NAME: Tom Self

HOMETOWN: Las Vegas, Nevada

HEIGHT: 6'1"

WEIGHT: 230 pounds

ALIGNMENT: Face

SIGNATURE MOVES: The Gambler's Gambit (springboard moonsault from ring apron to opponent outside the ring); Cerebral Bore (twisting Argentine neckbreaker); Unprettier (top rope big air knee drop)

FINISHING MOVE: Self Abuse

DESCRIPTION: Twisting reverse STO

ENTRANCE MUSIC: "Underdog" - Kasabian

ENTRANCE: The house lights are turned right down. "Underdog" by Kasabian begins play through the arena's PA. After 24 seconds, the song's vocals kick in and the lights come back on. Tom Self steps through the curtain into the arena with a big grin on his face. He takes a few moments to soak up the crowd's reaction and makes his way to the ring, making sure he acknowledges as many people in the crowd as he can: slapping hands, signing autographs, posing for photos etc.

Announcer: From Las Vegas, Nevada... weighing 239 pounds... TOM SELF!

Having made his way to the ring, Tom slides under the bottom rope and climbs a turnbuckle, throwing his right arm in the air, fist clenched. He repeats this in every turnbuckle, milking the reaction from the crowd.

SSW ACCOMPLISHMENTS: N/A

ATTIRE: Red wrestling briefs, black boots, black knee and elbow pads, red wristbands.

DOSIER: Tom Self is one of life's ‘Joe Averages' trying to become something special. He has the good fortune of dual American and British citizenship, courtesy of his birth in New York City to a British father and an American mother. The birth in the Big Apple secured Tom an American passport, he grew up in Britain in a comfortable, if not wealthy, and typically average middle-class setting, following the typical schema of the middle-class youth: school/college, gap year, university, and then the search for a suitable career.

Enamoured with ‘American culture' Tom crossed the Atlantic in 2006 after completing his degree in search of fame and fortune. As a teenager he had wanted to be either a rugby player or a film star, and headed straight for the bright lights of L.A. However, it never really worked for Tom in L.A. and in between auditions and the occasional work that came his way he spent much of his time working two jobs waiting tables just to make ends meet. Fame and fortune couldn't be much further away.

After 18 months in L.A. Tom moved to Las Vegas where, through a friend, he had been offered a better paid job working security within one of the cities many casinos. A year passed and still Tom was no closer to achieving his ‘American Dream'; but fate has a funny way of throwing opportunities your way.

Tom began working security at wrestling events in Vegas, and it wasn't long before he started to think he could do just as well, if not better, than some of the bums on display, so he went in search of a wrestling school.

The school he enrolled in was run by a guy called ‘Charlie Continental', an old pro wrestler who claimed Hulk Hogan had jobbed for him in the 1970s. Continental style gave no account for style, but lacked nothing in grit and substance. Tom was given a harsh lesson in the realities of pro wrestling, and it wasn't long before Continental was throwing him in the ring to be battered mercifully by the downtrodden and bitter vets of the Nevada independent wrestling scene. Most of the time Tom didn't get paid, and his first seven matches all ended with him a broken and bloody pulp in the middle of the ring inside some grotty gym or venue, left to heckled and jeered by the sneering inbreeds who frequented these events.

Close to quitting wrestling and America, Tom's breakthrough came during 2010 with a surprise win over a local veteran who wrestled under the name ‘The Wrecking Machine'. Quite how Tom claimed this win over this monster is a mystery, well if you exclude the 15 chair shots it took to floor the man, but it gave Tom the confidence boost he needed. He started spending more time at the gym under Continental's tutorage, and as well as putting on some extra bulk, Tom's wrestling technique greatly improved and with this the results started to improve.

By the end of 2010 Tom had won 14 consecutive matches and had become a favourite on the local scene with his high-energy performances, competent technique, plucky spirit, and, of course, the willingness to take the odd bump for the fan's entertainment.

Tom left Las Vegas early in 2011 and began travelling the country to try his luck in different contexts, and in the hope of finding his big break in the business.