Erik Watts Biography

Erik Watts (born December 19, 1967) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling in the early 1990s. He is the son of legendary wrestler "Cowboy" Bill Watts.

Professional wrestling career

Debut

Watts attended the University of Louisville, where he was a quarterback for the Louisville Cardinals. Watts later trained as a wrestler under his father, Bill Watts, and debuted in 1992. After wrestling for three months, he was hired by World Championship Wrestling. While in WCW, Watts feuded with Arn Anderson. His constant pushes were controversial in that his father was WCW's booker at the time, leading to accusations of nepotism.

World Wrestling Federation

In 1995, Watts followed his father to the World Wrestling Federation. In the WWF, Watts was renamed "Troy" while Chad Fortune was renamed "Travis" and put in a tag team known as Tekno Team 2000. Wearing silver smocks and tight zubaz, their gimmick was that they represented the cutting edge of cyberculture. Their tag team made its debut on the May 27, 1995 episode of Superstars in a victorious effort against The Brooklyn Brawler and Barry Horowitz. They wrestled two more matches on TV the following month before disappearing from television until reappearing at the second ever In Your House pay-per-view, acting as lumberjacks for the main event. After the event, disappeared off of television for a year, only to resurface back on WWF television in 1996. They still failed to achieve any success and both men were released from the WWF.

Return to WCW

In February 1999, Watts returned to WCW. In his second run with the company he was mainly used as a jobber working on Saturday Night, WorldWide and on rare occasions on Monday Nitro. His last TV appearance was on November 13 as he lost a match against Disco Inferno on Saturday Night.

Extreme Championship Wrestling and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Watts joined the Philadelphia-based Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion in 2000, losing to Spike Dudley in his ECW Arena debut. He remained with the promotion for two months before departing. Later that year he worked for All Japan Pro Wrestling.

In 2002, Watts joined Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He eventually formed a heel stable with David Flair and Brian Lawler (two other second generation wrestlers whose careers were overshadowed by those of their famous fathers, Ric and Jerry) known as "The Next Generation". After the faction disbanded, Watts turned face. He acted as the TNA Director of Authority from July 23, 2003 to January 28, 2004, before being ousted from his position by Don Callis. Watts then feuded with his on-screen girlfriend, Goldy Locks, throughout 2004. In late 2004, he feuded with Raven, defeating him at Final Resolution on January 16, 2005 before leaving the promotion in February.

Other promotions

After leaving TNA, Watts began working primarily for the Georgia-based Great Championship Wrestling promotion. He also appeared with AWA Superstars of Wrestling, defeating Diamond Dallas Page for the vacant International Heavyweight Championship on February 4, 2005 in Tucson, Arizona in a match refereed by Mick Foley. The title was retired by the AWA Board of Directors later that year. In November 2009, Watts returned to Great Championship Wrestling, now based in Phenix City, Alabama, to be the promotion's booker. He is also playing an authority role on their weekly live events.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Lights Out (STO or Reverse STO)

• Signature moves
  • Atomic drop
  • Bridging cradle suplex
  • Chokeslam
  • Diving knee drop
  • Double knee backbreaker
  • Dropkick
  • E-Bomb (Turnbuckle powerbomb)
  • Elbow drop
  • Hip toss into a Waist-lifted sitout side slam
  • Modified dragon sleeper
  • Powerslam
  • Spin-out powerbomb
  • STF
  • Turning One-arm slam

• With Travis
  • Simultaneous vertical suplex / diving crossbody combination

• Managers
  • Lou E. Dangerously
  • Desire
  • Goldy Locks

• Nicknames
  • "The Extreme Dream"

• Entrance themes
  • Brain Stew by Green Day (ECW)
  • Wattage by Dale Oliver (TNA)

Championships and accomplishments

• AWA Superstars of Wrestling
  • AWA International Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Great Championship Wrestling
  • GCW Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
  • GCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) " with John Bogie

• NWA Spinebuster
  • NWA Spinebuster Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI Rookie of the Year (1992)

• Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling
  • TCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) " with Scotty Anton

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
  • Most Overrated Wrestler (1992)
  • Readers' Least Favorite Wrestler (1992)