Vin Gerard

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Vin Gerard
Claudio Castagnoli[1]
DebutMay 20, 2005[2]
RetiredFebruary 26, 2012[1]

Vince Gerard Durling[1] (born February 4, 1986)[1] is an American former professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure in Chikara, where he was a one time Young Lions Cup Champion. Currently he is the owner/operator of Independentwrestling.tv.

Professional wrestling career

Chikara

Equinox (2005–2007)

After training in Chikara's Wrestle Factory school, Durling made his debut on May 20, 2005, as the fan favorite masked wrestler Equinox, a student of Mexican masked wrestler and Chikara alumnus Skayde. Equinox soon began to show an impressive run early on and even made it past experienced Chikara wrestlers in an unsuccessful attempt to win the Young Lions Cup. However, he suffered a concussion at the Negative Balance event at the hands of Team F.I.S.T. (Gran Akuma and Icarus), which put him on the injured list for a while.[2] Upon his return, Equinox began to occasionally team with fellow masked wrestler Angel de Fuego and they became known as Pareja Solar ("Solar Partners" in Spanish).[2]

At the

Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli.[2] After the Grand Prix, Pareja Solar split and Equinox returned to singles competition, including an unsuccessful attempt at winning the Young Lions Cup from then champion Arik Cannon, during which he suffered a second concussion near the end 2006.[2]

The first half of 2007 was fairly uneventful for Equinox until he scored an upset over the much larger

Brodie Lee in Lee's Chikara debut, although Lee returned a couple of months later and easily defeated Equinox in a rematch.[2] Equinox rebounded and scored another major upset, this time by pinning Chris Hero in a tag team match during Invaders weekend.[2] Hero then began feuding with Equinox, which culminated in a hair vs. mask match that Hero won.[2] After the match, Hero exposed Equinox as a Wrestle Factory drop-out who donned a mask and conned Skayde to get ahead in the wrestling business.[2] After his unmasking, Equinox began using his real name (Vin Gerard) and became a villain while also adopting both a new wrestling style and an entirely new attire consisting of black tights with slight variations of the fire and ice symbols from his Equinox attire and a bandanna.[2] Gerard later elaborated on his situation with Skayde, noting that he had threatened to report Skayde to the border patrol if he did not pretend Gerard was his student.[2] Soon after his unmasking, Gerard was banished from the locker room, robbing him of any entrance music and forcing him to enter the arena though the back door of every venue Chikara ran in.[2]

Young Lions Cup and The UnStable (2008–2011)

Gerard in 2008

In 2008, Gerard gained significant success early on with several high-profile wins before beginning a heated feud with

Claudio Castagnoli
and Marc Roudin) in the first round before falling to their rivals The Colony in the semi-finals. The Colony would then go on to win the Grand Prix.

On December 14, Gerard's reign as champion came to halt as a controversial match with

Dave Taylor).[5][6][7]

Gerard (right) with Colin Delaney (left) and STIGMA (center) as The UnStable

In the latter half of 2009 The UnStable started a long losing streak, which included a first round loss in the

3.0 (Scott Parker and Shane Matthews).[21] The feud ended on May 21, when 3.0 defeated the UnStable in a tag team match, where the losing team had to split up.[22]

Feud with Eddie Kingston and retirement (2011–2012)

After going solo, Gerard entered the 12 Large: Summit to determine the first ever Chikara Grand Champion. After one win and two losses, Gerard was eliminated from contention in the tournament as Eddie Kingston won four straight matches, winning the block. This led to Gerard forfeiting his match with UltraMantis Black so he could concentrate on Kingston, and on October 30, Gerard defeated the previously undefeated Kingston via submission in the final round-robin match of the tournament. After the match Gerard hit Kingston in the knee with a steel chair, putting his spot in the finals into question.[22] To further the storyline, Gerard's profile was removed from Chikara's official website following the event. Afterwards, Gerard appeared on YouTube and threatened to reveal secrets about Chikara, unless he was reinstated.[23] Gerard returned to Chikara on January 28, 2012, having a confrontation with Grand Champion Eddie Kingston, who then ordered Chikara's Director of Fun, Wink Vavasseur, to reinstate Gerard so he could get his hands on him.[24] Following the event, Gerard's profile was put back on Chikara's website. On February 26, Gerard challenged Kingston for the Grand Championship in a title vs. career match, but was unsuccessful in his attempt to win the title and was forced to retire as a result.[1][25]

Personal life

Since 2016, Durling has owned and operated the streaming website Independentwrestling.TV, one of the leading streaming services for professional wrestling.

Championships and accomplishments

Lucha de Apuesta record

See also: Luchas de Apuestas
Winner (wager) Loser (wager) Location Event Date Notes
Chris Hero (hair) Equinox (mask) Hellertown, Pennsylvania The Sordid Perils of Everyday Existence November 17, 2007 [26]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Cagematch profile". Cagematch. Retrieved 2009-12-28.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab "Vin Gerard at Chikarafans.com". Chikarafans.com. Archived from the original on January 3, 2010.
  3. ^ "ISW Slamtasia 3". Cagematch. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
  4. ^ "Vin Gerard Begging Rats for Change after Chikara show". YouTube. 2009-01-21. Archived from the original on 2021-12-15.
  5. ^ ""King of Trios 2009: Night 1" – 3/27/2009". Chikara Fans. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  6. ^ ""King of Trios 2009: Night 2" – 3/28/2009". Chikara Fans. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  7. ^ ""King of Trios 2009: Night 3" – 3/29/2009". Chikara Fans. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  8. ^ Streleckis, Brian (2010-06-20). "Chikara King of Trios Night 1 Report". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  9. ^ Ford, Kevin (2010-06-20). "CHIKARA Review: Wit, Verve, and a Bit O' Nerve". 411Mania. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  10. ^ Ford, Kevin (2010-06-20). "100 Percent Fordified: CHIKARA Aniversario Elf". 411Mania. Retrieved 2010-06-21.
  11. ^ "Blog #119 - Vin Gerard". Chikara. 2010-06-16. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  12. ^ Ford, Kevin (2010-07-04). "The CHIKARA Special 7.04.10: Wlid and Young". 411Mania. Retrieved 2010-07-04.
  13. ^ Lansdell, Chris (2010-07-25). "Chikarasaurus Rex Results". 411Mania. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
  14. ^ "Blog #152 - Vin Gerard". Chikara. 2010-09-02. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
  15. ^ Cambo, Rick (2010-10-09). "Latest Chikara DVD review including Manami Toyota appearing". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
  16. ^ Boutwell, Josh (2010-10-29). "Viva La Raza! Lucha Weekly". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
  17. ^ "Official results". Osaka Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2010-05-29. Retrieved 2010-11-03.
  18. ^ Leung, Jonathan (2010-10-31). "Weekly Thoughts: CHIKARA Statistics". Osaka Holiday Paradise. Retrieved 2010-11-03.[permanent dead link]
  19. ^ Higham, Joshua (2010-11-21). "CHIKARA Report 11.21.10 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania". 411Mania. Retrieved 2010-11-22.
  20. ^ Ford, Kevin (2010-12-25). "100 Percent Fordified: CHIKARA Reality is Relative". 411Mania. Retrieved 2010-12-25.
  21. ^ Ford, Kevin (2011-03-22). "100 Percent Fordified: CHIKARA Caught in a Cauldron of Hate". 411Mania. Retrieved 2011-05-22.
  22. ^ a b "Past results". Chikara. Archived from the original on 2013-10-17. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
  23. ^ Gerard, Vin (2011-12-22). "Dear Chikara". Chikara. YouTube. Archived from the original on 2020-11-13. Retrieved 2012-02-09.
  24. ^ Ford, Kevin (2012-02-14). "100 Percent Fordified: Chikara The Thirteenth Hat". 411Mania. Retrieved 2012-02-25.
  25. ^ "Grand Champion of Chikara". Chikara. Archived from the original on 2012-01-25. Retrieved 2012-02-26.
  26. ^ ""The Sordid Perils of Everyday Existence" – 11/17/2007". ChikaraFans. Retrieved 2009-10-31.

External links

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