Chris Adams

Christopher Adams (10 February 1955 – 7 October 2001), best known as "Gentleman" Chris Adams, was an English professional wrestler, promoter, coach, and judoka.

He won the British National Judo Championship in his age and weight class three times by the time he was 21.

Adams achieved his greatest success in World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), where he rose to fame and reached the position of World Heavyweight Champion.

He also performed for organizations like the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA), where he held the Light Heavyweight Championship of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and World Championship Wrestling (WCW).

Over the course of a 23-year professional wrestling career, he held a total of 26 titles.

Adams was in charge of training Stone Cold Steve Austin and popularizing the superkick finisher, which was subsequently employed by many other performers.

Adams was the eldest child of Cyril and Jean Adams when he was born in Rugby, Warwickshire.

He got into judo when he was nine years old and trained in it solely for 14 years.

Together with his younger brother Neil, he went on to win judo national and international championships.

Adams was a member of the British judo team for the 1976 Summer Olympics, however he never took part in any competitions.

He was skilled in various martial arts and had a black belt in judo.

Along with competing in football, rugby, cricket, and amateur wrestling, he also spent four years studying architecture outside of athletics.

Adams made his debut in professional wrestling in June 1978 without having received any real official training and instead relying on his judo experience.

He was a wrestler for Joint Promotions and appeared on ITV's World of Sport frequently.

Adams did enjoy some championship success in England, taking home the British Light Heavyweight Championship from Mark "Rollerball" Rocco and the British Commonwealth Tag Team Championship with Marty Jones.

Adrian Street, Big Daddy, Dave "Fit" Finlay, Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith were among the British wrestlers whom Adams battled against.

Neil also won a silver medal at the 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics.

He relocated to Los Angeles in 1981 to compete at the Olympic Auditorium, which was run for a short period of time at the time by renowned judo giants Mike and Gene LeBell.

Adams wrestled barefoot, but after his initial tour of the United States, he began to use wrestling boots, arm pads and kneepads, which he would eventually use for the rest of his career.

He became famous for a wide variety of moves, including somersaulting out of arm-bars, using backflips, diving through the ring ropes to his opponent on the floor, using a lethal enzuigiri when his left leg was held, and a powerful thrust kick, which was originally called a "judo kick", later known by its more common name, "superkick".

Adams won the NWA Americas title in 1982, and was an NWA Americas tag team title winner with Tom Prichard and Ringo Rigby.

He lived in Santa Monica and wrestled throughout the California coast in cards promoted by the LeBells.

He also wrestled for Don Owen's Pacific Northwest promotion, as well as being involved in several tours of Japan, Europe, Mexico and Canada.

Fritz Von Erich got in touch with Adams in 1983 and invited him to wrestle for World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW).

On 15 April 1983, he began competing for the Dallas-based organization.

That evening, he won both matches he competed in, defeating the Mongol by disqualification and Roberto Renesto in the card's first battle.

The Adkissons referred to Chris as Kevin Von Erich's "pen pal" and referred to him as a "honorary Von Erich".

In a three-minute interview piece titled "Tea for Two," Adams and Bill Mercer were first introduced in WCCW during one of Mercer's "outside the ring" interviews when they first met at a nearby Dallas restaurant over a round of English tea.

Before losing to Kamala in a WCCW match on 20 June in Fort Worth, Adams won his first eleven contests.

On 19 August, Kerry Von Erich served as his partner in his debut tag bout with the Von Erichs.

He frequently partnered with the Von Erichs in six and eight-man tag matches against the Fabulous Freebirds.

Adams and Jimmy Garvin got into a fight, and the valets Sunshine and Precious joined in; Sunshine aligned with Adams.

Adams took on the guise of "the Masked Avenger" in a match on 21 October at the Sportatorium to earn a shot at the NWA American Heavyweight Championship, which he eventually won on Thanksgiving at the Reunion Arena.

This was the first of five World Class American/World Class World Heavyweight title reigns for Adams.

His first title reign ended when the title was held up in the rematch at WCCW Star Wars when Garvin pinned him.

Adams scored a loser-leaves-town match victory over Garvin on 4 July 1984.

In August, Adams employed Gary Hart as his manager before turning on him.

Adams was given a contract to dismiss Hart in exchange for the Von Erichs forgiving him when he was pinned by Kevin Von Erich in a bout on 27 October.

Adams seized a wooden chair and slammed it against Von Erich's skull in retaliation.

Adams said that the chair had accidentally split in half, causing blood and a concussion.