Mike Sanders

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the former National Basketball Association (NBA) player, see Mike Sanders (basketball).

Mike Sanders
Statistics
Ring name(s)	Mike Sanders
Billed height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Billed weight	225 lb (102 kg)
Born	July 20, 1969 (1969-07-20) (age 38) Smyrna, Georgia
Trained by	Paul Orndorff at the WCW Power Plant
Debut	1998
Retired	2004

Michael Edwin Neil Sanders^[1] (born July 20, 1969 in Smyrna, Georgia^[2]) is an American stand-up comedian and former professional wrestler. Sanders is best known for his time in WCW as "Above Average" Mike Sanders.

1 Wrestling career
2 Comedy career
3 Personal life
4 Wrestling facts
5 Championships and accomplishments
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Wrestling career

Sanders trained at the WCW Power Plant before debuting in World Championship Wrestling in 1998. Finally, in June 2000, he became the mouthpiece of the Natural Born Thrillers^[3]. That same year, Sanders defeated Ernest "The Cat" Miller to become the WCW Commissioner, and abused his power to the advantage of the Thrillers.

When WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation in March 2001, Sanders' contract was acquired as part of the deal. Sanders was sent to the Cincinnati, Ohio based Heartland Wrestling Association, then a WWF developmental territory, where he formed a tag team with Lance Cade. On February 13, 2002, Sanders and Cade captured the tag team titles defeating Val Venis and Steve Bradley^[4]. He was released by the WWE in July 2002.

Sanders was hired by the World Wrestling All-Stars promotion in late November 28, 2002 and toured Europe as the onscreen commissioner of the promotion. In January 2003 he joined Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He was released in August 2003.

In 2004, Sanders started wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling and Universal Championship Wrestling.

Sanders still wrestles occasionally, but has not been working a regular schedule. Sanders returned to the ring on February 20, 2005 in Vince Russo's Ring Of Glory, where he and Disco Inferno defeated Adam Jacobs and Johnny Swinger.

[edit] Comedy career

After competing for both WCW and the WWF among numerous independent promotions, Sanders retired from professional wrestling and did his first open mic at the Punchline in Atlanta. After just a few months in the business, Sanders got his first paying gig at the Orlando Improv, where he is now a regular.

Sanders has performed with such comedians as Tommy Davidson, Mark Lundholm, Diana Jordan, Craig Robinson, Vinnie Coppola and many others. Mike currently does both clubs and corporate comedy, as well as motivational speaking.^[5]