D'Lo Brown

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D'Lo Brown


Statistics
Ring name(s)	Ace the Animal D'Lo Brown
Billed height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)^[1]
Billed weight	278 lb (126 kg/19.9 st)^[1]
Born	October 22, 1972 (1972-10-22) (age 35)^[2] Burlington, New Jersey, United States^[1]
Resides	Chicago, Illinois, United States^[1]
Billed from	Chicago, Illinois
Trained by	Al Snow
Debut	1994^[1]

D'Lo Brown (also written D-Lo Brown) ^[2]^[1] born Accie "A.C." Conner on October 22, 1972 in Burlington, New Jersey), is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment .

In WWE, he is a former four-time, European champion, and a former Intercontinental Champion. He is also known for his work in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he is a former NWA World Tag Team Champion.

1 Professional wrestling career
2 In wrestling
3 Championships and accomplishments
4 Personal life
5 References

[edit] Professional wrestling career

Connor began his wrestling career in New Jersey as Ace the Animal. He then wrestled Earthquake in the WWF in 1993 under his given name as a jobber. This led to his first widely known role in Smoky Mountain Wrestling, playing the "head of security" for The Gangstas. When the Gangstas left SMW in 1995, he signed a deal with the WWF and was sent to the Heartland Wrestling Association for more training.

[edit] World Wrestling Federation (1997-2003)

Conner made his official WWF debut in 1997 as D'Lo Brown, a member of the Nation of Domination stable. After turning on the first leader of the faction, Faarooq, he eventually turned on the new leader of the group, The Rock, and allied himself with then-face Mark Henry. His trademark at this time was his chest protector, which he wore to the ring, supposedly for a torn pectoral muscle sustained in a match against Dan "The Beast" Severn. Instead, he used the chest protector to his advantage, making his finishing move The 'Lo Down more effective. He eventually turned face and formed a tag team with Henry in the 1990s, which was moderately successful. His career peaked when he held the European and Intercontinental Championships simultaneously. This feat was only duplicated by Jeff Jarrett, Kurt Angle, and Rob Van Dam, all of whom became World Heavyweight Champions in some form since said double-reigns (although in Van Dam's case, the reign doesn't count as a full reign as the European Championship was unified with his Intercontinental Championship and immediately retired after he won it).

Brown was involved in inadvertently ending the career of Darren Drozdov on October 5, 1999 when a running powerbomb went bad due to Droz's baggy shirt. The match was to be aired on the October 7 edition of SmackDown!. The match was never aired and Drozdov suffered a severe neck injury, leaving him a quadriplegic. During the rest of the year and into some of the next, Brown became an ally of The Godfather, dressing and walking like him. The teaming ended when Brown turned heel on the Godfather.

Brown then formed a tag team in July 2000 with Chaz named Lo Down. The team mostly wrestled on Sunday Night HEAT and WWE Jakked/Metal. Shortly after the team formed, Tiger Ali Singh joined the fray to become their manager. The tag team then came dressed towards the ring in Arabic ring attire and took on a gimmick very similar to Tiger's. The team was removed from WWF TV in January 2001. Chaz and Tiger Ali-Singh were later be released by WWE while D'Lo Brown stayed in WWE's developmental territory. D'Lo returned to TV on the April 28, 2002 episode of Heat, losing to Eddie Guerrero.

For the rest of the year, Brown mostly wrestled on Heat, did a little bit of commentary on the show, and even started a brief feud with Raven. In late 2002, Theodore Long retired as a WWE referee and managed D'Lo, who had complained about acts of racism being portrayed on him during his matches. D'Lo started Theodore Long's group Thuggin' and Buggin' Enterprises which eventually turned into a group of African Americans who worked a race angle in which they felt they were victims of racism and were being held down by the "white man." With Long's managerial services, D'Lo Brown went undefeated for several weeks.

Brown faced Booker T in a losing effort on the February 10, 2003 episode of RAW. His involvement with Thuggin' and Buggin' Enterprises was brought to a close when footage was shown on the February 16 episode of Heat of Theodore Long kicking D'Lo Brown to the curb and introducing his replacement Rodney Mack. He was then released from his contract on February 14, 2003.

[edit] All Japan Pro Wrestling (2005-2007)

Conner, still under the D'lo Brown name, went on to wrestle for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling, competing in regular tours with the Japanese company as a member of Roughly Obsess and Destroy (RO&D). During one of these tours on September 17, 2006, Brown betrayed RO&D to join the rival Voodoo Murders faction. Brown left All Japan in 2007 and rejoined RO&D in Pro Wrestling NOAH.

When not in Japan, Brown was regularly found touring the United Kingdom, as well as working for Irish Whip Wrestling in Ireland. In April 2005, Brown became one of the lead trainers of the ill-fated Celebrity Wrestling on ITV. This Saturday evening reality show saw celebrities learn wrestling and compete in challenge matches. After a few weeks the programme was to be cancelled, but was instead moved to Sunday mornings to finish its final episodes. During his time wrestling in England, he would face off in a series of matches against his Celebrity Wrestling opposition's trainer, Joe Legend.

[edit] World Wrestling Entertainment (2007-)

In August 2007, Brown wrestled in a number of dark matches for World Wrestling Entertainment.^[3] On June 5, 2008, WWE announced that he had been signed to a contract.^[4]