Brian Knobbs

Brian Knobbs
Birth name Brian Yandrisovitz
Born (1964-05-06) May 6, 1964[1]
Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States[2]
Residence Tampa, Florida, United States[2]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Brian Knobbs[2]
Billed height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[1]
Billed weight 295 lb (134 kg)[1]
Billed from Allentown, Pennsylvania[2] ("Nastyville")
Trained by Brad Rheingans[1]
Debut 1985[1]

Brian Yandrisovitz[2] (born May 6, 1964), better known as Brian Knobbs, is an American professional wrestler, best known as one half of the tag team The Nasty Boys along with Jerry Sags.

Professional wrestling career

The Nasty Boys

Main article: The Nasty Boys

Knobbs was born and grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania and started his career in the American Wrestling Association as the masked Terrorist in 1985. In 1986, he formed a tag team called The Nasty Boys with Jerry Sags and wrestled in the Tennessee territory until they moved to Florida Championship Wrestling, where they won five Tag Team titles from 1988 through 1990.

In 1990, they went to the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s Jim Crockett Promotions which had been purchased by Ted Turner and would be renamed World Championship Wrestling (WCW) before they left a few months later. They feuded with Rick and Scott Steiner over the WCW United States Tag Team Championship but could not defeat them.[3] Later that year, they went to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) where they were managed by Jimmy Hart and won the World Tag Team Title from The Hart Foundation before feuding with and losing it to the Legion of Doom.[4][5] The Nasty Boys then wrestled many of the WWF's top face teams, including The Rockers, The Bushwhackers, and High Energy, before turning face in the fall of 1992 to feud with Hart's Money Inc. over the tag team title, which they were unable to regain.[5]

They left the WWF for WCW in 1993 and were quickly placed with manager Missy Hyatt, who led them to the WCW World Tag Team Championship.[3] After she left them, they went feuded with Harlem Heat, The Blue Bloods, and the team of Dick Slater and Bunkhouse Buck.[3] They won the tag team title a second time later in 1993, but they were defeated by Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan the following year.[3] In May 1995, they defeated Harlem Heat for their third and final WCW tag title at Slamboree, but lost the belts back to Harlem Heat at Bash at the Beach.[3]

In 1996, they were tricked by the nWo into thinking they were going to become members but were attacked as soon as they received their shirts.[6] Sags had been injured previously in a shoot-altercation with Scott Hall and he had to retire due to this injury.[7]

Singles wrestler; later career

Knobbs at the Hulkamania Tour.

Following Sags' retirement, Knobbs became a singles wrestler and entered WCW's hardcore division. He feuded with Norman Smiley and defeated Bam Bam Bigelow at SuperBrawl in 2000.[8] In addition, he won the WCW Hardcore Championship three times.[6] He lost the belt simultaneously to all three members of the boy band stable Three Count, making them the only co-holders of that belt, but he regained it from them later.[6] Fit Finlay was briefly his manager as the "Hardcore Soldiers" with partner "The Dog".[6] He also was briefly in Jimmy Hart's The First Family.[6]

Knobbs has since returned to wrestling, including wrestling at the New Alhambra Arena (formerly the ECW Arena) for Pro Wrestling Unplugged on June 16, 2007. On November 20, 2007, Knobbs and Sags reformed as The Nasty Boys at the SmackDown! tapings from Tampa, Florida to wrestle their first WWE match in years. According to reports, the match was disastrous and the team were accused of unprofessionally working stiff with their opponents, Dave Taylor and Drew McIntyre.[9] On January 4, 2010, The Nasty Boys made an appearance on Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's television show, TNA Impact!, starting a feud with Team 3D.[10] On the January 21 edition of Impact! the Nasty Boys competed in their first match for TNA, defeating the team of Eric Young and Kevin Nash.[11] At Against All Odds The Nasty Boys defeated Team 3D in a tag team match, when Jimmy Hart made his return to the company and interfered in the match on the Nasty Boys' behalf.[12] On the February 25 edition of Impact! Team 3D defeated the Nasty Boys in a tables match, when Jesse Neal interfered on Team 3D's behalf.[13] The Nasty Boys and Hart continued their feud with Team 3D by defeating them and the returning Brother Runt, a replacement for Jesse Neal, whom the Nastys attacked prior to the match, in a six-man tag team match. After the match Neal attacked the Nastys and helped Team 3D put Sags through a table.[14] On March 29, 2010, news broke that the Nasty Boys had been released by TNA following an incident at a TNA function with Spike executives present.[15][16]

In February 2012 Knobbs was reportedly involved in an altercation with fellow wrestler New Jack, with New Jack allegedly knocking out Knobbs.[17]

Personal life

Knobbs met Lacey Kasap of Oglesby, IL in the early nineties. Knobbs and Kasap have been married since January 1994. The couple have 12 children.[18] He is a close friend of Hulk Hogan.

Other work

Knobbs has appeared in several episodes of Hogan Knows Best and Brooke Knows Best, and was an on-screen trainer for Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling and Hulk Hogan's Micro Championship Wrestling.

During the 2009 Major League Baseball season, Knobbs performed a "Pit Stop" on Raymond, the Tampa Bay Rays mascot. Prior to this, in June 2007, Knobbs performed a "Pit Stop" on Joe Brennan of Peru, IL. Brennan reportedly suffered no ill effects.[19] Knobbs serves as the "10th Man" for the Tampa Bay Rays.[20]

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Brian Knobbs Profile". Wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved 2012-04-18.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Brian Knobbs Profile". Online World Of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Cawthon, Graham (2014). the History of Professional Wrestling Vol 4: World Championship Wrestling 1989-1994. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 1499656343.
  4. 1 2 "History Of The World Tag Team Championship - The Nasty Boys". WWE. 1991-03-24. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
  5. 1 2 Cawthon, Graham (2013). the History of Professional Wrestling Vol 2: WWF 1990 - 1999. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ASIN B00RWUNSRS.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Cawthon, Graham (2015). the History of Professional Wrestling Vol 5: World Championship Wrestling 1995-2001. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 1499656343.
  7. ↑ "Jerry Sags recalls a shoot incident with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash". prowrestling.net.
  8. 1 2 Powell, John (February 21, 2000). "Super Brawl equals Super Bore". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  9. ↑ "Nasty Boys Getting Major Heat For Horrible Smackdown Dark Match". 411mania.com. Retrieved 2008-07-20.
  10. ↑ Keller, Wade (2010-01-04). "KELLER'S TNA IMPACT LIVE REPORT 1/4: Jeff Hardy, NWO reunion, Hulk Hogan, TNA Knockout Title match, more surprises - ongoing coverage". PWTorch. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
  11. ↑ Wilkenfeld, Daniel (2010-01-21). "WILKENFELD'S TNA IMPACT REPORT 1/21: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Spike TV broadcast". PWTorch. Retrieved 2010-01-22.
  12. ↑ Caldwell, James (2010-02-14). "CALDWELL'S TNA AGAINST ALL ODDS PPV REPORT 2/14: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of A.J. Styles vs. Samoa Joe, Nastys vs. 3D". PWTorch. Retrieved 2010-02-14.
  13. ↑ Wilkenfeld, Daniel (2010-02-25). "WILKENFELD'S TNA IMPACT REPORT 2/25: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Spike TV broadcast". PWTorch. Retrieved 2010-02-26.
  14. ↑ Caldwell, James (2010-03-15). "CALDWELL'S TNA IMPACT REPORT 3/15: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Spike TV show - A.J. Styles vs. Jeff Hardy". PWTorch. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
  15. ↑ Caldwell, James (2010-03-29). "TNA News: Nasty Boys reportedly released by TNA". PWTorch. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  16. ↑ Martin, Adam (2010-03-29). "Report: The Nasty Boys gone from TNA". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  17. ↑ http://www.pwinsider.com/article/66088/new-jack-kos-former-wwf-star-last-night.html?p=1
  18. ↑ "Rays' '10th Man' is a Nasty Boy from Whitehall". mcall.com. 2008-10-24. Retrieved 2008-10-25.
  19. ↑ "Hart Foundation, Nasty Boys reunite at Legends of Wrestling Night Aug. 24 in Miami", by Jim Varsallone, The Miami Herald.
  20. ↑ "Rays' '10th Man' is a Nasty Boy from Whitehall", by Keith Groller, "The Morning Call".
  21. 1 2 "Nasty Boys Profile". CageMatch.de. Retrieved 2011-01-03.
  22. ↑ "Jimmy Hart profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-09-04.
  23. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated Award Winners - Tag Team of the Year". Wrestling Information Archive. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
  24. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Top 500 Wrestlers of the PWI Years". Wrestling Information Archive. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
  25. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Top 100 Tag Teams of the PWI Years". Wrestling Information Archive. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
  26. ↑ "Xtreme Wrestling Federation Title Histories". titlehistories.com. Retrieved 2008-07-15.

External links

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