Wild Boar (wrestler)
Wild Boar | |
---|---|
Birth name | Michael Hitchman[1] |
Born | October 12, 1989 |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Wild Boar Mike Hitchman Mike Kannon |
Billed height | 5 ft 6 in (168 cm)[2] |
Billed weight | 204 lb (93 kg)[2] |
Billed from | Blaina, South Wales, Wales, UK[3] |
Trained by | Mike Bird Jason Cross[4] |
Debut | 2006[5] |
Michael Hitchman better known by his ring name Wild Boar is a Welsh professional wrestler.[6] He is most well known for his work in WWE on the NXT UK brand[7] but has also worked extensively on the European independent wrestling circuit[2] for companies like Insane Championship Wrestling, Revolution Pro Wrestling, Progress Wrestling, Union of European Wrestling Alliances, ATTACK! Pro Wrestling, International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom, Frontier Wrestling Alliance, British Championship Wrestling, Dragon Gate UK and Welsh Wrestling.[5][6][8]
Wild Boar co-owns the Pro Wrestling Chaos promotion with Flash Morgan Webster.[9][10][11][12]
Professional wrestling career
[edit]Independent circuit (2006–2021, 2022-present)
[edit]Hitchman debuted as Mike Kannon for NWA Wales in 2006 before adopting the Wild Boar name in 2009.[13] In 2011, Wild Boar defeated Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster in Welsh Wrestling to qualify for the Union of European Wrestling Alliances European Cruiserweight Championship tournament but was eliminated by Sean South.[14][15]
Wild Boar participated in Pro Wrestling Zero1's European Challenge 2: The Battle of Scotland in a losing effort to Liam Thomson on 24 November 2012.[16]
In 2013, he won his first title in Attack! Pro Wrestling when gained the Attack! 24:7 Championship. He held the title a further five times and also became a two-time Attack! Champion.[6]
On 5 February 2017, Wild Boar and Mike Bird, as The Marauders, defeated Polo Promotions (Jackie Polo and Mark Coffey) to become the ICW Tag Team Champions.[17][18] The Marauders held the titles for 287 days and defended against The Kinky Party (Jack Jester and Sha Samuels), POD (Ashton Smith and Rampage Brown) and Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate and Trent Seven) before losing the titles back to Polo Promotions at ICW: Fear & Loathing X at the SSE Hydro.[19][20]
At a cross-promotional event between Fife Pro Wrestling Asylum and New Wave Wrestling Academy, Wild Boar unsuccessfully challenged Andy Roberts for European Heavyweight Championship on 2 March 2023.[21][22][23]
On 26 August 2023, Wild Boar challenged Connor Mills for RevPro Undisputed British Cruiserweight Championship at RevPro: 11 Year Anniversary Show.[24]
WWE (2018–2022)
[edit]Wild Boar was signed by WWE in 2018,[25][26] initially in dark matches before appearing on NXT UK as Mike Hitchman.[27] Initially he was largely on the losing end of matches against Mark Andrews, Ligero, Dave Mastiff, Jordan Devlin and others.[28][29][27]
He began teaming with Primate[30] as The Hunt[4][31] under the Wild Boar name, trading wins and losses with Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate), Pretty Deadly (Lewis Howley & Sam Stoker), Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) and Imperium (Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel), among others.[32][33][34][35][9]
Wild Boar challenged the NXT UK Tag Team Championship on a few occasions with both Primate and Mark Andrews but was ultimately defeated by the likes of Gallus (Mark Coffey and Wolfgang), Pretty Deadly and Brooks Jensen and Josh Briggs.[36][37][38][39][40][41]
A notable singles match from this period was a victory over his former ally[42] Eddie Dennis in a Dog Collar Match in April 2022,[43][44][45][46] which was one of only three Dog Collar matches in WWE history.[47][48] Wild Boar's final WWE appearance occurred on 6 June 2022, when he defeated Josh Morrell in a dark match.[49]
On 18 August 2022, Boar was released from his WWE contract.[50][51]
Championships and accomplishments
[edit]- Attack! Pro Wrestling
- Attack! 24:7 Championship (5 times)[6]
- Attack! Championship (2 time)
- Elder Stein Invitational (2015)[6][52]
- Attack! Title Tournament (2023)[53]
- Insane Championship Wrestling
- ICW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Mike Bird[54][49]
- Dragon Pro Wrestling
- All Wales Championship (1 time, inaugural)[6]
- Kombat Pro Wrestling
- KPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Primate[55]
- Pro Evolution Wrestling
- Pro Evolution Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Mike Bird[6]
- Pro Wrestling 4 U
- PW4U World Championship (1 time)[6]
- Pro Wrestling Chaos
- King of Chaos Championship (2 times)[6]
- Scottish Wrestling Alliance
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
References
[edit]- ^ Dunning, Kyle (4 September 2022). "Wild Boar Shares How WWE Treated Him & Who He'd Like To Wrestle".
- ^ a b c "Wild Boar Bio Information - WWE". FOX Sports.
- ^ "Wild Boar". www.fcwprowrestling.com.
- ^ a b Greer, Jamie (7 March 2019). "The Primate & The Wild Boar: The Hunt Begins in NXT UK".
- ^ a b https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=9762&page=20
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Morrison, Adam (8 February 2017). "Wrestler Spotlight: The Marauders".
- ^ "Wild Boar". WWE.
- ^ a b Broggi, Fabio "Fantomius". "Wild Boar / Mike Hitchman: Profile, Career, Face/Heel Turns, Titles Won, Gimmick Evolution and Stats | Pro Wrestlers Database". The SmackDown Hotel.
- ^ a b Wilson, Steven (20 April 2019). "Shock heel turn at NXT UK in Glasgow as Pete Dunne gets WWE UK title rematch". mirror.
- ^ "Pro Wrestling Chaos: Fans sell out first show post-Covid". 9 April 2022 – via www.bbc.com.
- ^ Haulotte, Kellie (28 December 2019). "Flash Morgan Webster And "Wild Boar" Mike Hitchman Buy Pro Wrestling Chaos". Wrestling Inc.
- ^ "Former NXT UK star Wild Boar discusses taking over Pro Wrestling Chaos, ATTACK! and Biscoff" – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=9762&page=4&s=500
- ^ Saalbach, Axel. "Wrestlingdata.com". wrestlingdata.com.
- ^ "UEWA - Night Of History - Premier British Wrestling News". www.pbwwrestling.com.
- ^ https://www.cagematch.net/en?id=1&nr=88570
- ^ Furious, Arnold (14 February 2017). "ICW 6th Annual Square Go! (February 5) Results & Review". Voices of Wrestling.
- ^ "Polo Promotions lose the ICW Tag Team Titles to The Marauders" – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ Sinclair, Andrew (22 November 2017). "ICW Fear & Loathing X Results & Review". Voices of Wrestling.
- ^ Tessier, Colin (27 August 2023). "RevPro 11 Year Anniversary Results (8/26): Will Ospreay, Zack Sabre Jr, And More".
- ^ "Full Results: Fife Pro Wrestling Asylum (@FPWAsylum) 'vs New Wave Wrestling Academy' (2 Mar 2023)". 2 March 2023.
- ^ Writer, Guest (20 February 2023). "Preview: Fife Pro Wrestling Asylum (@FPWAsylum) 'vs New Wave Wrestling Academy' (2 Mar 2023)".
- ^ "Update to match confirmed for Fife Pro Wrestling Asylum (@FPWAsylum) 'vs New Wave Wrestling Academy' (2 Mar 2023)". 3 February 2023.
- ^ Trappett, Brady (26 August 2023). "RevPro: 11 Year Anniversary Show (August 26) Results & Review". Voices of Wrestling.
- ^ Haldar, Prityush (8 August 2022). ""Only thing I've ever wanted to do" – Wild Boar talks about how he became a WWE Superstar (Exclusive)". www.sportskeeda.com.
- ^ Smith, Lewis (21 May 2019). "The WWE wrestlers who grew up fighting in back yards in the Valleys". WalesOnline.
- ^ a b ""Wild Boar" Mike Hitchman def. Josh Morrell". WWE.
- ^ "Jordan Devlin def. "Wild Boar" Mike Hitchman". WWE.
- ^ "Josephs Connors def. "Wild Boar" Mike Hitchman". WWE.
- ^ "Primate". WWE.
- ^ Mitchell, Scott (2 September 2022). "Wild Boar Opens Up About His Time in WWE NXT UK, His Release and Future - PWMania - Wrestling News".
- ^ Collins, Elle (11 October 2019). "The Best And Worst Of NXT UK 10/10/19: Scourge Of The Ani-Malts".
- ^ "WWE NXT UK Results for 12/3/20 South Wales Subculture vs The Hunt | Fightful News". www.fightful.com.
- ^ Gronemann, Markus (10 July 2019). "NXT UK results: Gallus vs. The Hunt & Dave Mastiff". WON/F4W - WWE news, Pro Wrestling News, WWE Results, AEW News, AEW results.
- ^ "The Hunt | Latest News, Rumors & Updates | Sportskeeda". www.sportskeeda.com.
- ^ "WWE NXT UK results: June 23, 2022". WWE.
- ^ Blanchard, Matthew (18 December 2020). "WWE NXT UK Results: The Hunt (Wild Boar & Primate) vs. Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) [NXT UK Tag Team Championship Match]".
- ^ Lentini, Robert (24 June 2022). "NXT 2.0 stars Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen capture the NXT UK Tag Team Championships". www.sportskeeda.com.
- ^ Carey, Ian (21 July 2022). "Tag Team title match announced for next week's NXT UK". WON/F4W - WWE news, Pro Wrestling News, WWE Results, AEW News, AEW results.
- ^ "Dave Mastiff, Primate & Wild Boar vs. Gallus Announced For Next Week's Edition of WWE NXT UK | Fightful News". www.fightful.com.
- ^ Broggi, Fabio "Fantomius". "NXT UK 2022 | WWE NXT UK Results List". The SmackDown Hotel.
- ^ "Primate: Pete Dunne 'Godfather of NXT UK', explains HBK's influence on the brand". talkSPORT. 29 April 2021.
- ^ "There will be no escape for Eddie Dennis as he's chained to Wild Boar in Dog Collar Match". WWE.
- ^ "Wild Boar gets his hands on Eddie Dennis in brutal Dog Collar Match: NXT UK Highlights, May 19, 2022" – via www.wwe.com.
- ^ "WWE NXT UK results: May 19, 2022". WWE.
- ^ "Wild Boar Discusses His NXT UK Release, Wants To Wrestle JONAH, Jeff Cobb, EL Phantasmo | Fightful News". www.fightful.com.
- ^ Allred, Jon (29 September 2022). "Former WWE NXT UK Star Wild Boar Names Part Of Dog Collar Matches That Suck". Wrestling Inc.
- ^ Pritchard, Bill (18 August 2022). "WWE Releases Multiple NXT UK Stars, Including Wild Boar And Jack Starz".
- ^ a b "Wild Boar". 28 August 2023.
- ^ Gilmer, Chase (18 August 2022). "WWE NXT UK Star Wild Boar Confirms His Release". Ringside News.
- ^ Thompson, Andrew (25 September 2022). "'Wild Boar' Mike Hitchman details what he learned from NXT UK coaches, talks idea of returning for NXT Europe".
- ^ "411MANIA". Hamilton’s ATTACK! Is Back – Night One 04.01.2023 Review.
- ^ "ATTACK! Pro Wrestling ATTACK! Is Back – Night Two (April 02, 2023)". 2 May 2023.
- ^ Morrison, Adam (31 December 2017). "All Title Changes of 2017".
- ^ Morrison, Adam (29 March 2017). "Wrestler Spotlight: The New Nation".
- ^ Morrison, Adam (30 May 2019). "SWA In Paisley: By The Numbers".
- ^ "Seth Rollins Tops 2019 PWI 500". 17 February 2023.
- ^ https://www.cagematch.net/?id=97&nr=253#2019