In the past couple of years, D'Lo Brown has become one of the most sought-after wrestlers on the independent circuit today. A must-have talent, D'Lo has wrestled for some of the bigger independent promotions in the country. His charisma and ability in the ring makes it a shame that World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) wasn't "Down with the Brown," but his release turned into a blessing in disguise.

The voice of WWE Raw, Jim "JR" Ross used to boast on a weekly basis about D'Lo Brown being a certified public accountant, and it is true. Brown graduated from the University of Maine with a degree in accounting and made it to the university on a football scholarship. After graduating, Brown was stuck working behind a desk, which wasn't to his liking.

D'Lo enlisted in Larry Sharpe's "Monster Factory" in 1993. By February 1994, Brown, wrestling under his given name of AC Connor, was competing in his first professional match. He signed on with Jim Cornette's Smokey Mountain Wrestling (SMW) later that year. After wrestling his first match under his real name, Cornette told him that he would start managing The Gangstas, New Jack & Mustafa, the following week, so he needed to change his name. He called himself D'Lo Brown, and has held onto that name ever since.

While managing The Gangstas, D'Lo also wrestled for the company. At the time, D'Lo weighed in at approximately 400 lbs., and since then has slimmed down to around the 265 lbs. mark. In one of his first high-profile matches, Brown lost to Lance Storm on November 24, 1994 at SMW Thanksgiving Thunder.

As a group of wrestlers using racism to their advantage, Brown & The Gangstas waged war against SMW. Jim Cornette rallied his team of The Heavenly Bodies, "Sweet" Stan Lane & Dr. Tom Pritchard, in a feud against them. On February 26, 1995 at Sunday Bloody Sunday II, Brown & The Gangstas fell to Cornette & The Heavenly Bodies.

Continuing their war against SMW's "good ol' boys," The Gangstas would pick fights with such veterans like former Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) Tag Team champion Tracey Smothers. One such incident resulted in a handicapped match at Bluegrass Brawl III on April 7, 1995. Smothers recruited former WWE champion The Undertaker as his partner and the duo beat Brown & The Gangstas.

The Gangstas slowly cut ties with SMW, but Brown remained and wrestled more a regular basis as a singles. On August 4, 1995, SMW hosted "The Super Bowl of Wrestling." Several promotions were represented on the show, such as the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), United States Wrestling Association (USWA) and WWE. Notable athletes such as PG-13, Dan "The Beast" Severn, Al Snow, and the late Terry "Bamm Bamm" Gordy competed on the show. WWE sent The Undertaker and "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels as its representatives. Brown wrestled and jobbed to Brian Armstrong aka BG James in the opening match of a ground-breaking show which saw Shawn Michaels retain his WWE IC Title in the main event over "The Nature Boy" Buddy Landell.

Brown moved onto Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA), which is run by Les Thatcher and is former developmental territory of WWE. Brown became the first man to hold the HWA Title when he defeated Bobby Blaze in a tournament final on January 5, 1996 in Ft. Wright, KY. One week later, Brown ventured up north and beat Rock Stevens to win the Great Lakes Wrestling (GLW) Title in Westland, MI.

After holding on to the title for just over two months, Brown dropped the HWA Title to Bobby Blaze on March 9, 1996 in Ashland, KY. One week later, Brown righted that wrong and regained the HWA Title from Blaze in Lima, OH. The title would become inactive a short time later while Brown was the champion. The belt would remain inactive until 2000.

Brown was finally called up to work with WWE in late 1996. He was involved with the upstart faction known as The Nation of Domination, which was ruled by Faarooq. Brown's role was just to be Faarooq's entourage and really didn't serve a purpose. In his first high-profile appearance on WWE television, Brown was Pearl River Plunged by Ahmed Johnson on top of a car on the debut episode of Shotgun Saturday Night in January 1997 in New York City.

When Faarooq grew tired of Nation members Savio Vega & Crush and fired them from the group, as well as manager Clarence Mason, the only person Faarooq did not fire in the summer of 1997 was D'Lo. They formed a new Nation with Ahmed Johnson, Kama Mustafa and later The Rock.

D'Lo & Faarooq formed a team to compete in the WWE Tag Team Title tournament that summer, which was vacated by Shawn Michaels & "Stone Cold" Steve Austin when Michaels was involved in a backstage fight with Bret Hart and was taken off television for awhile. Showing promise some promise in the tournament, Brown & Faarooq defeated Vader & The Undertaker in the first round, former WWE, NWA and American Wrestling Association (AWA) Tag Team champions The Road Warriors in the second round, before being eliminated by former WWE Tag champs Owen Hart & The British Bulldog.

In October 1997, Brown made his PPV debut teaming with The Rock & Kama Mustafa to defeat The Road Warriors in a handicapped match, which was on the under card of the first Hell in the Cell match between Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker.

Although he seemed to be on the verge of a moderate push, Brown still found himself competing primarily in tag team matches with other members of The Nation, which added Mark Henry in January 1998 and Owen Hart in April 1998. At the 1998

Over the Edge PPV, in the early stages of the Nation/D-Generation X feud, Brown teamed with Owen & Kama Mustafa to defeat Triple H & The New Age Outlaws. It was the feud with the Nation that put DX over as babyfaces.

Brown's push began to grow after jobbing to reigning NWA champion Dan Severn in the King of the Ring tournament. Severn used a variation of the Bow & Arrow to make D'Lo submit, which caused D'Lo to wear a chest protector for several months, much like Bob Orton Jr. used a cast on his opponents, claiming his hand was still broken for a lengthy amount of time. Brown used the protector as a weapon and made his version of the Frog Splash that much more effective.

WWE writer Vince Russo was very high on D'Lo and wanted to push him hard in the worst way. The huge push for D'Lo began on July 14, 1998. With help from The Rock, Brown defeated Triple H to win the WWE European Title on an edition of Raw is War. Brown's character began to grow fans were into his new gimmick of being announced from different major cities in Europe.

As the DX-Nation feud continued to grow, D'Lo found himself feuding with X-Pac and trading the European title with each other. On September 15, 1998, X-Pac defeated D'Lo for the title on Raw. Brown regained it two weeks later on another edition of Raw. At Judgment Day on October 18, 1998, X-Pac would regain it from Brown, ending the angle between the two.

Around this time, The Rock was hearing more cheers than boos from the fans, so WWE broke up The Nation. D'Lo continued to team with Mark Henry, while Owen began teaming with Jeff Jarrett, and The Rock ended up as a babyface for a few weeks before aligning himself with Vince McMahon and The Corporation.

D'Lo & Henry turned face after being hoodwinked by PMS members Terri Runnels & Jacqueline. D'Lo soon introduced Ivroy to the sex-crazed Henry and embarked on a feud with WWE Tag champs Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett. Henry was out of action for a short time around the time of WrestleMania XV. A battle royal was held on Sunday Night Heat right before WrestleMania, which the last two men would team later on the PPV to take on the WWE champs. D'Lo and Test were the last two. Jarrett & Owen were able to keep the titles after D'Lo & Test couldn't get along.

When WWE had weight issues with Mark Henry, D'Lo was made into a singles again. He defeated Midieon for the revived European title on July 25, 1999 at Fully Loaded. The next night, D'Lo began an angle with Jeff Jarrett, which saw D'Lo save actor Ben Stiller from an attack by Jarrett. On August 2, D'Lo became the first of three men to be Euro-Continental champion when he beat Jarrett for the WWE IC Title on Raw.

D'Lo would go on to lost the Euro-Continental Titles to Jarrett at SummerSlam later that month when Mark Henry turned on D'Lo in Minneapolis, MN. The next night, Jarrett gave Henry the European Title, and D'Lo beat Henry for it on September 26 at Unforgiven. It would be his last reign as champion and lost it to the first European champion, The British Bulldog, on October 26, 1999 on Smackdown!

In the fall of 1999, at a taping of Smackdown at the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, NY, Brown was matched up against former NFL linemen Darren "Droz" Drozdov. Brown had been using a running powerbomb in his repertoire for some time, so it was a routine move. Unfortunately, something went wrong that night, and Brown dropped Droz on his head and neck. The match was stopped, and unfortunately, Droz was rendered paralyzed. Droz holds no grudges against D'Lo, but this would be the start of the downfall for D'Lo in WWE.

International Wrestling Association (IWA) in Puerto Rico held a tag team title tournament on January 7, 2000. WWE sent many of its stars to the promotion, one of which was D'Lo. D'Lo teamed with former WWE IC champion Rikishi and lost to Billy Gunn & X-Pac in the first round. Val Venis & Ricky Santana eventually won the tournament.

D'Lo's biggest supporter, Vince Russo, was already gone before 2000 began. With Russo out of the picture, D'Lo's push diminished. He had no angles and just worked some matches. On May 25, D'Lo competed in the third annual Brian Pillman Memorial event. He teamed with Eddie Guerrero in the main event to beat Dean Malenko & Perry Saturn.

WWE toyed around with the idea of teaming D'Lo with Perry Saturn, but after weeks of teaming together, that idea was scrapped in favor of teaming with D'Lo with Headbanger Mosh, whose partner Thrasher was released. Mosh used his real name, Chaz, and the team was christened as Lo Down in June 2000.

Later in the year, Tiger Ali Singh took over the team as manager, and Lo Down became a comedy act whose gimmick was that no one in the company knew who they were; therefore they could not get into the building. How brilliant.

In early 2001, Lo Down was sent to IWA in Puerto Rico, where D'Lo spent some time because creative could not come up with any ideas for him. In IWA, Lo Down became known as Los Gringos Locos. The partnership in IWA didn't last long. On May 27, 2001 in Catano, Puerto Rico, D'Lo teamed with Shane to defeat Miguel Perez Jr. & Hurricane Castillo Jr. and Starr Corporation in a 3 Way Dance to win the IWA Tag Team Titles.

Perez & Castillo eventually regained the titles from D'Lo & Shane on June 23 in another 2 Way Dance, this team also involving the team of Pete Gas & Chaz, in Bayamón, PR. D'Lo was later brought back to the United States, but this team to help out at WWE's then-developmental territory HWA.

In a match to crown a new HWA champion, Brown lost to EZ Money on November 14, 2001. Brown spent time working with most of the talent acquired in the purchase of World Championship Wrestling (WCW).

Brown rejoined the WWE roster in April 2002, after the WWE's initial brand extension. A short time later, Brown worked alongside Jonathan Coachman as the color commentator for Sunday Night Heat. While Internet fans scoffed at the idea of not having D'Lo working matches, he was pretty entertaining and came off like he was having fun.

D'Lo Brown was eventually brought out of the broadcast booth and back into the ring. On January 20, 2003, Brown brought in Theodore R. Long as his manager and Brown's new gimmick was an angry minority who wanted respected and wanted fans to be "Down with the Brown." The new Brown debuted and defeated Tommy Dreamer on that show in a Singapore Cane match.

In a move that caught many, including D'Lo, off guard, WWE informed Brown that he was being released in February 2003, citing that creative had nothing more for Brown. Yet they gave Rodney Mack his gimmick just days before the release in a taping of Sunday Night Heat.

Brown was now freed from his handcuffs and was allowed now to prosper outside of WWE. In one of his first independent matches after his release, D'Lo beat Swinger in Ontario, Canada to capture the Border City Wrestling (BCW) Title on March 6, 2003. It was soon after NWA: Total Non-stop Action (NWA:TNA) brought D'Lo into the company.

After making his debut by making a speech on NWA:TNA, he competed in his first match on March 19, 2003. He teamed with Jeff Jarrett & Dusty Rhodes to beat Erik Watts, Brian Lawler and David Flair. The following month, D'Lo challenged Jarrett for the NWA Title and lost to him on April 2.

Soon after, D'Lo formed a partnership with AJ Styles. The duo was successful, and after defeating the team of CM Punk & Jason Cross on May 28, Styles & D'Lo agreed to part ways and go after the NWA Title. AJ would later turn heel and defeated Brown on June 4 to become the #1 contender to the NWA Title, and would go on to win the title the following week. On July 9, in their second meeting for the NWA Title, Styles beat Brown by pinfall with Vince Russo locked in a cage.

Later that month, on July 20, D'Lo made his debut in Frank Goodman's USA Pro. At their fan fest show, D'Lo defeated Slyk Wagner Brown. Later in the show, D'Lo attacked USA Pro champion Raven, setting up their title match at the next show.

On July 23, D'Lo & Styles competed in a two out of three falls match on TNA. In the first fall, D'Lo lost to AJ in a Pinfalls Only match. In the second fall, D'Lo beat AJ by submission. In the third fall, Brown lost to AJ in a Ladder Match. The NWA Title was only on the line in the final fall.

Brown continued to dominate BCW as its champion. On July 24, 2003, Brown retained his title by defeating Swinger and "The Franchise" Shane Douglas in a triple threat match. A short time before this, Brown had defeated Gangrel to unify the BCW & Maximum Pro Wrestling (MPW) titles.

In a match held in the infamous Elks Lodge in Queens, NY, D'Lo returned to USA Pro and lost to USA Pro champion Raven in the main event of the marathon show.

On September 3, D'Lo competed in War Games in TNA. He teamed with Jeff Jarrett, Raven and America's Most Wanted to defeat Shane Douglas, AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Simon Diamond, and Swinger to win the event. On September 26, D'Lo returned to the Elks Lodge in Queens and defeated Simon Diamond in USA Pro.

Around this time, D'Lo received the chance to work in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). On October 10, 2003 in Osaka, Japan, Brown teamed with Bull Buchanan and Gigantes aka Malice to defeat Keiji Mutoh, Arashi and Tomoaki Honma. Brown formed a partnership with Buchanan and teamed with him to lose to AJPW Tag Team champions Mutoh & Arashi in Budokan Hall on October 26.

Brown returned to All Japan in November to compete in the AJPW Real World Tag League. His partner in the league was former WWE Light Heavyweight champion Taka Michinoku. Kaz Hayashi & Satoshi Kojima eventually won the League.

Brown continued to compete in matches with marquee names. On December 5 in Budokan Hall, D'Lo teamed with Taka Michinoku & Jamal of 3 Minute Warning to job to Keiji Mutoh, Sam Greco and Abdullah the Butcher.

Brown floundered a bit in TNA due to his commitments in Japan. He hadn't been used much towards the end of 2003. On December 10, D'Lo reformed his partnership with AJ Styles, and with "Rowdy" Roddy Piper in their corner, to defeat Jeff Jarrett & Kid Kash.

In February of this year, D'Lo ventured back to All Japan for another tour. In one of his more notable matches on the tour, he teamed with Jamal to lose to Keiji Mutoh & current IWGP (New Japan) champion Bob Sapp.

D'Lo returned to TNA in April of this year. On April 14, D'Lo teamed with El Leon aka Apollo to win the NWA Tag Team Titles from Kid Kash & Dallas. The title reign was short lived as they lost them the following week back to Kash & Dallas.

Much like Raven, D'Lo continues to laugh in the face of WWE over his success in the independent circuit. D'Lo is proof

John Gjoni
johnftw7533@aol.com

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