Tekno Team 2000 was a

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 ...

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 ...

who competed in the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and va ...

(WWF) from 1995 to 1996, composed of

Travis Travis may refer to: People and fictional characters *Travis (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Travis (surname), a list of people Places in the United States *Travis, Staten Island, a neighborhood *Travis Air Force Base, a ...

and

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Çan ...

(son of WWF writer

Bill Watts William F. Watts Jr. (born May 5, 1939) is a retired American professional wrestler, promoter and former American football player. Watts garnered fame under his "Cowboy" gimmick in his wrestling career, and then as a promoter in the Mid-South Un ...

). They started off with strong hype, but did not deliver on it, faltering after winning a few early matches. They were sent to the WWF's farm territory,

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 ...

(USWA), for practice. After returning, they continued to lose matches and were soon released.

History

Originally Chad Fortune and

Erik Watts Erik Watts (born December 19, 1967) is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation in the 1990s. He is the son of wrestler Bill Watts. ...

were football teammates for the University of Louisville. In 1994, they reunited and began wrestling as a tag team. They debuted in Minnesota for the AWA losing to

Wayne Bloom Wayne Bloom (born March 22, 1958) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association (AWA) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under his birth name and with the World Wres ...

and

Mike Enos Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and document ...

World Wrestling Federation

Wearing "futuristic" silver and maroon ring outfits, they debuted in the WWF as a

babyface Babyface or Baby Face can refer to: Nicknames * Lester Joseph Gillis a.k.a. Baby Face Nelson, an infamous 1930s bank robber * Roosevelt "Baby Face" Willette (1933–1971), an American hard bop and soul-jazz musician * "Baby Face", Jimmy McLarnin ...

tag team who was "ahead of its time". As part of the "New Generation" of the WWF, they were said to be "determined to bring the New Generation into the 21st Century". Building on their youthful appearance, Troy and Travis were featured in pin-up pictures in the ''World Wrestling Federation Magazine''. Tekno Team 2000 made their WWF debut during a

house show A house show or live event is a professional wrestling event produced by a major promotion that is not televised, though they can be recorded. Promotions use house shows mainly to cash in on the exposure that they and their wrestlers receive d ...

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsyl ...

on March 19, 1995. They defeated

The Heavenly Bodies The Heavenly Bodies is a professional wrestling tag team famous for having worked in Smoky Mountain Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation, and various independent promotions. Over the years, there have been multiple variations of the team, w ...

(

Tom Prichard Thomas Prichard (born August 18, 1959) is a retired American professional wrestler and author. He is the older brother of Bruce Prichard. Professional wrestling career Early career (1979–1986) Tom Prichard began his career in Los Angele ...

and

Jimmy Del Ray David Everett Ferrier (November 30, 1962 – December 6, 2014) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, "Gigolo" Jimmy Del Ray. Del Ray was best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as one ...

) and repeated the result the following night at

Boston Garden The Boston Garden was an arena in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third iteration of New York's Madison Square Garden, it opened on November 17, 1928, as "Boston Madison Square Garden" (lat ...

. Their WWF television debut took place on the May 27, 1995 episode of ''

WWF Superstars is a List of wrestling video games, wrestling video game manufactured by Technōs Japan and released for arcade game, arcades in 1989. It is the first WWE, WWF arcade game to be released. A series of unrelated games with the WWF Superstars (Game ...

''; they defeated

Barry Horowitz Barry Horowitz (born March 24, 1959) is an American professional wrestler, best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Early life Horowitz attended Florida State University, where he studied sports nutrition and wrestled ...

and the Brooklyn Brawler. They were booked to appear in a series of matches against The Heavenly Bodies. Del Ray was not able to appear in several of the matches, so he was replaced by

Mantaur Mike Halac (born May 14, 1968) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation in the mid-1990s under the ring name Mantaur, and briefly as Tank. Professional wrestling career Catc ...

and Barry Horowitz in several of the matches. Tekno Team 2000 won all of the matches in this series. The WWF teased a storyline in which Tekno Team 2000 was being scouted by

Ted DiBiase Theodore Marvin DiBiase Sr. (born January 18, 1954) is an American retired professional wrestler, manager, ordained minister and color commentator. He is currently signed to WWE working in their Legends program. DiBiase achieved championship ...

to join the

Million Dollar Corporation The Million Dollar Corporation was a professional wrestling stable in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from April 1994 to May 1996 and was led and managed by the "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase. DiBiase had retired from active competition a ...

, but they did not join the group. Their success led ''

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publi ...

'' to rank them among the top ten tag teams in the world. On July 2, Troy and Travis served as lumberjacks in the

lumberjack match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

between

Diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine ...

and Sid at In Your House 2: The Lumberjacks. During the match, Sid attacked Troy and Travis. While he was distracted, other wrestlers attacked Sid and helped Diesel to win the match.

USWA

Watts has stated that the WWF intended to have Tekno Team 2000 win the

WWF Tag Team Championship The World Tag Team Championship was the original professional wrestling world tag team championship in the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) promotion, and the promotion's third tag team championship overall. Originally established by the then ...

after two months in the promotion. After Watts' father,

, began booking matches, the team was later sent to developmental territories to improve their skills. They returned to USWA in Tennessee, where they had wrestled a tag team match together in April 1995 under their real names. Competing as Tekno Team 2000, they defeated

PG-13 The Motion Picture Association film rating system is used in the United States and its territories to rate a motion picture's suitability for certain audiences based on its content. The system and the ratings applied to individual motion pictures ...

on September 18. They began losing matches, however, while facing PG-13, The Heavenly Bodies, and

The Bushwhackers 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 ...

. On October 30, Troy and Travis reversed their fortunes and defeated King Cobra and Spellbinder.

Return to World Wrestling Federation

In 1996, Troy and Travis resumed competition in the WWF. They lost to

The Bodydonnas The Bodydonnas were a professional wrestling tag team in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in the mid-1990s, consisting of Chris Candido as Skip, Candido's real-life girlfriend Tammy Lynn Sytch as Sunny, and Tom Prichard as Skip's kayfab ...

on the May 6 episode of ''

Monday Night Raw ''WWE Raw'', also known as ''Monday Night Raw'' or simply ''Raw'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that currently airs live every Monday at 8 p.m. ET on the USA Network in the United States. The show f ...

''. During Tekno Team 2000's return, however, the WWF instructed The Bodydonnas to help make Troy and Travis look good to the fans. Five days later, Tekno Team 2000 lost to

The Smoking Gunns The Smoking Gunns were a professional wrestling tag team of kayfabe brothers Billy Gunn (Monty Sopp) and Bart Gunn (Mike Polchlopek). They portrayed cowboys in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1993 to 1996. As a team, the Smoking Gunns ...

on ''

''. Their final appearance came in a loss to

The Godwinns The Godwinns were a professional wrestling tag team composed of Dennis Knight (Phineas I. Godwinn) and Mark Canterbury (Henry O. Godwinn) that they used in the WWF. The team has used other gimmicks before they joined the WWF and had a gimmick c ...

on the June 3 episode of ''Monday Night Raw''. Watts and Fortune were released from their WWF contracts in the summer of 1996.

Aftermath

After disbanding, Watts and Fortune competed for

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

promotions. They later formed a team while wrestling in Japan. In 2001, they reunited in

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 ...

Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling was a Southeastern independent professional wrestling promotion based in Marietta, Georgia. It was founded by retired wrestler and former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Dusty Rhodes in 2000 and, during its three y ...

, teaming together under their real names. Watts later found work with

Total Nonstop Action 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 promot ...

, and Fortune retired from wrestling to drive

monster trucks A monster truck is a specialized off-road vehicle with a heavy duty suspension, four-wheel steering, large-displacement V8 engines and oversized tires constructed for competition and entertainment uses. Originally created by modifying stock ...

. Tekno Team 2000 was included during a video montage of poor

gimmick A gimmick is a novel device or idea designed primarily to attract attention or increase appeal, often with little intrinsic value. When applied to retail marketing, it is a unique or quirky feature designed to make a product or service "stand ou ...

s during the tenth anniversary of ''Monday Night Raw'' in January 2003.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tekno Team 2000 United States Wrestling Association teams and stables WWE teams and stables