Brian Kendrick

###

Fairfax, Virginia,
United States

**Brian David Kendrick** (born May 29, 1979) is an American professional wrestler and promoter.

Kendrick is also known for his appearances with New Japan Pro Wrestling and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling under his real name, as well as his appearances with Pro Wrestling Zero1 as **Leonardo Spanky** and on the independent circuit as **Spanky**. Championships held by Kendrick over the course of his career include the NWA/UPW/Zero-One International Junior Heavyweight Championship, NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship, TNA X Division Championship, World Tag Team Championship, WWE Tag Team Championship, WWE Cruiserweight Championship, ICW Tag Team Championship and Zero-One United States Openweight Championship.

Kendrick currently owns and operates his own promotion, called Brian Kendrick's Wrestling Pro Wrestling.

## Professional wrestling career

### Pro Wrestling ZERO1 (2002, 2004–2005)

While in ROH, Kendrick competed in several other promotions such as Heartland Wrestling Association and All Pro Wrestling, before leaving for Japan in June to compete in Pro Wrestling Zero-One (Zero1). There, he wrestled under the ring name Leonardo Spanky, a gimmick proposed by Shinya Hashimoto due to Kendrick's resemblance to Leonardo DiCaprio. On June 29, he became the first International Junior Heavyweight Champion in company history. He dropped the title to Low Ki a few months later. After leaving WWE, Kendrick wrestled in different independent promotions. He returned to Zero1 as "Spanky" and was quickly pushed to capture the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship. This occurred with partner Low Ki on February 19, 2004, when they defeated Dick Togo and Ikuto Hidaka. They lost the championship to Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Tomohiro Ishii a few months later. Kendrick gained a new tag team partner in Kaz Hayashi, on September 19, 2004, and won back the championships. They held onto the titles until March 2005, when they dropped them to Hidaka and Minoru Fujita. Although he lost the tag titles in March, Kendrick, as Spanky, received a singles push, and won the Zero-One United States Openweight Championship that same month. but he lost the title in September 2005. After that he would return to WWE in 2005.

### New Japan Pro Wrestling (2011–2013)

On June 18, 2011, at Dominion 6.18, Kendrick made a surprise debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling in Osaka, teaming with Gedo and Jado in a six-man tag team match, where they defeated Jushin Thunder Liger, KUSHIDA and Tiger Mask, when Kendrick pinned Kushida with the *Sliced Bread #2*. Three days later Kendrick, Gedo and Jado were eliminated from the J Sports Crown Openweight 6 Man Tag Tournament in the first round by the team of IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kushida and Máscara Dorada. The two matches built to a singles match between Kendrick and Kushida on June 23, where Kushida managed to pick up the win. During his time in New Japan, Kendrick became an associate member of CHAOS and competes for CHAOS whenever he has toured New Japan.

On May 11, 2012, New Japan announced that Kendrick would return to the promotion to take part in the 2012 Best of the Super Juniors tournament as Davey Richards' replacement. In the round-robin stage of the tournament, which ran from May 27 to June 9, Kendrick won five out of his eight matches, but a loss to Ryusuke Taguchi in his final round-robin match caused him to narrowly miss advancing to the semifinals of the tournament. Kendrick returned to New Japan on October 21, when he and Low Ki entered the 2012 Super Jr. Tag Tournament as "CHAOS World Wrestling Warriors". However, the team was eliminated from the tournament in the first round by Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi).

In May 2013, Kendrick returned to participate in the 2013 Best of the Super Juniors, where he managed to win four out of his eight matches, failing to qualify for the semifinals. Kendrick returned to NJPW on October 25 to take part in the 2013 Super Jr. Tag Tournament, where he teamed with Beretta. They were, however, eliminated in their first round match by The Young Bucks, following a pre-match assault by Bullet Club. Kendrick teamed with various Chaos stablemates in midcard six-man and eight-man tag team matches for the rest of the tour, which lasted until November 6.

## In wrestling

* **Finishing moves**
	+ *Sliced Bread #2* (Shiranui)
* **Signature moves**
	+ Camel clutch followed by multiple crossface punches
	+ Brainbuster
	+ Burning hammer
	+ *Dr. Smoothe's Secret Recipe* (Corner backflip kick)
	+ *Electric Mayhem* (Diving facebreaker knee smash)
	+ Fisherman suplex
	+ Hurricanrana
	+ *Left Turn at Albuquerque* (Turning frog splash)
	+ Leg lariat
	+ *Plan Maker* (Headbutt)
	+ Snap suplex
	+ Tiger suplex, sometimes bridging into a pin
	+ Tornado DDT
	+ *Whirling Twirlixer* (Diving somersault corkscrew plancha)
* **Nicknames**
	+ "The Post-Apocalyptic Scavenger"
	+ "Spanky"
* **Entrance themes**
	+ "Sweet Talk" by Kito featuring Reija Lee (NJPW)

## Championships and accomplishments

* **DDT Pro-Wrestling**
	+ Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (1 time)
* **Pro Wrestling Zero-One / Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max**
	+ NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Low Ki (1) and Kaz Hayashi (1)
	+ NWA/UPW/Zero-One International Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
	+ Zero1-Max United States Openweight Championship (1 time)

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 The Brian Kendrick . *WWE.com*. WWE. Retrieved on 2016-07-14.
2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `OWWProfile`
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 *ja:ブライアン・ケンドリック* (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2012-10-22.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `slambio`
5. ↑ Taylor Matheny . Retrieved on 2015-08-19.
6. ↑ Pro Wrestling Guerrilla roster . Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. Archived from the original on 2009-04-25. Retrieved on 2010-03-07.
7. ↑ Brian Kendrick Bio . Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Retrieved on 2010-03-07.
8. ↑ TWA Graduates . Texas Wrestling Academy. Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Zero1 International Junior Heavyweight Championship history .
10. ↑ Paul London Bio . World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2008-01-10. Retrieved on 2007-08-04. “London & Kendrick would hold those titles for nearly a year before being defeated, making them the longest running WWE Tag Team Champions in history.”
11. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip. Brian Kendrick's Wrestling Pro Wrestling (BKWPW) « Promotions Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database .
12. ↑ Lacroix, Corey David 2004-02-17. Spanky explains WWE departure . *Slam! Sports*. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved on 2007-07-25.
13. ↑ ZERO-ONE Creation tour results . Strong Style Spirit. Retrieved on 2007-07-20.[*dead link*]
14. ↑ International Junior Heavyweight Title . Wrestling-titles. Retrieved on 2008-03-23.
15. ↑ ZERO1 results – February 19 – 27, 2004 . zerooneusa.com. Archived from the original on 2008-02-06. Retrieved on 2007-07-30.
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 ZERO1-MAX Lightweight Tag Team Champions . Zero1-Max USA. Archived from the original on 2009-01-21. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
17. ↑ ZERO1 results – September 12 – 19, 2004 . zerooneusa.com. Archived from the original on 2008-02-05. Retrieved on 2007-07-30.
18. ↑ ZERO1 results – March 21 – May 6, 2005 . zerooneusa.com. Archived from the original on 2008-02-05. Retrieved on 2007-08-02.
19. ↑ ZERO1-MAX US Openweight title . Zero1-Max USA. Archived from the original on 2008-01-10. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
20. ↑ Caldwell, James 2011-06-18. NJPW News: Results from Dominion PPV Saturday – MVP's first IWGP IC Title defense, TNA wrestler appears, key title change . *Pro Wrestling Torch*. Retrieved on 2011-06-21.
21. ↑ 「J Sports Crown」 ～無差別級6人タッグトーナメント～  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2011-06-21.
22. ↑ 「J Sports Crown」 ～無差別級6人タッグトーナメント～  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2011-06-23.
23. ↑ Spanky is Coming!! リチャーズの代替選手は、あのブライアン・ケンドリック!! 　『Super Jr.』出場が電撃決定!!  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling* (2012-05-11). Retrieved on 2012-05-11.
24. ↑ Caldwell, James 2012-05-11. NJPW: Former WWE star replacing Richards in BOSJ tourney . *Pro Wrestling Torch*. Retrieved on 2012-05-11.
25. ↑ NJPW 40th anniversary Tour Best of the Super Jr. XIX ～The door to the glory～  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2012-06-09.
26. ↑ NJPW 40th anniversary Tour Best of the Super Jr. XIX ～The door to the glory～  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2012-06-09.
27. ↑ 【いよいよ開幕!!】10.21＆11.2後楽園で 「Super Jr.Tag Tournament」!!　あのネグロ・カサスも来日!!  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling* (2012-10-19). Retrieved on 2012-10-21.
28. ↑ NJPW 40ｔｈ anniversary Tour Road to Power Struggle  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2012-10-21.
29. ↑ Best of the Super Jr. XX  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2013-06-06.
30. ↑ Road to Power Struggle  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved on 2013-10-25.
31. ↑ Road to Power Struggle  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2013-11-20.
32. ↑ Road to Power Struggle  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Archived from the original on 2013-11-09. Retrieved on 2013-11-20.
33. ↑ Grimaldi, Michael C. 2008-09-05. Early Smackdown TV report for September 5 . Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved on 2008-09-09.
34. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft84IE2eH9M
35. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jN9wU7UXPM
36. ↑ Ironman Heavymetalweight Title . Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved on 2016-08-12.
37. ↑ Zero1 United States Heavyweight Championship history . Archived from the original on 2012-02-11.