Adam Pearce

Five-time World’s Heavyweight Wrestling Champion “Scrap Iron” Adam Pearce Early On: Born on June 24, 1978 in Lake Forest, Illinois, Adam Pearce was raised in the north suburban city of Waukegan, where he attended Waukegan High School excelling in baseball and football. Pearce played Left Tackle and Defensive End for the Waukegan High football team as a ninth, tenth, and eleventh-grader and earned two varsity letters. He also played First Base for two seasons on the Waukegan High baseball team. His promising athletic career was cut short as a junior when Pearce was diagnosed with Acute Muscular Compartment Syndrome, a serious condition that required immediate corrective surgery on both of his legs. This apparent misfortune may have robbed Pearce of his dream of becoming a collegiate football player, but in turn also opened a door into a dream world that he never imagined walking through. Learning the Ropes: Adam Pearce has achieved extraordinary success in the world of professional wrestling over the past eighteen years. Breaking into the business in Chicago in November of 1995 and being trained by Sonny Rogers and Randy Ricci, Pearce made his professional debut at the age of seventeen in Waukegan, Illinois on May 16, 1996. He went on to excel on the independent wrestling circuit throughout the Midwest, wrestling several “dark” (or untelevised) matches for the then-WWF from 1997 to 1999, also appearing several times on WWF television programming including their hit “Monday Night RAW” cable broadcast. During this time Pearce was a frequent travelling partner of independent wrestling star Colt Cabana and current WWE star C.M. Punk, and was instrumental in both Punk and Cabana’s early career. Pearce went on to train in Atlanta, Georgia at the renowned WCW (World Championship Wrestling) Power Plant and was offered a developmental contract by the Ted Turner-owned company in 1999, declining the offer for personal reasons. Pearce instead relocated to California in late 2000 and worked for the Los Angeles-based WWE development territory UPW (Ultimate Pro Wrestling), working alongside the likes of current wrestling stars John Cena, The Miz, Samoa Joe, and Christopher Daniels. Pearce toured the United States independent circuit before taking his talents abroad in 2005, when he trained at the New Japan Pro Wrestling Tokyo Dojo. This led to a performance in the world-famous Tokyo Egg Dome. At the same time, Pearce began working extensively in several Mexican companies, as well as throughout Europe. In September of 2005, Pearce signed his first domestic wrestling contract for Ring of Honor Wrestling (ROH) and began touring with the company. Pearce served as a notable villain for the company, working alongside wrestling royalty such as Jim Cornette, Mick Foley, and J.J. Dillon and in a variety of other featured roles. Becoming a World Champion: On September 1, 2007, Pearce won his first NWA World Championship by defeating Brent Albright in Bayamón, Puerto Rico and went on to defend the title twenty-three times, finally losing the crown to Albright on August 2, 2008 in New York City’s famed Manhattan Center. Pearce captured the championship back from Albright in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 20, 2008 at wrestling’s infamous ECW Arena. This second reign was short, as Pearce dropped the title on October 25, 2008 to lucha libre legend Blue Demon, Jr. at Centro Banamex in Mexico City. It would be 505 days before Pearce would wear the gold for the third time, finally defeating Blue Demon, Jr. on March 14, 2010 in Charlotte, North Carolina. He would go on to set a modern NWA record, defending the crown thirty-two times over the next twelve months before falling to longtime friend and Chicago-native Colt Cabana at the historic Showcase Theatre in Hollywood, California on March 6, 2011. Pearce began his fourth NWA championship reign, having captured the title yet again on July 31, 2011 in Columbus, Ohio. He shattered his modern NWA title defense record, defending the crown thirty-nine times throughout the United States, Australia, Canada, Mexico, England, and Germany before losing the title to Colt Cabana on April 8, 2012 in Glendale, California. Pearce started an incredible fifth reign as champion on July 21, 2012, defeating arch-rival Colt Cabana in a “Best 2-out-of-3 Falls” match in Kansas City, Kansas. Pearce would remain champion until voluntarily stepping down on October 27, 2012 in Melbourne, Australia following a ruling by the NWA that stated they would not sanction a Steel Cage Match versus Cabana on that night. Pearce’s 1,078 days as champion over five reigns makes him the seventh longest reigning champion All-Time. Pearce averaged a championship bout every 9.2 days during that period; unheard of in the modern era. Wearing Many Hats: Behind the scenes, Pearce signed on as the Executive Producer, Director of Talent Relations, and Director of Live Event Operations for Ring of Honor in October of 2008, focusing his energies primarily on the business end instead of in the ring for ROH. Pearce helped launch the popular “Ring of Honor Wrestling” television series, which aired from March of 2009 through April of 2011 on Mark Cuban’s HDNet cable network and airs today as part of the Sinclair Broadcasting Network schedule. Pearce left Ring of Honor in August of 2010. Pearce began immediately working as a producer on the launch of the Championship Wrestling from Hollywood television program. The series debuted on September 17, 2010 and airs every week on KDOC-TV in Los Angeles and surrounding broadcast areas. Pearce works as both a performer and producer on the series to this day. Pearce has also worked with video game developers THQ and 2K Sports as a motion capture specialist on the last four WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) licensed game titles (WWE ’12, WWE ’13, WWE2K14, and WWE2K15). In addition to the video game projects, Pearce also worked numerous times with WWE as a guest coach and trainer at their Orlando, FL-based Performance Center, helping to groom the WWE’s young crop of professional athletes for a featured role in WWE programming. Pearce’s training prowess has led him to host several training camps and seminars around the globe with classes across the entire United States as well as in Canada, England, Germany, and Australia. Additionally, WWE has employed Pearce as a producer on their NXT broadcast platform, working with the talents showcased on that brand. In 2015, Pearce joined the WWE Performance Center and NXT staff full-time as a coach and producer. In 2016, Pearce was promoted to the main roster as a producer and agent, working with the Raw, Smackdown Live, and 205 Live brands and their talent and broadcasts. Outside the Ring: Pearce earned a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Communication from University of Phoenix. He also has an Associate’s Degree in Liberal Arts. He was nominated for the 2012 “Future Legend Award” by the Cauliflower Alley Club (the Screen Actors Guild equivalent for professional wrestling) and honored with the 2014 “Men’s Award” for his contributions to the industry as an active performer. In addition to his other professional activities, Pearce has worked as a model and actor, landing a small role in the 2012 motion picture “She Wants Me” starring Charlie Sheen and Hilary Duff. As a filmmaker himself, Pearce’s 2013 release entitled “Seven Levels of Hate” (which chronicled the three-year feud between he and Colt Cabana across the wrestling world) garnered praise from both the wrestling and film industries. Pearce is also a noted public speaker, becoming an advocate for concussion awareness and youth health education. He has spoken nationally to school children and faculty about the importance of nutrition in education as well as to attorneys, policy makers and health care professionals about the current state of concussion management in professional sports. He was also a finalist for the San Diego Padres’ public address position, announcing multiple regular-season Major League Baseball games for the team. Pearce lives in San Diego, California with his wife and two children. Work Hard. Treat People Fairly. Earn Respect. Dad/Hubby/@WWE Producer/Coach/@Packers Shareholder MERCH: http://bit.ly/18F6THA