Scott Norton | |
---|---|
Born |
Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
June 15, 1961
Residence | Houston, Texas, U.S. |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Scott Norton |
Billed height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
Billed weight | 360 lb (160 kg; 26 st) |
Billed from | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
Trained by |
Brad Rheingans Masa Saito Verne Gagne |
Debut | April 15, 1989 |
Scott Norton (born June 15, 1961) is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenures in World Championship Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Norton started out as a professional arm wrestler. He won over 30 championships during his days as an arm wrestler, including four U.S. National championships, and gained the nickname "Flash" due to his quickness in winning matches. His status in the arm wrestling world earned him a role in Sylvester Stallone's arm wrestling movie, Over the Top. While touring the arm wrestling circuit in Japan, Norton was approached by New Japan Pro Wrestling about becoming a professional wrestler, but he turned it down initially. In addition to his professional arm wrestling career, Norton also worked as a bodyguard for Prince during the musician's 1999 and Purple Rain Tours.
After finally deciding to enter professional wrestling, Norton was trained to wrestle by former Olympic wrestler Brad Rheingans. Despite Norton's inexperience, Verne Gagne decided to debut him before he was totally finished with his training, putting him on television as a regular performer for the American Wrestling Association in 1989. He sometimes teamed with John Nord as the Yukon Lumberjacks. He challenged then World Champions Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and Larry Zybisco to an TV arm wrestling match. If any beat him, he would pay them (kayfabe) $1,000,000. Nothing became of the challenge. By the end of 1989, Norton left the AWA and went to the Pacific Northwest territory to further his career. In PNW, Norton started out as a face with a lumberjack gimmick and the nickname "Flapjack". He soon formed a tag team with John Nord once more to reprise their lumberjack gimmick from the AWA. In 1990, Norton turned heel and broke away from Nord to become a singles competitor. He won the Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship from Brian Adams on May 12, 1990, but was stripped of the title two weeks later after attacking several wrestlers.