Broderick (RLS CAS)

Sam Broderick (born February 8th 1981 in Toronto, Canada) is a professional wrestler best known for his run UNION Wrestling in the UK, where he performed under the name Broderick. 
He is a former UNION Wrestling World Champion, defeating Ryan Burton to win the belt at PWU Money In The Bank in May 2017.
== Career ==
=== Early Career, Exhibition Wrestling (2002-2009) ===
Broderick started out training in Billy Cousins Exhibition Wrestling School in Medicine Hat, Canada. The exceptionally tall superstar had been advised to go into wrestling after his basketball career failed to take off1, and he was initially skeptical. However, the tutelage of Cousins, as well as James Arson, saw Broderick progress into a talented performer, and he chose to try and make it his career after all.
It was with the then-small Exhibition Wrestling2 promotion in Toronto that he made his name, winning several squash matches against local talent before being given a run with the EWElite Championship from August 2003. He held the belt for six months before dropping it to Divin' Don Cleary in a Ladder Match, in which he tore several muscles in his leg.
He returned from injury in January 2005, rusty and out of love with the idea of wrestling. He was accused of being lazy, stiff and abusive during this period. He left in October 2005 amid bad blood with several of the locker room and entered voluntary rehab for several painkiller addictions, getting clean over the seven months he was in there.
In March 2007 he made a long awaited comeback to wrestling, with Eddie Hamer Presents: Pro Wrestling, in Texas, but left within a few weeks due to a string of backstage fights with Jordan "The Cowpoke" Hamer, Ace and Mark Ross3. 
He then returned to Exhibition Wrestling, now Exhibition Wrestling: Canada, in May 2007, and had a couple of runs with the Canadian Championship before dropping the belt to Mayhem in January 2008 and taking time off to write a memoir on his time in rehab to help fellow athletes with painkiller addictions. This move was praised by several people in the industry, including Eddie Hamer, who said it was "a different Sam Broderick, a better guy all round".4 
He returned to the promotion in July 2008, and was heavily involved in the main event picture from then until his contract expired in December 2008. His last appearance was as a guest at Exhibit: A in February 2009, in the Big Battle main event, being eliminated by Mayhem, The Maverick and Sehova.
=== Fort Wayne Wrestling Championship and Wrestling upLOUD! (2009-2016) ===
Broderick travelled to Indiana in March 2009, to fight for FWWC while looking into the possibility of MMA. His enjoyment sparked by the little promotion, he dropped the latter idea in early 2010 and devoted himself fully to his wrestling career.
He won the inaugural King of the Fort Contest in January 2011, last defeating Dante (later known in UW as Sinyster). This was his first accomplishment since winning the Canadian Championship in 2008. It allowed him to move up the card, challenging twice unsuccessfully for the FWWC Championship in late 2011. It wasn't until April 2012- more than three years since his debut- that he finally won the belt from Brent Blake in a Cage Match at End of Days in Cleveland, Ohio (the first FWWC show outside of Fort Wayne). 
This marked the first- and to date only- face turn of his career, being portrayed as a misunderstood giant and unlikely champion. He feuded with the top heels in FWWC at the time, including Craig Arson (who's uncle had trained him), Tiki and Dante. He finally dropped the belt at King of the Fort 2013, to Rinaldo in a Last Man Standing Match with Special Guest Enforcer Dante. He was written off in this match, by the double-teaming antics of the duo, in order to prepare for an upcoming set of appearances for Dutch-based promotion Wrestling upLOUD!. 
Broderick was used sparingly in his run in upLOUD! after debuting in July 2013, mainly being used in his typical heel role to spoil the win for a babyface. He remained with the promotion for more than a year on-and-off, due to taking to it better than he'd anticipated, but never appeared as anything other than a marquee attraction to pull in tickets and wouldn't hold any titles. He finally left the promotion in August 2014 and returned to FWWC.
FWWC put the title back on him almost immediately in September 2014, and he held it until May 2015, when he broke his arm in a high spot in a match against Mark Ross. This injury would keep him out until March of the following year, when he only appeared to hype up a possible move to PWU5.
=== Final Run In Exhibition Wrestling: Canada (2016) ===
Broderick had a final run in EW:C in 2016, starting with a surprise Canadian Championship win at the Eternal Chaos event in Toronto in April 2016. He held the championship through aggressive means until he left the promotion in October 2016, where he was stripped of it in storyline as a means of giving his character more menace in new-home PWU and in case he wanted to return to the promotion at a later date.
=== PWU/UNION Wrestling, World Champion (2016-2019) ===
Broderick joined the then-PWU in August 2016, officially completing his time in EW:C and debuting with the promotion in October 2016. He was introduced as a monster heel who purely wanted to beat people up and hold the title as a sign of the hopelessness of the good guys on the roster. He was given a series of squash matches to accomplish this- most notably at Hardcore Brawl 2016 where he beat The Maverick and PWU Capitol Punishment 2017 where he beat The United Kingdom in a Handicap Match- before turning his attentions to the new World Champion Ryan Burton.
He defeated Burton at PWU Money In The Bank to win his first World Championship with the company in May 2017. He followed this up with a retention at European Invasion a month later, before writing then-General Manager Eddie Hamer off the show with an attack in retaliation to his continued interference in "his" show. Following his victory at The UNION Wrestling Classic in July 2017, to end the feud with Burton, he was accosted by Hamer's son The Cowpoke, turning 'Poke face and setting Broderick up with a more nuanced role in the feud than just the brawling monster.
He also developed something of a feud with Hamer's temporary GM replacement The Maverick, who he felt was continuing the interference in his business. The Cowpoke challenged him in a No DQ Match at Open Challenge 2017 in a losing effort, with Broderick putting him in hospital to end their short feud. On the next Live From The Union show the champion would seemingly continue his feud with The Maverick, who set him up with Banker Virgil Baker, beating him by count-out after a big boot against the ring post.
Broderick would leave UNION Wrestling during it's downsize, due to being on a high salary due to his status in the business. He stated respect for this decision, and considered himself on good terms with the promotion. He intended to return to his native continent after a break from wrestling, however the increasing COVID crisis would see him remain in the UK for over a year.6
=== Return to EW: Canada (2021-present) ===
Exhibition Wrestling: Canada confirmed in January 2021 that Broderick would return to the promotion when it was safe to do so, putting their roster on "high alert". He'd return to active competition in June 2021, soundly defeating Royce Oak in a short match at a live show.
== In-Wrestling ==
=== Signatures ===
Front Slam (2002-present)
Condominium Crush (2008-present)
Head Squeeze (Vise Grip) (2002-2009, used rarely after and not at all in UNION Wrestling)
=== Finishing Moves ===
Pulveriser (formerly known as the Sucker Punch) (Running Forearm Smash) 2002-present
=== Nicknames ===
The Devastator
Big Sam
The Canadian Monster
The Real Canadian Destroyer
== Accomplishments ==
EW Elite Champion 
EW Canadian Championship (Three times; 2007-2008, 2016)
FWWC King of the Fort Winner (Once; 2011)
FWWC Championship (Two times; 2012, 2014-2015)
UNION Wrestling World Championship 
== Trivia ==
* During his "difficult" period, he had large feuds backstage with several people, most notably Ace.7
* During his failed attempt to become a basketball player, he was also offered a trial with the original Montreal Impact Canadian Soccer team as a Goalkeeper8.
* Due to his excellent memory, particularly for facts and figures, Broderick was apparently the "unofficial Head of Continuity" for UNION Wrestling, a role he took a quiet pride in according to head referee Brian Floyd9.
== Behind-the-Scenes/Notes ==
# On one of the older NBA games, I did actually create a "Same Broderick", though the name was initially a coincidence, the wrestler did end up using the same first name.
# Exhibition Wrestling was the Mexican, Canadian and Japanese promotions in Wrestling Mpire Remix, graphically modded. They were an early consideration for my main WWE 2K promotion in various years.
# I wanted him to be a fairly contentious character, someone perceived to have a bad attitude due to his general dislike of people, much like my own personal CAW Ace, who he narratively did not get along with.
# This was a retcon for his move to UNION in 2K17, as I wanted to focus more on him as a character in the ring than out of it.
# He was planned for the roster on 2K16, back before the individual diaries started. I couldn't find a place for him, however.
# I want to keep the door to a potential UNION return, should they be revisited in 2K22, wide open.
# As with point 3, I originally portrayed the character as being genuinely disliked by the locker room. His feud with Ace was kept for potential story purposes in the diary's behind the curtain parts.
# His original 2K17 attire had what looked to me like goalkeeper gloves, so I added this to his backstory as something of an in-joke.
# Purely a narrative bit of fluff to flesh him out as a character.
Broderick (RLS CAW)