Konnor (wrestler)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Konnor
Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.[2]
Spouse(s)
​
(m. 2013)​
Children1
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Big Kon
Kon
Conor O'Brian[3]
Konnor[4]
Payne[2]
Roughhouse O'Reilly[5]
Ryan O'Reilly[2]
Billed height6 ft 5 in (196 cm)[6]
Billed weight265 lb (120 kg)[6]
Billed fromBoston, Massachusetts
Trained byAlex G[2]
Rusty Brooks[2]
Bill DeMott[2]
Jody Hamilton[2]
Norman Smiley[2]
Debut2001[2]

Ryan Parmeter

broken anchor].[7]

After spending four years wrestling on the

ECW house shows. In October 2007, both Parmeter and his girlfriend, Krissy Vaine, requested to be released from their WWE contracts for personal reasons.[8][9]

Following his release, Parmeter took time off from wrestling, before debuting for NWA Charlotte in February 2009. In July 2010, he was re-signed by WWE, and returned to FCW where he began wrestling as Conor O'Brian. In November 2010, he was announced as a participant in the fourth season of NXT.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2001–2005)

Parmeter initially trained at the School of Hard Knocks in southern Florida under

promotion, Four Star Championship Wrestling (FSCW) as Ryan Payne O'Reilly, and formed a tag team with Jeff "J-Dawg" Brooks, known as the "Irish Thug Connection". Together, the Irish Thug Connection won the FSCW Tag Team Championship.[10] He also won the FSCW Heavyweight Championship,[3] and spent mid-2004 feuding with Norman Smiley over it.[11][12] O'Reilly also competed for Florida's Coastal Championship Wrestling (CCW) promotion, and won the CCW Heavyweight Championship.[3] He appeared for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling during the promotion's early shows.[8]

World Wrestling Entertainment (2005–2007)

After four years on the independent circuit, O'Reilly signed a contract with

Freakin Deacon. In December, he appeared in a dark match
prior to the SmackDown tapings.

In early 2006, O'Reilly took a leave of absence. Upon his return, he and Danny Germundo entered a tournament for the

Little Guido and Tony Mamaluke).[13] O'Reilly was scheduled to become part of the regular ECW roster in September, but violated the WWE Wellness Program, and was suspended for 30 days.[3]

When he returned, he became the

The Major Brothers.[15] During mid-2007, O'Reilly would appear in dark matches prior to Raw and SmackDown against Sylvan Grenier, Chuck Palumbo, Super Crazy, Cody Rhodes and D'Lo Brown.[3][16]

He briefly appeared in

Maryse acted as his valets.[3]

In October 2007, both Parmeter and his girlfriend Krissy Vaine requested and were granted their release from WWE.[3] They cited health problems suffered by members of both of their families as the reason.[3][8][17]

Independent circuit (2007–2010)

Parmeter in 2009

In October 2007, Parmeter stated that he was taking time off from wrestling.[18] He returned to wrestling in February 2009, working for NWA Charlotte.[3] He wrestled against Truitt Fields for the territory's Heavyweight Championship, but was unable to win the title. After the loss, O'Reilly formed an alliance with Mikael Judas and Phill Shatter called III, which lasted until the territory's closure.

Return to WWE (2010-2019)

Developmental territories (2010–2011)

Parmeter was re-signed by the WWE on July 14, 2010, and was reassigned to the FCW developmental territory.[19] On August 12, he debuted for Florida Championship Wrestling as Ryan O'Riley losing to Conrad Tanner. He would compete under this name for a short while before becoming Conor O'Brian on September 30.

On November 30, 2010, during the season finale of season three of NXT, it was announced that Parmeter, under the name Conor O'Brian, would be appearing on season four, with Alberto Del Rio as his mentor.[7][4][20] He made his in-ring debut on NXT the following week, teaming with Del Rio to defeat rookie Derrick Bateman and Bateman's mentor Daniel Bryan.[21] O'Brian won his first challenge on the January 4, 2011 episode of NXT, when he won the 'Battle of the Mic Challenge' to earn four immunity points.[22] Two weeks later, on January 18, O'Brian was the second contestant eliminated from NXT. Earlier that night, O'Brian competed in a match against Ricardo Rodriguez in a losing effort.[23]

In March 2011, O'Brian was selected as one of the six former NXT contestants to return to the show in its fifth season, NXT Redemption. During this season, O'Brian was mentored by Vladimir Kozlov.[24] He was later eliminated from competition on the June 28, 2011 episode of NXT, and would later be joined, and eventually replaced, by a returning Derrick Bateman and Daniel Bryan.

First incarnation of The Ascension (2011–2012)

Main article: The Ascension
Conor O'Brian in 2013

On August 28, 2011, Ricardo Rodriguez announced the formation of a

FCW Tag Team Championship but lost to the current champions of CJ Parker and Donny Marlow. By October, however, video packages appeared promoting the Ascension under new seemingly demonic, supernatural characters, and did not include Rodriguez as he was disassociated from the team. By the end of November the Ascension had all but disbanded because O'Brian was injured, Colon had been called up to WWE to team with his cousin Primo, and Diaz became Queen of FCW and distanced herself from the group. This left Cameron as the sole survivor of the Ascension, continuing to use the Ascension gimmick during his appearances. On March 15, 2012, O'Brian returned accompanying Cameron to the ring in his match against Byron Saxton; the match ended in disqualification when O'Brian interfered. Cameron and O'Brian began wrestling as a tag team using the name The Ascension, and their first tag team match together came on March 23 when the two defeated Jason Jordan and Xavier Woods. The Ascension suffered their first loss when the pair lost to the FCW Tag Team Champions Corey Graves and Jake Carter, in a title match.[26]

With the conclusion of NXT Redemption, WWE

Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd on the October 3 NXT.[32] Two weeks later, the Ascension teamed up with Kassius Ohno to defeat Richie Steamboat and the Usos.[33] The Ascension disbanded on November 30, 2012 when Cameron was released from WWE.[34]

NXT Tag Team Champion (2012–2015)

O'Brian retained his character while using "The Ascension" as his nickname as he started to feud with

Adrian Neville and Corey Graves. On November 10, 2013 O'Brian's name was tweaked and shortened to "Konnor". On February 27, 2014 at NXT Arrival, he and Viktor successfully defended the NXT Tag Team Championships against Too Cool, repeating the feat on May 29, 2014 at NXT TakeOver against the team of El Local and Kalisto
.

Viktor and Konnor, as the Ascension, in March 2015

Konnor, alongside Viktor, made his main roster debut on the September 9, 2014 episode of

Darren Young and Titus O'Neil). At WrestleMania 31, The Ascension made their WrestleMania debut in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal where both failed to win the match. On the May 11 episode of Raw, during a match between Curtis Axel and Macho Mandow, in the guise of Randy Savage, The Ascension attacked Axel and Mandow. It was then announced that the Ascension would face Axel and Mandow on the Payback pre-show, where they won the match. It was announced the Ascension would par take in a six team elimination chamber match for the WWE Tag Team Championship. At Elimination Chamber
on May 31, he and Viktor eliminated the Los Matadores and The Lucha Dragons until they were eliminated by The Prime Time Players, ultimately losing the match.

Various alliances (2015–2018)

On the September 3 episode of SmackDown, The Ascension aligned themselves with

R-Truth
) in a losing effort.

On July 19 at the

Harper and Rowan), for a while the duo would only appear as supporting characters in Breezango's Fashion Files skits. The duo were participants in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 34
, with Konnor being the first of the duo to be eliminated.

Final appearances and departure (2018–2019)

During the

Tucker), in what would be their final match in WWE.[43]

On December 8, 2019, WWE announced it had come to terms on the release of Parmeter along with his partner, ending his nine year run with the company.[44]

Return to independent circuit (2020–present)

Following their departure from WWE, Konnor and Viktor were announced for Wrestling Revolver's Pancakes and Piledrivers event during WrestleMania 36 weekend.[45] On February 20, 2020, The Ascension competed in their first match since leaving WWE at Outlaw Wrestling defeating Bull James and Bill Carr. Konnor joined the Isolation Wrestling Federation on May 9, 2020.[46]

Impact Wrestling / Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2022–present)

On the February 10, 2022 episode of

Josh Alexander.[47][48]

On November 3, 2022 edition of Impact, Konnor returned to Impact Wrestling joining Violent by Design, which would later be renamed to The Design.

On the February 1, 2024 edition of Impact!, Kon ended his partnership with Deaner, declaring that The Design is dead. Later that night, following a match between

PCO and Deaner, Kon would attack both men, further signaling the end of The Design and beginning a feud with PCO. Following weeks of attacks against each other, a match between Kon and PCO was made for No Surrender
.

Personal life

Parmeter began dating fellow professional wrestler Kristin Eubanks better known as Krissy Vaine in 2006.[8] In an interview in October 2007, Parmeter announced the two were engaged.[18] In September 2017, the couple had their first child, a boy, named Elijah.[49]

Other media

Konnor made his video game debut as a part of the NXT Arrival DLC pack in WWE 2K15, then reappeared as part of WWE 2K16, WWE 2K17, WWE 2K18 and WWE 2K19.

Konnor appeared as uncredited in the film Countdown.

Championships and accomplishments

References

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  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "Conor O'Brian". Online World of Wrestling. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
  3. ^
    The Miami Herald. December 1, 2010. Archived
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  4. ^
    Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on June 30, 2012. Retrieved December 1, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link
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  6. ^ a b "Konnor stats". WWE.com. Retrieved December 25, 2016.
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  46. ^ @ISOWRESTLINGFED (May 8, 2020). "BAH GAWD! THAT'S 'BIG ORK'—fka KONNOR..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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External links

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