Marc Mero

Marc Mero (born July 9, 1960) is an American retired amateur boxer and professional wrestler, as well as a motivational speaker.

He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) under his real name and with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and NWA Total Nonstop Action (NWA TNA) under the ring name Johnny B. Badd.

In 1973, Mero's family relocated to Liverpool, New York, where Mero played for the Mid State Youth Hockey League.

At age 15, Mero began playing for the Syracuse Stars Junior Hockey Team.

Mero began playing football in his senior year at Liverpool High School, with his team winning the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Title under the tutelage of future University of Central Florida coach George O'Leary.

In the same year, Mero began training as a boxer under Golden Gloves coach Ray Rinaldi.

Mero went on to win four New York State titles, including the New York Golden Gloves tournament.

Mero intended to become a professional boxer, but his career was sidelined after his nose was broken in an accident.

He briefly pursued a bodybuilding career, placing third in the Mr. New York State bodybuilding contest.

In his 20s Mero became a Christian.

Mero was heavily pushed as a mid-carder as "Johnny B. Badd" in WCW during the early 1990s.

In 1990, Mero decided to become a wrestler, traveling to Tampa, Florida to train under the Malenkos.

He debuted in 1991 in the Floridian Sun Coast Professional Wrestling promotion.

Several months after his FSCPW debut, Mero attended a World Championship Wrestling television taping and was given a tryout, losing to Doom in a squash match.

Mero appeared with WCW as an enhancement talent for several months.

Mero competed in his first match on the May 1, 1991 episode of WorldWide, where he was defeated by Sid Vicious.

He was eventually signed to a contract by booker Dusty Rhodes.

Rhodes repackaged Mero with the ring name Johnny B. Badd (as a nod to the Chuck Berry song "Johnny B. Goode") and he was given the character of a flamboyant Little Richard look-alike.

He was initially a villain and managed by Teddy Long.

He debuted at the inaugural SuperBrawl pay-per-view, on May 19, 1991, where he was introduced as Long's newest client.

He made his televised in-ring debut on the June 1 episode of World Championship Wrestling against enhancement talent Kip Abee.

Badd made his pay-per-view debut at The Great American Bash, where he lost to The Yellow Dog by disqualification after Long tried to remove Yellow Dog's mask.

Badd was heavily pushed upon his debut, being placed in the rankings of the top ten contenders for the World Heavyweight Championship due to a dominant undefeated streak.

He put his lip stickers on the faces of his defeated opponents after matches.

On August 25, he participated in a tournament for the vacated United States Heavyweight Championship, where he faced Yellow Dog to a no contest in the quarter-final.

As a result, both men were eliminated from the tournament.

Badd suffered his first pinfall loss on television on the September 5 Clash of the Champions XVI: Fall Brawl, where he was pinned by the United States Heavyweight Champion Sting.

Badd continued his dominance with a win over Jimmy Garvin at Halloween Havoc and unsuccessfully challenged Brian Pillman for the Light Heavyweight Championship on the November 19 Clash of the Champions XVII.

On the December 22 episode of Main Event, Badd teamed with Diamond Studd to take on Tom Zenk and P. N. News in a tag team match, which Badd's team lost.

After the match, Badd was attacked by Studd and Diamond Dallas Page until Zenk and News came to his rescue.

As a result, Badd turned into a fan favorite.

Badd made his first appearance at the company's flagship event Starrcade, where he was randomly placed with Arachnaman in a Lethal Lottery tag team match against Scott Steiner and Firebreaker Chip.

He won the WCW World Television Championship three times during the course of his career before departing the company due to creative differences in 1996.

He would then compete in WWF under his real name, making his debut at WrestleMania XII and going on to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship.

He would then feud with his wife Sable before departing in 1999.

Mero's last mainstream appearance was in NWA TNA, where he wrestled sporadically in the mid-2000s.

Mero was born into a Jewish family in Buffalo, New York (his grandfather shortened the family name from "Merowitz").

His parents divorced when he was eight years old, with his mother supporting him and his two siblings by working two jobs.

At the age of 12, Mero began playing hockey, eventually becoming his league's Most Valuable Player.

Today, Marc Mero contributes much of his time to the nonprofit organization he founded in 2007, Champion of Choices.