Elijah Samuel Burke (born May 24, 1978) is an American professional wrestler, currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling under the name of "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero; a gimmick in which he portrays a Harlem street preacher. He is also known for wrestling for World Wrestling Entertainment, on its SmackDown and ECW brands under his real name.
Burke is a former officer for the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office in Florida who would become an amateur boxer in Jacksonville's Club 5 and Club Plush where he claims to have had a 98–1 win/loss record. According to his WWE.com profile, Burke has a record of 103–1 with 102 knockouts in his amateur career. Both of these records are unsubstantiated. Still, according to WWE, the only loss he sustained was a disqualification, after he knocked his opponent out and refused to back down to his corner. Before each of his matches he writes the phrase "4-Up" on his wrist tape, and in an interview with WWE Magazine, Burke stated that this came from the phrase "I'm going to give you five upside your head," used by comedians such as Redd Foxx. However, when you punch somebody, it's more accurately four upside the head. On the "Right After Wrestling" program on Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 98, Burke told hosts Arda Ocal and Jimmy Korderas that early in his pro wrestling career, he never threw "worked" punches due to having difficulty pulling his punches.
Elijah ( /ɨˈlaɪdʒə/; also Elias /ɨˈlaɪ.əs/; Hebrew: אֱלִיָּהוּ, Eliyahu, meaning "Yahweh is my God";Arabic:إلياس, Ilyās), was a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of Ahab (9th century BC), according to the Books of Kings.
According to the Books of Kings, Elijah defended the worship of Yahweh over that of the Phoenician god Baal; he raised the dead, brought fire down from the sky, and was taken up in a whirlwind (either accompanied by a chariot and horses of flame or riding in it). In the Book of Malachi, Elijah's return is prophesied "before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord," making him a harbinger of the Messiah and the eschaton in various faiths that revere the Hebrew Bible. Derivative references to Elijah appear in the Talmud, Mishnah, the New Testament, and the Qur'an.
In Judaism, Elijah's name is invoked at the weekly Havdalah ritual that marks the end of Shabbat, and Elijah is invoked in other Jewish customs, among them the Passover seder and the Brit milah (ritual circumcision). He appears in numerous stories and references in the Haggadah and rabbinic literature, including the Babylonian Talmud.
Jonathan Rechner (born April 11, 1972) better known by his ring name Balls Mahoney, is an American professional wrestler. Mahoney is perhaps best known for his appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling in the late 1990s and early 2000s, as well as working for World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling on its ECW brand.
Jon Rechner trained at the Monster Factory and debuted in 1987, at age 15, as Abbudah Singh. He originally wrestled in the independent circuit and for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling on a few occasions. He also wrestled for Puerto Rico-based World Wrestling Council (WWC) where he changed his ring name to Abbuda Dein. On February 25, 1989, he defeated TNT to win the WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship, which he lost to Invader #1. In May 1989, he formed a tag team with Rip Rogers and the two won the WWC World Tag Team Championship twice.
He made a small name for himself as the villainous Boo Bradley Jr. (a take-off of the character Boo Radley from To Kill a Mockingbird) in 1994 in Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) where he had a long rivalry with his kayfabe childhood friend, Chris Candido. He was originally allied with Candido and managed by Tammy Sytch, who abused him for months, but they eventually turned on him, killing his pet cat, and turning him into a fan favorite in the process. During this time, Bradley won the SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship twice. He briefly formed a team with Cactus Jack who convinced him to be his own person.
Phillip Jack Brooks (born October 26, 1978), better known by his ring name CM Punk, is an American professional wrestler signed to WWE and appearing on its Raw brand as the reigning WWE Champion.
In professional wrestling, Brooks is a seven time World Champion, having held the ROH World Championship and ECW Championship once, the World Heavyweight Championship three times and the WWE Championship twice.
In addition to these championships Punk has also won the World Tag Team Championship (with Kofi Kingston), and the WWE Intercontinental Championship making him the nineteenth WWE Triple Crown Champion and the man to achieve this honor fastest at 203 days. Between WWE and Ring of Honor (where he is also a two-time World Tag Team Champion), Punk has won a total of eleven championships. He was also the winner of the 2008 and 2009 Money in the Bank ladder matches (the only wrestler to win the match twice in a row), and was the 2011 Superstar of the Year Slammy Award winner.
Punk initially came to prominence through his career on the professional wrestling independent circuit, primarily as a member of the ROH roster, where he was the first head trainer of the ROH wrestling school as well as winning both of their championships. In 2005, Punk signed a contract with WWE and was sent to its developmental promotion, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), where he won every championship available in the promotion. Throughout his career, Punk has consistently used the gimmick of being straight edge, a lifestyle he follows in his actual day-to-day life. Depending on Punk's alignment as a crowd favorite or villain, he emphasizes different aspects of the culture to encourage the desired audience reaction.
Kofi Nahaje Sarkodie-Mensah (born August 14, 1981), is a Ghanaian American professional wrestler signed to WWE and appearing on its Raw brand under the ring name, Kofi Kingston. He and R-Truth are the current WWE Tag Team Champions. Since debuting with WWE, he has won the Intercontinental Championship three times, the United States Championship twice, the World Tag Team Championship once with CM Punk and the WWE Tag Team Championship twice, once with Evan Bourne and once with R-Truth.
He made his official wrestling debut in 2006, when he faced Tony Omega at Chaotic Wrestling on February 24th. He faced Evan Siks on June 4 for the PWF Mayhem Heavyweight Championship. He competed primarily in the New England area, including stints in National Wrestling Alliance – New England, Millennium Wrestling Federation, New England Championship Wrestling, the Eastern Wrestling Alliance, and Chaotic Wrestling.
In September 2006, he signed a developmental contract with WWE and was assigned to Deep South Wrestling (DSW), a Georgia based developmental federation. He debuted in the new company, as Kofi Nahaje Kingston, in a dark match loss to Montel Vontavious Porter on September 21. For the rest of 2006 and the beginning of 2007, he appeared in DSW, as well as its Kentucky based sister promotion Ohio Valley Wrestling, where he was in a tag team dubbed the "Commonwealth Connection" with Harry Smith. In 2007, under the ring name "Kofi Nahaje Kingson", he had his first exposure to the main WWE roster, when he worked dark matches on March 5 and 26 before episodes of Raw against Charlie Haas and Trevor Murdoch, respectively. When he returned to the developmental federations, he shortened his original ring name to "Kofi Kingston" and continued to use both ring names throughout his duration there. He also worked live events, defeating Shelton Benjamin on May 5, and Val Venis on May 6.