 Delaney in 2013 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Colin Matthew Delaney (1986-09-07)September 7, 1986 (age 39)[1] Rochester, New York, U.S.[1] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Colin Delaney[1] Colin Delaney Olsen[2] Colin Olsen[1] |
| Billed height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[3] |
| Billed weight | 172 lb (78 kg)[3] |
| Billed from | Rochester, New York[3] |
| Trained by | NWA Upstate |
| Debut | December 13, 2003[1] |
Colin Matthew Delaney[1][4] (born September 7, 1986) is an Americanprofessional wrestler. He is best known for his time withWWE on itsECW brand. He has performed extensively on theindependent circuit forpromotions such as Squared Circle Wrestling,Chikara, NWA Upstate,Combat Zone Wrestling, and the International Wrestling Cartel under the names Colin Olsen and the "Extremely Cute Wrestler" Colin Delaney.
Delaney first started as a commentator forRochester, New York, promotion Roc City Wrestling. He soon moved to their competitor, Rochester Pro Wrestling, where he trained as a wrestler by Rik Matrix and ROH's Ring Crew Express. Since then he has worked for NWA Empire, NWA Upstate,Chikara, UWA Hardcore Wrestling in Canada, Squared Circle Wrestling, Buffalo Championship Wrestling, Roc City Wrestling, andCZW promotions under thering name Colin Olsen as part of the tag team, The Olsen Twins with partner andkayfabe brotherJimmy Olsen.[5] Nicknamed "The Feel-Good Tag Team of the Decade", Colin and Jimmy Olsen were a pair of goofy heels withteenybopper-like interests, such as listening to music artists like Savage Garden and Britney Spears.
Wrestling as Colin Olsen, Delaney has won wrestling championships. For his first championship, he teamed with hiskayfabe brother Jimmy to win the NWA Upstate Tag Team Championship on November 13, 2004 by defeating the Ring Crew Express (Kevin Dunn and Mean Marcos).[6][7] They held the belts for over six months beforedropping them to The Outcast Killaz on May 14, 2005.[6][8] They also captured the RCW Tag Team Championship on January 20, 2006 defeating the Prophets of Pain (Father Synne and Hard Knox) and held it until June 9, 2006.
On May 19, 2007, Olsen defeated "Mastiff" Will Christianson and Damien Alexander to win NWA Empire's Lord of the Dance Championship, a title which can only be contested in three-way matches.[9][10]
On June 7, 2007 Colin and Jimmy Olsen wrestled for Action Packed Wrestling in Rutland, Vermont, in a 3-Way Scramble Match against Dunn and Marcos and Rhythm and Booze.
Colin's last defense of the NWA Empire's Lord of the Dance Championship was on December 8, 2007 where he wrestled hiskayfabe brother Jimmy Olsen and "Mastiff" Will Christianson. At an NWA Empire show on February 9, 2008, Delaney vacated the title due to hisECW brand commitments.[11]
Delaney made hisWorld Wrestling Entertainment debut as ajobber, seen wrestling on theECW brand. He was first beaten byShelton Benjamin on the December 18, 2007 episode ofECW, before gettingsquashed byBig Daddy V two weeks later.[12][13][14] On the January 8, 2008 episode ofECW, Delaney was beaten again, this time byMark Henry from theSmackDown!brand. Delaney would also be squashed byKane andThe Great Khali.[15] On the January 29, 2008 episode ofECW,WWE Tag Team ChampionsJohn Morrison and the Miz defeated Delaney in aHandicap match. After the match, The Miz and Morrison continued to attack Delaney, but he was saved afterTommy Dreamer came to the ring.[16]
Delaney picked up his first win in WWE on the February 26, 2008 episode ofECW, defeating The Miz and John Morrison in atag team match with Tommy Dreamer.[17] On March 11, he and Dreamer challenged The Miz and Morrison for the WWE Tag Team Championships in anExtreme Rules match, but came up short after having lost a subsequent title match the week before.[18] In the following weeks,ECW General ManagerArmando Estrada informed Colin that he would have to acquire his first singles victory to win an "official" ECW contract. Delaney unsuccessfully faced a number of superstars, including his own mentor Dreamer, whom Estrada threatened to fire if he lost the match. Finally, on the May 6, 2008 episode ofECW, Delaney defeated Estrada himself via a sunset flip to win his contract,[19] which he hadlegitimately signed in February.[20] He lost his "first match as an ECW superstar" againstMike Knox and then was beaten by Estrada when he signed himself to the ECW roster.[21] Estrada was defeated by Delaney after already being defeated byMatt Hardy moments earlier, thus removing Estrada from the roster, per the orders of new ECW General ManagerTheodore Long.[22] On July 20, 2008, atThe Great American Bash, Delaney turnedheel by costing Tommy Dreamer hisECW Championship match against Mark Henry.[23] On July 29, however, onECW, he lost to Matt Hardy, which caused Henry to turn on him. The next week onECW, Delaney remained a heel and helped Estrada beat Dreamer to earn his ECW contract. This led to an Extreme Rules match against Dreamer, where he was easily defeated.[24] On August 15, 2008, Delaney was released from his WWE contract due to budget cuts.[25][26]
On that same day, Delaney worked his first match back on the independent. Working for UWA Hardcore Wrestling, Delaney joined former partner Jimmy Olsen in a winning effort by defeatingUp In Smoke.[27] On September 6, Delaney returned to Chikara, where he received a thunderous ovation. However, the next night he turned heel, attacking Jimmy Olsen and then joining withVin Gerard andSTIGMA to form The UnStable.[28] He also cast aside his Olsen surname and began using his Delaney surname.[28] In the company he was trained by, NWA Upstate, He came back as a face for a few shows until he turned heel by helping heel championDanny Doring retain his NWA Upstate title. He finally cost Danny Doring his title on September 5 to Pepper Parks and the two are now feuding. Currently he is mentoring a stable known as The Young & The Wrestlers which is made up of newer heel wrestlers. On December 5, Colin managed The Young & The Wrestlers in a 3 on 1 match against Danny Doring in Rochester NY.
Delaney won the NWA Empire Heavyweight Championship from Jonny Puma on December 6, 2008, inNorth Tonawanda, New York.[1] In April Jimmy Olsen made a surprise return to NWA Empire and re-formed his tag team with Delaney by helping him defend his title against Pepper Parks.[1] In early 2009 Delaney began feuding withD'Lo Brown in Chikara, pinning him cleanly in the first round match at the2009 King of Trios, where The UnStable faced Brown,Al Snow andGlacier.[1] The UnStable defeatedDa Soul Touchaz to advance to the semifinals of the tournament, where they were defeated by Team Uppercut (Claudio Castagnoli,Bryan Danielson andDave Taylor).[1] D'Lo Brown and Glacier returned to Chikara on May 24 and avenged their trios loss by defeating Delaney and Gerard in a tag team match.[1] In August 2009 Delaney advanced to the finals of Chikara'sYoung Lions Cup VII tournament, but was in the end defeated byPlayer Dos.[1] On September 19, 2010, at Chikara'sThrough Savage Progress Cuts the Jungle Line Delaney turned on Gerard and STIGMA to re–form his tag team with Jimmy Olsen, adopting the ring name Colin Delaney Olsen in the process.[29] On October 24, in the first match between the Olsen Twins and the UnStable, Vin Gerard picked up the victory for his team by forcing Delaney Olsen to submit.[30] The two teams had a rematch on November 21, this time with the Olsen Twins coming out victorious.[31] At the season nine finale on December 12, Delaney Olsen defeated Gerard in a singles match.[32]
Throughout 2010 and 2011, he also participated in Southern Ontario's Alpha-1 wrestling, primarily feuding withEthan Page. Since 2008, he has wrestled with the International Wrestling Cartel in Pennsylvania including holding the IWC Tag team Championship with Keith Haught in 2013[33] among wrestling engagements with several other promotions in the area.
Delaney returned to WWE on the December 12, 2017 episode ofSmackDown in a squash match, teaming with Juan Francisco de Coronado (under the name Joe Monroe) in a losing effort againstThe Bludgeon Brothers.[34] He made another WWE appearance on the December 19 episode of205 Live, losing a match against the debutingHideo Itami.[35] On the July 10, 2018 episode of205 Live, Delaney lost toLio Rush.[36]
On January 29, 2020, Delaney made hisAll Elite Wrestling debut onAEW Dark. He teamed withShawn Spears in a losing effort againstBest Friends (Chuck Taylor andTrent).[37] On the December 21, 2021 episode of AEW Dark, he lost toEddie Kingston. On the December 29 New Year's Smash episode of Dynamite, he lost toWardlow. After the match, he was attacked with a steel chair byShawn Spears.
Tazz was in the ring emceeing a contest between Shelton Benjamin and local job guy, Colin Delaney. Delaney is, I believe, actually Chikara worker Colin Olsen and he more promo time than most guys on the roster just to say it's his first match.
Media related toColin Delaney at Wikimedia Commons