Brad Armstrong
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Brad Armstrong | |
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Statistics | |
Ring name(s) | Arachnaman Badstreet Candyman B.A. Buzzkill Mr. R Brad Armstrong |
Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm) |
Billed weight | 233 lb (106 kg) |
Born | June 15, 1961 Marietta, Georgia |
Trained by | Bob Armstrong |
Debut | 1980 |
Brad Armstrong (born Bradley James on June 15, 1961) is an American professional wrestler. He is the son of Bob Armstrong and has three brothers that also wrestle, Steve, Scott and Brian. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment working on its ECW brand.
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[edit] Career
Brad started out in Southeast Championship Wrestling in 1980. He was a face, or good guy, due to his good looks and superb wrestling ability. He feuded with Jerry Stubbs and Tom Prichard during his stay there and won the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) US Junior Heavyweight title there.
Later he moved to the Georgia part of the NWA and feuded with Ted DiBiase and with father Bob, the Fabulous Freebirds of Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts. He also became friends with Tim Horner. He and Horner formed a team called the Lightning Express, due to Horner's nickname of "White Lightning" & Armstrong's quickness. His name was stolen from local prodigy Brad Armstrong, who he thought was so awesome he changed his name to his.
Brad wrestled in the Universal Wrestling Federation with Horner and they feuded with the "Sheepherders", later known as The Bushwhackers, Butch Miller and Luke Williams. They also had some matches with future superstars Sting and Rick Steiner.
In 1991, Brad was put in a mask as Badstreet, the masked member of the Fabulous Freebirds along with Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin. They won the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) World Six-Man Tag Team Titles. Brad never revealed his Badstreet identity on television.
Later that year he was given another masked gimmick, Arachnaman, who looked so much like Spider-Man that Marvel Comics sued WCW, who soon dropped the gimmick. In June 1992, Brad won the WCW Light Heavyweight Championship (also known as the first incarnation of the WCW Cruiserweight Title). He soon injured his knee and he was stripped of the title. He returned in early 1993 and remained with the company until early 1995.
He worked for Smoky Mountain Wrestling for the rest of 1995 (capturing their title) and eventually came back to WCW. In 1999, he was repackaged as "B.A.", a member of the No Limit Soldiers stable. When that group disbanded, he was given the gimmick of Buzzkill, a takeoff of his brother Brian's gimmick Road Dogg. In fact, the theme song he used for the character was very similar to the New Age Outlaws theme song in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). However, this gimmick bombed as fans saw it as a cheap imitation of Road Dogg and also seemed to have no idea that Brad and Brian were brothers.
He was injured early in 2000 and left the business for a few years, until returning to the independent circuit in 2004.
[edit] World Wrestling Entertainment
On September 12, 2006, Armstrong signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment and began wrestling at ECW brand house shows and acting as a trainer to the younger members of the ECW roster.
On the December 19, 2006 edition of 'ECW on Sci Fi Armstrong made an appearance as a "guest commentator" for a match. Rumors quickly circulated the Internet wrestling community that permanent color-man, Tazz, was on his way out of the company when his contract expired in March and Armstrong was being eased into his position, though both men denied it at every opportunity. Armstrong returned as commentator for the entire January 9, 2007 episode, but after that wasn't seen in the commentary role. Armstrong was brought in as a potential replacement for Peter Senerchia. WWE had the idea that if they put Armstrong in with Tazz and Joey Styles, it would push Tazz to resign with WWE.[citation needed]
[edit] Wrestling facts
- Finishing and signature moves
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- Armstrong Legsweep (Three-quarter facelock Russian legsweep)
- Armstrong Leglock (Figure four leglock)
- Managers
[edit] Championships and accomplishments
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- National
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- NWA National Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
- NWA National Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Tim Horner (1) and Bob Armstrong (1)
- Regional
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- NWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Magnum T.A.
- NWA Rocky Top Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Ricky Morton
- NWA Southeast Continental Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
- NWA Southeast Tag Team Championship (4 times) - with Bob Armstrong (2), Scott Armstrong (1), and Norvell Austin (1)
- NWA Southeast United States Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
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- PWI Rookie of the Year award in 1982.
- PWI also named him # 270 out of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.
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- Mid-South North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- UWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Tim Horner
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- SMW Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
- Tennessee Mountain Wrestling
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- TMW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Scott Armstrong
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- WCW Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin
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- 1981 Rookie of the Year (tied with Brad Rheingans)
- 1987 Most Underrated Wrestler
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- EWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Categories: Articles lacking sources from December 2006 | All articles lacking sources | Articles with unsourced statements since March 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | American professional wrestlers | 1961 births | Living people | People from Marietta, Georgia | People known by pseudonyms | Armstrong wrestling family | Smoky Mountain Wrestling alumni | World Championship Wrestling alumni