User:DrRonThomasJr/sandbox

The Nighthawk (born 5/10/1958 in Waco, TX, as Ronald C. Thomas, Jr.) is a professional wrestler operating primarily in the southern United States. He grew up a fan of pro wrestling primarily through family members that exposed him to their favorites such as Lou Thesz, Chief Don Eagle and Fritz Von Erich. After learning freestyle wrestling and gymnastics in prep school, he went on to play other sports (two years of tennis at Gulf Coast State College, a season of semi-pro baseball with the Panama City, FL, Flames, a season of semi-pro football with the Ocala, FL, Outlaws) including tennis, golf and kickboxing at a competitive level, earning honors in each. After working as a sports writer and photographer, he began covering pro wrestling for various magazines such as Wrestling Eye and Wrestling Fury (where he was a contributing editor), Official Wrestling Insider, TV Wrestling, Brute Force and others in the US and UK. WWE Hall of famer and legendary brodcaster the late Gordon Solie had introduced the future Nighthawk to the backstage world of pro wrestling and was his point of contact for World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) and Continental Championship Wrestling (CCW). It was while covering the sport that Steve Keirn, then of The Fabulous Ones tag team and currently head of WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling, suggested that he should begin training as a wrestler himself. At 6'3" and 235 pounds, Keirn felt he was wasting his size behind a camera. In 1988, he sought out training from Dean Malenko, The Man of 1,000 Holds and Pro Wrestling Illustrated's 1997 Wrestler of the Year. From there, he moved to Panama City, FL, and made his debut with Universal Wrestling Association as The Nighthawk. He lost his debut match on March 15, 1990, to The Spade, but spent the next year in camp and appearing with WWE Hall of Famer Bullet Bob Armstrong, the Exotic Adrian Street and many others in the former Conrintental Championship Wrestling area of north Florida and south Alabama. The Nighthawk went on to great success as a rookie in the UWA, winning both the Junior Heavyweight and Tag Team (with The Eliminator) titles. In 1992, he worked in the PCW (Professional Championship Wrestling) promotion, run by the late WWE Hall of Famer Big John Studd and was the PCW Cruiserweight champion. After spending several years in the fire service, The Nighthawk returned to pro wrestling with various promotions across the south, first in north Florida's World Independent Wrestling where he was half of the tag team champions, losing the belts to old rivals The Trooper and The Cobra (aka The SWAT Team) whom he had battled in the UWA. The Nighthawk also lost a WIW Light-Heavyweight title bout to Johnny All-Star after their tag team dissolved. From UWA, he was tapped by the IWA Worldwide to be its first Heavyweight Champion and to defend that title anywhere in the US. This led to matches against Rebel Rob Lee, a graduate of Larry Sharpe's Monster Factory, in the Georgia Wrestling Alliance (GWA) and Awesome Pro Wrestling (APW). He also defended the IWA title against Drew "Blood" Bannen,a graduate of Exotic Adrian Street's wrestling school, in Universal Classic Championship Wrestling (UCCW). The Nighthawk also appeared in Southern Championship Wrestling (SCW) as its Texas Heavyweight Champion and made a notable defense against The Saint, a graduate of the legendary Hart Family "Dungeon" in Calgary. A longtime goal for The Nighthawk was to appear in the National Wrestling Alliance where his heroes Jack Brisco and Dory Funk, Jr., had their legendary battles for the NWA World championship. Based the record he had built in the tri-states (Alabama-Florida-Georgia) area, The Nighthawk was invited to wrestle for NWA Championship Wrestling from Florida (NWA-CWFL), managed by Vanessa Harding (a long-time friend who had also managed him in SCW). While unsuccessful in his his efforts to wrest the NWA South Atlantic title from champion Redd Alert, The Nighthawk became a popular star in the Orlando area and eventually defeated Bryan Fury to win the NWA Gulf Coast Heavyweight Championship. A previous version of this title had been held by Cowboy Bob Kelly, Ken Lucas and many other stars of the region in the 1970s. The Nighthawk made several successful defenses of the new NWA Gulf Coast title across the Florida Panhandle and into south Georgia for various promotions including NWA Spinebuster Championship Wrestling (NWA-SCW) where WWE Hall of Famer and former NWA World Champ Dory Funk, Jr, was still appearing. A notable title defense came when The Nighthawk defeated one of Funk's proteges Big Bank Barfield in a Texas Bullrope Match. In 2005, The Nighthhawk was recruited by the Great American Wrestling Federation (GAWF) to make some NWA Gulf Coast title defenses. When GAWF joined the American Wrestling Association (AWA), this created an opportunity to chase another championship under another major sanctioning body. After a year of pursuit, The Nighthawk defeated Steve Dalton to win the AWA Coastal Heavyweight Championship. In 2006, The Nighthawk retired as the GAWF/AWA Coastal Heavyweight Champion.