Alex Wright

Wright made his WCW debut, defeating Brady Boone on the September 3, 1994 edition of *Saturday Night*. He originally wrestled as a babyface and was known as "Das Wunderkind" Alex Wright. His first feud was with Jean-Paul Levesque, whom he defeated at Starrcade in December in both men's pay-per-view debut. In his early career, Wright went undefeated in matches against several WCW superstars including Bobby Eaton in January 1995 at *Clash of the Champions XXX* and Paul Roma at SuperBrawl V in February 1995. WCW had Wright feud on and off from time to time with another wrestler who danced in the ring or on his way to the ring named the Disco Inferno. This made for an interesting, sometimes humorous feud; with Wright representing modern dancing and music, and Disco Inferno representing older dancing and music. Wright would win all the matches in this feud.

Wright wrestled against Arn Anderson for the WCW World Television Championship on an episode of *WCW Saturday Night*, and beat Arn by disqualification. The title did not change hands though, as Wright was unable to win by pinfall or submission. Thus, a rematch for the title was scheduled for the next pay-per-view. Wright's first loss was to World Television Champion Arn Anderson at Slamboree in May.

He then started wrestling against fellow cruiserweight and babyface Brian Pillman, whom he defeated in the opening match at The Great American Bash. On the July 16 edition of *Main Event* before Bash at the Beach, Wright teamed up with Marcus Bagwell to face Dick Slater and Bunkhouse Buck in a losing effort. He had encounters with other up and coming WCW stars, such as Diamond Dallas Page in August at a *Clash of the Champions XXXI*. In September 1995 on *Nitro*, Wright wrestled Sabu. Sabu was able to win the match, but then continued to beat Wright after the match was over; even going so far as to put him through a table. Referee Nick Patrick reversed his decision, disqualifying Sabu for his violence and giving the win to Wright. He had several matches against Eddie Guerrero, with a very notable match taking place on *The Main Event* before Fall Brawl 1995: War Games, which resulted in a draw. Wright also had several matches in both 1995 and 1996 against Dean Malenko. In January 1996, at *Clash of the Champions XXXII*, Malenko was able to pin Wright.

At World War 3, Wright took part in the first-ever three-ring 60-man battle royal for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship, which was won by Randy Savage. At Starrcade, Wright lost to Koji Kanemoto. Wright then began a feud with Dick Slater, to whom he lost at Uncensored in a singles dark match. At Slamboree, Wright was forced by WCW to be teamed with his wrestling and dancing nemesis Disco Inferno, in a tag team match against Slater and Eaton. Wright and Disco lost when Disco was pinned. On the August 10 edition of *Saturday Night* that aired immediately before the pay-per-view Hog Wild, Wright defeated Bobby Eaton in a rematch.

At World War 3, Wright again participated in a three-ring, 60-man battle royal, with the winner getting a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship. The battle royal was won by The Giant. In January 1997 on *Clash of the Champions XXXIV*, Wright lost to Masa Chono, who had recently joined the NWO.

WCW had Wright wrestle in several tag team matches with fellow midcarders, mostly on the losing side. On the May 12, 1997, edition of *Nitro*, Wright partnered with Ice Train against Konnan and Hugh Morrus of the Dungeon of Doom, a match in which Wright openly displayed heelish behavior such as teasing the return of his dance routine that he had temporarily shelved as a babyface, and clashing with Train's manager Teddy Long during the match. This culminated in Wright claiming to be unable to continue due to a sudden unexplainable knee injury, angrily confronting Long and then abandoning Ice Train, leaving him to lose the match by submission. Wright was then pushed as a heel for the remainder of 1997, which led to his first championship gold: on the July 28 edition of *Nitro*, he defeated Chris Jericho to win the Cruiserweight Championship. Wright feuded with Jericho thereafter, including a successful title defense against Jericho at Road Wild, before dropping the title back to Jericho on August 16 edition of *Saturday Night*. However, five days later, he defeated Último Dragón on the August 21 *Clash of the Champions XXXV* to win the World Television Championship. Wright was able to successfully defend the Television Title against Lord Steven Regal on an episode of *Nitro*.

At Fall Brawl, Wright made a successful title defense against Último Dragón in a rematch before dropping the title to rival Disco Inferno on September 22 edition of *Nitro*. Wright feuded with Steve McMichael after McMichael's valet Debra left him and became Wright's valet. She ordered the feud and in the rivalry, Wright defeated McMichael at Halloween Havoc, with help from Goldberg, who promptly attacked Wright post-match. The next month at World War 3, McMichael took out Goldberg prior to their match and Wright was literally dragged to the ring by Debra to wrestle McMichael again, and this time suffered a defeat.

Wright would go on to be managed by Debra for a little while longer. Debra would often try to illegally interfere in matches to help him win, but the plan would usually backfire, causing Wright to lose. He then cut ties with Debra after a string of losses that Wright claimed was her fault.

Wright would then begin to patch things up with former rival Disco Inferno as they began teaming in 1998 to form a moderately successful tag team called the Dancing Fools, which at times also featured Tokyo Magnum in the role of a tag-along who regularly attempted to imitate their dancing styles. Wright and Inferno feuded with The Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock), including a loss to Grunge and Rocco at Road Wild. Wright then began an angle where he claimed that he was the best WCW wrestler to come out of Europe. British Bulldog, however, disputed Wright's proclamation, leading to a feud between Wright and Inferno against Bulldog and Jim Neidhart. The feud culminated at Fall Brawl, where the Dancing Fools lost to Bulldog and Neidhart. After suffering losses, Wright and Inferno split and began singles careers again.

Wright feuded with another fellow European wrestler, Fit Finlay. Wright defeated Finlay at Halloween Havoc. Wright again competed in the 60-man battle royal at the 1998 edition of World War 3, with that year's battle royal being won by Kevin Nash.

At the beginning of 1999, Wright was kept off WCW television for an extended length of time until May, when promotional spots began appearing on WCW television featuring Wright as a surprising new character named **Berlyn**, with a black Mohawk and goatee replacing his blond hair. He was clad entirely in black with a long trench coat and arrogantly refused to speak English. He spoke through an interpreter—Uta Ludendorff—and was accompanied to the ring by a large wrestler known as The Wall. WCW delayed the debut of Berlyn for several months. During his debut on August 30 on *Nitro*, he quickly insulted Americans, debuting the character as a heel.

Berlyn was booked to face Buff Bagwell at Fall Brawl shortly after his debut, but the match did not take place. WCW replaced Bagwell with Hacksaw Jim Duggan, and Berlyn's problems continued as Duggan no-sold all of Wright's offense and did not cooperate in the ring. Berlyn instead wrestled and defeated Bagwell on the next nights *Nitro*. Afterwards, Berlyn attacked Scott Armstrong and began a feud with Brad Armstrong. Berlyn and Brad Armstrong had a match at Halloween Havoc, which Berlyn lost. After the match, Berlyn and The Wall attacked Armstrong.

On the October 25 edition of *Nitro*, it was announced that a tournament would be held for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship and the finals would occur at Mayhem. On the following edition of *Nitro*, Berlyn participated in the tournament but lost his first round match to Vampiro. Berlyn began a small feud with Vampiro and cost him his second round match in the tournament against Buff Bagwell. At Mayhem, Vampiro defeated Berlyn in a Dog Collar match after the Wall turned on Berlyn. Berlyn then feuded with the Wall before again disappearing from WCW television again.

After several months off from wrestling, Wright returned under his real name on the September 27, 2000, edition of *Thunder* during a match between former partner, Disco Inferno, now renamed "Disqo", and Konnan. Wright helped Disqo in getting the victory and the duo reunited as the Boogie Knights. Wright was now completely bald but had returned to his previous dancing mannerisms. The Boogie Knights began a feud with The Filthy Animals while they also feuded with two members of The Natural Born Thrillers (Sean O'Haire and Mark Jindrak), who were the WCW World Tag Team Champions at the time. At Halloween Havoc, the three teams participated in a triangle match but O'Haire and Jindrak won the match. Disqo and Wright would then go on to win the World Tag Team Championship from O'Haire and Jindrak at *Millennium Germany* on November 16. However, four days later on *Nitro*, due to Disqo being out with an injury, Wright and substitute Elix Skipper lost the titles to Chuck Palumbo and Shawn Stasiak, two other members of the Natural Born Thrillers.

Wright then started an angle where he kept KroniK (Brian Adams and Bryan Clark) as his bodyguards to squash other cruiserweights. At Mayhem, Wright and KroniK faced Billy Kidman and Rey Misterio, Jr. in a 3-on-2 handicap match. However, KroniK abandoned Wright after the 15 minutes they were paid for expired, leading to him being pinned. Disqo eventually returned from his injury and the Boogie Knights gimmick lasted until WCW was purchased by World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in March 2001. Wright's contract was not bought out by the WWF.