| Harris Brothers | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Members | Don Harris (AKA Don Bruise / Jacob Blu / Heavy D / Jared Grimm / Patrick / Skull) Ron Harris (AKA 8 Ball / Big Ron / Gerald / Eli Blu / Jason Grimm / Ron Bruise) |
| Name(s) | Blu Brothers Bruise Brothers Creative Control Disciples of Apocalypse Disciples of Destruction Grimm Twins Harris Boys Harris Brothers Harris Twins |
| Billed heights | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) – Don Harris[1] 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) – Ron Harris[2] |
| Combined billed weight | 595 lb (270 kg) |
| Hometown | Apopka, Florida, U.S.[2][1][3] |
| Billed from | Nashville, Tennessee |
| Debut | 1987[2][1] |
| Disbanded | 2005[2][1] |
| Years active | 1987–2005 |
| Trained by | Rocky Montana[4][5] |
Donald Harris andRonald Harris (born October 23, 1960) are Americantwin brothers best known for theirprofessional wrestling careers withpromotions includingExtreme Championship Wrestling (ECW),World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). They are now co-presidents of theNashville-based Aro Lucha professional wrestling promotion.
For the majority of their careers, the brothers performed as atag team. They wrestled under their birth names and a variety ofring names, includingDon Bruise andRon Bruise (the Bruise Brothers);Eli Blu andJacob Blu (the Blu Twins);Jared Grimm andJason Grimm (the Grimm Twins);Skull and8 Ball (the Disciples of Apocalypse); andPatrick andGerald (Creative Control).
Don and Ron Harris were born inFlorida. In the 1980s, Ron and Don relocated toNashville, Tennessee, in order to become professional wrestlers. Ron worked as apolice officer inWest Palm Beach, Florida, prior to moving to Tennessee with his brother.[3]
Don and Ron Harris, with support from the country music groupSawyer Brown, debuted in theContinental Wrestling Association in December 1987 as "The Bruise Brothers", where they became two-time World Tag Team Champions. When the CWA became theUnited States Wrestling Association in 1989, the Bruise Brothers remained in thepromotion. Don and Ron won five more Tag Team Championships, with Don winning two additional USWA World Tag Team Championships withBrian Lee and Ron winning an additional USWA World Tag Team Championship with Jimmy Harris (no relation) as "Beauty and The Beast". The Harris Brothers made a final appearance with the USWA in 1996 as "The Grimm Brothers".
In 1991, the Bruise Brothers debuted in theOregon-basedNational Wrestling AlliancePacific Northwest promotion, where they became six-time Tag Team Champions. Don Harris was also part of the last match in that promotion's television show, defeating Jon Rambo. On January 27, 1992, the Harris Twins received a tryout match with the WWF at a Wrestling Challenge taping in Lubbock, Texas, defeating Khris Germany and Todd Overbow. They beat the duo again the next night inAmarillo.[6] In March 1993, the Twins worked a few matches forWorld Championship Wrestling.[7]
In 1993, the Harris Brothers joinedSmoky Mountain Wrestling as the Bruise Brothers,managed byJim Cornette. On June 28, Cornette led them to a victory over the Rock 'n' Roll Express,Ricky Morton andRobert Gibson, for the SMW Tag Team Championships. The Bruise Brothers remained in SMW until early 1994, participating inhardcore matches such asStreet Fights andsteel cage matches.[8][9]
The Bruise Brothers appeared inExtreme Championship Wrestling in 1994. On February 5, theECW Tag Team Championships were held-up after a controversial ending to a match between the Bruise Brothers and the incumbents,The Public Enemy. The Bruise Brothers went on to participate in some of the first ECW hardcore matches, andfeuded withShane Douglas.
The Harris Brothers were signed by theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) in January 1995, where they were renamed "The Blu Brothers", Eli (Ron) and Jacob (Don). They retained their trademark bushy beards and long hair and donned garb to resemble mountain men, and were managed byUncle Zebekiah. They made their WWF debuts shortly before the1995 Royal Rumble and were defeated byLex Luger andThe British Bulldog in the opening match ofWrestleMania XI. Jacob Blu competed in theKing of the Ring 1995 tournament losing toRazor Ramon in the qualifying round. Following a series of losses to theSmoking Gunns, the Harris Brothers left the WWF in October 1995.
They eventually left the WWF and returned to ECW in 1996 as the Bruise Brothers, competing once more in the tag division, and briefly joiningRaven's Nest.[8][9]
Don and Ron Harris returned to the WWF in September 1996, as the short-lived "Grimm Twins," Jason (Ron) and Jared (Don) where they had matches with theSmoking Gunns and theGodwinns.
In June 1997, were repackaged as "8-Ball" (Ron) and "Skull" (Don), members of theDisciples of Apocalypsestable withCrush and their cousin,Chainz. The brothers had their heads shaved and had goatees. The DOA participated in the "gang wars" of 1997, feuding with theNation of Domination and thePuerto Rican stableLos Boricuas. They went on to compete in the tag division throughout 1998. They feuded with theLegion Of Doom. 8-Ball also competed in the WWE'sBrawl For All tournament on July 20, 1998, but lost to2 Cold Scorpio in the third round.[8] Their last match in WWF as a tag team was at a house show, which was a loss toKen Shamrock andMankind on May 14, 1999. Skull's last match was in a singles match at a house show against Ken Shamrock on May 15, 1999, in which he was defeated. 8-Ball's last match was in a singles match at a house show against Ken Shamrock on May 16, 1999, in which he was also defeated. The brothers were released soon after.
In November 1999, the Harris Brothers joinedWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW) as "Gerald" (Ron) and "Patrick" (Don). The names were shots atPat Patterson andGerald Brisco who worked for WWF asVince McMahon's stooges. They were known collectively as "Creative Control". They went on to join thenWo 2000 in 2000 using their real names, acting as enforcers forJeff Jarrett. They remained in WCW throughout 2000, feuding withSid Vicious,Terry Funk and many of the younger tag teams, such asThe Mamalukes. After winning theWCW World Tag Team Championship three times, the Harris Brothers began wrestling in singles matches in 2001, but WCW was purchased by the WWF in March 2001, and they were not hired.[8][9]
In November and December 2001, Don and Ron Harris took part in theAll Japan Pro WrestlingWorld's Strongest Tag Determination League 2001, an eight-team tag tournament. They defeatedThe Varsity Club (Mike Rotunda andSteve Williams) before losing toMitsuya Nagai andToshiaki Kawada in the tournament semi-finals.
In June 2002, the Harris Brothers were hired by the upstartTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion, joinedVince Russo'sSports Entertainment Xtreme faction in December 2002, and remained with the stable until it disbanded in mid-2003.
On July 19, 2003, Ron Harris appeared inHarley Race'sWorld League Wrestling promotion, and, in a match refereed byRicky Steamboat, won the WLW Heavyweight Championship by defeatingRon Powers (he was substituting forTrevor Rhodes, who had been injured earlier that evening). He lost the title on September 12, 2003, toTakeshi Morishima in a Tokyo title defence in theNippon Budokan promoted by thePro Wrestling Noah promotion.[10]
In late 2003, Ron Harris began working for wrestler and burgeoning rap artistRandy Savage as atour manager.[11] The Harris Brothers were reunited in November 2004 when Savage debuted in TNA and, following a backstage altercation with his rivalHulk Hogan, requested that he be accompanied by two bodyguards at all times. The job was given to Ron Harris and Savage's tour bodyguard,Brian Adams.[12] Savage had his final match in the promotion in a 6-man tag team match with Jeff Hardy and AJ Styles in a victory over Jeff Jarrett, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall on December 5, 2004, then immediately left the company, but the Harris Brothers were retained to act asroad agents. In March 2005, the Harris Brothers reappeared onscreen as "The Disciples of Destruction", twobikers as a nod to their previous WWF gimmick. They were managed byTraci Brooks and had three final victories, one overBuck Quartermain and Lex Lovett, one overTrinity's teamPhi Delta Slam and one over the team of Cassidy Riley and Shark Boy.
Don Harris effectively retired from the ring in 2005, and began working backstage with TNA as production manager.[13][14] In the same year, Ron Harris retired from professional wrestling and began working for theChristian music record label Beach Street Records.[3] In 2007 Ron, Don and Frank Miller formed the Nashville-based management company O-Seven Artist Management.
They work for Aroluxe, a marketing and production company. In January 2016, TNA hired Aroluxe to pay for its TV tapings.[15]
In 2002, the brothers appeared on a TNA PPV wearing shirts with theNazi SS symbol.[16][17] TNA apologized for the incident after the PPV.[18] In 2018, the CEO of Aroluxe (a company who partnered with the brothers behind a new wrestling promotion) denied the brothers had Nazi ties, claiming the shirts were worn because they werein character as bikers, but did not specifically address why the pair had the notorious "SS" symbol tattoo'd on their bodies.[16]
