Paul London

Paul Michael London (born April 16, 1980 in Austin, Texas) is an American professional wrestler performing for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on the SmackDown! brand where he is one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions with his tag team partner, Brian Kendrick.

London previously worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), Ring of Honor (ROH), and various independent and Japanese promotions. London has been nicknamed the "Excellence of Innovation" due to his innovative high-flying style of wrestling.

Career

London graduated high school and went on to college. While in college London would train to become a professional wrestler in a nearby training school. London did not tell his family about his ambition of being a professional wrestler, nor did he inform them during the first 3 years of this career in fear of being disowned by his parents. He eventually dropped out of college to concentrate on his wrestling career.

London's main exposure came from his work in the Ring of Honor promotion. During his time working for ROH, London's matches were often accompanied by chants of "please don't die" as a reference to his wild style. While in ROH, London feuded with Spanky and had acclaimed matches against other Shawn Michaels-trained wrestlers such as Bryan Danielson and Matt Bentley. London's final match in ROH was a failed attempt to de-throne the ROH World Champion, Samoa Joe.

He had a short stint with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2003. He made three appearances for the promotion throughout the year.

London went on to sign a WWE Development deal in mid-2003, working a few dark matches before being sent to its development territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling on August 30, 2003. London would make his official WWE television debut on the SmackDown! brand, losing to Brock Lesnar in a try-out match on October 9, 2003.

He later began tag teaming with fellow cruiserweight and fomer ROH star, Spanky. The team was a mainstay on SmackDown!'s sister show, WWE Velocity, until Spanky left the company.

After this London would be placed with a new tag team partner, Billy Kidman. This team had more success and went on to win the WWE Tag Team Titles from The Dudley Boyz on July 8, 2004.

The championship run of this face team came to an abrupt end after Kidman turned his back on London, leaving him to wrestle a tag team title match on his own. The heel turn came off the back of a legitimate injury on an August 24, 2004 taping of SmackDown!, where Billy Kidman's Shooting Star Press caused Chavo Guerrero to suffer a concussion and be taken to the hospital. London and Kidman continued their feud for a few months before London was placed in the hunt for the cruiserweight gold.

In 2005, he began a feud with Chavo Guerrero, which later saw London win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship from him in a Cruiserweight Battle Royal on March 31, 2005.

The pair continued their feud and had a Cruiserweight title match on June 23, 2005, but this title match was quickly interrupted by The Mexicools, who also interrupted a rematch the following week. On July 14, 2005, Paul London teamed with Scotty 2 Hotty and Funaki to face The Mexicools. The ending of the match saw Juventud perform London's 450 Splash on London for the win, almost injuring him in the process.

As a result of the number of injuries it was reported that WWE management told their cruiserweight stars to tone down their high flying nature, banning both the 450 splash and the shooting star press. Paul London, who used the shooting star on July 30, 2005 in a WWE Velocity match with Nunzio, was told afterwards not to use the move anymore, and to come up with a new finisher. Ironically he was the one injured by a 450 splash before the decision was made to ban the move. He was said to be notably upset, and even went to Vince McMahon to air his views. London went on to lose the WWE Cruiserweight Title on August 6, 2005 on the next edition of WWE Velocity to Nunzio, an apparent sign that his meeting with McMahon was not well received.

London was then taken off TV and was said to be at home dealing with a family illness. London then had a short-lived heel turn where he complained about his treatment in WWE, he used many non-crowd pleasing tactics, such as complaining to the ref while wrestling and tried out new moves which he could use for a new finisher. During this time he would go on a long losing streak before returning as a face and re-teaming with the newly rehired Brian Kendrick, who was previously known as Spanky.

On the December 17th edition of Velocity the pair remade their image, They wore masks like those used in theatre plays to the ring and matching shiny purple, later becoming blue, vests and shorts. The new image brought new life to the team who would go on to produce an impressive showing against then tag team champions, MNM. On April 7, 2006 edition of SmackDown! London and Kendrick would once again face MNM, this time picking up a win in a non-title match against the reigning WWE Tag Team champions. London and Kendrick would continue their winning streak on the champions, including singles victories for both Kendrick and London on Johnny Nitro and Joey Mercury respectively. The pair defeated MNM during WWE Judgement Day to win the WWE Tag Team Titles.

As WWE Tag Team Champions, Kendrick and London would go on to defend their titles against other teams on SmackDown!; including The Mexicools.