One Man Gang
| One Man Gang | |
|---|---|
One Man Gang in March 2009.
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| Birth name | George Gray |
| Born |
February 12, 1960 Spartanburg, South Carolina |
| Residence | Central, Louisiana |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Akeem Crusher Broomfield Crusher Gray George Gray One Man Gang Panama Gang U.E.I. Gang |
| Billed height | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) |
| Billed weight | 450 lb (200 kg) |
| Billed from |
Halsted Street, Chicago (as One Man Gang) "Deepest, Darkest, Africa" (as Akeem) |
| Debut | 1977 |
George Gray (born February 12, 1960) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, (The) One Man Gang. Gray is also known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation as Akeem.
Gray, a native of South Carolina, trained with longtime local independent wrestler and promoter Chief Jay Eagle (Jerry Bragg) and Darren "Rattlesnake" Westbrooks. He started his career at the age of 17 on the Carolina independent circuit wrestling both under his real name and as "Crusher Gray." He then moved on to wrestle in the Kentucky/Tennessee area, including for International Championship Wrestling, under the ring name Crusher Broomfield. Gray went in as part of a package along with Bragg, Westbrooks, and Ric Starr. One of Broomfield's major angles was that his contract was owned by ICW Champion Randy Savage and Savage's nemesis Ron Garvin defeated Savage in a match to set Broomfield free. He later worked for several National Wrestling Alliance-affiliated promotions, Mid-South Wrestling, and World Championship Wrestling as One Man Gang, billed as being from Chicago's Halsted Street on the South Side. He was managed by Kevin Sullivan, Theodore Long, Gentleman Jim Holiday, and Sir Oliver Humperdink in various territories.
In the regional territories, he was a member of Skandor Akbar's "Devastation Inc." as well as working with Gary Hart in World Class Championship Wrestling. It was as a protégé of Akbar's in the Mid-South territory where Gray would get the name that would stick with him the rest of his career. Making his debut in the territory by interfering in matches and assaulting the fan favorite, Mid-South announcer Jim Ross would say about the then-unnamed assailant "He's a one-man gang!". The Gang worked on-and-off in Mid-South in between tours of Florida, Japan, and Texas. He would also return to his hometown territory, the Carolinas, to work for Jim Crockett Promotions, where he was initially billed as "The One Man Gang, George Gray." He worked in Texas All Star wrestling where he feuded with Big Bubba. It was on his last tour for Mid-South when the promotion renamed itself the Universal Wrestling Federation, with Gang one of its top villains, feuding at the main-event level with UWF top fan favorite Jim Duggan. In late 1986, Gang won the UWF Heavyweight Championship in an angle where the champion Terry Gordy was injured earlier in the evening by a revenge-minded "Dr. Death" Steve Williams. Gang, scheduled to face Gordy later on the card, was awarded the belt via forfeit. He held that title for six months, mostly facing Duggan, Williams, and Ted DiBiase.
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