TPB
11-25-2009, 07:38 AM
Brian Gerard (B.G.) James (born May 20, 1969) is an American professional wrestler known for his work in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, perhaps best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as "The Road Dogg" Jesse James or simply The Road Dogg. He is a former member of D-Generation X and the tag team partner of Billy Gunn, with whom he comprised the New Age Outlaws in the WWF and The James Gang and Voodoo Kin Mafia in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). In the WWF, James is a one time Intercontinental Champion, a one time Hardcore Champion and a five time Tag Team Champion with Billy Gunn. In TNA, he is a two time NWA World Tag Team Champion with Konnan and Ron Killings. James is also a one time world heavyweight champion after becoming the first-ever WWA World Heavyweight Champion in 2002.
Early career
James served in the United States Marine Corps from 1987 to 1993 and fought in Operation Desert Storm in 1991, where he was a platoon Sergeant in command of thirty-three Marines.
Professional wrestling career
After wrestling for a whole year in Smoky Mountain Wrestling as The Dark Secret and making occasional appearance for World Championship Wrestling as Brian Armstrong, James began his career with the World Wrestling Federation towards the end of 1994. He was billed as The Roadie, an assistant to "Double J" Jeff Jarrett, a would-be country singer. He wrestled on several pay-per-views and television shows, but most of his first WWF tenure was spent accompanying Jarrett and interfering in his matches. In early 1995, Jarrett released the song "With My Baby Tonight," that Jarrett claimed he had sung himself. The planned angle was to reveal that it was The Roadie, not Jarrett, who had really performed the vocals on this song, sparking a feud between the two wrestlers. Before this revelation could take place, Jarrett and James suddenly left the WWF following the second In Your House pay-per-view on July 23, 1995. James then joined the United States Wrestling Association as Jesse James Armstrong, winning the heavyweight and tag titles before being forced to leave as a result of a loss at the hands of Jarrett.
New Age Outlaws
James returned to the WWF in 1996 as Jesse James, "The Real Double J", and revealed himself to be the true singer of "With My Baby Tonight". He languished as a midcard singles wrestler until he formed a tag team with Billy Gunn, New Age Outlaws. A change in creative direction in the WWF in late 1997 led Gunn, who had formerly been stuck under the tutelage of The Honky Tonk Man in the unpopular gimmick of "Rockabilly", to dye his hair back to its original blond color and assume the name "Badd Ass" Billy Gunn (also known as Mr. Ass), while James became "The Road Dogg" Jesse James and he began to grow his hair out into shoulder-length cornrows. The appearance and mannerisms of the team became more and more controversial and anti-social, with the team becoming known as the New Age Outlaws. The Outlaws feuded with the Road Warriors and the short-lived tag team of Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie (Terry Funk) before joining D-Generation X the night after WrestleMania XIV.
The Outlaws amassed five Tag Team Championship reigns before Gunn was legitimately injured in early 2000 and thrown out of DX to explain his absence. James then teamed with fellow DX member X-Pac throughout the summer of 2000 but failed to regain his former popularity or title success. The team eventually split, and DX fell apart. James then formed a tag team with newcomer K-Kwik. He was suspended in December 2000 and was then was released from the WWF on January 26, 2001.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2002–2009)
After making appearances on the independent circuit, most prominently with the short-lived World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) promotion, James debuted for the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion on September 18, 2002 wrestling as B.G. James, as the popular Road Dogg character was owned by WWE. He was initially a villian and one of the founding members of Vince Russo's Sports Entertainment Xtreme faction.
3Live Kru (2003–2005)
In July 2003, James formed the stable known as the 3Live Kru with Hispanic wrestler Konnan and the African American wrestler Ron Killings. James was presented as a white trash redneck. The group was popular from the outset and was notable because they sang their own entrance music as they approached the ring. The 3Live Kru turned out to be a successful gimmick as Killings held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for a second time and all three members enjoyed Tag Title reigns.
Tension arose when James' former partner Billy Gunn joined TNA as "The New Age Outlaw" (later shortened to "The Outlaw") in February 2005. The Outlaw repeatedly courted James, seeking to split the Kru and recreate the New Age Outlaws. When The Outlaw began feuding with the Kru, James repeatedly found his loyalties divided, unwilling to fight either his former or current tag team partners. For a time, James stopped appearing with the Kru but did not align himself with The Outlaw, who had by then changed his name to "Kip James" as a "tribute" to James' father. At Sacrifice, he reasserted his allegiance with 3LK as the special guest referee in a match between the other members of 3LK and the team of Kip James and Monty Brown. Kip tried to warm up to 3LK again in the lead-up to Bound for Glory by saving James several times from Team Canada. At Bound for Glory, he offered his protective services to them against Team Canada to neutralize Scott D'Amore. When they lost, Kip came down to the ring, appearing ready to hit Konnan with a steel chair since he originally vetoed Kip's offer. Kip instead saved Konnan from Team Canada, thus proving his original intentions.
On the November 26 episode of Impact!, James brought Kip and the 3LK to the ring and asked Killings and Konnan to give Kip a yes/no vote to be accepted into the group. After James got heated with Konnan, both gave Kip yes votes and the 4Live Kru was born. The 4Live Kru was short lived as Konnan, still apparently upset at Kip's induction into the Kru, hit both James and Kip over the head with a steel chair at Turning Point. Konnan, still wanting Killings to be his "family," tried talking with Killings. Killings told Konnan that he was done with the Kru and wanted to leave it all behind him.
The James Gang (2006)
After the incident, James and Kip regrouped, reformed their old tag team as The James Gang and feuded with Konnan's new stable, The Latin American Xchange (LAX), which he formed with Homicide and Apolo. Apolo was sent home from the Against All Odds after complaining about being used as a enhancement talent and was quickly replaced by a relative unknown named Machete.
On a subsequent edition of Impact!, James' real life father "Bullet" Bob Armstrong informed The James Gang that he was sick of the shenanigans of LAX and how they always used strength in numbers to their advantage. He informed them that he was going to see Larry Zbyszko to have himself added to the Destination X match as their partner, effectively making it a three-man tag team. A despondent James turned to Kip and comically uttered "Mom is gonna KILL me!". "Bullet" was in fact added to the team and, they won the match at Destination X. The next month an arm wrestling match was booked between Armstrong and Konnan, where the losing team would get hit ten times with a leather whip. Armstrong prevailed with the victory, so the LAX was whipped several times upon scrambling out of the cage for survival.
Following The LAX rivalry, James and Kip went after Team 3D. The two teams cut promos arguing over their long term histories with past promotions such as WWE and ECW. The rivalry came to a head at TNA Sacrifice when The James Gang beat Team 3D using a lead pipe. The James Gang and Team 3D feuded throughout the summer. They were scheduled for a number one contendership match at Hard Justice but, due to a fire, the match was canceled. The match was rescheduled for Impact!, which the Gang lost.
On the November 2, 2006 edition of Impact!, Kip and James announced that they were going to quit TNA. While attempting to speak about it, their microphones were cut off. When the show returned, the announcers speculated that they may have been frustrated due to the influx of new talent entering TNA. It was later reported that the segment was a worked shoot that Vince Russo had written in order to renew interest upon their eventual return.
Continued ...
Early career
James served in the United States Marine Corps from 1987 to 1993 and fought in Operation Desert Storm in 1991, where he was a platoon Sergeant in command of thirty-three Marines.
Professional wrestling career
After wrestling for a whole year in Smoky Mountain Wrestling as The Dark Secret and making occasional appearance for World Championship Wrestling as Brian Armstrong, James began his career with the World Wrestling Federation towards the end of 1994. He was billed as The Roadie, an assistant to "Double J" Jeff Jarrett, a would-be country singer. He wrestled on several pay-per-views and television shows, but most of his first WWF tenure was spent accompanying Jarrett and interfering in his matches. In early 1995, Jarrett released the song "With My Baby Tonight," that Jarrett claimed he had sung himself. The planned angle was to reveal that it was The Roadie, not Jarrett, who had really performed the vocals on this song, sparking a feud between the two wrestlers. Before this revelation could take place, Jarrett and James suddenly left the WWF following the second In Your House pay-per-view on July 23, 1995. James then joined the United States Wrestling Association as Jesse James Armstrong, winning the heavyweight and tag titles before being forced to leave as a result of a loss at the hands of Jarrett.
New Age Outlaws
James returned to the WWF in 1996 as Jesse James, "The Real Double J", and revealed himself to be the true singer of "With My Baby Tonight". He languished as a midcard singles wrestler until he formed a tag team with Billy Gunn, New Age Outlaws. A change in creative direction in the WWF in late 1997 led Gunn, who had formerly been stuck under the tutelage of The Honky Tonk Man in the unpopular gimmick of "Rockabilly", to dye his hair back to its original blond color and assume the name "Badd Ass" Billy Gunn (also known as Mr. Ass), while James became "The Road Dogg" Jesse James and he began to grow his hair out into shoulder-length cornrows. The appearance and mannerisms of the team became more and more controversial and anti-social, with the team becoming known as the New Age Outlaws. The Outlaws feuded with the Road Warriors and the short-lived tag team of Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie (Terry Funk) before joining D-Generation X the night after WrestleMania XIV.
The Outlaws amassed five Tag Team Championship reigns before Gunn was legitimately injured in early 2000 and thrown out of DX to explain his absence. James then teamed with fellow DX member X-Pac throughout the summer of 2000 but failed to regain his former popularity or title success. The team eventually split, and DX fell apart. James then formed a tag team with newcomer K-Kwik. He was suspended in December 2000 and was then was released from the WWF on January 26, 2001.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2002–2009)
After making appearances on the independent circuit, most prominently with the short-lived World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) promotion, James debuted for the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion on September 18, 2002 wrestling as B.G. James, as the popular Road Dogg character was owned by WWE. He was initially a villian and one of the founding members of Vince Russo's Sports Entertainment Xtreme faction.
3Live Kru (2003–2005)
In July 2003, James formed the stable known as the 3Live Kru with Hispanic wrestler Konnan and the African American wrestler Ron Killings. James was presented as a white trash redneck. The group was popular from the outset and was notable because they sang their own entrance music as they approached the ring. The 3Live Kru turned out to be a successful gimmick as Killings held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for a second time and all three members enjoyed Tag Title reigns.
Tension arose when James' former partner Billy Gunn joined TNA as "The New Age Outlaw" (later shortened to "The Outlaw") in February 2005. The Outlaw repeatedly courted James, seeking to split the Kru and recreate the New Age Outlaws. When The Outlaw began feuding with the Kru, James repeatedly found his loyalties divided, unwilling to fight either his former or current tag team partners. For a time, James stopped appearing with the Kru but did not align himself with The Outlaw, who had by then changed his name to "Kip James" as a "tribute" to James' father. At Sacrifice, he reasserted his allegiance with 3LK as the special guest referee in a match between the other members of 3LK and the team of Kip James and Monty Brown. Kip tried to warm up to 3LK again in the lead-up to Bound for Glory by saving James several times from Team Canada. At Bound for Glory, he offered his protective services to them against Team Canada to neutralize Scott D'Amore. When they lost, Kip came down to the ring, appearing ready to hit Konnan with a steel chair since he originally vetoed Kip's offer. Kip instead saved Konnan from Team Canada, thus proving his original intentions.
On the November 26 episode of Impact!, James brought Kip and the 3LK to the ring and asked Killings and Konnan to give Kip a yes/no vote to be accepted into the group. After James got heated with Konnan, both gave Kip yes votes and the 4Live Kru was born. The 4Live Kru was short lived as Konnan, still apparently upset at Kip's induction into the Kru, hit both James and Kip over the head with a steel chair at Turning Point. Konnan, still wanting Killings to be his "family," tried talking with Killings. Killings told Konnan that he was done with the Kru and wanted to leave it all behind him.
The James Gang (2006)
After the incident, James and Kip regrouped, reformed their old tag team as The James Gang and feuded with Konnan's new stable, The Latin American Xchange (LAX), which he formed with Homicide and Apolo. Apolo was sent home from the Against All Odds after complaining about being used as a enhancement talent and was quickly replaced by a relative unknown named Machete.
On a subsequent edition of Impact!, James' real life father "Bullet" Bob Armstrong informed The James Gang that he was sick of the shenanigans of LAX and how they always used strength in numbers to their advantage. He informed them that he was going to see Larry Zbyszko to have himself added to the Destination X match as their partner, effectively making it a three-man tag team. A despondent James turned to Kip and comically uttered "Mom is gonna KILL me!". "Bullet" was in fact added to the team and, they won the match at Destination X. The next month an arm wrestling match was booked between Armstrong and Konnan, where the losing team would get hit ten times with a leather whip. Armstrong prevailed with the victory, so the LAX was whipped several times upon scrambling out of the cage for survival.
Following The LAX rivalry, James and Kip went after Team 3D. The two teams cut promos arguing over their long term histories with past promotions such as WWE and ECW. The rivalry came to a head at TNA Sacrifice when The James Gang beat Team 3D using a lead pipe. The James Gang and Team 3D feuded throughout the summer. They were scheduled for a number one contendership match at Hard Justice but, due to a fire, the match was canceled. The match was rescheduled for Impact!, which the Gang lost.
On the November 2, 2006 edition of Impact!, Kip and James announced that they were going to quit TNA. While attempting to speak about it, their microphones were cut off. When the show returned, the announcers speculated that they may have been frustrated due to the influx of new talent entering TNA. It was later reported that the segment was a worked shoot that Vince Russo had written in order to renew interest upon their eventual return.
Continued ...