Luke Gallows

Andrew "Drew" Hankinson (December 22, 1983) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) under the ring name Luke Gallows. In WWE he is a former two-time WWE Raw Tag Team Champion. During his stints with the promotion, he appeared under the ring names Festus and Luke Gallows. He has also wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) under the ring name Doc Gallows and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) where he was a member of the heel Aces & Eights stable under the ring name D.O.C. (Director of Chaos).
Hankinson was also known for his appearances as an impostor of the wrestler Kane, and as the tag team partner of Jesse while they were part of the tag team Jesse and Festus on the SmackDown brand. After a few months, he reappeared as the Enforcer and "disciple" of CM Punk, sporting a cleaner, militant look, with the Festus character's "real identity" revealed as Luke Gallows.
==Professional wrestling career==
===Early career===
Hankinson began his career in Pennsylvania with the World Star Wrestling Federation (AWA/World Star Wrestling), Summit Wrestling Association of Southern Pennsylvania, and Maryland-based National Wrestling League, wrestling as Dorian Deville. In April 2005, he was signed to a contract by World Wrestling Entertainment and assigned to the Deep South Wrestling (DSW) developmental territory, where he formed a partnership with Palmer Cannon. Hankinson wrestled in DSW as Deacon Deville before changing his ring name to The Freakin' Deacon.
=== World Wrestling Entertainment (2005-2010) ===
==== Impostor Kane (2006-2007) ====
As part of the promotion for the WWE produced movie See No Evil, the WWE ran a storyline in which May 19 was a significant date for Kane. The date was actually the U.S. release date for the movie in cinemas. Kane plays the lead role in the movie. The original plan was to have Kane defeat Rey Mysterio for the World Heavyweight Championship on that date. This would be only 2 days before a major pay-per-view title defense between the champion Mysterio and challenger JBL. However, Jacobs was aiming to take time off after the movie's release, but winning the title would not allow him to do this. So at Jacobs' request, an alternate storyline was produced.
On May 29, Kane was close to beating Shelton Benjamin for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. Kane won by disqualification when a second Kane (Hankinson) interrupted the match and attacked the original Kane. The second Kane, henceforth known as Impostor Kane, looked and acted exactly like the original Kane did when he debuted on WWF programming. As a result, Hankinson would repeatedly attack the real Kane during or after his matches. Ring announcers claimed that the identity of the Impostor Kane would likely be revealed to be someone from the real Kane's past. The pair finally faced off at the WWE Vengeance Pay-per-view. Surprisingly, Hankinson (the impostor) won the match using one of Kane's trademark moves. However, the crowd in attendance did not understand where the storyline was going and barely reacted to these events. One night later, the original Kane attacked the Impostor Kane, removed his mask, and threw him out of the building. This ended the storyline, and Hankinson returned to Deep South Wrestling.
==== Deep South Wrestling (2006-2007) ====
Hankinson returned to Deep South Wrestling, in addition to appearing at SmackDown! house shows as The Freakin' Deacon. In late January he formed a tag team with G-Rilla.
==== Festus (2007–2009) ====
On the May 11, 2007 edition of SmackDown!, a vignette aired suggesting that Hankinson would be repackaged as Festus Dalton as part of a tag team using a Southern gimmick, alongside fellow WWE developmental talent Ray Gordy. On June 2, 2007, however, it was reported that WWE was dropping the "Dalton Boys" gimmick. The explanation for them not showing up on SmackDown was because they got lost on their way to the arena. Hankinson and Gordy had actually been sent back to OVW and Hankinson changed his name to Justice Dalton. It marked the second time Hankinson had been dropped from the main roster.
Hankinson was then renamed "Festus", while Gordy was dubbed "Jesse", and on the June 29, 2007 edition of SmackDown!, vignettes hyping Jesse and Festus began to air. For weeks, Jesse would be presented as the mouth-piece of the tandem, who was in awe of his tag team partner. Hankinson, however, played a character that was mentally challenged and unresponsive. In spite of Festus' dim-witted nature, Jesse kept claiming that Festus was an emotionally driven and physically unstoppable giant. On the September 7, 2007 edition of SmackDown!, there was a segment featuring Jesse and Festus now actually in the arena rather than in a studio. On October 5, Hankinson won his debut match on SmackDown with his partner Jesse. When the opening bell rang, Festus' personality changed into a very focused and angry competitor as compared to the mentally retarded character he had portrayed. When the bell rang signifying the end of the match, Festus returned to his "normal" docile self. On the December 21, 2007 edition of SmackDown!, Festus defeated Deuce in a Santa Match with both of them wearing Santa Claus outfits. On the January 25 edition of SmackDown!, Jesse explained the reason that they had not been on television since the new year was because Festus has been seeing doctors about his "problems". In reality Drew had surgery on his right shoulder, as evidenced by a very large new scar that can still be seen today.
In 2008, Jesse and Festus came out and before the bell rang Jesse explained that Festus had changed. However, Festus did not change and continued to make a determined and monstrous face after the bell had rung. On the March 21, 2008 edition of SmackDown, Jesse and Festus had a chance to face John Morrison and The Miz for the Tag Team Championship, although Morrison and The Miz retained their titles in this match. Festus received his first loss when he wrestled against World Heavyweight Champion The Undertaker on the April 11, 2008 edition of SmackDown after passing out while in the Hell's Gate.
On April 15, 2009, Festus was drafted to the Raw brand as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft and, as a result, was separated from his tag team partner Jesse, who remained on SmackDown. After this, he took a hiatus from Wrestling thus ending his the team with Jesse ( Later known as Slam Master J)
==== Luke Gallows (2009–2010) ====
After a six-month hiatus from television, Hankinson returned on the November 27, 2009 edition of SmackDown, repackaged as a villain under the name Luke Gallows, sporting a new attire with a goatee, shaved head, and having lost a considerable amount of weight. After accompanying CM Punk to the ring for his match with Matt Hardy, Punk revealed that Gallows was actually Festus' true identity and claimed that Gallows' family and friends enabled his alcoholic inclination, which led to him being in the mental state he was in as Festus, before stating that Gallows was cured due to Punk showing him the straight edge lifestyle. On the December 11 episode of SmackDown, Gallows made his in-ring re-debut for the brand as he and Punk defeated Hardy and R-Truth after Gallows pinned Hardy with his new finishing move, the "Twelfth Step". On the January 8, 2010 episode of SmackDown, Gallows defeated Hardy in his re-debut singles match. The next week Gallows and Punk defeated Matt Hardy and The Great Khali, The Hart Dynasty and Cryme Tyme in a Fatal Four-Way match to become #1 Contenders for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship. On the February 10, 2010 episode of Raw, The Straight Edge Society was eliminated in an Triple Threat Elimination Tag Match between them, The Miz and The Big Show and DX for the Unified Tag Team Championship. The Miz and The Big Show became the new Unified Tag Team Champions. At WrestleMania XXVI Luke Gallows competed in a dark 30-man battle royal to open WrestleMania which was won by Yoshi Tatsu. On the April 13 episode of WWE NXT, he challenged CM Punk's rookie Darren Young and the stipulation, if Young were to lose, he will have to surrender his hair to Punk and have it shaved bald. Gallows came close to getting the victory when Young came up with a roll-up and shaved his hair, with Punk showing some favor to his rookie and Gallows seeming unhappy. At Extreme Rules, during Punk's Hair match against Rey Mysterio, Gallows and Serena helped Punk throughout the match until they were banned from ringside. On the July 2nd tapings of SmackDown, after a match between Luke Gallows and Kane, a security video was shown by Serena of her being caught drinking in a bar by Punk on the same day of The Undertaker's attack proving The Straight Edge Society's innocence in order to save Punk. Serena begged for forgiveness even after Punk warned her not to, but the Straight Edge Society simply left without her. The following week, however, Serena was forgiven by Punk for her actions, as they embraced, but Gallows did not approve. The following week Gallows was set to fight Big Show but gave the match to the SES Masked Man, who was unmasked as Joey Mercury during the match. On the September 3 edition of Smackdown, Gallows and Punk faced The Big Show in a 2 on 1 handicap match, which Gallows and Punk lost. After the match Punk delivered the GTS on Gallows.
On the September 16th edition of WWE Superstars, before a match with MVP, Gallows cut a promo announcing that he was no longer part of the Society by proclaiming he was his own man. Gallows went on to lose the match. On the September 21st taping of Smackdown, Gallows began a face turn when he confronted CM Punk in a backstage segment stating that after defeating him, he would have a beer, but lost a match to Punk later in the night.
Gallows, now officially established as a face, defeated Vance Archer on the November 4 airing of Superstars. His final TV appearance was during a backstage segment in which Kane was looking for his father, on the November 19, 2010, edition of SmackDown. Hankinson was released from his WWE contract on the same day, along with several other superstars. Later that month, CM Punk would tweet regretting his loss.
=== Independent circuit (2010-2016) ===
Hankinson wrestled on December 3, 2010 as Keith Hanson, at an Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) event, where he defeated The Predator. On January 29, 2011, he lost to ECW Original Tommy Dreamer in a hardcore match at a National Wrestling Superstars (NWS) event in New Jersey. On May 29, 2011, Gallows debuted for NWA Rampage in Warner Robins, Georgia. Gallows defeated former Ring of Honor and TNA star by DQ after Rave's group, Jimmy Rave Approved, interfered. Afterwards an 8-man tag took place in which Gallows teamed with Kyle Matthews, J-Rod, & Frankie Valentine to defeat Rave, Sal Rinauro, Chip Day and Corey Hollis. On June 5 Gallows returned to NWA Rampage and lost to Heavyweight Champion Bull Buchanan. On June 14, 2011, Hankinson wrestled a tryout dark match for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), in which he was defeated by Gunner.
He received some attention on July when CM Punk was pursuing the WWE Championship leading up to his departure in Money in the Bank 2011 as he was mentioned alongside Colt Cabana as one of the "voiceless". On July 24 Gallows returned to NWA Rampage in a 4-corners elimination match for the NWA Rampage heavy-weight title also featuring Bull Buchanan, Rob Adonis, & J-Rod. Gallows eliminated J-Rod before being eliminated by Adonis.
In December 2011, Gallows took part in TNA's India project, Ring Ka King, under the ring name "The Outlaw" Isaiah Cash.
===International tour (2010–2013)===
Hankinson wrestled on December 3, 2010 as Keith Hanson, at a Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) event, where he defeated The Predator. On March 25, 2011, Hankinson, working as Luke Gallows, made an appearance for the Japanese Apache Army promotion, defeating Makoto Hashi. In August 2011, Hankinson and Cliff Compton traveled to wrestle in Nigeria. The trip coincided with a car bombing in Abuja that left them stranded in Nigeria for several days, while a lack of organization during the trip caused Hankinson and Compton to have to spend thousands of dollars to return to the United States. Hankinson appeared on the World Wrestling Fan Xperience (WWFX) Champions Showcase Tour in Manila, Philippines on February 4, 2012, where he wrestled under the name Luke Gallows (using his heel S.E.S. gimmick) in a losing effort to Rhyno. He also appeared at Wrestlerama in Georgetown, Guyana. From June 3 to 13, Hankinson, as Luke Gallows, worked a tour with the Japanese Pro Wrestling Noah promotion, during which he often teamed with Bobby Fish and Roderick Strong.
===Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2011, 2012–2013)===
On June 14, 2011, Hankinson wrestled a tryout dark match for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), in which he was defeated by Gunner. In December 2011, Hankinson took part in TNA's India project, Ring Ka King, under the ring name "The Outlaw" Isaiah Cash.
Hankinson began working TNA house shows as a masked member of the Aces & Eights stable. On September 4, Hankinson confirmed that he had signed a contract with the promotion. Hankinson was unmasked and revealed as a member of the Aces & Eights on the November 1 episode of Impact Wrestling. The following week, Hankinson, billed as D.O.C. (Director of Chaos), teamed with stablemate Devon in a tag team match, where they were defeated by Kurt Angle and Sting via disqualification. Having been told to show why he deserved a spot in Aces & Eights, D.O.C. afterwards put Sting through a table, before beating him with a ball-peen hammer. DOC made his TNA pay-per-view debut three days later at Turning Point, defeating Joseph Park in a singles match. On December 9 at Final Resolution, D.O.C. teamed with Devon and two masked members of Aces & Eights in a losing effort to Kurt Angle, Garett Bischoff, Samoa Joe, and Wes Brisco. On January 13, 2013, at Genesis, D.O.C. was defeated by Sting in a singles match. On the February 7 episode of Impact Wrestling, D.O.C. and Devon were defeated by Bully Ray and Sting in a Tables match. On March 10 at Lockdown, Aces & Eights, consisting of D.O.C., Devon, Garett Bischoff, Mike Knox, and Mr. Anderson were defeated by Team TNA, consisting of Eric Young, James Storm, Magnus, Samoa Joe, and Sting in a Lethal Lockdown match. On the June 13th edition of Impact Wrestling, D.O.C. participated in an Aces & Eights battle royal match for a spot in the 2013 Bound for Glory Series, but ended up being thrown out by Mr. Anderson after refusing to get out of the ring, though not turning face. On the July 11 Impact, D.O.C. lost his bid to become the vice president of Ace and Eights as Knux gave his deciding vote to Mr. Anderson, to D.O.C.'s disgust On July 12, Hankinson's contract expired. Four days later, he announced he and TNA had officially parted ways.
===New Japan Pro Wrestling (2013–2016)===
On November 11, 2013, New Japan Pro Wrestling announced Hankinson, working as "Doc Gallows", as a participant in the 2013 World Tag League, where he would be teaming with Karl Anderson as part of Bullet Club. Gallows made his New Japan debut on November 23, when he and Anderson defeated Bushi and Kota Ibushi in a non-tournament match, with Gallows pinning Bushi for the win. In the round-robin portion of the tournament, which ran from November 24 to December 7, Gallows and Anderson finished with a record of four wins and two losses, winning their block and advancing to the semifinals. On December 8, Gallows and Anderson first defeated G.B.H. (Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma) in the semifinals and then Ten-Koji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) in the finals to win the 2013 World Tag League and earn a shot at the IWGP Tag Team Championship. Gallows returned to New Japan on January 4, 2014, at Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome, where he and Anderson defeated K.E.S (Davey Boy Smith, Jr. and Lance Archer) to become the new IWGP Tag Team Champions.
Gallows and Anderson made their first successful title defense on February 9 at The New Beginning in Hiroshima, defeating K.E.S. in a rematch. Their second defense took place on April 6 at Invasion Attack 2014, where they defeated Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata. Gallows and Anderson's third successful defense took place just seven days later, during New Japan's trip to Taiwan, when they defeated Hirooki Goto and Captain Taiwan. On May 17, Gallows and Anderson made their fourth successful title defense against The Briscoes (Jay and Mark) at a NJPW and Ring of Honor (ROH) co-produced event, War of the Worlds, in New York City. On June 21 at Dominion 6.21, Gallows and Anderson made their fifth successful defense against Ace to King (Hiroshi Tanahashi and Togi Makabe). From July 21 to August 8, Gallows took part in the 2014 G1 Climax, where he finished ninth out of the eleven wrestlers in his block with a record of four wins and six losses. On September 21 at Destruction in Kobe, Gallows and Anderson made their sixth successful title defense against Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi. In December, Gallows and Anderson made it to the finals of the 2014 World Tag League, after winning their block with a record of five wins and two losses. On December 7, Gallows and Anderson were defeated in the finals of the tournament by Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata. Gallows and Anderson's year-long reign as the IWGP Tag Team Champions came to an end on January 4, 2015, at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome, where they were defeated by Goto and Shibata. Gallows and Anderson regained the title from Goto and Shibata on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka. They lost the title to The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Michael Bennett) on April 5 at Invasion Attack 2015.
===Global Force Wrestling (2015)===
On May 6, 2015, Global Force Wrestling (GFW) announced Gallows as part of their roster.
===WrestleMerica (2014)===
Gallows owns and runs WrestleMerica, that was founded in 2014.
===Return to WWE (2016–2020)===
Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson were both backstage during the April 4 episode of Raw. On the April 11 episode of Raw, Gallows along with Anderson debuted, attacking The Usos.
On April 15 2020 Gallows was released by WWE.
===Impact Wrestling (2020-2022)===
Three months after his WWE release, under the ring name Doc Gallows, both Gallows and Karl Anderson made their debuts during the July 28 episode of iMPACT! under the team name The Good Brothers. They won their debut match defeating team Reno Scum. The following month on August 18, The Good Brothers returned to wrestling during the opening night of Impact Wrestling's two-part television event Emergence. On that night, they defeated the team of Ace Austin & Madman Fulton. On November 14 at Turning Point The Good Brothers defeated The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) to win the Impact World Tag Team Championship.
=== All Elite Wrestling===
In early 2021 Impact Wrestling began a working relationship with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) which lead to The Good Brothers debuting and aligning themselves with Kenny Omega.
==In wrestling==
*Finishing moves
**As Luke Gallows / Doc Gallows
***Gallows Pole / 12th Step (Inverted full nelson slam)
**As D.O.C.
***Chokeslam
**As Keith Hanson
***Diving neckbreaker
**As Festus
***Fireman's carry flapjack
***Gutbuster drop
**As (The) Freakin' Deacon
***Deacon Death Drop (Inverted DDT)
***Powerbomb
*Signature moves
**Belly-to-back suplex
**Big boot
**Body avalanche
**Fallaway slam
**Flying Biscuit (Running seated senton) – 2007–2009
**Headbutt
**Leaping shoulder block
**Running splash
**throat thrust
*With Jesse
**Double team finishing moves
***Aided diving shoulder block
*Tag teams and stables
**Jesse and Festus
**Straight Edge Society
**Aces & Eights
**Bullet Club
**The Bálor Club
**The O.C.
*Managers
**The Bag Lady
**Jesse
**CM Punk
**Amber O'Neal
*Nicknames
**"The Corn-Fed Colossus"
**"The Detoxified Disciple"
**"The Sin-Free Soldier"
**"The Outlaw"
**"The Suntan Biker Man"
*Entrance themes
**"Biscuits & Gravy" by Jim Johnston (2007–2009; used while teaming with Jesse)
**"This Fire Burns" by Killswitch Engage (2009–2010; used while a part of the Straight Edge Society)
**"Massacre" by Jim Johnston (2009–2010)
**"St. Anger" by Metallica (2010–2011)
**"Deadman's Hand (Instrumental)" by Dale Oliver (November 8, 2012 – July 11, 2013)
**"Bad Company" by Five Finger Death Punch
**"Shot'Em" by QBrick (NJPW; 2014–2016; used while a part of Bullet Club)
**"Baz" by Yonosuke itSamura (2014–2016)
**"Omen in the Sky" by CFO$ (WWE; used while teaming with Karl Anderson)
==Championships and accomplishments==
*American Pro Wrestling Alliance
**APWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Knux
*Impact Wrestling
**Impact World Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Karl Anderson
*National Wrestling League
**NWL Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
*New Japan Pro Wrestling
**IWGP Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Karl Anderson
**World Tag League (2013) – with Karl Anderson
* Rampage Pro Wrestling
**RPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
*Pro Wrestling Illustrated
**PWI ranked him #69 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2013
*River City Wrestling
**RCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Knux
*Vanguard Championship Wrestling
**VCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
*Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
**Worst Gimmick (2012, 2013) Aces & Eights
*World Wrestling Entertainment
**WWE Raw Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Karl Anderson
==External links==
* WWE.com Profile
* Profile
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