For years, he's been one of independent wrestling's most popular athletes. He is even Mick Foley's favorite wrestler. Shark Boy has a cult following like no other. That cult following has led Shark Boy to cross over into mainstream media unlike any other independent wrestler. In his short career, he has made appearances on such shows as MTV's "True Life: I'm a Pro Wrestler," ABC's "20/20: Downtown" and was featured on The Discovery Channel's "Shark Week." He's even been featured in print media, appearing in "Men's Journal" magazine.

Shark Boy began his journey as a wrestler in October 1995 when he enrolled in Les Thatcher's Main Event Pro Wrestling Training Camp. Shark Boy's training to become a pro wrestler was a long and bumpy journey. Before stepping into the ring as a wrestler, he began as a referee. He started to ref matches for Thatcher's Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA) in January 1996. After completing his training to become a wrestler, Shark Boy finally made his debut on May 3, 1997. He competed under a mask as El Piranha. He jobbed in his debut to GQ Masters III in Taylor Mill, KY. At one point in HWA, Shark Boy competed without a mask and went under the name of Dean Baldwin, the long lost brother of the famous Baldwin brothers.

Shark Boy ditched the El Piranha name and became Shark Boy, still competing under a mask. Who knew what the future held for this youngster once he changed his gimmick to being a shark and hailing from 20,000 leagues under the sea.

1998 was the year Shark Boy started to make huge strides in the business. He also competed in Independent Wrestling Association (IWA), which was based in the mid-south. On April 2, 1998, he defeated Chip Fairway in Louisville, KY to capture the IWA Mid-South Television title. The title soon became inactive due to the fact that IWA no longer had a television deal in the area.

In 1998, HWA began to hold memorial shows in honor of the late Brian Pillman. Proceeds from the event would go to Pillman's children he left behind. April 29 was the date of the first show. World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) sent representatives to compete on the show, as well as Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Al Snow, Chris Candido, and Nick "Eugene" Dinsmore all competed on this inaugural show. Shark Boy was also a part of the benefit, teaming with Chip Fairway to beat Sean Casey & Terek the Great.

May 19, 1999 was the second annual Brian Pillman Memorial Show. The second show had more star power than the first one. Al Snow and Chris Benoit returned for the second show and competing for the first time in this event saw major names like Terry Taylor, Dr. Tom Pritchard, "The Road Dogg" BG James, Mankind, D'Lo Brown, Konnan, Rey Mysterio, and Dean Malenko. The highlight of the night was the performance put on by Shark Boy. A special cruiserweight tournament was held. Shark Boy won, defeating Matt Stryker, Terek the Great and Chip Fairway respectively. This performance would not go unnoticed.

Capitalizing on the big tournament victory, Shark Boy was getting more opportunities at gaining some gold. On May 26, 1999 in Fort Mitchell, KY, Shark Boy upended Bobby Kane to win the HWA Cruiserweight Title. Shark Boy made several title defenses when WCW woke up and decided to offer him a contract. Because of this, Shark Boy vacated the HWA Cruiserweight Title on July 28, 1999, due to the impending signing. Two nights after vacating the title, a Brian Hildebrand Benefit was held in Pittsburgh, PA. Shark Boy competed in and lost a Triple Threat Match against current WWE champion Eddie Guerrero and Billy Kidman.

Shark Boy officially inked a deal with WCW and began working for them in August 1999. He was sent to work on his ring work at The Power Plant, where he trained under "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff and Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker. He spent four months there, basically lost in the shuffle, and was released. Despite being released, he was booked to work on WCW Saturday Night and worked some matches against 3 Count, Psychosis and Norman Smiley.

Shark Boy was welcomed back to HWA and made sure to regain the title he never lost. On February 19, 2000, he defeated Matt Stryker to capture the vacant HWA Cruiserweight Title in Hamilton, OH. He collecting of gold belts didn't stop there. He ventured to Pro Wrestling Xpress (PWX) aka National Wrestling Alliance East (NWA East). Six days after regaining the HWA Cruiserweight Title, he defeated Crusher Hansen and Cody Hawk in a Triple Threat Match to win the PWX Television Title in Pittsburgh, PA.

Since 1997, Jim Kettner has held the annual Super 8 Tournament during one of his East Coast Wrestling Association (ECWA). It has helped launch the careers of many such as Billy Kidman, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Reckless Youth, "The Inferno Kid" Dan Gimondo, "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels, Lance "Simon" Diamond, Low Ki, and AJ Styles. On February 26, 2000, Shark Boy was invited to compete in this prestigious tournament. Unfortunately for Shark Boy, in his only Super 8 appearance, he jobbed to Chad Collyer in the first round of the tournament, which was eventually won by Christopher Daniels.

During the spring of 2000, Shark Boy continued to stay in PWX, defending the TV Title. However, on March 24, he lost the title to Cody Hawk in Versailles, PA. The time in between title reigns was short; as he regained the PWX TV Title from Hawk in the same city he lost it in on April 21.

The third annual Brian Pillman Memorial Show was set to be the biggest one yet. Held on May 25, 2000 in Cincinnati, OH at the Schmidt Feildhouse, WWE and WCW once again sent representatives, as well as Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). Some of the wrestlers competing on the show included Rico, Chuck Palumbo, Sean O'Haire, The Bruise Bros., Billy Kidman, The Disco Inferno, Vampiro, Bill DeMott, Chris Benoit, William Regal, Diamond Dallas Page, Shane Douglas, ECW champion Justin Credible, Raven, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, and D'Lo Brown. Shark Boy made a defense of the HWA Cruiserweight Title and successfully retaining against Jamie-San aka Jamie Noble.

His reign as HWA Cruiserweight champion came to an end on October 7, 2000. He lost the title to "Rapid Delivery" Rory Fox in a Ladder Match in Blanchester, OH. You may remember Fox being profiled on the same MTV "True Life: I'm A Pro Wrestler" that Shark Boy appeared on. Shark Boy regained the Cruiserweight title on November 4, 2000 during a tag team match that saw the title on the line. Shark Boy teamed with Race Steele to beat Rory Fox & Chip Fairway when Shark Boy pinned Fox.

Shark Boy soon became a double champion in HWA. On February 27, 2001, he won a battle royal to win the vacant HWA Heavyweight Title in Cincinnati, OH, last eliminating Dean Jablonski and Matt Stryker. Because he won the heavyweight title, he vacated the Cruiserweight Title on March 6. The heavyweight title reign didn't last long as he dropped the title to Race Steele in Rising Sun, IN on March 16.

Shark Boy was once again invited to compete in a prestigious tournament, this time it was Jersey Championship Wrestling's (JCW) J Cup. On June 23, 2001, he defeated Dylan Cage and former J Cup winner Judas Young before losing to Low Ki.

The fourth annual Brian Pillman Memorial Show took place on August 9, 2001 in Oak Hills, OH at the Oak Hills High School. WWE had purchased WCW earlier in the year and ECW went out of business, so this show lost some flavor to it. The show promoted itself around the fact that WWE, WCW, and ECW were all represented. Now, it was all WWE. This show could be classified as a future of wrestling show as future main eventers such as Randy Orton, John "The Prototype" Cena, Charlie Haas, Rico, Lita, and Victoria all made appearances on the show. The main event saw The Hardy Boyz defeat Edge & Christian and Diamond Dallas Page & Kanyon in a Triple Threat Match. Also on the show, Shark Boy competed in a Four Corners Match against Chad Collyer, Matt Stryker and HWA Cruiserweight champ Pepper Parks. Collyer won the title.

Andrew McMannus attempted to launch a promotion to rival Vince McMahon's WWE. He called it World Wrestling All-Stars. The promotion held it's first pay-per-view on February 24, 2002. The opening match was an Elimination Match, which saw Shark Boy make his PPV debut facing off against Tony Mamaluke, Low Ki, Nova, Christopher Daniels, AJ Styles. Nova won the match.

The Jarretts also started a promotion to give fans an alternative to WWE. They were going to run under the NWA banner and call their show NWA: Total Nonstop Action. They gathered many of their talents from independent companies throughout the country. Shark Boy was brought in to work a dark match on July 31, 2002 and lost to NWA Junior Heavyweight champion Jimmy Rave in Nashville, TN. He made his NWA:TNA PPV debut on August 14, 2002 when he teamed with Kid Kash & Slick J to job to The Amazing Red & The SAT.

In the fall of 2002, during an episode of Raw, Maven was seen talking to a man when Triple H interrupted and attacked the man Maven was speaking to. Maven stuck up for that man and challenged Triple H to a match later in the show. That man was none other than Dean Roll aka Shark Boy without his mask. That was his WWE debut.

Porn bigwig Rob Black was running Xtreme Pro Wrestling out in California and decided to run some shows on the east coast as well. On November 16, 2002, Shark Boy debuted for the company defeating Chris Chetti in Philadelphia, PA. Shark Boy remained in XPW, competing on their east coast shows, and feuding with Chris Hamrick and Tracey Smothers.

World Wrestling All Stars held another PPV, this time on December 6, 2002. On that night, Shark Boy defeated future NWA:TNA X Division champion, Frankie "The Future" Kazarian in a big win. That same month, on the 28th, Shark Boy ventured back to IWA and defeated Danny Daniels in Clarksville, IN to win the IWA Light Heavyweight Title. He lost the title to "Spyder" Nate Webb on January 11, 2003 in Clarksville, IN.

WWE took notice of Shark Boy, and had him work his first dark match with the company on March 11, 2003 and jobbed to Kanyon in Pittsburgh, PA. He returned the following month working another dark match on April 7 and defeated Tyson Dux in Milwaukee, WI. On April 21, 2003, he made his television in-ring debut with WWE when he lost to Christopher Nowinski on an episode of International Sunday Night Heat in Atlanta, GA.

He continued to compete in NWA:TNA and in late spring of 2003, he began taking part in backstage vignettes with New Jack, playing ridiculous games with one another. New Jack had Shark Boy's back during all this. On June 11, 2003, Shark Boy got his first title shot on TV when he jobbed to X Division champion Chris Sabin.

After doing jobs in NWA:TNA for most of 2003, Shark Boy continued to toil around on the independent scene, including a pretty good match against X Division champ Michael Shane and The Grim Reefer in a Triple Threat Match back in November 2003 for Cyberspace Wrestling Federation (CSWF). On February 14, 2004, he debuted for USA Pro on Bethpage, NY. He answered the open challenge of Prince Nana and jobbed to him and was "netted" by Ken Scampi. He returned to USA Pro on May 14, 2004 and teamed with Scampi to compete in the Big Dick Dudley Memorial Tag Team Gauntlet, which was eventually won by The Dirty Rotten Scoundrelz.

Shark Boy continues to participate in NWA:TNA, and even wrestled Abyss on the debut episode of TNA Impact on Fox Sports Net. As you can guess, Shark Boy was squashed.

For you fans in the New York area, Shark Boy returns at the June 19 USA Pro show in Franklin Square, NY. For more information on the show, check out http://www.usaprowrestling.net. For more information on Shark Boy, you can check out http://www.sharkboy.net/

John Gjoni
johnftw7533@aol.com

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