 Croft in 2009 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Kris Pavone (1980-05-02)May 2, 1980 (age 45) Youngstown, Ohio, U.S.[2] |
| Alma mater | Youngstown State University |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Caylen Croft Chris Banks Chris Cage Chris Pavone French Man Deux |
| Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1] |
| Billed weight | 210 lb (95 kg)[1] |
| Trained by | Nightmare Danny Davis Nick Dinsmore |
| Debut | 2001 |
| Retired | November 19, 2010 |
Kris Pavone (born May 2, 1980) is an American retiredprofessional wrestler. He is best known for his time inWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he wrestled under thering nameCaylen Croft. He was one half of the DudeBusterstag team withTrent Barreta.
Pavone debuted in 2001 using the nameChris Cage. After two years on theindependent circuit, he signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and was assigned to theOhio Valley Wrestling (OVW) territory. In OVW, he won theSouthern Tag Team Championshipfour times (three times withTank Toland and once withMike Mizanin) and theHeavyweight Championshiponce. He was released from his WWE developmental contract in March 2006 before being re-signed in 2008. He competed for theFlorida Championship Wrestling developmental territory, where he won theFCW Florida Tag Team Championship twice, and debuted for theECW brand in December 2009.
Pavone made his debut in 2001 as a student ofNightmare Danny Davis andNick Dinsmore. Within two years, he appeared at theECWA Super 8 Tournament in April 2003 and began competing inOhio Valley Wrestling (OVW) several weeks later.
After forming a brief tag team withNova, using the ring nameChris Cage, Pavone later teamed up withTank Toland to form Adrenaline. Together, they went on to win theOVW Southern Tag Team Championship three times during 2003 and 2004. He later won his first and onlyOVW Heavyweight Championship after defeatingMatt Morgan, before losing it a few months later toChad Toland, the on-screen cousin of his tag partner Tank. He later won his fourth and final OVW Southern Tag Team Championship, this time with newcomerMike Mizanin. Together, theyfeuded with the Toland Cousins (Tank and Chad) andThe Throwbacks. Pavone, however, was released from his contract due to behavior problems, leaving Mizanin to defend and ultimately lose the Tag Team Championship to The Throwbacks.
Pavone would return to OVW and the independents. In 2007, he worked forRing Of Honor.
After wrestling on theindependent circuit, including a one-time appearance inRing of Honor, throughout 2006 and 2007, Pavone was re-signed to a development deal by WWE, and he began working in their development territoryFlorida Championship Wrestling (FCW) under the nameCaylen Croft. Soon after debuting in FCW, he formed atag team with Trent Barreta called The Dude Busters.[3] On May 30, 2009, Barreta and Croft won theFCW Florida Tag Team Championship fromTyler Reks in a handicap match when his partnerJohnny Curtisfailed to appear. On July 23, Croft and Barreta lost the championship toJustin Angel and Kris Logan. On November 19, Croft won his second FCW Florida Tag Team Championship, this time withCurt Hawkins, after they defeated The Rotundos (Bo andDuke). While they were champions, Croft and Hawkins would defend the title with Barreta via theFreebird Rule.[3] On January 14, 2010, at an FCW television taping, the Dude Busters lost the Florida Tag Team Championship to The Fortunate Sons (Brett DiBiase andJoe Hennig).[4]
On the December 1, 2009 episode ofECW on SyFy, Croft and Barreta, no longer using the Dude Busters name, debuted asvillains, defeating Tyler Hilton and Bobby Shields, twolocal competitors. The duo would then feud withGoldust andYoshi Tatsu, which culminated in a loss to Goldust and Tatsu in a match to determine the number one contenders to theUnified WWE Tag Team Championship on the February 9, 2010 episode ofECW.[5]
When theECW brand ended in February 2010, its roster became free agents. Barreta and Croft signed withSmackDown, making their debut for the brand on February 19 in a losing effort againstCryme Tyme.[6] Baretta and Croft would then feud withThe Hart Dynasty, but could never manage a win against them. In April, they began using their Dude Busters name again, which they had seemingly dropped since debuting in ECW.[7]
The Dude Busters then turnedface when they entered into a feud with the Gatecrashers (Curt Hawkins andVance Archer) in August. The Dude Busters then earned their first tag team victory since joining theSmackDown roster when they defeated the Gatecrashers on the August 26 episode ofSuperstars.[8] On November 19, 2010, Pavone was released from his contract.[9] He retired from professional wrestling shortly after.
Pavone grew up inYoungstown,Ohio. He was influenced byBret Hart andShawn Michaels. Pavone attendedYoungstown State University graduating with aBachelor of Arts. After leaving WWE, Pavone became anelementary school art teacher in theHillsborough CountySchool District in Florida.[1] Pavone is also the illustrator and author of the children's bookNo Beard The Pirate.[10]
1 During his reign with Hawkins, Croft could defend the title with either Hawkins or Barreta under theFreebird Rule.
