No matter what name you have come to know him as, Pat Kenney will go down as one of the biggest names to come out of the Northeast independent wrestling scene in quite some time. No matter what alter ego he has competed under, whether it was Lance Diamond, Simon Diamond or his given name, Kenney has made the most of all opportunities sent his way.

Before wrestling was in the cards, Kenney had aspirations of becoming a major league baseball player. Kenney was entered in the 1988 amateur baseball draft and, on the second day, was drafted in the 34th round by the San Diego Padres. Kenney had been attending Virginia Commonwealth University, where he was working on getting his BA in English. While on the university's baseball team, Kenney called all the shots from behind home plate as a catcher.

After competing on the team for three years, Kenney suffered a shoulder injury and was forced to go under the knife. When he attempted to make a comeback after rehabilitation, Kenney knew he wasn't the same player he was before the injury so he decided to call it quits. He tried to coach, but it bothered him that he wasn't on the field.

While working for Pepsi, one of Kenney's co-workers was wrestling on the independent scene on the weekends. He encouraged Kenney to try it out so Kenney began to train with current promoter of East Coast Wrestling Association (ECWA) Jim Kettner, which was based in Delaware.

Kenney trained with Kettner for nine months before making his profession debut. In June of 1991, Kenney entered the pro ranks for the first time, teaming with Kettner and Knight Rider and faced the terrible trio of Dr. Destruction, The Animal and The Night Hawk.

Wrestling under his real name of Pat Kenney wasn't going to cut it for him, so Kettner advised a name change. Kettner said Kenney was a diamond in the rough, and thus Kenney was now christened with the last name of Diamond, and chose the name Lance to go with it. Lance Diamond was born.

It took Diamond several years to make an impact in the ECWA. Slowly but surely, he made his climb up the ladder of success in the ECWA. Diamond went for the big one on May 1, 1993, challenging ECWA veteran The Cheetah Master. Diamond won his first major title, upending The Cheetah Master to win the ECWA Heavyweight Title in Wilmington, DE. Diamond dominated the promotion for over two years as the heavyweight champion, and ended up losing the title back to The Cheetah Master in September 1995.

After showing his dominance in the singles division, Diamond decided to try his hand and dominating the tag team division. On November 17, 1995, Diamond teamed with Steve Corino to defeat the team of Ace Darling and Kid Flash aka Billy Kidman in Wilmington, DE to win the ECWA Tag Team Titles. They had a lengthy reign, until it was ended on May 16, 1996 in Newport, DE by Boogie Woogie Brown and Inferno, who was competing as Inferno Brown.

Because of his dominance so early in his career of the ECWA, Diamond was inducted into the ECWA Hall of Fame in 1995. He joins Jim Kettner, Inferno aka Danny Inferno in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), Ace Darling, "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels, Reckless Youth, The Haas Brothers, Billy Kidman, Capt. Lou Albano, and Kevn Kelly in the elite hall.

While making an impact in ECWA, Lance Diamond was also branching out to other indy promotions in the Northeast. In one of his final matches in 1996, Diamond invaded Pennsylvania Champion Wrestling (PCW) on December 27 and gave himself a belated Christmas gift: he won a Reverse Steel Cage Battle Royal to win the PCW America's Title in Reading, PA to be crowned the first champion.

For the last eight years, Jim Kettner has presented the biggest indy tournament called the Super 8. Every year, some of the best wrestlers are chosen to compete in the most anticipated tournament of the year. This tournament has sky rocketed the careers of Super 8 winners "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels, Low Ki and Paul London. Some of the biggest names have come through to compete in this annual tournament, like The Hardy Boyz, Scotty 2 Hotty, Trent Acid, Spanky, The American Dragon, The Amazing Red, and AJ Styles. Diamond had the honor of competing in the first tournament, held on February 22, 1997 in Wilmington, DE. Diamond defeated Ronny Roberts in the first round and lost to the eventual winner in the semi-finals, Ace Darling.

Although he currently competes for the National Wrestling Alliance: Total Nonstop Action (NWA:TNA) today, he began competing in the NWA in the late 90s. Diamond captured the NWA North American Title in a Triple Threat Match on April 12, 1997 by defeating the defending champion, Reckless Youth, and The Cheetah Master in Cherry Hill, NJ. The lineage of that title goes all the way back to the 1950s and has seen it's share of legendary title holders, such as "The Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, Dory Funk Sr., "Big" John Studd, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, and Kevin Von Erich. Diamond was in more elite company.

The reign was short-lived. He lost the NWA North American Title to Ace Darling in Wilmington, DE on April 26, 1997. The night wasn't a total loss for him as he traveled to Newport, DE later that night to team with his one-time nemesis, The Cheetah Master, to beat Viper & Armageddon to win the ECWA Tag Team Titles.

After several defenses of the PCW America's Title, Diamond returned on May 3, 1997 for another defense in Orwigsburg, PA. This time, he faced the challenge of the only World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Brawl For All winner and former WWE & NWA Tag Team champion, Bart Gunn. Diamond couldn't hold his own against Gunn and lost the title to him that night. Diamond was on a mission to regain that title and did so on November 21, 1997. However, he did not defeat Gunn to regain the belt. Instead, he defeated new champ Ace Darling in Reading, PA to reign once again as the America's champion.

Diamond had the Midas touch and was winning belts left and right. He ventured to NWA 2000 on January 3, 1998 and defeated "The Wise Guy" Jimmy Cicero to win the NWA 2000 Heavyweight Title in Reaford, NC in a 2-Out-Of-3 Falls Match. Diamond vacated the title soon after winning it. 13 nights later, Diamond lost the PCW America's Title to Mr. Ooh La La in Reading, PA.

March 21, 1998 was set to be a big night in the career of Lance Diamond. It was the night of the second annual Super 8 tournament. Diamond turned heads that night, defeating Mark Schrader, Scott Taylor aka Scotty 2 Hotty and The Inferno Kid to win the tournament in Newport, DE. Big things were ahead for Diamond.

Infatuated with the PCW America's Title, he challenged Mr. Ooh La La to a rematch on May 15, 1998 and left Reading, PA as the champion yet again. The reign didn't last long as he lost the title to Reckless Youth on June 27, 1998 in Pottstown, PA.

Diamond was a regular for PCW and was a top attraction for the promotion, as you could tell by the title victories. On July 24, 1998, PCW held two battle royals at a show in Reading, PA. The winner of each battle royal would team up, unwillingly, to face the reigning PCW Tag Team champions Fire & Lightning, which was comprised of The Inferno Kid & Mike Quackenbush. Reckless Youth won one battle royal while Lance Diamond won another. They were forced to team up and worked well as a team. They defeated Fire & Lightning to win the PCW Tag Team Titles.

Showing just how versatile he is as a professional wrestling, Diamond concentrated on making waves in other promotions in the tag team division. On July 31, 1998, he teamed with Steve Corino to win the NWA United States Tag Team Titles from The Misfits in Mt. Holly, NJ. Corino & Diamond held the same title that such great teams as The Midnight Express- Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane, The Fantastics and The Steiner Brothers. Unfortunately for Corino & Diamond, their reigns lasted less than a month as they lost the NWA US Tag Titles to former Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) Tag Team champions, The Pit Bulls, in Mt. Holly, NJ.

All of Diamond's hard work started to pay off and was invited to compete at a WWE television taping. During WWE Shotgun, which aired on September 5, 1998, Diamond wrestled and lost to former WWE Intercontinental and WCW United States champion, Dustin Runnels. This was just the beginning for young Lance Diamond.

The NWA held it's 50th Anniversary Show in Cherry Hill, NJ on October 24, 1998. In one of Diamond's first major shows in his career, he was booked to compete in the main event of the show. He teamed with Steve Corino, Rik Ratchet and Doug Gilbert to defeat former ECW Tag Team champion Stevie Richards, Dead Man Walking and The Pit Bulls in a Steel Cage Match.

After a year and a half of dominating the ECWA as the Tag Team Champions, Diamond & The Cheetah Master finally lost the titles on November 28, 1998 to Ace Darling & Devon Storm. Despite the loss, things were looking up for Diamond. The following night, Diamond was invited back to another WWE television taping. In a match taped for WWE Shotgun, which aired on December 12, Diamond teamed with Steve Corino and Jimmy Cicero to lose to The Oddities- Golga, Kurrgan and The Giant Silva.

Diamond had one more shot at showing his stuff, taking on Tiger Ali Singh in a match taped for WWE Shotgun, which aired on April 3, 1999. As was the norm, Diamond lost. WWE had not moved quickly in signing Diamond to a contract, but Paul Heyman's ECW was quick to drop in and negotiated with Diamond to work for the renegade Philadelphia promotion. Diamond eventually agreed.

Before starting with ECW, Diamond had to fulfill his indy commitments. On April 15, 1999, after gaining much success in PCW, Diamond left a lasting impression by defeating former ECW Tag Team & Television champion 2 Cold Scorpio to win the PCW Heavyweight Title. Diamond vacated the title soon after. For one night, Diamond was a dual reigning champion in PCW, also holding the tag team titles with Reckless Youth. The next night, Reckless Youth was unable to compete in a title defense due to an injury, so taking his place was the more than suitable "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels. Unfortunately, the team never worked out as they lost the PCW Tag Team Titles to Flash Flanagan & Glen Osbourne in Hamburg, PA. In one of his final nights before working full time with ECW, Lance Diamond challenged the Independent Wrestling Federation (IWF) Heavyweight champion, Twiggy Ramirez in South Plainfield, NJ on June 22, 1999. Diamond captured the title, but handed it back to Ramirez due to his ECW commitment.

Lance Diamond made his ECW Arena debut at Hostile City Showdown in Philadelphia and lost to Skull Von Krush, who would later go on to compete in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and NWA:TNA as Big Vito. That was one of the few matches that Lance Diamond competed under that name. Due to ECW having another Lance on its roster, Lance Storm, Paul Heyman was looking to rename Lance Diamond. Heyman thought Lance Diamond resembled cruiserweight great, Dean Malenko. Malenko's real name is Dean Simon and Heyman came up with Simon Diamond.

Simon Diamond tested out his new character at house shows, telling fans that Simon had a problem, also speaking in the third person. He wrestled his first ECW Arena show under his new moniker on July 31, 1999, teaming with Super Crazy to lose to Christ Chetti & Nova. Simon got his first ECW Arena victory on August 28, 1999; facing and defeating the man he made his debut against, this time going under the name of Vito "The Skull" LoGrasso.

Even though he was competing for ECW on a full time basis, when time permitted, Simon was allowed to compete in the promotion that jump-started his career, the ECWA. He returned to the company on September 17, 1999 and defeated long time nemesis, The Cheetah Master, to win the ECWA Mid-Atlantic Title in Wilmington, DE. The reign lasted just under two months, when he lost the title to Ty Street in Newport, DE.

Simon made his PPV debut on September 19, 1999 at Anarchy Rulz. He came out and first asked Tom Marquez to be his partner, and when Marquez was headed into the ring, Simon stopped him and told him that he never said, "Simon says." Tony DeVito, now a member of Ring of Honor's (RoH) Carnage Crew, emerged as Simon's partner and they battled Chris Chetti & Nova to a no contest.

Simon then made his singles PPV debut on November 7, 1999 at the November to Remember, which is ECW's version of WrestleMania. The event took place in Buffalo, NY and Simon was pitted against the Giant Killer of ECW, Little Spike Dudley. The current WWE Cruiserweight champion got the win over Simon, even though Simon didn't say.

Simon found himself in a feud with Jazz. Whenever Simon was in the ring and talking on the microphone, the future WWE Women's champ would make her way out and fight it out with Simon. They tried it out at ECW house shows before airing it on television. At the November 27, 1999 show at the ECW Arena, Simon was in the ring and was challenged by Jazz. Surprisingly, Simond secured a win over the "Female Fighting Phenom."

Simon saw his share of television time, but really had no direction. There really was no rhyme or reason as to why Simon was facing against whomever. He would come out with a huge entourage, such as "The Prodigy" Tom Marquez, The Prodigette, his own ring announcer, The Mouskateer, and even his Dick. He was turned into a comedy act, yet no one was laughing. However, he did find himself competing in some big PPV matches, like at Hardcore Heaven on May 14, 2000 in Milwaukee. He faced Guido Martiado and Mikey Whipwreck in a classic 3 Way Dance. Guido emerged as the winner.

Simon was then put in a tag team with another guy who was going in many directions, former WCW jobber Swinger. They started off as a comedy act, with Simon's large entourage, but were later joined by CW Anderson, who told them to get serious, like an Anderson. Simon, Swinger and Anderson were now a major threat in ECW. They competed together at Heat Wave on July 16, 2000 in Los Angeles. However, they didn't fare too well as they lost to Kid Kash, Danny Doring and Roadkill.

CW Anderson was embroiled in a feud with Tommy Dreamer, so it was appropriate for Simon & Swinger to also be involved. On August 20, 2000 at the ECW Arena, Dreamer teamed with Danny Doring & Roadkill to beat CW Anderson, Simon Diamon and Swing.

Simon & Swinger were involved in the one-night ECW Tag Team Title Tournament to crown new champions in New York City at The Hammerstein Ballroom on August 25, 2000. It was their biggest night as a team in ECW, and they didn't disappointed. Even though they didn't win the belts, they defeated Chris Chetti & Nova in the first round and then Danny Doring & Roadkill in the semi-finals. The finals was going to be a 3 Way Dance, and they met Tajiri & Mikey Whipwreck and Jerry Lynn & Tommy Dreamer in the finals. It then came down to Tajiri & Mikey and Simon & Swinger, which then saw Tajiri & Mikey win the ECW Tag Team Titles.

Simon & Swinger had their first PPV tag team match at the November to Remember on November 5, 2000 in Chicago. They teamed to face ECW newcomers Joey Matthews & Christian York, and got the win. A rematch was held between the two teams on December 3, 2000 at The Massacre on 34th St. in New York City. Simon & Swinger lost the match, but ended up gaining a valet in Dawn Marie, who is Simon's real life fiancée.

ECW held their final televised event on January 7, 2001 at Guilty As Charged in New York City. Simon & Swinger competed on the show, battling Balls Mahoney & Chilly Willy to a no contest. ECW would close its doors for good after a house show the following weekend.

Just before ECW went out of business, Simon and Dawn Marie met with Johnny Ace in Baltimore to negotiate a deal to work for WWE on a full time basis. Ace called Simon the following week to compete in a dark match, but Simon could not make it. When he was finally able to make it, Vince McMahon bought WCW and Simon's services were not needed as they bought the contracts of 24 WCW wrestlers.

It was back to the indy scene for Simon. He was a hot property due to his exposure in ECW, which was a great thing. Simon began competing in New York City for Jac Sabboth's now-defunct Impact Championship Wrestling (ICW). At The Last Stand at The Elks, Simon teamed with Swinger, with Dawn Marie in their corner, to face Da Hit Squad and former ECW Tag Team champions, The FBI- Guido Maritado and Tony Mamaluke- in the first round of a tournament to crown ICW Tag Team champions. The FBI won the match to advance.

With WCW and ECW out of business and WWE the only game in town, promotions were looking to make an impact. John Collins was no exception. He was hell bent on making Main Event Championship Wrestling (MECW) a top competitor to WWE. MECW no way lived up to the hype. He was going to use every big name not associated with WWE. The big debut took place on August 11, 2001 at The ECW Arena in Philadelphia. Some of the names used for this event included, New Jack, DeVito, Buff Bagwell, Steve Corino, Curt Hennig, The Public Enemy, The Sandman, and Sabu. Simon competed on the event, and defeated another former ECW comedy act, The Blue Meanie. MECW folded soon after.

Through his friend Swinger, Simon found himself working shows for Scott D'Amore's Border City Wrestling (BCW) in Ontario, Canada. He faced his friend, Swinger, on October 10, 2001 in Oldcastle, Ontario, Canada. Competing as a face, Simon got the win after Otis Apollo attempted to hit Simon with a chairshot, but nailed Swinger instead.

On October 19, 2001, Simon wrestled one of his first matches for Frank Goodman's New York-based USA Pro. At the Mikey Whipwreck Retiremnt Show in Long Island, Simon teamed with Swinger to lose to The Boogie Knights- Mike Tobin and the now-retired Danny Drake. He returned to USA Pro on October 27, 2001 at Halloween Heat, challenging USA Pro Heavyweight champion, Xavier, in the main event. Xavier was successful in retaining his strap.

Simon returned to BCW to compete in the 2nd Annual Douglas Chevalier Memorial show in Oldcastle, Ontario, Canada on Novmeber 27, 2001. He competed in an 8-Man Elimination Gauntlet match for the BCW Can-Am Heavyweight Title, which was vacated by the recently retired Mikey Whipwreck. In the first match of the gauntlet, Simon, with Dawn Marie at his side, faced and defeated "Arrogant" Otis Apollo. In the second match of the gauntlet, another ECW alumnus, Guido Maritado, defeated Simon.

Another promotion, backed by Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart, was making a claim that they would be competition to Vince McMahon. The promotion was called the XWF and held many tapings over a span of two days at Universal Studios. It took place in November 2001 and the XWF hoped to use the footage and the marquee names to sell the pilot to television stations throughout the country. On night one, the XWF taped several episodes of shows. Simon and Swinger teamed up and were known as Maximum Force and were managed by Dawn Marie. At the third set of tapings that night, Maximum Force defeated Caged Heat. At the fourth taping, Simon & Swinger got into an argument with XWF color commentator Jerry "The King" Lawler. It led to an impromptu Handicapped Match, which saw a miscue by Simon and Swinger and Lawler hit the Piledriver on Simon to win the match.

At the second day of tapings in Florida, Maximum Force once again defeated Caged Heat. Later that taping, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper interviewed Jerry Lawler, who introduced a new valet to replace his ex-wife The Kat, Kitten. Simon, Swinger and Dawn Marie confronted Lawler and claimed Lawler insulted Dawn Marie. They jumped Lawler, who was saved by Piper. At the end of the taping, Caged Heat got the better of Simon & Swinger and won the match.

On January 11, 2002, Simon made his return to USA Pro. He competed at All Hell Breaks Loose in NY and faced another former ECW alumnus, Chris Chetti. In the opening match of the show, Simon got the win over Chetti by DQ when Chetti's valet, Bobcat, interfered. Simon returned to ICW for it's First Anniversary at The Elks Lodge in Queens, NY on January 25, 2002. He teamed with DeVito to lose to Tom Marquez and promoter Jac Sabboth.

On December 15, 2001, Russ Haas died prematurely at the age of 27 due to heart disease. He was under a developmental deal with WWE, along with his brother and current WWE superstar, Charlie. Before gaining that contract, The Haas Brothers cut their teeth in the indy scene, and competed for such promotions as Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW) and the ECWA, holding titles in all those promotions. JAPW held a show in his honor on February 2, 2002 in Bayonne, NJ. On that show, Simon Diamond made his JAPW debut in a Triple Threat Match against Charlie Haas and Crowbar. Haas got the win in honor of his late brother.

Simon continued to compete in indy feds in New Jersey, making his next stop in Ricky O's now-defunct Jersey Championship Wrestling (JCW). On March 9, 2002 in South River, NJ, Diamond stepped into the ring with former WWE & ECW Tag Team champion, Chris Candido. Candido was the defending JCW Television champion. Diamond defeated the former Bodydonna to win the title.

Meanwhile, back in BCW, Simon was embroiled in a feud with another former ECW personality, Cyrus. Cyrus had the hots for Simon's valet, Dawn Marie. A match between the two took place on March 12, 2002 in Oldcastle, Ontario, Canada. But, it had certain stipulations. If Cyrus won, he would have spent the night with Dawn Marie. If Simon won, he and a partner of his choice would get a shot at the BCW Can-Am Tag Team Titles in the near future. The match was on, and Simon handily defeated Cyrus. After the match, for whatever reason, Simon was jumped Terry Taylor.

Simon returned to JCW in May that year. At a show that took place in Garfield, NJ, Simon lost his JCW TV Title to Ace Darling on May 11, 2002. Seven nights later, in Lyndhurst, NJ, Simon regained the JCW TV Title from Darling.

Simon made his return to USA Pro at the "Big" Dick Dudley Memorial Show in Franklin Square, NY. A gauntlet to name the #1 contender to the USA Pro United States Title took place. Simon competed in the first match of the gauntlet against a man he would team with in the future, Matt Striker. Striker got the win over Simon and eliminated him from competition.

Simon's destiny of finally getting a WWE contract looked like it was going to be a reality soon enough. He and partner Swinger were brought in on July 18, 2002. Simon was pitted against Swinger in a dark match and got the win over Swinger. This looked like a step in the right direction at the time.

By this time in BCW, Simon had turned heel and aligned himself with Swinger once again. At BCW WrestleFest in Oldcastle, Ontario, Canada on August 15, 2002, Simon Diamond faced Sabu and lost to him. Pissed about the loss, Simon demanded to be in the main event, as he and Swinger fell to the unlikely tag team of Jerry "The King" Lawler and Jerry Lynn.

Simon continued to gain championships in almost every promotion he competes in. On August 16, 2002, Maximum Pro Wrestling (MPW) was set to crown their first heavyweight champion. Diamond didn't disappoint. In Livonia, MI, Diamond defeated Breyer Wellington to win the title to become the first champion. He would hold the title until January 19, 2003, where he lost it to Gangrel in the same city he won it in.

Reckless Youth had been the JCW champion before vacating it in the late summer of 2002. JCW was looking to crown a champion, and on October 19, 2002 in Elizabeth, NJ at The Rex Plex, Ricky O booked JCW TV champion Simon Diamond in a Triple Threat Match against Crowbar and Inferno. Simon won the vacant title and was now in possession of both singles titles in JCW. Because he had won the JCW Title, he vacated the TV Title.

Andrew McMannus was another promoter looking to give the fans an alternative to WWE and presented the World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA). They booked shows overseas, in Europe and Australia. They held three big tours by the time Simon Diamond was booked to work for the promotion, which featured many former WCW & ECW stars not under contract to WWE. The tour began on November 28, 2002 and ended on December 13, 2002. One of the events was taped to air on PPV in the United States, which took place on December 6, 2002 called Retribution. It actually aired on February 9, 2003. On that night, Simon Diamond faced Sabu and Perry Saturn in a Triple Threat Match. All three worked with one another throughout this tour. Sabu got the win. Other matches on the show saw Shark Boy defeat Kazarian, Buff Bagwell & Swinger defeat Norman Smiley & Malice, NWA champ Jeff Jarrett retaining his title against Nathan Jones, and Lex Luger defeating Sting to win the vacant WWA Title.

Another promotion making waves in the United States as yet another alternative to WWE was Court Bauer's Major League Wrestling (MLW). It showcased a mix of former WCW & ECW stars as well as some of the best wrestlers on the indy circuit. Simon made his MLW debut on December 20, 2002 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, teaming with CW Anderson to defeat former USA Pro & ECWA Tag Team champs, The SAT, in the first round of a tournament to crown the first MLW Tag Team champions.

Simon began to work shows for Rob Black's Xtreme Pro Wrestling (XPW), which was based in California and was at one time rivals with Simon's former employer, ECW. However, XPW was looking to expand to the east coast and ran a show in Philadelphia on January 17, 2003. Simon worked the show, losing to XPW regular Pogo the Clown. XPW returned to Philly on February 14, 2003 and Simon once again competed on the show, taking part in the XPW/FWA European Title Tournament. Former WCW Cruiserweight champion Psicosis ousted Simon in the first round.

Yet another promotion looking to give us a National alternative to WWE was NWA:TNA, which is run by Jerry & Jeff Jarrett. As of this writing, it is going strong and the only national alternative to WWE. Simon and Swinger were brought in to make their TNA debut on February 26, 2003 in Nashville, and they fell to The New Church's Brian Lee & Slash.

Back in USA Pro, Simon was involved in a faction known as Knight Life, which was comprised of Matt Striker, Billy Reil and The Boogie Knights. Simon was known as The Godfather. Earlier in the year, and angle was played out where Knight Life kidnapped Becky Bayless, the girlfriend of their rival and former member, "The Shooter" Mike Kruel. On March 8, 2003 at March Madness in Queens, NY, Kruel demanded that Knight Life return her back to him. It turns out one of the members of Knight Life impregnated Becky. As they try to attack Kruel, Nunzio, formerly Guido Maritado, returns to USA Pro and saves Kruel. Later that night, Simon & Striker teamed up to defeat The Christopher Street Connection in a hilarious match, but the war between those two teams was not over yet.

JCW returned to action on March 23, 2003 in Garfield, NJ. Former JCW champ Reckless Youth faced former ECW champion, Justin Credible. Credible got the win when Simon Diamond interfered, citing that he and Justin were ECW brothers. Then, in the main event, JCW champion Don Montoya defeated Simon Diamond in a Stretcher Match to retain the title, which saw interference from Reckless Youth and Ace Darling.

On April 4, 2003 at USA Pro Blood, Sweat and Tears 2 in Queens, NY, Kruel was going to do the right thing and marry his pregnant girlfriend, Becky Bayless, even though he knew it wasn't his kid. Before the marriage ceremony took place, The Christopher Street Connection challenged Striker & Simon to a rematch, but this time it would be an Indecent Proposal Match. If Simon & Striker lost the match, they would have to dress in drag and be The Christopher Street Connection's dates for the wedding. Simon & Striker lost and dressed in drag. Striker seemed to enjoy the women's clothing, while Simon didn't. Becky ended up turning on Kruel and aligning herself with Knight Life.

MLW returned to action May 9, 2003 and were set to crown the first MLW Tag Team champions. In the finals of the tournament, held in Orlando, FL, Simon & CW Anderson faced the team of "Dr. Death" Steve Williams & PJ Friedman. Simon & CW won the match and the titles to be crowned the first, and only, MLW Tag Team champions. The following night, Simon journeyed up the eastern seaboard and competed on a National Wrestling Superstars (NWS) show in Red Bank, NJ, and lost to Jerry "The King" Lawler in the main event.

Becoming one of the better tag team wrestling, Simon looked to make a bigger impact. On May 31, 2003 at the "Big" Dick Dudley Memorial Show in Franklin Square, NY, Simon & Striker defeated USA Pro Tag Team champs The Dirty Rotten Scoundrelz to capture the titles. Continuing his streak of big tag team matches, Simon & CW Anderson retained their MLW Tag Team Titles on June 20, 2003 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL by defeating Steve Williams & D'Lo Brown. The streak ended seven nights later at USA Pro Now or Never in Queens, when Simon & Striker lost the USA Pro Titles to The SAT.

Steve Williams first used PJ Friedman, than D'Lo Brown, to win the MLW Tag Team Titles. On July 26, 2003 in Orlando, Simon squared off against and defeated former ECW champion, The Sandman. Later that night, Williams teamed with The Sandman to defeat the MLW Tag Team champions Simon & CW Anderson in the main event in a non-title match. A rematch was held on August 22, 2003 in St. Petersburg, FL, but this time, the champs retained.

After a slow start in TNA, Simon & Swinger had their sights set on the NWA Tag Team champions, America's Most Wanted- "Wildcat" Chris Harris & "Cowboy" James Storm. They had their first meeting on July 9, 2003 in Nashville, which saw Simon & Swinger lose the match. A rematch was held on July 24, and Simon & Swinger lost again, this time by DQ. On August 6, the two teams met yet again, this time in a Rawhide Whipping Match. America's Most Wanted got the victory yet again. Seven nights later, legendary former NWA champion, "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, was brought into the fold. Dusty & America's Most Wanted defeated Glen Gilbertti, Simon & Swinger. The feud raged on. On August 20, 2003, Simon & Swinger finally got the edge on the champs, defeating America's Most Wanted in a Double Bullrope Match, which was also a non-title match. This set up another match on August 27, and Simon & Swinger finally won gold together, beating America's Most Wanted to become NWA Tag Team champions.

The teams were pitted on opposite sides of each other on September 3, 2003 in War Games. Simon & Swinger teamed with "The Franchise" Shane Douglas, "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels and AJ Styles to face and fall in defeat to Jeff Jarrett, D'Lo Brown, Raven and America's Most Wanted.

Simon found himself competing in yet another War Games, this time in MLW on September 19, 2003. The Extreme Horsemen team of Simon Diamond, CW Anderson, Steve Corino, Justin Credible, and Barry Windham faced and fell in defeat to The Funkin' Army team of Terry Funk, Sabu, Steve Williams, and The Sandman.

Despite competing for TNA, Simon was still competing in indy feds in the Northeast. He returned to USA Pro on September 26, 2003 at Extreme Resurrection in Queens. On that night, he faced and lost to D'Lo Brown in a great match after D'Lo hit Simon with the Sky High. Two days later at JCW Snow Day in Garfield, NJ, JCW TV champ Jay Lethal defeated Simon in the main event. On October 4, 2003, Simon returned to his old stomping grounds of ECWA and defeated Ace Darling in Wilmington, DE in a Battled of ECWA Icons.

As the NWA Tag champs, Simon & Swinger were confident and cocky. They thought they could beat anyone. They faced the debuting Danny Doring & Roadkill on October 15, 2003. Doring & Roadkill were the last team to hold the ECW Tag Team Titles, something Swinger & Simon never held. In a non-title upset, Doring & Roadkill pinned the champs. Seven nights later, in a title rematch, Simon & Swinger got the better of Doring & Roadkill.

Simon & Swinger then moved on to a feud with 3 Live Kru in TNA. On November 19, 2003, Simon & Swinger battled BJ James & Ron Killings of The Kru to a no-contest. Under TNA rules, that would make the titles held up. Seven nights later, in a six-man match for the vacant NWA Tag Titles, Simon, Swinger and Glen Gilbertti lose to The 3 Live Kru, who were now the new tag champs.

Simon returned to USA Pro for it's last event at The Elks Lodge in Queens, NY on November 29, 2003. The Triple Threat of Shane Douglas, Chris Candido and Bam Bam Bigelow reunited that night. Bigelow & Candido later teamed up to defeat Simon & Matt Striker, who were representing Knight Life.

MLW had some problems functioning and took a brief hiatus, then returned on January 10, 2004 with Reloaded. On that night, the MLW Tag champs, Simon & CW Anderson, defeated the team of The Samoan Island Tribe- Samu & Mana. Later that month, in a decision that Simon is still criticized about on our very own message boards, Simon Diamond accepts the head booking position for Carmine Sabia's Stars & Stripes Championship Wrestling (SSCW), which is based in New Jersey.

The Zero One promotion in Japan held several shows in The United States under the Pro Wrestling World-1 (PWW1) banner on the weekend of February 6-8, 2004. Steve Corino ran the promotion in the States, and the wrestlers on the show were hoping this would lead to bookings in Japan. Simon competed in all three shows, teaming with CW Anderson throughout. On the first night in Pottstown, PA, Simon & CW lost to PWF Tag Team champs, Josh Daniels & Matt Striker. On the second night, in a battle of The Extreme Horsemen, Simon & CW beat Steve Corino & Justin Credible. On the final night, Simon & CW lost to former ECW Heavyweight & Tag champ Masato Tanaka & Yoshito Sasaki.

Looking to regain the USA Pro Tag Team championship, Simon & Striker reunited at The St. Valentine's Day Massace in Bethpage, NY, this time challenging members of Raven's Flock, Mikey Whipwreck & Wayne. After a miscue on the part of the champions, Striker & Simon regained the titles.

Back in TNA, Jeff Jarrett was looking to have certain wrestlers sign his loyalty oath. Because if you weren't with Jarrett, you were against him. On February 18, 2004, weeks after Simon first refused to sign the oath, he found out his longtime partner, Swinger, did indeed sign it. This cemented Simon's face turn and a feud in TNA with Swinger was born. They had their first TNA match seven nights later in Nashville, which ended in a no-contest.

On March 24, 2004, TNA set up a tournament to crown new NWA Tag Team champions. Simon competed in the tournament, teaming with another man that wouldn't sign the loyalty oath, Sonny Siaki. They competed in the first round and lost to the eventual winners, Kid Kash & Dallas.

Simon's first night as head booker of SSCW took place on March 27, 2004. The event was Ring Rage V and it was held in Clifton, NJ. The promotion had hyped the debut of the greatest Intercontinental champion and shit-stirrer of all time, The Honky Tonk Man. Honky was booked in the main event against Simon, and Simon laid down for Honky.

Simon's war with Swinger in TNA raged on and Simon got the upper hand over his former partner on April 14, 2004, when Diamond got the win. The following week, Simon teamed with Siaki to lose to Swinger & Glen Gilbertti. It was on April 28, 2004 when Simon Diamond got repackaged abruptly. In a promo, he said he was no longer Simon Diamond. He was now going to use his real name and be known as "Irish" Pat Kenney. In his first match under his real name since his first few matches later in the night, Kenney teamed with Siaki & Desire to defeat Swinger, Gilbertti and Trinity.

Despite the name change and attitude change, Kenney was still a heel Simon Diamond on the indy scene. He returned to USA Pro Deadly Sins on May 14, 2004 in Queens, teaming with Striker to retain the tag titles against The Christopher Street Connection and The SAT in an Elimination Match. The longtime feud with The Christopher Street Connection didn't end there, as they had one more match with each other on June 19, 2004 at Meltdown 2 in Franklin Square, NY. This time, The Connection finally realized a goal and beat Simon & Striker to become the new USA Pro Tag Team champions.

Kenney and his former partner, Swinger, were still going at it in TNA. On June 16, 2004, Kenney teamed with Sonny Siaki to face Swinger & Glen Gilbertti in a Humiliation Box Match. Due the stipulation of the match, Swinger was forced to dress as a Hula dancer while Gilbertti was forced to dress as a Leprechaun. They had a Double Or Nothing Humiliation rematch on June 30, 2004, and Kenney & Siaki got the win yet again. Big Vito was brought into the fold and wanted Swinger & Gilbertti to get more serious, so Vito took the action to Kenney. On July 21, 2004, Vito defeated Kenney in a Sicilian Street Fight. Kenney got his revenge on August 4, as he defeated Vito in an Irish Weapons Match.

Kenney competed on several editions of TNA's newest Fox Sports Net show, Impact. On June 25, 2004, he felt the wrath of "The Alpha Male" Monty Brown and lost to the upstart Brown. A month later, on August 20, Kenney returned to Impact to face the NWA Kingpin, Jeff Jarrett, in a non-title match. Jarrett got the win over Kenney.

Kenney, competing as Simon Diamond, returned to booking and wrestling for SSCW on September 10, 2004 in Boonton, NJ. The show was called Enduring Freedom and Simon took part in the show as a referee. In a match featuring SSCW champion Damian Adams and "2 Cocky" Kevin Matthews. Adams got the win, and after the match, Simon took his frustrations out on the champion. Simon then forms a new stable, Esquire, with Matt Striker, Rob Eckos, Mike Winner, Kara Slice, and Becky Bayless.

As of this writing, Kenney was preparing to make his return to TNA. He had been taken off television so he could come back with a new gimmick. In recent weeks, on Impact, vignettes hyping "The Empire Saint" have been airing, which is set to be Pat Kenney. Dropping the "Irish" name should do good for Kenney and, hopefully, give him a bigger push as he is underutilized in TNA, especially after being squashed in his last two appearances on Impact by Monty Brown and Jeff Jarrett.

For more information on Pat Kenney/Simon Diamond, you can check out the following sites: http://www.simondiamondonline.com/, http://www.tnawrestling.com/, http://www.sscwwrestling.com/.

John Gjoni
johnftw7533@aol.com