| Brian Lee | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Brian Lee Harris |
| Born | (1966-11-26)November 26, 1966 (age 58) St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S. |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Brian Lee Bulldozer[1] Chainz Prime Time The Undertaker |
| Billed height | 6 ft 7 in (201 cm)[1] |
| Billed weight | 286 lb (130 kg)[1] |
| Debut | 1988 |
| Retired | June 27, 2014[1] |
Brian Lee Harris (born November 26, 1966) is an American retiredprofessional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances withExtreme Championship Wrestling,Smoky Mountain Wrestling, andTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling under thering nameBrian Lee and with theWorld Wrestling Federation asChainz and an impersonator version ofThe Undertaker.
Lee enjoyed most of his success in SMW, becoming the promotion's inauguralHeavyweight Champion in 1992, winning it a total of two times. He also held theTag Team Championship and theBeat the Champ Television Championship twice each and was a mainstay of the promotion throughout its existence between 1991 and 1995.
Brian Lee made his debut in 1988 forJerry Jarrett'sContinental Wrestling Association inMemphis, Tennessee. In 1989, the CWA merged withWorld Class Championship Wrestling to formUnited States Wrestling Association. He would remain with the USWA until 1991.
Lee would make an initial appearance at a WCW taping on April 23, 1990, in Marietta, Georgia when he defeated Bob Cook. He made his television debut atClash of the Champions XIII on November 20, 1990, losing to"Z-Man" Tom Zenk.[2]
In November 1991 he returned to the promotion, this time teaming with Chris Sullivan. The duo were defeated by the combination ofDiamond Dallas Page andThe Diamond Studd in a match that would air on the December 7, 1991, edition ofWorld Championship Wrestling.[3]
Lee made his first appearance at a TV taping for theWorld Wrestling Federation'sWrestling Challenge show, losing toKevin Von Erich in a untelevised match. The match appeared to be a tryout for both wrestlers. Lee then wrestled in a dark match againstChris Walker the following day at the 1991 special Tuesdaypay-per-view eventThis Tuesday in Texas, but lost the match.[4] On October 28, 1992, Lee received another tryout at aWrestling Challenge taping in Louisville, Kentucky and was defeated byJim Powers.[4]
He appeared inSmoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) as the promotion's mainstay from 1992 until 1995 as"Prime Time" Brian Lee. Lee appeared at SMW's first televised show on February 2, 1992, where he defeatedBarry Horowitz in his first SMW match and was pushed as the company's topheroiccharacter. He instantly began his first rivalry withDutch Mantell, which culminated in a match between the two on April 4 episode ofSMW TV, which Lee won to advance for the quarter-final round of a tournament to crown the promotion's firstHeavyweight Champion. AtVolunteer Slam, Lee defeatedBuddy Landel,Dirty White Boy andPaul Orndorff to win the tournament and become the inaugural SMW Heavyweight Champion. Lee would retain the title against the likes of Barry Horowitz, Dirty White Boy and Buddy Landel while getting involved in a rivalry with Dirty White Boy and Paul Orndorff. At Summer Blast, Lee andRon Garvin defeated the team of Orndorff and Dirty White Boy in a tag team match. Lee lost the title to Dirty White Boy after interference byMongolian Mauler at Fire on the Mountain, ending his reign at 78 days. For the next two months, a mystery assailant named "The Master" sent several wrestlers after Lee and issued a $10,000 bounty over Lee's head until Master was revealed to beKevin Sullivan on the November 7 episode ofSMW TV. Lee had a lengthy rivalry with Sullivan that culminated in a series of matches for the rest of 1992 until summer 1993. Lee defeated Sullivan in a Singapore Spike match at Bluegrass Brawl.
On the May 1 episode ofSMW TV, Lee defeatedBobby Eaton to capture his firstBeat the Champ Television Championship. Lee made his first successful title defense againstKiller Kyle on the May 8 episode ofSMW TV. At Volunteer Slam II, Lee defeatedStan Lane and then teamed withRock 'n' Roll Express,Jimmy Golden andRobert Fuller to defeat the team of Kevin Sullivan, Killer Kyle,The Tazmaniac andThe Heavenly Bodies (Stan Lane andTom Prichard) in aRage in a Cage match. Lee would then defeat Sullivan in a Singapore Spike match at The Last Tango in Tennessee to end the feud. Lee would then retain the Beat the Champ Television Championship in title defenses against Jimmy Golden, The Dirty White Boy, Paul Lee and finally Robbie Eagle on the June 19 episode ofSMW TV, which resulted in Lee vacating the title after having won five consecutive title matches. After the match,Tracy Smothers interrupted an interview of Lee to cut his own promo which infuriated Lee.
On June 24, Lee defeated Jimmy Golden, Killer Kyle and Tracy Smothers to win the King of Kentucky tournament. On the June 26 episode ofSMW TV, Leeturned into avillain for the first time in his SMW career by attacking Tracy Smothers after rescuing him from an assault by Kevin Sullivan and Jimmy Golden. He was joined by the debutingTammy Fytch as hisvalet on the July 3SMW TV. This led to a feud between Lee and Smothers, which led to Lee defeating Smothers to win his second Heavyweight Championship on the July 24SMW TV. Lee made his first televised title defense againstTim Horner on the August 7SMW TV, where he retained the title via a disqualification after Smothers attacked Lee. Lee would then retain the title against Smothers after losing via disqualification at Hot Night in Morristown and in aCoal Miner's Glove match at Fire on the Mountain. Lee would then successfully defend the title against Mongolian Stomper at K-Town Showdown andBobby Blaze on the September 4 episode ofSMW TV. He retained the title against the likes of Blaze, Smothers and The Dirty White Boy throughout the rest of the year and early 1994 until he lost the title to Dirty White Boy in aChain match at Sunday Bloody Sunday on February 13, 1994. Lee would continue his feud with Dirty White Boy as Lee teamed with Fytch to take on Dirty White Boy and Dirty White Girl in a series ofmixed tag team matches, which culminated in astreet fight at Bluegrass Brawl II, which Lee and Fytch lost.
After losing the Heavyweight Championship, Lee formed a tag team with Tammy Sytch's other clientChris Candido and began feuding with theTag Team Champions Rock 'n' Roll Express, which led to Lee and Candido defeating Rock 'n' Roll Express for the Tag Team Championship at ahouse show on April 23. Lee and Candido successfully defended the titles against Rock 'n' Roll Express in ano disqualification, no time limit match at Volunteer Slam III. On the July 16 episode ofSMW TV, Lee unsuccessfully challengedTracy Smothers for theBeat the Champ Television Championship. Lee and Candidodropped the titles back to Rock 'n' Roll Express at Night of Legends on August 5. However, the following night, at Fire on the Mountain, Lee and Candido defeated Rock 'n' Roll Express in ahair vs. hair match to win their second SMW Tag Team Championship. They successfully defended the titles against Rock 'n' Roll Express via disqualification at Battle of Beckley, before losing the title again to Rock 'n' Roll Express on the August 20 episode ofSMW TV, after Candido accidentally attacked Lee. This led to a post-match confrontation in which Fytch blamed Lee for the loss and Candido turned on Lee by attacking him, which led to Lee turning back into a fan favorite.
Lee formed an alliance withLance Storm and entered a brief feud with Candido andBoo Bradley and the two teams competed in a series of tag team matches. On the December 10 episode ofSMW TV, Lee defeated The Nightmare to win the vacant Beat the Champ Television Championship for the second time. He successfully defended the title against Inferno Brimstone andD-Lo Brown, before losing the belt to Buddy Landel on December 31 episode ofSMW TV. Lee then left SMW and began wrestling in theUnited States Wrestling Association (USWA). He made a one-off return to SMW at Fire on the Mountain on August 12, where he took onBrad Armstrong in a losing effort.
In 1994, he briefly returned to theWorld Wrestling Federation to perform as an impostor version ofThe Undertaker."The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, who originally introduced The Undertaker into the WWF atSurvivor Series 1990, claimed to have found The Undertaker, who disappeared after losing a casket match toYokozuna at the1994 Royal Rumble. Shortly after this, Lee began appearing dressed as The Undertaker. DiBiase claimed that he had convinced The Undertaker to come back with his vast amounts of money and made him a member of hisMillion Dollar Corporation, with his powers now derived from DiBiase's riches instead of theurn that he or his manager,Paul Bearer, toted with him to the ring. For several weeks, Lee wrestled matches as The Undertaker, his debut being a victory overPJ Walker on the June 25, 1994, edition ofWWF Superstars. Bearer "made contact" with the real Undertaker and promised to produce him atSummerSlam in August 1994. At the event, DiBiase's impostor Undertaker faced off against the actual Undertaker and was defeated. After the match, DiBiase fled from ringside while The Undertaker rolled the impostor into a casket that was taken away. Although the idea was for Lee to continue portraying the impostor Undertaker for some time afterward and to have more matches against the actual Undertaker, the WWF dropped the story after SummerSlam 1994.[citation needed]
After SummerSlam 1994, Lee returned to SMW and also returned to theUnited States Wrestling Association. It was in the USWA that he first teamed with his real life cousins, Ron and Don Harris, then known as theBruise Brothers.
By early 1996, Lee began competing inExtreme Championship Wrestling. During this period, he went by the nicknames "Prime Time" Brian Lee, "Bulldozer" (or Bulldozer for Hire) and later "Killdozer" and was allied withRaven as a hired bodyguard for hisstable.
Lee andTommy Dreamer then got involved in a very violent and personal feud, which began through Dreamer's feud with Raven. At the ECW eventFight The Power on June 1, during a six-man tag match, Brian Leechokeslammed Dreamer from the ECW balcony through three stacked tables, then pinned Dreamer for the win. The footage was frequently used during ECW's opening video montage.
On June 22, atHardcore Heaven, after losing a singles match to Dreamer after Dreamer's valetBeulah McGillicutty got involved, Lee again chokeslammed Dreamer off a balcony through three tables. AtHeat Wave, during a three on three "Rage in the Cage" tag team cage match, Lee again chokeslammed Dreamer, this time from the top of the cage through three tables set up on the outside by Raven's henchmen. On October 5 atUltimate Jeopardy during a tag match also involvingSandman andStevie Richards, Lee once again chokeslammed Dreamer from the ECW balcony, this time through four tables set up below.
At severalhouse shows released on ECW Fan Cam, Lee and Dreamer had Falls Count Anywhere matches which resulted in the two men brawling in moving traffic outside the building. The feud culminated atHigh Incident, in the match Lee is most remembered for from his ECW tenure. During hisScaffold Match with Dreamer, Lee took a majorbump from the scaffolding high above the ring through a series of tables stacked up inside the ring.
AtNovember to Remember, the main event was a tag match pitting Dreamer withTerry Funk againstShane Douglas and Lee. From here, Lee began a feud with Funk, which lasted until 1997. Lee also became a part of the revivedTriple Threat stable with Douglas andChris Candido, while a masked man who was hinted at to beRick Rude began stalking Douglas. At ECW'sECW Barely Legal, it was revealed that the masked man was Lee himself. He attacked Shane Douglas and kissedFrancine before leaving the ring with Rick Rude. Lee left ECW soon after. His spot was subsequently taken byBam Bam Bigelow.
In June 1997, Lee returned to the WWF as "Chainz", a member of the biker factionDisciples of Apocalypse (or DOA) along with leaderCrush and his cousins, theHarris Brothers, who were renamed Skull and 8-Ball. The reason Crush formed this faction was to get revenge on his former factionThe Nation of Domination, whose leaderFaarooq fired him. Chainz had his debut match on the June 28, 1997, edition ofShotgun Saturday Night tag teaming with Crush and defeatingThe Headbangers. Afterwards, the foursome continued feuding with The Nation of Domination and also feudedLos Boricuas andThe Truth Commission during the WWF's "Gang Warz" storyline. Crush left the company at the end of November 1997 in protest of theMontreal Screwjob and believing he'd be better off inWCW, as they were winning theMonday Night War. After Crush left, Chainz became the new leader of the DOA. Then the faction would go onto feuding withD-Generation X andLOD 2000. Chainz remained in the WWF until the summer of 1998. His last match in the company was on June 15, 1998, on an episode ofRaw is War, which was a loss toVal Venis. After this match he was released from the company once again.
After being released from the WWF in June 1998, Brian Lee entered some independent companies in 1998, as Chainz. He entered New Breed Wrestling (NBW), where he and "Jackmaster" John Diamond defeatedPrimo Carnera III andTony DeVito. He entered Lutte Familiale, for the company's Lutte 2000 event, where he defeatedBrian Christopher. He entered American States Wrestling Alliance (ASWA), for the company's ASWA Vault event, where he defeated Jimmie Lee. He also entered New Dimension Wrestling (NDW), where he defeated The Dark Patriot.
On May 2, 1999, Brian Lee entered Pro Wrestling International as Chainz, where he had a match againstTatanka, which he lost by disqualification. On May 8, 1999, Brian Lee (as Chainz) and his manager Poindexter entered Universal Wrestling Council, where he wrestledTom Brandi. Unfortunately he had a miscalculation with Poindexter and hit him by mistake, allowing Tom Brandi to roll Chainz up from behind and get a pinfall victory on him. After the match, Chainz beat up Poindexter, blaming him for the loss and fired him. Brian Lee (as Chainz) also was a regular for the company Championship Wrestling (CW), which was an independent wrestling company featuring appearances from up and coming wrestlers and wrestlers who were previously in big name companies. There were high profile wrestlers from major wrestling companies entering CW for one-off matches also. His first match in this company was on February 11, 1999, where he defeated Scott Stone and his last was on July 21, 1999, which was a double count-out withVincent. Afterwards, Lee took a hiatus from wrestling.
On January 4, 2002, Brian Lee enteredIWA Puerto Rico for the first night of their 3 night eventIWA Histeria Boricua 2002 and had a match againstShane the Glamour Boy, which ended in a no contest. On January 6, 2002, Brian Lee (as Chainz) challengedApolo for theIWA Undisputed World Heavyweight Championship on the third night of the 3 night event, but lost the match.
Brian Lee debuted inTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling on August 14, 2002, when he tag teamed withDavid Young taking onAmerica's Most Wanted ("Cowboy" James Storm and"Wildcat" Chris Harris) in a dark match on NWA-TNA Saturday morning, which they lost. He appeared on the same show the following week, in his first televised match in the company, where he tag teamed withRon Harris, taking on America's Most Wanted, which they lost. He would tag team with Ron Harris for two more matches, which were two more losing efforts to America's Most Wanted, then the team disbanded. On October 30, 2002, he joinedThe Disciples of The New Church and formed a tag team withSlash, under the leadership of managerFather James Mitchell. In their debut match on November 6, 2002, they took on America's Most Wanted for theNWA World Tag Team Championship, but lost the match by disqualification. The following week, on November 13, 2002, they defeated America's Most Wanted and captured the NWA World Tag Team Championship from them and ended their undefeated streak. They later lost the titles back to America's Most Wanted on January 8, 2003. In his final match in the company, on July 30, 2003, he teamed with Slash andShane Douglas, in a Falls Count Anywhere Clockwork Orange House of Fun match againstRaven,Julio Dinero, andAlexis Laree, in which he and his team were victorious.
After leaving Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, Brian Lee appeared from time to time on smallerindependent events from 2003 to 2006.
Brian Lee appeared in a United States Wrestling Organization (USWO) match on August 17, 2012, tag teaming withWolfie D defeating Damien Payne and Jocephus.[5]
Brian Lee enteredNWA Southern All-Star Wrestling in early 2014 and formed a tag team with Lee Condry, called The Prime Time Outlaws. They had their debut tag team match on March 7, 2014 (broadcast: March 9, 2014) on the company's Inferno TV show, which was a loss to NWA SAW Southern Tag Team Champions: Team IOU (Kerry Awful and Nick Iggy). On May 30, 2014, at the company's Collision Course event, they defeated Team IOU in a Double Dog Collar Match for the NWA SAW Southern Tag Team Championships. Their final tag team match was on June 27, 2014 (broadcast: July 6, 2014), where they lost the NWA SAW Southern Tag Championships to Weatherby Inc. (Cody Weatherby and Kevin Weatherby). Afterwards, Brian Lee left the company and retired from professional wrestling.[6]
Lee appeared in theBollywood filmKhiladiyon Ka Khiladi under "The Undertaker" name in 1996.[12][13]
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