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Paul Burchill

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Paul Burchill
Born (1979-10-08) October 8, 1979 (age 44)
Guildford, Surrey[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Paul Birchill
Paul Burchall
Burchill[2]
Paul Burchill[2]
Billed height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)[3]
Billed weight247 lb (112 kg)[3]
Billed fromChelsea, England[3]
London, England
Guildford, Surrey
Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Trained byFWA Training Academy[2]
Mark Sloan[2]
DebutAugust 2002[2]

Paul Burchill (born Paul Kenneth Birchall on October 8 1979) is an English professional wrestler, currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling on its Raw brand. 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.

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 "you are entering this ring at your own risk. Mr Birchall and Mr Ayass accept no responsibility for any broken bones!". This catchphrase 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 various other promotions 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 developmental 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

SmackDown!

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".[4] 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!, Burchill and Regal 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 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, 2006 edition of SmackDown!. During his entrance, Burchill stood on a platform located at the end of the entrance way and then swung down to the floor on a rope. Burchill defeated Regal using his C-4 move.

Burchill once again defeated Regal 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. Regal had no choice but to dress like whatever Burchill felt like having him wear until Burchill lost a match. On the April 21, 2006 episode of SmackDown!, Burchill made Regal dress up in various costumes such as a chicken suit and a gorilla suit. Eventually, he made Regal dress up like a buccaneer for their tag team match later in the night against Gymini. Burchill ended up abandoning Regal during the match, which led to Gymini picking up the victory.

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 from the 1990s, and felt it could not work as a crowd favorite, despite the positive crowd reactions Burchill received.

Ohio Valley Wrestling

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.

RAW

Burchill competed in a dark match before the July 14, 2007 SmackDown! taping, teaming with fellow Englishman Dave Taylor in a losing effort against the tag team of Funaki and Shannon Moore. He later dressed up (ironically) as the pirate for Edge's Mardi Gras Party.[5] Burchill competed in a dark match before the August 21, 2007 taping of SmackDown!, once again teaming with Dave Taylor in a loss to Jesse and Festus. On the January 15, 2008 edition of ECW, Burchill wrestled ECW's newest superstar Kofi Kingston in a dark match and lost.

After appearing on WWE Heat on several occasions, Burchill made his return to television as a heel again with his (kayfabe) sister Katie Lea on the February 11, 2008 episode of Raw, defeating Brian Kendrick. Continuing to appear on Heat, Burchill and Katie would occasionally appear on Raw in handicap matches.

On May 26 2008, Katie Lea and Paul Burchill attacked Mr. Kennedy after his match with Carlito as a first repercussion for the dismissal of William Regal as General Manager.

In wrestling

  • Finishing and signature moves
  • Nicknames
  • Managers
  • Theme Music
  • In Ohio Valley Wrestling, Burchill used a heavy metal version of "Imperial March" for his "ripper" gimmick
  • He currently Uses "Generator A" along with Katie Lea.

Championships and accomplishments

  • International Wrestling Promotions
  • IWP Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

References

  1. ^ "Paul Burchill". CANOE. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Paul Burchill Profile". Online World Of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Paul Burchill Bio". WWE. Retrieved 2008-03-19.
  4. ^ "Another Assist From Dad". WWE. September 1, 2005. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
  5. ^ "Paul Burchill Returning". Wrestlingtalk.net. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
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