Paul Burchill

Paul Burchill
Born	(1979-10-08) October 8, 1979 Guildford, Surrey
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Paul Birchill Paul Burchall Burchill Paul Burchill
Billed height	193 cm (6 ft 4 in)
Billed weight	112 kg (247 lb)
Billed from	Guildford, Surrey Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Trained by	FWA Training Academy Mark Sloan
Debut	August 2002

Paul Burchill (born Paul Kenneth Birchall on October 8, 1979 in Guildford, Surrey) is an English professional wrestler. He was a former primary school teacher from Surrey, England but got into pro wrestling in 2001 after walking into an FWA Weekend Training camp, and quickly impressing the man running the camp, Mark Sloan. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling in the developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling.

Wrestling career

British promotions

After finishing his training at the Training Academy, under Sloan's guidance, Burchill made his debut in August 2002. He made a huge impact in the Frontier Wrestling Alliance, interfering in many matches and leaving a trail of broken bodies along the way.

During much of his wrestling career in the United Kingdom, Burchill had a "Goldberg"-esque gimmick, whereby he would destroy his opponents (whom were usually cruiserweights), and, at one point, held a winning streak.

In May 2003, Burchill's exploits earned him the notice of top British manager, "Twisted Genius" Dean Ayass, who took Burchill on as a client. Over the rest of that year, Burchill competed in several handicap matches, defeating FWA-based tag teams by knockout. During his time under the management of Dean Ayass, Ayass would proclaim to opponents that they would "be stepping into the ring at their own risk and that Mr. Burchill and Mr. Ayass would accept no responsibility for any broken bones". This catphrase would even scroll across the bottom of the screen during FWA vignettes. At the end of 2003, Burchill was named Total Wrestling and 1 Stop Wrestling's "Rookie of the Year".

Burchill would continue to wrestle in the backlash wrestling as well as various other promotions, both in America and around Europe; these promotions included the Frontier Wrestling Alliance, The Wrestling Alliance, All Star Premier Promotions, GBH, HCW, High Impact Promotions, WXW Germany, International Wrestling Promotions, British Championship Wrestling, Italian Championship Wrestling, and Wrestle Zone Wrestling.

On August 1, 2004, Burchill defeated Doug Williams and The Zebra Kid (Roy Bevis) in a No Holds Barred Three-Way to become the Champion. He would hold the title until November 6, when he lost a Falls Count Anywhere match to D-Lo Brown. Five days later, on November 11, 2004 Burchill signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment, and left England to train at its farm federation Ohio Valley Wrestling.

During one of Burchill's last appearances in the FWA at its British Uprising III event, (which saw him team with Terry Funk and Paul Travell to defeat Drew McDonald, Raj Ghosh, and Thunder), Burchill received a standing ovation and a "Please Don't Go" chant from the 1800 fans in attendance.

World Wrestling Entertainment

Burchill feuded with Aaron Stevens for the OVW Television Championship until he was promoted to SmackDown!. Even after receiving a call-up, he still made regular appearances in Ohio Valley Wrestling.

Burchill made his WWE debut on the August 27 2005 episode of WWE Velocity, when he made a run-in in a match between fellow Englishman William Regal and Scotty 2 Hotty. Burchill quickly established an alliance with his countryman, helping Regal to beat down Scotty 2 Hotty.

His SmackDown! debut occurred on September 1, 2005 in a tag team match where he teamed up with William Regal to defeat Scotty 2 Hotty and Funaki, after Burchill forced Scotty to tap out with the "Royal Mutilation". The next week on SmackDown!, Burchill defeated Scotty 2 Hotty in a singles match with the same armbar submission. Regal and Burchill were part of a Fatal Four-way match facing The Mexicools, MNM, and Road Warrior Animal & Heidenreich, with the winner acquiring the WWE Tag Team Championship. Regal & Burchill came up short, when MNM won the titles from Heidenreich & Animal. Regal & Burchill continued tagging together, mainly feuding with The Mexicools on Velocity. Regal often acted as a manager for Burchill during his singles matches.

On the December 31 edition of Velocity, Burchill debuted his C-4 move in WWE, which aided him in a victory against the jobber, John Xavier. He then disappeared from WWE television to go back to OVW for a while to receive more training and compete.

On the February 3, 2006 edition of SmackDown!, Regal and Burchill told SmackDown! "network representative" Palmer Canon that they no longer wanted to be a tag team so they could go their separate ways. During this discussion, Burchill informed Canon that his family heritage traces back to the pirate Blackbeard, and that he wanted to do a pirate gimmick on SmackDown!. He followed through on this promise the following week when he appeared backstage dressed as a pirate, with a look similar to that of Captain Jack Sparrow of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Burchill, with his babyface persona, started a rivalry with former teammate Regal, who weekly tried to convince Burchill to return to his ruthless ways. Burchill had his first match as a pirate on the March 10 edition of SmackDown!. During his entrance, Burchill stood on a platform located at the far end of the entrance way and then swung down to the entrance floor on a rope. As he made his way down to the ring, he threw beads to the crowd and pulled out his sword as his opponent William Regal looked on in disbelief. Burchill defeated William Regal using his C-4 move.

Burchill once again defeated William Regal in a singles match on the April 7, 2006 episode of SmackDown!. The match had a stipulation that Regal would have to dress like a "buxom wench" if he lost the match, which he did. Lady Regal, as SmackDown! announcers would jokingly refer to him, had no choice but to dress like what ever Burchill felt like having him wear until Burchill lost a match. On the April 21 episode of SmackDown!, Burchill made Regal dress up in various costumes such as a gorilla suit and a chicken suit. Eventually, he made Regal dress up like a buccaneer for their tag match later in the night against Gymini. Burchill ended up abandoning Regal during the match, which led to Gymini picking up the victory.

Burchill was soon joined by an unnamed buxom wench (Shelly Martinez) who made appearances with Burchill in OVW before debuting and appearing on the May 6, 2006 edition of the Velocity webcast in Burchill's corner. Shelly Martinez disappeared after that one appearance because WWE management was upset with her performance.

In mid-2006, Burchill required knee surgery and, to allow him time away from the ring to get it performed, was kayfabe injured by Mark Henry. This time away from the ring was also used to develop a new gimmick to replace his pirate character on his return. This was because Vince McMahon, who reportedly was not aware of the Pirates of the Caribbean films and Johnny Depp's pirate character, believed the character should have thought he was a real pirate, acting more like the Carl Ouellet pirate character (Jean Pierre Lafitte) from the 1990s; he felt it could not work as a crowd favorite, despite the positive crowd reactions Burchill received.

After recovering from the surgery, Burchill returned to the OVW development territory under a heel gimmick more reminiscent of his original WWE appearances. First he was billed as "The Most Dangerous Man in OVW" and later he called himself "The Ripper" Paul Burchill (reminiscent of Jack the Ripper). Burchill became the first British OVW Champion after defeating Chet The Jet for the title on December 15, 2006. On February 17, he lost the title to Cody Runnels at a house show. He won the title back the next night at another house show. On March 14, 2007, Burchill lost his OVW Championship to Aaron "The Idol" Stevens. On May 12, 2007, Burchill defeated Stevens to once again become the OVW Heavyweight Champion. Two weeks later on May 26, Burchill was given a 3 count at the same time as Stevens to force a rematch for the then vacant title (the OVW website still recognized Burchill as their champion) on June 1. Jay Bradley got involved and it was made a 3-Way Dance for the title. On June 1, Jay Bradley defeated Burchill and Stevens to become new OVW Heavyweight Champion. However, Burchill regained the title from Bradley after the Ripper breaker on the TV tapings at June 27 (the show aired June 30). Burchill lost the OVW Heavyweight Championship to Vladmir Kozlof on the 27th July at Six Flags. Burchill was set to face Mark Henry, who had injured him previously, at Six Flags on August 10th. Burchill ended up beating Henry.

Return to SmackDown!

Burchill competed in a dark match before the July 14 SmackDown! taping, teaming with fellow Englishman Dave Taylor in a losing effort against the team of Funaki and Shannon Moore. He also dressed up as the pirate (ironically) for Edge's Mardi Gras Party.

Burchill also lost his OVW Heavyweight Championship to Mike Kruel. Burchill competed in a dark match before the August 21 taping of SmackDown! teaming with Dave Taylor in a loss to Jesse and Festus.

On the january 15,2008 edition of ECW on SciFi, Paul wrestled ECW's newest superstar Kofi Kingston in a pre-show dark match and lost.

In wrestling

• Finishing and signature moves

• C-4 / Walking The Plank (Standing backflip side slam)
• Jumping neckbreaker slam – OVW
• Curb Stomp (Standing reverse Indian deathlock surfboard followed into a head stomp) – OVW
• Royal Mutilation (High angle Fujiwara armbar) – 2005
• Grounded pumphandle lift into a sidewalk slam – 2005
• Diving knee drop – 2005
• Shoulderbreaker, usually followed into the Royal Mutilation
• Standing shooting star press
• Moonsault, sometimes while standing
• No-handed suicide senton dive – Independent circuit
• Corkscrew senton – Independent circuit
• Rolling fireman's carry slam
• Backbreaker
• Overhead belly to belly suplex
• Back to back double underhook piledriver – Independent circuit
• Northern Lights suplex followed by an air raid crash

• Managers

• "Twisted Genius" Dean Ayass
• Shelly Martinez
• William Regal
• Kristal Marshall
• Holly and Molly

• Theme Music

• When teaming with William Regal, he used Regal's theme music
• After changing to his pirate gimmick, Birchill used a pirate-themed song
• In Ohio Valley Wrestling, Burchill uses Metallica's version of "Imperial March" for his "ripper" gimmick

Championships and accomplishments

• International Wrestling Promotions

• IWP Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Ohio Valley Wrestling

• OVW Heavyweight Championship (4 times)
• OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) – Stu Sanders

Trivia

• Burchill's C-4 move was also commonly named the C-4 Hotwired, as it was debuted at the FWA event Hotwired in 2003 and the subtitle of the C-4 on video was taken out of context.
• Since his pirate gimmick started, the C-4 move has been dubbed by some fans "The Plank" in reference to announcer Michael Cole's comment that Regal was walking the plank. Walking The Plank would later become the official name of the move.

• Burchill was one of the masked men in Muhammad Hassan's attack on The Undertaker.

External links

• OVW Profile