Michael Young

Michael Young after hitting an opponent with the Painmaker

The Ronin of CWL

The Maniac of Melbourne

The Lord of the Lariat

**Michael Young** (November 23, 1994), is an Australian professional wrestler, currently wrestling for CWL: Vindication.

## Early Career

Michael began his career wrestling for Bondi Coast Wrestling, based out of Sydney, Australia. After wrestling in a tag team with "Bullwhip" Robert Bourne, Michael then moved on to teaming with Alex Steel. Following multiple Tag Team Championship reigns with Steel, as Best Mates, Michael declared he was going to go single and compete for the Heavyweight Championship. After winning the championship from The Russian Underboss, Grigory Vachon, he went on a tour around Australia. However, the tour was cut short when, former tag team partner, Bourne attacked Michael, igniting a feud. Over the next ten months, Young and Bourne had a series of classic matches, resulting in multiple title changes, before Bourne finally won for a final time, and Young went on to wrestle in New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Michael didn't see much success while in Japan, and after only five months moved to Los Angeles, California, where he began wrestling in the west coast's independent circuits. Michael gained a following in PWG, and soon enlisted the help of long-time friend Alex Steel, who joined him, again, in a tag team, taking up the new name, Two Huge Australian Dudes. Michael soon became a regular at Championship Wrestling from Hollywood, where he would begin feuding with Ricky Valentine. Michael and Ricky's rivalry would harken back to previous NWA classics, and the two competitors would begin drawing references from Terry Funk and Ric Flair, respectively. At their final match before Ricky moved on to CWL, Michael would finally become victorious, becoming the first Australian born NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion. Michael would reign as the champion, until he vacated the title upon signing with CWL.

## At CWL

On Michael's first night in CWL, he formed a tag team with fellow rookie, Connor Gates. They gained success early as Truthless Heroes, winning their debut match. Through a short series of matches, and upon both being drafted to Vindication, they earned a spot in the inaugural match for the Vindication Tag Team Championships. They fell short to The Circle, a new tag team and wouldbe stable formed by Merchant and Kazama. The Truthless Heroes, now crowd favorites, began seeking stable members to combat the newly formed Circle. Upon facing them in a rematch, the team of Michael and Connor fell up short again, Though they lost, they remained determined and continued to fight. Truthless Heroes went on to premier their newest members Alex Steel and Alex Graves, before once more challenging The Circle for the Vindication Tag Team Championships. After a third loss to the team of Merchant and Kazama, Michael went home to Australia to recuperate and do some soul searching.

Finally, after being gone for weeks, Michael returned under a new moniker as The Australian Assassin. With a newfound mentality, and a new sense of purpose, Michael looked to rejoin his fellow members of The Truthless Heroes in their journey for championship gold, however, that goal would be cut short. On the first week of Year Two, Connor Gates and Alex Graves came out after Michael's match and turned on him, leaving him bleeding and injured in the ring.

Aside from Michael's own turmoils with Truthless Heroes and with his own losses, he also took in a young upstart, Selena Adams, and began training her in the hopes that she would eventually be signed by CWL, which she inevitably was.

In the lead up to Week 64, Michael announced to the CWL Universe that he was going to begin working towards the Vindication Heavyweight Championship. In his pursuit to climb the ranks to the number one contendership, Michael and SGT. Hunter took on the team of Classy Von Cody and Satoru, the South Beach Playboys in a tag team match. Following that match, a returning Outrun would face Michael in a series of phenomenal matches.

Michael would then make a push for the Vindication Heavyweight Championship, steadily picking up wins, but consistently falling short in key, pivotal matches. Finally, Michael was able to beat the, then, Number One Contender, Isaac, to earn himself a chance to join Isaac and Nightmare in a triple threat match for the Championship. Michael again fell short of reaching his dream, as Isaac came out victorious.

Michael tried to show respect to Nightmare after the match, only for his handshake to be scoffed at, which then lead to Nightmare attacking Michael after his win in Week 78. This rivalry came to a head at Global Warming, when Michael and Nightmare wrestled an instant classic match, garnering wide respect from not just the CWL Universe, but the wrestling world at large.

Following Michael being unsuccessful in attaining a match at Midsummer Mayhem for the Vindication Heavyweight Championship, as well as the formation of the Unified Tag Team titles, Michael saw a chance to finally face off with his former stable mates, and former best friends, in Truthless Heroes. He enlisted the help of long time friend, Harris and protégé Colin Piper, and formed a new tag team, The Misfits.

By the midway point of Year 2, Michael and Harris had earned a title match against The Disciples, however when the time came for the match, Harris was nowhere to be found. Michael Young won the match, but did not win the championships, since he was unable to hold the Tag Titles as a single competitor. However, Harris would resurface, this time as EvilDead, after being swayed by the Dragon King, Matsumoto. Matsumoto and the Dragon Cult would be met by the Dragon Slayers at Endgame 2, where the Dragon Cult would ultimately come out on top, though Michael did cause EvilDead to submit in their own match. After Endgame 2, Michael then kidnapped EvilDead and blew him up in a hearse to "kill" EvilDead from Harris' psyche.

Once the third year of CWL began, Harris had returned, and him and Michael Young were ready to challenge for the CWL Tag Team Championship. They earned their shot, and at Exiled (3.4), they finally won their first championships in their entire time on the CWL roster. They held the titles for 140 days, making them the second longest reigning Tag Team Champions in CWL's history (as of the writing of this article). After three successful defenses, they finally met their match against the Fabulous Furious Freaks, which culminated in a year long gang-like rivalry between The Misfits (and Selena Adams) and The FFF, ending with Harris defeating Chris Princess at Endgame 3 for the Vindication Heavyweight Championship.

With the build-up to Endgame 3, Michael and the other members, current and former, of the Truthless Heroes made their disdain for each other and their intentions known, leading up to a Four Way Elimination match at Endgame. After three years of the Truthless Heroes, they finally became defuncted with Michael Young pinning all three other competitors, in the order from last to join the TH to the first.

With Michael burying his demons at Endgame, he started Year 4 gunning for the Vindication Heavyweight Championship, and started by taking out his rival and former friend, Ricky Valentine.

## Notable Achievements

**Match of the Month:**

* Month 6 (The Circle vs. Truthless Heroes)

**Match of the Week:**

* Week 21 (Thunder Gunn vs. Connor Gates and Michael Young)

* Upvoted (The Circle vs. Truthless Heroes)
* Week 64 (Kyle Stevens vs. Michael Young)
* Week 71 (8 Man Elimination)
* Global Warning (Nightmare vs. Michael Young)
* Week 83 (Harris vs Starfield vs Michael Young vs Nightmare)

**Sexest Wrestler, 2018** (as voted on by the readers of "Tats and Ring Rats")

**Time Magazine Man of the Year, 2006**

**Bondi Coast Wrestling (BCW) Tag Team Champion**, x4

**Bondi Coast Wrestling (BCW) World Heavyweight Champion**, x3

**National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Worlds Heavyweight Champion** (First Australian Born NWA Champion)

**Raging Falcon Pro Wrestling (RFPW) European Champion**

**Point Blank Wrestling (PBW) World Heavyweight Champion**

**CWL Tag Team Championship (as Misfits),** x1

**Vindication World Heavyweight Championship,** x1

## In Wrestling

**Finishing Moves**

* **Painmaker** (German Suplex/Ripcord Lariat)
* **585 Lariat** (Discus Lariat)
* **Crosshairs** (Figure Four Sharpshooter)
* **Irwin Bomb** (Vertical Suplex Power Bomb)

**Signature Moves**

* **Braaain Bustaaa** (Lifting DDT)
* **Pride Rules** (Punt Kick)
* **Thunder Down Under** (Air Raid Crash Neckbreaker)