Don West (wrestling)
| Don West | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | June 20, 1963[1] Chicago, United States [2] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Don West |
| Billed height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) [1] |
| Billed weight | 281 lb (127 kg)[1] |
| Debut | June 19, 2002 |
Donald "Don" West (born June 20, 1963) is an American pitchman and television personality currently working as a pitchman for wildwestdeals.com an internet marketing website and as an on-air talent for TNA Wrestling. Don has also worked as a host for the Shop At Home Network as well as a professional wrestling color commentator for TNA Wrestling. In the late 1990s, West achieved a degree of fame for his loud, energetic, abrasive sales pitches on late night television, and his blunt obvious observations, with his persuasive style turning him into a major pop culture figure. Don developed a cult following of loyal fans and was even parodied by Will Ferrel on Saturday Night Live.
Career
Don West is the pitchman for WildWestDeals.com, an internet marketing site. West was born in Chicago, Illinois. He attended Purdue University, where he majored in sports broadcasting.[2]
Shop at Home Network
West initially became involved with television shopping when he applied for a job with the Shop at Home Network as the host of a sports memorabilia show, Sports Collectibles. Despite his degree in sports broadcasting (and the fact that his brother Dale was the chief financial officer of the Shop at Home Network), West was rejected on the basis of his "scrabbly voice". In 1991, West began selling knives on television, and in March 1993, he was finally given the job with the Shop at Home Network that he had applied for. Between 1993 and 2001, sales rose from US$3 million to US$150 million. In addition to sports memorabilia, West also pitched products such as Beanie Babies and Pokémon collectibles.[2]
Between November 1996 and March 1997, Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan parodied West and his co-host, Eddy Lewis, on three episodes of Saturday Night Live.[2][3]
West breifly worked as a entrance side man for Extreme Championship Wrestling(ECW). He also appeared on the WWE's ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view in June of 2005. He was signed with Total Nonstop Action(TNA) Wrestling at this time, but they allowed him to do it as TNA thought "Don was there in the original ECW, he wasn't a big part of it but I'm sure he would like to be there" said TNA President Dixie Carter.
In 2001, West amicably left the Shop at Home Network and began hosting a sports talk show on WNSR.[2]
In 2000, West was contacted by World Championship Wrestling booker Vince Russo, who invited him to join the company. West declined the offer in favor of "the sure thing" (WCW was purchased by its chief competitor, the World Wrestling Federation, in March 2001).[2]
According to the December 9, 2007 episode of Shop At Home's The Sports Room show with hosts Kevin Hite and Shawn Leflar, Don West would be a guest host on the December 16, 2007 episode of The Sports Room.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
In 2002, West was hired by Jeff Jarrett, who had been introduced to West by Russo, to serve as the color commentator for his newly-formed professional wrestling promotion, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. West made his professional wrestling debut on June 19, 2002, commentating on the inaugural TNA pay-per-view alongside Ed Ferrara and Mike Tenay. Ferrera departed TNA in August 2002, reducing the commentary team to Tenay and West.[2]
Aside from commentating, West accompanies Jeremy Borash on the YouTube-based show TNA Today, where he promotes new TNA merchandise and special packages, called "Don West's Insane Daily Deals." He is also an unlockable character along with providing commentary in the first ever TNA video game, TNA Impact!.
On the December 14, 2006 episode of Impact!, Kurt Angle put West in an ankle lock, making West pass out (kayfabe); he was replaced that night by Jim Cornette.[4]
On the February 26, 2009 episode of Impact!, West turned heel when he verbally assaulted and walked out on his commentary partner Tenay, leaving him to call the remainder of the show alone.[5] The following week, West once again verbally assaulted Tenay, took the sides of heel wrestlers, and then once again walked out on Tenay.[6] The week after that West showed up late, in a drunken state and again walked out on Tenay, after Tenay suggested West to leave. Since then, West was back at the announcers table as a heel commentator. At the August 17, 2009, tapings of Impact! TNA removed West as a color commentator and replaced him with Taz. The company later announced that West had been promoted within the organization to oversee merchandise development and sales initiatives.[7] On the October 15 edition of Impact! West returned as Amazing Red's new manager, turning face in the process.[8] West has not appeared with Red since late 2009 and has since then appeared only on TNA's internet programming.
In wrestling
- Wrestlers managed
Championships and accomplishments
References
- ^ a b c "Don West at Cagematch.de". Retrieved 2007-03-27.
- ^ a b c d e f g Nation, Ryan (2006-01-31). "The evolution of Don West". Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2007-03-27.
- ^ "Don West at the SNL Archives". Retrieved 007-03-27.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "TNA Impact December 14, 2006 Results". Retrieved 2006-12-14.
- ^ "TNA Impact February 26, 2009 Results". Retrieved 2009-02-27.
- ^ "TNA Impact March 5, 2009 Results". Retrieved 2009-03-05.
- ^ "Tonight: Taz Joins The Announce Team". TNAWrestling.com. Retrieved 2009-08-21.
- ^ Wilkenfeld, Daniel (2009-10-15). "WILKENFELD'S TNA IMPACT REPORT 10/15: Ongoing (but suffering an hour lag) "virtual time" coverage of Spike TV broadcast". PWTorch. Retrieved 2009-10-16.
External links
- [Don West at wildwestdeals.com] *[1]