The Messiah (wrestler)
| Born |
December 18, 1977 Detroit, Michigan |
|---|---|
| Residence | Los Angeles, California |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Iron Mike Ehrhardt The Blunatic The Messiah |
| Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Billed weight | 210 lb (95 kg) |
| Trained by | Carlito Montana Slam U Wrestling Gym Dynamite D |
| Debut | November 11, 1996 |
William C. Welch (born December 18, 1977) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name The Messiah.
Welch's professional career began on November 11, 1996, after being trained at the Slam U. Wrestling Gym in Sun Valley, Los Angeles, California. He worked for the school's parent company, the Slammers Wrestling Federation for a time, losing his first professional match there to El Sprito. In the Slammers Wrestling Federation, he worked under the name Iron Mike Ehrhardt.
On November 20, 1999, Welch made his Xtreme Pro Wrestling debut under a mask as The Blunatic, where he lost to Nicole Bass. The following week, The Blunatic teamed with Felony to face Bass in a handicap match, but was again defeated. On December 17, Welch debuted his new ring name The Messiah, a holy man gimmick, where he defeated Johnny Webb. The Messiah soon rose up the card and eventually became a main eventer while wrestling against Extreme Championship Wrestling alumni such as Sabu, Chris Candido and New Jack. The Messiah cemented his spot as one of XPW's main stars when he won both the World Heavyweight and the King of the Deathmatch Championships to become the company's first and only double champion.
After leaving XPW due to both personal issues and an uneasy feeling over the promotion's pornographic ties, Welch made his debut in Combat Zone Wrestling on January 12, 2002 under his Messiah ring name and gimmick, where he accepted then-World Heavyweight Champion Justice Pain's open challenge. At the first Tournament of Death on August 31, Messiah competed in the tournament despite not being an official entrant. Though he managed to defeat Adam Flash in the first round, Messiah lost to Nick Mondo in the semi-finals. Despite the loss, Messiah defeated Flash to win the Iron Man Championship on October 12 before later defeating Justice Pain for the World Heavyweight Championship on December 14. After losing the Iron Man Title to Nick Mondo on February 8, 2003, Messiah later lost the World Heavyweight Title to Zandig on October 25. Messiah would go on to win the World Heavyweight Title two more times before leaving the company in December 2006.
...
Wikipedia