 Deaner posing at a wrestling show in 2016 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Christopher Gray[1][8] (1982-03-07)March 7, 1982 (age 43) Port Bruce, Ontario, Canada[8] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Cody Deaner[1][2] Cody Steele[1][3] Deaner[4] The Home Town Man[5] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1][2] |
| Billed weight | 212 lb (96 kg)[1] |
| Billed from | Muscle Shoals, Alabama Niagara Falls, Ontario[1] Tempe, Arizona (as The Home Town Man)[6] |
| Trained by | Derek Wilde[7] |
| Debut | January 24, 2000[3][7] |
Christopher Gray[1][8] (born March 7, 1982),[9] better known by his ring nameCody Deaner, is a Canadianprofessional wrestler. He is currently signed withTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he performs under the ring nameThe Home Town Man. He previously competed under the ring nameDeaner (a shortened version of his previous ring name) as the leader ofThe Design. He is a former two-timeImpact World Tag Team Champion withEric Young andJoe Doering (as Violent By Design), holding the titles under theFreebird rule.
Gray was trained by "Dangerboy" Derek Wylde inNiagara Falls, Ontario, and subsequently made his professional wrestling debut for the now defunct Hardcore Wrestling Federation in 2000 under the ring name Cody Steele. Upon the HWF's closure, he then wrestled for numerous Canadian and American independent wrestling promotions, winning numerous titles across both countries.
He had a number of WWE tryouts under the Cody Steele moniker, including an appearance onSmackDown!.
As Cody Steele, Gray won numerous independent wrestling titles across the US and Canada. He held gold for a number of promotions including: Fighting Spirit Pro Wrestling, Neo Spirit Pro Wrestling, Canadian International Wrestling Alliance, Great Lakes Championship Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Xtreme, Great Canadian Wrestling, and others. Other independent wrestling promotions he has wrestled for include Border City Wrestling, Ballpark Brawl, Pier 6 Wrestling, Empire State Wrestling, International Wrestling Federation, NWA-Empire, NWA-Upstate, AWA-Ontario, Twins Wrestling Entertainment, Classic Championship Wrestling, WAR Wrestling, and Prime Time Wrestling.
In 2005, Gray began wrestling in the newly foundedindependent promotion,Great Canadian Wrestling (GCW). He made his GCW debut at a GCW event on June 26 as"Completely" Cody Steele, defeating Derek Wylde.[10] AtRage of the Cage, he began wrestling asCody Deaner and lost toShawn Spears in themain event.[11] AtStampede Showdown, Deaner wasbooked to defeat Hayden "The Destroyer" Avery for his newly wonGCW Ontario Independent Championship.[12][13] As a result, Deaner beganfeuding with Avery for the title. Deaner held the title for three months before losing it back to Avery atUgandan Invasion.[14] AtVeni! Vidi! Vici, Avery defeated Deaner in aMotorcity Street Fight rematch to retain the title.[15]
AtBeyond the Limit, Deaner and Avery ended their feud as they teamed up to defeat defending champions Derek Wylde & Andrew Davis and Ash & Otis Idol in atriple threattag team match for theGCW Tag Team Championship.[16][17] Shortly after the title win, Deaner and Avery began feuding with The Flatliners (Asylum and Matt Burns) for the belts and defeated them in several matches throughout the rest of the year, before losing the tag championships to Flatliners atGenesis 11:25:07.[18] The feud between the teams continued, until Deaner and Avery regained the titles from Flatliners in asteel cage tag team match atGame Over.[17][19] They lost the titles to The Houses of Virtue (Andrew Davis and Sebastian Suave) atRandom Acts of Violence.[20] After losing the belts, Deaner and Avery continued to team up and challenged for the titles but failed in winning them, so they broke up their tag team and focused on singles competition.
In the fall of 2008, Deaner was put into a feud with theGCW National Champion Otis Idol over the belt, which culminated in a series of matches but Deaner failed to win it. Their feud ended after Idol lost the title. During this time, Deaner began appearing inTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), but he still continues to wrestle for GCW. On July 12, 2009, Deaner defeated "Tenacious" Scotty Turner to win the TWA Heavyweight Championship.[21] After his release from TNA, Deaner dropped his old redneck gimmick and dubbed himself "The Everyman".[22] On April 25, 2010, Deaner lost the TWA Heavyweight Championship toRobbie MacAllister at TWA Wrestlelusion II.[21]
After his release from Impact Wrestling in 2009, Cody returned to his roots and began wrestling on the independent wrestling circuit again. He quickly developed a loyal fan following that has come to be known as the Deaner Dynasty.[9]
Deaner returned to the Independent circuit on March 25, 2010, at a Twin Wrestling Entertainment Event, Deaner competed in a 3 Way Dance which was won byKamala, also on March 25, 2010, Deaner & Crazzy Steve & Kamala defeated Jake O'Reilly & Primo Scordino & Robbie MacAllister in a six-man tag team match, on May 1, 2010, Deaner defeated Cezar in a match for Classic Championship Wrestling.
On November 21, 2013, Deaner defeated Ethan Page to win the Battle Arts Openweight Championship.[23]
In January 2016, Cody Deaner held 4 different heavyweight championships in 4 different Canadian independent wrestling promotions. Cody Deaner is the Border City Wrestling Champion, Rock Solid Wrestling Champion, Crossfire Wrestling Champion, and Magnificent Championship Wrestling Champion.[9]
His earliestWWE match to record was on November 22, 2004, under thering nameCody Steele in adark match, where he lost toMuhammad Hassan.[24] Three days later, on November 25, he made a televised appearance on WWE's program,SmackDown! as aplanted hometown hero againstKurt Angle, in a match for Angle's Olympic gold medal. Angle defeated Steele to retain his medal.[25]
Deaner was signed to a contract by TNA in 2009. On February 12 edition ofImpact!,Impact KnockoutODB cut apromo about letting "one lucky guy spend the night" with her and atDestination X, she chose Deaner as her date.[26] From that time on, Deaner began serving as ODB'smanager. On April 16 edition ofImpact!, Deaner wrestled his first Impact match, a mixed tag team match with ODB againstAbyss andDaffney. Abyss and Daffney won the match.[27] Two weeks later onImpact!, Abyss defeated Deaner in Deaner's first singles match in Impact Wrestling .[28]
AtHard Justice, ODB and Deaner facedThe Beautiful People (Angelina Love andVelvet Sky) in a tag team match where Love'sImpact Knockout Championship was on the line. Deaner pinned Sky to make ODB the new champion, but afterwards began arguing with her over who the champion really was.[29] On August 27 edition ofImpact!, it was announced that atNo Surrender, he would face ODB to determine the true Knockout Champion. On the September 10 edition ofImpact! Deaner defeatedTara in anMMA rules match, afterAwesome Kong hit Tara with theImplant Buster while Deaner was inadvertently distracting the referee. AtNo Surrender, Deaner became the first male to challenge for the knockouts title which was currently vacant facing ODB, ODB defeated Deaner to win the Knockout Championship.[30] On November 5, he lost toDesmond Wolfe in just seconds.[31] On December 20 atFinal Resolution Deaner competed in what would turn out to be his last Impact Wrestling match, a twelve-man"Feast or Fired" match, in which he was unsuccessful in capturing any of the four briefcases.[32] He was released from TNA Wrestling on December 29, 2009.[33]
Cody Deaner released a self-produced video on his YouTube channel[34] and CodyDeaner.com website[9] looking to get a shot with Global Force Wrestling. Within six days of a campaign widely supported by his fans, Jeff Jarrett and Global Force Wrestling responded by booking him for their first show in 2016 in Poughkeepsie, New York on January 22. It was announced that Global Force Wrestling merged withImpact Wrestling leaving Deaner's status unknown.[35]
In 2018, Cody Deaner returned to anImpact Wrestling ring when he faced former Impact Wrestling Heavyweight ChampionEli Drake on the international One Night Only PPV eventBCW /Impact March Breakdown in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.[36]
He returned again to an Impact Wrestling ring when he teamed withCousin Jake and formed the tag teamThe Deaners as they made their debut on the Twitch exclusive broadcast "Last Chancery."[36]
In March 2019, Cody Deaner officially re-signed a contract with Impact Wrestling and formed a tag team with his Cousin Jake known as The Deaners.[37] Vignettes began airing of The Deaners on their farm known as The Deaner Compound.[38] The Deaners were successful in their in-ring debut and spent the majority of 2019 feuding with the team of TheDesi Hit Squad.[39] On May 26, 2020, The North defended with success theWorld Tag Team Championships in Canada against Cody Deaner and Wheels Deaner at the Deaner Compound.[40]
On December 12, 2020, atFinal Resolution, during a match betweenEric Young andRhyno, Codyturned heel and attacked his tag team partner Cousin Jake, thus ending the Deaners tag team and aligning himself with Young andJoe Doering.[41] After numerous video packages hinting at a character change, Deaner debuted a newly shaved head, trimmed beard and all black attire on the January 5, 2021, edition ofImpact!. In the same episode he and Joe Doering defeatedRhino and Cousin Jake. On Impact's website, it was revealed his ring name was shortened to simplyDeaner. AtHard To Kill, Deaner, Doering, and Young began going under the nameViolent By Design (VBD), as they defeatedTommy Dreamer, Rhino, and Cousin Jake.
On the June 3, 2021 episode ofImpact!, VBD leader Eric Young invoked theFreebird Rule and Deaner was given a share of theImpact World Tag Team Championship - which had been recently won by VBD teammates Doering and Rhino - marking his first title in Impact Wrestling.[42] VBD would lose the titles toThe Good Brothers (Doc Gallows andKarl Anderson) in a four-way tag team match atSlammiversary, that also involved Rich Swann and Willie Mack, andFallah Bahh andNo Way.[43]
In early 2022, VBD formed an alliance with the Good Brothers, teaming with them atHard To Kill to take on Eddie Edwards, Rich Swann, Willie Mack, Heath and Rhino in a 10-man Hardcore War match in a losing effort.[44][45] On March 5, atSacrifice, Young and Doering defeated The Good Brothers to win the Impact World Tag Team Championship for the second time, again with Deaner being also recognized as champion under the Freebird Rule.[46]
After losing the tag titles atUnder Siege, Deaner and Doering focused more on helping Young try to win theImpact World Championship during the summer of 2022, but were unsuccessful.
Following Kon and Alan Angels being added to VBD,[47] Deaner would defeat Young in acinematic prison fight (where it was implied Deaner stabbed him with a shiv) on the December 1 episode ofImpact, thus becoming the new leader of the group and renaming it The Design.[48][49]
AtFinal Resolution on December 9, 2023, Deaner unsuccessfully challengedTommy Dreamer for theImpact Digital Media Championship.
On February 1, 2024, Deaner officially dissolved The Design, stating that it was his attempt to resurrect VBD, but no matter what he did, he couldn't bring it back to life. He lost a match toPCO and was attacked byKon right after.[50]
Following the dissolution of The Design, Deaner reverted to his previous ring name, Cody Deaner, and turnedface for the first time since 2020 when he debuted a gimmick where he interacted with the audience on what match should take place after every promo segment, with said match taking place based on the crowd reaction. On the May 23, 2025 at Under Siege, Deaner was defeated by The System's Eddie Edwards causing Deaner not to receive his new contract with TNA Wrestling.
On June 6 atAgainst All Odds, Deaner returned as The Home Town Man where Deaner,The Hardys andLeon Slater defeatedThe System (Moose,JDC,Eddie Edwards andBrian Myers).
In 2023, Gray started a podcast entitledWrestling is Life is Wrestling with Cody Deaner where he interviews wrestlers and people involved in the wrestling business to learn various life lessons from their personal life stories and journey. He has interviewed guests such as professional wrestlersJosh Alexander,Crazzy Steve,Shawn Spears, multimedia producerDavid Sahadi, and more.[51]
Gray is married and has four children.[52]
