| P. N. News | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Paul Neu |
| Born | (1966-07-09)July 9, 1966 (age 58)[1][2] Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.[1] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | American Avalanche[1] Avalanche[3] Cannonball Grizzly[1][3] Mighty Avalanche[1] Paul Neu[3] Paul the Grizzly[1] P. N. Neuz[1] P. N. News[1] Raging Bull[4] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)[1] |
| Billed weight | 403 lb (183 kg)[1] |
| Billed from | Omaha, Nebraska Motown |
| Trained by | Brad Rheingans[1] |
| Debut | January 3, 1987[1] |
| Retired | 2016 |
Paul Neu (born July 9, 1966) is an Americanprofessional wrestler. He is perhaps best known for his stints inWorld Championship Wrestling andExtreme Championship Wrestling under thering nameP. N. News and accompanyinghip hop-influenced persona.[1][3]
After debuting in 1987 and a two-year run in theDon Owen owned, Portland Territory as The Avalanche, Neu traveled toEurope to compete for theCatch Wrestling Association under the ring name Cannonball Grizzly in 1989.[5]
Upon his return to theUnited States in 1991, Neu joinedWorld Championship Wrestling. He made his debut for the promotion on the May 11 episode ofWorld Wide Wrestling as P. N. News, arappergimmick fashioned afterP.M. Dawn,[6] where he defeated Terry Bronson in 44 seconds.[7]
He soon began a brieffeud againstWorld Television Champion"Stunning" Steve Austin. AtThe Great American Bash, News andBobby Eaton defeated Austin and his partnerTerry Taylor in ascaffold match.[5][6] During ahouse show on June 21, News inadvertently injured Dave Sheldon, who was performing under thering name theAngel of Death. The injury came about when Newsbotched hisBroken Record finishing move during their match, as he splashed Sheldon's knees instead of his torso, which sidelined Sheldon for almost an entire year in order to recover. As a result, News was taken off television, his feud with Austin was dropped, and he was used solely at house shows and sporadically atpay-per-views.[8] Despite this, News faced Austin in a match for the World Television Title atClash of the Champions XVII on November 19, but was unsuccessful in winning the title.[5][9] News also twice unsuccessfully challengedWCW World Heavyweight ChampionLex Luger on WCW's December 1991 UK tour, being pinned by Luger in London on December 10 (first night of three shows) andSheffield on December 13.[10]
After their feud, News was moved down the card and on December 21 atStarrcade, News teamed withSteve Armstrong in a losing effort toRon Simmons andThomas Rich.[11] On January 21, 1992, News made his final television appearance, defeatingDiamond Dallas Page atClash of the Champions XVIII.[5][12] Following this, News wrestled solely on house shows before being released on March 15, 1992.
After leaving WCW, Neu returned to theCatch Wrestling Association in late 1992 under his Cannonball Grizzly ring name and gimmick.[13] On November 5, 1995, Grizzly andJohn Hawk defeatedAugust Smisl andUlf Herman to win theWorld Tag Team Championship for the first time.[14] On December 16, Grizzly and Hawk lost the titles to Smisl and Tony St. Clair.[14] After the loss, Grizzly began teaming with his cousinBruiser Mastino, with their tag team being known as The Brotherhood.[14] On July 7, 1996, Grizzly and new tag team partnerJesse James Armstrong won the World Tag Team Title before losing them to August Smisl and Ulf Herman on August 3.[14] After the title was vacated, Grizzly andWildcat Brookside won the title on December 21 after defeating Tony St. Clair and Mick Tierney in a tournament.[15] They would hold the title until it was vacated in July 1997.[15] On October 10, 1998, Grizzly would then face Brookside to determine who would claim the vacantIntercontinental Heavyweight Championship, but he lost the match via countout.[16] Neu left the promotion in late 1998.[17] two years before its closure and replacement with the European Wrestling Promotion (EWP) for which Neu would return to Europe to work.
Neu was also a familiar face inBritish Wrestling at this time, wrestling forAll Star Wrestling as American Avalanche and forOrig Williams' BWF as Raging Bull, including appearances on Williams'ResloWelsh language TV wrestling show onS4C. Fellow wrestlerRobbie Brookside'sVideo Diary filmed in 1993 forBBC2, includes footage of Neu both in the ring and backstage out of character. Neu, as Avalanche, has continued to make appearances for All Star into the 21st century, often teaming withJoe E Legend as an arrogant American heel tag team, or as part of the World Riot Squad heel faction.
On September 17, 1999, Neu, under his P. N. News ring name and character, debuted inExtreme Championship Wrestling in a losing effort toSpike Dudley.[18] AtRe-enter the Sandman in October 1999, News joined Da Baldies, aheelstable composed of wrestlers who were allbald. AtNovember to Remember, Da Baldies (News,Spanish Angel,Tony DeVito andVito LoGrasso) defeatedNew Jack and The Hardcore Chair Swingin' Freaks (Axl Rotten andBalls Mahoney) in ahandicap match.[18] On November 19, News and LoGrasso lost to The Hardcore Chair Swingin' Freaks in aLoser Leaves Town match, ending Neu's stint in ECW.[18]
On November 17, 2000, Neu, as Cannonball Grizzly, returned to German/Austrian wrestling and won the EWP's first-ever Hardcore Knockout Tournament after defeating Hercules Harrison in the semi-finals and then Big Tiger Steel in the finals.[19] Ten days later, he won the EWP World Heavyweight Championship after defeatingBam Bam Bigelow.[18] On November 26, 2003, Grizzly lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Thunder.[20] On December 17, 2011, Grizzly defeated Thunder to reclaim the EWP World Heavyweight Title.[21] On October 6, 2012, he defended the World Heavyweight Championship againstFit Finlay, although their match ended in a no contest and thus resulted in Grizzly retaining the World Heavyweight Title.[21]
Neu was married to a woman named Connie.[3] He has since married Anja von Stanic, whom he also trained as a professional wrestler in 2007 and managed him while both were members of astable called The Firm before Anja retired from professional wrestling in 2008.[1][22]
