Hanson (wrestler)

Hanson

Hanson in 2015.
Birth name Todd Smith
Born (1984-03-03) March 3, 1984
Lynn, Massachusetts
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Hanson
Warbeard Hanson
Todd Hanson[1]
Johnny Hayes
Handsome Johnny
Don Chesterfield
Todd Hansen[1]
Todd Smith[2]
Billed height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Billed weight 280 lb (130 kg)[3]
Billed from Overseas[3]
Reno, Nevada
Lynn, Massachusetts
Trained by Killer Kowalski
Mike Hollow
Debut 2001

Todd Smith (born March 3, 1984) is an American professional wrestler, currently signed with Ring of Honor, under the ringname Hanson, where he teams with Raymond Rowe as War Machine. Together they have held the ROH World Tag Team Championship.

He is the former head trainer of the Chaotic Training Center along with Brian Fury, who changed the facility's name to "New England Pro Wrestling Academy" and runs it by himself. He is also a mainstay of Chaotic Wrestling and New England Championship Wrestling, where he was a three-time Chaotic Wrestling Heavyweight Champion[3] and 2-time Chaotic Wrestling Tag Team Champion.[4]

Professional wrestling career

Independent circuit (2001–present)

Smith has worked for Chaotic Wrestling, Millennium Wrestling Federation, NWA New England, New England Championship Wrestling, New England Wrestling Alliance, Front Row Wrestling, Eastern Pro Wrestling and UCW promotions under various ring names. Smith has an extensive tag team background, most notably, as one half of The Trendsetters with Max Bauer and Pretty Psycho with Psycho. A former student of Killer Kowalski, he and Brian Milonas are also the head instructors at his Chaotic Wrestling's training facility in North Andover, Massachusetts.[5][6]

On June 3, 2007, Smith was one of several wrestlers involved in a NECW-sponsored fundraiser, The Hot Dog Safari, at the Suffolk Downs racetrack in East Boston. The event raised $1,000,000 for The Joey Fund which battles cystic fibrosis. During the event, Smith won the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest with Nikki Roxx coming in second.[7]

Handsome Johnny in 2008

On February 16, 2008, Smith defeated Brandon Locke for the NECW Television Championship in Quincy, Massachusetts. The title was vacated on April 22, 2008, due to an injury Smith suffered in a title defense. On June 1, 2008, Smith became the champion again after defeating Chase Del Monte in a tournament final held at Suffolk Downs.

In late winter into spring 2008 a series of vignettes featuring Smith began to air during Chaotic Wrestling live events and on the web. This series of vignettes showed Handsome Johnny discovering himself on a trip abroad and lead to the introduction of "The Duke of Elegance" Don Chesterfield into Chaotic storylines. Smith also uses this character for the Eastern Wrestling Alliance as well as Front Row Wrestling. Is currently out of wrestling due to a back injury, from a tables match against the Intellectual Properties in Chaotic Wrestling.

In NECW, he changed his ring name in 2010 to "Handsome" Johnny Hayes. He was scheduled to challenge Brandon Locke for the PWF Northeast Heavyweight Championship on February 19, 2011 and was attacked by an unknown person while leaving a physical therapy session.

World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE (2005–2006; 2014)

Smith was in a Velocity match before an episode of SmackDown! on December 16, 2005, which he lost to Doug Basham. He made his WWE debut on September 15, 2006 under the ring name Todd Hansen[1] in a losing effort against Sylvester Terkay.[2][8] In April 2014, He returned to WWE to take part in a tryout camp.

Ring of Honor (2013–present)

Smith made his ROH debut on July 27 a losing effort in a four-corner survival also featuring Brian Fury, Kongo and Vinny Marseglia.[9] A few months after this, he was announced as the eighth participant in the 2014 edition of the Top Prospect Tournament,[10] defeating Cheeseburger and Andrew Everett in the opening rounds before going on to win the tournament at Wrestling's Finest, defeating Raymond Rowe in the final,[11] to earn a ROH World Television Championship match against reigning champion Tommaso Ciampa at the 12th Anniversary Show, where he lost to Ciampa. Since then, he has been tagging with the man he beat in the final of the Top Prospect Tournament, Raymond Rowe under the team name War Machine. On April 11, Hanson and Rowe both signed contracts with ROH.[12] On August 22, 2015, War Machine defeated Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer) in a non-title match and afterwards challenged them to a match for their GHC Tag Team Championship, a title owned by the Japanese Pro Wrestling Noah promotion.[13] War Machine received their title shot in Japan on September 19, but were defeated by the Killer Elite Squad.[14] On December 18 at Final Battle, War Machine defeated The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Michael Bennett) to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship.[15] They lost the title to The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) on May 9, 2016, at War of the Worlds.[16]

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

  • NEWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • UCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Beau Douglas
  • OW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Psycho

References

  1. 1 2 3 Caruso III, Anthony (May 27, 2013). "Hanson living dream as pro wrestler". The Capital Sports Report.
  2. 1 2 McNamara, Andy (2006-09-26). "Smackdown: The King's court divided?". SLAM! Sports. Match 6: Sylvester Terkay w/ Elijah Burke vs. Todd Smith
  3. 1 2 3 "Handsome Johnny". Chaotic Wrestling Profiles. Chaotic Wrestling. 2008.
  4. ↑ "Pretty Psycho (Handsome Johnny & Psycho)". Chaotic Wrestling Profiles. ChaoticWrestling.com. 2008.
  5. ↑ Bartlett, Sean (2007-03-23). "Ring of fire: New England's minor-league grapplers wrestle their demons — in vinyl boots and a blaze of glory". The Phoenix.
  6. ↑ Halen, Darrell (2008-08-01). "School helps young grapplers wrestle with success". Wicked Local.
  7. ↑ Goldberg, Sheldon (2007-06-04). "Hot Dog Safari Notes and IRON 8 Preview". SheldonGoldberg.com.
  8. ↑ Schiff, Steven (2006-09-15). "Chaos in the Kingdom". WWE.
  9. ↑ CageMatch (2013-08-24). "ROH on SBG #101". CageMatch.
  10. ↑ Ring Of Honor (2013-12-16). "2014 Top Prospect Tournament: Participant #8". Ring Of Honor.
  11. ↑ CageMatch (2014-01-25). "ROH Wrestling's Finest". CageMatch.
  12. ↑ "Hanson & Rowe sign with ROH". Ring of Honor. Retrieved 2014-04-11.
  13. ↑ "Ring of Honor tag team heading to Pro Wrestling Noah". Wrestleview. Retrieved 2015-08-26.
  14. ↑ "Great Voyage 2015 in Osaka". Pro Wrestling Noah (in Japanese). Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  15. 1 2 Meltzer, Dave (December 18, 2015). "ROH Final Battle 2015 live results: Jay Lethal vs. AJ Styles, Roderick Strong vs. Bobby Fish". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  16. ↑ Johnson, Mike (May 9, 2016). "Bullet Club reigns supreme: ROH War of the Worlds tour coverage from Dearborn, Michigan". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
  17. 1 2 3 4 http://www.pwinsider.com/article/84131/ring-of-honor-television-report-hero-versus-cole-ciampa-versus-hanson-young-versus-taven-controversy-over-world-title-match.html?p=1
  18. ↑ "RING OF HONOR TV SPOILERS FOR THIS WEEKEND By Mike Johnson".
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 "METZGER'S ROH TV REPORT 4/5: A.J. Styles vs. Briscoe main event, plus Elgin, A.C.H., War Machine in action leading to big episode next week".
  20. ↑ "ALBERTO EL PATRON VS. RODERICK STRONG AND MORE: 1/31 RING OF HONOR IN DAYTON, OHIO LIVE REPORT By Trent Van Drisse".
  21. ↑ Palladino, Rich (2008). "Chaotic Wrestling Heavyweight Title History". Solie's Title Histories.
  22. ↑ "Chaotic Wrestling Heavyweight Title". Puroresu Dojo. 2003.
  23. ↑ Palladino, Rich (2008). "Chaotic Wrestling Tag Team Title History". Solie's Title Histories.
  24. ↑ "Chaotic Wrestling Tag Team Title". Puroresu Dojo. 2003.
  25. ↑ "M.W.F. Heavyweight Title (New England)". Puroresu Dojo. 2003.
  26. ↑ "MWF Heavyweight Title History". Solie's Title Histories. 2005.
  27. ↑ "M.W.F. Tag Team Title (New England)". Puroresu Dojo. 2003.
  28. ↑ "MWF Tag Team Title History". Solie's Title Histories. 2005.
  29. ↑ Westcott, Brian; Eric Roelfsema (2006). "NWA New England Television Title History". Solie's Title Histories.
  30. ↑ "N.W.A. Cold Front Television Title". Puroresu Dojo. 2003.
  31. ↑ Westcott, Brian; Eric Roelfsema (2006). "NWA New England Tag Team Title History". Solie's Title Histories.
  32. ↑ "C.W.A./N.W.A. New England Tag Team Title". Puroresu Dojo. 2003.
  33. ↑ Westcott, Brian (2008). "NECW Television Title History". Solie's Title Histories.
  34. ↑ "N.E.C.W. Television Title". Puroresu Dojo. 2003.
  35. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2016". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved 2016-09-02.

External links

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