VANGUARD CHAMPION: Joey Bryant

Personal

Wrestler Name: Joey Bryant
Date Of Birth: 02/12/1988
Age: 34
Height & Weight: 6'4" & 248lbs.
Hometown: Varrysburg, New York
Biography: Joseph Bryan, known by his ring name Joey Bryant, is a single child from a small country town nearby Buffalo, NY called Varrysburg. Having divorced parents and being in the middle of nowhere, he was homeschooled by his father for most of his schooling, but eventually went to an all boys High School for his final 4 years where he would take interest in the schools baseball team. Joey would take a liking to the sport but never quite reached the level of skill that his father expected out of him, no matter how much they practiced. He also did not get along with the rest of the team, constantly being suspended for fighting, which cut into his play time. Joey would graduate on time and immediately join his father in the workforce - helping to run the day to day activities of his dad's furniture store. His Dad pushed him to go to school and keep up with baseball, but Joey insisted on staying home and helping his Dad grow the store to bring in as much income as possible, much to his fathers dismay. 

A couple years removed from school & while still grinding at the family store, Joey would join a nearby boxing gym ran by the man they called "Aids Johnson", or Aids for short. Joey never found out what his actual name was. Joey began to beef up and became very close with his trainer, spending most of his time there and less at the shop. Now being in his mid-twenties at this point, Joey would learn that the family store would be going out of business at the end of the year & his father would finally retire. Learning this, Joey decided to try to run the store on his own to preserve the business, when his father would pass away just 3 months after retiring due to old age/natural causes. With his father no longer being around to give advice, Joey decided it would be time to close the store once & for all like his father intended and focus a majority of his time at the gym, while working at a nearby factory to afford his studio apartment rent. 

It was at this time that Joey's trainer, Aids, would be trying his hand at a new upstart wrestling promotion called IWT. Joey - having no interest in wrestling at the time - would start running the day to day operations at the gym and continue training himself while training new recruits. After a year with IWT & Joey running the gym, Aids returned to Varrysburg to check on things - rocking a shiny World Title and a brand new cocky attitude that Joey had not seen to this point. Dressed up, cigar in his mouth like he was a whole new man. Aids told Joey the gym was his now, he didn't need it, he had "all the money in the world" and more important things to focus on. 

Extremely confused by all of this, Joey began to watch IWT on Youtube to see what Aids has been up to and why the extreme change in attitude. He saw more than he ever could have imagined. The ultimate heel, the ultimate bad guy. Taking names and winning week after week, showing up to shows with a big posse, all this within the span of the year. Joey quickly became a fan of what they were doing at IWT and asked to join Aids for a couple shows during a nearby tour. He joined the Aids posse for both shows and fell in love with the glamour of everything and asked Aids to mentor him once again as he began training to join the company. This was now 2016, 28 year old Joey Bryant would make his debut for the company early 2017 and eventually break away from Aids (even becoming rivals at a point), becoming a catalyst for taking the company to new heights while winning the world title in his rookie year, and once again a year later. Joey became an immediate star and didn't realize how good he could be at wrestling, even helping IWT get a cable TV deal and helping to sell out bigger arenas.

This lasted for about a year, but while at his 29 year old peak - in 2019 - IWT would begin declining in viewership, attendance, and merch sales and Joey blamed himself for all of it. Thought he lost his allure completely and was a "one hit wonder". He dubbed himself "The Martyr", had one more match, and then without warning, before he could watch the company crumble completely, he left, never to be seen in the wrestling spotlight again. IWT died shortly after, and last anyone heard from him, him & Aids opened a wrestling school in Buffalo, NY and are were working to open their own "under the radar" promotion. Perhaps taking the IWT name. Hasn't been any news on that in years now. 

Accolades
• RAZOR Wrestling Vanguard Champion [First] (1)
• Vanguard Series Winner 2023

Character

Nickname(s): "The Martyr"
Gimmick: A narcissistic company man. Believes he is the face of the company, whether that's true or not. Loves being behind the scenes and getting close with the boss. For various reasons. 
Alignment: Face.
Entrance Music: "Cut - somenaan Remix" by Sweet Pill/somenaan. Titantron Here
Pic Base: Nick Aldis/Magnus
Signature Weapon: N/A

Wrestling

Debut Year: 2017
Trained By: Aids Johnson
Style: Majorly Pure/Technical, with a hint of brawling/boxing.

Strengths:
1. Boxing/Striking. A deep history of training.
2. Playing to/listening to the fans.
3. Dedication to the company.

Weaknesses:
1. Hardcore matches. Does not have the biggest pain tolerance for weapons/tables.
2. Weak against high flyers, often not quick enough to keep up.
3. Negative crowd reaction can send him into a spiral.

Moveset

Common Moves:
1. Swinging Sidewalk Slam
2. Running Knee Strike
3. German Suplex
4. Delayed Suplex
5. Diving Elbow Drop
6. Tree Of Woe into Running Dropkick
7. Various Powerbombs
8. Fisherman Suplex
9. Repeated punches to different parts of head/body
10. Crossface submission
11. Rope Hung Neckbreaker
12. Seated Senton
13. Double Axe-Handle
14. Spinning Elbow
15. STO Backbreaker
16. Superkick

Signature Moves:
1. Big Boot (irish whip into ropes, hit on the rebound)
2. VBurg (Hammerlock DDT)

Finishing Moves: 
1. Martyrdom (Spinning Brainbuster)
2. First Aid Kit (Straight Jacket Submission)

Super Finishing Move:
1. N/A (None 4 Now)

Handler

Name: DK
Pronouns: he/him
Discord Username: orangeboy222