Caylen Croft
| Kris Pavone | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | May 2, 1980[1] Youngstown, Ohio[1] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Caylen Croft[1] Chris Banks[1] Chris Cage[1] Chris Pavone[1] French Man Deux |
| Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1] |
| Billed weight | 220 lb (100 kg)[1] |
| Trained by | Danny Davis[1] Nick Dinsmore[1] |
| Debut | 2001[1] |
Kris Pavone[1] (born May 2, 1980) is an American professional wrestler, currently signed with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he wrestles on its SmackDown brand under the ring name Caylen Croft.
Pavone debuted in 2001 using the name Chris Cage. After two years on the independent circuit, he signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and was assigned to the Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) territory. In OVW, he won the Southern Tag Team Championship four times (three times with Tank Toland and once with Mike Mizanin) and the Heavyweight Championship once. He was released from his WWE developmental contract in March 2006 before being re-signed in 2008. He competed for the Florida Championship Wrestling developmental territory, where he won the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship twice, and debuted for the ECW brand in December 2009.
Professional wrestling career
Pavone made his debut in 2001 as a student of Danny Davis and Nick Dinsmore. Within two years, he appeared at the ECWA Super 8 Tournament in April 2003 and began competing in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) several weeks later.[1]
World Wrestling Entertainment (2003–2006)
Ohio Valley Wrestling
After forming a brief tag team with Nova, Pavone later teamed up Tank Toland to form Adrenaline. Together, they went on to win the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship three times during 2003 and 2004.[1] Pavone later won his first and only OVW Heavyweight Championship after defeating Matt Morgan before losing it a few months later to Chad Toland, the on-screen cousin of his tag partner Tank. Cage later won his fourth and final OVW Southern Tag Team Championship, this time with newcomer Mike Mizanin. Together, they feuded with the Toland Cousins (Tank and Chad) and The Throwbacks. Cage, however, was released from his contract due to behavior problems, leaving Mizanin to defend and ultimately lose the Tag Team Championship to The Throwbacks.
Return to WWE (2008–present)
Florida Championship Wrestling (2008–2009)
After wrestling on the independent circuit, including a one-time appearance in Ring of Honor, thorughout 2006 and 2007, Pavone was re-signed to a development deal by WWE, and he began working in their development territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) under the name "Caylen Croft". Soon after debuting in FCW, he formed a tag team with Trent Barreta called The Dude Busters.[2] On May 30, 2009, Barreta and Croft won the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship from Tyler Reks in a handicap match when his partner Johnny Curtis failed to appear. On July 23, Croft and Barreta lost the championship to Justin Angel and Kris Logan. On November 19, Croft won his second FCW Florida Tag Team Championship, this time with Curt Hawkins, after they defeated The Rotundos (Bo and Duke). While they were champions, Croft and Hawkins would defend the title with Barreta via the Freebird Rule.[2] On January 14, 2010 at an FCW television taping, the Dude Busters lost the Florida Tag Team Championship to The Fortunate Sons (Brett DiBiase and Joe Hennig).[3]
ECW (2009–2010)
On the December 1, 2009 episode of ECW on SyFy, Croft and his partner Trent Barreta, no longer using the Dude Busters name, debuted as villains after defeating Tyler Hilton and Bobby Shields, two local wrestlers.[1] He and his tag team partner missed an opportunity to be #1 contenders for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship on the February 9 episode of ECW, when they lost to the team of Goldust and Yoshi Tatsu.
SmackDown (2010-Present)
On the February 19, Croft and Barreta made their SmackDown debut in a losing effort against Cryme Tyme.
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Signature moves
- With Trent Barreta
- Inverted atomic drop (Croft) followed by a running single leg high knee (Barreta)
- Simultaneous powerbomb (Croft) / neckbreaker (Barreta) combination
Championships and accomplishments
- Florida Championship Wrestling
- FCW Florida Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Trent Barreta (1) and Curt Hawkins (1)1
- Ohio Valley Wrestling
- OVW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[5]
- OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Tank Toland (3) and Mike Mizanin (1)[6]
1During his reign with Hawkins, Croft could defend the title with either Hawkins or Barreta under the Freebird Rule.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Caylen Croft". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-04-22.
- ^ a b "Dude Busters' Cagematch profile".
- ^ Gerweck, Steve (2010-01-15). "FCW crowns new tag champions". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-01-16.
- ^ a b c "The Accelerator's Wrestling Rollercoaster: Chris Cage".
- ^ "OVW Title Histories - OVW Heavyweight Championship". Ohio Valley Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-07-05.
- ^ "OVW Title Histories - OVW Southern Tag Team Championship". Ohio Valley Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-07-05.