Palmer Canon Brian Mailhot ( August 12 , 1975 ) is an American professional wrestler and mixed martial arts fighter , better known for his short stint in World Wrestling Entertainment ' s SmackDown ! brand under the ring name of Palmer Canon . 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 did not wrestle a match again until early 2002 when his dealings with Worthington finally escalated to an in ring encounter . Chaotic Wrestling . In 2002 he began working for Chaotic Wrestling in Massachusetts as " Big League " 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 and Brian Buffet . Mailhot won his first singles championship , the vacant New England Championship , on April 30 , 2004 , in a twenty - eight man royal rumble . He won the 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 . 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 . He debuted as Brian Black on February 21 , 2004 , in a loss to Adam Booker , which led to a short feud between the two . Following that he captured the AWA Tag Team Championship on May 15 , 2004 in Claremont , New Hampshire with The Mighty Mini , his tag partner from Chaotic Wrestling . This turned into 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 it was simply ignored and the titles were returned to The Swerve . On May 22 , 2004 , he debuted a German character of his own creation , Otto Von Schwartz . Taking full advantage of his German heritage and ability to speak German , he worked as a heel , feuding primarily with Greg " The Hammer " Valentine . He captured the AWA Heavyweight Championship from Valentine on September 25 , 2004 , but dropped it on April 9 , 2005 . He then departed to the WWE developmental Deep South Wrestling . World Wrestling Entertainment . Deep South Wrestling ( 2005 ) . 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 . SmackDown ! ( 2005 – 2006 ) . 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 , 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 Canon 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 one 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 ! , Canon remarked that 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 Chris Benoit , John " Bradshaw " Layfield and his " Wrestler ' s Court " as the reason for his resignation . He was granted his release on April 27 , 2006 . 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 . Post – WWE . Mailhot has now returned to Portland , Maine . Brian made his amateur MMA debut on August 23 , 2008 at Untamed 22 as Brian " Hacksaw " Mailhot . It was promoted by Full Force Fighting Championships , at the Plymouth Memorial Hall . He defeated Tony Rea via KO by slam in 1 : 01 of the second round . He has wrestled for All Out Mayhem in southern and eastern Maine since his departure from WWE in 2006 . He won the AOM Heavyweight Championship from Captain Freedom in South Portland , Maine on November 20 , 2010 only to lose it later in the night to Larry Zbyszko . Personal life . Mailhot had a brother who wrestled under the name Damian Houston . Houston died from a motorcycle accident in June 2005 at the age of 24 .