars who would later go on to wrestling like Sakura Hyotei, Jack "X-Factor" Levine, Thiand Isnear, Shion Hikari, and Luke "Unholy" Jones. The federation ran with Dan until February 2006 when he left after a controversial decision between Sakura Hyotei and Todd "X-tremely" Able that left Dan wondering if this entire business was a good idea to begin with. The federation is inactive, but hasn't shut down as of yet. Dan hasn't commented on when if ever he would return to run the federation.

Career Prime[]

The height of his career came at the beginning of 2006 when he was wrestling for four different federations while trying to keep his own from folding. At this time, he wrestled in XOW, TKOW, and HVW, now split from WOF and becoming a separate entity, no longer a developmental fed. He won the WFC Z-Division Title from "The Dancing Senorita" Maria Wheeler in his signature Schoolhouse Brawl Match. He later won the WFC World Title from Apophis whom he'd later be close friends with. He also was a manager for fellow rival Julia Harrison in FTWO for her very short singles career until she decided to leave. He wrestled with Grave Digger in May for the HVW World Title in a Hell in a Cell match and was unsuccessful in capturing it. Many claim that since this match, Dan has yet to be the same, since the Hell in a Cell match had left him bruised and battered so badly, he lost conscious and suffered a minor concussion a month later.

During Break[]

It was later found out that the Hell in a Cell match was not responsible, but the three matches he wrestled in other feds immediately following it within the week was what strained him more. Following the concussion, doctors recommended that he take a short break from wrestling. Doing so, he started a new computer software company in Lafayette and one in Los Angeles called DeCypher Computers with Shion Hikari, whom he would later find out is his second cousin.

UHWF & TKOW[]

From there, Dan would eventually rest up until his sudden return to the ring in October. He signed up for Clyde Wilson's Ultimate Havoc Wrestling Federation in which he has won the UHWF United States Championship, and is one of their top stars. Shion Hikari, his cousin and former XDF employee, agreed to become his manager. He had also returned to TKOW where he is currently awaiting wrestling his first match. He thought about joining HVW, but time constraints with his new side job got in the way of that. Also, Dan did not want to spread himself too thin which was what caused the concussion last time. He was a member of the stable The New Breed as the wizened veteran alongside former rival Scotty "Bishop" Edwards and a number of stars. He and Shion also handled some of the production of the UHWF TV show Blood Zone and their Pay-Per-Views.

He and Shion formed the tag team Serendipity after Shion agreed to wrestle again, and they managed to capture the UHWF Tag Team Championships before dropping them in May 2007 after deciding to leave UHWF under amicable differences.

In TKOW, Cypher called up former WFC World Champion Apophis, who had retired at this time and gone into real estate and convinced him to return to the ring. After a long talk with Communist John, he too would join the two and Shion to form the Bayou Street Mafia, where they have had a few matches but the stable has currently suspended.

TWI[]

Dan "Cypher" Kilburn signed with Twilight Wrestling International in April 2007, where he currently resides as on-screen and off-screen management. His gimmick has changed completely from the old days, and is now basically a country boy who likes to do wild and crazy things to people who piss him off. His on-screen role in management is not very obvious, as he still wrestles very frequently in matches, as well as Shion Hikari. They still have the tag team Serendipity although they have currently decided to be in the singles division.

Currently, Cypher resides at Lafayette, Louisiana living with Shion Hikari, his cousin.

Gimmick History[]

Dan has used practically the same gimmick with Cypher since he has started, but has had minor revisions to it. The Cypher in summer of 2005 was very lonely, cold-hearted, and many would claim "geeky". As he progressed however, he became more confident. At the start of the XDF, his gimmick as the boss/CEO of the XDF was in direct contrast to his gimmick in WOF. However, in October, he managed to put the two together in an interesting tale when the Black Velvets went up against Scar and Sheila Qualey in a Lose and You're Fired! match.

He dropped the entire ice and lonely gimmick entirely when 2006 started and went to having the confident, businessman, "I'm gonna kick your ass" gimmick. It too has changed a bit, but only with Shion Hikari as his manager as of his return to wrestling. In early 2007, he dropped the business gimmick and had went completely "country boy".

Moves[]

Basic Move List[]

His basic move lists consist of high-flying moves mixed in with technical mat moves, giving him an all-around sense of the ring.

One-arm Suplex Hook
Elbow Drop
Elbow Drop off Top Rope
Hurricarana
Samoan Drop
Hip Toss
Dragon Sleeper
Body Slam
High Kick to the Head
German Suplex
Superplex off the Top Rope
Senton Bomb
DDT
Reverse DDT
Clothesline
Flying Spear
Flying Lariat
In-Ground Lariat
Jumping Neckbreaker
Belly to Belly Suplex
Rolling Chop
Domino Stretch
Spinning Backfist

Signature Move List[]

He has a wide variety of signature moves that meet his agility and strength in the ring.

The Freezer - High Kick to the Head
Judgment Hold - Dragon Sleeper
X-Treme Creed - Senton Bomb
Snowslam - Powerslam
Cross Spear - Spear with hands spread out to a T.

Finishers[]

Crucifix Moonsault - Moonsault with hands spread out to a T before jump and stays as such until landing. Cypher has done this more than once with a double decker, two tables on top of each other. His most noted action with this was when the Black Velvets visited WFC to take on the Harrison Sisters in a Champions v. Champions ladder match, in which they won immediately following. This was Cypher's standard finisher from January 2006 till today.
Absolute Zero - Pick opponent up high in the air, drop one way and bounce opponent's legs to the top rope, then quickly drop the opposite direction and slam opponent. This was Cypher's standard move throughout 2005.
The Guillotine - Place opponent over his back, and slams him on his head to the mat. Similar to a vertebreaker, this move is Cypher's most devastating finisher, and has only used it sparsely in UHWF, namely to "get the job done" for Clyde Wilson and GWL or The New Breed.

Theme Songs[]

Cypher has used a number of theme songs over the years:

So Deep by Silvertear - June to September 2005
Extreme Days by Tobymac - September 2005 to January 2006
Diamonds and Guns by The Transplants - January to May 2006
Remember the Name by Fort Minor - September 2006 to present

Titles and Achievements[]

#14 in the EWRT Top 200 Wrestlers for 2005
#38 in the EWRT Top 200 Wrestlers for 2006
#30 in the EWRT Top 200 Wrestlers for Mid-Year of 2007
#4 in the EWC Top 100 Wrestlers for the Mid-Year of 2007
WFC World and Z-Division double champion. He held these belts until their closing in March 2006. He retired undefeated.
Former HVW and WOF Tag Team Champions with Merrill Waters as the Black Velvets.
Former UHWF PrimeStar Champion and UHWF United States Champion.
Former UHWF Tag Team Champion with Shion Hikari as Serendipity.
Former HCW World Champion.

Trivia[]

Dan's favorite drink is grape soda. His favorite food is ham pizza.
Dan has accidentally admitted to having a crush on Sailor Venus, a character on the TV Show Sailor Moon once. He has denied it ever since.
Dan's favorite Duel Monsters card is Airknight Parshath, although he has never used it in an actual duel, and after he retired from the game, kept three copies of the card as a collector's item. Shion calls them "shiny".
Dan's favorite casino game is No Limit Texas Hold'em. He quit Duel Monsters to play the game as a full-time hobby.
Dan is a multi-millionaire, although barely. His net worth is at $2.1 million when counting his current house, company assets, etc. combined.
Dan has never dated, despite having an on-camera relationship during his early WOF days and his living with Shion Hikari and Sakura Hyotei currently.
Dan's closest friends are Merrill "Shadowbird" Waters, Scotty "Bishop" Edwards, Sakura Hyotei, and Shion Hikari.
Dan is very keen in archery and chess.
Dan has never lost an over-the-top rope battle royal in any federation.
Dan's signature match is a Schoolhouse Brawl match, which he still uses long after his gimmick regarding his high school past disappeared.