Birth name | Mike Hughes |
---|---|
Born |
Stratford, Prince Edward Island, Canada |
November 7, 1974
Residence | Stratford, Prince Edward Island, Canada |
Website | [1] |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Hangman Hughes Mike Hughes |
Billed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) |
Billed weight | 256 lb (116 kg) |
Billed from | Paradise Island, Prince Edward Island, Canada |
Debut | 1999 |
Mike Hughes (born November 17, 1974) is a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Hangman Hughes. Hughes has competed on the North American independent promotions throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s as a co-founder and mainstay of Real Action Wrestling as part of the heel stable the "Kardinal Sinners" which includes "The Natural" Bobby Rude, Kingman and the Acadian Giant. Hughes briefly appeared with World Wrestling Entertainment in 2003 and performed for the Puerto Rico-based International Wrestling Association in the mid-2000s.
Born in Stratford, Prince Edward Island, Hughes met Edge, Christian and Glen Kulka at a local gym while touring Canadian independent promotions during the late 1990s. After expressing interest in a professional career, the three encouraged him and Kulka suggested contacting promoter Emile Dupre to begin training.
During 1998, Hughes began training under "Handsome" Hubert Gallant and the Cuban Assassin among other wrestlers in Dupre's Grand Prix promotion in Shediac, New Brunswick (he would later befriend fellow student Kingman, both of whom would eventually become charter members of Kardinal Sinners two years later).
Making his debut in Grand Prix Wrestling in 1999 later touring with Leo Burke and The Beast, he traveled to the United States for a brief stint in EWA before returning to the Maritime territory and establishing Real Action Wrestling with promoter Skot Gallant that same year. Although planning to tour Puerto Rico, he was convinced by Gallant to jump to RAW and help promote the promotion resulting in Grand Prix promoter Emile Dupre blacklisting Hughes from the promotion and the Maritime territory.