Erik Watts

Infobox Wrestler
name=Erik Watts
names=Amarillo Slim
Erik Watts
El Santo II
Troy


image_size=
img_capt=
height=6 ft. 6 in. (198 cm)
weight=268 lb (122 kg)
real_height=
real_weight=
birth_date =Birth date and age|1967|12|19|mf=y
birth_place=Amarillo, Texas
death_date=
death_place=
resides=
billed=
trainer=Bill Watts
debut=1992
retired=
website=

Erik Watts (born December 19 1967) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling in the early 1990s.

Career

Watts attended the University of Louisville, where he was a quarterback for the Louisville Cardinals. Watts later trained as a wrestler under his father, Bill Watts, and debuted in 1992. After wrestling for three months, he was hired by World Championship Wrestling. While in WCW, Watts feuded with Arn Anderson. His constant pushes were controversial in that his father was at the time the WCW booker, leading to accusations of nepotism. In 1995, Watts followed his father to the World Wrestling Federation. In the WWF, Watts was renamed "Troy" while Chad Fortune was renamed "Travis" and put in a tag team known as "Tekno Team 2000". Wearing silver smocks and tight zubaz, their gimmick was that they represented the cutting edge of cyberculture. Their tag team made its debut on the May 27, 1995 episode of Superstars in a victorious effort against Brooklyn Brawler and Barry Horowitz. They wrestled two more matches on TV the following month before disappearing from television until July 1995 for the In Your House Pay-Per-View acting as lumberjacks for the main event. After the Pay-Per-View they disappeared off of television for a year, only to resurface back on WWF television in 1996. They still failed to achieve any success and both men were released from the WWF.

After several years of relative obscurity, Watts joined the Philadelphia-based Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion in 2000, losing to Spike Dudley in his ECW Arena debut. He remained with the promotion for several months before departing.

In 2002, Watts joined Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He eventually formed a heel stable with David Flair and Brian Lawler (two other second generation wrestlers whose careers were overshadowed by those of their famous fathers, Ric and Jerry) known as "The Next Generation". After the stable disbanded, Watts turned face. He acted as the TNA Director of Authority from July 23, 2003 to January 28 2004, before being ousted by Don Callis. Watts then feuded with his on-screen girlfriend, Goldy Locks, throughout 2004. In late 2004, he feuded with Raven, defeating him at TNA Final Resolution 2005 before leaving the promotion in February 2005.

After leaving TNA, Watts began working primarily for the Georgia-based Great Championship Wrestling promotion. He also appeared with AWA Superstars of Wrestling, defeating Diamond Dallas Page for the vacant AWA International Heavyweight Championship on February 4 2005 in Tucson, Arizona in a match refereed by Mick Foley. The title was retired by the AWA Board of Directors later that year.

In wrestling

*Finishing and signature moves
**"Lights Out" (Snap STO)
**"E-Bomb" (Turnbuckle powerbomb or a spin-out powerbomb)
**Chokeslam
**STF
**Diving knee drop
**Dropkick
**Modified dragon sleeper
**Double knee backbreaker

*Managers
**Lou E. Dangerously
**Desire
**Goldy Locks

Championships and accomplishments

*AWA Superstars of Wrestling
**AWA International Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
*Great Championship Wrestling
**GCW Heavyweight Championship (2 times) [cite web|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/other/2004-10.html | title=Independent Wrestling Results - October 2004 | accessdate=2008-07-05|publisher=onlineworldofwrestling.com]
**GCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with John Bogie
*Pro Wrestling Illustrated
**PWI Rookie of the Year award in 1992
*Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling
**TCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Scotty Anton
*Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
**Most Overrated Wrestler (1992)
**Readers' Least Favorite Wrestler (1992)

Notes

References

* [http://www.accelerator3359.com/Wrestling/bios/watts.html Erik Watts at Accelerator3359.com]
* [http://bodyslamming.com/other/ewatts.html Erik Watts at Bodyslamming.com]
* [http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/e/erik-watts.html Erik Watts at Online World of Wrestling]

External links

*imdb name|id=1303067|name=Erik Watts