Daniel Briley (born June 30, 1952), better known by the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projectin ...

"Nightmare" Danny Davis, is an American retired

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

and

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other tit ...

. He is the founder and former owner of

Ohio Valley Wrestling Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) is an American professional wrestling promotion and former developmental promotion based in Louisville, Kentucky. The company is currently run by Al Snow and Matt Jones and Louisville mayor elect, Craig Greenberg. ...

Career

Briley started wrestling in 1977 in the

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...

territory, where he made a name for himself as "Nightmare" Danny Davis. He would also wrestle as one half of the masked Masters of Terror in the

United States Wrestling Association The United States Wrestling Association (USWA) was a professional wrestling promotion based in Memphis, Tennessee. The company was founded when the Memphis-based Continental Wrestling Association merged with the Dallas-based World Class Wrestlin ...

. Davis had a frequent tag team with Ken Wayne in the 1980s. At one time, they wrestled under masks as The Nightmares. The duo also worked under masks as The Galaxians for WCW in the 1990s. Davis also had a brief stint during the latter days of the Central States/Kansas City territory as

Tiger Mask is a Japanese manga series written by Ikki Kajiwara and illustrated by Naoki Tsuji. The series was first published in Kodansha's ''Bokura Magazine'' from 1968 to 1970 and was later published in ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from 1970 ...

, which occurred a few years after

Satoru Sayama (born November 27, 1957) is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, MMA and wrestling promoter and writer, best known as the original Tiger Mask. He has wrestled under his real name as well as the names Sammy Lee, and masked S ...

's tour of the WWF introduced American audiences to the gimmick. He also wrestled in

Smoky Mountain Wrestling Smoky Mountain Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that held events in the Appalachian area of the United States from October 1991 to December 1995, when it was run by Jim Cornette. The promotion was based in Knoxville, Tennessee, wit ...

in 1992. He retired in 1997 and opened

. In 2009, Davis opened Vyper Fight League, an

MMA Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incor ...

promotion, alongside John "Bradshaw" Layfield. The promotion ceased operations in 2010. On December 13, 2012, he appeared on a segment of ''

Impact Wrestling Impact Wrestling (stylized as ''IMPACT! Wrestling''), is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment. Founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett in 2002, the pro ...

'' where he was training Joseph Park to improve Park's skills. On March 7, 2013, he was named as a judge for TNA Gut Check. He returned to in-ring action in the ''December 2014 Saturday Night Special'', teaming with Trailer Park Trash and losing to War Machine (Shiloh Jonze and Eric Locker). On April 6, 2018, Davis sold OVW to

Al Snow Allen Ray Sarven (born July 18, 1963) is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Al Snow. He is best known as a wrestler for Smoky Mountain Wrestling, Extreme Championship Wrestling, and World Wrestling Entertainment. ...

Personal life

Briley has two sons, Stewart Davis and Simon Davis-Millis. He is the uncle of wrestler

Doug Basham Lyle Douglas Basham Jr. (born May 12, 1971) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment between 2002 and 2007, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling under the ring name Basham ...

Championships and accomplishments

* Continental Championship Wrestling / Continental Wrestling Federation :* NWA Southeastern Continental Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) - with Ken Wayne :* NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship ''(Northern Division)'' ( 1 time) :* NWA Southeastern Tag Team Championship ( 3 times) - with Ken Wayne :*

NWA Southeastern United States Junior Heavyweight Championship The NWA Southeastern Junior Heavyweight Championship was a secondary title for wrestlers considered "Junior Heavyweights", that is weighing under 230 lbs. It was promoted in the Alabama, Florida, Tennessee and Mississippi region from 1975 un ...

( 5 times) *

Continental Wrestling Association Continental Wrestling Association (later the Championship Wrestling Association) was a wrestling promotion managed by Jerry Jarrett. The CWA was the name of the "governing body" for the Championship Wrestling, Inc. promotion which was usually re ...

AWA Southern Tag Team Championship The AWA Southern Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team title in the Tennessee area from the 1940s through the late 1980s. It was originally named the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Mid-America version)'' from its ince ...

( 1 time) - with Ken Wayne *

Deep South Wrestling Deep South Wrestling (DSW) is a professional wrestling promotion in the state of Georgia. Deep South worked in tandem with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as a developmental territory from September 1, 2005, until April 18, 2007. Deep South w ...

DSW Tag Team Championship The DSW Tag Team Championship was the tag team championship in Deep South Wrestling, a former developmental territory of World Wrestling Entertainment between 2005 and 2007. The title was last held by Caleb Konley and Sal Rinauro, who defeated ...

( 3 times, inaugural) - with Ken Wayne *

Global Wrestling Federation Global Wrestling Federation was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Dallas, Texas. It started in June 1991 and folded in September 1994. At one time its shows were presented on the ESPN television network. Often the promotion pr ...

:* GWF Light Heavyweight Championship ( 3 times) *

Stampede Wrestling Stampede Wrestling was a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta. For nearly 50 years, it was one of the main promotions in western Canada and the Canadian Prairies. Originally established by Stu Hart in 1948, the pr ...

:* NWA International Tag Team Championship ''(Calgary version)'' ( 1 time) - with Hubert Gallant :* Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) *

:* USWA Junior Heavyweight Championship ( 7 times) :* USWA Middleweight Championship ( 1 time)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Nightmare Danny American male professional wrestlers Living people Professional wrestling executives 1952 births Professional wrestling trainers Professional wrestling promoters Ohio Valley Wrestling Stampede Wrestling alumni Professional wrestling referees 20th-century professional wrestlers GWF Light Heavyweight Champions Stampede Wrestling British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Champions Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Champions