Tony Kozina

Tony Kozina
Born (1970-10-23) October 23, 1970
Portland, Oregon[1][2]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) The Canadian Cougar[3][1]
Tony Kozina
Billed height 5'6" (1.68 m)[1][2]
Billed weight 174 lb (79.09 kg)[2]
Billed from Portland, Oregon
Trained by Billy Jack Haynes[1]
Matt Osborne[1]
North American Wrestling Asylum
Michelle Starr[1]
Debut January 26, 1997[1][2]

Tony Kozina (born October 23, 1970) is an American professional wrestler who is best known for his work in the Pacific Northwest especially in Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling and National Wrestling Alliance. He has also made appearances in Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Full Impact Pro, IWA-Mid South, World Wrestling Entertainment and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

Professional wrestling career

In the summer of 1996 Kozina started training with Billy Jack Haynes and "Maniac" Matt Borne and helped train others at North American Wrestling Asylum.[3]

On October 20, 1998, Kozina defeated Torch for the newly created NWA Pacific Northwest Junior Heavyweight Championship. On July 21, 2001, Kozina defeated Scotty Mac to claim his sixth NWA Pacific Northwest Junior Heavyweight Championship. The title was vacated on April 5, 2002 due to inactivity.[2] On January 14, 2000, Kozina won his first NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship by defeating Vince Kaplack. In a rematch at the NWA 52nd Anniversary Show on October 20, Kaplack defeated Kozina to become the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion.

On August 10, 2003, Kozina teamed up with Buddy Wayne on an episode WWE Heat. They lost to the team of Mark Jindrak and Garrison Cade.

In January 2011, Kozina faced Davey Richards in Ring of Honor in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Richards won via knockout when the referee stopped the bout in just under 5 minutes.

In February 16, 2015 (Which aired on September 4, 2015) Kozina faced Davey Richards in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling for the TNA One Night Only Gut Check PPV. Richards won when Kozina went up top for a moonsault, but slipped off and Richards got the roll up for the win. [4]

In wrestling

  • Kharma
  • "Tornado"
  • Kyle O'Reilly
  • Davey Richards
  • Damon Scythe
  • Dustin Snyder
  • Eric Baeden

Championships and accomplishments

  • AWA Pinnacle Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • PWI ranked him #179 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the year in the PWI 500 in 2002[5]
  • Canadian Hall of Fame[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "CageMatch.de Profile" (in German). CageMatch.de. Retrieved 2009-12-17.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ""Tornado" Tony Kozina's profile". ECCW.com. Archived from the original on September 1, 2007. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 ""Tornado" Tony Kozina's profile". Online World Of Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  4. ↑ http://411mania.com/wrestling/csonkas-tna-one-night-only-gut-check-review/
  5. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated Top 500 - 2002". Wrestling Information Archive. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  6. ↑ "Slam! Wrestling Canadian Hall of Fame list". Slam! Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
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