Chris Hamrick
Christopher "Chris" Hamrick (born October 21, 1966) is a semi-retired American professional wrestler. He is best known for his stint in ECW, though he is also known for his appearances in WWE, TNA and throughout the independent circuit.
| Chris Hamrick | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Birth name | Christopher Hamrick |
| Born | October 21, 1966 Mooresboro, North Carolina |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Chris Hamrick Crimson Dragon Hamrick Chris Landell |
| Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Billed weight | 210 lb (95 kg) |
| Billed from | Raleigh, North Carolina Cleveland County, North Carolina |
| Trained by | Ricky Morton |
| Debut | 1983 |
Professional wrestling career
Early career
Hamrick began watching wrestling as a child. He made his professional debut at the age of sixteen in a promotion operated by his father, facing Alvin Melton in Mooresboro, North Carolina.[1] Hamrick wrestled on the independent circuit for several years.
In 1994, Hamrick wrestled several televised matches as a jobber for the World Wrestling Federation, working with the likes of Razor Ramon, Owen Hart, Billy Gunn, Jeff Jarrett and others.[2]
Although he did not win many matches at the big time level, he did in the independent circuit. Hamrick went to the IWWA, often to team up with Tommy "Wildfire" Rich and had memorable matches against Rock Parsons and Ivan Koloff. Later he teamed up with Rock to go against Lord Zoltan and Chief Jay Eagle which was a 4 out of five stars and was in the top five independent matches of the year. Hamrick went on to wrestle for Smoky Mountain Wrestling before returning to the independent circuit.
Extreme Championship Wrestling (2000–2001)
Hamrick wrestled a tryout match with Extreme Championship Wrestling on May 25, 2000 in Columbia, South Carolina, and remained with the promotion until it declared bankruptcy in April 2001.[1] In ECW, Hamrick was known as "Confederate Currency" Chris Hamrick and was part of the stable known as Hot Commodity with EZ Money, Elektra and Julio Dinero.
Back to the independent circuit (2002–2015)
In 2002, Hamrick made several appearances with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, wrestling under a mask as the luchadore character Crimson Dragon. In 2002 and 2003, he frequently wrestled for Xtreme Pro Wrestling, where he formed a tag team with Tracy Smothers known as Southern Comfort, also having a long-running feud for the TV title with Kaos and The Enterprise.
In 2003, Hamrick toured the UK with Frontier Wrestling Alliance. He won the All-England Championship after defeating the Zebra Kid, later on he lost the championship to Jonny Storm.[3] In 2006 he returned to work in the UK, this time Hamrick worked full time for One Pro Wrestling.[4]
On 28 July 2005, Hamrick returned to work for WWE in an episode of WWE SmackDown, he wrestled for the tag team championships when he teamed up with Chuck Szili in a losing effort against Heidenreich & Road Warrior Animal. In early 2006 he worked two matches on WWE Heat. On the August 20, 2007, episode of WWE Raw, Hamrick made an appearance as a fake version of Triple H, in which he placed a crown on King Booker's head during a royal ceremony, leading up to Booker's match with Triple H at SummerSlam.
Hamrick was featured on Wrestling Society X's first episode on MTV, getting into an argument with fellow ECW alumni New Jack, then getting eliminated by him in the WSX Rumble later that night. Despite both of them getting eliminated from the bout, Hamrick took an elbow drop from New Jack off the top of a truckbed through a table. At HCW: Beg 4 Mercy 2007 in April, Hamrick returned to Mooresboro, NC and defeated New Jack in an Extreme Weapons Match. Three months later, Hamrick won the HCW Triple Crown Championship after defeating Axl Knight, Wicked, and Shea Shea McGrady in a Four Way Dance at HCW's Cold Blooded and hardcore event. In March 2008, Hamrick was stripped of the title. On June 14 at Underground Revolution 2008, Hamrick defeated the current champion, Shea Shea McGrady, to reclaim the title.
One of his most recent matches took place in February 2015 in Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling. Hamrick lost to Johnny Swinger.[5]
On December 29, 2018, Hamrick was involved in a War Games style match for the Eastern Wrestling Federation in Forest City, NC. The stipulations for the match stated that if Hamrick’s team won, a competitor by the name of Chase Lovelace (of the opposing team) would leave the company, but if Hamrick’s team lost, Hamrick would leave the company. Ultimately, Hamrick’s team lost and he was forced to leave the company.
Professional wrestling style and persona
He used "Good Ol' Boys" by Waylon Jennings as his theme song.[6]
Championships and accomplishments
- All Pro Wrestling
- All-Star Championship Wrestling
- ACW Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
- ACW Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- ACW Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- Assault Championship Wrestling
- ACW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Big Time Wrestling
- BTW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[8]
- Champions With Attitudes Pro Wrestling
- CWA Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)
- CWA Carolinas Championship (1 time)
- Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling
- CAPW North American Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- CAPW Unified Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[9]
- Fantasy Pro-Wrestling Federation
- Frontier Wrestling Alliance
- FWA All-England Championship (1 time)[10]
- Hardcore Championship Wrestling
- HCW Triple Crown Championship (2 times)
- Heritage Wrestling Alliance
- HWA Tri-States Championship (1 time)
- Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South
- International Wrestling Cartel
- IWC Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Tracy Smothers
- MainStream Wrestling Entertainment
- MSWE Championship (1 time)[11]
- NWA Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling
- NWA Mid-Atlantic Hardcore Championship (1 time)
- National Wrestling Alliance
- NWA Ohio Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- New Era Pro Wrestling
- NEPW Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked him #203 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in 2003
- Premier Wrestling Federation
- PWF Universal Championship (1 time)
- PWF Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Pro Wrestling Federation
- PWF Tag Team Championship (2 times)
- Union of Independent Pro Wrestlers
- UIPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[12]
- United States Wrestling Federation
- USWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Other titles
- CCW Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- DCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- EPW Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- EWF Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- RPW Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- SCW Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- SWA Tag Team Championship (1 time)
References
- An interview with Chris Hamrick, conducted by P. Staniforth
- http://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=646&page=4&year=1994&promotion=1
- http://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=646&page=4&year=2003&promotion=38
- http://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=646&page=4&year=2006&promotion=86
- http://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=126774
- Chris Hamrick at IWCWrestling.com Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- Chris Hamrick at Bodyslamming.com/
- Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- "Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling Xtreme". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
- "Independent Wrestling Results - April 2003". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-07-05.
- "MSWE Championship title history". MainStream Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2010-09-20. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
- "Independent Wrestling Results - August 2003". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-07-05.