Zach Gowen

Zach Gowen
Ring name(s)	Zach Gowan Zack Gowen Zach Gowen Tenacious Z
Billed height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Billed weight	169 lb (77 kg)
Born	March 30, 1983 (1983-03-30) Livonia, Michigan
Resides	Detroit, Michigan
Billed from	Detroit, Michigan
Trained by	Truth Martini Tommy Johnson
Debut	March 16, 2002

Zach Gowen (born March 30, 1983) is an American professional wrestler. Gowen has competed for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on their SmackDown! brand, as well as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).

Gowen was diagnosed with cancer in 1991, and as a result, lost his left leg due to amputation at the age of 8. Gowen walks with a prosthesis and claims he can wrestle with or without it. However, he wrestles most of his matches without it due to the inherent marketability of seeing a one-legged wrestler compete. He is known for his high-flying ability as well as his "one-legged" moonsault and is known for his one legged leg drop.

Professional wrestling career

Training

In 2002, Zach Gowen was trained by Truth Martini and Brian "The Playboy" Shotwell in Livonia, Michigan. The training school was named House of Truth by Student Tom Balish. Popular workers that trained and worked out there include Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, Jimmy Jacobs and many other popular Midwest indy wrestlers.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2003, 2005, 2006)

Gowen first gained national exposure wrestling for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling during early 2003 under the name Tenacious Z, but soon left TNA, after signing a developmental contract for World Wrestling Entertainment.

Gowen later returned to TNA on May 15, 2005 at their Hard Justice pay-per-view event, as the second entrant in the 20-Man Gauntlet for the Gold match. He lasted just under five minutes in the ring before being eliminated by Shark Boy. The next month, Gowen wrestled at the Slammiversary pay-per-view, losing in a six way match. He also appeared on TNA Impact!, wrestling Mikey Batts to a no contest before leaving the promotion once again later that year. In October 2006, at Bound For Glory, Gowen returned to TNA during the Kevin Nash X-Division Open Battle Royal Gauntlet match as the sixth entrant, but was eliminated by Johnny Devine.

World Wrestling Entertainment (2003-2004)

He made his World Wrestling Entertainment debut on the May 15, 2003 edition of SmackDown! as a planted fan in the audience. As Mr. America (a masked Hulk Hogan) was making his way to the ring, he acknowledged Gowen personally as a loyal fan near the walkway, giving him the American flag he was carrying. Later, when Mr. America was being unfairly beaten by Roddy Piper and Sean O'Haire, Gowen jumped the wall dividing the fans from the wrestler's walkway and entered the ring to aid him. Gowen shielded Mr. America's body with his own. His legless condition was then revealed when Roddy Piper grabbed Gowen and in an attempt to drag him away from Mr. America, pulled Gowen's prosthetic leg completely off and into his own hands. Fans thought the stunt was legitimate until an additional segment saw Piper be "punished" by being added to the forth-coming pay-per-view. This began a short collaboration of Gowen and Mr. America, and a feud pitting the two against Roddy Piper and Sean O'Haire. This storyline culminated at WWE Judgement Day (2003) where Mr. America with Zach Gowen in his corner defeated Roddy Piper with Sean O'Haire in his corner. Gowen's partnership with Mr. America put him on bad terms with Mr. McMahon, as McMahon was convinced Mr. America was Hulk Hogan in disguise.

On the June 26 edition of SmackDown!, McMahon told Gowen that if he would join his "Kiss My Ass Club", he would be awarded a WWE contract. Instead Gowen hit McMahon with a low-blow. As a result on July 3, 2003 to win his WWE contract, Gowen, along with supporter Stephanie McMahon, faced off against the Big Show in what Mr. McMahon billed as the first "real" handicap match (referring to Gowen and his amputee status in addition to the two vs. one parameters of the match). With run-in help from Kurt Angle and then Brock Lesnar, the team of Gowen and McMahon were able to defeat the Big Show and thus won Gowen a WWE contract as per the stipulations of the match.

Gowen's win further fueled the ill-feelings toward him from Mr. McMahon. This feud culminated in a one-on-one match between the two at Vengeance (2003) in which McMahon defeated Gowen.

As a result of his feud with McMahon, Gowen was then forced into a match with former WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, who was in the process of being put over with a recent heel turn. In his hometown of Detroit, Gowen won his match via disqualification when Lesnar attacked him with a steel chair. After the match, the assault continued. With his family watching at ringside, Gowen's only leg was worked over by Lesnar using his signature F5 maneuver and the steel ring post. Gowen's mother intervened to end the attack. Weeks later, Lesnar kidnapped Gowen, who now used a wheelchair, and threw him down a flight of stairs. As a result, on July 31, 2003, Gowen was the object of a feature report on SmackDown! and was not seen on-screen for over a month.

When he returned, Gowen continued a previous short-lived feud with Matt Hardy (which had been originally aborted to institute the Lesnar heel angle). Hardy was reportedly jealous that Gowen had been given a WWE contract after it took Hardy four years in development to finally make it onto the main roster. The Gowen/Hardy feud culminated at No Mercy where Gowen defeated Hardy (who had Shannon Moore in his corner) in a one on one match, marking his first clean victory in the WWE. He then lost a match with Shannon Moore thanks to Hardys' interference.

On the following episode of SmackDown! Gowen lost a clean match against Tajiri and was not seen on-screen thereafter. Immediately after this match, Gowen was given a modified STO by two Japanese men (Akio and Sakoda) who had aligned themselves with Tajiri. Gowen was legitimately knocked out as a result. Months later in February 2004 it was announced Gowen was released from his WWE contract.

Independent circuit (2004-present)

Although Gowen has taken a hiatus from the world of televised professional wrestling to pursue his college degree at Eastern Michigan University, he continues to appear in his hometown of Detroit for Xtreme Intense Championship Wrestling and Independent Wrestling Revolution. He also travels and appears for independent promotions such as Border City Wrestling, All American Wrestling, NWA Wisconsin, Cleveland All Pro Wrestling, Juggalo Championship Wrestling, IWA East Coast, and more.

In All American Wrestling, he is also a part of the "Michigan Invasion" heel stable (along with fellow Michigan wrestlers Truth Martini, "Amazing" N8 Mattson, Eddie Venom and Brian Gorie).

On April 14, 2007, Zach Gowen and his mystery partner Krotch defeated "Michigan Invasion" members Truth Martini and "Amazing" N8 Mattson to become new AAW Tag Team Champions. They would then go on to lose the titles to Trik Davis and Conrad Kennedy III in a 4-way elimination match on June 16, 2007.

Gowen continues to compete on the American indy scene most recently, July 18, 2010 where he became (MCWA) Michigan Championship Wrestling Association Heavyweight Champion by defeating "The Man With Class" Jason Harris ending Harris' 15 month reign as Champion.

Ring of Honor (2006, 2008, 2010)

Gowen made his Ring of Honor (ROH) debut on October 7, 2006, losing to Delirious in a singles match. Gowen would later return to ROH on February 22, 2008 in Deer Park, New York, immediately aligning himself with The Age of the Fall. On November 12, 2010, he appeared at an ROH show in Detroit, where he was announced as the newest member of Truth Martini's House of Truth faction. He teamed with ROH World Champion Roderick Strong and Michael Elgin in a loss to the Briscoe Brothers and Christopher Daniels. After a tag team loss against Grizzly Redwood and Bobby Dempsey at the following day's event in Toronto, Elgin and Martini turned on Gowen and kicked him out of the House of Truth.

Juggalo Championship Wrestling (2007-2008; 2011-present)

Gowen debuted in Juggalo Championship Wrestling as a part of their 2007 internet wrestling show SlamTV!. Initially a villain, his hard work ethic and wrestling abilities earned him the respect of the juggalo audience, per storyline. Following a failed attempt to win the JCW Heavyweight Championship from then-champion Trent Acid, Gowen formed the tag team Pimp & Gimp Connection with Human Tornado. The team made an immediate impact and earned themselves a spot in the 8 Team Tag-Team Elimination match for the JCW Tag Team Championship at Bloodymania. They failed to capture the championship after Gowen was eliminated by Doug Basham.

In the following season, Zach formed a tag team with Conrad Kennedy to compete in the JCW Tag Team Tournament for the vacant championship. Tornado, though, saw villainous manager Scott D'Amore leaving Kennedy's dressing room and grew suspicious. Two weeks later, Kennedy attacked Gowen after the team lost their match against The Bloody Brothers. Human Tornado ran into the ring to save Gowen, forcing Kennedy to retreat to the stage, where Scott D'Amore met with him. The following week, a match was set for Bloodymania II between Pimp & Gimp Connection and Conrad Kennedy with a mystery partner. The match, however, was scrapped after Gowen legitimately no-showed the event. He was blacklisted from the company shortly after due to his drug addiction and personal issues.

Zach returned to the company on March 23, 2011, where he defeated Jimmy Jacobs. He formed a tag team at Up in Smoke with U-Gene, who believed that he could be Gowen's second leg. Though U-Gene cost his team the match by distracting the referee, Gowen forgave him and announced that the team would wrestle again at the next event. On July 28, Gowen and U-Gene defeated the Ring Rydas to win the JCW Tag Team Championship. However, Gowen forfeited the championship after realizing that U-Gene cheated to win, causing U-Gene to attack him and disband the team. Both men are now scheduled to wrestle each other at Bloodymania 5.

On November 5th, 2011 Zach appeared at Kidz Playland in Detroit for Pro Wrestling All-Stars Combat for a Cure where he won a match against Virus.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Moonsault

• Signature moves
  • Baseball slide
  • Single leg running dropkick
  • Springboard moonsault
  • Swinging neckbreaker

• Managers
  • Stephanie McMahon
  • Truth Martini

• Nicknames
  • "Z"
  • "Zach Attack"

• Entrance Theme

"Out of My Way" by Seether (WWE)

Championships and accomplishments

• 3X Wrestling
  • 3XW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• All American Wrestling
  • AAW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Krotch

• Blue Water Championship Wrestling
  • BWCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling
  • CAPW Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Independent Wrestling Revolution
  • IWR King of the Indies Championship (1 time)
  • IWR Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Kamikaze

• Michigan Championship Wrestling Association
  • MCWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Mid American Wrestling
  • MAW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Silas Young

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (2003)
  • PWI Rookie of the Year (2003)

• New Wrestling Association
  • NWA Legends Championship (2 times)

• Twin Wrestling Entertainment
  • TWE Nacho Cup (2006)

• Other titles
  • TZW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Super Meetsee

References

• Profile at onlineworldofwrestling.com
• Interview at Lords of Pain

External links

• Zach Gowen at the Internet Movie Database
• Online World Of Wrestling Profile
• Truth Martin Interview on HitTheRopes.com