Mikey Whipwreck

James Watson (born June 4, 1973), better known as Mikey Whipwreck, is a semi-retired American professional wrestler best known for his career with Extreme Championship Wrestling.

Extreme Championship Wrestling
Mikey Whipwreck was trained in 1993 by Sonny Blaze, who opted not to charge him because he doubted the likelihood Whipwreck would ever succeed as a wrestler. Once his training was completed, Whipwreck became part of the Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) ring crew, assembling the ring in the ECW Arena. ECW booker Paul Heyman hired him after he watched Whipwreck practice a variety of aerial maneuvers before the show began (Joey Styles states on an episode of The History of ECW it was he who suggested that Heyman check out Whipwreck). The short, lightly-built Whipwreck made a natural underdog who would absorb a great deal of damage in the course of his matches, and his entrance music, Beck's "Loser", predicated his poor win-loss record. He was trained along the way by various ECW wrestlers such as Taz, Perry Saturn, Tommy Dreamer, Paul Heyman and Mick Foley among others. He defeated Pitbull #1 for the ECW World Television Championship on May 15, 1994 and held the title until August 13 of that year, although he rarely dominated his opponents, instead winning as a result of luck and outside interference.

Whipwreck's big break came on August 27, 1994, when Terry Funk cancelled his appearance and, thus, his scheduled tag team match with Cactus Jack (Mick Foley) against Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock, The Public Enemy. Whipwreck substituted for Funk, and managed to pin Rock, thus gaining the ECW Tag Team Championship. The unlikely duo held the titles for just over five weeks before being defeated by the Public Enemy.

From this point, Whipwreck began to ascend the roster, in the meantime increasing his offensive arsenal. On October 28, 1995 Whipwreck defeated The Sandman in a Ladder Match, upsetting him for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. On one notable occasion he defeated "The Extreme Superstar" Steve Austin with a Sunset Flip.

On December 29, 1995 in Rego Park, New York at Holiday Hell Whipwreck defeated 2 Cold Scorpio in a singles match in which the ECW World Television and Tag Team titles were all on the line. Immediately afterwards, Cactus Jack declared himself to be Whipwreck's partner, and the pair became two-time tag team champions. On January 5, 1996 Scorpio regained the television title and two months later, the tag team champions lost their titles to Perry Saturn and John Kronus ("The Eliminators"). Cactus Jack turned on Whipwreck, blaming him for their loss. The imminent departure of Cactus Jack for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) caused the ECW fans to support Whipwreck during this feud. After Whipwreck attacked Cactus Jack during a bout with Shane Douglas, a singles match between the two was scheduled for March, 1996. Whipwreck was defeated following several chair shots and a piledriver.

World Championship Wrestling
Whipwreck was an important part of ECW for the next two years, holding the Television Title once more before leaving for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in late 1998. He debuted at Uncensored 1999, unsuccessfully challenging Billy Kidman for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. He left WCW after several months, disillusioned by his lack of a push. While in WCW, he generally wrestled in the cruiserweight division, or fought his fellow ECW alumni.

Back in ECW
Along with The Sandman, Whipwreck returned to ECW in 1999. Aligning himself with The Sinister Minister and changed his gimmick in ECW from a lovable loser to a crazed pyromaniac. Whipwreck lost numerous matches before winning the tag team titles for a third time along with Yoshihiro Tajiri (The Unholy Alliance). Rather than competing for the ECW Heavyweight title, Whipwreck primarily fought against lighter, faster wrestlers, giving rise to some of his best matches. He and Tajiri eventually lost the titles to the The Full Blooded Italians, Little Guido and Tony Mamaluke. Soon after, ECW went bankrupt.

Semi-Retirement
In early 2001 Whipwreck announced his intention to retire in May 2002 if he was not hired by the World Wrestling Federation in the interim, expressing an interest in pursuing a career in pyrotechnics. By June 11 he had decided to retire by September of that year, as his wrestling style had resulting in a number of nagging injuries, including two herniated discs, damaged knees, a bad right shoulder and a jaw cracked to the point of not even being able to eat hard food. The "Mikey Whipwreck Retirement Bash" was hosted by Border City Wrestling on August 29, 2001 at the Cicciaro Club in Windsor, Ontario and featured a number of legendary ECW performers such as Tommy Dreamer and Sabu. Whipwreck wrestled his American retirement match on October 20, 2001, defeating Little Guido.

Whipwreck broke his retirement before long, returning in 2003. He wrestled in several different promotions, such as Ring of Honor, where he would often team with or against some of the wrestlers he has trained. He attended both of the June 2005 ECW reunion shows, teaming with Chris Chetti to defeat Simon Diamond and C.W. Anderson at Hardcore Homecoming on June 10, and appearing in the corner of Yoshihiro Tajiri at ECW One Night Stand on June 12, 2005.

During April 2006, Mikey Whipwreck worked as an agent for Liberty States Wrestling.

As of April 2007, Mikey runs a wrestling school out of Long Island NY called "New York Wrestling Connection". Along with the school comes shows where some ECW mainstays like Jerry Lynn, Raven, Spike Dudley, and Team 3-D come to promote and assist in teachings.

At the ECW One Night Stand 2006 pay-per-view on June 11, Mikey was seen on camera celebrating with other ECW Wrestlers after Rob Van Dam won the WWE Championship.

Finishing and signature moves

 * Whipper-Snapper (Stunner; Sometimes done off of the top rope)
 * Rolling Whipper-Snapper (Rolling stunner)
 * Super Whipper-Snapper (Top rope front flip stunner)
 * Franken-Mikey (Frankensteiner)
 * Super Franken-Mikey (Top rope frankensteiner)
 * Whipwreck Driver (Kneeling belly to belly piledriver)
 * Unholy Driver (Fireman's carry into wheelbarrow facebuster)
 * Double underhook backbreaker drop
 * Inverted suplex

Managers

 * Lou E. Dangerously
 * The Sinister Minister
 * Tara Charisma
 * Mick Foley

Championships and accomplishments

 * Border City Wrestling
 * BCW Can-Am Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * European Wrestling Association
 * EWA European Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * Extreme Championship Wrestling
 * ECW World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * ECW World Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Cactus Jack (2) and Yoshihiro Tajiri (1)
 * ECW World Television Championship (2 times)
 * Impact Championship Wrestling
 * ICW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * Maryland Championship Wrestling
 * MCW Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)
 * New York Wrestling Connection
 * NYWC Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * NYWC Tag Team Championship (1 time)
 * USA Pro Wrestling
 * USA Pro Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Wayne
 * Wrestling Observer Newsletter
 * Rookie of the Year in 1994
 * Xtreme Wrestling Coalition
 * XWC Heavyweight Championship (1 time) ('First)