Alex Silva (wrestler)
Alexander Freitas (born January 23, 1990) is a Canadian professional wrestler best known for his time in impact Wrestling where he is a former impact Gut Check Winner under the ring name Alex Silva.
Alex Silva | |
---|---|
Birth name | Alexander Freitas |
Born | [1] Montreal, Quebec, Canada[1] | January 23, 1990
Residence | Louisville, Kentucky |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Alex Silva[1] Pat Silva[1] Sean Simmons[1] |
Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[2][3] |
Billed weight | 200 lb (91 kg)[2][3] |
Billed from | Montreal, Quebec, Canada[2][3] |
Trained by | Tommy Rose[1] Rip Rogers Ohio Valley Wrestling |
Debut | 2004[1] |
Professional wrestling career
Training and independent circuit (2004–2009)
After being trained by his father, Freitas debuted in 2004 for Paul LeDuc's FLQ promotion. Initially, Freitas adopted the ring name Sean Simmons, but soon began wrestling under the name Alex Silva. He spent the next few years wrestling mainly in Quebec, but also ventured (at 16 years old) into the United States to wrestle in Hawaii, Atlanta, Wisconsin, and Chicago.[1]
On March 15, 2009, Silva won the CRW Quebec Championship by defeating Twister. He lost the championship to Jeremy Prophet on July 26, 2009.
Ring of Honor (2010–2011)
Throughout 2010 and 2011, Silva made appearances for Ring of Honor's Ring of Honor Wrestling television show, in losses to Michael Elgin, Roderick Strong, Tommaso Ciampa, and Mike Mondo.[4][5][6]
Ohio Valley Wrestling (2010–2013)
Silva made his Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) debut on November 17, 2010.[1] On December 11, Silva won the OVW Television Championship by defeating Mohamad Ali Vaez.[1][7] His victory made him the youngest Television Champion in the promotion's history.[1] He held the championship for 46 days before losing it back to Vaez on January 26, 2011.[7] A weeks later, Silva left to return to Montreal.[1]
Silva returned to the promotion in July 2011.[1] On November 9, Silva defeated Rocco Bellagio to win the OVW Television Championship for the second time. He held the championship for only seven days, before dropping it to Adam Revolver on November 16.[7] He returned to Montreal once again in early 2012, before returning to OVW on March 10, 2012.[1] On September 12, Silva defeated Ryan Howe to win the OVW Television Championship for the third time.[7][8] He lost his title against Cliff Compton on October 10.
After losing the Television Title, he began teaming with newcomer Sam Shaw. They began to feud with various tag teams in the coming weeks. On December 1, Silva and Shaw defeated Jessie Godderz and Rudy Switchblade for the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship.[9] They lost the title to Crimson and Jason Wayne on January 16, 2013.[10] But defeated them on February 27, 2013 to regain the titles and have a second reign. However, they lost the titles to The Coalition on April 3, 2013 and it was revealed afterward on his Twitter account that Silva had suffered a Grade 3 Concussion. On June 5, 2013 Alex Silva was released from OVW due to release from TNA.[11]
WWE (2011)
On August 1, 2011, Silva was defeated by Brodus Clay in a dark match prior to World Wrestling Entertainment's Raw television show. The following night, he used the name Pat Silva in a second loss to Clay, which was taped for that week's episode of WWE Superstars.[1][12]
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2011–2013)
On November 15, 2011, Silva wrestled a dark match for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), losing to the TNA X Division Champion Austin Aries.[13]
On the April 26, 2012, episode of Impact Wrestling, Silva made his televised TNA debut in a losing effort to Robbie E as part of the TNA Gut Check.[14] On the following week's episode, Al Snow, Bruce Prichard and Ric Flair voted to give Silva a TNA contract after he cut a promo and he became part of the official roster.[1][15] As a winner of TNA Gut Check, Silva was signed to a developmental contract with the promotion and assigned back to OVW.[16] Silva returned to Impact Wrestling on November 22, losing to fellow Gut Check winner Sam Shaw.[17]
On January 12, 2013, Silva took part in the taping of X-Travaganza, competing in a seven-man Xscape match (aired on April 5, 2013), which was won by Christian York.[18] On January 12, 2013, Silva took part in the taping of Joker's Wild (airing on May 3, 2013), teaming with Hernandez in a loss to the Aces & Eights team of Devon & DOC.
On June 5, 2013, Silva's profile was removed from TNA roster page.[19]
Return to the independent circuit (2013–present)
In December 2013, Silva made his debut for TOW Wrestling, an independent promotion based in Montreal, Quebec. He wrestled twice, defeating Volkano and "Surfer" Mitch Thompson. Since May 2014, Silva has made regular appearances for International Wrestling Syndicate. On July 29, 2014, Silva made his debut for Top of the World Wrestling where he defeated Buxx Belmar, followed by an appearance on August 2 at TOW Cage Fest 2 where he was defeated by Alextreme in a cage match.[20] On November 27, 2014, Silva made his debut for Capital City Championship Combat where he was defeated by Sebastian Suave at their C4 Something Wicked This Way Comes event.[21]
TNA Gut Check incident
On May 3, 2012, one week after losing to Robbie E in his Gut Check match, Silva had his in-ring segment to determine if he would receive a contract with the TNA main roster, with the decision being made by three judges. The script dictated that Ric Flair would say 'no,' Al Snow would say 'yes' and Bruce Prichard would ultimately say 'no.' However, after Flair and Snow made their decisions, Silva was given the opportunity to cut a promo explaining as to why Prichard should say 'yes.' After Silva cut the promo (in which he mentioned his recently deceased father), Flair (going off-script) changed his decision to 'yes.' This gave Silva the necessary two 'yes' votes, meaning that he had earned a main roster contract. By the time Prichard got to announce his decision, he chose to simply say 'yes,' changing his vote in response to Flair's actions.
The unexpected incident presented two major problems for TNA: first, the segment occurred on live television, meaning that it could not be edited; second, at the time, Silva had citizenship with Canada and Portugal, which meant that TNA had to go out of their way to acquire a U.S. work visa for Silva. Ultimately, Silva would wrestle only two matches while on the main roster and was released from TNA over a year later after (accidentally) winning Gut Check.
Championships and accomplishments
- Combat Revolution Wrestling
- CRW Quebec Championship (1 time)
- Montreal Wrestling Federation
- MWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Mike Bailey[22]
- Ohio Valley Wrestling
- OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Sam Shaw[9]
- OVW Television Championship (3 times)[7]
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked him #215 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2013[23]
- Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
- TNA Gut Check winner[24]
References
- Laprade, Patric (May 1, 2012). "Montreal's Alex Silva inks TNA deal". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved May 1, 2012.
- "Alex Silva". Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Archived from the original on May 26, 2013. Retrieved May 16, 2012.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
- "Alex Silva". Ohio Valley Wrestling. Archived from the original on July 28, 2012. Retrieved May 1, 2011.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
- Mackinder, Matt (February 1, 2011). "ROH: New TV champion crowned". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved May 1, 2012.
- Radican, Sean (October 1, 2011). "Radican's ROH TV Report 10/29: Strong vs. O'Reilly, ANX vs. Briscoes #1 Contender match". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved May 1, 2012.
- Radican, Sean (November 19, 2011). "Radican's ROH TV Report 11/19 – Edwards's training partner revealed, Richards-O'Reilly main event". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved May 1, 2012.
- "OVW Television Championship". Ohio Valley Wrestling. Archived from the original on April 5, 2011. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
- Van Drisse, Trent (September 14, 2012). "TNA takes over OVW title picture: live report from Wednesday's TV taping in Louisville". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
- Van Drisse, Trent (December 2, 2012). "OVW Saturday Night Special report 12-1 Louisville Big Robbie T vs. Crimson". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved December 2, 2012.
- Cannon, Brian (January 17, 2013). "Ohio Valley Wrestling episode 700 TV taping live report". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved January 17, 2013.
- Ovw Tv Taping Live Report. PWInsider.com. Retrieved on July 22, 2016.
- Hayman, Andrew (August 4, 2011). "Superstars Results – 8/4/11". WrestleView. Archived from the original on August 20, 2011. Retrieved May 1, 2012.
- Tedesco, Mike (November 16, 2011). "Spoilers: Impact Wrestling for November 24". WrestleView. Archived from the original on November 20, 2011. Retrieved November 17, 2011.
- Turner, Scott (April 26, 2012). "Turner's TNA Impact Wrestling Results 4/26: First-ever Open Fight Night, Tag Title match, Flair throws a party for Bischoff". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved May 1, 2012.
- Turner, Scott (May 4, 2012). "Turner's TNA Impact Wrestling Results 5/3: Roode and RVD pick opponents for each other, Gut Check fall-out, Flair calls out Hogan". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
- "TNA Today (Aug 20) Al Snow talks about his Role in Talent Development". Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. YouTube. August 20, 2012. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
- "CALDWELL'S TNA IMPACT RESULTS 11/22: Thanksgiving Edition features Gut Checks, Turkeys, more".
- Trionfo, Richard (January 12, 2013). "RVD vs. Jerry Lynn: Full TNA One Night Only X-Travaganza results". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved January 12, 2013.
- Another Tna Release?, First Match Announced For Impact Wrestling. PWInsider.com (June 5, 2013). Retrieved on 2016-07-22.
- TOW Cage Fest 2 « Events Database « CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database. Cagematch.net. Retrieved on July 22, 2016.
- C4 Something Wicked This Way Comes « Events Database « CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database. Cagematch.net (September 27, 2014). Retrieved on 2016-07-22.
- Accueil Archived June 20, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Productionsmwf.com. Retrieved on July 22, 2016.
- Oliver, Greg (August 26, 2013). "Lots of Canadian content on PWI 500". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
- Turner, Scott (May 4, 2012). "Turner's TNA Impact Wrestling Results 5/3: Roode and RVD pick opponents for each other, Gut Check fall-out, Flair calls out Hogan". PWTorch.com. Retrieved September 29, 2012.