Shannon Brian Moore (born July 27, 1979) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling on the Smackdown! brand.
Moore befriended Matt and Jeff Hardy as a boy, and competed in their backyard wrestling circuit. After the Hardy brothers began wrestling professionally, they trained Moore, and he debuted on April 8, 1995 against Jeff. Moore began working the independent circuit, wrestling for the North Carolina-based Southern Championship Wrestling and National Championship Wrestling promotions as Kid Dynamo. In addition, he frequently wrestled for OMEGA, the promotion operated by the Hardys. In the late 1990s Moore began wrestling for the Tennessee-based Music City Wrestling promotion.
In 1999, Moore was hired by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) by Hulk Hogan, who had been granted the authority to employ twenty-one young cruiserweights for the Atlanta-based promotion. He was placed in a team known as 3 Count by Jimmy Hart. 3 Count, which consisted of Moore, Evan Karagias and Shane Helms, was a trio of young male wrestlers who utilised a boy band gimmick. 3 Count debuted in WCW in November 1999, and began lip-synching the song "Can't Get You Out Of My Heart" in the ring before their matches.
On the February 28, 2000 episode of WCW Monday Nitro in Minneapolis, Minnesota, all three members of 3 Count defeated Brian Knobbs to win the WCW Hardcore Championship with all 3 members of the team simultaneously pinning him. By doing this, Moore became the youngest Hardcore champion in WCW history, a record he held until the company folded. 3 Count reigned as "co-champions" until March 19, at Uncensored where Knobbs regained the title by pinning all three men consecutively.
3 Count were not involved in the Millionaires Club versus New Blood angle that took place during the summer of 2000 because Helms was (legitly) sidelined with a broken nose. When the team reconvened late in the summer of 2000 they began performing a new song, "Dance With 3 Count". Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial artist Tank Abbott (kayfabe) became an avid fan of 3 Count, and began protecting them during their performances, attacking anyone who disrupted them, eventually acting as their talent manager and occasional inserting himself as a back-up dancer.
3 Count began to fall apart in late 2000, with Karagias joining forces with Jamie-San, a former member of the Jung Dragons. At Starrcade 2000, Moore and Helms defeated San (renamed Jamie Noble) and Karagias and the remaining Jung Dragons in a three way tag team ladder match. The six men went on to feud with one another in early 2001, with Helms pinning Moore in a cruiserweight elimination match at SuperBrawl Revenge on February 18. Moore and Karagias joined forces once again to take part in a tournament for the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championships, but were eliminated by Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio, Jr..
After WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation in March 2001, Moore signed a contract with them and was assigned to the Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA), a Louisville-based WWF developmental territory. He teamed with Karagias in HWA until Karagias was released by the WWF. Moore would make his TV debut on the July 13, 2002 episode of Velocity.
After competing in the cruiserweight division for several months as a face, Moore became a heel acolyte of then heel, Matt Hardy, who had begun proselytizing a philosophy known as "Mattitude" and calling himself "Matt Hardy Version 1.0". Moore became a "Mattitude Follower" (abbreviated "MF'er"), and started dressing like Hardy and accompanying him to ringside. Moore would often lose to a more physically dominant opponent or (unsuccessfully) attempt to help Hardy win his matches, both things that would result in Hardy attacking Moore in order to vent his frustrations claiming that he had "failed to comprehend [Hardy's] coaching!"
Moore did, however, assist Hardy in his bid to lose several pounds in order to qualify for a WWE Cruiserweight Championship title shot, which he won when Moore came through again, this time distracting then babyface, Billy Kidman to enable Hardy to get the win and the title.
On April 24, Crash Holly also became an MF'er. He was subordinate to Moore and as such was also referred to as a "Moore-on". The group was short-lived though as Crash was released from WWE on June 30.
Moore and Hardy continued to work together until November 17, when Hardy left SmackDown! and joined the RAW brand. As a result Moore was a face again and Paul Heyman (SmackDown!'s then, general manager) decided to punish Hardy vicariously for leaving his show by forcing Moore to face a series of much larger opponents. In successsive weeks, Moore was squashed by Matt Morgan, Nathan Jones and The Big Show before unexpectedly defeating A-Train in an upset victory on the December 11 episode of SmackDown!. The following week, WWE Champion Brock Lesnar was scheduled to defend his title against a random wrestler, with the name of his opponent selected arbitrarily by a lottery machine. Moore was selected as Lesnar's opponent, and Lesnar defeated him with ease, then revealed that all the balls had borne Moore's named, with Lesnar having rigged the process in order to ensure that he would have a much smaller opponent. Immediately after the match, Moore and Hardcore Holly were scheduled to face A-Train and Matt Morgan in a tag team match, with Holly gaining a title shot if he won and being fired if he lost. Despite Moore being incapacitated, he and Holly were able to win the match.
At WrestleMania XX Moore took part in a "Cruiserweight Open" for the Cruiserweight Championship, but was eliminated by Ultimo Dragon. His next high profile appearance was on the July 8, 2004 episode of SmackDown!, which saw Moore wrestle under a mask as "El Gran Luchadore". Moore faced John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) in the match for the WWE Championship, and was initially dominated by his much larger opponent. However, a second Luchadore (the disguised Eddie Guerrero) took Moore's place, prompting Layfield to run away, thus giving Moore the victory by count out.
Moore competed in the cruiserweight division and as a jobber for the remainder of 2004 and the first half of 2005. In early 2005 he adopted the gimmick of a punk, and began wearing punk clothing to the ring. On March 21, 2005 he was concussed and suffered Whiplash after his Hummer was involved in a head-on collision with a vehicle driven by an inebriated United States Army Sergeant in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He quickly recovered from his injuries, but was fired by WWE on July 5, 2005.
Moore returned to the independent circuit soon thereafter, although the no-compete clause in his contract (which prohibits WWE employees who are fired or who negotiate a contract release from appearing on television within a given time period) did not expire until November 1 of that year. One of Moore's more high profile appearances came at an American Wrestling Association show where Moore featured in a 30-man AWA Light-Heavyweight Title Tournament that took place in Burlington, North Carolina. Moore defeated Dexter Poindexter, Ricky Landell, and "Amazing" N8 Mattson before losing to "Krazy K" Kirby Mack in the finals. He also wrestled A.J. Styles on a United Wrestling Association charity show on February 2, 2006. Proceeds benefitted Ricky Morton who was jailed at the time for unpaid child support.
During this time Moore opened a professional wrestling school known as the "School of Punk". He also became a guest star on Matt & Jeff Hardy's online reality show, entitled, "TheHardyShow.com".
Moore debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) on November 16, 2005, losing to Chris Sabin in a dark match. He made his television debut on the December 17 iMPACT!, appearing on stage holding a sign reading "The X Division needs to get Punk'd." Upon joining the roster, he was known as "Prince of Punk" Shannon Moore.
On the January 1, 2006 episode of iMPACT!, Moore began a program with A.J. Styles, attacking him during a tag team match and preventing him and partner Christopher Daniels from winning the NWA World Tag Team Championship. He continued to stalk Styles, attacking him and stealing his "Mr. TNA" award plaque, leading to a street fight between the two, which Moore won.
The entire time he was with TNA Moore was not under a contract with the company, choosing instead to wrestle while they negotiated one. However, instead of signing with TNA he opted to return to WWE, wrestling his last match in TNA alongside Americas Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm) and Alex Shelley against Rhino, Ron Killings, Styles, and Daniels. Moore was pinned following a Styles Clash by Styles in the match, which aired the day after he'd officially left the company.
On March 14, 2006, wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer claimed that Moore had committed to a verbal agreement with World Wrestling Entertainment. Three days later WWE.com confirmed it and released an interview with Moore talking about his imminent return to the company. During the interview Moore's response to the question of what he has been up to during his time away from WWE was as follows:
“ Well, I’ve been keeping busy on the independent circuit, and I went over to Japan for a while, which was great for me. I also did some work down south. Plus, I opened a small wrestling school, and I have four students that I’ve been training down here over the last few months. ”
In July 2006, Moore became a WWE heel again and was part of WWE's ECW brand, making his first appearances in vignettes and calling himself "The Reject" while still dressed in the fashion of his "Prince of Punk" gimmick. His in ring debut was a loss to CM Punk on September 12, a week after Punk had confronted Moore and called him a poseur before slapping him across the face. After one more loss to Punk, Moore was a face once more and relegated to jobber status on the ECW brand, and making only sporadic appearances.
On the February 16, 2007 edition of Friday Night SmackDown! Moore suddenly switched brands, appearing in an in-ring brawl with other SmackDown! cruiserweights, which was itself a prelude to a "Cruiserweight Open" at No Way Out, which Moore also took part in, but was eliminated by the defending Cruiserweight Champion Gregory Helms.On the May 8th Smackdown Taping He lost to Eddie Colon.
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