Hazem Ali

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Hazem Ali
An image of Hazem Ali.
Statistics
Ring name(s) Armando Alejandro Estrada[1]
Armando Estrada
Osama Rodriguez Alejandro[1]
Billed height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[1]
Billed weight 230 lb (100 kg/16 st)[1]
Born December 20, 1978 (1978-12-20) (age 29)
Chicago, Illinois[2]
Resides Miami, Florida
Billed from Cuba[3]
Trained by OVW staff[1]
Debut 2004

Hazem Ali[2] (born December 20, 1978)[citation needed] is an American professional wrestler and wrestling manager of Palestinian descent,[2] better known by his ring names Osama Rodriguez Alejandro and Armando Estrada. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment where he wrestles on the ECW brand and the former General Manager of ECW.[3]

Contents

Career

World Wrestling Entertainment

Ohio Valley Wrestling

Ali began his World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) career wrestling in their "farm territory", Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), making his OVW TV debut as a bodyguard named Osama in Muhammad Hassan's entourage. When Hassan and Daivari were called up to the main roster, Ali remained in OVW wrestling with an Arab anti-American gimmick, similar to that of the Iron Sheik and began wrestling in a tag team with Da Beast.[4]

When Paul Heyman began booking OVW he expanded Osama's name to Osama Rodriguez Alejandro, revealing him to actually be half Cuban and half Palestinian.[2] Along with being an active wrestler he became a backstage interviewer, conducting interviews, along with a sidekick, wrestler Robbie Dawber, for his own (kayfabe) Spanish language version of OVWs TV show.[4] At the same time he began a storyline campaign to be elected "Dictator of Kentucky", which he intended to rename "Los Kentuckos",[2] often coming to the ring with a placard reading "Bote for Lalo", utilizing his nickname at the time: "Big Lalo".

Raw

In April 2006, Ali was called up to the main World Wrestling Entertainment roster and placed on the Raw brand. He debuted on the April 3, 2006 edition of Raw as Armando Alejandro Estrada, a Cuban businessman, and the heel manager for the also debuting Umaga. His debut saw him mocking Ric Flair, saying he was too old to still be in the business, and promising to bring about a new hero (Umaga).[5] Estrada led Umaga in a feud against Flair until the Backlash pay-per-view at the end of the month, where Umaga dispatched Flair.[6]

Following the feud with Flair, Umaga began a period of squashing jobbers,[7][8] before and after which Estrada would cut promos about his charge's greatness. During this time, he stopped introducing himself before promos, as his use of long rolling r's and a short "ha ha" laugh was beginning to get him cheered instead of booed.[9]

At August's SummerSlam, Estrada offered the undefeated Umaga's services to The McMahons (Vince and Shane) to "take out" their D-Generation X (Shawn Michaels and Triple H) opponents during their tag team match.[10] However, as Umaga attempted to deliver on Estrada's promise, he was attacked by Kane.[11] Kane and Umaga feuded for two months,[12][13] with Kane attacking Estrada on at least one occasion.[14] The feud seemingly came to an end when, on the October 9, 2006 Raw, Estrada's interference helped Umaga defeat Kane in a Loser Leaves Raw match.[15]

During December, Umaga, and thus Estrada, began a feud with John Cena over the WWE Championship.[16] In the opening stages Estrada inserted himself into matches and confrontations with the two, leading to Vince McMahon's assistant Jonathan Coachman signing a match between Estrada and Cena. Before the match Estrada attempted to buy Cena off (offering him a box of Cohibas, his watch, and finally cash) only to have him refuse. The resulting match was a squash, with Cena winning with his signature F-U.[17]

The next February, he managed Umaga to his first title, the Intercontinental Championship,[18] and stood beside him during his partnership with Vince McMahon and feud with Bobby Lashley.[19] As the Umaga and Lashley feud intensified, Lashley targeted Estrada after being banned from putting his hands on Umaga, Vince, or Shane McMahon outside of official matches; on the May 8 episode of ECW on Sci Fi, Lashley shoved a wheelchair-bound Estrada down a ramp into a collection of garbage cans, in what turned out to be Estrada's last appearance (except for one cameo) for months.[20].

ECW brand

On August 14, 2007, Estrada was announced as the General Manager of the ECW brand,[21] giving him (kayfabe) power to book matches and make arrangements for the brand. In early 2008, he was placed into a feud with Colin Delaney—an independent wrestler wrestling on the brand without a contract—offering him a WWE contract if he could beat the likes of the Big Show or then-ECW Champion Chavo Guerrero.[22][23] Delaney was finally awarded a contract after defeating Estrada himself on the May 6 episode of ECW. The next week, he signed himself onto the roster, putting himself into his first match against a beaten Colin Delaney, picking up the victory. He was removed from his position as GM of ECW on June 3 and replaced by Theodore Long.

In wrestling

Other media

Estrada made a cameo appearance on the August 4, 2006 episode of WWE.com's 28 Segundos web show in a parody of the Whassup? commercials of the early 2000s.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Armando Alejandro Estrada Profile. Online World Of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-03-25.
  2. ^ a b c d e [http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/Bios/estrada.html Armando Estrada biography]. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved on 2007-04-13.
  3. ^ a b Armando Estrada Bio. WWE. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.
  4. ^ a b OVW results - 2005. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2007-04-13.
  5. ^ RAW results - April 3, 2006. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2007-05-10.
  6. ^ PWI Staff. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated presents: 2007 Wrestling almanac & book of facts", "Wrestling’s historical cards", Kappa Publishing, 2007, pp. 121. (English) 
  7. ^ RAW results - May 1, 2006. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2007-04-13. “SQUASH MATCH: Umaga destroyed Rory Fox..”
  8. ^ RAW results - May 15, 2006. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2007-04-13. “SQUASH MATCH: Umaga w/Armando Alejandro Estrada defeated Chris Wellman..”
  9. ^ Vocal Estrada applying old-school managerial moxie to modern WWE. Retrieved on 2007-01-25. “Estrada's initial persona was actually too successful. He was born in Chicago, but delivered his vibrant promos in an over-the-top Cuban accent. They elicited such a positive crowd reaction that it forced WWE to scrap his pre-match routine of introducing himself as Arrrmando Alejandrrro Estrrrada.”
  10. ^ RAW results - August 14, 2006. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2007-04-13. “BACKSTAGE: Armando Alejandro Estrada offered Umaga as a "resource" to the McMahons at Summerslam..”
  11. ^ PWI Staff. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated presents: 2007 Wrestling almanac & book of facts", "Wrestling’s historical cards", Kappa Publishing, 2007, pp. 121. (English) 
  12. ^ RAW results - August 21, 2006. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2007-04-13. “Umaga w/Armando Alejandro Estrada attacked Kane during the match (stemming from their confrontation at Summerslam)..”
  13. ^ RAW results - September 25, 2006. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2007-04-13. “Umaga & Armando Alejandro Estrada destroyed Kane and Umaga smashed Kane's skull with the steel ring steps..”
  14. ^ RAW results - September 18, 2006. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2007-04-13. “Kane then chased Armanda Alejandro Estrada backstage and beat him up saying HE was the biggest monster in WWE..”
  15. ^ RAW results - October 9, 2006. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2007-04-13. “Armando Alejandro Estrada whacked Kane in the face with an over-sized cigar holder to help Umaga win..”
  16. ^ RAW results - December 4, 2006. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2007-04-13. “John Cena talked about accepting Umaga's challenge and wanted said he was ready to fight Umaga RIGHT NOW!”
  17. ^ RAW results - December 11, 2006. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2007-04-13.
  18. ^ RAW results - February 19, 2007. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2007-04-13. “INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH: Umaga w/Armando Alejandro Estrada defeated Jeff Hardy to win the IC Title!”
  19. ^ McElvaney, Kevin. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated, July 2007", "WrestleMania 23", Kappa Publishing, pp. 74-101. (English) 
  20. ^ ECW of Sci Fi results - May 8, 2007. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2007-07-15.
  21. ^ ECW results - August 14, 2007. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
  22. ^ ECW results - March 18, 2008. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-05-07.
  23. ^ ECW results - April 1, 2008. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-05-07.

External links

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