Brian Mailhot
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| Brian Mailhot | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Ring name(s) | Brian Black Otto Von Schwartz Palmer Canon |
| Billed height | 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) |
| Billed weight | 261 lb (118 kg) |
| Born | August 12, 1975 Portland, Maine |
| Trained by | Steve Ramsey, Killer Kowalski and Mike Hollow |
| Debut | 2000 |
Brian Mailhot (born August 12, 1975) is an American professional wrestler, better known for his short stint in World Wrestling Entertainment's SmackDown! brand under the ring name of Palmer Canon.
Contents |
[edit] Early career
Mailhot debuted in 1999 for the Eastern Wrestling Alliance, losing to Larry Huntley in a match in Portland, Maine. After his first match Mailhot elected to take more time to focus on his in ring training and worked for the Eastern Wrestling Alliance in a character role as their commissioner. As commissioner he feuded with Alexander Worthington III, often countering Worthington's devious exploits with his power as commissioner although he didn't wrestle a match again until early 2002 when his dealings with Worthington finally escalated to an in ring encounter.
[edit] Chaotic Wrestling
In 2002 he began working for Chaotic Wrestling in Massachusetts as Brian Black. He formed a tag team with The Mighty Mini, and the partners won the CW Tag Team Championships on two occasions, in 2003 defeating Atrition and 2004, defeating Peter Mulloy & Brian Buffet. Mailhot won his first singles championship, the vacant CW New England Championship, on April 30, 2004, in a twenty-eight man royal rumble. He won the CW Heavyweight Championship on March 18, 2005, defeating Maverick Wild, but vacated the title on April 1 after signing a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment in March 2005.
[edit] All-Star Wrestling Association
During this time Mailhot was also wrestling for the now sold and renamed All-Star Wrestling Association based in Nashua, New Hampshire first debuting as Brian Black on February 21st, 2004[1] in a loss to Adam Booker followed by a short feud between the two. Following that he captured the AWA Tag Team Titles on May 15th, 2004[2] in Claremont, NH with The Mighty Mini, his tag partner from Chaotic Wrestling. This turned in to a phantom switch though when Mailhot changed to a new persona the next show. Since the switch took place outside of their typical venue in Nashua, NH it was simply ignored and the titles were returned to The Swerve. On May 22nd, 2004[3] he debuted a German character of his own creation, Otto Von Schwartz. Taking full advantage of his German heritage and ability to speak German himself he worked as a heel feuding primarily with Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. He captured the AWA Heavyweight Championship from Greg "The Hammer" Valentine on September 25th, 2004[4] holding on to it until losing it on April 9th, 2005[5] just before his departure to the WWE developmental Deep South Wrestling.[6]
[edit] World Wrestling Entertainment
Mailhot began training in WWE's auxiliary developmental territory, Deep South Wrestling. On May 2, 2005 he had a dark match against Todd Hansen, with Hansen gaining the victory. He made his televised debut with WWE on the August 25, 2005 episode of SmackDown! as an authority figure called Palmer Canon. His character was ostensibly a representative of the oppressive "Network". This gimmick reflected what WWE perceived as increasing interference by UPN regarding the content of SmackDown!, most notably UPN's demand that WWE remove Mark Copani's controversial Muhammad Hassan character from television. His character and booking of matches that the fans disliked led to mainly heel reactions, though he played face at times such as during Survivor Series 2005, where he helped SmackDown! general manager Theodore Long defeat RAW general manager Eric Bischoff. The gimmick was reminiscent of both Right to Censor, a stable created to parody the Parents Television Council, and The Network, an ECW stable led by Cyrus which claimed to represent TNN. The name Palmer Canon might have been a play with the initials "P.C.". This connection between his name and political correctness was made more evident when commentator Tazz called him P.C. when Cannon came to do ringside commentary. His character also consisted of booking matches behind the back of Theodore Long (E.g. He made Eddie Guerrero the number 1 contender, despite Long's wishes to have that right go to Rey Mysterio). He also introduced Marty Wright as "The Boogeyman" as a decision by the network for ratings, added "The Juniors", a midget wrestling division and the tag team "The Dicks" (John Toland and Chad Wicks), though all were later released. Wright's release only lasted 2 weeks, however.
On the February 3, 2006 edition of SmackDown!, William Regal and Paul Burchill told Palmer Canon that they no longer wanted to be a tag team so they could go their separate ways. During this discussion Burchill informed Canon that his family heritage traces back to pirates, and that he wanted to do a pirate gimmick on Friday Night SmackDown! Later, on the April 21, 2006 edition of SmackDown!, Palmer remarked that the The Miz was acting inappropriately, and had him escorted from the arena by security.
On April 20, 2006, Mailhot abruptly flew himself home from a WWE tour in Italy and gave his notice to WWE officials, citing harassment from John "Bradshaw" Layfield and his "Wrestler's Court" as the reason for his resignation. He was granted his release on April 27, 2006.[1] This forced the postponement of the Miz's planned wrestling debut, as the Palmer Canon/Miz feud had to be canceled. During his run on SmackDown!, Mailhot never wrestled a match there despite being a trained wrestler.[1]
[edit] Post WWE
Mailhot has now returned to Portland, Maine, where he works in fundraising for the Maine Muscular Dystrophy Society. Some popular reports indicate that Mailhot is considering a possible return to the WWE as he had again been independently wrestling at events in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Brian Black had also returned to Chaotic Wrestling, but suffered a torn biceps that put him out of action until November of 2007. He won the CW Heavyweight Title in a shock return to Chaotic Wrestling. This would be short lived, however, as only three days later he would be involved in a major car crash that broke his leg and also killed his girlfriend. He was once again forced to vacate the title and has been recovering ever since.
[edit] Championships and accomplishments
- Chaotic Wrestling
- 1-time CW Heavyweight Champion
- 1-time CW New England Champion
- 2-time CW Tag Team Champion (with The Mighty Mini)
- All-Star Wrestling Association
- 1-time AWA Heavyweight Champion
- 1-time AWA Tag Team Champion (with The Mighty Mini)
