Elba Saloum

Elba Saloum
Saloum in May 2021
Birth name	Theodore Wenz
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Kit Morris Theo Diamond Topher Smite ELBA Elba Saloum
Billed height	6 ft 0 in (182 cm)
Billed weight	220 lbs (99 kg)
Billed from	Grand Rapids, Michigan West Michigan, Great Lakes
Trained by	Antonia Bell Marcus Bell Chase Smiley
Debut	September 15th, 2015

Theodore Wenz (born October 13, 1997) is an African-American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Elba Saloum. He is currently a freelancer, best known for his work in Neuro Genesis Pro Wrestling, where he and Joji Kon are former two time Neuro Genesis Tag Team Champions, as well as his time with HYPERVIEW, where he is a former one time HYPERVIEW Hybrid Champion.

Early life

Theodore Wenz was born on October 13, 1997, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He has two younger brothers. His parents separated when he was 13. He was introduced to professional wrestling at a young age by his uncle, who was a fan himself, and credits him with inspiring him to pursue a career in professional wrestling.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2012-2015)

Prior to entering professional wrestling, Wenz was an accomplished amateur wrestler in high school, as well as learning Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Wenz initially started training in early 2012 under Chase Smiley, working at Smiley's wrestling school as a summer job for when he was off from high-school. While he had "decent potential", as Smiley once put it, his age played a strong factor in him not debuting on any show Smiley's school had put on. Having already had numerous injury scares just from training, he was mostly kept to ring crew for his time at the school.

In 2015, after finishing high-school and leaving Smiley's school, Wenz began training under Antonia & Marcus Bell, both playing a large part in his eventual debut for the Michigan based company, Independence Pro Wrestling. He won his first championship, the IPW Light Heavyweight Championship, on December 18th, 2015, by defeating Jason Bailey. Wenz lost the title to Cedrick Graves on February 4th, 2016.

He competed for several months in the Midwest under the names Kit Morris and Theo Diamond before settling on the name he continues to use, Elba Saloum.

HYPERVIEW (2016-2019, 2021-present)

On May 1, 2016, Saloum debuted for the first time overseas at HYPERVIEW 5 in a winning effort against Ozcar Losada. On June 23, at HYPERVIEW 7: Brick Shot, Saloum gained his second victory defeating Hasan Beyli via submission. Saloum would continue working for the promotion on and off for most of 2016 and 2017, taking various wins and losses from one-offs singles & multi-man contests. On February 1st, 2018, Saloum defeated Garrett Ferraro at one of HYPERVIEW's first major shows, to win an eight-man tournament and the vacant HYPERVIEW Openweight Championship.

Unnamed American Promotion (2017)

On November 8th, Saloum appeared in a dark match against Kat Calvert in a losing effort. He appeared in a second dark match, this time a tag-team match in which he teamed with Jason de Hass against The Persistence of Memory (Gray Byers & Illow Leiber) in another losing effort. On December 3rd, Saloum was reported to have signed with the promotion, though would later come out and say his run was merely a try-out for the company. While he was offered a deal with the promotion, he declined citing he felt signing to a major promotion so soon would dampen his skills rather quickly.

Neuro Genesis Pro Wrestling (2018-present)

During 2018, after getting several Saloum & Joji Kon, a close friend of his, began a social media campaign to be booked by Neuro Genesis, calling themselves the Tokyo Godfathers. Going unanswered for several weeks, Saloum and Kon, with help from a backstage friend who secretly allowed them onto the show, "crashed" a Neuro Genesis show during intermission demanding some kind of response from the promotion. They were very quickly ran off by the Neuro Genesis Tag Team Champions xxx & yyy, who offered them a shot at the next show on the sole condition if they lost, they had to quit their campaign and move on with their lives.

Despite the heel lean to the promos and overall storyline, Saloum and Kon never officially turned heel, debuting to loud cheers at "---" on April 6th. In a surprise upset, Saloum & Kon defeated xxx & yyy, winning the titles and "officially" being brought onto the promotion. Throughout the rest of the year, the two teams feuded with one another, having several memorable matches including (but not limited to) a great match at Neuro Gensis's CONCEPT OF LOVE. Their feud came to an end following a brutal Street Fight at The Story Continues, a Steel Cage match at Flava' in ya' Ear in which Saloum and Kon lost the tag team championships to xxx & yyy, and a ladder match at With Respect to Mac, the main event of the show where Saloum and Kon regained the championships.

Worth the Risk (2019-present)

Saloum made his WtR debut at the 2019 Climb the Mountain tournament, where he beat NOLAN X in round one, Travis Reed in the quarter-finals and lost to tag partner Harley White Jr. in the semi-finals. Upon the loss, Saloum was given a standing applause by the crowd, having been the youngest competitor so far to make it to the semi-finals. Following that, after the show, it was near immediately announced that Saloum would be having a match on the promotion's next card, ____, where he would face off against Riley Jannetty, whom he would defeat.

Saloum, making his WtR debut at the yearly Climb the Mountain event in 2019.

ATTACK: God Bless The Ring (2020-present)

Saloum made his pro-wrestling debut in Japan apart of a talent exchange with Worth the Risk in February 2020 at ATTACK: GOD'S BLESSING 1st Ring against KUMA Kiryu in a losing effort.

Personal life

Wenz is in a relationship with fellow professional wrestler Samantha Horne, better known by the ring name Tuesday Davis. The pair have been dating since they were in high school.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves:
  • Stop the Cap (Bridging arm triangle choke)
  • SWERVE (Forward roll into a jumping cutter)
  • Variations on a Shaker Hymn (Sitting pumphandle facebuster)
• Signature moves:
  • Bring it Around Town (Discus lariat)
  • Deadlift Saito suplex
  • Diving foot stomp
  • Double knee facebreaker
  • Exploder suplex
  • Falcon Punch (Straight right hand)
  • Forearm smash, sometimes to a kneeling opponent
  • Koji clutch
  • Jumping sit-out facebuster through the middle ropes
  • Multiple armlock variations
    • Armbar
    • Hammerlock
    • Wrist lock
  • Rope-assisted double stomp
  • Shining wizard to a seated opponent
  • Suicide dive
  • Superkick
  • Wheel of Mis-Fortune (Double rolling butterfly suplexes followed by a lifting spinning double underhook DDT)
• Nicknames:
  • "Jesus Christ, It's..."
  • "Jumpman"
  • "Savory"
  • "Tenaciously Technical"
• Entrance music:
  • "What's Good" by Tyler, The Creator (February 4th, 2021 - Current)
  • "Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman (December 12th, 2019 - February 4th, 2021)
  • "Devil in a New Dress (feat. Rick Ross)" by Kanye West (April 2nd, 2018 - December 12th, 2019)
  • "Gimmie the Loot" by The Notorious B.I.G. (February 8th, 2017 - April 2nd, 2018)
  • "Top" by Lil Uzi Vert (September 14th, 2016 - February 8th, 2017)
  • "Jumpman" by Drake & Future (January 22nd, 2015 - September 14th, 2016)
  • "Come Back to Me" by Vanessa Hudgens (September 8th, 2014 - January 22nd, 2015)

Championships and accomplishments

• HYPERVIEW
  • Hybrid Openweight Championship (1 time)

Saloum is a one-time Hybrid Openweight Champion...

• Independence Pro Wrestling
  • IPW Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

... a one-time IPW Light Heavyweight Champion...

• Neuro Genesis Pro Wrestling
  • Neuro Genesis Tag Team Championship (2 time) - with Joji Kon