Brett Giehl (March 4, 1986) is an American professional wrestler under the ring name Dalton Castle. Giehl also wrestled for Chikara under the name Ashley Remington, a name assumed after he began in Chikara as Dalton Caroline Castle.
Early life[]
As a child, Giehl loved professional wrestler "Macho Man" Randy Savage, with other favorites including Curt Hennig, Davey Boy Smith, and Frank Gotch.
Giehl wrestled for more than 10 years from middle school to college, representing the Greece Athena High School Trojans in 2003, and winning a varsity wrestling tournament in the 171 pound weight class in 2004. He was an amateur and NCAA wrestler, winning a New York championship in Greco-Roman wrestling and competing three times on the NCAA All-State Team. He was also a member of Team USA, traveling internationally for the World Championships. In 2010, he attained a second championship at the Beach National, winning 1st place in the 215 lb division representing Livonia WC.
Professional wrestling career[]
Early career (2009–2015)[]
During 2009 in Next Era Wrestling (held in The Auditorium Center in Rochester, New York) after defeating Brett Mednik (April 18) and Brandon Thurston (June 20) he unsuccessfully challenged Josh Jordan (the Northeastern Champion) on July 18, but they would later team together. On August 2, 2009, he defeated Marc Krieger at an Empire State Wrestling (ESW) event, preceding an August 15 loss to Bobby Fish. Castle spent one year with ESW until he left the promotion. In May and June 2010, he had two title matches against Krieger for the Northeastern Championship, losing the first and winning the second by disqualification. In 2011, Castle returned to ESW, where he and his partner won the ESW Tag Team Championship by defeating The Rochester Wrecking Crew (Hellcat and Rob Sweet) at ESW WrestleBash. They held it 238 days until June 1, 2013 when it was dropped to The Flatliners (Asylum and Matt Burns) at ESW Aftershock. The team broke up afterward.
In November 2011 Castle worked with International Wrestling Cartel (IWC), where he won the IWC Heavyweight Championship on December 14, 2013. He lost the title on January 24, 2015 to RJ City in Elizabeth, Pennsylvania. Dalton is the second longest reigning IWC World Heavyweight Champion, having held the title 406 days. On May 9, 2015, Castle faced Tommy Dreamer for the title in a four-way elimination match that also included RJ City and Justin LaBar, but was defeated.
Chikara (2013–2015)[]
At Wrestling Is Intense's final event on September 15, 2013, Darkness Crabtree's match with Jervis Cottonbelly went to a no contest after the reformed GEKIDO attacked and tore down the show, with Gekido ultimately "killing off" Crabtree. In a series of videos titled "Rough Waters" posted to Chikara's YouTube channel, it was revealed that Crabtree left a will granting a great deal of money to his kayfabe nephew Dalton "Caroline" Castle, causing Castle to alter his image to that of a wealthy yachtsman and adopt the new name of Ashley Remington.
Remington's debut match in Chikara was on May 25, 2014, at You Only Live Twice, where he defeated Chuck Taylor. He would become quite popular with Chikara fans over the duration of that season, and would end the year with a successful victory over Juan Francisco de Coronado, in a German suplex match.
In 2015, Remington joined The Battle Hive with Amasis, Fire Ant, and Worker Ant. He also gained his third point for title contention in 2015, and at the Anniversario event in May, he challenged Grand Champion Hallowicked in a losing effort.
Ring of Honor (2013–present)[]
Dalton Castle debuted in Ring of Honor in May 2013, at Dragon's Reign. in January 2015 Castle entered the ROH Top Prospect Tournament, losing to Ashley Sixx in the first round. Donovan Dijak, the tournament's eventual winner, opted to give up his shot at the ROH World Television Championship against Jay Lethal to instead join The House of Truth, prompting Castle to challenge Lethal for the title in March. Lethal accepted and defeated Castle with help from Dijak and J. Diesel.
At Global Wars '15 in mid-May, Castle defeated Donovan Dijak on the first day, then on the second lost to Jushin Liger in a match which he later described as his favorite. Regaining momentum with victories over Romantic Touch and Takaaki Watanabe in June, he beat Silas Young at Best in the World 2015. After a loss in July to Adam Cole at Death Before Dishonor XIII, the feud with Silas Young resumed, with Young wanting to take Dalton's boys and make them "real men". Castle agreed to a match at All Star Extravaganza VII with the stipulations that if he lost, Young would get the boys, while if Young lost, he would become one of Castle's boys. Castle subsequently lost the match, with Silas Young getting the boys. Castle faced Young in another losing effort at Final Battle, but despite the boys seemingly siding with Young in the weeks prior to the event, they rejoined Castle following the match.
On February 6, 2016, after Dalton defeated Jay Diesel (now renamed by Truth Martini as Joey "Diesel" Daddiego), Silas revealed the names of the boys (from their mom) were Bret and Brendon, and had The Beer City Bruiser entangle them as he assaulted Dalton. His boys lost to Silas and The Bruiser later in the month. In March, after a loss to Christopher Daniels (due to Frankie Kazarian's interference), Castle challenged Silas to a match to end their feud, a Fight Without Honor. Dalton was scheduled to face Bullet Club leader Kenny Omega March 12, but the match never happened. Castle versus Young happened on April 8 and was the first-ever Fight Without Honor on the TV program, all previous ones had only occurred on pay-per-view. Castle won with help from his boys who attacked Young. On May 8 at Global Wars, Castle won a four-corner survival match to determine the No. 1 contender for ROH World Television Championship which was also participated by ACH, Adam Page, and Roderick Strong. After failing to win the title from Bobby Fish in June at Best in the World '16, Castle made a triumphant return to television with a second victory over Roderick Strong in a June 25 match that debuted on TV on July 15. This was Roderick Strong's last match with ROH. At Death Before Dishonor VIII Castle lost to Okada. On September 30, 2016 at All Star Extravaganza VIII Dalton Castle and Colt Cabana defeated All Night Express,War Machine,Shane Taylor and Keith Lee in a four corner survival tag team match won the to become the number 1 contender for the ROH World Tag Team Championship. On ROH television on November 19, 2016 Colt Cabana attacked Dalton Castle and the boys and turned heel by splitting up the tag team.
He became ROH champion in 2017 by defeating Cody Rhodes, and lost the title to Jay Lethal in a 2018 Fatal 4-Way.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2015)[]
In 2015, Castle competed two nights for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) on their television show Impact Wrestling. On February 15 (aired May 6) at X-Travaganza 3, he was defeated in an Ultimate X qualifying match by Rockstar Spud. On February 16 at TNA Gut Check, he defeated DJ Z to qualify for a five-way elimination match later that night, losing in the second match to Tevita Fifita.
Gimmick and reception[]
Castle's gimmick is that of a flamboyant showman with an androgynous personality, drawing comparisons to Gorgeous George, Adrian Street, and Ric Flair. However, unlike those predecessors who have tended to portray heels, Castle typically plays a face. Castle has also mentioned glam rock stars David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, The Darkness, and Foxy Shazam as inspirations. Castle is frequently accompanied to the ring by two shirtless, mask-wearing men, referred to as his "boys", who act as human furniture and fan Castle during his matches. Dalton is associated with six distinct products: masks, posters, books, Planet Peacock shirts, fan up T-shirts, and Best in the World T-shirts.
Personal life[]
Giehl is married to a woman named Heather. He holds a degree in communications and theatre.
In 2011, Giehl was an emcee for WZNE in Rochester, New York under the name The Giehl. During his tenure at the station, he interviewed fellow professional wrestler Kurt Angle. Giehl went on to work for WQBK-FM from 2011 until 2014, hosting a five-hour afternoon slot on the radio under the Dalton Castle moniker. Beginning January 2012, the company YouTube channel hosted a series called The Sisterhood of the Traveling Tights where Castle interviewed professional wrestlers. His guests included Luke Harper, Velvet Sky, CM Punk, Matt Hardy, and Dean Ambrose.
In wrestling[]
- Finishing moves
- Anchors Away! (Diving headbutt)
- Bang-A-Rang (Spinning double leg facebuster)
- Everest German Suplex (Bridging delayed German suplex)
- Fairy Tale (Double knee facebreaker)
- Signature moves
- Fair Winds (Pumphandle drop)
- Multiple suplex variations
- Over-the-shoulder back-to-belly piledriver
- Rebound hurricanrana, preceded by a tiger feint off the apron
- Running high knee to a cornered opponent
- Suicide dive
- Nicknames
- "24/7 Party"
- "Caroline"
- "The Charismatic Milkshake"
- "DC"
- "Ice Castle"/"Little Castle"/"White Castle"
- "The Party Peacock"
- "Peacock of Professional Wrestling"
- "Smooth Sailin'"
- Entrance themes
- "Smooth Sailin'" by Kenny Wootton & Harlan Wootton (CHIKARA)
- "Dalton Wants it Now" by Adam Massacre (ROH)
Championships and accomplishments[]
- Empire State Wrestling
- ESW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - With Will Calrissian
- International Wrestling Cartel
- IWC World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Ranked him No. 176 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016
- PWI ranked him #171 in the 2024 PWI Top 500 Wrestlers