Fred Rosser
Darren Young | |
---|---|
![]() Young in April 2016 | |
Birth name | Frederick Douglas Rosser III |
Born | Union, New Jersey United States[1] | November 2, 1983
Alma mater | Fairleigh Dickinson University |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Darren Young[1] Fred Rossen[2] Fred Rosser[1] Fred Sampson[1] Fred Sanford[1] Frederick of Hollywood[2] Officer Sampson[2] |
Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[3] |
Billed weight | 239 lb (108 kg)[3] |
Billed from | Miami, Florida[3] |
Trained by | Dennis Condrey[1] Florida Championship Wrestling[1] |
Debut | 2002[4] |
Frederick "Fred" Douglas Rosser III (born November 2, 1983), better known by his ring name Darren Young, is an American professional wrestler signed to WWE on the Raw brand. He is a former one-time WWE Tag Team Champion.
Prior to signing with WWE, Rosser competed in Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic independent promotions including Chaotic Wrestling, East Coast Wrestling Association, Independent Wrestling Federation and the National Wrestling Alliance.
Early life
Rosser was born in Union Township, New Jersey. He began watching professional wrestling during the mid-1980s and became interested in becoming a professional wrestler as a teenager, wrestling in several backyard wrestling federations. He attended Union High School in New Jersey, where he played American football, both offensively and defensively.[5] He attended Fairleigh Dickinson University, where he played football for a year before deciding to focus on his academic studies and professional wrestling.[5]
Professional wrestling career
Training and independent circuit (2002–2004)
Rosser became interested in becoming a professional wrestler as a teenager, wrestling in several backyard wrestling federations. He researched a number of wrestling schools before deciding on Camp IWF in West Paterson, New Jersey. This was due in part to his employer, whose uncle was a friend of a local wrestler training there at the time, and helped him enroll in the wrestling school.[6]
Rosser made his professional debut in 2002 and spent several years on the independent circuit, including wrestling for the Independent Wrestling Federation and Chaotic Wrestling during his early career.[7] On May 17, 2003, he won his first major title when he defeated the IWF Heavyweight Championship in Woodland Park, New Jersey and held it for over half a year until losing to Roman on January 17, 2004. It was at a house show in Chaotic Wrestling that he was first noticed by promoter Jim Kettner and invited to compete for the East Coast Wrestling Association where he made his debut in the summer of 2004.[8] Shortly after entering the promotion, Rosser began feuding with Prince Nana over the ECWA Mid Atlantic Championship and eventually defeated him for the title[6] in Newark, Delaware on September 18, 2004. He lost the title to Nick Malakai less than two months later.
World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE
Early appearances and Florida Championship Wrestling (2005–2009)
During 2005 and 2006, Rosser made several appearances for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on its weekly programs Sunday Night Heat and Velocity as well as in dark matches on SmackDown and Raw.[9][10] In May 2009, Rosser signed a WWE developmental contract and was sent to WWE's developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling, under the name Darren Young.[1][11] In FCW, Young was in a tag team called The South Beach Party Boys with Percy Watson.
The Nexus (2010–2011)
On February 16, 2010, it was announced that he would compete as part of the first season of WWE NXT, mentored by CM Punk.[12]
On February 23, 2010, Young made his debut on NXT with a character described as a "South Beach Party Boy", losing his debut match to David Otunga. His storyline had mentor CM Punk showing apathy towards him, claiming he had no idea why he's in NXT and did not want to train Young unless he accepted his Straight-edge lifestyle.[13] Despite this, Punk and his disciples, Luke Gallows and Serena, helped Young win his rematch against Otunga the following week.[14] Young was ranked eight in the first Pros' Poll. After the pros' poll, Young decided to join The Straight Edge Society in an attempt to improve, only to change his mind before getting his hair shaved off. CM Punk decided to forgive him for standing up to him when he defeated Luke Gallows with Young's own hair on the line. Because of this victory, CM Punk had then been interested in Young's potential, but in turn started feuding with a jealous Luke Gallows. On May 11 in the second Pros poll, Young was ranked fifth out of the six remaining contestants and narrowly escaped elimination.[15] The following week, however, Young was eliminated from the competition.[16]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/The_Nexus_at_SummerSlam_2010.jpg/300px-The_Nexus_at_SummerSlam_2010.jpg)
The week following the Season 1 finale, Young, along with the other season one NXT rookies turned heel and interfered in the main event match on Raw between John Cena and Young's former Pro, CM Punk and attacked both wrestlers, the announce team and the ring announcer Justin Roberts, before they dismantled the ring area and surrounding equipment.[17] On the June 14, 2010 edition of Raw, the rookies attacked General Manager Bret Hart, when he refused to give them contracts.[18] The following week on Raw, Vince McMahon fired Hart and announced that a new General Manager had been hired, one that had signed all seven season one NXT rookies to contracts.[19] The following week, the group was named The Nexus.[20] On the July 5 episode of Raw, The Nexus tried to attack John Cena as he confronted Wade Barrett during their "truce" with one another. The segment ended with The Nexus leaving without Young, when other Raw wrestlers arrived to aid Cena, and Young was assaulted by Cena to end the show. Due to Cena's actions, the new general manager pitted Cena in a 7 on 1 handicap match against The Nexus scheduled for the following week.[21] Young however did not participate in the handicap match due to injuries caused by Cena the previous week, though The Nexus was successful in winning the match.[22] He returned on July 18 at Money in the Bank with the rest of The Nexus, sporting a new haircut and costing Cena the WWE Championship against Sheamus. After the match, Cena attacked Young and fellow Nexus teammate, Michael Tarver.[23] The Nexus continued to feud with Cena and the Raw roster, resulting in a seven-on-seven elimination tag team match at SummerSlam. Young was the first person to be eliminated from the match, when he submitted to Daniel Bryan in under a minute, and The Nexus went on to lose the match.[24] On the next episode of Raw the members of The Nexus fought in individual matches against members of the victorious Team WWE with the stipulation that losing a match would have them exiled from the group. Young chose to face John Cena, but failed to win and was exiled and attacked as a result.[25]
Young returned on the September 6 episode of Raw, distracting Barrett and costing him a match against Randy Orton thus turned Young face.[26] On the October 4 episode of Raw, Young participated in a battle royal to determine the number one contender to the WWE Championship, but was eliminated by The Nexus.[27] Young had his first singles match since leaving The Nexus on the October 7 episode of Superstars, but lost to William Regal.[28] Young had his first win in singles competition on the October 14 airing of Superstars defeating Primo.[29] Young teamed up with Tatsu in a losing effort against The Usos in mid November on two occasions. Young got his first victory of 2011 when he teamed with Primo, Yoshi Tatsu and David Hart Smith to defeat Zack Ryder, William Regal and The Usos on the January 13 episode of Superstars.[30]
Return to NXT (2011–2012)
In March 2011, Young was selected as one of six former NXT contestants to return to the show in its fifth season, NXT Redemption. During this season, Young was mentored by Chavo Guerrero. In the season premiere, Young defeated Jacob Novak and won the first challenge to earn himself "redemption points".[31] On the April 12 episode of NXT, Young attacked Titus O'Neil after their match and tried to attack O'Neil's pro Hornswoggle, but was stopped by Guerrero.[32] He turned heel, when he attacked Hornswoggle, and later he and Guerrero faced O'Neil and different tag team partners on several occasions. On the April 19 edition of Redemption, Young faced Hornswoggle in single match. During their match, Chavo Guerrero gave Young a blindfold but In the end Hornswoggle wins after a Tadpole splash. On the May 3 edition of Redemption, Young lost to his Pros Chavo Guerrero with Hornswoggle as a special guest referee. On the May 10 edition of Redemption, Hornswoggle didn't appear on NXT and accused by Hornswoggle Rookie's Titus O'Neil. The following week, It was revealed Chavo Guerrero kidnapped Hornswoggle and hid Hornswoggle in the box. Then, Guerrero and Young was attack Hornswoggle in the ring until O'Neil made a save. The feud was settled when Titus O'Neil and Darren Young faced each other in a No Disqualitication Match on the May 24 episode of NXT Redemption. The match ended with Titus O'Neil a victor after Hornswoggle interfered in a match which O'Neil attack Guerrero and Young. Guerrero was later released from WWE, leaving Young on his own. In August he formed an alliance with Derrick Bateman and the duo teamed up against O'Neil and NXT host Matt Striker, but were defeated.[33] Young then moved into a feud with Striker, defeating him on two consecutive occasions.[34][35] After Young attacked Striker following a handshake, William Regal intervened, saving Striker.[36] Two weeks later, Young was defeated by Regal in a singles match. Young then formed an alliance with JTG and defeated Striker and O'Neil. After the match they were attacked by the Usos.[37]
Young was suspended for 30 days on October 5, 2011.[38] Following his suspension, Young returned on the November 16, 2011 episode of NXT and assaulted Titus O'Neil.[39] Young was then able to get the better of O'Neil twice in tag team matches.[40][41] The conclusion to Young's feud with O'Neil came when O'Neil defeated Young in a no disqualifications match.[42]
The Prime Time Players (2012–2014)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Prime_Time_Players_in_Minehead.jpg/170px-Prime_Time_Players_in_Minehead.jpg)
O'Neil then turned heel and formed an alliance with Young. Young and O'Neil feuded with Percy Watson and Alex Riley in February 2012, defeating them twice.[43][44] In March, while he and O'Neil were feuding with the Usos, Young started chasing the affections of Tamina.[45]
On the April 18 episode of NXT, Young and O'Neil were signed by John Laurinaitis to the SmackDown brand.[46] The team made their debut for the brand on the April 20 episode of SmackDown with a victory over the Usos. The team suffered their first team loss against the WWE Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston and R-Truth on the May 18 edition of Smackdown.[47][48] At the No Way Out pay-per-view in June, minutes before Young and O'Neil teamed up to defeat Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd, Primo & Epico and the Usos in a four-way #1 tag team match to earn a future shot at the WWE Tag Team Championship, after A.W. turned on his clients, Epico and Primo.[49] On the July 16 episode of Raw, Young and O'Neil unsuccessfully challenged Kofi Kingston and R-Truth for the WWE Tag Team Championship.[50] On the August 10 episode of SmackDown, they defeated Primo and Epico in a #1 contenders match via disqualification when A.W. provoked Kingston and R-Truth, who were on commentary, into interfering in the match.[51] That same day, A. W. was released from his contract.[52] Prime Time Players received their title shots at SummerSlam, but were again defeated by Kingston and R-Truth.[53] On the September 7 edition of Smackdown, Prime Time Players defeated Primo and Epico and The Usos in a triple threat tag team match to earn another shot at the title.[54] But on Raw three days later, Prime Time Players lost their title shot to the team of Daniel Bryan and Kane (soon to be known as Team Hell No).[55] At the Survivor Series pay-per-view, Young took part in a 10 man elimination tag team match, but was eliminated by Rey Mysterio.[56] Young also competed in the 2013 Royal Rumble entering at entrant 15, but was quickly eliminated by Kofi Kingston.
On the August 19, 2013 edition of Raw, the Prime Time Players turned face in a winning effort against the Real Americans (Jack Swagger and Antonio Cesaro), Darren Young's second face turn and Titus O'Neil first face turn. The face turn had been speculated about for some months, especially after Young's real-life coming out the previous week which received mainstream media coverage.[57] The team gained a push, challenging for the WWE Tag Team Championship, but lost a match to the Shield. The duo also sided with other face wrestlers from the active roster, only to get punished by COO Triple H for preventing Daniel Bryan from being critically injured by Randy Orton. The Prime Time Players were amongst the select few ordered to battle The Shield in separately sanctioned 3 on 1 handicap matches on the September 20 edition of SmackDown, as punishment for their intervention.
Singles competition (2014)
On the January 31, 2014 episode of SmackDown after Young was pinned in a tag team match against RybAxel (Ryback and Curtis Axel), O'Neil attacked him and disbanded the team. On SmackDown the following week, Young attacked O'Neil backstage after his interview.[58] Young picked up a victory over Damien Sandow on the February 14 edition of SmackDown before being attacked by O'Neil, which turned into a brawl and left O'Neil in tattered clothes. They fought at the Elimination Chamber, with the victor being O'Neil. However, Young defeated O'Neil in a rematch on Main Event. At WrestleMania XXX, Young was in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, where he was eliminated by 3MB. At a WWE live event on April 12, Young was injured in a match against Fandango, and on April 16, he underwent surgery to repair a torn ACL in his left knee that would take him out of action for four to six months.
PTP reunion (2015–2016)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2a/The_Prime_Time_Player_April_2015.jpg/220px-The_Prime_Time_Player_April_2015.jpg)
Young made his in-ring return on December 20, 2014 at a WWE live event in Winnipeg, after eight months of inactivity. On the January 5, 2015 episode of Raw Young appeared with the rest of the WWE roster in the opening segment. His official return came on the February 16 episode of Raw, where Young and an unnamed independent wrestler, Kevin Kross, were scheduled to face The Ascension, but were attacked by them before the bell rang, leading to Young's former tag team partner Titus O'Neil making the save.[59] This turned O'Neil face again and the Prime Time Players reunited. On the February 23 edition of Raw, The Prime Time Players defeated The Ascension to hand them their first win as part of the main roster, only to then being attacked by the two. Young participated in the 2nd Annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 31 where he was eliminated by Ryback.[60]
On May 31 at Elimination Chamber, The Prime Time Players participated in the first ever tag team Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Tag Team Championship, where they were the last team to be eliminated by the The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods).[61] At Money in the Bank, the The Prime Time Players defeated The New Day to win the title.[62] At Battleground, The Prime Time Players retained the title against The New Day but dropped the title back to The New Day on August 23 at SummerSlam in a fatal–four way match, also involving The Lucha Dragons and Los Matadores. Young and O'Neil would invoke their rematch clause for the September 14 episode of Raw, which they lost.
Towards the end of 2015, O'Neil and Young began focusing on singles careers. Young teamed with Damien Sandow on the Royal Rumble 2016 Kickoff Show in a Fatal 4-Way tag team match in a losing effort. On the February 2, 2016 taping of Main Event, the duo returned to team with The Usos to defeat the Ascension, Stardust and Tyler Breeze.[63] They have since quietly disbanded when O'Neil received a 60-day suspension after the February 8 episode of Raw after an alleged physical altercation with Vince McMahon. At WrestleMania 32, Young entered the third André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and came within the final three, being eliminated by Kane.
Bob Backlund's protégé (2016–present)
On the May 5 episode of SmackDown, Bob Backlund agreed to be Young's life coach, in a campaign to "Make Darren Young Great Again", a parody of Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan.[64] Throughout the next couple of months on Raw and SmackDown, various vignettes featuring Young and Backlund aired, with Backlund assuming the role of Young's life coach. In a "life lesson" segment on the July 4 episode of Raw, Backlund approved of Young adopting his famous Crossface chickenwing. [65] The week after on Raw, Young won an 18-man battle royal (after Apollo Crews and Baron Corbin eliminated themselves) to become the #1 contender for The Miz's WWE Intercontinental Championship at Battleground. The following week on Raw, Young defeated Alberto Del Rio, despite interference from The Miz. On July 19, Young, with Backlund, was drafted to the Raw brand as a result of the 2016 WWE Draft. At Battleground, Young faced The Miz in a match that resulted in a double-countout after he applied the Crossface Chickenwing to Miz outside the ring to protect Bob from Miz and Maryse.[66]
Young began a feud with his former tag team partner Titus O'Neil on the August 1 episode of Raw. O'Neil questioned Young's motives on being "great again". Later that night, he defeated Young when he pinned him while grabbing Young's tights. Afterwards, he got into a backstage altercation Bob Backlund before Young came to the defense of Backlund by attacking O'Neil.[67] The week after on Raw, Young defeated O'Neil by pinning him while grabbing O'Neil's tights, mimicking the way O'Neil defeated him.[68] On the August 15 episode of Raw, Young and O'Neil reconciled and were placed in a match against The Shining Stars. During the match, O'Neil attacked Young with a Clash of the Titus, allowing The Shining Stars to win the match. [69] On the October 31 episode of Raw, Darren Young participated in the Battle Royal dressed up as his coach, Bob Backlund.
Other media
Young is a playable character in WWE 2K14, WWE 2K15,[70] WWE 2K16 and WWE 2K17.
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2013 | Total Divas | Himself | |
2013 | The Ellen DeGeneres Show | Himself |
Personal life
Rosser has cited Shawn Michaels and Ricky Steamboat as his favorite wrestlers.[11] In an interview released on August 15, 2013, he publicly discussed being gay. While WWE wrestlers Pat Patterson, Chris Kanyon, and Orlando Jordan (bisexual) came out after either leaving the company or retiring, Rosser is the first professional wrestler ever to publicly come out while still signed to a major promotion.[71][72] WWE released a statement in support of Rosser for being open about his sexuality,[73] and various fellow wrestlers tweeted their support for him.[74] Rosser has been in a relationship with his boyfriend, Nick, since 2011.[75]
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- As Darren Young
- Crossface chickenwing[65] – 2016–present – adopted from Bob Backlund
- Gut Check[40] (Fireman's carry double knee gutbuster)[76] – 2011–present
- Heat Wave[1] (Full nelson lifted and dropped into a flapjack)[14] – 2010–2011; rarely used thereafter
- As Fred Sampson
- Bonecrusher[1] (Running powerslam)[2]
- As Darren Young
- Signature moves
- Afro pick shot to the opponent's throat[77] – 2012–2013
- Corner clothesline[78]
- Discus forearm smash[78]
- Enzuigiri[78]
- Leg drop[79]
- Multiple suplex variations
- Belly-to-back,[80] sometimes onto the ring apron[81]
- Bridging Northern Lights[4][6]
- Snap[4][6]
- Neckbreaker, sometimes onto the ring apron[82][83]
- Snap scoop powerslam[84]
- Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker[4][6]
- Managers
- Nicknames
- Entrance themes
- "We Are One" by 12 Stones (June 7, 2010 – August 16, 2010; used while a part of The Nexus)
- "One Two Three" by Holter Weerts (September 6, 2010 – February 1, 2012; February 11, 2016 – May 7, 2016)
- "Move (Get In)" by Woo Child[85] (February 1, 2012 – November 30, 2012; used while teaming with Titus O'Neil)
- "Making Moves" by Sugar Tongue Slim[86] (December 3, 2012 – February 8, 2016; August 15, 2016)
- "Great Again" by Jim Johnston[87] (July 11, 2016 – present)
Championships and accomplishments
- Chaotic Wrestling
- East Coast Wrestling Association
- Independent Wrestling Federation
- National Wrestling Superstars
- NWS Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Bulldog Collare[1]
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Feud of the Year (2010) The Nexus vs. WWE[94]
- Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2010) As part of The Nexus[95]
- Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (2013)[96]
- PWI ranked him No. 89 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2013[97]
- Rolling Stone
- Most Deserved Push (2015)[98] As a member of The Prime Time Players
- World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE
- WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Titus O'Neil
- Slammy Award (1 time)
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Darren Young". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f "Cagematch profile". Cagematch. Retrieved March 4, 2010.
- ^ a b c "Darren Young Bio". WWE. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
- ^ a b c d "The 18th Annual PWI 500." Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Oct. 2008: 112+.
- ^ a b Varsallone, Jim (April 26, 2010). "Young believes he's NXT". The Miami Herald. p. 1. Archived from the original on July 23, 2010. Retrieved July 23, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e Martin, Josh (December 2006). "Superstar Spotlight on Frederick of Hollywood". ECWAProWrestling.com.
- ^ "Big Rick Fuller & Fred "Bonecrusher" Sampson". Chaotic Wrestling Profiles. ChaoticWrestling.com. 2008.
- ^ "Frederick of Hollywood". ECWA Current Roster Biographies & Photo Gallery. ECWAProWrestling.com. 2008.
- ^ "IWF Wrestling School Begins 9th Year this Weekend". Combat-Hooligans.com. December 5, 2007. Archived from the original on May 1, 2008.
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External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Darren Young on WWE.com
- Fred Rosser on Facebook
- Darren Young on X
- Fred Rosser III at IMDb
- Fred Rosser's profile at Cagematch.net , Wrestlingdata.com , Internet Wrestling Database
- 1983 births
- African-American professional wrestlers
- American male professional wrestlers
- Gay actors
- Gay sportsmen
- LGBT African Americans
- LGBT people from Florida
- LGBT people from New Jersey
- LGBT professional wrestlers
- LGBT sportspeople from the United States
- Living people
- Sportspeople from Miami Beach, Florida
- People from Union Township, Union County, New Jersey
- Professional wrestlers from Florida
- Professional wrestlers from New Jersey
- Sportspeople from the New York metropolitan area