Eugene (wrestler)

Eugene
Born	December 17, 1975 Jeffersonville, Indiana
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Eugene Eugene Dinsmore Nick Dinsmore Mr. Wrestling Doink The Clown Dos
Billed height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Billed weight	242 lb (110 kg)
Billed from	Louisville, Kentucky
Trained by	Danny Davis Dean Malenko
Debut	1997

Nicholas David Dinsmore (born December 17, 1975), also known by his ring name Eugene, is an American professional wrestler who is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling on its RAW brand.

Career

Ohio Valley Wrestling

Dinsmore wrestled in Ohio Valley Wrestling under his real name, partnered with Rob Conway. Dinsmore even made some WWE appearances, wrestling under a mask as Doink the Clown on two separate occasions, and as one half of Los Conquistadores with Conway. He also won the OVW Championship on 8 separate occasions, a record.

World Wrestling Entertainment

In Dinsmore's official debut on the April 5, 2004 episode of RAW, he was portrayed as Eugene, the mentally retarded nephew of then RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff, and was placed in the care of newly returned former Commissioner William Regal. Despite his otherwise simpleton nature, Eugene is portrayed as an "idiot savant" when it comes to wrestling, using old moves from the 1970s as well as copying the signature moves of popular WWE superstars. Eugene gained the support of superstars The Rock and then World Heavyweight Champion Chris Benoit, while simultaneously becoming enemies with loudmouth announcer Jonathan Coachman and his lackey Garrison Cade. He has also survived a match with Kane. He was later in a storyline in which he was battling Triple H (who Eugene had previously referred to as his favorite wrestler). The storyline ended with Eugene being mercilessly beaten in a steel cage match by Triple H and portrayed with a severely separated shoulder. As his feud with Hunter progressed, Dinsmore failed to be elevated higher due to the audience turning on the savant character in favor of "legit" Hunter, something that would come back to haunt Dinsmore later on when he faced Kurt Angle.

The injury was largely worked. Eugene returned, with Regal at his side, to feud with his "Uncle Eric." The storyline led to a match at the Taboo Tuesday 2004 PPV in October 2004, in which fans could vote on the match stipulation. The chosen stipulation was that the loser would have his head shaved. Eugene won this match, thus shaving his uncle's head.

Eugene then teamed with William Regal to win the World Tag Team Championship from La Résistance on the November 15, 2004 edition of RAW. Later, Eugene would injure himself at New Year's Revolution after botching a dropkick. He suffered a ruptured left patella tendon which required surgery and sidelined him for several months.

This also cost him the World Tag Team Championship, as William Regal had to have heel commentator Jonathan Coachman as his tag team partner due to Eugene's injuries. Regal and Coachman wrestled against La Résistance in a championship match, losing the match at a house show in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and thereby crowning La Résistance with their third reign.

Despite his injury, Eugene was featured in a commercial promoting WrestleMania 21, parodying Forrest Gump with Eugene playing the title role. He also made a surprise appearance at WrestleMania 21, delivering a trademark Eugene promo until being interrupted by controversial Arab-American heels Muhammad Hassan and Daivari who then attacked Eugene. This was the prelude to the much anticipated return of Hulk Hogan, who came to the ring to save Eugene from the double-team beating.

Eugene returned to in-ring action on the July 25, 2005 episode of RAW to take part in Kurt Angle's "Kurt Angle Invitational." For several months, Angle had challenged "hometown heroes" to last three minutes in the ring with him; if anyone succeeded, Angle would give the successful challenger his "authentic gold medal" from the 1996 Summer Olympics (the medal isn't real, but Angle is a legitimate gold medalist). Eugene became the first successful challenger, leaving with WWE diva Christy Hemme on his arm and Angle's "gold medal" around his neck.

On the August 1, 2005 episode of RAW, which originated from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Montville, Connecticut, Eugene, accompanied by Christy Hemme, debuted the "Eugene Invitational." Angle came out to the ring to answer Eugene's challenge, but before a match could start, Tatanka entered the ring and wrestled Eugene. When Eugene imitated Angle's match-ending mannerisms, and then put Tatanka in Angle's signature ankle lock, Angle ran in and tried to beat Eugene down, resulting in a Eugene disqualification win. Eugene and Tatanka then teamed up to drive Angle from the ring. On the August 8, 2005 RAW, which originated from Mellon Arena in Angle's hometown of Pittsburgh, Eugene defeated Angle in the "Eugene Invitational" by disqualification to retain Angle's medal. The feud eventually ended at SummerSlam on August 21, 2005 with Angle winning back his "medal". Because of Angle's reputation as "legit", Dinsmore's cartoonish gimmick was heavily booed.

Eugene was then paired up with his former manager William Regal's former tag partner, Tajiri. The team debuted on the September 12, 2005 episode of RAW and jobbed to the team of Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch, but were successful during their second TV appearance against The Heart Throbs. However, the team didn't seem to catch too much attention. Tajiri and Eugene continued their singles career and in December of 2005 Tajiri left WWE, thus ending any chance of the team continuing.

Eugene, a big fan of WWE legends, began feuding with Rob Conway after Conway went on a mission to attack and defeat the legends. At the Taboo Tuesday 2005 pay-per-view, Conway teamed with Tyson Tomko to face Eugene and a legend as voted for by the fans. "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka was chosen over Kamala and Jim Duggan in the voting and would go on to pin Conway with a Superfly Splash during the match.

On November 18, 2005, WWE.com reported that Dinsmore was rushed to the hospital the previous night after passing out in a hotel lobby and was suspended indefinitely. A further report days later announced that Dinsmore admitted to taking prescription drugs such as Somas. This coincided with the announcement of WWE's new drug policy following the death of Eddie Guerrero due to heart failure aggravated by his past history of drug abuse.

Return to the ring

Dinsmore made his return to WWE (as Eugene) during the 2006 Royal Rumble match on January 29, 2006, entering at the No. 18 position and was eliminated by Chris Benoit. After that, he was at lower card position; mostly competing on Heat (Raw's secondary show), usually against jobbers.

During the Backlash PPV in 2006, Eugene would begin to feud with the former teacher Matt Striker after Eugene made an appearance on a Matt Striker's Classroom segment during the PPV. This feud would also involve a tweener Carlito, for a short while, who would often end up attacking both Eugene and Striker. The feud would later see WWE legend Jim Duggan align himself with Eugene as his "tutor."

Eugene made a surprise appearance at the One Night Stand 2006 event when he came out (much to the anger of the crowd) to read a poem about his love for ECW. This prompted The Sandman to come out, who proceeded to cane a begging Eugene all the way back to the locker room.

Following Eugene’s beating at the hands of The Sandman he started a program where he was being "tutored" by Jim Duggan. After Duggan was defeated in a squash match by Umaga Eugene was tied into the ring ropes and forced to watch as Umaga continued to attack the downed Duggan.

Eugene challenged Umaga to a match at Vengeance in order to exact some revenge, but was defeated despite having "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Doink the Clown, and Kamala at his side.

He would then go on to defeat Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon in a handicap match because of an interference from D-Generation X.

Later, Eugene and his mentor "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, would go on to finally pick up a victory over their rivals, the Spirit Squad. The non-competing members would continuosly interfere behind the referee's back as always, until The Highlanders showed up to even the odds in Eugene and Hacksaw's favor.

During late August 2006 Dinsmore and Duggan challenged Mikey and Kenny of the Spirit Squad for the titles. Although they came close - it was an exposed turnbuckle that caused the downfall as Mikey pinned Duggan.

On the October 23, 2006 edition of RAW, after suffering a beatdown from Umaga, Duggan said Eugene needed to get "fired up" which resulted in Eugene snapping and attacking Duggan. The following week saw Eugene and Duggan scheduled to face Umaga in a 2 on 1 handicap match, but Eugene was so afraid of Umaga that he left the ring and hid behind Lilian Garcia, leaving his mentor to fend for himself and subsequently lose the match. Later, Eugene and Duggan would be put in a match by former Raw general manager Eric Bischoff against the Sprit Squad in which the losing team would be forced to separate and never be able to wrestle as a tag team again. Eugene and Duggan would lose the match and after the match Eugene would then turn heel by physically turning on Duggan. He would then beat Duggan in a match and then told the fans not to make fun of him, because he was "special"." He would then scream wildly and start to leave. Recently he attacked another former partner and friend of his, Val Venis following a DDT after two women were brought from the audience by Val to kiss. He would once again scream wildly and saying he's "special". In January, Eugene turned back face, due to fan reaction. Recently he made fun of Matt Striker and King Booker. Eugene now competes mainly on Heat. Eugene has been of late used as a jobber, in which he was destroyed by The Great Khali. Vince McMahon shaved his head saying he was Donald Trump on the March 19 episode of RAW.

On the March 19, 2007 episode of raw Eugene was put into a match with Umaga after accidentally spilling a beverage on Vince McMahon. After losing convincingly, McMahon would shave Eugene's head while calling him Donald Trump.

Finishing and signature maneuvers

While working in Ohio Valley Wrestling, Dinsmore used an assortment of technical maneuvers, often finishing matches with a German suplex. As Eugene, Dinsmore often uses vintage moves popular in the 1970s which are nowadays widely considered to be anachronisms, such as:

• Flying axe handle
• Airplane spin
• Lady of the Lake

He also emulates WWE superstars past and present by performing their signature moves. In the past he has used:

• The Rock's People's Elbow and Rock Bottom
• Stone Cold Steve Austin's Stone Cold Stunner
• Hulk Hogan's Atomic Leg Drop and Hulk Up Combination (Punching combination followed by an Irish whip and finished with a big boot to the opponent bouncing off of the ropes)
• Triple H's Pedigree
• Junkyard Dog's antics
• Hacksaw Jim Duggan's Three-point stance clothesline
• Kurt Angle's Angle Slam and Ankle lock
• Mick Foley's Mandible Claw

Eugene's own moves and taunts are:

• DDT
• Swinging neckbreaker
• Rolling cradle
• Electric chair drop
• Northern Lights suplex
• Battering ram
• Hiding under the ring
• Riding his opponent like they are a horse or dog
• Imitating his opponent

Championships and accomplishments

• Heartland Wrestling Association

• 1-time HWA Heavyweight Champion

• Music City Wrestling

• 1-time MCW North American Tag Team Champion (with Rob Conway)

• Ohio Valley Wrestling

• 8-time OVW Heavyweight Champion
• 11-time OVW Southern Tag Team Champion (10-time with Rob Conway, 1-time with Flash Flanagan)

• World Wrestling Entertainment

• 1-time WWE World Tag Team Champion (with William Regal)
• Winner of the Kurt Angle Invitational along with his 1996 Olympic gold medal.
• RAW General Manager for a night

External link

• WWE Profile