Konnor (wrestler)

Ryan Parmeter (born February 6, 1980) is an American professional wrestler, who wrestles under the ring name Big Kon. He is best known for his time with WWE under the ring name Konnor.[6]

Konnor
Konnor in March 2015
Birth nameRyan Parmeter[1]
Born (1980-02-06) February 6, 1980[2]
Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States[2]
ResidenceOrlando, Florida, United States
Spouse(s)
(m. 2013)
Children1
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Big Kon
Conor O'Brian[3]
Konnor[4]
Payne[2]
Roughhouse O'Reilly[5]
Ryan O'Reilly[2]
Billed height6 ft 4 in (193 cm)[6]
Billed weight268 lb (122 kg)[6]
Billed fromBoston, Massachusetts[5]
The Wasteland
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Düsseldorf, Germany
Trained byAlex G[2]
Bill DeMott[2]
Jody Hamilton[2]
Norman Smiley[2]
Debut2001[2]

After spending four years wrestling on the independent circuit as Ryan O'Reilly, Parmeter signed a contract with WWE in 2005, and was sent to its developmental territory Deep South Wrestling (DSW), where he wrestled as Roughhouse O'Reilly. He won the DSW Heavyweight Championship twice, before briefly appearing in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). In October 2007, Parmeter requested to be released from his WWE contracts for personal reasons. Following his release, Parmeter took time off from wrestling, before debuting for NWA Charlotte in February 2009.

In July 2010, he was re-signed by WWE, and returned to FCW, where he began wrestling as Conor O'Brian. He was part of the fourth season and the fifth season of the NXT competition show. In 2011, Parmeter was one of the founding members of The Ascension as a stable that also included Kenneth Cameron, Tito Colon and Raquel Diaz. It later became a tag team consisting of Konnor and Viktor, who would go on to win the NXT Tag Team Championship and hold it for 364 days, the longest of any championship team. They were promoted to the main roster in December 2014, becoming part of the first ever tag team Elimination Chamber match, before both Konnor and Viktor were released from the company in December 2019.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2001–2005)

Parmeter initially trained at the School of Hard Knocks in southern Florida under Rusty Brooks, and made his professional wrestling debut in 2001.[3][2] He went on to compete in Brooks' promotion, Four Star Championship Wrestling (FSCW) as Ryan O'Reilly, and formed a tag team with J-Dawg, known as "The Irish Thug Connection". Together, The Irish Thug Connection won the FSCW Tag Team Championship.[7] He also won the FSCW Heavyweight Championship,[3] and spent mid-2004 feuding with Norman Smiley over it.[8][9] O'Reilly also competed for Florida's Coastal Championship Wrestling (CCW) promotion, and won the CCW Heavyweight Championship.[3] He appeared for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling during the promotion's early shows.[10]

World Wrestling Entertainment (2005–2007)

After four years on the independent circuit, O'Reilly signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2005.[3] He was assigned to Deep South Wrestling (DSW), a WWE developmental territory as Roughhouse O'Reilly, and made his DSW debut at the inaugural DSW show on September 1, in a loss to Jack Bull. Over the next several months, he faced wrestlers including "Big Time" Nick Mitchell, Mike Mizanin, Shawn Schultz, Derrick Neikirk,[11] Eric Pérez and Freakin Deacon. In December, he appeared in a dark match prior to the SmackDown tapings.

In early 2006, O'Reilly took a leave of absence. Upon his return, he and Danny Germundo entered a tournament for the DSW Tag Team Championship but were eliminated by Team Elite (Mike Knox and Neikirk) on May 11.[11] On June 22, O'Reilly defeated Neikirk to win the DSW Heavyweight Championship.[11] He successfully defended the championship against Knox, Neikirk,[11] and Montel Vontavious Porter.[12] On September 7, O'Reilly lost the championship to Bradley Jay. During mid-2006, O'Reilly made several appearances at ECW house shows, teaming with Neikirk to face The FBI (Little Guido and Tony Mamaluke).[11] O'Reilly was scheduled to become part of the regular ECW roster in September, but violated the WWE Wellness Program, and was suspended for 30 days.[3]

When he returned, he became the personal assistant of DSW General Manager Krissy Vaine.[3] In December, O'Reilly appeared on an episode of ECW as one of Paul Heyman's personal enforcers alongside Doug Basham.[3] In March 2007, O'Reilly won the DSW Heavyweight Championship for the second time.[10] He lost the championship to Bradley Jay a week later. O'Reilly and Eric Perez were originally scheduled to face The Samoans (Afa, Jr. and Sonny Siaki) in the main event of DSW's final event, but he and Perez were replaced by The Major Brothers.[13] During mid-2007, O'Reilly would appear in dark matches prior to Raw and SmackDown against Sylvan Grenier, Chuck Palumbo, Super Crazy, Cody Rhodes and D'Lo Brown.[3][14]

He briefly appeared in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), another WWE developmental territory, where both Lacey Von Erich and Maryse acted as his valets.[3]

In October 2007, both Parmeter and his girlfriend Krissy Vaine requested and were granted their release from WWE.[3] They cited health problems suffered by members of both of their families as the reason.[3][10][15]

Independent circuit (2007–2010)

Parmeter in 2009

In October 2007, Parmeter stated that he was taking time off from wrestling.[16] He returned to wrestling in February 2009, working for NWA Charlotte.[3] He wrestled against Truitt Fields for the territory's Heavyweight Championship, but was unable to win the title. After the loss, O'Reilly formed an alliance with Mikael Judas and Phill Shatter called III, which lasted until the territory's closure.

Developmental territories (2010–2011)

Parmeter was re-signed by the WWE on July 14, 2010, and was reassigned to the FCW developmental territory.[17] On August 12, he debuted for Florida Championship Wrestling as Ryan O'Riley losing to Conrad Tanner. He would compete under this name for a short while before becoming Conor O'Brian on September 30.

On November 30, 2010, during the season finale of season three of NXT, it was announced that Parmeter, under the name Conor O'Brian, would be appearing on season four, with Alberto Del Rio as his mentor.[18][4][19] He made his in-ring debut on NXT the following week, teaming with Del Rio to defeat rookie Derrick Bateman and Bateman's mentor Daniel Bryan.[20] O'Brian won his first challenge on the January 4, 2011 episode of NXT, when he won the 'Battle of the Mic Challenge' to earn four immunity points.[21] Two weeks later, on January 18, O'Brian was the second contestant eliminated from NXT. Earlier that night, O'Brian competed in a match against Ricardo Rodriguez in a losing effort.[22]

In March 2011, O'Brian was selected as one of the six former NXT contestants to return to the show in its fifth season, NXT Redemption. During this season, O'Brian was mentored by Vladimir Kozlov.[23] He was later eliminated from competition on the June 28, 2011 episode of NXT, and would later be joined, and eventually replaced, by a returning Derrick Bateman and Daniel Bryan.

The Ascension (2011–2019)

Conor O'Brian in 2013

On August 28, 2011, Ricardo Rodriguez announced the formation of a stable called The Ascension, with members including O'Brian, Kenneth Cameron, Tito Colon and Raquel Diaz.[24] The first match to include all members in some capacity came on September 1, 2011, and saw Cameron, Colon and O'Brian, accompanied by Diaz, defeating CJ Parker, Donny Marlow and Johnny Curtis.[25] On September 30, Cameron and Colon had a shot at the FCW Tag Team Championship but lost to the current champions of CJ Parker and Donny Marlow. By October, however, video packages appeared promoting the Ascension under new seemingly demonic, supernatural characters, and did not include Rodriguez as he was disassociated from the team. By the end of November the Ascension had all but disbanded because O'Brian was injured, Colon had been called up to WWE to team with his cousin Primo, and Diaz became Queen of FCW and distanced herself from the group. This left Cameron as the sole survivor of the Ascension, continuing to use the Ascension gimmick during his appearances. On March 15, 2012, O'Brian returned accompanying Cameron to the ring in his match against Byron Saxton; the match ended in disqualification when O'Brian interfered. Cameron and O'Brian began wrestling as a tag team using the name The Ascension, and their first tag team match together came on March 23 when the two defeated Jason Jordan and Xavier Woods. The Ascension suffered their first loss when the pair lost to the FCW Tag Team Champions Corey Graves and Jake Carter, in a title match.[26]

With the conclusion of NXT Redemption, WWE rebranded its developmental territory FCW into NXT.[27] O'Brian and Cameron, as The Ascension, debuted on the June 20 episode of the rebooted NXT taped at Full Sail University, where they defeated Mike Dalton and CJ Parker.[28][29] The Ascension then started a feud with The Usos,[30] defeating them on the September 5 NXT,[31] and also scored a win over Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd on the October 3 NXT.[32] Two weeks later, the Ascension teamed up with Kassius Ohno to defeat Richie Steamboat and the Usos.[33] The Ascension disbanded on November 30, 2012 when Cameron was released from WWE.[34]

O'Brian retained his character while using "The Ascension" as his nickname as he started to feud with Big E Langston for the NXT Championship.[35][36] O'Brian first faced Langston in a non-title match, which ended in a double disqualification.[37] O'Brian then faced Corey Graves in a number one contender match which had no winner when the Shield attacked both men to make a statement.[38] The next week, O'Brian defeated Graves and Bo Dallas to become the number one contender.[39] The feud ended after O'Brian was defeated in a title match on the April 4 episode of NXT.[40] On the May 29 NXT, O'Brian competed in an 18-man number one contender battle royal and was eliminated by Corey Graves and Kassius Ohno.[41] To reform the Ascension tag team, Rick Victor allied himself with O'Brian as they went chased the NXT Tag Team Championships held by Adrian Neville and Corey Graves. On November 10, 2013 O'Brian's name was tweaked and shortened to "Konnor". On February 27, 2014 at NXT Arrival, he and Viktor successfully defended the NXT Tag Team Championships against Too Cool, repeating the feat on May 29, 2014 at NXT TakeOver against the team of El Local and Kalisto.

Viktor and Konnor, as the Ascension, in March 2015

Konnor, alongside Viktor, made his main roster debut on the September 9, 2014 episode of Main Event, with the duo defeating Los Matadores (Diego and Fernando) in a tag-team match to promote their NXT tag title defense against The Lucha Dragons (Kalisto and Sin Cara) at the NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way event. On the December 12 episode of SmackDown, vignettes began to air promoting The Ascension's call-up to the main roster. The Ascension made their debut on the December 29 episode of Raw, quickly defeating The Miz and Damien Mizdow.[42] The Ascension would continue to squash local athletes three weeks in a row on Main Event while indirectly criticizing of The Road Warriors. Their first major victory as part of the main roster was a win over The New Age Outlaws at the Royal Rumble. The Ascension suffered their first pinfall loss on the main roster on February 23 episode of Raw, losing to The Prime Time Players (Darren Young and Titus O'Neil). At WrestleMania 31, The Ascension made their WrestleMania debut in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal where both failed to win the match. On the May 11 episode of Raw, during a match between Curtis Axel and Macho Mandow, in the guise of Randy Savage, The Ascension attacked Axel and Mandow. It was then announced that the Ascension would face Axel and Mandow on the Payback pre-show, where they won the match. It was announced the Ascension would par take in a six team elimination chamber match for the WWE Tag Team Championship. At Elimination Chamber on May 31, he and Viktor eliminated the Los Matadores and The Lucha Dragons until they were eliminated by The Prime Time Players, ultimately losing the match.

On the September 3 episode of SmackDown, The Ascension aligned themselves with Stardust by attacking Neville before their match, and thus forming a group known as "The Cosmic Wasteland". At Night of Champions, The Cosmic Wasteland defeated Neville and the Lucha Dragons on the pre-show. On the Survivor Series kickoff, The Cosmic Wasteland, The Miz, and Bo Dallas were defeated by The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley), Neville, Goldust and Titus O'Neil, in a traditional Survivor Series elimination tag team match. On the Royal Rumble kickoff, The Ascension lost a Fatal 4-Way tag team match to qualify for the Royal Rumble match. At WrestleMania 32, Konnor competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal but failed to win the match. On April 16, 2016, Konnor was suspended for 60 days for his second violation of the Wellness Program.[1] On the June 24 episode of Superstars, Konnor returned from suspension when The Ascension faced the Golden Truth (Goldust and R-Truth) in a losing effort.

On July 19 at the 2016 WWE draft, The Ascension were drafted to SmackDown, making their debut on the July 26 episode in a WWE World Championship No. 1 Contender's Six-Pack Qualifying Battle Royal, which was won by Apollo Crews. At the SummerSlam kickoff, The Ascension competed in a 12-man tag team match where their team lost. They then entered the SmackDown Tag Team Championship tournament, where they were eliminated in the first round by The Usos. On the September 27 episode of SmackDown Live, The Ascension picked up their first win on the brand, when The Ascension and The Usos defeated Heath Slater, Rhyno and American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordan) in an eight-man tag team match. At 2017 Elimination Chamber, The Ascension competed in a tag team turmoil match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship where they were the final team eliminated. Konnor, alongside Viktor, would later enter the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 33, but both men were eliminated from the match. At Money in the Bank (2017), The Ascension lost to Breezango after they claimed responsibility for a vandal attack in their office. On the June 27 episode of SmackDown Live, The Ascension was interrogated by Breezango on "Fashion Vice", admitting that they didn't commit the crime and only took responsibility, because they wanted a match at the PPV. In September, the duo turned face when they started trying to befriend Breezango during the latters' 'Fashion Files' segments. On the January 9 episode of SmackDown Live, The Ascension a loss to The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan), for a while the duo would only appear as supporting characters in Breezango's Fashion Files skits. The duo were participants in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 34, with Konnor being the first of the duo to be eliminated.

During the 2018 Superstar Shake-up, The Ascension were traded to Raw. On the April 23 episode of Raw, The Ascension, once again as heels, facing against the team of Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt in a losing effort. At the Greatest Royal Rumble event, Konnor entered at number 19 but was eliminated by Elias. On the September 24 episode of Raw, he got a victory over Chad Gable in singles competition. On the October 1 episode of Raw, he defeated Bobby Roode. At WrestleMania 35, Konnor competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal but failed to win the match. On the April 12, 2019 episode of Main Event, The Ascension lost to Heavy Machinery (Otis and Tucker), in what would be their final match in WWE.[43]

On December 8, 2019, WWE announced it had come to terms on the release of Parmeter along with his partner, ending his nine year run with the company.[44]

Return to independent circuit (2020–present)

Following their departure from WWE, Konnor and Viktor were announced for Wrestling Revolver's Pancakes and Piledrivers event during WrestleMania 36 weekend. On February 20, 2020, The Ascension competed in their first match since leaving WWE at Outlaw Wrestling defeating Bull James and Bill Carr. Konnor joined the Isolation Wrestling Federation on May 9th, 2020. [45]

Personal life

Parmeter began dating fellow professional wrestler Kristin Eubanks better known as Krissy Vaine in 2006.[10] In an interview in October 2007, Parmeter announced the two were engaged.[16] In September 2017, the couple had their first child, a boy, named Elijah.[46]

Other media

Konnor made his video game debut as a part of the NXT Arrival DLC pack in WWE 2K15, then reappeared as part of WWE 2K16, WWE 2K17, WWE 2K18 and WWE 2K19.

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. "WWE Suspends Raymond Leppan and Ryan Parmeter". WWE. April 16, 2016. Archived from the original on April 16, 2016. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  2. "Conor O'Brian". Online World of Wrestling. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
  3. "South Florida talent O'Brian on WWE NXT Season 4". The Miami Herald. December 1, 2010. Archived from the original on December 19, 2010. Retrieved December 19, 2010.
  4. Bishop, Matt (November 30, 2010). "WWE NXT: Season 3 mercifully ends with new breakout diva crowned". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
  5. "Rough House O'Reilly". Deep South Wrestling. 2006. Archived from the original on April 3, 2007.
  6. "Konnor stats". WWE.com. Retrieved December 25, 2016.
  7. Mayberry, Nick (2006). "Ryan "Payne" O'Reilly". Superstars: Ryan O'Reilly's Profile. Incredible8.com.
  8. Evans, Russ (May 23, 2004). "Rocky Horror Wrestling, Headlocks aplenty!". Broward-Palm Beach New Times.
  9. Evans, Russ (July 15, 2004). "No Payne, no gain". Broward-Palm Beach New Times.
  10. Schramm, Chris (October 12, 2007). "Vaine and O'Reilly discuss their surprising WWE departure". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved December 19, 2010.
  11. Neikirk, Derik (2007). "Derik's Bio". DerickNeikirk.com. Archived from the original on April 9, 2009. Retrieved August 12, 2008.
  12. "2006 Show Reports: July 13, 2006". GeorgiaWrestlingHistory.com. July 2006.
  13. Goodman, Larry (May 5, 2007). "Final Deep South Wrestling TV Report (Siaki – Afa Jr vs. Major Brothers)". WrestleView.
  14. Clevett, Jason (June 5, 2008). "SLAM! Wrestling: D-Lo Brown signs with WWE". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer.
  15. Mooneyham, Mike (October 21, 2007). "O'Reilly, Vaine turn down offer to join WWE big show". Post and Courier. Archived from the original on April 11, 2009. Retrieved August 12, 2008.
  16. Martin, Adam (October 25, 2007). "Recap – Bryan Alvarez, Bill DeMott & Ryan O'Reilly on Wrestling Weekly". WrestleView. Retrieved December 19, 2010.
  17. Martin, Adam (July 21, 2010). "WWE rehires talent who quit the company". WrestleView. Archived from the original on August 26, 2010. Retrieved September 26, 2010.
  18. "Conor O'Brian Bio". WWE. Retrieved December 4, 2010.
  19. Caldwell, James (November 30, 2010). "WWE News: NXT Season 4 cast – full list of Pros & Rookies for the new season of NXT, plus noticeable absences". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
  20. Bishop, Matt (December 8, 2010). "WWE NXT: Season 4 begins with new pros, less Cole". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved December 19, 2010.
  21. Bishop, Matt (January 5, 2011). "WWE NXT: First rookie sent packing". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved January 5, 2011.
  22. Bishop, Matt (January 19, 2011). "WWE NXT: Eliminated wrestler buried again". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
  23. Bishop, Matt (March 9, 2011). "WWE NXT: Redemption beings for 6 former rookies". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved March 9, 2011.
  24. http://forums.onlineworldofwrestling.com/showthread.php/17403-FCW-Ascension Archived December 8, 2012, at Archive.today
  25. "Wrestleview.com - Wrestling News and Results, WWE News, TNA News, ROH News - Wrestling news updated by the minute, latest wrestling results, wrestling information archive, faq, wwe raw results, smackdown results, wwe spoilers, media of wrestling". Wrestleview.com - Wrestling News and Results, WWE News, TNA News, ROH News. Archived from the original on November 17, 2011.
  26. Philip Kreikenbohm. "FCW TV #190".
  27. "WWE News: FCW name being phased out". Wrestling Observer. Retrieved August 14, 2012.
  28. Bishop, Matt. "WWE NXT: Kidd, McGillicutty start new show off in style". Slam! Wrestling. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
  29. "NXT Weekly Rankings & Evaluation 6/20 - New NXT Week 1: Early impressions from new cast of FCW talent". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved June 9, 2013. heir gimmick is Brood-esque, selling they have demonic supernatural qualities such as hanging out a top building sites without even wearing a hard hat.
  30. James, Justin. "James's WWE NXT Report 8/15 - Week 9: Gold Rush tournament continues, Scotty 2 Hotty cameo, Overall Reax". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
  31. James, Justin. "James's' WWE NXT Results 9/5: Hero (Ohno) vs. Steamboats feud, Ross interviews new NXT champ, Clay, Usos, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved September 15, 2012.
  32. James, Justin. "James's WWE NXT Report 10/3 - Week 16: Kidd & Gabriel main event, Showtime is back, Ohno-Steamboat issue continues, Overall Reax". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
  33. James, Justin. "James's WWE NXT Report 10/17 - Week 17: Six-man tag main event, Barreta & others, Overall Reax". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved November 29, 2012.
  34. Johnson, Mike. "WWE Talent Arrested, Released". PWInsider. Retrieved December 1, 2012.
  35. James, Justin. "James's WWE NXT Report 2/6 - Week 32: Tag Tournament continues, Bo Dallas's main-roster debut carries over, Overall Reax". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved July 13, 2013. He's facing Conor O'Brien, who has new music but is keeping his persona from The Ascension. He's now being referred to as "The Ascension."
  36. James, Justin. "James's WWE NXT Results 1/23: Tag Tournament begins, HBK appearance, Big E. in main event". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved July 13, 2013. just as Langston looks to hit his finisher again, Conor O'Brian gets on the screen and says that in two weeks, he will show Langston what he thinks of five counts, when it only takes a three count to win.
  37. James, Justin. "James's WWE NXT Results 2/20: Big E. in main event, Kidd injury speech, Wyatt Family Feud, Overall Reax to strong episode". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved February 24, 2013.
  38. James, Justin. "James's WWE NXT Results 2/27: The Shield attacks in the main event, a match so bad that it's good, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
  39. James, Justin. "James's WWE NXT Results 3/6: Main Event #1 contender match to NXT Title, Shield delivers a message, Overall Reax". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
  40. James, Justin. "James's WWE NXT Reeport 4/3 - Week 40: Big E. defends NXT Title, final hype for Regal-Ohno, Overall Reax". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved August 19, 2013.
  41. James, Justin. "James's WWE NXT Results 5/29 & 6/5: Wyatts defend Tag Titles, NXT Women's Title introduced, #1 contender battle royal, Parade of released NXT wrestlers in matches". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
  42. "The Ascension vs. The Miz & Damien Mizdow: Raw, December 29, 2014". WWE.com. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
  43. "Csonka's WWE Main Event Review 4.12.19". 411mania.com. April 12, 2019.
  44. "The Ascension (Viktor y Konnor) abandonan WWE". solowrestling.mundodeportivo.com (in Spanish). December 8, 2019. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  45. https://twitter.com/ISOWRESTLING/status/1258898246166106115
  46. "WWE Star Welcomes Child, John Cena And Charlotte Flair Make SI List, Forgotten Goldberg Rivals - WrestlingInc.com". WrestlingInc.com. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  47. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2014". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
  48. "NXT Tag Team Championship". WWE. Retrieved February 16, 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.