Eric Arndt (born December 8, 1986) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE on the Raw brand under the ring name Enzo Amore.
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Personal life
Arndt was born in Hackensack, New Jersey but grew up in Waldwick, New Jersey. There, he attended Julia A. Traphagen School and Crescent School and Waldwick High School, where he also played football. Arndt continued his football career at Division III (NCAA) Salisbury University, playing linebacker and safety for the Sea Gulls from 2007-2009. Arndt ultimately earned a degree in journalism. He formerly worked as a disc jockey and Ticket Salesman for the New York Jets, a piano mover, and a manager at Hooters.
Professional wrestling career
WWE
NXT (2012-2016)
Arndt had no prior wrestling experience before WWE signed him. He had trained with Joe DeFranco at the DeFranco's Training Systems gym in Wyckoff, New Jersey since the age of 16. By chance, WWE executive Triple H also started training with DeFranco; Arndt, a lifelong fan of professional wrestling, made a compilation video of himself doing various exercises and cutting a promo. When DeFranco showed the video to Triple H, Arndt was given a tryout at WWE, ultimately resulting in his signing. In August 2012, WWE signed Arndt, who then started using the ring name Eric Anthony. In November 2012, he was given the ring name of Enzo Amore when he debuted in WWE's developmental system NXT as a wrestler.
Amore debuted on NXT television, being described as a "stereotypical cocky, Jersey Shore loudmouth" and an "outsized version of the man playing the part", on May 22, 2013, where he was squashed by Mason Ryan. Amore went on to form an alliance with Colin Cassady, who had also previously lost to Ryan, and they named themselves "the realest guys in the room". In real life, Arndt (Amore) first met Bill Morrissey (Cass) when Morrissey was 15, when they played basketball together at the Cage of Manhattan, New York nearly 10 years before reuniting on NXT in August 2013. Despite Amore and Cassady's alliance, Ryan easily defeated them in consecutive singles matches in July, but lost to them in a handicap match. Ryan one-upped the two when he caused Amore and Cassady to be attacked by Tons of Funk. After the feud with Ryan, Amore and Cassady went on to feud with Alexander Rusev, Sylvester Lefort and Scott Dawson. On the September 25 episode of NXT, Amore and Cassady participated in a gauntlet match for a future shot at the NXT Tag Team Championship; they started the match, first defeating CJ Parker and Tyler Breeze, then defeating Rusev and Dawson but lost to The Ascension.
In November 2013, Amore suffered a broken leg while training. Amore returned on June 26, 2014 episode of NXT, saving Cassady from an attack from Sylvester Lefort and Marcus Louis. In early August, Amore and Cassady participated in the NXT Tag Team Championship tournament. They defeated Jason Jordan and Tye Dillinger in the first round, but were eliminated by The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch) in the second round. Lefort and Louis then renewed their rivalry with Amore and Cassady by attacking them and shaving Amore's beard. As a result, Amore challenged Lefort to a match with the loser's hair as forfeit at NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way which Amore won, but Lefort ran away, leaving his partner Louis to lose his hair and eyebrows. Amore and Cassady formed an alliance with the debuting Carmella. The duo had accidentally cost Carmella her hairdressing job, causing her to demand to get a job as a wrestler. Carmella had her televised in-ring debut on the October 16, 2014 episode of NXT. Among the trainers at NXT, Amore singled out Bill DeMott and Dusty Rhodes as being instrumental in his training and promos respectively.
On the March 11, 2015 episode of NXT, Amore and Cassady defeated The Lucha Dragons in a #1 contenders match for the NXT Tag Team Championship. At NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable, Amore and Cassady faced Blake and Murphy for the title in a losing effort after interference by Alexa Bliss. In December, Amore and Cassady began a feud with Dash and Dawson, where they challenged them for the NXT Tag Team Championship at both NXT TakeOver: London and Roadblock unsuccessfully. On March 24, 2016, Apollo Crews, Enzo and Cass defeated NXT Champions The Revival and Baron Corbin.
Raw Tag Team Championship pursuits (2016-2017)
On the Raw after WrestleMania 32, Amore and Cassady debuted on the main roster and confronted The Dudley Boyz. A week later on SmackDown, Amore and Cassady defeated The Ascension in a tournament to determine the No. 1 contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship. The team went on to defeat the Dudley Boyz on the following week's Raw in the semi-final of the tag team tournament, advancing them to the finals. In the finals, Enzo and Cass faced the Vaudevillains at Payback, with the match ending in a no contest after Amore suffered a legitimate concussion during the match. At Money in the Bank, Enzo and Cass faced The New Day, The Vaudevillains and Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, in a fatal-four way tag team match for the WWE Tag Team Championship, in which The New Day retained their titles. On the July 4 episode of Raw, Enzo and Cass helped John Cena, who was getting attacked by The Club, involving themselves in the feud between Cena and The Club. At Battleground, Enzo and Cass teamed with Cena to defeat The Club in a six-man tag team match. In the 2016 WWE draft, Enzo and Cass were drafted to Raw. Following Battleground, Enzo and Cass proceeded to feud with Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho, which culminated at SummerSlam, where the two lost to Jericho and Owens.
On the November 7 episode of Raw, Enzo and Cass joined Team Raw for the 10-on-10 Survivor Series Tag Team Elimination match at Survivor Series, during which Team Raw defeated Team Smackdown. On the November 21 episode of Raw, after Amore was locked out of the locker room naked by Cass as a practical joke and ran into Lana in the hallway, Rusev challenged Amore to a match later that night, in which Amore was quickly defeated. The following week on Raw, Amore defeated Rusev by disqualification. On the December 5 episode of Raw, after Amore stood up for Lana after seeing her and Rusev argue backstage, Lana invited Amore to her hotel room. Later that night, this was revealed to be a trap when Rusev attacked Amore in the hotel room. Over the following weeks Enzo and Cass feuded with Rusev and Jinder Mahal.
Amore participated in the 2017 Royal Rumble match entering at number 27 but was immediately eliminated by Brock Lesnar. Amore and Cass competed in a fatal-4 way ladder match at WrestleMania 33 for the Raw Tag Team Championship against defending champions Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, Sheamus and Cesaro, and the returning Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy), where the Hardys emerged victorious. The following night on Raw, Amore and Cass were defeated by Cesaro and Sheamus in a tag team match to determinate the #1 contenders for the Raw Tag Team Championship. On the April 17 episode of Raw, Amore and Cass were defeated by Anderson and Gallows.
Feud with Big Cass and singles competition (2017-present)
Throughout May, Enzo was repeatedly knocked out from behind by an unknown attacker. Big Cass went on to accuse The Revival, who had been seen in the background in the aftermath of the attacks, but they denied this. The following week on the June 5 episode of Raw, Big Cass was found knocked out backstage in the same fashion as Amore was. Later, Cass claimed he was not cleared to wrestle, so Amore teamed with Big Show in a match against Gallows and Anderson, which they won. The following week, Cass was again found knocked out backstage. He claimed the attacker had to have had a giant fist and blamed Big Show, who denied having been the attacker. On the June 19 episode of Raw, General Manager Kurt Angle attempted to expose the attacker but cleared Show and The Revival as they had alibis. Security footage found by Cory Graves then revealed that Cass had faked his own attack in order to lure away suspicion that he was behind Enzo's. Cass admitted to this, expressing his frustration during his time teaming with Enzo. Cass then attacked Enzo with a big boot, thus turning Cass heel and disbanding the team. On the June 26 Raw, an emotional Enzo called out Cass to the ring and the two seemingly reconciled; however, Cass again viciously attacked Enzo in the stage area, cementing his heel turn. At the first ever Great Balls of Fire PPV, Enzo lost to Cass. on July 17th episode of Raw, Amore was attacked by Cass after appearing through the crowd. On July 24th episode of Raw, Cass defeated Enzo Amore and then attacked Amore after the match. He would interfere in the Big Show vs. Big Cass match by attacking Cass, thereby giving Cass a disqualification victory.
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Air Enzo (Diving splash)
- DDG (Diving DDT)
- Signature moves
- Diving crossbody
- Dropkick
- Hurricanrana
- Knee lift
- Reverse STO into the turnbuckles
- Running crossbody
- Running facebuster
- Suicide dive
- Tornado DDT, sometimes while standing
- Tilt-a-whirl headscissors takedown
- With Colin Cassady/Big Cass
- Double team finishing moves
- Bada Boom Shakalaka (Rocket Launcher)
- Double team finishing moves
- Nicknames
- "A Certified G and a Bona-Fide Stud"
- "Jersey's Finest"
- "Realest Guy in the Room"
- "Smacktalker Skywalker"
- "The Michael Jordan of Jargon"
- "Muscles Marinara"
- Managers
- Carmella
- Entrance themes
- "Italian Lover" by Raphael Lake (NXT)
- "SAWFT is a Sin" by CFO$ featuring Enzo Amore (NXT/WWE; May 30, 2014-present)
Championships and accomplishments
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Ranked No. 122 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016
- WWE NXT
- NXT Year-End Award (1 time)
- Tag Team of the Year (2015) with Colin Cassady
- NXT Year-End Award (1 time)
Luchas de Apuestas record
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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