Gangrel

David William Heath (born February 16, 1969) is an American professional wrestler.

Under this moniker, he won the USWA Southern Championship and the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Rookie of the Year award in 1993.

In 1993, Heath received a tryout match with the World Wrestling Federation when he faced Kevin Kruger in an unaired match for Wrestling Challenge on June 14 in Columbus, Ohio.

In late October 1993, the WWF began a Florida swing to their house show tour, and Heath made several appearances teaming with The Cuban Assassin and Little Louis in six-man matches against The Bushwhackers and Tiger Jackson.

They eventually married on Halloween 1994.

The World Wrestling Federation (WWF), where Luna worked at the time, even broadcast a segment of Luna's "Wedding to a Vampire".

After the demise of the Blackhearts, Heath and Luna developed the Vampire Warrior gimmick, inspired by the movie The Lost Boys, under which, he wrestled in various promotions, including the Memphis-based United States Wrestling Association (USWA).

On the February 28, 1994 episode of RAW, Heath made his televised debut for the WWF and lost to Earthquake.

He was portrayed as a masked heel and dubbed "The Black Phantom", working as an enhancement talent against numerous stars, including Earthquake, Razor Ramon, The 1-2-3 Kid, Lex Luger, Bob Holly, Tatanka, Davey Boy Smith, Typhoon and others.

His last match was on the July 9, 1995 edition of Wrestling Challenge, where he fell to the 1-2-3 Kid once more.

In 1995, Heath appeared in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) for a short period, feuding with Tommy Dreamer over Dreamer's affiliation with Heath's real-life wife Luna.

He made his debut at Barbed Wire, Hoodies & Chokeslams in June 1995.

Heath made a one-night return to ECW when he teamed with Marty Jannetty as they lost to Al Snow and Amish Roadkill on September 27, 1997.

Throughout 1997 and early 1998, Heath appeared as enhancement talent on WCW Pro and WCW Worldwide, wrestling Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko, and Scotty Riggs in singles matches, and in tag matches, teaming with Todd Griffith and Johnny Boone once each against Public Enemy, and with Michael Nova against The Faces of Fear.

He is best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1998 to 2001 and intermittently throughout the mid-2000s under the ring name Gangrel.

In recent time, he has worked in All Elite Wrestling.

Heath was trained by Boris Malenko in Florida.

When his training was complete, he began performing in various independent promotions in the Florida area.

In the Independent Professional Wrestling (IPW) promotion he won the IPW Tag Team Championship, before moving to Stampede Wrestling, where he formed a tag team with Tom Nash known as "The Blackhearts".

Heath and Nash competed under masks as "Destruction" and "Apocalypse" respectively.

They won the Stampede International Tag Team Championship as a team.

In the early nineties, the Blackhearts were paired with Nash's wife Luna, wrestling in Joel Goodhart's Tri-State Wrestling, in Herb Abrams' Universal Wrestling Federation, and finally Giant Baba's All-Japan, where the team split up.

During that time, the marriage between Nash and Luna broke up, and Heath and Luna became romantically involved.

In 1998, Heath was hired by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) due to the support of then writers Bruce Prichard and Vince Russo, who believed in the merit of a vampire gimmick.

Heath was given the name Gangrel, which was derived from a vampire clan from the role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade.

The gimmick involved an entrance which saw him rising from a ring of fire on stage, followed by a slow walk to the ring set to a sinister instrumental music theme.

He also carried a goblet of "blood" with him and, during his entrance, would stop on the ring steps, take a drink, and spit it into the air.

Gangrel made his TV debut on the August 16, 1998 episode of Sunday Night Heat, defeating Scott Taylor.

He then formed a gothic faction, called The Brood, with Edge and Christian.

The Brood became known for their "blood baths", which involved the lights going out for a moment, and when they came back on, the targeted wrestler being covered in blood.

The three temporarily joined up with The Undertaker and his Ministry of Darkness faction.

Gangrel got one of his first title shots at the 1999 Royal Rumble.

He challenged D-Generation X member X-Pac for his WWF European Championship in a losing effort.

He competed in the Royal Rumble match later that night and again the following year.

After splitting from the Ministry, The Brood began a feud with the Hardy Boyz and their manager Michael Hayes.

During the feud, Gangrel suddenly turned on Edge and Christian and aligned himself with Matt and Jeff Hardy.

He called the group The New Brood.

Terri Runnels also began to show interest in the Hardy Boyz, however, and they eventually would win Terri's services as a manager, thus dumping Gangrel.

Gangrel became a singles wrestler following the breakup of The New Brood; he was mainly used as a mid carder.

In late 1999, he brought in his real-life wife Luna Vachon as his manager until she was fired.