#1 Contender

Height:6'1
Weight:235
Finisher:Inkrimination

The story of Calvin Krime starts off in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. He remembers watching wrestling from an early age. "Oh yeah, I was at the Civic Center with my step-father almost every Sunday for the AWA shows. Verne and Greg Gagne, Nick Bockwinkle, The Hulkster, Shawn Michaels, Curt Hennig, Jesse Ventura, Scott Hall, The LOD, I remember watching many a superstar getting their start in that building." His passion for wrestling survived beyond the death of the AWA. "And then after the AWA shut their doors, we started going to the old Met Center when the WWF came to town." And then, the old Met Center was demolished. Three years later, the Mall of America was open for business on the very same land, and Krime was there for the very first episode of WCW Monday Nitro. During this show, he had a revelation. "It was a good thing that the show was free, otherwise I would've started a fu*kin riot. It was at that moment that I decided to go to wrestling school. The people needed more, and I believed that it was I who could raise the bar in the wrestling world, ensuring that fans would never be subjected to another show as bad as that first Nitro."

Within two months, CK was being trained by the ridiculously talented Jerry Lynn. "Jerry taught me so much, I'll forever be in his debt. He's still one of my best friends." After completing his training, he decided to move to San Diego, and started to work shows in nearby Tijuana, Mexico. "Jerry told me that I would actually need to complete my own training by going to Mexico to learn the lucha style, and Japan to learn the stiff style. Only then would I be a complete wrestler." CK competed in Tijuana for a few months, before being recruited for EMLL in Monterrey. It is there where he perfected the lucha style, having been in legendary feuds with both Super Crazy and Yoshihiro Tajiri. "And then Tajiri hooked me up with Onita, who brought me over to Japan for a nice little stint, I call it the year of torture. Working over there was some of the most fun I've ever had, but it was also the most painful year of my life, even compared to my time in the XWA, and that says alot!"

Battling through the pain, CK returned home from Japan a complete wrestler. "I was in a great mood. I was home, my training was complete, and I was ready to kick some ass and make some cash!" And so the legend of Calvin Krime had begun.

"I started out in a company called the UAOW, under the guise of Eric Draven. Yep, that's right, I was doing the Crow gimmick (before Sting did) and we were breaking copyright laws, and that ironically is what ended up shutting them down," CK said with a laugh. But not before winning a few titles and opening some people's eyes. The UAOW is where CK met one of his closest friends in the business, Misery Machine. "Miz and I go back farther than most people realize." Misery Machine was a monster of a man, standing over 7 feet tall, and yet he sometimes acted like a cruiserweight, being comfortable with both crushing opponents with his sheer brute strength, and also going to the top rope to fly. "Miz was an AMAZING competitor, I was in absolute awe the first time I saw him. He's the kind of guy who makes you realize just how small and feeble you are, but then after a card, he's all talking to me, asking me to join his faction. My jaw dropped. How could I refuse??" And so CK accepted Misery Machine's offer, and the rest is history. They went on to co-found what would become the most dominating stable in wrestling history. "Ahhh, Damage Incorporated, now those were the days," recalls CK. Damage Inc took on many faces and underwent many transformations as the time passed, but one thing always remained the same, Calvin Krime and Misery Machine were up top leading the charge, and both of them were usually sporting gold around their waist. "I guess the promoters really took a liking to us, with one man being probably the biggest to ever grace a ring, and the other being so average. Looking back on it, I guess I kinda had a Spike Dudley thing going, only multiplied by a thousand, and I never wore any dorky glasses."

Fate led them through the ranks of the short-lived EAWA, and then on to the XWA, which is where CK enjoyed the majority of his success. "The XWA is, was, and forever will be the single greatest federation to ever exist. Doc O'Leary and Tokyo-san will always have my utmost respect for doing the stellar job that they did running that place. I'll never forget it." CK won the XWA Light Heavyweight Title on the very first XWA Pay-Per-View, defeating the legendary Mantiss. But that was just a drop in the bucket, as the following few months would be the whirlwind ride that would take CK to the top of this business. "After a couple of months in the XWA, Misery Machine was the XWA Heavyweight Champion, and I was definitely in his shadow, in more ways than one. I didn't like it one bit." And so the battle was on. A couple of months later, CK defeated Misery Machine in a New Orleans street fight, and the battle actually ended up covering most of the city. In an unprecedented finish, Calvin Krime leaped off of a fourth story balcony and put Misery Machine through layered plate glass, pinned him, and won his first World Title. "It was the best feeling in the world!" No, CK didn't mean having hundreds of shards of glass pulled out of him, he meant having accomplished what he set out to do in this business, which was to climb to the top of the food chain. And he continued to ride the wave of success, actually retaining his title by wrestling his opponents as opposed to virtually killing them, until May 21st, 1999. "I broke my neck in a botched spot. It wasn't anybody's fault really, my opponent wasn't there to take the bump because he slipped on someone's spilt beer, pretty funny now that I look back on it." This "funny" accident put CK out of action for the better part of a year, and many were surprised that he recovered at all, let alone wrestled again. Before returning to the XWA, he competed in the ODW. "I enjoyed my time in the ODW, it was run different that anything else I've been involved with, but it was definitely a blast." CK enjoyed success there as well, scoring a non-title win over their World Champion, but before anything else could come of it, the ODW was officially closed. The time for Calvin Krime's XWA return was right then and there.

CK made his triumphant return, calling out the then XWA World Champion Hall Monitor, with whom he'd had a long-standing mini-feud. Less than a month later, CK was a two-time XWA World Heavyweight Champion. "It's still overwhelming, even a couple of years later. I mean, look at me, I'm not your everyday World Champion model. But thankfully I landed in a place that judges you by your talent instead of your muscles." Talent indeed. CK went on to enjoy much more success in the XWA, leaving just shortly before the XWA closed it's doors due to a family crisis, but not before being immortalized by being inducted into the XWA Hall of Fame. "I was extremely sad to see the XWA close," remembers CK. "My eyes actually welled up."

Cut to almost 6 months later. Hex, who was an XWA developmental talent that CK trained along with Misery Machine, called CK up and told him about the NPW. "I was hesitant at first, but I knew that Hex was picky about where he ended up, so I decided to look into it." CK came to a taping of Net Nightmare, and liked what he saw. "What nailed it for me was the hunger that these young guys have. They went into that ring, and they busted their asses off. I decided that I wanted in." And once again, the rest is history. Calvin Krime, ring veteran, here in the NPW. Don't let his size fool you, he's a heavyweight trapped in a lightweight's body, and far too many people have learned this first hand. He's got the style, he's got the talent, he's got the brains, and he definitely has NPW gold in his future.