Anthony Norris

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Anthony Norris (born June 6, 1970) is a former American professional wrestler known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation as Ahmed Johnson, where he was the first African-American to ever hold the WWF Intercontinental Championship.

[edit] Early Career

Born in St. Louis Missouri, Norris fell into the training school run by Steve Casey and Ivan Putski in Houston, with fellow trainees Booker T and Stevie Ray Huffman. They watched old tapes from the NWA and Mid-South to learn as much as they could. For fun, they enjoyed KFC & Popeyes, and loved to pick bugs out of each other's hair.

Norris started wrestling in 1995 in the Global Wrestling Federation as Moadib. He was part of Skandor Akbar's heel group Devastation, Inc.

[edit] World Wrestling Federation

Norris made his WWF debut as Ahmed Johnson in late 1995 as a participant in the Survivor Series "Wild-Card match," which put both faces and heels on the same teams. He made an immediate impact on his first night on the job, the RAW before the PPV, by becoming only the second man in WWF history at the time to body slam Yokozuna (Lex Luger being the first). At the next PPV, he faced "Nature Boy" Buddy Landell. Johnson destroyed him with ease, but in a post-match interview with Jerry Lawler, he was attacked by Jeff Jarrett, setting up their feud.

Johnson adopted the spinebuster and the Pearl River Plunge (a modified Tiger Driver) as his signature moves. He engaged in feuds with Owen Hart and The British Bulldog throughout 1996, and he quickly became popular among fans. His intense, explosive wrestling style was not popular backstage, however. Most wrestlers referred to him as sloppy and claimed his moves looked so powerful because he failed to protect his opponents.

He received an Intercontinental Title shot and defeated the controversial Goldust at the 1996 King of the Ring to claim the belt. As the first African-American WWE Intercontinental Champion, most assumed it was only a matter of time before he climbed to main event status. He was soon paired on-screen with Shawn Michaels in several tag team matches, and often helped Michaels against Jim Cornette and his men, known as Camp Cornette. Johnson later participated at an In Your House Pay-Per-View event, International Incident, along with Sycho Sid and Michaels against Vader, Owen Hart, and The British Bulldog. Johnson also won a battle royal on RAW to be the #1 contender for WWF heavyweight championship.

In the summer of 1996, Faarooq attacked Johnson after a match on RAW in Seattle and delivered a kick that ruptured his kidney. This injury ended up placing him on the injured list for four months. Years later, Simmons would state that he deliberately stiff kicked Johnson because he felt that Johnson had not paid his dues to be in the spot that the company was placing him in. The injury forced him to vacate his Intercontinental Championship, which was subsequently won in a tournament by Marc Mero. His World title shot would go to the battle royal's runner-up, Goldust. He returned to enter a feud with Faarooq in 1997 (who had a new gimmick and formed the Nation of Domination).

It was at this time that the WWE began to move away from its family-friendly image and towards the Attitude Era in order to compete with the popular World Championship Wrestling. Johnson, like many other WWE wrestlers at that time, took on more edgy personas. Johnson began teaming with the Legion of Doom and engaging in gang-fights with the entire Nation. However, mired in the storyline and losing popularity with the fans, Johnson turned into a shadow of his former self.

Johnson eventually turned on WWF Champion The Undertaker and joined the New Nation, along with Kama Mustafa, D'Lo Brown, and Faarooq. Johnson was injured soon after this, causing the WWF to drop the storyline and his planned title shot against The Undertaker, and the Nation turned on him after he recovered. Johnson began feuding with them again, but at this point the fans had lost almost all interest in his character.

As 1998 continued, Johnson made increasingly fewer appearances. He began to put on weight, and many fans felt that his wrestling skills were starting to suffer. According to various internet rumors, Johnson's declining wrestling skills and refusals to put people over led to his release in 1998. One of the biggest rumors was that Johnson balked over being asked to sell a punch for Chyna during a match of his which she was to interfere in, supposedly going so far as to say, "Ain't gonna let no bitch hit me".

However, Johnson claimed in a shoot interview that he mainly left the company because his sister was dying in the hospital and, as a result, he was unable to focus on wrestling. According to Johnson, he left the company on good terms and never injured anybody or refused to put anybody over. In the same interview, Johnson claimed that the only thing he ever refused to do was a segment which involved the Truth Commission dragging him up the ramp with a rope tied around his neck, as he considered the angle to be racist and in poor taste.

[edit] World Championship Wrestling

He was picked up by WCW in late 1999 and took on the character of Big T to team with Stevie Ray in the reformed Harlem Heat. His weight had spiraled out of control, and his ring work was noticeably less intense and less interesting. He was released by WCW shortly before the company was purchased by its longtime rival, WWF.

[edit] Retirement / Return

Norris stayed away from wrestling after his release from WCW until, on March 7, 2003, Norris returned to action in a match at a Maximum Pro Wrestling show, teaming with Monty Brown against Sabu and Gangrel. Norris and Brown lost the match. Later in 2006, Norris conducted a shoot interview with online wrestling superstore High Spots.

[edit] Wrestling facts

[edit] Finishing and signature moves

• Pearl River Plunge (Double Underhook Sitout Powerbomb)
• Missouri Crash (Spinebuster)
• Scoop slam
• Clothesline
• Gorilla press
• Scissors Kick

[edit] Managers

• General Skandor Akbar
• Clarence Mason/J.Biggs

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI ranked him # 380 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003.
• PWI Most Improved Wrestler Award (1996)

• United States Wrestling Association

• USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• World Wrestling Federation

• WWF Intercontinental Championship (1 time)

[edit] Trivia

• Norris appeared in the 2001 movie Too Legit: The MC Hammer Story as Marion "Suge" Knight.
• Played as a middle linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys from 1990-1991.
• Was given a pair of Legion of Doom spiked shoulderpads by Road Warrior Hawk. Road Warrior Animal claims that Norris stole the pads. Norris eventually gave these to a wrestling museum in Texas.
• Received a degree in Criminology from Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas. Also attended the University of Tennessee.
• A man named Tony Norris was arrested on 01/08/99 in Miami, Florida. He was arrested for pimping out three young girls, and was said to have drugs on him, as well. Although the former WWE superstar was not the Tony Norris that was arrested, internet rumors began to incorrectly state that it was.
• A running joke amongst running fans is the fact that Ahmed Johnson has what most people would call marblemouth. His speech, when on a microphone, has sometimes come across as sounding like gibberish. Various videos (most infamous are his video clips from the video game WWF In Your House)) can be found on YouTube.
• In 2006, Norris found out that he had a 21 year old daughter living in Canada. Norris claimed that he had her with a girl that he was "messing around with" in high school. As of 2006, Norris has yet to meet her.
• Norris was abused terribly by his father when he was young. According to Norris, his father used to punish him by pouring boiling water on his stomach and/or beating him mercilessly with a yard stick. Today, Norris and his father have no relationship.
• Norris once saved a woman from possibly being raped when he confronted the man with her. The man, who had a knife, fled once he saw how big Norris was. [1]

[edit] External links

• Tony Norris at the Internet Movie Database