Gary Kopp
Gary Kopp is an American professional wrestler. He works for MECCA, where he has performed since 2008. He has been a holder of the the MECCA World Tag Team Championship during his tenure with the company. Kopp has been a part of many major shows and events, and is perhaps best known for being a part of the wrestling fraternity of Epsilon Epsilon Epsilon and being one half of High Def.
1 Early career
2 Professional wrestling career
2.1 Modern Establishment of Competitive Combat Arts
3 In wrestling
4 Championships and accomplishments
| Birth Name | Gary Kopp |
| Born | March 12, 1986 South Vienna, Ohio, United States |
| Residence | Springfield, Ohio, United States |
| Family | Jay Crowe (brother-in-law) Eddie Crowe (brother-in-law) |
| Ring name(s) | Gary Gary Kopp Billed height
| 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
| Billed weight
| 185 lbs. (84 kg)
| Billed from
| Sprinfield, Ohio
| Trained by
| Nykk | Ronin Fox Jay Crowe Debut
| April 13, 2006
| |
Professional wrestling careerEarly careerGary Kopp began training at the MECCA Training Camp, run by Nykk and Ronin Fox in late 2005, and also received additional mentoring from his brother-in-law Jay Crowe. Kopp cut his teeth in various independent promotions for the next couple of years before being signed to a contract with MECCA. Modern Establishment of Competitive Combat Arts (2008-present)The Wrestling FraternityIn early 2008, Robbie Reno formed a partnership with MECCA rookie Ryan Andrews, who was having a crisis about how to juggle his wrestling career with the fact that he was still in college. In order to loosen him up, Reno suggested a good old fashioned frat party. They then took it a step further and decided to form their own wrestling fraternity, rushing new members. Their new group debuted on March 5, interrupting a match and introducing themselves as Epsilon Epsilon Epsilon, complete with sorority sisters and beer kegs. Robbie and Ryan dropped their last names and introduced new frat brothers Omar, Gary, and Cubby and eventually their head sorority sister Stephie. They then attacked Tristan Lee before being run off by his brother Austin. All five men competed in the Battlebrawl match at The MECCA Challenge IV, but none of them were able to win. They appeared later in the night, taking over the ring and attempting to get a party started before being run off by The Briscoes. During the summer, Huh decided that he wanted to be a part of EEE, who regarded him as a joke behind his back. Nonetheless, they took him on as a pledge and made him go through Hell Month, doing demeaning and abusive tasks like having to wash a locker room they had just urinated in with a toothbrush, or being kicked and beaten down while he carried their bags and being forced to compete against Gary and Ryan in a Handicap match at Punked Out. But Huh balked when it came to drinking a cup of raw sewage from one of their kegs. EEE beat him down before he was rescued by The Lee Brothers. Gary teamed with Cubby and Omar to face Huh and the Lees at Liberty or Death, getting the win. With Robbie in a feud with Huh, Ryan shifted to teaming with Gary, and they competed in a four-way TLC match at Summertime Showdown. They won with some help from Cubby, and earned a shot at the tag titles in the process. At At Your Own Risk against the Briscoes. They won the belts after some cheap tactics, and fended off teams such as Irish Airborne and The Wild Wolf and Tristan Lee before losing the titles to the team of Bryan Danielson and Eddie Crowe a month later. With the number of factions rising in late 2008, EEE was ready to stake their claim at the top. On December 3, they saved The Necro Butcher and Irish Airborne from an attack by The House of Lords and The Consulate, putting them in the fans' good graces. Huh also came back into the mix with his own faction, Huh's Hot Dogs. In response to this, Katie Piehl instituted the Round Robin Faction War, where the factions would face one another in elimination tag matches with a random number of participants. Every survivor meant a point for the faction, and the two top scoring factions at the end would go on to The MECCA Challenge V for one more match, with the winning side's members all getting a guaranteed title shot of their choice. The three lowest scoring factions, however, would be forced to split up. EEE lost their first match in the tournament to Huh's Hot Dogs, but got on the board with a win over the Consulate at Bloody Valentine when Gary and Ryan beat the Consulate in tag team elimination action, scoring two points. EEE scored another two points on March 18 after winning a six-man tag against Luchacore. This put them even with the House of Lords, who had also scored four points, and were the only matchup left in the tournament. The two factions met in an eight-man elimination tag at Melee, where Gary teamed with Robbie, Omar, and Ryan against Nykk, Ronin Fox, and The Pyro Twins. Gary was the sole survivor, making EEE one of the top scoring factions, along with the Consulate. Robbie, Ryan, Gary, Omar, and Cubby teamed against Alan Mayse, Jamie Chan, Yoshiaki Yago, the Wild Wolf and Prince Nana at the MECCA Challenge V, and the match came down to Robbie and Nana. The Consulate tried to interfere, but were taken out by EEE as well as their group's personal superhero Captain Epsilon. That allowed Robbie to pin Nana and win the Round Robin Faction War. As prominent members of the MECCA roster, EEE got pulled into the war against Team ROH in the spring. Robbie teamed with Ryan and Gary in a six-man tag against Bryan Danielson, Delirious and Takeshi Morishima at New Dawn, but lost. Morishima would deal them another blow when he defeating Ryan in singles competition, injuring his neck and putting him out of action. Gary then decided to cash in his guaranteed title shot at Punked Out, facing the World Champion Anubis. Gary gave it his all, but was defeated. As the MECCA vs. ROH feud heated up, a Perimeter of Pain match was announced for Summertime Showdown to settle the score. Team MECCA co-captains Nykk and Ronin Fox recruited Gary and Robbie to be on their side, as well as Eddie Crowe. They went against Danielson, Morishima, Roderick Strong, Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards at the show. Robbie was eliminated by Morishima, but Team MECCA went on to win the match, running Team ROH out of MECCA. Flying HighOn the following Go Time, Cubby turned against Robbie and Gary, jealous over the fact that their careers were on the rise and feeling they had left him behind. Around the same time, Omar also quit EEE and left the company. Realizing it was time to focus on their singles careers, Robbie and Gary agreed to dissolve EEE and go their separate ways, and Gary started competing under his full name, Gary Kopp. He competed in the Stiff Strike Challenge at Scared Stiff, but was unable to win, and also challenged The Wild Wolf for the MECCA Toughman Championship in the following weeks, but couldn't win the title. He unfortunately suffered a wrist injury during the match and was kept out of action for about ten weeks. Kopp returned to action on Go Time: Championship Edition in February, beating his former frat brother Daniel Cubman in singles action. Kopp got involved in the match between Irish Airborne and FIST at Six-Man Melee, choosing newcomer Jack Evans as his partner and winning the match. Despite their initial success, Kopp and Evans could not get on the same page over the next few weeks, and had a match against one another at Kick Start, which Evans won. They finally managed to get on the same page at The MECCA Challenge VI, coming out with new entrance music and wearing matching gear and taking the moniker High Def. They got a win over FIST on the show, and then won a Four Corners match a couple of weeks later on Go Time, earning a shot at the MECCA World Tag Team Championship at New Dawn. They faced champions The Invincible Outlaws, but were unable to beat them. High Def continued to work their way up the tag team division, making it to the end of the tag team battle royale at Never Say Die before being beaten by now former champions the Invincible Outlaws. By the beginning of 2011, they worked their way into contention against the current champions Deep Impact, who seemed a little shy to put the titles up against them. Deep Impact told them they would get a shot if one of them could defeat a member of their team in singles action. Kopp faced Davey Richards, but lost after interference from bounty hunter Jimmy Rave. Evans also lost to Tristan Lee after he cheated to get the victory. Seemingly out of luck, High Def made a hail mary and came out before a number one contenders' match between The UK Wrecking Crew and Upstarts International. They asked to be a part of the match in exchange for title shots should they go on to win the titles, and the two teams agreed. High Def won the match, earning a shot at Deep Impact. They defeated Richards and Lee at The MECCA Challenge VII to become the new champions. High Def took on all comers and defeated Upstarts International in the following weeks. They also beat Deep Impact in a rematch at Punked Out, but then lost a non-title match to the UK Wrecking Crew, who subsequently earned a title shot. They got the match on July 15, but it went to a time limit draw. When they were denied a five minute overtime, the UK Wrecking Crew blindsided High Def and beat them down. They revealed they had been upset that they had to win a match against the champs to get a title shot when they had already been promised one months ago. Katie Piehl decided to book a Best of Five series for the titles, where the winners of each match would be able to choose the stipulation for the next. High Def won the first match in the series on July 20, and another brawl ensued. Afterward, the champs chose a Texas Tornado match for the next bout at Never Say Die, which the UKWC won. Knowing that High Def's strong suit was not technical wrestling, Nathans and Fletcher chose a Submission match for the next bout, which they also won. After the match, they put the champs through a table and made their next match a Tables match. High Def came back to win that match, and chose a match that would enhance their strengths for the final match of the series. They wanted a Ladder match for Summertime Showdown, which was fine with the UKWC, who reminded them that they had regained the tag titles the previous year in a Ladder match. High Def won the series at Summertime Showdown, retaining their titles. Kopp and Evans defended the belts successfully at At Your Own Risk the next month in MECCA's first ever 30-Minute Iron Team Match against the UKWC, Ronin Fox and Jay Crowe, and Dusty Schneble and Torea. They also had another successful title defense against Upstarts International at Scared Stiff. However, on November 16, they were defeated for the titles by Ryan Andrews and Jimmy Rave, thanks to interference from Upstarts International. High Def teamed with Ronin Fox, who also had a grudge against Upstarts International, to defeat the trio in a six-man tag at No Regrets. High Def then focused on getting their rematch against Andrews and Rave, now calling themselves The Peacemakers. They were granted a shot at End of the Line the next month, but lost the match. In wrestling
Championships and accomplishments
|