Nathan Jones

Nathan Darren Jones (born August 21, 1970) is an Australian actor and former professional wrestler. Jones is best known for his stint with World Wrestling Entertainment, where he performed on its SmackDown brand. During his wrestling career, he became a one time world champion after winning the WWA World Heavyweight Championship once during his stint in World Wrestling All-Stars.

Pre-wrestling
Before his career as a wrestler, Jones was sentenced to 16 years in Boggo Road Gaol for eight armed robberies between 1985-1987, two of which occurred in Tasmania. During the robberies, he became one of Australia's most wanted and ended up serving seven years in a maximum-security prison and one year on work release.[2][3] While in prison, he was introduced to the sport of powerlifting. Within a short space of time, he became the National Powerlifting Champion of Australia.

Jones also began competing in strongman contests and during this time, he was dubbed "The Megaman" for his imposing physique. As the reigning Australia's Strongest Man, he entered the World Strength Championship at Callander, Scotland from July 29-30, 1995. He took first place, topping a field that included 1993 World's Strongest Man Gary Taylor. The following weekend, he competed in the World Musclepower Championship held at Mintlaw, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. That contest was won by Magnús Ver Magnússon, with Nathan finishing fifth in a field of twelve competitors.[4]

Jones next took part in the 1995 World's Strongest Man contest. After quickly defeating Phil Martin twice in the arm wrestling event in the qualifying heat, Jones was then matched against Magnus Samuelsson, who had been Europe's arm wrestling champion for several years and who would become the World's Strongest Man in 1998. Samuelsson won the first round. In the second round Nathan refused to go down and pulled with his opposite arm, twisting his body. This resulted in breaking the arm he was using to wrestle (a spiral fracture of the humerus),[5] and he subsequently was out of the competition. Jones returned to the World's Strongest Man competition in 1996 and placed third in a qualifying heat behind Magnús Ver Magnússon and Jorma Ojanaho.[6]

He also participated in a mixed martial arts match at KRS-Pride's debut event Pride 1 in October 1997, submitting to Japanese professional wrestler, and former sumo wrestler Koji Kitao in his only match.

World Wrestling All-Stars and Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX (2001–2002)
After working as a bodyguard for multimillionaire Rene Rivkin, Jones began a career in wrestling during this time. Jones first gained fame working in World Wrestling All-Stars, making a large impression at the first WWA pay-per-view "Inception", where he was accompanied to the ring by Rove McManus. However he was defeated after Rove was smashed with Jeff Jarrett's guitar and Jones was hit with the Stroke.[7]

During his time in the WWA, Nathan won the WWA World Heavyweight Championship on April 7, 2002 before losing the belt to Scott Steiner only 5 days later.[7] After the title loss, Jones began performing for Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX in June.[8] On October 20, Jones and Jon Heidenreich defeated Masato Tanaka and Shinjiro Otani to win the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship.[8] On October 25, Jones and Heidenreich successfully retained the title against Jimmy Snuka, Jr. and The Predator before losing the title the next day to Naoya Ogawa and Shinya Hashimoto.[8]

World Wrestling Entertainment (2002–2003)
In late 2002 and early 2003, Jones began performing in dark matches for World Wrestling Entertainment.[1][7][8] On the April 8 episode of SmackDown!, Jones made his televised WWE debut and defeated Bill DeMott.[1][7] Upon debuting, Jones' was put into an angle with The Undertaker as he became Undertaker's storyline protégé in order to feud with A-Train and The Big Show, Undertaker's enemies at the time. At WrestleMania XIX, Jones and Undertaker were scheduled to face Big Show and A-Train in a tag team match, but Jones was attacked pre-match and left injured.[1] Near the closing moments of the match, Jones reappeared and attacked Big Show, enabling Undertaker to pin A-Train for the victory.[1]

After winning a match on SmackDown! by disqualification, the Full Blooded Italians attacked Jones and, in storyline, shattered his ankle with the ring steps.[1] In reality, Jones was to sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling to improve his skills.[1]

Jones was then absent from television for several months until returning as a villain known by the nickname "The Colossus of Boggo Road", a title referring to his time spent in Boggo Road Gaol. Upon returning, he was immediately placed into Brock Lesnar's Survivor Series team, which also included A-Train, Big Show, and Matt Morgan in order to compete against Lesnar's rival Kurt Angle and his team. At Survivor Series, Team Lesnar was defeated by Team Angle and Jones was then relegated to make interfere in Lesnar's matches along with the other members of Team Lesnar. He was also placed in matches by either Lesnar or Heyman to do aid them.

On December 6, 2003, Jones quit the company due to the rigor of WWE's heavy travel schedules while on the WWE Passport to SmackDown! Tour in Perth, Australia.[2][9]

Post-WWE and retirement
After leaving WWE, Jones was scheduled to make his pro wrestling return in 2004 at the Australian Wrestling Supershow III, booked against Mark Mercedes. Jones did not appear as advertised and a battle royal was held following an angry shoot promo on Jones by Mercedes and promoter Andy Raymond.

In 2005, he wrestled three matches for World Series Wrestling. On October 5, he defeated Lee Star and on October 7 and October 8, he defeated Mark Hilton. After his last match Hilton, Jones immediately retired from wrestling.[2]