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Austin, Texas
Paul Michael London (born April 16, 1980) is an American professional wrestler. London is well known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
After being trained at the Texas Wrestling Academy, London began competing for Ring of Honor where his high risk offensive moves made him a fan favorite. He later competed for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Zero-One, and various independent promotions, winning numerous championships and won the ECWA Super 8 Tournament in 2003.
London made his debut in WWE in late 2003 and immediately began teaming with fellow cruiserweight Billy Kidman. After Kidman retired from active competition, London formed a tag team with Brian Kendrick, with whom he won the WWE Tag Team Championship. After their split, London began competing in the cruiserweight division and won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. In late 2006, Kendrick returned and the two reformed as a team. London and Kendrick were managed by Ashley Massaro. London and Kendrick won the WWE Tag Team Championship, becoming the longest reigning WWE Tag Team Champions since the title's creation and the World Tag Team Championship. The team split when Kendrick was drafted to the SmackDown brand in June 2008 and London was released later that year. In 2009, he returned to the independent circuit, competing for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, where he is one half of the former PWG World Tag Team Champions with partner El Generico under the team name ¡Peligro Abejas!.
Early life[]
London was born in Austin, Texas, and has two older brothers, Daniel and Jonathan. In 1996, Daniel was killed by a drunk driver at the age of nineteen. Jonathan is a music video director. London attended Westlake High School in Texas. He helped create the school's first-ever wrestling team where he was the captain, first varsity letterman and still holds the record for the fastest pinfall time of 7.4 seconds.
Professional wrestling career[]
Early career[]
After graduating from high school, London trained at several wrestling schools, including a trailer park in West Memphis, Arkansas and a school run by Ivan Putski in North Austin, Texas. He debuted in 2000. He later enrolled in Shawn Michaels' wrestling school, the Texas Wrestling Academy, where he was trained by Rudy Gonzales.
Ring of Honor (2002–2003)[]
He made his debut in Ring of Honor (ROH) on March 30, 2002 in a match against Chris Marvel. He began a lengthy feud with Michael Shane during a tag team match for ROH contracts on July 27, 2002. During the bout, both Shane and London made simultaneous pinfalls on their opponent's partners. The referee only counted for Shane, giving his team the victory, which led to London and Shane brawling. The two continued to feud over the next several months in matches such as Street Fights (where the crowd chanted "please don't die" due to London's high risk offense), a Triple Threat match and a Gauntlet match.
On December 7, 2002, London won a tournament to capture the ROH Number One Contender's Trophy, guaranteeing a match for the ROH Championship. He lost the match three weeks later to then-champion Xavier. On February 8, 2003, London competed in a Triple Threat match for the Number One Contender's Trophy, pinning A.J. Styles for the win. After the match, Xavier informed London that he would compete for the title immediately. London again lost to the champion. London's final match in ROH was for the title against Samoa Joe on July 19, 2003, in which he lost.
Other promotions (2003)[]
During his time in ROH, London made brief appearances in Japanese promotion Pro Wrestling Zero-One (Zero1) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). London competed in Zero1 for several months on a match-by-match basis, beginning in January 2003, before turning down a contract. London was contacted by TNA after ROH's one-year anniversary show, and told that they were interested in him doing some matches on a try-out basis. On February 12, 2003 he made his TNA debut in a Gauntlet match against Jerry Lynn, which he lost. London competed mainly in the company's X Division, even earning shots at the NWA TNA X Division Championship. His last appearance in TNA was on June 18, 2003 at the TNA Anniversary show. He wrestled X Division Champion Chris Sabin for the title, only to lose due to interference from CM Punk. London has said that he viewed his time in TNA as a "stepping stone", but knew that he didn't want to be there long-term. London also made several appearances for East Coast Wrestling Association and won the 7th Annual ECWA Super 8 Tournament.
Independent circuit (2009–2015)[]
London made his debut in Big Time Wrestling on February 28, 2009, defeating the BTW Champion Jason Styles by disqualification. At the event, he also debuted a new gimmick, described as "a nerdy blend of 1970s band Devo and a nerdy Air Force cadet with flight jacket and goofy, oversized sunglasses". On November 13, 2009, London defeated Jason Blade to win the Northeast Wrestling Championship. On July 10, 2010, London defeated Joey Silvia in a two out of three falls match to become the new Pro Wrestling Xperience Heavyweight Champion.
On March 26, 2010, London made his debut for Dragon Gate USA in a tag team match, where he and Jimmy Jacobs were defeated by Brian Kendrick and Jon Moxley. After the match, Kendrick turned on Moxley and re-formed his team with London, which led to a Loser Leaves Company tag team match between London and Kendrick and Jacobs and Jack Evans at the following day's tapings of the Mercury Rising pay-per-view. In the end Jacobs forced Kendrick to tap out and as a result he was forced to leave Dragon Gate USA for good. After the match London was assaulted by Teddy Hart.
In December 2010, London began working for Lucha Libre USA as the masked Sydistiko, taking over the role previously held by T.J. Perkins. He teamed up with Rellik to defeat Dinastia (El Oriental and Tinieblas Jr.) on December 12, 2010. The pair participated in three way match to decide the new LLUSA Tag Team Championship but this time El Oriental and Tinieblas Jr. would get the better of the pair. As Sydistiko, he would go on to lose all his matches including LLUSA Championship number one contendership lucha roulette elimination.
On July 30, 2011, London competed at Vanguard Championship Wrestling (VCW)'s Liberty Lottery 2011 event. He faced John Kermon, the VCW Liberty Champion, and defeated him to become the Liberty Champion. On February 16, 2013, London defeated Brian Kendrick at Family Wrestling Entertainment's No Limit, winning a title match against the Tri-Borought Champion Damian Darling. The same night, London defeated Darling, winning the title. On June 21, 2013, London defeated Akio to retain the title. The next day, Londrick were defeated by The Young Bucks at House of Hardcore 2.
On May 4, 2013, London made his first appearance for ROH in a decade, facing Davey Richards in a losing effort at Border Wars 2013. London suffered a stinger and concussion during the match and was as a result forced to pull out of the following day's tapings of Ring of Honor Wrestling. London returned to ROH on August 3, losing to Michael Elgin in the first round of a tournament for the ROH World Championship London returned once again at Glory By Honor XII to defeat Roderick Strong.
London spent the majority of 2014 wrestling abroad, including in Australia, Europe, and South America.[3] In Scotland's Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW), London and Brian Kendrick won the ICW Tag Team Championship in October 2014. After a 28 day reign, they lost the championship to Polo Promotions (Mark Coffey and Jackie Polo) on November 2.
World Wrestling Entertainment[]
Return to the WWE (2015- )[]
Paul London made his return to the WWE on the April 6th edition of Raw during the Main Event pre-show where he would go on to get a pinfall victory over Jeff Hardy. The following April 13th episode of Monday Night Raw, Paul London picked up a pinfall victory over John Cena on the Main Event pre-show. During the 4/20 edition of Main Event, Brian Kendrick and Paul London are seen celebrating the holiday in a backstage janitor closet. Later on in the show, Paul London would pick up his first loss since returning to the WWE in a five man match for the WWE European Championship on the April 20th episode of Monday Night Raw. On the very force filled May 4th episode of Monday Night Raw, Paul London defeated the legend Ric Flair. On the May th episode of Monday Night Raw, Paul London came up short against Jake Anderson for the WWE European Championship. At Extreme Rules (2015), Paul London would win a Hardcore Battle Royal to be determined the new number one contender for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. On the May 25th edition of Monday Night Raw, Paul London would pick up another victory over John Cena. Later on in the show, Paul London and best friend Brian Kendrick would get into an altercation with the Intercontinental Champion, Shane Helms. On the June 1st episode of Monday Night Raw, the team of John Cena and Shane Helms picked up a victory over Paul London and Chris Sabin. Paul London and John Cena would face off for a third time on the June 8th episode of Raw where London picked up a pinfall victory. On the June 15th episode of Main Event, Paul London was unsuccessful against Shane Helms for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. On the June 22nd episode of Raw, Paul London and Daniel Bryan would have an impressive match ending in a draw. On the June 29th episode of Monday Night Raw, Paul London was defeated by his friend Colt Cabana in a triple threat match including his other friend Sami Zayn. Later on in the show, Chris Sabin was seen confronting Paul London backstage in his janitors "locker room" to cheer him up. The two would later announce that they would be aligning to be a tag team dubbed The High Flyers. At the Unforgiven (2015) PPV, Paul London and Chris Sabin were successful in their first match as a tag team defeating Jake Anderson and Bobby Roode.
Personal life[]
He is half-Mexican on his mother's side. He is also bilingual, speaking both English and Spanish. London has dated former WWE Diva Ashley Massaro. Pro-wrestler Brian Kendrick is not only Paul London's tag team partner but real life best friend.
In wrestling[]
- Finishing moves
- As Paul London
- The Great American Flight (450° splash)
- Legsweep DDT
- London Star Press (ROH) / London Calling (WWE) / Shooting star press, sometimes while running or standing (Independent circuit)
- Waffle Face (Chickenwing facebuster) – 2004–2005
- As Sydistiko
- Totally Sydistik (Shooting star press)
- As Paul London
- Signature moves
- Arm wrench inside cradle
- Elbow smash
- Diving crossbody
- Frankensteiner
- Multiple kick variations
- Dropsault
- Spinning wheel
- Super
- Mushroom stomp
- Northern Lights suplex
- Plancha, sometimes while performing a somersault
- Slingshot Oklahoma roll
- Springboard moonsault
- Tornado DDT
- Managers
- Ashley
- Finnegan the Space Owl
- Nicknames
- "The Excellence of Innovation"
- "The Intrepid Traveler"
- "The Dolphin Master"
- "The American Bird"
- Entrance themes
- "South Texas Deathride" by The Union Underground
- "Pompeii" by E.S. Posthumus
- "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" by Tomoyasu Hotei
- "Rocker" by Jim Johnston
- "Brand New Day" by Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog
Championships and accomplishments[]
- All Action Wrestling
- AAW Championship (1 time)
- East Coast Wrestling Association
- ECWA Super 8 Tournament (2003)
- Extreme Texas Wrestling
- ETW Television Championship (1 time)
- Funking Conservatory
- FC United States Championship (1 time)
- FC Television Championship (1 time)
- FC Hardcore Championship (1 time)
- FC Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Adam Windsor
- Insane Championship Wrestling
- ICW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Brian Kendrick
- Insane Wrestling League
- IWL World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
- Northeast Wrestling
- NEW Championship (3 time)
- NWA Wrestling Revolution
- NWA Grand Warrior Championship (1 time)
- NWA Southwest
- NWA Texas Television Championship (1 time)
- Pro Wrestling Bushido
- PWB Television Championship (1 time)
- Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
- PWG World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with El Generico
- Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament (2010) – with El Generico
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Tag Team of the Year (2007) with Brian Kendrick
- PWI ranked him 36 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 2005
- Pro Wrestling Xperience
- PWX Heavyweight Championship (1 time, current)
- Vanguard Championship Wrestling
- VCW United States Liberty Championship (1 time)
- World Wrestling Entertainment
- WWE European Championship (1 time)
- WWE United States Championship (1 time)
- World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Brian Kendrick
- WWE Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)
- WWE Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Billy Kidman (1) and Brian Kendrick (1)
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- Most Underrated (2004)