Christopher Nowinski

Christopher John Nowinski (born September 24, 1978) is an American neuroscientist, author and retired professional wrestler.

After extensively researching concussions in American football, Nowinski co-founded the Concussion Legacy Foundation, where he is currently CEO and co-founded Boston University's CTE Center.

As a professional wrestler, he is best known for his tenure with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) under the ring name Chris Harvard and later under his real name.

Nowinski attended John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights, Illinois, serving as team captain of the football and basketball teams.

He graduated cum laude from Harvard with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology in 2000.

Nowinski played college football for the Crimson as a defensive tackle, earning second-team All-Ivy League honors.

He worked as a pharmaceutical and biotech consultant in Boston shortly after graduation.

Nowinski made his first major independent appearance in London, UK for the Frontier Wrestling Alliance promotion at its Lights Camera Action show on December 14, 2001.

Nowinski competed in its main event teaming up with Alex Shane to defeat Drew McDonald and Flash Barker.

Though this was the only show Nowinski did for the promotion, he regards it as the best promotion he has ever worked for outside of WWE.

On the June 10, 2002, episode of Raw, Nowinski debuted in WWE as a heel, helping William Regal beat Bradshaw in a European Championship match.

Nowinski had a short-lived alliance with Regal, defeating Spike Dudley in his debut match the following week with Regal in his corner.

Nowinski teamed with Regal on the June 24 episode of Raw, defeating Bradshaw and Dudley.

Nowinski continued to feud with Bradshaw over the next few weeks, with their feud ending on the July 8 episode of Raw, where Nowinski teamed with Jackie Gayda in a losing effort against Bradshaw and Trish Stratus, while also trying to warm up Regal from his breakdown after he lost the European Championship to Jeff Hardy.

Nowinski feuded with The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and Spike Dudley) through the summer.

Nowinski defeated Tommy Dreamer on the September 9 episode of Raw.

A week later, Dreamer attacked Nowinski in a classroom.

Their feud ended on the October 14 episode of Raw, where Nowinski was once again successful in defeating Dreamer.

Over the next few weeks, Nowinski claimed victories over Jeff Hardy and Booker T before starting a feud with his former Tough Enough trainer, Al Snow.

On the November 25 episode of Raw, Nowinski went against Maven in a match that ended in a no contest.

Nowinski teamed with D'Lo Brown to defeat Snow and Maven on two occasions.

Nowinski continued his feud with Maven into 2003, where Test aligned himself with Maven for a few weeks, successfully defeating Nowinski and Brown on January 13, 2003, episode of Raw.

Nowinski competed his first ever Royal Rumble match in 2003, entering at #3.

During the match Edge and Rey Mysterio performed a double missile dropkick on Nowinski, but a mistimed execution caused Edge to land on Nowinski's head that caused his subsequent post-concussion syndrome later in his career.

On the March 31 episode of Raw, Nowinski was defeated by Scott Steiner.

The feud come to an end on the May 12 episode of Raw, where Nowinski teamed with La Résistance (René Duprée and Sylvain Grenier) in a losing effort against Steiner, Test and Goldust.

On the May 26 episode of Raw, Nowinski aligned himself with Thuggin' And Buggin' Enterprises, an African American wrestling stable consisting of Rodney Mack, Jazz and their manager Theodore Long.

At Insurrextion, Nowinski teamed with Mack and Long in a losing effort against The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley, D-Von Dudley and Spike Dudley).

At Bad Blood, Nowinski and Mack defeated Bubba Ray and D-Von.

Nowinski wrestled his final match with WWE, due to him sustaining post-concussion syndrome, on the June 23 episode of Raw, in a losing effort against Maven.

After a full year of post-concussion symptoms he chose to retire from wrestling.

Following his wrestling career, Nowinski authored Head Games: Football's Concussion Crisis in 2006, which examined the long-term effects of head trauma among athletes, and also became a documentary.

The Lancet said "the book sent shockwaves through the National Football League (NFL)" and details his career-ending injury and discusses the dangers of concussions in football and other contact sports; the book includes stories from National Football League (NFL) players and fellow wrestlers, and has an introduction written by former governor of Minnesota and professional wrestler, Jesse Ventura.

Later that year, Nowinski initiated an inquiry into the suicide of Andre Waters, a 44-year-old former NFL defensive back who shot himself on November 20, 2006.

In 2017, he graduated with a Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience from Boston University.

Nowinski did not begin watching wrestling until his senior year of college.

After graduating from Harvard, he joined Killer Kowalski's wrestling school in Malden, Massachusetts.

Nowinski became one of the three finalists on WWE's (at the time trading as WWF) first season of Tough Enough, which Maven Huffman won.

After failing to win the competition, Nowinski made appearances in independent promotions before being hired by WWF and entering its developmental territories.

Nowinski competed as Chris Harvard, capitalizing on his status as an alumnus of Harvard University.