Charles Ronald Palumbo (born June 15, 1971) is an American retired professional wrestler.
1990
He is best known for his appearances with professional wrestling promotions World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (WWE) in the late-1990s and 2000s, where he held the WCW World Tag Team Championship and WWF/E World Tag Team Championship.
He hosted the Discovery Channel series Lords of the Car Hoards and "Rusted Development".
Chuck Palumbo grew up in West Warwick, Rhode Island.
He attended West Warwick High School, where he earned all-state honors in basketball.
He joined the US Navy soon after and spent time in the Persian Gulf, working the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson.
He was initially assigned to an F-18 Hornet squadron VAQ-34 at Lemoore, California before transferring to NAS Miramar in San Diego where he worked on the E-2C Hawkeye.
Chuck finished up his stint in the Navy and enrolled at the Community College of Rhode Island earning All-American honors in basketball and a full scholarship to University of Central Missouri.
While attending Central Missouri, watching a WCW TV show, he saw a commercial for the WCW PowerPlant.
He called the number, and after graduating with a Criminal Justice degree, decided to accept their invitation to travel to Atlanta and train at the WCW Power Plant.
1998
Palumbo began his career in 1998 on the independent circuit, using a surfer gimmick and the ring name "The Dude".
He made his debut appearance on World Championship Wrestling (WCW)'s Nitro on October 19, 1998, as a fan who accepted the challenge of Ernest "The Cat" Miller.
1999
Six months later, he was offered a training contract by WCW in April 1999.
Just prior to the hiring of Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera as bookers for WCW, many of the WCW Power Plant wrestlers debuted on Saturday Night and WorldWide.
On September 3, 1999, at WCW live, Palumbo was defeated by Hardbody Harrison.
On September 5, at WCW Live, Palumbo defeated Hardbody Harrison in a rematch.
On October 26, at WCW Saturday Night Taping (October '99 #4), Chuck Palumbo defeated Mark Jindrak.
On November 9, at WCW Saturday Night Taping (November '99 #2), Palumbo defeated Sonny Siaki.
On November 30, at WCW Saturday Night Taping (November '99 #4), Palumbo defeated Devon Storm.
On December 7, at WCW Saturday Night Taping (December '99 #2), Palumbo again defeated Mark Jindrak.
2000
On January 19, 2000, at WCW Saturday Night Taping (January '00 #3), Chuck Palumbo defeated Mike Sanders.
On February 16, at WCW Saturday Night Taping (February '00 #4), Palumbo teamed with Sonny Siaki to defeat Allan Funk and Rick Cornell.
On March 1, at WCW Saturday Night Taping (March '00 #1), Palumbo and Siaki challenged Big Vito and Johnny The Bull for the WCW World Tag Team Titles but was unsuccessful at winning the titles.
On March 5, at WCW Live, Palumbo defeated Bobby Eaton.
On March 14, at WCW WorldWide Taping' Chuck Palumbo was defeated by Lenny Lane.
In 2000, Palumbo made his debut on WCW television on the March 21, 2000, edition of Thunder under his real name, losing to Scott Steiner.
After this match, Palumbo was chosen by Bischoff and Russo to be The New Blood's version of Lex Luger in May 2000.
He was given the nickname "The Main Event".
On March 29, at WCW Saturday Night Taping (March '00 #5), Palumbo defeated Chris Harris.
Palumbo feuded with Luger until late May 2000 when Palumbo formed a team called "The Perfect Event" with Shawn Stasiak and the pair won the WCW World Tag Team Championship.
Their main feud was against KroniK (Brian Adams and Bryan Clark).
In August, Stasiak and Palumbo helped form the Natural Born Thrillers with Mike Sanders, Sean O'Haire, Mark Jindrak, and Reno while they were briefly "coached" by Kevin Nash.
2001
Palumbo and Stasiak won the WCW World Tag Team Championship two more times before splitting in early January 2001 when he and Stasiak won a tag team battle royal with O'Haire and Jindrak for a future tag team title shot.
After the conclusion of the match Mike Sanders declared both teams victorious and that any combination of the four would face The Insiders (Diamond Dallas Page and Kevin Nash).
Palumbo and O'Haire were the two members of the Natural Born Thrillers who would face and defeat Page and Nash for the tag titles at Sin on January 14, 2001.
Following the title victory, the Natural Born Thrillers broke up when the team of Jindrak and Stasiak became jealous of Palumbo and O'Haire.
The teams faced each other at SuperBrawl Revenge on February 18, 2001, for the tag team title, which Palumbo and O'Haire retained.
The duo also retained the title against Totally Buffed (Buff Bagwell and Lex Luger) at Greed in March, WCW's last pay-per-view.
On March 23, the World Wrestling Federation acquired the assets of WCW and Palumbo's contract was acquired.
The following Monday on the final episode of Nitro, Palumbo and O'Haire defeated Team Canada's Mike Awesome and Lance Storm in the final WCW World Tag Team Championship title defense on the program.
