James Mitchell (wrestler)

James Mitchell, sometimes Jim Mitchell, is an American professional wrestling manager, best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling as James Vandenberg and with Extreme Championship Wrestling as The Sinister Minister. He is currently working under his own name for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he is the manager of Abyss.

In addition to wrestling, Mitchell operates a karaoke business in Florida.

Career

Mitchell started out as a vocalist in an indie hair band, that in his words was, "40 pounds and a full head of hair ago.". Afterwards, he got into wrestling. Mitchell wrestled in the Carolinas and in Virginia before joining Smoky Mountain Wrestling. He wasn't satisfied with his physical appearance as a wrestler, so he switched to being a manager.

World Championship Wrestling

Mitchell debuted in World Championship Wrestling as James Vandenberg, the manager of Mortis, a wrestler with a persona based on the characters Scorpion and Reptile from the fighting game Mortal Kombat. Managed by Vandenburg, Mortis feuded with Glacier (modelled after the character Sub-Zero). Mortis faced Glacier at Uncensored 1997 on March 16 in his pay-per-view debut, but lost to the undefeated Glacier. Following the match, Wrath debuted, siding with Mortis and Vandenburg and attacked Glacier. Glacier defeated Mortis in a second match at Slamboree 1997 on May 18 when Wrath interfered on Mortis's behalf, causing a disqualification. However, Glacier was spared a post-match beating when Ernest Miller ran to the ring to defend him. The four men fought one another over the following weeks, culminating in a match at Bash at the Beach 1997 on July 13 which was won by Mortis and Wrath. Mortis and Wrath continued to team together until the angle was quietly dropped in late-1997. Mitchell then tried to get an interview segment off the ground on WCW Saturday Night, but it was quietly axed weeks after when Eric Bischoff found out it was being produced. With nothing planned for his character, he was sent home with pay until his contract ran out. However, the office was not checking up on his contract status which was only one year, so it rolled over and he stayed at home for another year with pay until he was finally cut loose in 1999.

Extreme Championship Wrestling

Mitchell debuted in ECW in 2000 as The Sinister Minister. He managed The Unholy Alliance (Yoshihiro Tajiri and Mikey Whipwreck) until the promotion closed in April 2001.

He met with an accident while loading a handheld machine which purpose was shooting fireballs. The machine exploded and blew off a piece of his finger.

Mitchell appeared at the WWE-produced ECW reunion pay-per-view ECW One Night Stand 2005 on June 12, 2005. He accompanied Tajiri to ringside for his match wiith Super Crazy and Little Guido.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Mitchell debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on June 19, 2002.

On October 30, 2002, Mitchell returned to TNA along with Slash and Brian Lee, collectively known as the Disciples of The New Church. The New Church feuded with America's Most Wanted throughout 2002.

In 2003, The New Church began feuding with Raven. On November 5, 2003, Mitchell fought Raven in a last man standing match that was won by Raven.

In late-2003, Mitchell aligned himself with The Gathering, Raven's former protégés.

Mitchell returned to TNA on July 1, 2005, aligning himself with Abyss.

Mitchell led Abyss to victories over Lance Hoyt at TNA Sacrifice 2005 and Sabu at TNA Genesis 2005.

At TNA Turning Point 2005 on December 11, Abyss lost to Sabu in a barbed wire massacre.

Wrestlers managed by Mitchell

Quotes

"Click! Doomsday! (evil laughter)"
"You will pay......DEARLY!"
"I have outlandish clothes because you have to standout. You don't want to blend in with the audience."
"You've heard people say that they drank Paul (Heyman)'s Kool-Aid. I never drank his Kool-Aid, in fact I didn't even let him mix it; I yanked the package out of his hand, ripped it open, and snorted it. I was ECW all the way. It was a lot of fun, and I was sad to see it go."

Trivia

When Mitchell shaved Raven's head in his feud with him in Total Nonstop Action with a pair of sheep clippers, he turned the clippers the wrong way and they dug into his scalp. Since it was being televised live, Mitchell had to go with it and continue the "scalping".

Claims he has been doing his evil eyebrows for the past six years, "and they now just kind of stand up normally like that."

References

External links

TNA profile

ECW alumni | Orlandoans | Professional wrestling managers and valets | SMW alumni | ジェームス・ミッチェル

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