John Weiss (born June 12, 1963) is an American retired

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

, better known by his

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname 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 ...

Johnny Hotbody. He is best known for his appearances in Eastern Championship Wrestling, he won the ECW Championship,

ECW Tag Team Championship The ECW World Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling world tag team championship in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). It was introduced in National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) affiliate and ECW precursor, Eastern Championship Wrestli ...

, and

ECW Television Championship The ECW World Television Championship was a professional wrestling television championship in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). It was introduced in 1992 as part of National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) affiliate and ECW precursor, Eastern Champi ...

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1988–1992)

Johnny Hotbody broke into professional wrestling in the late 1980s after completing his training at The Monster Factory, operated by Larry Sharpe. He made a name for himself in several

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

and

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

–based independent promotions before signing with Philadelphia's

Tri-State Wrestling Alliance Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) was an American professional wrestling promotion that was based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and operated by its parent company HHG Corporation. The promotion was founded in 1992 by Tod Gordon as Nationa ...

(TWA) in 1990. Hotbody had a long-running feud with

Tony Stetson Anthony Matteo (born March 21, 1959) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, "Hitman" Tony Stetson. He is best known for his time in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) during the 1990s. Stetson was one of ECW's i ...

. The TWA closed its doors suddenly in 1991, but was soon replaced by Eastern Championship Wrestling (later Extreme Championship Wrestling), run by Tod Gordon.

Eastern Championship Wrestling (1992–1993)

On April 26, 1992, Hotbody won the ECW Heavyweight Championship by defeating

Jimmy Snuka James Reiher Snuka (born James Wiley Smith; May 18, 1943 – January 15, 2017) was a Fijian and American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. Snuka wrestled for several promotions from the 1970s to 2010s ...

. He held the title for nearly three months, before losing it back to Snuka on July 14. Later that year, on August 12, he became the first ever ECW Television Champion by defeating

Larry Winters Larry Winters (April 14, 1956 – January 27, 2015) was an American professional wrestler and trainer who competed in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and East Coast independent circuit during the 1980s and 90s. He has wrestled in the American Wrestl ...

. He was later forced to relinquish the title on September 12, 1992, after sustaining a legitimate broken ankle. Upon his return, he formed the Suicide Blondes with

Chris Candido Christopher Barrett Candito (March 21, 1972 – April 28, 2005) was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. Candito is best remembered for his tenures with professional wrestling promotion, promotions such as World Championship ...

, and, for most of 1993, he competed in tag team competition. He won his first

with Candido on April 3, 1993, when they defeated

and Larry Winters. Chris Michaels was later introduced as the third member of the Suicide Blondes, which resulted in the Suicide Blondes defending the Tag Team Championships under the

Freebird Rule The Fabulous Freebirds were a professional wrestling tag team who attained fame in the 1980s, performing into the 1990s. The team usually consisted of three wrestlers, although in different situations and points in its history, just two performed ...

, which meant that any combination of the three were allowed to defend the championship. He also began a feud with Tommy Cairo, attacking him after matches. The Suicide Blondes defeated Cairo and J. T. Smith in a tag team match, and for the next few weeks Hotbody competed against Cairo in matches, losing a standard singles match to him, but winning a Lumberjack match. They lost the Tag Team Championship to

the Super Destroyers The Super Destroyers is a professional wrestling Tag team consisting of Doug Stahl and A. J. Petrucci. They both currently perform on Independent circuit and they are best known for their stint in Extreme Championship Wrestling, NWA Eastern Cha ...

( A. J. Petrucci and

Doug Stahl Douglas E. Stahl (born February 25, 1963) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler who currently works in the Independent circuit as one half of the masked Tag team known as The Super Destroyers. The two are best known for the ...

) on May 15, but the combination of Hotbody and Michaels regained it that same day. Later that year, on October 1, Hotbody, along with his former adversary Stetson, was awarded the Tag Team Championship, after the previous champions, The Dark Patriot and Eddie Gilbert, left the

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

, resulting in the titles being vacated. They had successful title defenses against Badd Company (

Paul Diamond Thomas Boric (born May 11, 1961) is a Croatian-Canadian retired professional wrestler better known by his ring name Paul Diamond. He is best known for being one half of the tag team Badd Company with Pat Tanaka and for his time in the Worl ...

and Pat Tanaka), The Sandman and J. T. Smith, and Ian and

Axl Rotten Brian Knighton (April 21, 1971 – February 4, 2016), better known by the ring name Axl Rotten, was an American professional wrestling, professional wrestler. In the early 1990s, he was a part of the tag team The Bad Breed with Ian Rotten. He had ...

over the next month. They dropped the championship to

Tommy Dreamer Thomas James Laughlin (born February 13, 1971) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and professional wrestling promotion, promoter better known by the ring name Tommy Dreamer. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestli ...

and Johnny Gunn, however, in a nine-second match, on November 13.

Late career (1993–2001, 2006)

Hotbody later competed for the

NWA New Jersey NWA most commonly refers to: * N.W.A ("Niggaz Wit Attitudes"), a hip hop group from Compton, California * National Wrestling Alliance, a professional wrestling organization * Northwest Arkansas, the Fayetteville–Springdale–Rogers metropolitan ...

, where he was awarded the New Jersey version of the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship on September 25, 1998. He lost it to Rik Ratchett that same day. After successful tours in several Philadelphia-area independent promotions, Hotbody retired from active competition in 2001. He returned to wrestling for one night on June 23, 2006, at Pro Wrestling Unplugged teaming with Gary Wolfe in a tag team match.

Championships and accomplishments

* Eastern Championship Wrestling ** ECW Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time)¹ **

( 3 times) – with

and Chris Michaels (2), and Tony Stetson (1) **

( 1 time) *

** NWA World Light Heavyweight Champion ''(New Jersey version)'' ( 1 time) *

**TWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Larry Winters *

World Wrestling Association The World Wrestling Association (WWA) (Asociación Mundial de Lucha Libre in Spanish language, Spanish) is a lucha libre promotion based in the Tijuana-area of Mexico. It was founded in 1986 by Benjamin Mora Jr.. It featured some of Mexico's best ...

**WWA Junior Heavyweight Championship (2 times) *Other titles **NAWA United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time) ¹Johnny Hotbody's reign occurred while the promotion was an NWA affiliate named Eastern Championship Wrestling, and was prior to the promotion becoming Extreme Championship Wrestling and the title being declared a world title by ECW.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hotbody, Johnny 1963 births 20th-century male professional wrestlers 20th-century American professional wrestlers American male professional wrestlers Living people Professional wrestlers from Philadelphia ECW Heavyweight Champions/ECW World Heavyweight Champions ECW World Television Champions ECW World Tag Team Champions