Rob Conway

Conquistador Uno

Conway's debut in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) was on the May 20, 2000 episode of *Jakked*, where he was defeated by Bull Buchanan. Over the next three years, Conway appeared in tryout matches on *Velocity* and *Sunday Night Heat*, losing to wrestlers such as A-Train, Randy Orton, and The Hurricane.

In a match taped for the July 17, 2003 episode of *SmackDown!*, Rob Conway and Nick Dinsmore appeared under masks as "Los Conquistadores", losing to Rey Mysterio and Billy Kidman. On July 27, at Vengeance, Conway once again competed as the masked **Conquistador**, this time with Johnny Jeter as his partner, as part of the APA Bar Room Brawl.

Conway made his proper debut for the company on the August 18, 2003 episode of *Raw*, planted in the audience dressed as an American airman. After Conway was "harassed" by the heel tag team La Résistance (Sylvain Grenier and René Duprée), he was invited into the ring by The Dudley Boyz, who were then feuding with La Résistance. While "celebrating" with the Dudley Boyz and waving the American flag, Conway suddenly hit them both with the flagpole, revealing himself to be a member of La Résistance. The trio feuded with several tag teams, including the Dudley Boyz, Hurricane and Rosey, and Garrison Cade and Mark Jindrak. When Grenier suffered a back injury in October 2003, Dupree and Conway held the group together until the March 15, 2004 edition of *Raw* when Grenier returned. The trio did not last long after that, however, as Dupree was drafted to *SmackDown!* on March 22, 2004 during the Draft Lottery.

Grenier and Conway, however, continued to team together as La Résistance on *Raw*. The duo was promoted as being haughty French Canadians who carried the flag of Quebec to the ring, with Grenier often singing the Canadian national anthem and Conway becoming known as **Robért Conway**, the French version of his name. The team held the World Tag Team Championship three times. Their first title reign came when they defeated Chris Benoit and Edge on the May 31, 2004 edition of *Raw* in Grenier's home town of Montreal, Quebec. The team dropped the belts to the same team of Benoit and Edge at Taboo Tuesday on October 19 when, even though Edge walked out on Benoit, Benoit was able to defeat La Résistance by himself. It was not long before La Résistance reclaimed the tag team gold for the second time on the November 1 edition of *Raw*, defeating Chris Benoit after Edge walked out on Benoit again. This time La Résistance did not hold the titles as long as their last reign; they lost the belts two weeks later on *Raw* when they faced the team of William Regal and Eugene as well as Tajiri and Rhyno.

In a three-way elimination match, they dropped the titles to Regal and Eugene. Their third, and final, Tag Team Title reign began at a *Raw* brand house show on January 16, 2005 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, when they defeated Regal and Jonathan Coachman (Regal's actual partner, Eugene, had been injured and Coachman was selected to be his fill in partner, though Regal never tagged him in) to win the belts. La Résistance dropped the belts again a few weeks later on the February 7 edition of *Raw*, from Tokyo, Japan, to William Regal and his new tag team partner Tajiri.

La Résistance repeatedly attempted to regain the gold (mainly on *Heat*) from Regal and Tajiri in a number of different matches but fell just short each time. During their "last shot", the team thought they had won back the titles only to have the decision reversed by referee Mike Chioda due to La Résistance not pinning the legal man. The match was restarted but La Résistance lost the match and their last chance against Regal and Tajiri in a normal tag team contest. The team was given one more chance at Regal and Tajiri, only this time during a tag team turmoil match including five teams: La Résistance, Regal and Tajiri, The Heart Throbs (Romeo and Antonio), Simon Dean and Maven, and Rosey and The Hurricane, at Backlash. During the match, La Résistance managed to eliminate the champions, but were defeated by the last remaining team (and winners of the match) Hurricane and Rosey.

The team split in mid-May after repeatedly quarreling over which of them was the superior wrestler. Grenier and Conway went into singles competition with announcers claiming that the members of La Résistance were trying to "one up" each other in singles matches without the other man in their corner. This saw Conway defeat a jobber and Val Venis, while Grenier was defeated by both Venis and Chris Jericho. Both men competed in a triple threat match against Intercontinental Champion Shelton Benjamin for the title; Benjamin won the match not long after the La Résistance members began to argue and fight with each other. This altercation led to a main event match for the June 12 *Heat* (taped on June 6) in which Rob Conway portrayed the heel, and defeated Grenier. On June 30, 2005, Grenier was a last minute trade in the 2005 WWE Draft, sending him to *SmackDown!* while Conway stayed on the *Raw* brand. Conway then began wrestling in singles competition on both *Heat* and *Raw*.

On the July 17, 2005 edition of *Heat*, Conway brought back his original identity of **Rob Conway**, making his new gimmick a narcissistic heel and developing a new appearance, including a biker hat, sunglasses, a mustache, see-through tights, and a new haircut. He began referring to himself as "The Con-Man" Rob Conway. During the *WWE Homecoming* edition of *Raw*, Conway interrupted a segment involving a number of WWE Legends. After disrespecting the legends, they assaulted him. Conway, seeking retaliation, then went on to have matches against a number of legends, picking up wins over Doink the Clown, Greg Valentine (by disqualification), and Koko B. Ware.

During this time, he would go on to begin feuding with Eugene, a big fan of the legends who stuck up for them. At the Taboo Tuesday pay-per-view, Conway teamed with Tyson Tomko to face Eugene and a legend (as voted for by the fans). Jimmy Snuka beat out Kamala and Jim Duggan in the voting to become Eugene's partner and picked up the win after a *Superfly Splash*, ending Conway's winning streak. On the next *Raw*, Conway attempted to take the Intercontinental Championship from Ric Flair, but came up short when he was locked in Flair's figure four leglock.

After losing to Flair, Conway went on a long losing streak, losing almost every match he was in through the rest of the 2005 and the start of 2006. Conway went back to competing on *Sunday Night Heat*, making few appearances on *Raw* and losing on every occasion. On the April 10, 2006 edition of *Raw*, Conway debuted a slightly changed look, including longer hair, no mustache, and blonde highlighted hair, in a loss to Rob Van Dam. Conway finally broke his losing streak for one night only on the May 12, 2006 edition of *Heat* when he won a mixed tag team match with Victoria against the team of Viscera and Torrie Wilson. It was short lived, however, as the next week he was defeated by Jim Duggan, restarting his losing streak but starting a short program with Duggan and his protege Eugene. At the start of August, Conway dropped the Con-Man Gimmick as he stopped wearing sunglasses and his ego dropped. From this point on, Conway was used as a tweener who was desperate to pick up a victory over anyone possible, but failed every time he tried.

After months of losing, Conway appeared on the January 1, 2007 edition of *Raw*. Conway proceeded to make a New Year's resolution and vowed that he would not lose another match and if he did, he would quit *Raw*. His opponent was the Intercontinental Champion Jeff Hardy, but he was pinned after 21 seconds. Afterwards, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon entered the ring and, instead of letting him quit *Monday Night Raw,* fired him. On May 11, 2007, WWE officially announced that Conway was released from his WWE contract.