Chris Harris (wrestler)

Chris Harris
Chris Harris
Born	December 25, 1973 (age 50)
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Chris Harris
Billed height	6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Billed weight	238 lb (108 kg)
Billed from	Fort Wright, Kentucky
Debut	November 1994

Chris Harris is a professional wrestler currently working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He was one-half of the tag team America's Most Wanted along with partner James Storm.

Career

Chris Harris began watching wrestling in 1986.He entered his first wrestling promotion under promoter Burt Prentice.Graduating from Covington Catholic High School in 1991, he attended Northern Kentucky University for two years, but dropped out in order to train as a wrestler. His initial training took place with Charlie Fulton and Kid Collins in Marion, Ohio while he worked as a truck driver for 7-Up, and he later trained with former World Wrestling Entertainment referee Roger Ruffen. Once his training was complete, Harris wrestled for independent promotions in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia for five years.

World Championship Wrestling

Along with several other wrestlers, including future tag team partner James Storm, Harris was signed to a World Championship Wrestling (WCW) developmental deal in October 2000. Terry Taylor proposed a country singer gimmick for him, but it was rejected by management (possibly because of similarities to the character of Jeff Jarrett). The highlight of Harris's WCW career was appearing as a fake version of the popular wrestler Sting at Halloween Havoc 2000 (this parody would be repeated in TNA in 2006). He wrestled on the WCW B-shows WorldWide and Saturday Night as part of R and B Security (the "Run and Bump" team) until the promotion was sold in early 2001.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

On June 1, 2002, Harris was given a tryout match against his long-time independent circuit rival James Storm with the fledgling wrestling promotion TNA by Bert Prentice. Both were subsequently signed to short term contracts. He wrestled in the Gauntlet for the Gold match on the first TNA Pay Per View, and was placed in a tag team with James Storm on the second Pay Per View by Bob Ryder, the creative force behind the team. Storm came up with the name "America's Most Wanted" for the team, which quickly became the heart of the TNA tag division.

In March and April 2003 the duo teased a split, with Storm and Harris facing off in a singles match on May 7, 2003. Storm won the match, but the partners shook hands afterwards. Harris rejected Vince Russo's offer to join his stable of degenerates, Sports Entertainment Extreme (S.E.X).

When Storm was incapacitated by the recurrence of an old shoulder injury in early 2004, Harris received a NWA World Title shot on March 17, 2004 and was defeated by then champion Jeff Jarrett. He went on to compete in a "King of the Mountain" ladder match for the title on June 2, 2004, but was again bested by Jarrett. America's Most Wanted resumed teaming together, but on August 25, 2004, James Storm was sidelined with neck and shoulder injuries, leaving Harris without a partner. Harris teamed with Elix Skipper to win an NWA Tag Team Title for an unprecedented fifth time on September 8, 2004 ^[1]. Harris and Storm later reunited.

Harris has stated in the past that "I love TNA and plan on staying for a while". ^[2] On January 16, 2005 Harris became a six time NWA Tag Team Champion (along with James Storm), winning the Tag Titles from Bobby Roode and Eric Young.

Harris would win the titles a seventh time, sixth time as part of AMW, after turning heel later in 2005 and beating The Naturals on October 15, 2005. In league with Jeff Jarrett, he would semi-reprise his role as a fake Sting when he would play the Crow Sting in a Planet Jarrett retrospective of Sting's career on TNA iMPACT! on January 7, 2006.

America's Most Wanted split as a team on the December 14, 2006 edition of iMPACT! during a tag team match with LAX in a Titles vs Team match. James Storm effectively chose the outcome of the match by assaulting Chris Harris with a beer bottle allowing him to be pinned by Homicide putting an end to AMW.

On the January 11, 2007 episode of iMPACT! Harris did a (kayfabe) sit-down interview with Mike Tenay giving a strong impression his wrestling career could be over. Harris wasn't seen on television until the Against All Odds pay-per-view in which he (wearing an eye patch) went for Storm. That following week Harris did the same thing on the February 15 episode of iMPACT! and then again the next week. On the March 1, 2007 episode of iMPACT! Chris Harris claimed his vision was at 30% and vowed revenge on James Storm. At Lockdown, Harris lost to Storm in Six Sides of Steel match, in which both men were blindfolded. It was revealed his vision had been restored, and Harris faced off against Storm at Sacrifice, in a Texas Death match, where Harris came out the victor.After this Chris Harris showed up two weeks straight to assist Rhino and Hector Guerrero with LAX. Harris entered into TNA Slammiversary as the last contestent in the King of the Mountain Match, only to lose to Kurt Angle. Chris Harris would feud with "The Instant Classic" Christian Cage, losing to him by roll-up at Victory Road after Dustin Rhodes nailed him in the back.

Independents

Harris also works regularly for NWA Cyberspace along with James Storm in the Tag Team division and as a singles Heavyweight. On November 19, in a match that was booked before AMW's heel turn, Harris was forced to fight against Jeff Jarrett for the NWA Cyberspace Heavyweight Championship (Though Jarrett was also NWA World Heavyweight Champion, that title was not on the line). Jarrett let Harris beat him with a Fingerpoke of Doom-style match, but NWA CS Commissioner Jasmin St. Claire immediately booked them for a three-way dance immediately with fellow Cyberspace and TNA wrestler "The Monster" Abyss. Abyss beat both and won the Cyberspace Heavyweight Championship.