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David Christian Heath (born February 16, 1969 in Tampa, Florida) is an American professional wrestler better known by his Ring names The Vampire Warrior and Gangrel. He is also well known for living a "gothic lifestyle", with his in-ring behavior believed not to be as far from reality as some would assume.

Career

Heath began his career by training with Dean Malenko in Florida. When his training was complete he began performing in various Independent federations in the Florida area, including Independent Professional Wrestling (IPW) where he became a Tag Team champion.

While working for Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) he was paired with Luna Vachon as his valet. The two would become romantically involved and eventually marry.

He fought under the name Gangrel, seemingly directly based on the role-playing game clan, as the Gangrel name was used under license, and with full permission of White Wolf Game Studio.

After his release from the World Wrestling Federation, Heath was unable to use the Gangrel name, and reverted back to the wrestling name of Vampire Warrior, which he had used prior to his WWF tenure.

World Wrestling Federation

In 1995 Heath wrestled in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) for a short period, feuding with Tommy Dreamer over Dreamer's affiliation with real-life wife Luna Vachon. While there he was noticed by World Wrestling Federation (WWF) officials and signed a contract with the WWF. He made his WWF TV debut on the August 16, 1998 episode of Sunday Night Heat victorious in his in-ring debut against Scott Taylor. Heath was given the character name Gangrel, which was derived from a vampire clan from the White Wolf roleplaying game Vampire: The Masquerade.

The Gangrel gimmick involved an entrance which saw him rising from a ring of fire on the elevated 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 spray it into the air. He was billed as being "from the other side of darkness." As Gangrel, Heath formed a gothic stable, called The Brood, with fellow WWF wrestlers Edge and Christian.

The Brood became known for their sneak attack "Blood Baths" which involved the arena lights going dark for a few moments and when they came back on the targeted wrestler being covered in "blood". The three eventually joined up with The Undertaker and his "Ministry of Darkness" stable but the larger grouping didn't last long.

Before the Brood was formed, Gangrel had a long feud with Edge. A possible connection between the two happened during one Raw event in which Gangrel told Edge after beating him up that "the blood of Gangrel flows through you, Edge." Nothing more was ever brought to light from that saying, though one could speculate what that connection could have meant with the two characters.

After splitting from the Ministry The Brood began a feud with The Hardy Boyz and their manager Dok Hendrix. The feud took a turn when Gangrel suddenly turned on Edge and Christian and aligned himself with Matt and Jeff Hardy calling the group The New Brood. Unfortunately for Gangrel, Terri Runnels also began to show interest in the Hardy brothers and they eventually chose her over him. With The New Brood broken up Gangrel became a singles wrestler, mostly as a mid carder. In 2000 he brought in (real-life wife) Luna Vachon as his manager until she was fired. Gangrel continued working for the WWF until he was released in 2001.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

After his release from the WWF Heath did a short stint with World Wrestling All-Stars, including winning a pay-per-view match against his wife, Luna. In 2002 Heath signed with NWA: Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) and, at TNA's first PPV, competed in the 20 man "Gauntlet for the Gold" match to crown the first NWA World Heavyweight Champion of the TNA era once again going as The Vampire Warrior. He stayed with the promotion, making occasional appearances, until 2003 while still making appearances in smaller independent promotions.

Gangrel also made a brief cameo appearance in Mullingar based promotion XHW, becoming involved in an altercation with DDG while backstage at an independent show. He appears on the XHW videogramme St Patricks Day Riot 2002.

2004-2007

The years between 2004 and 2006 saw Heath bouncing back and forth between the newly renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and the Independent circuit. He made several appearances for WWE in 2004, most notably returning to have a short feud with the Undertaker. He used the Gangrel name with his old entrance music and gimmick but nothing solid came of it. Following that he and Luna wrestled many independent tours all over the world. The pair did a lot of wrestling with the United Kingdom based All-Star Promotions. In mid-2005 Heath was given another short-lived WWE contract and appeared in their Ohio Valley Wrestling, the primary developmental territory of WWE, but was again released before anything came of it. In 2006, Heath was resigned as a potential for WWE's newest brand, ECW. However, the WWE has held off from reintroducing him to the main roster due to his ongoing weight problems. On the September 21 Deep South Wrestling event he made a surprise appearance wrestling Tommy Suede. He continued to wrestle in DSW under his real name while he waited to be called up to one of the main rosters.

On January 18, 2007, in an article on WWE.com it was reported that Gangrel had been released from World Wrestling Entertainment.

On 13 February 2007 David Heath returned to the United Kingdom to All Star Wrestling his first show back was at the Spa Centre in Leamington Spa where he wrestled James Mason and got the win Then 5 days later competed at Pacific Road complex in Birkenhead, England in an 8-man tag match. In this match he was teamed up with Joe Legend, "Iceman" Steve Strong and TNT against The all-Star Wrestling Team which consisted of "Wildcat" Robby Brookside, British Heavyweight Champion James Mason, The showstopper celtic warrior and Nick Aldis

It is rumored that He signed a contract to TNA but is set to remain in England for another 3 months

Personal life

Heath is married to fellow wrestler Luna Vachon. He has two sons, David, Jr. and Donovan and is the stepfather of Vachon's two sons, Joshua and Van. He now lives in the city of Hudson and runs his own lawn care service when he isn't wrestling.

References

1. WWE.com article "WWE releases Superstars"

In wrestling

• Finishing and signature moves

• Impaler DDT (Implant DDT)
• Blood Spit (Spits "blood" at opponent)
• Bloodbath (pours a bucket of "blood" over his opponent)
• Trapping suplex
• Triple running elbow drops
• Powerbomb
• Side belly to belly suplex
• Neckbreaker
• Boston crab
• STF
• Sleeper hold
• Reverse vertical suplex
• Fisherman's suplex
• Overhead belly to belly suplex

• Previous managers

• Luna Vachon
• Bert Prentice

• Quotes

• "It's time for a bloodbath!"
• "I don't stop... til' I see blood!"
• "Blood is thicker than water!"
• "The blood of Gangrel runs through your veins!"

  " i'm as lethal as a stick of dynamite".
  "your about to serve some hard time"
  "the lord of darkness will be well pleased".
  "wellll, wellll, welllllll"

• Wrestlers managed

• Edge and Christian
• The Hardy Boyz

Championships and accomplishments

• All-Star Championship Wrestling

• ACW Heavyweight Champion (1 time)

• EWP

• EWP Ironman Hardcore Knockout Tournament (2003)

• Israeli Pro Wrestling Association

• IPWA Tag Team Champion (2 times) - with Rusty Brooks

• MXPW

• MXPW Heavyweight Champion (1 time)

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• 1993 Rookie of the Year

• National Wrestling Alliance

Regional

• NWA Florida Tag Team Champion (1 time) - with Tom Nash

• Stampede Wrestling

• Stampede International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Tom Nash

• United States Wrestling Association

• USWA Southern Heavyweight Champion (1 time)

• USWF

• USWF Tag Team Champion (1 time) - with Tom Nash

External link

• American professional wrestlers
• 1969 births
• Living people
• People from Tampa
• Total Nonstop Action Wrestling alumni
• World Wrestling Entertainment alumni