Brian Gerard James

Brian Gerard (B.G.) James (born May 20, 1970 in Marietta, Georgia) is an American professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as "The Road Dogg" Jesse James; a former member of D-Generation X, and the tag team partner of Billy Gunn, with whom he comprised the New Age Outlaws and The James Gang. He is currently working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).

Career

Brian Gerard James is the youngest son of wrestling patriarch Bob Armstrong and has three elder brothers (Brad, Scott and Steve) who are also wrestlers. James served in the United States Marine Corps from 1987 to 1993 and fought in Operation Desert Storm in 1991 where he was a platoon sergeant in command of 33 soldiers. During his recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in Parris Island, South Carolina, James was named Honor Man. Six months after receiving his discharge in 1993, James began wrestling.

World Wrestling Federation

After wrestling for a year in Smoky Mountain Wrestling and making occasional appearance for World Championship Wrestling as Brian Armstrong, James began his career with the then World Wrestling Federation towards the end of 1994. He was billed as The Roadie, an assistant to "Double J" Jeff Jarrett, a would-be country singer. He wrestled on several PPVs and television shows but most of his first WWF tenure was spent accompanying Jarrett and interfering in his matches. In early 1995, Jeff Jarrett would release the song "With My Baby Tonight" that Jarrett claimed he had sung himself. The planned angle was that it would be revealed that it was the Roadie, not Jarrett, who had really performed the vocals on this song sparking a feud between the two wrestlers. However, before this revelation could take place, Jarrett and James suddenly left the WWF following the second In Your House pay-per-view on July 23, 1995. James then joined the United States Wrestling Association as Jesse James Armstrong, winning the heavyweight and tag titles before being forced to leave as a result of a defeat at the hands of Jeff Jarrett.

James returned to the WWF in 1996 as Jesse Jammes, "The Real Double J", and revealed himself, somewhat belatedly, to be the true singer of "With My Baby Tonight". He languished as a midcard singles wrestler until he formed a tag team with Billy Gunn. A change in creative direction in the WWF in late 1997 led Billy Gunn who had formerly been stuck in the unpopular gimmick of "Rockabilly," to bleach his hair blonde and assume the name "Badd Ass" Billy Gunn (also known as Mr. Ass), while James became "The Road Dogg" Jesse James. The appearance and mannerisms of the team became more and more controversial and anti-social. The team, known as the New Age Outlaws, feuded with the Road Warriors and the short-lived tag team of Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie before joining D-Generation X the night after WrestleMania XIV.

James's career peaked in late 1998 and 1999 with the New Age Outlaws as D-Generation X became more and more popular. The team split briefly in mid-1999 but soon reconciled. The Outlaws amassed five Tag Title titles before Sopp was (legitimately) injured in early 2000 and unceremoniously thrown out of D-Generation X to explain his absence. James then teamed with fellow D-Generation X member X-Pac throughout the summer of 2000 but failed to regain his former popularity or title success. The team eventually split and D-Generation X fell apart. James then formed a tag team with newcomer K-Kwik but was released from the WWF soon after. It was rumoured that his release was due to arriving at an arena under the influence of drugs. In November of 2000 in one of the funnier moments of professional wrestling, James forgot the name of the town he was visiting and showed up at a Cleveland wrestling taping proclaiming 'Detroit rock city.....' , which got him booed so much it had to be edited out of the broadcast.

Over the next two years, James's career lost momentum. His most prominent appearance were with the short lived World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) promotion.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Brian James debuted for the upstart Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion on September 18, 2002 wrestling as B.G. James (the popular Road Dogg gimmick being owned by the WWE). He was initially a heel and one of the founding members of Vince Russo's Sports Entertainment Xtreme faction.

In July 2003, James formed the popular group known as the 3Live Kru with Hispanic wrestler Konnan and the African-American wrestler K-Kwik, by then wrestling under his real name, Ron Killings. James was presented as a white trash redneck. The group was popular from the outset and were notable for the fact that they sang their own entrance music as they approached the ring. The 3Live Kru turned out to be a successful gimmick as Killings held the NWA World Heavyweight Title for a second time and all three members enjoyed Tag Title reigns.

Tension arose when James' former partner Billy Gunn joined TNA as "The New Age Outlaw" (later shortened to "The Outlaw") in February 2005. The Outlaw repeatedly courted James, seeking to split the Kru and recreate the New Age Outlaws. When The Outlaw began feuding with the Kru, James repeatedly found his loyalties divided, unwilling to fight either his former or current tag team partners. For a time, James stopped appearing with the Kru but did not align himself with The Outlaw who had by then changed his name to "Kip James" as a "tribute" to James' father. At TNA Sacrifice however, he reasserted his allegiance with 3LK as special guest referee in another match between the other members and the team of Kip James and Monty Brown.

Kip James tried to warm up to 3LK again in the lead-up to Bound For Glory by saving B.G. several times from Team Canada. At BFG, he offered his protective services to them against Team Canada (to neutralize Scott D'Amore, as he said). They lost and Kip James came down, appearing ready to hit Konnan with a steel chair since he vetoed Kip's offer. Kip instead saved Konnan from Team Canada proving his original intentions.

On the November 26 episode of iMPACT!, B.G. brought Kip and the 3LK to the ring and asked the Truth and Konnan to give Kip James a yes/no vote to be accepted into the group. After B.G. got heated with Konnan, both gave Kip yes votes and the "4Live Kru" was born.

The 4Live Kru would be short lived as Konnan, still apparently upset at Kip James's induction into the Kru, bashed both B.G. and Kip over the head with a steel chair at TNA's pay-per-view Turning Point. Konnan, still wanting Ron Killings to be his "family" tried talking with The Truth. Killings told Konnan that he was done with the Kru and wanted to leave it all behind him.

After the incident, B.G. and Kip regrouped, reforming their old tag team as The James Gang and feuding with Konnan's new stable, The Latin American Exchange which he formed with Homicide and Apolo. Apolo was sent home from the Against All Odds PPV after complaining about being used as a jobber and was quickly replaced by a relative unknown named Machete. LAX's membership has been in flux ever since.

On a recent edition of Impact, B.G.'s real life father Bullet Bob Armstrong informed the James Gang that he was sick of the shenanigans of LAX and how they always used strength in numbers to their advantage. He informed them that he was going to see Larry Zbyszko to have himself added to the Destination X match as their partner, effectively making it a three-man tag. A despondent B.G. turned to Kip James and comically uttered "Mom is gonna KILL me!" He was infact added and they won the match at Destination X.

The next month an arm wrestling match was booked between Bullet Bob Armstrong and Konnan, where the losing team would get hit 10 times with a leather whip. Bob Armstrong prevailed with the victory, so the LAX got whipped several times upon scramming out of the cage for survival.

Wrestling facts

Finishing and signature moves

Pumphandle Drop
Shake, Rattle and Roll (combination jabs)
Shaky knee drop
Piledriver
With Kip James

Spike piledriver

Managers

Nicknames

B-Jizzle
The Real Double J
The Trailer Park Gangsta

Championships and accomplishments

Atlantic Coast Championship Wrestling

1-time ACCW Heavyweight Champion
- Continental Wrestling Federation

1-time Continental Heavyweight Champion
- NWA Wrestle Birmingham

1-time NWA Alabama Heavyweight Champion
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated

PWI ranked him # 183 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years (2003)
PWI ranked him # 43 of the best tag teams of the PWI Years, with Billy Gunn
PWI Tag Team of the Year Award, with Billy Gunn (1998)
- Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)