Bull Buchanan

Bull Buchanan

Buchanan in 2000.
Birth name Barry Buchanan
Born (1968-01-15) January 15, 1968
Bowdon, Georgia, US
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) B²
Barry Bret
Buchanan
Bull Buchanan
Lord Humongous
Mr. Buchanan
The Punisher
Recon
Sam McGraw
Billed height 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Billed weight 275 lb (125 kg)
Billed from South Africa
(as Recon)
Eddyville, Kentucky
(as Bull Buchanan)
Trained by James Hammonds
Debut 1995
Retired November 22, 2014

Barry Buchanan (born January 15, 1968) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment under the ring names Recon, Bull Buchanan and B² and for his appearances with All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah as Buchanan. Primarily a tag team wrestler, Buchanan is a former WWF World Tag Team Champion, All Asia Tag Team Champion, GHC Tag Team Champion and USWA World Tag Team Champion.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1995)

Buchanan was trained to wrestle by James Hammonds. He debuted in 1995, wrestling on the North Georgia independent circuit as "The Punisher". Buchanan formed a tag team with Ric Savage called "Body Count". The duo competed in National Championship Wrestling until Buchanan was recruited by Jim Cornette for Smoky Mountain Wrestling.

Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1995)

Buchanan debuted in Smoky Mountain Wrestling in 1995 as "The Punisher". He was a member of Jim Cornette's stable "The Militia" and acted as Cornette's bodyguard, feuding with Boo Bradley and The Bullet. Buchanan wrestled on the final SMW show, teaming with Tommy Rich to wrestle Buddy Landel and The Bullet.

United States Wrestling Association (1995-1997)

After SMW closed, Buchanan signed a WWF developmental contract and was assigned to the United States Wrestling Association (USWA), where he was known as "Recon" of the Truth Commission. With his partner The Interrogator, Buchanan won the USWA World Tag Team Championship on March 6, 1997 when they beat Billy Joe Travis and Flash Flanagan.[1] The duo only held the titles for a week before losing them back to Flash Flanagan and Billy Joe Travis.[1] The Truth Commission regained the titles on April 19 when they beat Billy Kidman and Ace Darling in Memphis, Tennessee.[1] The second reign came to an end on May 14 when Steven Dunn and Paul Diamond defeated "Recon" and the Interrogator.[1] Two weeks later, the Truth Commission became three times champions and held them until the titles were held up on June 14.[1] The titles were vacated because Truth Commission member Tank teamed up with "Recon" and the titles could not be defended by a substitute. The Truth Commission left the USWA only a short time later as they were being called up to the World Wrestling Federation.

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (1997-2003)

The entire Truth Commission faction (except "Sniper") up until that point were brought in to the World Wrestling Federation. They made their WWF debut on the June 28, 1997 of Shotgun Saturday Night. The following week, Sniper made his debut and soon after Tank was removed from the team.[2] The Truth Commission stable was short lived; it disbanded in 1998, but Buchanan and Sniper of the Truth Commission stayed together as the short-lived tag team, Armageddon. After that team disappeared from TV, Buchanan remained under WWF contract, and was sent to their "developmental territory" Ohio Valley Wrestling to improve his skills. While there, Buchanan and partner Mr. Black captured the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship.[1]

Buchanan returned to the WWF on the March 19, 2000 edition of Sunday Night Heat, now under the name Bull Buchanan and dressed in a SWAT Uniform, helping The Big Boss Man attack Mideon. Buchanan and The Big Boss Man continued wearing matching SWAT-Style Uniforms and teaming together as Buchanan acted as some sort of a protégé to Boss Man. The team had a decent amount of success as they defeated The Godfather and D'Lo Brown at WrestleMania 2000, and beat the APA the following month at Backlash. The team split on the June 5, 2000 edition of Raw is War; after a loss to the Hardy Boyz, Buchanan and Boss Man began to argue which led to shoving and eventually Boss Man knocking out Buchanan with his nightstick when Buchanan's back was turned.

Buchanan briefly struck out on his own after that alliance ended, but it was not long before he joined the Right to Censor faction,[3] led by Steven Richards, in July 2000. As part of this group, Buchanan won the WWF World Tag Team Championship with The Goodfather.[4]

After Right to Censor was disbanded in mid-2001, Buchanan was once again sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling. In August 2002 he returned to the WWE after wrestling several matches with seemingly no character or purpose, until November 21 when John Cena was pinned by Rikishi. Buchanan came out and attacked Rikishi after the match thus aligning himself with Cena, who had recently developed a rapper gimmick in which he would freestyle rhyme about his opponent as he made his entrance. Buchanan stood as an enforcer character for Cena and eventually finished Cena's Freestyles with his own quote: "Boo-yah!"[5] Buchanan also began using the name B-2 (also written as B², pronounced "B-Squared"), and was also called Bling Bling Buchanan. This pairing did not last long. On the January 16, 2003 edition of SmackDown!, Cena and B-2 lost to Los Guerreros in a tag team title match which led to Cena blaming B-2 after the match for being pinned. This led to Cena slapping B-2 and B-2 shoving Cena down. As B-2 went to attack Cena, Redd Dogg debuted and came through the crowd and joined Cena in a beatdown on B-2; thus, Redd Dogg replaced B-2 at Cena's side. B-2's last televised match was on January 19 at the Royal Rumble in which he entered at number 11 and was eliminated rather quickly. B-2's very last match was cut out of the January 23 edition of SmackDown! in which Redd Dogg defeated B-2. B-2 was released from WWE on January 26, 2003.[6]

All Japan Pro Wrestling (2003-2007)

After parting ways with WWE, he signed with top Japanese promotion All Japan Pro Wrestling and performed as Buchanan. He debuted in early October and immediately aligned himself with Taka Michinoku, D'Lo Brown and The Gladiator and eventually joined Roughly Obsess and Destroy.[7][8] On October 26, Buchanan and Brown took on Arashi and Keiji Muto for the World Tag Team Championship and lost.[9] In the World's Strongest Tag Determination League 2003, Buchanan teamed with Gigantes where they gained six points, therefore not enough to progress further. On February 11, 2004, he teamed with Gladiator in his second Unified World Tag Team Championship and lost to the champions, Kaz Hayashi and Satoshi Kojima.[10] Once again, Buchanan participated in the World's Strongest Tag Determination League for that year and teamed with D'lo Brown but would once again fall at the first hurdle. After teaming with various members of RO&D and having little success, he decided to bring in a new member which was Rico. This would prove to be the right choice as in their first match, on February 5, 2005, they defeated Masayuki Naruse and Mitsuya Nagai to become the All Asia Tag Team Champions.[11] With that win, RO&D held all the championships in AJPW. Later in the month, there was an AJPW vs RO&D which RO&D won.[12] Buchanan would participate in his first Champion Carnival 2005 where he gained five points. On May 27, 2005, Buchanan and Rico vacated the All Asia Tag Team Championship due to Rico retiring. In late 2005, RO&D became faces and feuded against the Voodoo Murders. During the transitional time, Buchanan and D'lo Brown lost to Katsuhiko Nakajima and Kensuke Sasaki in a match for the All Asia Tag Team Championship and later in the year took part in World's Strongest Tag Determination League 2005. Over the last part of 2005 and most of 2006, Buchanan would team with various members of RO&D and take part in tournaments and had very little success. With that in mind,on September 17, 2006, Buchanan and his regular tag team partner, D'lo Brown, betrayed RO&D and joined the rival Voodoo Murders faction.[13] Buchanan and Brown continued to team with each other in Voodoo Murders and even took part in the World's Strongest Tag Determination League 2006 and once again lost. In early 2007, Buchanan and Brown left Voodoo Murders and AJPW to join Pro Wrestling Noah.

Pro Wrestling Noah (2007-2010)

On May 17, 2007, Buchanan along with D'lo Brown and Taka Michinoku debuted for Pro Wrestling Noah and would reform Roughly Obsess and Destroy. On July 8, Buchanan and Brown took on Jun Akiyama and Takeshi Rikio for the GHC Tag Team Championship and lost.[14] After the tag titles were vacated, Buchanan and Brown took part in the GHC Tag Team Championship Decision Tournament where whoever gained the most points would win the tournament and the title. Buchanan and Brown gained six points, the most of any team, and therefore became the GHC Tag Team Champions.[15] However, the celebrations would be cut short because only a week later, on October 10, they lost the titles to Naomichi Marufuji and Takashi Sugiura. They would enter to Global Tag League 2008 and 2009 but would come short.[16] After being eliminated from the tournament, Buchanan would leave Noah but returned in February 2010 for one last tour.[16]

Independent circuit (2004-2014)

On October 30, 2004, Buchanan and AJ Steele defeated David Young and Sonny Siaki to become the GCW Tag Team Champions but a week later, Steele would turn on him and teamed up with Damien Steel in a two on one handicapped match for the titles which the Steele Brothers won.[17] Buchanan formed a stable called Bad Company which consisted of himself, David Young and The Grappler. In late 2004, Buchanan and The Grappler took on The Steele Brothers for the GCW Tag Team Championship and lost.[18] On April 23, 2005, Buchanan and Young defeated Southside Trash (Big Daddy and Rowdy) for the GCW Tag Team Championship.[17] on July 11, they lost the titles to John Bogie and Lee Thomas.[17] Over a year later on December 13, 2006, Buchanan and Johnny Swinger defeated The Diamonds In The Rough (David Young and Elix Skipper) to become a three time GCW Tag Team Champion.[17] They would hold the titles for 56 days before losing them to the NOW (Hale Collins and Vik Dalishus).[17]

On September 29, 2007, Buchanan defeated former tag team partner, Johnny Swinger, to become the GCW Heavyweight Champion.[19] In December, Buchanan would lose the title back to Swinger.[19] He would challenge Swinger to several rematches but lost his first and won the second via DQ, therefore not winning the title back. In mid-2008, Buchanan would team up with another former partner, David Young, and Sonny Siaki.[18] Although neither of them had a tag team title shot, the three of them earned a shot a Swinger heavyweight title and in a four way elimination match, Swinger came out on top.[18] on June 27, 2008, Buchanan and Scotty Beach defeated Hot Like Lava (Cru Jones and Shaun Banks) for the GCW Tag Team Championship. They held the titles until September 18 when they lost them to Micah Taylor defeats Cru Jones.[18] On January 28, 2010, Buchanan defeated Kyle Matthews to become a two time GCW Heavyweight Champion, however, he would lose it to Murder-1 on February 11.[19] For the rest of 2010, Buchanan had multiple title shots but failed to capitalize on any of them.[18]

Return to WWE (2011)

Buchanan made a one night return to WWE on the November 14, 2011 edition of Raw in a segment where Mick Foley was bringing out people from John Cena's past, claiming that Cena ruined his life.[20]

Retirement

Buchanan would continue to work on the independent circuit, mainly for Universal Independent Wrestling in Georgia in his final years as a performer. Eventually Bull would retire from wrestling on November 22nd, 2014 as he teamed with D'Lo Brown to take on AJ Steele and Brad Lynch in his final match.

In wrestling

Buchanan delivering a scissors kick to Crash Holly at King of the Ring in 2000.

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  2. ↑ Graham Cawthon. "WWF Show Results 1997". Retrieved 2007-04-12. (August 18, 1997) Recon & Sniper defeated Blackjack Windham & Blackjack Bradshaw
  3. 1 2 3 Shields, Brian; Sullivan, Kevin (2009). WWE Encyclopedia. DK. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-7566-4190-0.
  4. ↑ "Title History > Tag Team Title > Bull Buchanan & Godfather". WWE.
  5. ↑ Graham Cawthon. "WWF Show Results 2002". Retrieved 2007-04-12. (November 19, 2002) Rikishi pinned John Cena with a belly to belly suplex; after the match, Bull Buchanan attacked Rikishi and left ringside with Cena
  6. ↑ "1wrestling". 1wrestling.com. Archived from the original on 2007-10-31. Retrieved 2007-08-22.
  7. ↑ "All Japan Pro-Wrestling - "ROAD TO RE-BIRTHxRE-VERSE 2003"". purolove.com. Retrieved 2007-04-12. (Translated from German) (October 11, 2003) The Gladiator, TAKA Michinoku, Gigantes & Buchanan defeated Keiji Muto, Arashi, Tomoaki Honma & Kaz Hayashi (15:00)
  8. ↑ "1wrestling". purolove.com. Retrieved 2007-04-12. (Translated from German) (October 10, 2003)Gigantes, Buchanan & D-Lo Brown defeated Keiji Muto, Arashi & Tomoaki Honma (14:11)
  9. ↑ http://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=27397
  10. ↑ http://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=42280
  11. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20070929083635/http://ajpw.puroresufan.com/results/excite05.php
  12. ↑ http://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=98
  13. ↑ http://www.purolove.com/ajpw/results/06flashingtour.php
  14. ↑ http://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=19527
  15. ↑ http://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=14238
  16. 1 2 http://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=137&view=&page=4&gimmick=&year=&promotion=8&region=&location=&arena=&showtype=&worker=&text=
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 http://www.cagematch.net/?id=5&nr=676
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 http://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=137&view=&page=4&gimmick=&year=&promotion=325&region=&location=&arena=&showtype=&worker=&text=
  19. 1 2 3 http://www.cagematch.net/?id=5&nr=675
  20. ↑ "Raw: Mick Foley hosts "John Cena, This is Your Life," Part 2: Bull Buchanan". WWE. Retrieved 2012-01-03.
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Wrestlingdata Proflie". Wrestlingdata.com. 2013-09-07. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  22. ↑ "Independent Wrestling Results - October 2004". onlineworldofwrestling.com. Retrieved 2008-07-05.
  23. ↑ "OVW Title Histories - OVW Southern Tag Team Championship". Ohio Valley Wrestling. Archived from the original on 31 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-05.
  24. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated Top 500 - 2001". Wrestling Information Archive. Archived from the original on 2008-06-16. Retrieved 2009-08-03.
  25. ↑ http://www.purolove.com/noah/history/globaltagleague08.php
  26. ↑ http://www.purolove.com/noah/history/globaltagleague09.php
  27. ↑ http://www.cagematch.net/?id=5&nr=2300
  28. ↑ "Independent Wrestling Results - November 2007". onlineworldofwrestling.com. Archived from the original on 9 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
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