Shark Boy

Dean Roll
Born	(1975-01-28) January 28, 1975 Dayton, Ohio, United States
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Dean Baldwin El Piranah Shark Boy
Billed height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Billed weight
Billed from	"Deep Blue Sea" "The Deep Sea" "Deep Under the Sea" "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea"
Trained by	Les Thatcher
Debut	May 3, 1997

Dean M. Roll (born January 28, 1975) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Shark Boy. He is currently wrestling for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and on the independent circuit.

Career

Roll, the co-editor-in-chief of his high school newspaper, contemplated a career in journalism before deciding to become a professional wrestler. Roll trained under Les Thatcher and debuted on May 3, 1997 in Thatcher's Heartland Wrestling Association, wrestling as the masked El Piranha. An HWA mainstay, Roll also occasionally portrayed the character of Dean Baldwin, the purported fifth, lesser known Baldwin brother.

Later that year, Roll, with the help of fellow wrestler Ian Rotten, developed the cartoonish character Shark Boy, partly inspired by the 1995 song "I Come From the Water" by the Toadies. In 1999, Roll trademarked the name "Shark Boy".

Roll first gained national exposure on an episode of MTV's "True Life" (in the I'm a Professional Wrestler episide), which included footage of Roll (masked) picking up his costume and discussing how life is as an independent star.

On May 19, 1999, Shark Boy wrestled at the second annual Brian Pillman Memorial Show, defeating Matt Stryker, Terik the Great and Chip Fairway in a tournament and receiving a trophy. Following the match, numerous World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Federation wrestlers, including Al Snow, Mankind and D'Lo Brown, entered the ring and lifted Shark Boy onto their shoulders. Shark Boy also wrestled at the 1998, 2000 and 2001 Brian Pillman Memorial Shows.

As a result of the exposure gained by his appearances at the Brian Pillman Memorial Shows, coupled with his cult following, Shark Boy was signed to a contract by World Championship Wrestling in 1999. He made several appearances on WCW Saturday Night on WTBS before being released six months later in early 2000.

In November 2002, Shark Boy toured Europe with the World Wrestling All-Stars promotion. At the Retribution pay-per-view on December 6, 2002, Shark Boy defeated Frankie Kazarian.

In August 2004, Shark Boy opened a professional wrestling school named The Shark Tank in Ohio.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Shark Boy debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on July 31, 2002, losing to Jimmy Rave in a dark match. On August 7, 2002, Shark Boy, Kid Kash and Slick J lost to The S.A.T. in a six-man tag team match on the weekly TNA pay-per-view.

Shark Boy began regularly appearing with TNA in mid-2003, briefly feuding with the Harris Brothers, which led to the formation of an oddball tag team consisting of Shark Boy and New Jack. In 2004, Shark Boy formed a tag team with D-Ray 3000. The duo were briefly aligned with Goldy Locks. The tag team split in late 2004, and Shark Boy appeared infrequently with TNA throughout the booking tenure of Dusty Rhodes. Shark Boy returned to TNA on a regular basis in mid-2005, winning a six-competitor match at Slammiversary on June 19, 2005.

In September 2005, Shark Boy spent two weeks in India along with Sonjay Dutt and Simon Diamond. The trio of TNA employees visited several cities, promoting the debut of TNA Impact! on ESPN Star Sports. On September 28 in Bhopal, a riot broke out when 1000 fans were excluded from an event after attendance exceeded expectations. None of the three TNA wrestlers were injured.

Miramax lawsuit

On June 8, 2005, Roll filed a lawsuit against Miramax Films, claiming that the Miramax release "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D" infringed upon his trademark and demanding any "money, profits and advantages wrongfully gained". In November 2005 it emerged that Miramax had attempted to have the case dismissed, in addition to requesting that the court nullify Roll's trademark on the basis that "Plaintiff is a male whose services are rendered only when he is wearing a costume depicting 'shark-like' attributes."

In April 2007, the suit was settled for an undisclosed amount.

In wrestling

• Finishing and signature moves

• DSD/Dead Sea Drop/Deep Sea Drop (Diamond Dust)
• Sharkanrana (Dragonrana)
• Frog splash
• Bite to forehead, after several punches in the corner
• Bite to opponent's ass
• Sitdown shoulder neckbreaker
• Camel clutch
• Missile dropkick
• Facebreaker
• Rolling powerbomb to opponent on top rope. (Generally, the opponent will have another wrestler in superplex position, and the powerbomb will cause them to connect the superplex).
• Russian legsweep

Championships and accomplishments

• Atlantic Pro Wrestling

• APW Junior Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

• Buckeye Pro Wrestling

• BPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• BPW Tag Team Championship (1 time, with Cody Hawk)

• Heartland Wrestling Association

• HWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• HWA Cruiserweight Championship (4 times)

• Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South

• IWA Mid-South Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• IWA Mid-South Television Championship (1 time)

• New Era Pro Wrestling

• NEPW Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)

• NWA East

• NWA East Television Championship (1 time)

• Other titles

• HCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• NBWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• PCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• RAW Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)
• MWA Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• MWWC Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• MEWL Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)
• WPL Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)

External links

• SharkBoy.net
• TNA profile
• Shark Boy at IMDb