Tomko

Tomko was signed to a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) developmental contract in April 2002 and assigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) to sharpen his skill.While in OVW he was a member of the Disciples of Synn stable and along with stablemate Seven captured the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship, on March 5, 2003, though they lost them less than a month later to The Acolytes Protection Agency.In July 2003, Tomko began working dark matches for the WWE Raw brand. He made his television debut on the April 19, 2004 RAW, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, interfering in a Christian vs. Chris Jericho match on Christian's behalf and helping him pick up the win. His gimmick was that of "The Problem Solver", and acting as an "enforcer for hire" for Christian and his kayfabe girlfriend Trish Stratus in their feud with Chris Jericho. His singles matches were few and far between; his main goal was ensuring victory for his clients, usually by interfering.When Christian suffered a (legit) back injury, Tomko continued to stand by Stratus and aid her in gaining an advantage in feuds against Jericho, Victoria, and Steven Richards, among others. The duo occasionally paired together for mixed tag team matches. Upon Christian's return, Tomko immediately paired with him again, filling the same role as before. Following the on-screen split between Stratus and Christian, Tomko remained Christian's enforcer.His gimmick eventually evolved into that of a straight man to Christian's over-the-top character with delusions of grandeur, and Tomko could often be seen on camera shaking his head in disbelief at the situations Christian had put them in with his braggadocio. One famous incident of this was at the 2005 Royal Rumble event, during Christian's rapper feud with John Cena; Christian asked Tomko to give him a beat, and Tomko famously responded "No". This response is now frequently used on pro wrestling message boards as a bit of an injoke.The duo also wrestled as a tag team on occasion, sometimes aligning themselves with Edge as well. Whenever the duo acted alongside Edge, fans considered Tomko a third party to the occasional reunion of Edge and Christian, often jobbing in six-man tag matches.In June 2005, Edge, Christian and Tomko joined forces with Eric Bischoff in his crusade against Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). They were separated on June 30 when Christian was drafted to SmackDown!.Now on his own, Tomko was pushed as a "monster heel", winning singles matches against many jobbers by (kayfabe) knock out after hitting a big boot to the back of the head. On RAW, he knocked out both World Tag Team Champions, Rosey and The Hurricane. His winning streak ended after he was pinned by John Cena on RAW two weeks in a row.Tomko then went on to form an Insane tag team with Snitsky although the two worked well together they weren't given much of a push and In April 2006, Tomko requested, and was granted, his release from WWE in order to wrestle in Japan.[edit] New Japan Pro Wrestling (2006-) Tomko debuted in New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) shortly after receiving his release, participating in a tournament for the vacant IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, which had been vacated by Brock Lesnar. On March 11, 2007 Tomko and Giant Bernard defeated Manabu Nakanishi and Takao Omori to win the IWGP World Tag Team Championship.[edit] Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2006-) On the November 23, 2006 episode of TNA iMPACT!, Tomko made his debut in a run-in during a NWA World Heavyweight Championship number one contender's match between Christian Cage and Sting, attacking Sting and siding with Cage. He is once again acting as Christian's enforcer.On the January 11, 2007 episode of iMPACT!, Tomko went one on one against NWA World Heavyweight Champion Abyss in a non-title match. To avoid interference, Jim Cornette locked Christian in a cage, and also had Kurt Angle at ringside. During the bout, Angle got into a brawl with Samoa Joe, leaving Cage to release himself and assault Abyss, causing Tomko to be disqualified.Then on the March 1st edition of TNA impact he beat Samoa Joe for a chance (not yet announced) for a NWA title shot against Cage.On March 8th edition of TNA iMPACT!, Christian's Coalition lost to Kurt Angle, Rhino and Samoa Joe after interference from Abyss who Black Hole Slammed Kurt Angle.At Destination X, while getting out of the limo onto the black and blue carpet, Christian Cage received a telegram from Tomko stating that Tomko was in Japan and would come back if Cage would give him a title shot. Once Tomko returned from Japan, Christian Cage offered Tomko a spot on Team Cage at TNA Lockdown 2007, but Tomko said he wouldn't choose a team until he got a title shot at the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. It ended up being that Jim Cornette came out and said that the main event on TNA impact that night would be one member from Team Cage fighting one member from Team Angle. Whichever team member won, Tomko would go to the team the member was from. It would be Abyss from Team Cage fighting Kurt Angle from Team Angle. In the end, Kurt Angle won by pinfall, but after the match, Tomko signed on to Team Cage instead of Team Angle, making him the final member of Team Cage to fight Team Angle at TNA Lockdown 2007 along with Abyss, AJ Styles, Scott Steiner, and Christian Cage. A match was held to see who would go into the cage first. It would be a match between Samoa Joe and AJ Styles, Jeff Jarrett interfered to become the 5th member of team Angle. Tomko entered that match as the 3rd member, and was successful, until being gored through the cage door. In the end Jeff Jarret hit Abyss with a guitar full of tacks, and Sting got the pin.On the following episode of TNA iMPACT!, Tomko took part in Team Cage's brutal exorcism and beatdown of Abyss for being a liability to the team's success after Abyss and Cage failed to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship from Team 3D. One week later, Tomko and Scott Steiner were given a tag team title shot of their own, but failed thanks to botched interference from LAX. At TNA Sacrifice 2007, Tomko and Steiner met LAX and 3D in a three-way match for the title, but failed again.After this loss, Rick Steiner debuted in TNA, and helped Scott beat down Tomko. Tomko remained in what was from then on once again known as Christian's Coalition, once again focused on aiding Cage. Some friction did set in after Cage cost Tomko his May 31, 2007 King of the Mountain qualifying match by distacting him with a chair. Tomko had been placed in the match vs. fellow Coalition member A.J. Styles because original contestant Jeff Jarrett no-showed (due to his wife's death). Christian was able to convince Tomko to continue on as his ally, which later came in handy as Tomko would go on to do much of the brunt work in the Coalition's feud against the returned Abyss and Sting, though he would be twice pinned by Abyss at PPVs after taking a Black Hole Slam each time. However, the Coalition finally avenged these losses with another bloody beatdown of Abyss which also featured the laying-out of Sting on the July 26 iMPACT!On the PPV that follwed (Hard Justice), Tomko, along with A.J. and Christian, had taken part in a "Doomsday Chamber of Blood Match", which Abyss picked a week after winning the contract to make it. The match was a barbed-wire six sides of steel cage match in which the objective was to make an opponent bleed and pin that opponent. The Coalition was able to lock Sting out for awhile, but after he appeared in the ring, Tomko would be the first man busted open. After a long match, Christian would escape the cage, and Styles was pinned by Abyss. At No Surrender 2007 He and AJ Styles won the 10-tag team gauntlet match.