| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Eric Koenreich (1982-03-12)March 12, 1982 (age 43)[1] Sarasota, Florida, U.S.[1] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name | Erick Stevens[1] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[2] |
| Billed weight | 248 lb (112 kg)[3] 250 lb (113 kg)[2] |
| Billed from | Sarasota, Florida[3] |
| Trained by | Roderick Strong[1] |
| Debut | 2003 |
Eric Koenreich (born March 12, 1982)[1] is an Americanprofessional wrestler. He is known by hisring nameErick Stevens and for his time inRing of Honor.
Stevens debuted in May 2003 after completing his training withRoderick Strong. He began working for the now defunct NWA Florida promotion and eventually won the 2005 Rage in the Cage, an annualcage matchbattle royal that rewarded the winner with a heavyweight championship shot. Before Stevens could capitalize and challenge then champion Bruce Santee for the belt, however, the promotionfolded. Shortly after Stevens was involved in rivalries with both Sedrick Strong and Vordell Walker.
In 2005 Stevens debuted forFull Impact Pro as Steve Madison's tag partner as The Miracle Violence Connection 2005/2006. After feuding with The Fast and The Furious (Jerrelle Clark and Jay Fury), the Miracle Violence Connection 2006 took onSal Rinauro andColt Cabana in a series of matches that culminated in a loss during aCrystal RiverStreet Fight in May 2006. After losing the match, Madisonturned on Stevens, giving him apiledriver. Stevens and Madison, along with his YRR stable, feuded for the better part of 2006 and capped their bitter rivalry off with aDog Collar Match in Crystal River, where Stevens was victorious.
On March 10, 2007 during theEddie Graham Memorial Battle for the Belts, Stevens defeatedShingo,Delirious, and Roderick Strong on his way to becoming the first FIP Florida Heritage Champion. Stevens claimed his entire purpose for winning and defending the belt was to bring back the prestige Florida had lost since its Golden Age. After becoming champion he defended it against the likes ofNigel McGuinness,Claudio Castagnoli, and Delirious. After months of successful defenses, Sal Rinauro became the new champion after hitting Stevens with his own belt.
At ROH'sFinal Battle 2007, Stevens defeatedRoderick Strong to win theFIP World Heavyweight Championship. Stevens would make successful defenses of the title in ROH against the likesAustin Aries andBryan Danielson before losing it back to Strong at FIP'sRedefined. Stevens then came up short in a rematch for the title at "Dangerous Intentions 2008" on April 26, 2008, in a Last Man Standing match. Three months later, on July 19, Stevens regained the FIP World Heavyweight Championship from Strong in a Dog Collar match.
Stevens was defeated for the FIP World Heavyweight Championship byGo Shiozaki at FIP's Heatstroke 2008 on August 23, 2008.
On December 20, 2008, Stevens teamed with former rival Roderick Strong to defeatKenny King and Jason Blade of The YRR to win theFIP Tag Team Championship, making Stevens the first triple crown champion in FIP. On October 3, 2009, Strong turned on Stevens in a match where they lost the Tag Team Championship to Chris Gray andTommy Taylor of The British Lions.
On March 31, 2007 Stevens made his debut for Ring of Honor (ROH) inDetroit,Michigan atAll Star Extravaganza III.[3] Shortly after this, he was contacted byAustin Aries to join The Resilience. Doing so, Stevens aligned himself against Roderick Strong and hisNo Remorse Corps (NRC). The NRC and The Resilience were currently engulfed in a heated feud, until Aries disbanded The Resilience atGlory By Honor VI Night 2, which left Stevens' position in ROH uncertain. Stevens returned to Ring of Honor on November 30 in Dayton and December 1 in Chicago. Stevens made a giant impact in ROH as he defeatedRoderick Strong for the FIP World Championship ending Roderick's 13-month reign. Stevens occasionally teamed withThe Briscoe Brothers against the NRC andThe Age of the Fall.
On June 6, 2008, Stevens defeated Necro Butcher and Brent Albright in a three-way dance. The following night, however, he lost the final match in his feud with Strong when Strong defeated him in aFight Without Honor.
On July 25, 2008, Stevens fought Go Shiozaki to a 15-minute time-limit draw. Shiozaki's manager,Larry Sweeney, refused to allow the match to continue for an additional five minutes, which resulted in a brawl between Stevens and Sweeney's faction, Sweet N' Sour Incorporated. On July 26, 2008, he won a Four Corners Survival Match after defeating Shane Hagadorn, Delirious and Ruckus when he pinned Delirious.
On November 6, 2009, Stevens turnedheel and joinedPrince Nana'sEmbassy stable. ROH stopped using Stevens in the Fall of 2010 and he retired from professional wrestling soon after. He's now a strength coach who primarily works with women and owns his own powerlifting gym in Sarasota, FL.
On May 19, 2019 Stevens returned to pro-wrestling having his comeback match for Beyond Wrestling in a losing effort against Chris Dickinson.[4] Stevens later began competing for smaller indies such as IPW.[5] On December 20, 2019 it was announced that Stevens would be debuting forMLW on January 11 at theirZero Hour event.[6] Stevens was victorious in his debut match against Douglas James.[7] Later that night he joinedTom Lawlor'sTeam Filthy stable and assisted in an attack on theVon Erichs.[8] On March 17, 2020 Erick Stevens announced on Twitter that he was once again retiring.[9] Stevens planned to retire from wrestling in April, but due to the COVID pandemic, he delayed his retirement to October 12, 2020.[10]
Stevens operates a YouTube channel and Instagram account with his family, where he is known as the Family Food Dude.[11] As of September 2020, Stevens has 17,000 YouTube subscribers and 100,000 Instagram followers.[12]
,Internet Wrestling Database