| Keelan Callihan | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Keelan Callihan (born June 18, 1985) is an Australian professional wrestler, actor and producer currently signed to Omega Wrestling Alliance where is one half of the current OWA World Tag Team Champions with Carlos Rosso. He is also the owner and founder of Brisbane Pro Wrestling Academy located in Brisbane, Australia.
Callihan is also known for his tenure in Elite Answers Wrestling. Prior to signing with EAW, Callihan also had tenures in a number of other wrestling promotions across the globe, finding success in virtually all of them.
Early Life[]
Callihan was born and raised in Gold Coast, Australia. His parents are Evelyn Callihan, a high school counsellor, and Phillip Callihan, an electrician. He has one older sister, Kayleigh, who is aged 33, and one younger brother, Christopher, who is aged 29. From a young age, Keelan Callihan was always interested in the art of professional wrestling. During his schooling years, it was evident that he was more of an athlete than an academic student, excelling in almost every sport he played. Upon graduating Miami State High School, Callihan immediately began training to become a professional wrestler. At the age of 21, Callihan moved to Los Angeles, California, to pursue his amateur wrestling career.
Professional Wrestling Career[]
Elite Answers Wrestling (2016 - 2018)[]
Voltage (2016 - present)[]
Keelan signed with EAW in mid-2016, and was subsequently assigned to the Voltage brand. Retaining his real name as his ring name, he debuted on the July 31 edition of Turbo, defeating Shotaro Kaneda. He made his Voltage debut on August 7, defeating Blaise Hunter. In the ensuing weeks, he formed an alliance with Marco Fedor, and the two would go on to defeat Hunter and Jason Faasoo in a tag team match. Callihan's FPV debut came at Territorial Invasion, where he would win the Hardcore Invitational. By virtue of his win, he became number one contender for the Hardcore Championship, held by Nathan Fiora.
In the buildup to his Hardcore Championship match, Keelan competed in a series of matches with Nathan Fiora on commentary. In the week prior to his title defence, Fiora would assault Keelan and injure his knee in the process. The two then main evented Voltage for the Hardcore Championship, which Fiora won after Keelan's friend and tag team partner Marco Fedor would accidentally bump him off a ladder, with him falling into a truck full of glass. This led to heated tension between Fedor and Keelan, thus leading to a Shock Collar I Quit match between the two at Shock Value, which Keelan ended up winning.
In the fallout of Shock Value, Fedor and Keelan let bygones be bygones, and continued their tenure as a tag team. They entered the Tag Team Grand Prix, and even though they were dubbed as the underdogs of the entire tournament by many, they were eliminated in the first round against The Winged Crusade (Ahren Fournier and Autumn Raven). The heated tension continued for weeks after, which led to Keelan visiting Fedor in Fedor's hometown to try and get their friendship back on track. After a rough encounter with Fedor's mother, Ellie, Ellie revealed that her son had asked for another match against Keelan at Road to Redemption 10 under Unsanctioned rules. She also revealed that Marco Fedor had drew up a friendship clause contract, with the guidelines for the friendship making Keelan's life a living hell. Keelan ended up signing the contract to have the match, and then defeated Fedor at Road to Redemption 10 in the Unsanctioned Match, giving him a 3-0 FPV undefeated record. After the match, Kenny Drake and Wolvesden returned and assaulted Keelan before helping Marco Fedor up to his feet, thus showing us that Fedor had joined the stable. Wolvesden then hung Keelan in a noose and lifted him in the air above the ring, and the lights quickly were shut off. Keelan had not been on TV since.
On a January edition of Voltage, Keelan made his return to TV surprising Marco Fedor and Jakob DeLion in the ring. He made his intentions clear when he asked Marco where Kenny Drake was, but he didn't know. The next week on Voltage, Kenny Drake called out Keelan to the ring, but instead Keelan showed up on the titantron with a kidnapped J.D. Damon and threw him off a bridge into a river, finally getting retribution after being hung in the middle of the ring at Road to Redemption. The following week, Kenny Drake appeared on the titantron after Keelan attempted to call Kenny out to challenge him to a 3 Stages of Hell Match. Kenny Drake accepted, and then Keelan's girlfriend Megan Raine walked to the ring wearing a white dress and covered in wolf's blood, mimicking the hit horror movie, Carrie.
On the March 5th 2017 edition of Voltage, Keelan defeated Kenny Drake in a Career Threatening Three Stages of Hell Match, finally ridding of Wolvesden for good. The next week, Keelan announced his intentions to challenge for the EAW Championship and was placed in a Triple Threat Contender's match the following week against Aren Msistlav and Drastik, which was won by Drastik. He went on to compete in the Cash in the Vault ladder match at Pain for Pride X, which was won by Nico Borg.
Championship Pursuits (2016 - 2017)[]
In the EAW Draft for Season 11, Keelan was drafted back to Voltage. After defeating Lars Grier on the first Voltage of the new season, Keelan was attacked from behind by a returning Carlos Rosso. In the following weeks, Carlos and Keelan exchanged attacks with Carlos even assaulting Keelan's girlfriend, Madison Kaline. This led to the two foes being two captains on opposing teams at Territorial Invasion, with Team Keelan picking up the victory in a 4-on-4 Ironman Tag Team Match. Two weeks later at Voltage's Supershow Ground Zero, Keelan defeated Carlos Rosso in a No-Ropes Barbed Wire Timebomb Deathmatch. On the October 1 edition of Voltage, Keelan qualified for the Extreme Elimination Chamber World Heavyweight Championship match at Road to Redemption (2017) by defeating EAW Interwire Champion, Amadeus. At Road to Redemption, Keelan fell short in winning the EAW World Heavyweight Championship by being the last contestant eliminated after being pinned by Jamie O'Hara. The Voltage after Road to Redemption, Keelan and Lars Grier both had a backstage meeting with Kenny Drake where they were informed that they would face off against one another at Shock Value in an Electric deathmatch, where the winner would become the number one contender for the EAW World Heavyweight Championship. The following week, Keelan teamed with Finnegan Wakefield and Chris Elite to face Jamie O'Hara, Lars Grier and Jon McAdams which resulted in a winning effort. At Shock Value, Lars Grier went on to defeat Keelan in the Electric Deathmatch.
On to the December 3 edition of Voltage, Keelan defeated El Irónico in a quarterfinals King of Elite tournament match. On the December 10 edition of Voltage, Keelan would defeat Harvey Yorke to advance to the Voltage King of Elite Finals. At the 2017 Awards Show, Keelan would defeat Cameron Ella Ava to become the Voltage representative at King of Elite (2018). At King of Elite, Keelan would fail in capturing the King of Elite crown after coming up short to Theron Nikolas.
On the January 13 edition of Showdown, Keelan showed up during a Cameron Ella Ava promo and superkicked her to show that he would be the Voltage representative to challenge for the EAW Openweight Championship. The next night on Voltage, Keelan attempted to cut a promo in the ring but left after a few minutes without saying a word. His silence continued the next week as his girlfriend Madison Kaline invited him out to dinner to try and get him into a better mindset. Kaline offered to be at ringside for Keelan's matches in the foreseeable future to which he agreed upon by nodding. On the January 29 edition of Voltage, Keelan went one on one with Shark Man with Madison Kaline at ringside. At the beginning of the match, Shark Man ended up pinning Keelan in a matter of seconds but the replay showed that Keelan got his shoulder up just before the three count. The match restarted, and after Madison was ejected for trying to get involved in the match, Keelan picked up an easy win with the Dead By Daylight. On February 10, Keelan unsuccessfully attempted to capture the EAW Openweight Championship at Reasonable Doubt after losing to Cameron Ella Ava.
Zaibatsu (2018)[]
On the February 18 edition of Voltage, Keelan turned heel for the first time in his EAW career after superkicking his girlfriend Madison Kaline in the ring, ending their on-screen relationship and aligning with The Wild Boys at the same time. The following week, Keelan explains his actions to long-time enemy and now stable partner, Carlos Rosso, but the two showed tension between one another despite their new alliance. Later in the night, Keelan and The Wild Boys assaulted Mstislav after his victory. Carlos ran down after and joined in on the assault, officially cementing Keelan's place in Zaibatsu. The following week at EAW Brooklyn Heights (2018), Keelan defeated Mstislav in a one on one match after outside interference by The Wild Boys cost Mstislav. The following week, Kenny Drake would inform both Keelan and Mstislav that they would be entrants in the upcoming Grand Rampage match. This would mark Keelan's first ever time entering the match in his EAW career.
Omega Wrestling Alliance[]
Final Storylines and Retirement (2018)[]
On April 15, 2018, Keelan made his in-ring debut for Omega Wrestling Alliance under the ring name Keelan Callihan. He defeated Caspian Grey on the first episode of Kingdom to advance to the Four Corners Elimination match at Hardcore Havoc (2018). The following week he would meet up with an old friend of his in Finnegan Wakefield and attempt to form an alliance for the Four Corners match. An alliance wasn't officially agreed upon but it wasn't declined either. On Kingdom III, Callihan would team with Wakefield and Jon McAdams to take on CM Nas, Miltiades and Jacob Senn which resulted in a double disqualification. At Hardcore Havoc, Callihan was eliminated second in the match by Finnegan Wakefield.
On Kingdom IV, Keelan Callihan would interrupt Finnegan Wakefield's championship celebration and berated him about turning his back on him during the Four Corners match. This led to the two agreeing on a one on one match for the OWA World Championship at Game Over. The next couple of weeks were spent building on how this rivalry was about two old friends and now new rivals. At Game Over, the two individuals wrestled for a total of 62 minutes and 30 seconds, but ultimately Callihan came up unsuccessful. Afterwards, the two embraced before Callihan would hint at retirement after leaving his boots on the stage and walking away.
Return (2019)[]
On February 3, 2019, after 8 months away from the ring, Keelan Callihan returned as a surprise entrant in the 30 Man Clash of the Titans match at OWA Clash of the Titans (2019), entering in at number 7. He was eliminated by Moongoose McQueen. On the February 10th edition of Kingdom, Callihan defeated Kevin Maverick in his first singles match back. He cut a promo afterwards explaining that he came back to save everybody from what OWA had become. Later on in the night, Vernon Tressler revealed to the OWA Spartan's Champion Layne Kurobane that he would defend his championship the following week against Callihan. At Divine Retribution, Callihan defeated Nathan Fiora in an Extreme Rules match. The following week, Callihan attacked Jon McAdams from behind after McAdams announced his retirement. Two weeks later, after Keelan Callihan defeated Hans Olsen in a match, Jon McAdams would attack Callihan from behind and challenged him to a match at Final Destination, saying that he had "one more match left in him". At Final Destination, Callihan defeated Jon McAdams.
Zaibatsu Reunion (2019 - 2020)[]
Two weeks after Final Destination, Keelan Callihan and The Wild Boys reunited as Zaibatsu and interfered in the main event of the OWA Draft Show, assaulting CM Nas in his match with Scott Oasis. The weeks that followed, CM Nas would attempt to get his hands on Callihan for costing him his chance at becoming the Chief Operating Officer of the company. This led to Nas challenging Callihan at Boiling Point (2019) in a Three Stages of Hell match, which featured a Fire & Steel match, a Blackout match and a Trial By Combat match. Callihan would end up defeating CM Nas in the third fall. After the match, Keelan Callihan attempted to deliver the Eternal Rest to CM Nas through a railroad spike, but was interrupted by the returning Finnegan Wakefield who confronted him in the middle of the ring.
The next few weeks leading up to the end of the year began the dissolvement of Zaibatsu altogether, as the tensions between Stephanie Matsuda and Keelan Callihan began to grow. This lead to a match between the two at Civil War, where if Matsuda were to lose she would belong to Zaibatsu forever under the leadership of Callihan. Stephanie Matsuda officially won the match, and moved to Odyssey. The absence of Matsuda only lead to more tension between the group, as The Wild Boys faded away until it was only Callihan and Rosso left. The two agreed to form a tag team as the final remaining members of Zaibatsu.
Tag Team Champion (2020 - present)[]
On the January 05, 2020 edition of Kingdom, Carlos Rosso and Keelan Callihan would go on to defeat The Dollhouse to become the OWA World Tag Team Champions. This would mark Callihan's first official championship reign in almost seven years.
Personal Life[]
Keelan Callihan resides in Los Angeles, California. Jamie O'Hara, Cameron Ella Ava, Consuela Rose Ava, Aren Mstislav, and Aria Jaxon are among his neighbors. He is also good friends with CM Nas, Finnegan Wakefield, Tarah Nova, Scott Oasis, Stephanie Matsuda and Nathan Fiora. He was a longtime friend of Brody Sparks, and wears a black armband with Sparks' emblem on it during matches. Callihan dated Megan Harper for close to three years before deciding to break up in April 2017. He also dated Madison Kaline before they decided to split up in April 2018. Callihan is currently dating Julianna DeMarco.
Callihan started producing a handful of EAW Network shows in early 2017 such as Home Sweet Home and Cruise Control.
Filmography[]
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 -
2018 |
Prank'd! | Himself | S01E09
S02E03 S02E04 S02E06 |
| 2017 -
2018 |
True Vixens | Himself | Reoccurring character |
| 2017 -
2018 |
Playmakers | Himself | Active panelist
Alongside Aria Jaxon & Carlos Rosso |
Video Games
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | EAW 2K17 | Himself (playable character) | First appearance in series |
| 2017 | EAW 2K18 | Himself (playable character) |
In Wrestling[]
- Finishing Moves
- Dead by Daylight (Fireman's carry dropped into a stunner)
- Lucid Dreams (Double underhook piledriver)
- Death Row (Scissored armbar)
- Signature Moves
- SkyPoint Driver (Back suplex spun into a spin-out powerbomb)
- Dying Light (Pumphandle half nelson lifted and dropped into a death valley driver)
- Eternal Rest (Curb Stomp)
- End It! (Chokehold STO; in tribute to Brody Sparks)
- Wheelbarrow suplex into the ring apron
- Discus clothesline
- Diving crossbody
- Diving double-knee drop
- Figure-four leglock
- Sleeper hold
- Sling Blade
- Springboard 450 splash
- Suicide dive
- Superkick
- Superplex
- Tornado DDT
- Nicknames
- "The Hannibal Lecter of Hardcore"
- "The Killer"
- Managers
- Jimmy Fallon
- Brett Hanson
- Megan Harper
- Madison Kaline
- Julianna DeMarco
- Entrance Themes
- "Blow Me Away" by Breaking Benjamin (August 13, 2007 - February 4, 2010; June 18, 2011 - August 2, 2012)
- "Kill For You" by Skylar Grey feat. Eminem (July 2017 - November 2017)
- "Oblivion" by 30 Seconds to Mars (February 11, 2009 - December 10, 2012; July 31, 2016 - present)
- "Signs" by Drake (July 2017 - January 2018)
Championships and Accomplishments[]
- Elite Answers Wrestling
- 2017 King of Elite Finalist
- Most Valuable Elitist Awards:
- 2x Rising Star of the Week
- 1x Promoer of the Week
- 4x Match of the Week
- 3x Beef of the Week