Chris Wayland (RLS CAS)

Entering at the PRIZE BDTH Show, October 2018.

**Martin Crane** *(born 2nd August 1984 in Cleveland, Ohio)* is an American retired professional wrestler most recently Exhibition Wrestling: Canada, who notably appeared in PRIZE Wrestling League due to an agreement between the two promotions, where he held the Elite Championship.

He is a former three time world champion in Exhibition Wrestling, and one of only a few people to hold the main title of all three main territories; Canada, Mexico and Japan.

## Career

### Bill Arson, Unaffiliated Shows (2000-2004)

From 2000 to 2004 Crane, as Chris Wayland, trained under acclaimed former pro Bill Arson and appeared exclusively in unaffiliated shows around the US and Canada at his trainer's recommendation. This built an almost apocryphal reputation for the large wrestler, with stories of his crushing victories and almost impervious character being circulated by Arson himself.**1**

### Exhibition Wrestling, Three Characters (2005-2020)

In early 2005, Exhibition Wrestling announced that Wayland would be "invading" their Japanese territory, which he did in devastating form; taking out Japanese Champion Shinji Moto and his at the time rival Bomei with a savage attack. This led to the first Three Man Match in EW: Japan history, which Wayland won to win his first ever championship, in May 2005.

He held the title until early 2006, when he dropped it to Bomei. Around this time, he debuted a slightly different version of his character in EW: Mexico, more contemplative and less outwardly violent. This allowed him to showcase his charisma on the mic more, something he enjoyed, and allowed him to win over the fans in a new way. He turned face for the first time- remaining a heel in Japan- while in Mexico.

In 2008 he defeated Mario Vasquez to win his first Mexican Championship, though he would lose the championship three months later, to Rodrigo Junior, after agreeing to move over full-time to EW: Canada.

He would still occasionally make appearances as his characters in Japan and Mexico, but in 2009 he debuted in Canada as a full-on, championship obsessed heel. He bested Trevor Wright, Mayhem and Wire in high profile feuds during his first three years with the Canadian brand, slowly becoming one of their most dominant heels.

He would win the Canadian Championship in June 2013, beating his trainer's nephew Craig Arson for the vacant title and becoming the fourth person at the time to win the three main territory championships. He became only the second person to defend one territory's title on another brand in September 2013, when he again defeated Craig Arson to retain the title at an EW: Japan show.

He would lose the championship to Broderick in April 2016, having been champion for nearly three years. After a break from wrestling, he would return to be a mid-level heel for the promotion again in 2017, also appearing for JMW and PRIZE Wrestling League in 2017 and 2018, respectively. He'd return to the promotion in mid-2019, but would only appear a handful of times before being injured again, eventually deciding to retire altogether.

### PRIZE Wrestling League (2018-2019)

Wayland was confirmed to appear at the PRIZE June Special 2018 in Birmingham, alongside fellow Exhibition Wrestling star Piranha, in late May. While Piranha was quickly challenged by Grayson Gage, Wayland instead was booked into the match for the newly created PRIZE Elite Championship along with Rafe Daniels, Sidewinder, and Pete Hook. Hook would win the match by pinning Daniels. At the post-show, he would seemingly challenge Sidewinder, only for Wayland to savagely attack the Flying Dutchman.

At the PRIZE July Special 2018, Wayland and Sidewinder would battle to a draw after both being counted out. However, Wayland would grab a mic and assert that as he was the only man left standing, he should take the spot to face Hook for the Elite Championship at the special in August. At a live show in Birmingham in mid-July, Hook appeared following Chris Wayland's victory over jobber Hace el Trabajo to grant his request for a title shot, eventually losing to Hook at the Bring Down The House Show in October 2018, despite dominating the early stretches of the match.

Wayland would go on to defeat Hook for the title at Eyes On The PRIZE 2018, before successfully retaining it at Walk The Talk 2018 thanks to interference from Nick Logan. WCE eventually took over the promotion, leading to the deactivation of the Elite Championship, and Wayland took time off from the promotion due to an undisclosed injury**2**. His return to PRIZE was delayed due to his desire to return to EW: Canada first, though he would eventually return to in July 2019, defeating Lord James Swift on Premier League Wrestling.

He was handed a shock loss soon after, to build WCE Heavyweight Championship contender Loic Vincent in his feud with Rafe Daniels, in which he once again got injured. He'd only work two more matches for the promotion following this, and would retire a year later**3**.

### Squared Circle Insider podcast (2021-*present*)

Crane, still using the Wayland name, would confirm in 2021 that he'd be joining Squared Circle Insider as a podcast host, with a show to be confirmed at a later date**4**.

## In-Wrestling

### Signatures

**Inverted Crush**

**Swinging Sidewalk Slam**

## Accomplishments

EW Japanese Championship

EW Mexican Championship

EW Canadian Championship

**PRIZE Elite Championship**

## Trivia

* Wayland took the latter part of his ring name from the planet of the same name from the Star Wars Expanded Universe. The former was randomly selected**5**.
* The reason for choosing a new name was due to there being a Martin Crane already working the unaffiliated shows.**6**

## Behind-the-Scenes/Notes:

1. This was actually a slight condensing of two separate CAWs into one, see also point 7.
2. In truth, I couldn't find a place for him post-WCE takeover.
3. His retirement came from a frustration that he'd never managed to recapture the fun I had with him in the MDickie series, for some reason.
4. I plan to have him be a semi-regular "talking head" in SCI in my Universe, should it return, diary for 2K22.
5. This is actually true, but with me doing it rather than him... obviously.
6. Martin Crane was a jobber CAW used mainly to show the strength of more upper card superheavyweights, and I copied him to create Chris Wayland. Originally I intended to have them be two gimmicks of the same man, but in the end I split them entirely to keep Wayland looking strong and kept the link through the name of the "real" person.