Profile of David Santo on Famous Like Me

David Santo (born August 25, 1972 in Knoxville, Tennessee), better known as David Young, is an American professional wrestler. Though he has mainly appeared with NWA Wildside and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, Santo has also competed for Ring Of Honor, AAA and ZERO-ONE.

Career

David Santo was a professional wrestling fan from an early age, and announced his intention to become a wrestler to his parents at the age of five. On August 17, 1989 a seventeen year old Santo attended a wrestling show at which his friend was working as a security guard, and was asked to wrestle. He began training the next day with the Dalton, Georgia-based Mountain Wrestling Federation, where Santo was trained by Larry Santo (no relation), and adopted the ring name David Young.

NWA Wildside

Young spent his early career in Wildside as a tag team specialist, teaming with Shane Austin as The Sex Pistols. On August 19, 1999 The Sex Pistols defeated Bart Sawyer and Terry Lawler in Loganville, Georgia for the NWA Wildside (Georgia) Tag Team Championships. On November 4, Austin was replaced by Rick Michaels, with Young and Michaels naming themselves Bad Attitude. On November 20, 1999 in Cornelia, Georgia, Young and Michaels lost the Tag Team Championships to The Road Hoggs (Joe Harley and Pan Head Nelson). Bad Attitude continued to pursue the Wildside Tag Team Championships, and on January 11, 2000 they defeated The Underdogs (Mark E. Mark and Big Eddie Cool) for the NWA Wildside Tag Team Championships, which they held until February 19, when they were defeated by The Rock 'n' Roll Express. Bad Attitude reclaimed the Tag Team Titles on June 17 in a two out of three falls match, making Young a three time NWA Wildside Tag Team Champion.

Bad Attitude set their sights on the World Championships, and on August 15 in Tampa, Florida they defeated Curtis Thompson and Jeff Justice for the NWA World Tag Team Championships. As a result, they were stripped of the Wildside Tag Team Championships on August 19. They held the World Championships until February 3, 2001, when they lost to Joey Matthews and Christian York in Nashville, Tennessee. Bad Attitude reclaimed the titles in their home territory, Cornelia, on February 17, but soon lost them once more, losing to Dan Factor and David Flair on March 22 in Athens, Georgia. They took the titles a third time the next day in Toccoa, Georgia, with what would be their final reign lasting until April 24, when they lost to The New Heavenly Bodies (Casanova Chris and Vivacious Vito) in Tampa.

Michaels and Young eventually parted ways in a somewhat acrimonious split, and Michaels went on to win the NWA Wildside (Georgia) Heavyweight Championship. During a December 22, 2001 title defense against A.J. Styles, Young interfered, enabling Styles to pin Michaels and win the belt. This led to a three way dance on March 23, 2002 at Hardcore Hell 2002, with Young eventually taking the win and becoming the Wildside Heavyweight Champion. He held the title until June 1, when he lost to Jason Cross. After Cross retired from wrestling, Adam Jacobs won the vacant title, but failed to appear for an August 3 title defence against John Phoenix. Young, a Wildside mainstay, was substituted into the match, and defeated Phoenix to become a two-time Wildside Heavyweight Championship. He held the belt until September 22, 2002 when he lost to Iceberg.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Young joined TNA in late-2002, and wrestled his first match on October 2, losing to Sonny Siaki. He worked in TNA as a lower-card heel. On September 24, 2003, Young acted as the tag team partner of Simon Diamond when Diamond's usual partner, Johnny Swinger, was sidelined with appendicitis. The next week, Young assumed that he was now a member of Glenn Gilberti's stable along with Diamond and Swinger, but Gilberti insisted that he first had to "prove himself" by defeating The Sandman. Young lost, and was subsquently beaten down by Gilberti and his clients. The following week, Young earned a spot in the group by helping them defeat the 3Live Kru in a six man tag match.

The stable began to fall apart, and on January 14, 2004 split into two tag teams; Gilberti and Young, and Diamond and Swinger. Young then began regularly losing his matches, with his losing streak leading Gilberti to turn on him. On August 11, Young finally broke his losing streak by pinning Gilberti in a "Final Gut Check match", then left TNA for several months. He returned on December 24, losing to Abyss. Young appeared sporadically with TNA for several months, and on July 17 at No Surrender he reforged his alliance with Simon Diamond, who offered to make him "a Diamond in the rough".

Georgia Championship Wrestling

Young joined GCW in mid-2004, forming a tag team with Sonny Siaki. Young and Siaki became the first ever GCW Tag Team Champions on July 27, 2004 in Columbus, Georgia when they defeated John Bogey and Jason Cross. They held the titles until October 30, when they lost to AJ Steele and Bull Buchanan. On December 18 Young revealed that he was the mysterious masked figure known simply as The Wrestler.

Young formed a stable known as Bad Company with Bull Buchanan and Sonny Siaki. However, on March 5, 2005 Buchanan and Young turned on Siaki and accepted the managerial services of Greg Brown. Young then went on to win the GCW Heavyweight Championship from Siaki, and on April 23 he and Buchanan won the GCW Tag Team Championships in a three way tag match. On June 11, Buchanan and Chris Stevens (replacing Young, who was unavailable for the title defence) lost the Tag Team Championships to John Bogie and Lee Thomas. Young and Stevens teamed together to regain the titles on June 25.

Young lost the Heavyweight Championship to Erik Watts on August 13, 2005.

Profile

• Height: 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
• Weight: 246 lbs (112 kg)
• Birthday: August 25, 1972
• Hometown: Knoxville, Tennessee
• Resided: Atlanta, Georgia
• Resides: Marietta, Georgia
• Trained by: Larry Santo
• Debut: August 23, 1989
• Previous identities: David Young, "The Messiah of the Spinebuster", Maki Inu, The Wrestler
• Previous manager(s): Glenn Gilberti
• Finishing move: Spinebuster, Whip Blast

Championships and accomplishments

Georgia Championship Wrestling

• 1-time GCW Heavyweight Champion
• 2-time GCW United States Junior Heavyweight Champion (as The Wrestler)
• 3-time GCW Tag Team Champion (1-time with Sonny Siaki, 1-time with Bull Buchanan, 1-time with Chris Stevens)

HardKore Championship Wrestling

• 1-time HCW Hardcore Champion

National Championship Wrestling

• 1-time NCW Tag Team Champion (with Rick Michaels)

National Wrestling Alliance

• 3-time NWA World Tag Team Champion (with Rick Michaels)
  • 4-time in Nashville as Air Paris and Rob Williams were recognised as World Tag Team Champions within the Nashville area between December 9, 2000 (when they defeated Young and Michaels in what may or may not have been a non-title match) and December 22, 2000 (when Young and Michaels defeated Paris and Williams to regain champion status within the Nashville area).
• 2-time NWA Wildside (Georgia) Heavyweight Champion
• 3-time NWA Wildside (Georgia) Tag Team Champion (1-time with Shane Austin, 2-time with Rick Michaels)
• 1-time NWA Southern (Mississippi) Television Champion
• 1-time NWA World Wide (Nashville) Television Champion

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article David Santo