Thursday, April 10, 2008

Armando Alejandro Estrada


Hazem Ali (born December 20, 1978) is an American professional wrestler and wrestling manager of Palestinian descent, better known by his ring names Osama Rodriguez Alejandro and Armando... Alejandro ...Estrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaada. (LOL...sorry...Ha Ha!) He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) where he serves as the General Manager on the ECW brand.

Ali began his World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) career wrestling in their "farm territory", Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), making his OVW TV debut as a bodyguard named Osama in Muhammad Hassan's entourage. When Hassan and Daivari were called up to the main roster, Ali remained in OVW wrestling with an Arab anti-American gimmick, similar to that of the Iron Sheik and began wrestling in a tag team with Da Beast.

When Paul Heyman began booking OVW he expanded Osama's name to Osama Rodriguez Alejandro, revealing him to actually be half Cuban and half Palestinian. Along with being an active wrestler he became a backstage interviewer, conducting interviews, along with a sidekick, wrestler Robbie Dawber, for his own (kayfabe) Spanish language version of OVWs TV show. At the same time he began a storyline campaign to be elected "Dictator of Kentucky", which he intended to rename "Los Kentuckos", often coming to the ring with a placard reading "Bote for Lalo", utilizing his nickname at the time: "Big Lalo".

In April 2006, Ali was called up to the main World Wrestling Entertainment roster and placed on the Raw brand. He debuted on the April 3, 2006 edition of Raw as Armando Alejandro Estrada, a Cuban businessman, and the heel manager for the also debuting Umaga. His debut saw him mocking Ric Flair, saying he was too old to still be in the business, and promising to bring about a new hero (Umaga). Estrada led Umaga in a feud against Flair until the Backlash pay-per-view at the end of the month, where Umaga dispatched Flair.

Following the feud with Flair, Umaga began a period of squashing jobbers, before and after which Estrada would cut promos about his charges greatness. During this time, his way of introducing himself - using long rolling r's - as well as a short "ha ha" laugh began to get him cheered, so he stopped introducing himself before promos.

At August's SummerSlam, Estrada offered the undefeated Umaga's services to The McMahons (Vince and Shane) to "take out" their D-Generation X (Shawn Michaels and Triple H) opponents during their tag team match. However, as Umaga attempted to deliver on Estrada's promise, he was attacked by Kane. Kane and Umaga feuded for two months, with Kane attacking Estrada on at least one occasion. The feud seemingly came to an end when, on the October 9, 2006 Raw, Estrada's interference helped Umaga defeat Kane in a Loser Leaves Raw match.

During December, Umaga, and thus Estrada, began a feud with John Cena over the WWE Championship. In the opening stages Estrada inserted himself into matches and confrontations with the two, leading to Vince McMahon's assistant Jonathan Coachman signing a match between Estrada and Cena. Before the match Estrada attempted to buy Cena off (offering him a box of Cohibas, his watch, and finally cash) only to have him refuse. The resulting match was a squash, with Cena winning with his signature F-U.

The next February, he managed Umaga to his first title, the Intercontinental Championship, and stood beside him during his partnership with Vince McMahon and feud with Bobby Lashley. As the Umaga and Lashley feud intensified Estrada became a target of Lashley when it was decreed that he could not put his hands on Umaga, Vince, or Shane McMahon outside of official matches and on the May 8 episode of ECW on Sci Fi Lashley shoved Estrada, who was confined to a wheelchair, down a ramp into a collection of garbage cans in what turned out to be his last appearance, outside of a cameo appearance, for months..

On August 14, 2007, Estrada was announced as the General Manager of the ECW brand giving him (kayfabe) power to book matches and make arrangements for the brand.



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