Raven (wrestler) - Misplaced Pages

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Scott Levy (born September 8, 1964), better known as Raven, is an American professional wrestler, currently performing for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He has enjoyed considerable success in every major promotion in the United States.

Career

Early career

Scott started wrestling as Scotty the Body in the NWA's "Pacific Northwest" territory in 1988. He was the main heel for three years there, winning all of the titles and feuding heavily with Steve Doll.

He next spent a little time in Memphis' "Mid-Southern Wrestling" where he was the boy-toy of Missy Hyatt, who used him to her and Eddie Gilbert's advantage.

His first national TV exposure was in the Global Wrestling Federation as Scotty Anthony. He was a member of The Cartel with Cactus Jack, Rip Rogers and Makhan Singh. GWF was aired on ESPN.

He got his first major exposure as a wrestler in 1991 in World Championship Wrestling under the name Scotty Flamingo, and won the short lived WCW Light Heavyweight Title (also known as the first incarnation of the WCW Cruiserweight Championship) in 1992. He had feuds with Brian Pillman, Brad Armstrong and Johnny B. Badd. He won a "boxing" match over the former Golden Gloves champion Badd at the Clash of Champions on November 18, 1992 when his ring corner men, Diamond Dallas Page and Vinnie Vegas, loaded his gloves with water so he could KO Badd. He left later that year.

In early 1993, Levy joined the then-World Wrestling Federation as the manager Johnny Polo, a spoiled, rich kid, and was placed with Adam Bomb. More famously, he was also the manager of the Quebecers tag team, whom he led to a few reigns as WWF World Tag Team Champions. He occasionally wrestled, worked as a color commentator, and, behind the scenes, worked as a producer for the WWF's Monday Night RAW TV program, before leaving in 1994. He would then start to make his impact in professional wrestling.

Extreme Championship Wrestling

In 1995, now bulked up to approximately 230 lb (104 kg), Levy debuted in Extreme Championship Wrestling under the name Raven (a reference to the poem by Edgar Allan Poe). In a dramatic departure from his former characters, Levy began portraying a depressed, nihilistic misanthrope. Levy enjoyed two reigns as ECW World Heavyweight Champion during his tenure in ECW. He started a legendary feud with Tommy Dreamer that lasted for the next two years, before Dreamer finally defeated him at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in June 1997.

File:The Flock.jpg

Raven with members of The Flock.

World Championship Wrestling

In 1997 Levy left ECW and rejoined WCW, leading The Flock. He would enjoy some moderate success in WCW, but never reaching main event status like he did in ECW. He won the WCW Tag Team Championship with fellow Flock member Perry Saturn and the WCW U.S Heavyweight Championship. After the disintegration of the Flock, Raven was reunited with his former valet Chastity, who WCW claimed was his sister, and later joined with Vampiro, The Great Muta, and the Insane Clown Posse in a short-lived stable called The Dead Pool. Dissatisfied with WCW's creative direction, Raven left the company in 1999.

Extreme Championship Wrestling

Raven rejoined ECW and teamed up with his old enemy, Tommy Dreamer. A reluctant tag team, Raven and Dreamer reigned as ECW World Tag Team Champions for several months. When they lost those belts, they feuded once again before Levy left for the WWF in the summer of 2000.

World Wrestling Entertainment

Levy's WWF/WWE run was not a success. Despite a large reaction from fans to his early appearances, the WWF showed little interest in pushing him beyond the Hardcore division. Like many other former ECW wrestlers, Raven lost his ECW look and switched to the more uniform WWF style of dress. This eventually led to him wearing a kilt, and then to a standard pair of trunks and boots. Raven made the latter change on his own initiative, hoping that this would win the WWE's attention. Still, the WWE kept him lower on the card, to the point where he became something of a joke (Color commentator Jerry Lawler would point out that Raven spent most of his time on Sunday Night HEAT). Raven could not advance beyond midcard status and was used mainly on the "B" shows or in the Hardcore division. He won the WWE Hardcore Championship a total of 26 times before being released in early 2003.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Levy's main exposure since then has been for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (Then NWA-TNA), and in Europe for the Frontier Wrestling Alliance, where he reverted to his original grunge image. He also appeared in Ring of Honor that year, battling CM Punk in one of the company's most famous feuds which was based around Punk's straight-edge lifestyle as opposed to Raven's years of drug and alcohol abuse during the height of his fame in the late nineties.

On September 17, 2003, Raven lost his trademark long hair after he was defeated by Shane Douglas in a hair versus hair match. He later regrew it. While in TNA, he formed a stable known as The Gathering, though they would later turn on him.

On June 19, 2005, Raven won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at the TNA Slammiversary PPV, defeating A.J. Styles, Abyss, Sean Waltman and Monty Brown in a five way King of the Mountain match. This concluded a long-running "destiny" storyline.

After successfully defending the title at No Surrender on July 17, 2005, against Abyss in a brutal Dog Collar Match, he was gored by Rhino, who aligned with Jeff Jarrett in yet another effort to get Jarrett into the title picture. Jarrett would get a title shot if he pinned Raven in a tag-team match at TNA Sacrifice on August 14, where Raven teamed with Sabu and Jarrett teamed with Rhino. Ultimately Rhino got the pin on Raven after goring him through a table, and was given the title shot at TNA Unbreakable on September 11.

File:Ravens-rules.jpg

Raven preparing for a Raven's Rules Match.

At Unbreakable, Raven made the request of making the match a "Raven's Rules Match", to which Rhino agreed. Raven's Rules means no-disqualification, with Raven pushing a shopping cart to the ring containing various nominally-illegal foreign objects. In the match, Rhino got sliced in the face by a pizza cutter, while Raven was split open by a shot from a garbage can and shot in the forehead twice with a staple gun. In the end, after unsuccessful interference by Jeff Jarrett, Rhino suffered the Raven Effect DDT, and Raven retained the NWA World Heavyweight Championship once more.

On September 15, 2005 Raven lost the NWA Title to Jeff Jarrett in Oldcastle, Ontario, Canada, at a special event of Border City Wrestling. America's Most Wanted ("Wildcat" Chris Harris and "Cowboy" James Storm) came out and made and interfered on Jarrett's behalf. TNA Director of Authority Larry Zbyszko was immediately contacted by BCW officials, who declared the title change official.

Raven was enraged by this acceptance, and went on the rampage backstage during the weeks leading up to Bound For Glory. As a result, when challenger Kevin Nash went down to illness and forfeited his title shot, Larry Zbyszko refused to grant Raven a rematch. Rhino came out and berated Raven, asking where the sick person that crucified The Sandman in ECW went, and saying Raven now was pathetic.

During this, and a segment with Cassidy Riley on the following episode of iMPACT, it has been hinted that Raven has "gone soft" as a result of his involvement with an as-yet unrevealed woman. There is speculation that this woman is Jackie Gayda, who has been officially announced to have been signed to the company who will assumedly pose as Raven's girlfriend.

In wrestling

Quotes

"Quoth the Raven, Nevermore!"
"Quote the Raven..."
"What about me? What about Raven?"
"So it is written, so it shall come to pass."
"I think you hear me knocking, I think I'm coming in!"
"Welcome to Raven's Clockwork Orange House of Fun."
"Being crazy was the only thing that kept me from going insane."
"I am a human cancer!"
"Welcome to the Terrordome"

Managers

Lori Fullington
James Mitchell
Veronica Lane
Missy Hyatt
Jonathan Boyd
Nanny Simpson
Max Andrews
Simply Luscious
Ginger

Angel Williams
Mike Samples
Reggie Bennett
Stevie Richards
The Blue Meanie
The Flock
The Musketeer
Lupus
The Isis

Finishing and signature moves

Raven Effect DDT / Evenflow DDT (Snap DDT)
Drop toe-hold onto a chair
Russian legsweep to a vertical surface
One hand bulldog
Clothesline

Trivia

Levy has a reported IQ of 143.
Is a member of Mensa International.
Levy is the only wrestler to have an action figure of himself made in ECW, WCW, WWE and TNA, arguably the four most prominent promotions in North America of the 1990s and early 2000s. In addition, Levy was featured in video games produced by ECW, WCW and WWE, with TNA looking to have one produced as well, and won titles in every promotion, placing him among a select few.
Levy co-wrote an issue of Spider-Man's Tangled Web with Brian Azzarello around the professional wrestler who Peter Parker defeated in the character's first appearance in Amazing Fantasy. Specifically this was Issue #14 titled "The Last Shoot." Levy's influence is clearly seen by the insider's take on pro wrestling within the issue, including kayfabe slang.
During his WCW career, Levy's theme music was at one point quite similar to an instrumental version of Nirvana's Come As You Are.
Levy is an alumnus of Theta Chi Fraternity, which he joined during his days at the University of Delaware.
In Wizard Magazine's May 1999 issue he is quoted as saying "I love the Marvel Knights line. I'm a big Kevin Smith fan, and his work on Daredevil is the best on that book since Frank Miller's stuff. Inhumans is also great. It could be the break-out book of the year because they're finally treating them as real characters instead of just freaks and monsters with no personality." The article goes on to say that he is a big fan of Watchmen, Swamp Thing, and especially Sandman and that he has a tattoo of Neil Gaiman's Sandman character on his back.
Levy has the dubious honor of having the most title runs in the WWF/WWE in having 26 reigns as Hardcore champion.

Championships and accomplishments

Pacific Northwest Wrestling

3-time NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Champion
1-time NWA Pacific Northwest Television Champion
3-time NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Champion (1-time with Top Gun, 1-time with The Grappler, 1-time with Steve Doll)