Enzo Amore Biography
Enzo Amore is the ring name of Eric Anthony Arndt, an American professional wrestler , who is currently the reigning WWE Cruiserweight Champion and is on his second reign. His first reign as the champion had ended after a 15-day run following his loss to Kalisto, who was introduced as the newest member of the cruiserweight division to fight him after he showed that according to his contract, if any cruiserweight touched him, they will lose their title opportunities. Enzo previously had a long-standing partnership with Colin Cassady, with whom, he won many fights, and together was named ‘Tag Team of the Year’ once. However, the two split after Cass turned heel against him, causing a fight. He claims to be certified G and calls himself the realest guy in the room, who is here to shake up sports-entertainment. Amore, who calls his opponents ‘sawft’, has featured on the entrance theme ‘SAWFT is a Sin’ by CFO$ for the last three years.
Quick Facts
Also Known As: Eric Anthony , Eric Arndt
Age: 36 Years, 36 Year Old Males
Height: 5’11" (180 cm), 5’11" Males
City: Hackensack, New Jersey
U.S. State: New Jersey
More Facts
education: Salisbury University
Childhood & Early Life
Enzo Amore was born on December 8, 1986 in Hackensack, New Jersey and grew up in Waldwick, New Jersey. In Waldwick, he attended Julia A. Traphagen School, Crescent School and Waldwick High School.
He played football in school. He later continued his football career at Division III (NCAA) Salisbury University, where he played linebacker and safety for the Sea Gulls from 2007-2009.
He graduated from Salisbury University with a degree in journalism. Before starting his wrestling career, he did a number of odd jobs: worked as a disc jockey and ticket salesman for the New York Jets, a piano mover, and as a manager at Hooters.
At the age of 16, Amore joined Joe DeFranco’s gym in Wyckoff, New Jersey, where WWE executive Triple H had began training. He gave Triple H a compilation video of himself doing various exercises and cutting a promo, which ultimately resulted in him being signed on to WWE in 2012 without any prior experience of wrestling.
Career
Eric Anthony was given the ring name Enzo Amore at the time of his debut as a wrestler in WWE’s developmental system NXT on May 22, 2013. Portrayed as a ‘heel’ on the television promos, he was easily crushed by opponent Mason Ryan.
Following the defeat, he teamed up with Colin Cassady (Big Cass), whom he first met nearly 10 years ago when they played basketball together at the Cage of Manhattan, New York. They named themselves "the realest guys in the room" and started a feud with Mason Ryan, to whom both of them had lost.
Despite the alliance, their consecutive singles matches against Ryan ended in defeat, but they were able to earn victory in a handicap match. However, following the loss, Ryan set them up for a fight with Tons of Funk, and later joined himself to crush the two,
Amore and Cass, next started a feud with Alexander Rusev, Sylvester Lefort and Scott Dawson, during which they were promoted as the face. They next fought in a gauntlet match for the ‘NXT Tag Team Championship’ on September 25, in which they defeated CJ Parker-Tyler Breeze pair and Rusev-Dawson pair, but lost to The Ascension.
Amore, who had to rest for six months after sustaining a leg injury while training, saved Cass from an attack from Sylvester Lefort and Marcus Louis upon his return in June 2014. The two participated in the ‘NXT Tag Team Championship’ tournament in early August 2014, where they defeated Jason Jordan and Tye Dillinger in the first round, but lost to The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch).
Later that month, Lefort and Louis snuck up on them and shaved part of Amore’s beard, following which he challenged Lefort to a match in which the loser will be shaved bald. Lefort and Louis lost to Amore and Cassady at NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way, but Lefort ran away and left Louis to pay by shaving his hair and eyebrows.
In October 2014, they made an alliance with debutant Carmella, and in March 2015, began a rivalry with NXT Tag Team Champions, Blake and Murphy, after they insulted them while attempting to woo Carmella. The duo defeated The Lucha Dragons in a number one contender’s match on March 11 to earn their title match at ‘NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable’ against Blake and Murphy, which they lost after Alexa Bliss interfered.
Later that year, they unsuccessfully challenged Dash and Dawson at NXT TakeOver: London and Roadblock for the NXT Tag Team Championship. However, teaming up with Apollo Crews, Enzo and Cass were able to defeat NXT Champions The Revival and Baron Corbin on March 24, 2016.
Debuting on the main roster of RAW on April 4, 2016, Amore and Cassady faced The Dudley Boyz and then defeated The Ascension on SmackDown to become the No.1 contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship. They again defeated the Dudley Boyz in the semi-final, and faced the Vaudevillains at Payback in the finals, which ended in no contest after Amore suffered a legitimate concussion.
After losing a fatal-four way tag team match at Money in the Bank, Amore and Cassady teamed up with John Cena in a six-man tag team match at Battleground, where they helped Cena defeat The Club. They lost their next feud with Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho at SummerSlam, following which they participated in the 10–on–10 Survivor Series Tag Team Elimination match for Team Raw and defeated Team Smackdown.
In November 2016, Amore and Cassady feuded with Rusev and Jinder Mahal after being set up by Lana in a hotel room. Amore was eliminated by Brock Lesnar in the 2017 Royal Rumble, and with Cass, he also lost a fatal-four way ladder match at WrestleMania 33 for the Raw Tag Team Championship.
In June 2017, the two teammates fell out after it was revealed in security footage that Big Cass had secretly attacked Amore and faked attack on himself. Cass then turned heel, attacked Enzo, and disbanded the team, following which Enzo challenged and defeated Cass.
Amore debuted in the cruiserweight division against champion Adrian Neville on the August 22 episode of ‘205 Live’ and score his first victory against Noam Dar on August 28, 2017.
On September 5,2017, he won a fatal-5 way elimination match to earn a fight against Neville for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship at No Mercy, which he won with a low blow and claimed his first WWE title.
Enzo Amore subsequently turned heel by insulting the cruiserweight division and assaulting Neville with a crutch, following which he lost his title to Kalisto in a lumberjack match. He again resorted to questionable tactics to regain the title in his rematch at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, and successfully defended the title against Kalisto at Survivor Series Kick-off show.
Awards & Achievements
Enzo Amore won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship twice in 2017 and is the current title holder. Along with his then-teammate Colin Cassady, he won the ‘Tag Team of the Year’ honor at the ‘NXT Year-End Award’ in 2015.
Personal Life & Legacy
Enzo Amore began an on-screen relationship with Nia Jax on the December 4, 2017 episode of ‘Raw’.
Trivia
Enzo Amore is a playable character in the professional wrestling video games ‘WWE 2K16’, ‘WWE 2K17’ and ‘WWE 2K18’.
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