Devon Nicholson

Devon Nicholson an amateur wrestler before turning professional. He won a gold medal at the 2001 Junior National Championships in London, Ontario. A month later, he gained a spot on the Canadian Junior National Team after winning the National Team trials in Vancouver, British Columbia. Nicholson won the OFSAA wrestling high school championships in 2000 and 2001 without a single point scored against him.[1] He was named Amateur Wrestler of the Year by the City of Ottawa in 2001.

On December 18, 2011, Nicholson won a silver medal in the Canadian Greco-Roman Wrestling Olympic trials in Winnipeg, Manitoba, making him the alternate Olympian in the heavyweight division for the London 2012 Olympics.

Nicholson started his career wrestling for Ted Hart and Eric Bischoff's Matrats promotion. After a stint with Jacques Rougeau, Jr.'s Lutte Internationale 2000 promotion in Montreal, he began training with Bruce Hart in Calgary's Dungeon. He spent most of his early career in Stampede Wrestling performing as Kid Nichols, regularly training with and wrestling against Teddy Hart, Harry Smith and TJ Wilson.

After leaving Calgary, Nicholson wrestled in Puerto Rico and other areas of the Caribbean, where he was given the ring name Hannibal by Bushwhacker Luke.[2] He has also participated in WWE's developmental territory Deep South Wrestling and appeared on their TV show. In June 2005, he faced Heidenreich at Rexall Place in Edmonton in a match that aired on WWE SmackDown. In Puerto Rico, he defeated Ricky Banderas for the IWA Intercontinental Championship in 2005. Hannibal then left the IWA for the WWC in December 2005.

Hannibal returned to WWC in 2006 as a heel. With Black Pain, he formed a team known as Terror Inc. and held the WWC World Tag Team Championship in 2006 and 2007. In May 2006, he wrestled against Eugene in Las Vegas in a match that aired on WWE Heat.

After helping Bruce and Ross Hart promote some rural Stampede Wrestling events in Alberta in 2006, Nicholson began promoting for himself in 2007 under the Wrestling Supershow, and later Great North Wrestling banners. The Bad News Allen Tribute Show in May 2007 was his first event, in which Hannibal defeated Abdullah The Butcher in the main event.

Nicholson continued to promote events in Alberta and Ontario, and also promoted TNA's December 2007 Canadian tour.[3]

In May 2009, Nicholson attended a WWE tryout camp in Tampa, Florida. Nicholson was offered a contract following the tryout, but the offer was rescinded when a medical examination revealed that he had contracted hepatitis C, which he later blamed on his matches with Abdullah the Butcher.[4][5]

On September 30, 2011, Nicholson announced his retirement from professional wrestling. He defeated Darko on October 8 in his retirement match. On January 30, 2014, Nicholson stated on an episode of False Finish Wrestling Radio podcast that on May 14, 2014, he would return to wrestling. On May 10, 2014, Hannibal won the Great North Wrestling Canadian Heavyweight Championship from Jeremy Prophet.[6]

In March 2015, Nicholson described an incident from 2006 that Bill DeMott was involved with while he was head trainer for the WWE's Deep South Wrestling developmental territory. Nicholson described an incident where Drew Hankinson was completely naked in the ring for a long period of time and gave naked stinkfaces to Zack Ryder and Melissa Coates while DeMott held jelly donuts over their faces. The wrestlers agreed to do this (with the other talent encouraging them) to get out of regular training for that day.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13] DeMott refuted the notion that it was his idea, stating that the other trainees came up with it because they wanted to skip the session.[14][15]

On November 27, 2015 Nicholson lost the Canadian Championship to Jeremy Prophet in a 3 way tables, ladders and chairs match in that also involved the Giant Darko.[16] Hannibal won back the Great North Wrestling Canadian Championship on February 28, 2016.[17] On November 5, 2017, Hannibal lost the GNW Canadian Championship to "Quebecer" Jean Pierre Lafitte at GNW Afternoon of Champions in Rockland, ON.[18]

In the summer of 2009 Nicholson played a character named Sid in the Canadian movie Kenneyville, which was released by Robanzo Pictures.

In March 2011 a documentary called Don't Bleed on Me was released. The documentary centered around Nicholson's claim that he contracted hepatitis C from Abdullah the Butcher cutting him with a razor blade that Abdullah had used on himself earlier in the match. Nicholson's claims are supported in this video by many WWE legends including "Superstar" Billy Graham and The Honky Tonk Man. In July 2011, Nicholson filed a $6.5 million lawsuit against Abdullah over the incident, claiming it had caused WWE to rescind his contract.[19] On August 26, 2011, Nicholson filed a $6 million lawsuit against WWE for rescinding his contract offer, claiming they were discriminating against his human rights because of his hepatitis C, despite the promotion having a "No Blood" policy. In September 2011, MacLean's, a Canadian nationally-distributed news magazine, ran an article that profiled Nicholson and his situation with Abdullah the Butcher entitled "Blood, Sweat, Fears." On November 26, 2011, Canada's Global TV network aired a half-hour documentary on Nicholson as part of their weekly news show. WWE refused to comment in the documentary, though Abdullah The Butcher was interviewed. Abdullah demonstrated how he used blades but denied having hepatitis C and cutting Nicholson despite the screening of video evidence of him doing so. The documentary re-ran nationwide on April 7, 2012.

On December 19, 2011 CTV News Ottawa did a feature on his becoming Canada's Heavyweight Alternate in Greco-Roman Wrestling for the London Olympics. The Atlantic Magazine carried a story about Nicholson's lawsuit against Abdullah The Butcher in their July/August 2012 issue. Nicholson's story was also covered in an Atlantic article about blood in WWE's WrestleMania on March 29, 2012.

Later in 2012, the Ottawa Film Festival and the Montreal Young Cuts Film Festival featured a movie about Nicholson titled This is Hannibal. Produced by Maximilian Moskal, the film chronicles the history of the wrestler's career and his struggle with hepatitis C.

In on March 3, 2013 an updated and re-edited version of This is Hannibal made its theatrical debut at the Mayfair Theater in Ottawa. The new version won 3 awards at the 2013 LA Movie Awards.[20] It states that the WWE lawsuit has been resolved and the Abdullah lawsuit is ongoing. It has since been reported in the media that Abdullah is hepatitis C positive.

On April 27, 2014 Nicholson tried out for the Ottawa RedBlacks Canadian Football League expansion team.[21]

On September 5, 2014, the Wrestling Observer reported that Devon Nicholson has a role on the Science Fiction series "Haphead," about a futuristic video game subculture. Six episodes of the show have been ordered.[22] On December 20, 2014, it was reported that Nicholson played a kidnapper in an episode in season 2 of the Canadian series "Hero's of The North" that will be released in 2015.[23]

On October 15, 2012 Nicholson began a Hepatitis C treatment which included the new Hepatitis C medication Telaprevir. On September 23, 2013, Nicholson's Hepatitis C Virus blood tests came back negative, and a subsequent Sustained Viral Response (SVR) was planned for December 9, 2013.[24] On December 20, 2013, Nicholson announced that he was cured of Hepatitis C.[25]

On June 3, 2014, Nicholson won a $2.3 million lawsuit against Abdullah the Butcher in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in relation to his contraction of Hepatitis C.[26]

• CageMatch profile (in German)
• Wrestling Data profile
• Devon Nicholson at IMDb