Adam Pearce

Adam John Pearce (born June 24, 1978) is an American retired professional wrestler and executive.

He is currently employed by WWE as Director of Live Events, producer, trainer, and on-screen general manager of the Raw brand.

Pearce is a former five-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, NWA British Commonwealth Heavyweight Champion, and PWG World Champion.

He is also a member of the NWA Hall of Fame and a former full-time trainer and coach at the WWE Performance Center.

Pearce lettered in both football and baseball at Waukegan High School, in Waukegan, Illinois.

Between his junior and senior years, Pearce suffered from acute muscular compartment syndrome in both of his lower legs and underwent surgery.

As a result, he had to "pretty much learn how to walk all over again" and he stopped playing sports.

During his convalescence, he met professional wrestling trainers Sonny Rogers and Randy Ricci, and began training with them in November 1995.

Pearce had his debut match on May 16, 1996, a few weeks before he graduated from high school.

Pearce quickly began wrestling for independent professional wrestling promotions, especially in Milwaukee and other cities in Wisconsin.

At this time, he also began traveling throughout Michigan with Dave Prazak, and he began working for Dan Curtis' Northern States Wrestling Alliance (NSWA).

He was part of the "East Coast Invasion" angle where he had an early breakout match near Thanksgiving 1997 against Reckless Youth.

Pearce sided with the local Michigan babyfaces charged with fighting off Youth, Don Montoya, Lance Diamond, and Twiggy Ramirez.

A rematch between Pearce and Youth took place in Ian Rotten's Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South (IWA-Mid South) company, where Pearce had captured their IWA Mid-South Light Heavyweight Championship by defeating Cash Flo.

He began wrestling for most notably for Carmine DeSpirito's Mid American Wrestling promotion, and through DeSpirito was booked on a tour of Europe in 1998.

Upon his return to the United States, he underwent further training at the Steel Domain Training Center, where he was the first student, under Ace Steel and Danny Dominion.

Together Steel, Dominion, and Pearce became regulars in Minnesota, working under the St. Paul Championship Wrestling (later Steel Domain Wrestling) banner.

Once again, Pearce's feud with Eaton grabbed headlines as they engaged in a Garbage Can Match.

It was one of the first "ECW" style matches in the area.

He went on to feud with Danny Dominion over the Northern States TV Title, which was showcased on ex-AWA announcer Mick Karch's weekly TV show, "Slick Mick's Bodyslam Revue".

Later, future Domain trainees CM Punk and Colt Cabana debuted in Minnesota and begin their careers under the guidance of Steel, Dominion, and Pearce.

Later on, Pearce became a member of the Gold Bond Mafia with CM Punk, Colt Cabana, Dave Prazak, and Chuck E. Smooth.

At the same time, Pearce began working in All-Star Championship Wrestling based in Green Bay, Wisconsin, as the promotion's top babyface and later, top heel.

His matches against Dino Bambino were viewed as being among the area's best, and their 1999 Cage Match in Green Bay was voted the 1999 Upper Midwest Match of the Year.

Pearce captured the ACW Heavyweight Title by defeating longtime rival Adrian Lynch in Green Bay, and held it until losing to Rob Norwood in a 3-Way-Dance months later.

During this time, Pearce also made appearances in Nashville, Tennessee, for Bert Prentice's Music City Wrestling and in Pittsburgh for Norm Connors' Steel City Wrestling.

Pearce made several World Wrestling Federation (WWF) appearances as enhancement talent, where he was noticed by Terry Taylor.

When Taylor moved to World Championship Wrestling (WCW) Pearce was contacted by Paul Orndorff.

After attending the WCW Power Plant, Pearce was offered a WCW developmental contract but he declined, as he did not feel that relocating to Atlanta was a viable option for him.

After a stint in the short-lived WXO promotion in early 2000, Pearce had another tryout with WCW, but described WCW as being "disorganized and chaotic".

Pearce felt "burnt out" and decided to take time off from professional wrestling.

After eight months, Pearce returned to wrestling at the urging of both Christopher Daniels and Kevin Kelly.

Through Kelly, he met Rick Bassman and began working for Bassman's Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW) promotion.

In UPW, he was teamed with Aaron Aguilera in a tag team called "Hardkore Inc".

Pearce has worked several UPW events, most notably against Diamond Dallas Page at UPW's biggest event, Overload, held in Las Vegas.

He also wrestled Chris Masters in Masters' last independent match before being signed by WWF (now WWE).

He also was signed to be a part of the King of Indies 2001 Tournament, promoted by Roland Alexander's All Pro Wrestling (APW).

He faced and was defeated in the opening round by Doug Williams.

Pearce also competed in IWA-Mid South's 2001 Sweet Science Sixteen, defeating Chris Hero and B. J. Whitmer before losing to Ace Steel.

Pearce was generally inactive in a national sense, making sporadic appearances on California independent shows put on by Millennium Pro Wrestling and AWS (both based in Los Angeles) and WCWA (based in San Diego).