 Walker in November 2007 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1978-05-15)May 15, 1978 (age 47) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Keith Walker Keith Samson Mike Venom |
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
| Billed weight | 280 lb (130 kg) |
| Billed from | Chicago, Illinois |
| Trained by | Eric Priest |
| Debut | 2003 |
Keith Walker (born May 15, 1978) is an American professional wrestler who competes in North American and international promotions includingRing of Honor,Harley Race'sWorld League Wrestling andPro Wrestling Noah.
In November 2006, he signed aWorld Wrestling Entertainment developmental contract and assigned toDeep South Wrestling andFlorida Championship Wrestling before being released from his contract the next year. Since then, he and Rasche Brown have been competing as the SkullKrushers, and currently hold the record for the longest reign asNWA World Tag Team Champions.
Born and raised inChicago, Walker was a wrestling fan as a child and whose favorite wrestlers includedHulk Hogan,Ric Flair andThe Road Warriors (Hawk andAnimal). He also often went to events at theRosemont Horizon. AttendingNorth Park University, Walker graduated with aBachelor of Science and adegree inexercise physiology as well as having an athletic career competing incollege football,baseball andwrestling. He also competed in amateurbodybuilding during college, winning second place in the 2002 and 2003 Mr. Illinois competition.
In 2003, he began training to become a professional wrestler. His trainer Eric Priest was himself trained by independent wrestlers Danny Dominion andAce Steel. Prior to his debut, he had a brief stint with theNational Indoor Football League playing for theMyrtle Beach Stingrays. Following his debut, Walker wrestled throughout the United States both under his real name and as Mike Venom, winning numerous championship titles on theindependent circuit as well as facing his boyhood idols The Road Warriors in several tag team matches.[1]
Walker joinedWorld League Wrestling soon after his debut and took part in theHarley Race–Pro Wrestling Noah training camp during 2005 and 2006. On September 24, 2005, Walker scored one of his first major victories defeatingKenny Omega, later aired by Pro Wrestling Noah on Japanese television,[2] and feuded with WLW Heavyweight Champion "Wild" Wade Chism. At the end of the year, he lost to Chism in a three-way mach withBrutus "The Barber" Beefcake on December 10, 2005. The following month, the title was held up, in part to interference by thevillainous referee Trevor Murdoch, during a match between the two inEldon, Missouri on January 28, 2006. On February 24, Walker lost a 3-way dance when Jason Bates was pinned by Chism inSt. Joseph. The next night however, Walker was pinned by Bates in a second 3-way dance with Chism to win the title.
Walker also toured Japan with Pro Wrestling Noah in April. A month later, with manager Johnny Gold, he defeated Wade Chism for the WLW Heavyweight Championship in St. Joseph on May 13 although he lost it to Chism two days later. In mid-June, he teamed with Shane Hagadorn againstThe Irish Airborne (Jake and David Crist) and defeated Bobby Dempsey and C.J. Otis in a three-way match in back-to-back appearances forRing of Honor.
On November 2, Walker was signed to a developmental contract withWorld Wrestling Entertainment and left the promotion.[1] He did, however, continue to make appearances with other independent promotions during the next week. On November 4, he lost toTyler Black at a show for AAW inBerwyn, Illinois and, less than a week later, he andEgotistico Fantastico defeated Matt Longtime and Mickey McCoy at a Brew City Wrestling card.
A month after signing with WWE, Walker was assigned to its developmental territoryDeep South Wrestling. On December 21, he made his debut losing toJake Hager in adark match. Early the next year, he wrestled asKeith Samson Walker againstKofi Nahaje Kingston and, the next week, under the nameKeith Samson when he defeatedRobert Anthony in a dark match on January 11, 2007. He would alternately use both names during his time with DSW and teamed withJohnny Curtis losing toThe Major Brothers andHenry Godwinn andRay Gordy. On March 1, he defeated Ray Gordy and, withFrankie Coverdale, lost a tag team match to Robert Anthony and Johnny Curtis later that night in what turned out to be his last appearance with the promotion.
Two months later, he was assigned to another WWE developmental territory,Florida Championship Wrestling, making his debut in a tag team match withRycklon Stephens to defeatEric Perez and Kofi Nahaje Kingston on June 26, 2007. They also defeated Team Elite (Mike Knox and Derrick Neikirk) that same week.
On August 4, he andHeath Miller lost toJake Hager andTed DiBiase, Jr. The next month, he defeated Hager and Neikirk in a three-way match on September 2. On September 15, he and Shawn Osborne lost to Egotistico Fantastico and Johnny Curtis. After another defeat by Ted DiBiase, Jr. on October 2, Walker was released from his WWE contract due to a "lack of progress".
On October 27, Walker made his return to World League Wrestling defeating Derek McQuinn for the WLW Heavyweight title inWaterloo, Iowa. On November 9, Walker also defeated Dinn T. More for the AWA-Brew City Wrestling Heavyweight Championship. The next night at the NWA Pro Wrestling Summit inHammond, Indiana, Walker lost toMisterioso. On November 24, he lost toAAW Heavyweight ChampionJerry Lynn at anAll American Wrestling event. He also teamed with Dan Lawrence to defeat Derek St. Holmes, Kris Hybrid and Bonebreaker Brooks on December 15, 2007.
At an event for Brew City Wrestling, he and Skullkrusher fought to a double-countout on January 12, 2008. He lost the WLW Heavyweight title a little over three months later to"The Masterpiece" Chris Masters on February 9 inFordland, Missouri. On March 29, Walker lost to reigningAWA Superstars of Wrestling United States ChampionshipRicky Landell in an "MMA vs. Wrestling" match to crown the firstWSL Fighting World Champion.[3] Following this match, the United States title was abandoned.[4] He later teamed up with Rasche Brown, formerly known as Skullkrusher, to form the Skullkrushers. On October 4, the Skullkrushers defeated Los Luchas to win theNWA World Tag Team Championship. Walker again defeated Landell on February 21, 2009, inMichigan City, Indiana to win theWrestling Superstars LiveWorld Heavyweight Championship. On November 20, 2010, Walker and Brown lost the NWA World Tag Team Championship toThe Dark City Fight Club (Kory Chavis andJon Davis), ending their reign at 778 days.
On April 14, 2010, the team of Keith Walker andBison Smith defeatedTakeshi Rikio andMuhammad Yone to become theGHC Tag Team Champions inOsaka.[5] On August 31, however, Walker's father died. He later chose not to immediately return to Japan, and on September 10 he and Bison Smith were stripped of the GHC Tag Team Championship.