Sean Vellenga (born February 1, 1961) 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 ...

, better known by his

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 ...

, Sean Royal.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1984–1986)

Sean Royal made his

professional wrestling 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 ...

debut in 1984 after training under

Hiro Matsuda (July 22, 1937 – November 27, 1999) was a Japanese professional wrestler and trainer best known by his ring name . He trained many professional wrestlers including Hulk Hogan, The Great Muta, "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff, Scott Hall, Lex Lug ...

. He initially worked for

Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling Jim Crockett Promotions Inc. is a family-owned professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, restarted by Jim Crockett's son and Jim Crockett Jr's brother, David Crockett. Founded in 1931, the promot ...

based in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

Championship Wrestling from Florida (1986–1987)

In 1986 he began working for

Championship Wrestling from Florida Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) was the corporate and brand name of the Tampa, Florida wrestling office existing from 1961, when Eddie Graham first bought into the promotion, until 1987, when it closed down. It is also referred to a ...

. Initially he worked as a singles wrestler, but it was not long into his tenure in Florida that the promoter and match makers decided to team Royal up with another young wrestler,

Chris Champion Christopher Dennis Ashford-Smith (February 17, 1961 – August 22, 2018), better known by his ring name Chris Champion, was an American professional wrestler. He primarily worked for various National Wrestling Alliance member territories, includ ...

; and together the two became a regular

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

called The New Breed. The New Breed tag team was given an elaborate backstory and science fiction flavor as they were marketed as wrestlers sent back in time from 2002 to 1986. The duo was presented as having futuristic technology, wore bright neon-colored ring gear and unusual haircuts that were supposed to be the fashion of the future, and at one point had a robot as their

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

. The team made various references to future events such as referring to wrestler

Dusty Rhodes Virgil Riley Runnels Jr. (October 11, 1945 – June 11, 2015), better known as "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, was an American professional wrestler, booker, and trainer who most notably worked for the National Wrestling Alliance, Jim Crocke ...

as "President Rhodes", indicating that Rhodes would win the 2000 presidential election. The team would come to the ring to the sound of the Beastie Boys' song " Fight For Your Right to Party". The team made a special appearance in Memphis, working for the

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 ...

(CWA) where they lost to

the MOD Squad ''The Mod Squad'' is an American crime drama series, originally broadcast for five seasons on ABC from September 24, 1968, to March 1, 1973. It starred Michael Cole as Peter "Pete" Cochran, Peggy Lipton as Julie Barnes, Clarence Williams III ...

on a show in the Mid-South Coliseum on September 1, 1986. On December 25, 1986, the New Breed defeated

Vic Steamboat Victor Hersey Blood (born April 18, 1960) is an American retired professional wrestler, best known by his ring name, Vic Steamboat. He is the younger brother of professional wrestler Ricky Steamboat, whom he took his ring name after. The majority ...

and

Kendall Windham Kendall Wayne Windham (born December 15, 1967) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is the son of Blackjack Mulligan and the brother of Barry Windham. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling. Profession ...

in the finals of a tournament for the vacant

NWA Florida Tag Team Championship The NWA Florida Tag Team Championship is the primary tag team title in NWA Florida Underground Wrestling. It started out in 1968 as the main tag team title in Championship Wrestling from Florida Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) was ...

, which had been inactive since 1981. After the title win the New Breed was put into a storyline feud with the

face The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may aff ...

team (those that portray the good guys) the Southern Boys (

Steve Armstrong Steven James (born March 16, 1965), better known by his ring name Steve Armstrong, is an American professional wrestler. He is the son of fellow wrestler "Bullet" Bob Armstrong, and has three brothers who also wrestled: Scott, Brad, and Brian. ...

and

Tracy Smothers Tracy Stanton Smothers (September 2, 1962 – October 28, 2020) was an American professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation, and Extreme Champ ...

). The feud between the two teams led to the Southern Boys defeating the New Breed for the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship on February 11, 1987. Shortly after their title loss the New Breed left Florida.

Jim Crockett Promotions (1987–1988)

The duo made their debut for

National Wrestling Alliance The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling promotion and former professional wrestling governing body operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA began as a governing body for a ...

Jim Crockett Promotions Jim Crockett Promotions Inc. is a family-owned professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, restarted by Jim Crockett's son and Jim Crockett Jr's brother, David Crockett. Founded in 1931, the promo ...

(JCP), which was in the process of expanding from the mid-Atlantic region to a national promotion. The team kept their futuristic gimmick and their heel characters (those that portray the bad guys) as they were immediately put up against the popular team

the Rock 'n' Roll Express The Rock 'n' Roll Express is a professional wrestling tag team consisting of professional wrestlers Robert Gibson and Ricky Morton. The duo began teaming together in Memphis in the early 1980s, followed by Mid-South Wrestling (later to be known ...

Ricky Morton Richard Wendell Morton (born September 21, 1956) is an American professional wrestler, currently performing on the independent circuit. He is the current GCW Television Champion, after pinning Matt Cardona at GCW Say You Will. For most of his care ...

and Robert Gibson, stating that they had been sent back from the future to save the fans from the Rock 'n' Roll Express, who would supposedly go crazy over what happened to Rock and Roll in the year 2000. They also claimed that in the future

Jimmy Valiant James Harold Fanning (born August 6, 1942) is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Jimmy Valiant. Early life Fanning was born in Tullahoma as the youngest of five children of James and Effie Fanning. He later incorpo ...

had corrupted future Dusty Rhodes, leading to a dictatorship mockingly calling him "Father Time". They also claimed that masked wrestler LazorTron was in reality a robot from the future, sent to stop them. In the spring of 1987 the New Breed was one of 10 teams competing in a tournament for the vacant

NWA United States Tag Team Championship The NWA United States Tag Team Championship is a name used for several secondary tag team championship used by various National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) members since 1958. There are eleven different versions of the NWA United States Tag Team Champ ...

. The team wrestled the father/son duo of

Bob Armstrong Joseph Melton James (October 3, 1939 – August 27, 2020) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, "Bullet" Bob Armstrong. In the course of his career, which spanned five decades, Armstrong held numerous championship ...

and Brad Armstrong to a draw, eliminating both teams from the tournament. The storyline with the Rock 'n' Roll Express was still in its infant stages when the New Breed was involved in a car accident and Chris Champion's injuries forced him to not wrestle for an extended period. Royal teamed up with Gladiator #1 and Gladiator #2, losing to the trio of Kendall Windham,

and LazerTron on the undercard on one of JCP's 1987 The Great American Bash series. JCP used the sympathy that Royal and Champion garnered from the car accident to turn the team into faces, as

Jim Cornette James Mark "Jim" Cornette (born September 17, 1961) is an American author and podcaster who has previously worked in the professional wrestling industry as an agent, booker, color commentator, manager, promoter, trainer, and occasional prof ...

, the manager of the Midnight Express tried to recruit Royal to his group, but Royal refused. During his recovering Chris Champion appeared on television with circuit boards and wires glued to his cast, making it look like it was a futuristic "healing device". Once Champion returned to action the New Breed feuded with the Midnight Express (

Bobby Eaton Bobby Lee Eaton (August 14, 1958 – August 4, 2021) was an American professional wrestler best known as "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton. He was most famous for his work in tag teams, especially as one-half of The Midnight Express. Under the manage ...

and Stan Lane). The two teams clashed several times, often over the NWA United States Tag Team Championship where most of the matches ended inconclusively. In an attempt to bolster the fan favorite image and congruent with their futuristic characters, JCP officials decided to give the New Breed a

, a small remote-controlled robot called XTC-1. On November 26, 1987 the New Breed was scheduled to face

the Sheepherders The Bushwhackers are a professional wrestling tag team who competed first as the New Zealand Kiwis and then as The Sheepherders during their 36-year career as a tag team. They wrestled in the World Wrestling Federation, Jim Crockett Promotions, ...

( Luke Williams and Butch Miller) in a steel cage match for the

UWF World Tag Team Championship The UWF Tag Team Championship was the tag team title in the Universal Wrestling Federation from 1986 until the promotion closed in 1987. It was formerly known as the Mid-South Tag Team Championship from 1979 until 1986 when Mid-South Wrestling b ...

as part of the Universal Wrestling Federation's Superdome pre-Starrcade '87 show, but Champion failed to appear for the event. Royal defeated Killer Khalifa in a singles match at the event instead. Royal since stated in a shoot interview that he was livid with Champion over this, and he retired from full-time wrestling soon after, opting to become a construction worker instead.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1993)

Royal made a return to pro wrestling in 1993, traveling to Japan to work for

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority share ...

in the fall. Royal teamed up with Brad Armstrong to compete in NJPW's Super Grade Tag League III, a monthlong

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & C. Me ...

NJPW holds each year. The duo ended the tournament with 0 points, losing to teams such as

Jushin Thunder Liger , better known as and later , is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist, currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is the longest-tenured member of the NJPW roster, having wrestled for the company since h ...

and

Wild Pegasus Christopher Michael Benoit (; May 21, 1967 – June 24, 2007) was a Canadian professional wrestler. He worked for various pro-wrestling promotions during his 22-year career including most notably the World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestlin ...

, The Barbarian and

Masa Saito was a Japanese professional wrestler better known as Mr. Saito or , who wrestled for 33 years around the world. He had success as a singles wrestler, winning the AWA World Heavyweight Championship in 1990, and as a tag team wrestler with multip ...

Takayuki Iizuka , better known by his ring name , is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his 33-year career in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he was a three-time IWGP Tag Team Champion. He has also worked for Pro Wrestling Noah ...

and

Akira Nogami is a Japanese professional wrestler and actor, currently working as Akira (occasionally stylised in all-capitals). He has also worked as a trainer. Professional wrestling career New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1984–2004) After graduating from high s ...

Shiro Koshinaka is a Japanese professional wrestler who has competed in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Wrestle Association "R" (WAR) during the 1980s and 1990s. He was also the first IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. Car ...

and

Michiyoshi Ohara (born November 15, 1967) is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist, best known for his work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he wrestled from 1990 to 2004, winning the IWGP Tag Team Championship with Tatsutoshi Go ...

, the Hell Raisers ( Hawk Warrior and

Power Warrior is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, and founder of the now-defunct wrestling promotion Diamond Ring. Sasaki is the first of four men ever to hold all three of '' puroresus major heavyweight titles (the IWGP Hea ...

Tatsumi Fujinami (born December 28, 1953) is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to WWE on a legend's contract. Fujinami is most well known for his long tenure with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he was a six-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion. ...

and

Osamu Kido (born February 2, 1950) is a Japanese professional wrestler who wrestled for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He participated in the foundation of New Japan of 1972 and the foundation of Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) in 1984. In 2005, aft ...

Masahiro Chono is an American-born Japanese-American retired professional wrestler and actor best known for his 26 year stint with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). As the leader of nWo Japan, Team 2000 and Black New Japan, he was the promotion's top heel for ...

and

Shinya Hashimoto was a Japanese professional wrestler, promoter and actor. Along with Masahiro Chono and Keiji Mutoh, Hashimoto was dubbed one of the "Three Musketeers" that began competing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in the mid-1980s and dominated the prom ...

as well as semi-finalists the Jurassic Powers (

Scott Norton Scott Norton (born June 15, 1961) is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenures in World Championship Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling, in which he was a member of the New World Order and nWo Japan. He ...

and

Hercules Hernandez Raymond Constantine Fernandez (May 7, 1956 – March 6, 2004) was an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Hercules Hernandez, or simply Hercules. Fernandez began his career in 1979, primarily wrestling in Florida and ...

) and tournament winners

Hiroshi Hase is a Japanese politician who is currently the governor of Ishikawa Prefecture. He served as the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology under Prime Minister o ...

and

Keiji Mutoh is a Japanese professional wrestler and professional wrestling executive currently signed to Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah), where he is a former GHC Heavyweight Champion. He is best known for his work as in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and ...

. He wrestled his last NJPW match on November 4, 1993 as part of a special NJPW show in

Sumo Hall is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by thr ...

. Royal teamed up with the Barbarian, losing to the Jurassic Powers.

NWA Wildside (2001–2002)

In 2001 Royal returned to pro wrestling, teaming up with Rusty Riddle to form a team known as Total Destruction in

NWA Wildside NWA Wildside was an American independent professional wrestling promotion based in Cornelia, Georgia, with an office in Atlanta, Georgia, operating between September 1999 and April 2005. It was originally formed when National Championship Wrestli ...

. As a member of Total Destruction Royal once again plays a heel character, leading to a storyline where the team was banned from NWA Wildside for 30 days. During that time period the team won the

NWA Wildside Tag Team Championship The NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship was the top tag team championship in Georgia Championship Wrestling from 1968 to 1980, when it was replaced with the NWA National Tag Team Championship. The title was revived in 1998 by Music City Wrestling ...

from Blackout (

Homicide Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...

and

Rainman ''Rain Man'' is a 1988 American road drama film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass. It tells the story of abrasive, selfish young wheeler-dealer Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise), who discovers that his estrange ...

) after a surprise challenge, but since the team was supposed to be banned from working in NWA Wildside they were forced to return the championship to Blackout a week later. The duo also had a long running storyline with The Kohl Twins. At the 2001 ''Freedom Fight'', Total Destruction challenged the Kohl Twins for the Wildside Tag Team titles, with Riddle also putting his hair on the line. Royal and Riddle lost and Riddle was shaved bald as a result. On August 8, 2001 Total Destruction defeated the

NWA World Tag Team Champions The NWA World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship created by the National Wrestling Alliance. From 1948 to 1982, the NWA allowed member promotions to create their own territorial version of the "NWA World ...

The New Heavenly Bodies ( Chris Nelson and

Vito DeNucci Vito is an Italian name that is derived from the Latin word "''vita''", meaning "life". It is a modern form of the Latin name Vitus (disambiguation), Vitus, meaning "life-giver," as in San Vito or Saint Vitus, the patron saint of dogs and a her ...

) by disqualification and thus did not win the championship.

Championships and accomplishments

(1 time) – with

(1 time) – with Rusty Riddle

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Royal, Sean 1961 births American male professional wrestlers Living people Professional wrestlers from Florida Sportspeople from Tampa, Florida 20th-century professional wrestlers 21st-century professional wrestlers NWA Florida Tag Team Champions