Road Dogg

Brian Gerard James
Born	(1969-05-20) May 20, 1969 Marietta, Georgia
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Brian Armstrong (The) Dark Secret (The) Roadie Jesse James Jesse Jammes Jesse James Armstrong (The) Road Dogg B.G. James Brian James
Billed height	6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Billed weight	261 lb (118 kg)
Billed from	Marietta, Georgia
Trained by	Bob Armstrong
Debut	1993

Brian Gerard (B.G.) James (born May 20 1969) is an American professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as "The Road Dogg" Jesse James. He is a former member of D-Generation X and the tag team partner of Billy Gunn, with whom he comprised the New Age Outlaws in the WWF and The James Gang and Voodoo Kin Mafia in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). He is currently working for TNA.

Career

Early career

James served in the United States Marine Corps from 1987 to 1993 and fought in Operation Desert Storm in 1991 where he was a platoon Sergeant in command of thirty-three Marines. During his recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in Parris Island, South Carolina, James was named Honor Man. Six months after receiving his discharge in 1993, James began wrestling. He feuded with Robbie Eagle in the Carolinas. He was also a member of the United States Silent Drill Platoon as a guidon bearer.

World Wrestling Federation (1994–2000)

The Roadie

After wrestling for a whole year in Smoky Mountain Wrestling and making occasional appearance for World Championship Wrestling as Brian Armstrong, James began his career with the World Wrestling Federation towards the end of 1994. He was billed as The Roadie, an assistant to "Double J" Jeff Jarrett, a would-be country singer. He wrestled on several pay-per-views and television shows, but most of his first WWF tenure was spent accompanying Jarrett and interfering in his matches. In early 1995, Jeff Jarrett released the song "With My Baby Tonight," that Jarrett claimed he had sung himself. The planned angle was to reveal that it was The Roadie, not Jarrett, who had really performed the vocals on this song, sparking a feud between the two wrestlers. Before this revelation could take place, Jarrett and James suddenly left the WWF following the second In Your House pay-per-view on July 23 1995. James then joined the United States Wrestling Association as Jesse James Armstrong, winning the heavyweight and tag titles before being forced to leave as a result of a loss at the hands of Jeff Jarrett.

New Age Outlaws

James returned to the WWF in 1996 as Jesse James, "The Real Double J", and revealed himself to be the true singer of "With My Baby Tonight". He languished as a midcard singles wrestler until he formed a tag team with Billy Gunn, New Age Outlaws. A change in creative direction in the WWF in late 1997 led Billy Gunn, who had formerly been stuck in the unpopular gimmick of "Rockabilly," to bleach his hair blonde and assume the name "Badd Ass" Billy Gunn (also known as Mr. Ass), while James became "The Road Dogg" Jesse James. The appearance and mannerisms of the team became more and more controversial and anti-social. The team, known as the New Age Outlaws, feuded with the Road Warriors and the short-lived tag team of Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie before joining D-Generation X the night after WrestleMania XIV.

The Outlaws amassed five World Tag Team Title reigns before Gunn was legitimately injured in early 2000 and thrown out of DX to explain his absence. James then teamed with fellow DX member X-Pac throughout the summer of 2000 but failed to regain his former popularity or title success. The team eventually split, and DX fell apart. James then formed a tag team with newcomer K-Kwik. He was suspended in December 2000, and the WWF announced his release on January 26 2001.

Independent circuit (2000-2002)

His most prominent appearance in the independent circuit was with the short lived World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) promotion.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2002–present)

James debuted for the upstart Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion on September 18 2002 wrestling as B.G. James (the popular Road Dogg gimmick was owned by WWE). He was initially a heel and one of the founding members of Vince Russo's S.E.X faction.

3Live Kru (2003-2005)

In July 2003, James formed the stable known as the 3Live Kru with Hispanic wrestler Konnan and the African American wrestler Ron Killings. James was presented as a white trash redneck. The group was popular from the outset and was notable because they sang their own entrance music as they approached the ring. The 3Live Kru turned out to be a successful gimmick as Killings held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for a second time and all three members enjoyed Tag Title reigns.

Tension arose when James' former partner Billy Gunn joined TNA as "The New Age Outlaw" (later shortened to "The Outlaw") in February 2005. The Outlaw repeatedly courted James, seeking to split the Kru and recreate the New Age Outlaws. When The Outlaw began feuding with the Kru, James repeatedly found his loyalties divided, unwilling to fight either his former or current tag team partners. For a time, James stopped appearing with the Kru but did not align himself with The Outlaw, who had by then changed his name to "Kip James" as a "tribute" to James' father. However, at Sacrifice, he reasserted his allegiance with 3LK as special guest referee in a match between the other members of 3LK and the team of Kip James and Monty Brown. Kip James tried to warm up to 3LK again in the lead-up to Bound for Glory by saving B.G. several times from Team Canada. At Bound for Glory, he offered his protective services to them against Team Canada (to neutralize Scott D'Amore, as he said). When they lost, Kip James came down to the ring, appearing ready to hit Konnan with a steel chair since he originally vetoed Kip's offer. Kip instead saved Konnan from Team Canada, thus proving his original intentions.

On the November 26 episode of Impact!, B.G. brought Kip and the 3LK to the ring and asked The Truth and Konnan to give Kip James a yes/no vote to be accepted into the group. After B.G. got heated with Konnan, both gave Kip yes votes and the 4Live Kru was born. The 4Live Kru was short lived as Konnan, still apparently upset at Kip James's induction into the Kru, bashed both B.G. and Kip over the head with a steel chair at Turning Point. Konnan, still wanting Ron Killings to be his "family," tried talking with The Truth. Killings told Konnan that he was done with the Kru and wanted to leave it all behind him.

The James Gang (2006)

After the incident, B.G. and Kip regrouped, reformed their old tag team as The James Gang and feuded with Konnan's new stable, The Latin American Exchange, which he formed with Homicide and Apolo. Apolo was sent home from the Against All Odds after complaining about being used as a jobber and was quickly replaced by a relative unknown named Machete.

On a subsequent edition of Impact!, B.G.'s real life father "Bullet" Bob Armstrong informed The James Gang that he was sick of the shenanigans of LAX and how they always used strength in numbers to their advantage. He informed them that he was going to see Larry Zbyszko to have himself added to the Destination X match as their partner, effectively making it a three-man tag team. A despondent B.G. turned to Kip James and comically uttered "Mom is gonna KILL me!". "Bullet" was in fact added to the team and, they won the match at Destination X. The next month an arm wrestling match was booked between Bullet Bob Armstrong and Konnan, where the losing team would get hit ten times with a leather whip. Bob Armstrong prevailed with the victory, so The LAX got whipped several times upon scrambling out of the cage for survival.

Following The LAX rivalry, B.G and Kip went after Team 3D, aka the Dudley Boyz. The two teams cut promos arguing over their long term histories with past promotions such as WWE and ECW. The rivalry came to a head at TNA Sacrifice when The James Gang beat Team 3D using a lead pipe. The James Gang and Team 3D feuded throughout the summer. They were scheduled for a #1 contendership match at Hard Justice but, due to a fire, the match was canceled. The match was rescheduled for Impact!, but The Gang lost.

On the November 2 2006 edition of Impact!, Kip and B.G. James announced that they were going to quit TNA. Kip James grabbed the mic and tried to say something to the TNA administration and Spike TV, but each time his mic was cut off. Kip then tried to use the announcer's headset, but it was cut off as well. Frustrated, he started yelling loudly to the crowd, but he was cut off as the show went to a commercial break. When the show returned, the announcers speculated that they may have been frustrated due to the influx of new talent entering TNA. It was since reported that the segment was a worked shoot that Vince Russo had written in order to renew interest upon their eventual return.

Voodoo Kin Mafia (2006-2008)

On the November 16 airing of Impact!, The James Gang announced that they would now be known as Voodoo Kin Mafia (VKM). They spent their airtime bashing Vince McMahon and both members of D-Generation X, using their real names: Paul Levesque and Michael Hickenbottom. After calling Triple H "Triple Hollywood" and Shawn Michaels "Shawn Kiss-My-Bottom," VKM claimed they were declaring war on DX and Vincent Kennedy McMahon (VKM). On the November 23 airing of Impact!, they drove around searching for their targets, but they ended up arriving at a Target store. At the end of the episode, VKM argued, and Kip pointed straight ahead to the WWE World Headquarters. To which, B.G. responded, "We're back!". In December 2006, as acknowledged by TNA's Website, VKM accepted The Hardys' open challenge to a match at December to Dismember. However, WWE never acknowledged their challenge. Over the following weeks, VKM aired several more videos bashing DX and Vince McMahon. They also made a $1,000,000 challenge to DX as announced on the TNA website. They declared 'victory' at Final Resolution. In early 2007, however, James said in a shoot interview along with his tag team partner Kip James that he would jump back to WWE if he could get out of his TNA contract and got a WWE offer.

On August 4, James returned to the Boston based Millennium Wrestling Federation's Soul Survivor IV wrestling event and fanfest. James worked for the promotion when it opened in 2001, but no-show a benefit for "Superstar" Billy Graham in October 2002 due to his "personal demons." MWF has brought the real life situation into the storyline. James and Beau Douglas went on to win the MWF Tag Team Championship from the Canadian Superstars (J-Busta & Dave Cole). During a pre-event question and answer session, James went into his hatred of Jim Ross and his feelings that WWE ruins families and lives. James and Douglas lost the titles back to the Canadians on October 27 2007 at a Special Olympics fundraiser in Salem, Massachusetts. After five years of bad blood, James made peace with promoter Dan Mirade for sabotaging the Graham benefit and has agreed to return in the future.

At Turning Point, B.G won one of the cases in the Feast or Fired match which granted him a TNA World Tag Team Championship match. Instead of Kip, he chose his real life father "Bullet" Bob Armstrong to be his tag team partner. B.G. and Bullet Bob lost their title match against A.J. Styles and Tomko in the opening match of Against All Odds.He and Kip had turned face but on the February 21 2008 edition of Impact!, Kip turned on his longtime tag team partner B.G James and B.G's dad "Bullet" Bob Armstrong by hitting them both with a crutch and thus turning heel.

In wrestling

• Finishing and signature moves
  • Pumphandle drop
  • Shake, Rattle and Roll (Jabbing combination finished with a clothesline)
  • Shaky Knee Drop (Dancing jumping knee drop)
  • Piledriver
  • Dropkick – Early career
  • Flowing DDT
  • Powerbomb

• With Billy Gunn / Kip James
  • Spike piledriver
  • Double hotshot - 1997-1998

• Managers
  • Roxxi Laveaux
  • Konnan
  • Tori
  • Bob Armstrong
  • Chyna

• Nicknames
  • B-Jizzle
  • The Real Double J
  • The Trailer Park Gangsta

Championships and accomplishments

• Atlantic Coast Championship Wrestling
  • ACCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• Catch Wrestling Association
  • CWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Cannonball Grizzly
• Continental Wrestling Federation
  • Continental Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• Millennium Wrestling Federation
  • MWF Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) – with Beau Douglas
• NWA Wrestle Birmingham
  • NWA Alabama Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
• Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
  • NWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Konnan and Ron Killings
• United States Wrestling Association
  • USWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • USWA Television Championship (2 times) (First)
  • USWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Tracy Smothers
• World Wrestling All-Stars
  • WWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) (First)
• World Wrestling Federation
  • WWF Hardcore Championship (1 time)
  • WWF Intercontinental Championship (1 time)
  • WWF Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Billy Gunn

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI Tag Team of the Year (1998) with Billy Gunn

Notes

¹Titles defended under the Freebird Rule.

Personal life

James and his wife Tracey have two children, daughter, Amber and son, Dustin.

James admits to having had problems with drugs all of his life. In high school, he began smoking marijuana and graduated to pain killers during his time in D-Generation X. After being suspended from the WWF, he went to rehab to try and straighten out his life.

References

• Bill Apter (2001). "Down a Dark Road: Interview from Wrestling Digest". Retrieved 2007-05-14. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Adam Martin (2005-03-12). "B.G. James Interview". WrestleView. Retrieved 2007-05-14.

External links

• TNA Profile
• Unofficial DeGeneration X Homepage: The Road Dog Jesse James
• Profile at Online World of Wrestling
• TNA Superstars - BG James
• B.G. James at Accelerator3359.com
• CageMatch.de - Jesse James
  • Jesse James Armstrong at the WrestleWiki
  • B.G. James at IMDb