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Peter Joseph ("P.J.") Polaco (born October 16, 1973, living in Waterbury, Connecticut) is an American professional wrestler. Polaco is currently wrestling for the Extreme Championship Wrestling brand of World Wrestling Entertainment under the ring name Justin Credible.

Career

Polaco travelled to Canada in order to train at the famous Hart Dungeon in Calgary, Alberta with Stu Hart, Keith Hart and his future tag team partner, Lance Storm. He wrestled his first match on his birthday against Jake Steele. Polaco returned to America soon after his training was complete and began working for New England based wrestling promotions.

World Wrestling Federation

In late 1994, World Wrestling Federation agent Pat Patterson hired Polaco. His Portuguese ethnicity inspired the WWF to give him first the character of Aldo Montoya, a professional soccer player, then that of the "Man O' War", a gimmick which required him to wear a mask that resembled a yellow jock strap over his head. Polaco befriended the Clique, an influential group of upper card wrestlers, after Scott Hall offered to mentor him. He had feuds with Jeff Jarrett and Ted DiBiase, but asked for his release in 1997 when he was only being booked twice a month. The WWF initially declined and sent him to a developmental promotion in Memphis to hone his skills, where he remained for seven weeks before being released on condition that he not work for World Championship Wrestling, who was then luring wrestlers away from the Federation with the promise of larger salaries.

Extreme Championship Wrestling

Polaco left the Federation and joined Extreme Championship Wrestling, where booker Paul Heyman promised to make him a star. Polaco shaved his head and switched to a grunge style of dress, and adopted a cocky, sneering, egomaniacal attitude, renaming himself Justin Credible ("Just Incredible"). Jason Knight became his manager, along with Chastity and Nicole Bass.

He quickly ascended the ranks, eventually forming a tag team, the Impact Players, with his trainer, Lance Storm. The teaming was successful, as the Players won the ECW Tag Team Championships on August 26, 1999 and March 3, 2000. The team split when Credible won the world title, as he threw down the ECW tag team titles, Storm left for WCW soon after

After feuding with Sabu and Shane Douglas in 1999, Polaco ascended to main event level in 2000 by winning the ECW World Heavyweight Championship on April 22, 2000 at Cyberslam from Tommy Dreamer. He held the title for over five months, and defeated Dreamer in a Stairway To Hell match at HeatWave. He finally lost the title to Jerry Lynn on October 1, 2000. At the final ECW PPV He formed the New Impact Players with Steve Corino.

World Wrestling Federation

In 2001, with ECW facing imminent bankruptcy and Paul Heyman becoming unable to pay the roster, Polaco returned to the WWF in January 2001. He immediately aligned himself with his offscreen friend, X-Pac in February, 2001, and assisted him in his pursuit of the Intercontinental Championship. The duo eventually formed a stable with Albert known as X-Factor. X-Pac and Polaco tried several times to win the Tag Team Championships, but were unsuccessful. The team split when Polaco aligned himself with Paul Heyman's band of ECW insurgents and helped form The Alliance with WCW. Polaco remained on the Company's "B" shows, forming a team with Raven, until Team Alliance lost at Survivor Series 2001 and Polaco was fired along with the rest of the alliance roster (in kayfabe) by Vince McMahon until Ric Flair was able to save his job and get him drafted over to the RAW brand.

On the RAW brand, Credible wrestled mostly on Sunday Night HEAT and lost many singles matches he was in but became an 8 time Hardcore Champion. Nonetheless, Polaco failed to achieve any real success in the WWF. Like many of the wrestlers from WCW or ECW, his character was poorly defined. Polaco switched his trademark denim shorts for nondescript long black tights, and his entrance music, previously the Prong song "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck", was replaced by a generic piece of instrumental music. He also lost his finisher, a devastating looking Spinning Piledriver, due to the in-ring limitations imposed on WWF employees and the fact that the move was similar to that used by WWF veteran The Undertaker. His last match on RAW was a squash match in which he was defeated by Batista. Polaco was released in January 2003, with his final televised WWE appearance a loss to Test on the December 8, 2002 episode of HEAT.

Independent circuit

After being released, Polaco wrestled for numerous independent promotions. He has appeared several times for Ring of Honor, where he was a member of the Carnage Crew, and for Xtreme Pro Wrestling, where he feuded with Shane Douglas. He also appeared with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, forming a stable with several other ex-ECW wrestlers and reviving his feud with Jerry Lynn. He was also briefly a member of the Xtreme Horsemen in Major League Wrestling with C.W. Anderson, Steve Corino and Simon Diamond, who were briefly managed by J.J. Dillon. In June 2005 Polaco made appearances on both the Hardcore Homecoming and ECW One Night Stand 2005 ECW reunion shows.

On November 13, 2005, Polaco, wrestling as P.J. Polaco, was announced as the "mystery opponent" for Raven in the TNA pay-per view, Genesis. Polaco lost the match.

Credible signed a contract with the MTV "Wrestling Society X" stating that if MTV decided to turn the "one time special" into a full season, he would complete the season and would be un-able to compete anywere else for that time period. He was released from his contract on June 5, 2006.

World Wrestling Entertainment

Polaco was rehired by World Wrestling Entertainment in June 2006. He returned to WWE television at the June 7, 2006 WWE vs. ECW Head to Head event as a member of the Extreme Championship Wrestling brand of WWE, taking part in a 20 man battle royal.

Wrestling facts

Finishing and signature moves

Managers

Championships and accomplishments

  • 1-time RWF Heavyweight Champion
  • 1-time NEWA Tag Team Champion
  • 1-time Texas Wrestling Alliance Heavyweight Champion
  • 3-time PWF Universal Heavyweight Champion
  • 1-time ICW Heavyweight Champion

External links

1973 births | American professional wrestlers | Dungeon graduates | ECW alumni | Living people | People from New York | Portuguese-Americans | The Kliq

Peter Polaco | ピーター・ポラコ

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Peter Polaco".

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