Eli Cottonwood

Kipp Christianson (born September 30, 1974) is a former American professional wrestler and a former basketball player. He is best known for his time in the WWE where he wrestled under the ring name Eli Cottonwood.

Christianson competed on the second season of NXT. His pro was John Morrison. He was the second rookie eliminated. He returned to NXT in April 2012. He was teamed with Bray Wyatt for a short time. He asked to be released from the WWE in June 2012.

At an independent wrestling show, Christianson announced that he would retire as a wrestler on July 10, 2014.

He came out of retirement on February 14, 2016 in Minnesota at an independent promotion event. Christianson hasn't wrestled since 2016.

Basketball career
Christianson attended River Falls High School and later St. John's University in Minnesota. While attending St. John's, he averaged 20 points and eight rebounds, and in his junior season there, he led the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in field goal percentage. During his basketball career, Christian played in several countries, including Lithuania and China. He played in the International Basketball Association and Continental Basketball Association, for both Quad City Thunder and Sioux Falls Skyforce. He attended a camp for the Milwaukee Bucks in 1998, and played for the Dallas Mavericks team in the NBA Summer League. On March 16, 2004, he signed a contract with the Charleston Lowgators.

Professional wrestling career
Kipp Christianson began competing in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) in 2008 under his real name. In August 2009, his name was tweaked to Eli Cottonwood, and he utilized a gimmick of being recently reintroduced to society from the Kelloggs Sanitarium. He spent most of his time defeating opponents such as DJ Gabriel, Tyler Reks, and Max McGuirk. He soon aligned with Aksana and turned face.

On June 1, 2010, it was announced that Cottonwood would be part of the second season of WWE NXT, with John Morrison as his storyline mentor. He debuted on the June 8 episode of NXT, teaming with Morrison to defeat Titus O'Neil and Zack Ryder. Christianson's performance in the "Talk the Talk" challenge on the July 6 edition of NXT earned him a clip on the following episode of E! Television's episode of The Soup in the "What your Boyfriend is Watching" segment.

Personal life
Christianson is good friends with professional wrestlers Travis Tomko and Corey Graves.

Christianson has two kids with wife Tabatha. Son Todd Christanson and daughter Clover Christanson.

Christanson owned a Yoga/Gym business called Kipp's Life Flip in Las Vegas from 2016 to 2018. He also owned half of Florida Hardcore Wrestling from 2016 to 2017.

References

Other websites
Official Twitter
OWOW Profile 

Category:1974 births
Category:Living people
Category:American basketball players
Category:American professional wrestlers
Category:Former WWE wrestlers
Category:Sportspeople from Wisconsin