Chase Stevens

Chase Stevens (born January 17, 1979) is an American professional wrestler. He is known for his work in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling where he was a member of The Naturals alongside his tag team partner Andy Douglas.

Career
In high school, Chase Stevens was a Golden Gloves boxing champion. After graduating, he enlisted in the United States Army. Upon receiving his discharge in 1997, Stevens began working in a video store, and opened a boxing school, planning to turn professional. After attending a wrestling training session, however, in order to watch a friend, Stevens decided to become a wrestler and joined the training school. After several weeks, veteran wrestler Tracy Smothers took him under his wing and became his trainer and mentor. Stevens debuted in 1998 under a mask as "Glacius", losing to fellow trainee Johnny B. Dazzled.

Stevens found a niche as a tag team specialist, teaming with Blaze as "High Velocity" and Cassidy O'Reilly as "The Hotshots". The latter team appeared with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in July 2002, and were given full time contracts. The team split when Reilly left TNA due to travel problems, and Stevens was sent to USA Championship Wrestling for seasoning.

In USA Championship Wrestling Stevens was placed in a tag team with Andy Douglas by Bob Ryder. While on a fishing trip they chose the name "Natural Heat", which was later shortened to "The Naturals". The Naturals became a pair of sneaky, cheating heels.

The Naturals began working for Jerry Lawler's Memphis Wrestling promotion in 2003, where they were renamed "The Alternative Express". The Alternative Express - a gothic pair of rock fans who wore black clothing and recolored their hair and fingernails - were managed by The Goddess Athena.

The Naturals
The Naturals were brought into TNA in late 2003, immediately beginning a lengthy feud with America's Most Wanted. In the course of the feud, they defeated America's Most Wanted for the NWA World Tag Team Championships on July 7, 2004 in a twelve second long match after hitting James Storm with one of the title belts. The Naturals successfully defended their titles against Triple X, but were eventually beaten by Chris Harris and Elix Skipper (one member of each team) on September 8, 2004.[1]

In 2005, The Naturals formed a stable with Chris Candido, who also became their manager. On April 26, they defeated America's Most Wanted to become NWA World Tag Team Champions for a second time. The sudden death of Candido two days later led to a surge in popularity for The Naturals, eventually turning them into fan favorites.

On June 19, 2005 at Slammiversary The Naturals were assisted in a title defence against Team Canada by Jimmy Hart.[2] They were managed by Hart throughout mid-2005, with their reign ending on the October 22 episode of TNA Impact!.[3] Then they lost to America's Most Wanted following interference from Jeff Jarrett and Gail Kim. They were defeated by AMW in their rematch at Bound for Glory (2005) on October 23, again following interference from Kim.[4]

During the October 25 Impact! tapings, Stevens injured his neck after landing badly during a match. He was diagnosed as having suffered an avulsion fracture of his C5 and C6 vertebrae, in addition to herniating his C4 vertebra (described by TNA as the "mildest form of trauma associated with a broken neck"). The injury did not require surgery, and Stevens returned for TNA Genesis 2005 on November 13, teaming with Douglas and Lance Hoyt in a loss to the Diamonds in the Rough.[5]

In April 2006, Stevens began a bit of singles work in light of his partner being injured by Scott Steiner. Stevens' singles run did not go overly well, as he was unable to post a victory in any of his competitions, losing to Samoa Joe twice, Abyss once, and in the Xscape match at TNA Lockdown 2006.[6]

In June 2006, Stevens and Douglas began to be managed by the returning Shane Douglas after he approached them, asking to be their manager. The duo accepted his offer and were shown "training" in several vignettes which aired on Impact!.

Newly Franchised
At TNA Victory Road 2006 The Naturals returned in brand new black and yellow attire (to replace their black and pink attire) and were managed by Shane Douglas.[7] They were called 'The Newly Franchised Naturals' in reference to Shane's nickname 'The Franchise'. and beat The Diamonds In The Rough. On the August 17 edition of Impact!, Stevens defeated Chris Harris from America's Most Wanted, Frankie Kazarian, and B.G. James of The James Gang to win a tag team championship shot for him and Dougles.[8] Shane took their tag title match away from them after they lost a match on Impact! to teach them a lesson. They then won a Tag Team "Triple Chance" Battle Royal the following month at TNA No Surrender 2006.[9] This suggested that their push that had been going for several months would finally conclude with them getting a tag title shot at Bound for Glory (2006), but they ended up losing a Four Corners Match on the undercard of the show, not even getting the title shot.[10] Many thought this signaled the end of the Newly Franchised storyline, but suddenly, The Naturals began a feud with Team 3D and defeated them in a Tables Match on TNA's primetime debut.[11] Then it started speculation that the storyline would once again get better for The Naturals, but then on the December 21 episode of Impact! Shane turned his back on The Naturals after they lost the second Tables Match to Team 3D, saying "This experiment is over".[12] Many were confused by this angle, as it went back and forth between them rising to the top and suddenly falling back down several times before the plug was pulled.

Stevens wrestled Lance Hoyt at TNA's Final Resolution pay-per-view, on January 14.[13] He lost the match, which led to Shane coming out asking why he was wearing the Franchised gear, when he said the experiment was over.[13] This led to Stevens shoving him, with security separating the two. On May 10 both Stevens and Douglas were released from their contracts.

World Wrestling Entertainment
Stevens alongside his Naturals partner, Andy Douglas, were originally going to receive a try-out match for WWE at a Raw taping in September, but was cancelled when Douglas posted the tryout information on his Myspace without WWE's permission.

Stevens later appeared on the March 21, 2008 edition of Friday Night SmackDown, alongside his Naturals partner Andy Douglas and wearing the Naturals attire, fighting in a losing effort to The Big Show.[14] He made another appearance on the September 16, 2008 edition of ECW, losing to Jack Swagger and again the next week against Mike Knox.[15][16]

Independent circuit
Chase Stevens currently wrestle for S.A.W. wrestling out of Nashville, TN