 Dempsey in 2015 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1988-01-16)January 16, 1988 (age 38)[1] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Baby Hughie[1] Bull Dempsey[2] Bull James[3] Donnie Johnson[4] Hugh Smith[5] Masked Superstar[5] Smith James |
| Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[2] |
| Billed weight | 320 lb (150 kg)[2] |
| Billed from | Brooklyn, New York[2] |
| Trained by | Matt Borne[4] Tazz[5] WWE Performance Center[5] |
| Debut | October 28, 2005 |
James Smith (born January 16, 1988)[1] is an Americanprofessional wrestler currently performing internationally under the ring nameBull James. He is best known for his time inWWE, where he performed onNXT, under the ring nameBull Dempsey.
Smith made his debut on October 28, 2005, at East Coast Professional Wrestling event under thering name Donnie "The Body" Johnson, where he lost to Ace Wylde. Over the next five months, Smith wrestled inNational Wrestling Alliance as Baby Hughie. On September 26, 2009, at NWA New Jersey The Dennis Coralluzzo Invitational 2009,The Powers of Pain (The Barbarian andThe Warlord) defeated The Varsity Club (Baby Hughie andRob Eckos).[6] In 2010, Smith changed his ring name to Smith James. On July 21, 2011, James defeated Memphis Mofo in a TNA dark match.[7]
In 2012, James joined The New Age Wrecking Crew with Bill Carr, Stockade andVince Steele.[8] On March 10, 2012, Steele and James entered in a tournament to crown a new ACE Tag team Champions, but were defeated in the finals by The Movement. On March 9, 2013, James and Vince Steele won the American Championship Entertainment (ACE) Tag Team Championship.[9] They lost the titles on May 11, 2013.[10] On February 23, 2013, James and Bill Carr won the NYWC Tag Team Championship.[11] However, they lost the title againstMikey Whipwreck and Stockade on June 23, 2013, his last match in the company.[12]
In June 2013, James signed a contract withWWE.[13][14] He was assigned to theWWE Performance Center. On August 28, 2013, his name was changed to Bull Dempsey.[15] Dempsey made his debut inNXT on September 12, 2013, where he was defeated byAiden English. Throughout late 2013, he made sporadic appearances as anenhancement talent. In the late spring to summer, Dempsey returned toNXT as atweener,squashing various low carders and local talents. In August, Dempsey andMojo Rawley formed an uneasy tag team and participated in theNXT Tag Team Championship tournament, where they were defeated byThe Vaudevillains (Aiden English andSimon Gotch) in the first round, prompting Dempsey to attack Rawley in the aftermath and establishing himself aheel.[16] On September 11 at theNXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way event, Dempsey defeated Rawley in a squash with his new finisher The Diving Headbutt. On the September 25 episode ofNXT, Bull was victorious in the rematch. Following that, he embarked on a rivalry withBaron Corbin, another dominant wrestler who mostly squashed jobbers. The two competed to see how quickly they could defeat the "local talent", sometimes back-to-back. This eventually led to a match between the two on January 14, 2015, in which Dempsey's undefeated streak was broken by Corbin.[17]
Dempsey competed in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Qualification Tournament atWrestleMania Axxess31, but lost toTyler Breeze in the first round. Soon after this, Dempsey'sgimmick was tweaked to that of an overweight, out of shape wrestler who eats too much, which also saw him turnface in the process.[18] After several vignettes aired to promote "Bull-Fit", Dempsey debuted his new gimmick on the August 26 episode ofNXT, where he defeatedElias Samson.[19] On the February 24 episode ofNXT, he was defeated byTommaso Ciampa. On the March 23 episode ofNXT, he and his supposed opponentDanny Burch both got beaten down bySamoa Joe, before they even started the match, this led to a match between Dempsey and Joe on the following weeks episode. Dempsey won in a quick squash match by disqualification because Joe kept his finisher, the Coquina Clutch, on Dempsey prompting NXT General ManagerWilliam Regal to try to stop him. Samoa Joe's insubordination would bring NXT Champion Finn Bálor to the ring to "rescue" Dempsey. The following week Dempsey lost to Joe in a squash match, this was Dempsey's final appearance forNXT.
On February 5, 2016, Dempsey announced on the social networkTwitter that he had been released from WWE.
James began wrestling on the independent circuit following his release from NXT, using the name Bull James, a combination of his NXT name and his birth name. James announced that he was set to debut inCombat Zone Wrestling, stating that he was coming afterSami Callihan, also known as Solomon Crowe, facing him on March 1.[20] On February 25, 2017, James won the NYWC Heavyweight Championship at Psycho Circus XV. On February 24, 2018, James lost the title to Alex Reynolds at Psycho Circus XVI only to regain it on March 31, 2018, at Aftermath. James lost the title to King Mega on June 30, 2018, at Going The Distance. On March 11, 2017, James won the SWF Cruiserweight Title at SWF Legacies Never Die.
On January 05, 2024, James made his debut at a Florida basedIndependent wrestling promotion, Boca Raton Championship Wrestling (BRCW) defeating Ozzy Kilmeister and Skitz in aThree-way. On March 17, He defeated Jaden Jakens in BRCW march madhouse.[21][22]
On September 18, 2016, James made a surprise debut inRing of Honor'sHonor Rumble, making it to the final four.[23] On October 21, 2016, James facedROH World ChampionAdam Cole, in a losing effort.[24] The following day James teamed up withMr. Wrestling III losing toB. J. Whitmer andPunisher Martinez.[25] James was defeated bySilas Young.
Media related toBull James at Wikimedia Commons
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