Erik Watts

Early life Watts attended the University of Louisville, where he was a quarterback for the Louisville Cardinals. He was the team's leading passer in 1991, completing 115 of 260 passes for 1294 yards, 6 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions.

Professional wrestling career World Championship Wrestling (1992–1994) Watts trained as a wrestler under his father, Bill Watts, and after wrestling for three months, he was hired by World Championship Wrestling. He debuted on August 27, 1992, in McMinnville, Tennessee, and began a house show series against Buddy Lee Parker and Mark Canterbury. Still undefeated three months later, Watts would defeat Scotty Flamingo (later known as Raven), Vinnie Vegas, and a rookie Diamond Dallas Page. On November 2 Watts defeated Michael Hayes on WCW Saturday Night, and went on to score multiple victories against Mike Thor and Tex Slazenger. On November 8 he achieved a time-limit draw with Steve Austin on a live event in Winston-Salem, NC. In late November he entered his first feud, facing members of The Dangerous Alliance. On November 25 he upset Bobby Eaton in Baltimore, MD, winning by submission with an STF. The following month Watts took WCW US Champion Rick Rude to several time limit draws, and he gained his first pinfall victory over Steve Austin on December 5 in St Paul, MN. On December 7 at WCW Saturday Night his undefeated streak was ended by Rude. His constant pushes were controversial in that his father was WCW's booker at the time, leading to accusations of nepotism. On December 28, at Starrcade, Watts teamed with Jushin Thunder Liger, in a Lethal Lottery tag team match, losing to "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and Sting.

In January 1993 Watts gained victories over The Barbarian, Tony Atlas, and a returning Paul Orndorff. In February Watts teamed with Buff Bagwell and to take on Hollywood Blonds in a tag team match at SuperBrawl III, which Watts and Bagwell lost. Later in February, he was entered into a tournament to crown a new WCW TV Champion after previous titleholder Scott Steiner had departed four months earlier for the WWF. After defeating Johnny Gunn in the opening round, Watts beat Maxx Payne by disqualification in the quarter-finals. The last two rounds of the tournament were held on March 2 in Macon, GA. Watts pinned Vinnie Vegas in the semifinals, but was defeated by Paul Orndorff in the finals. Following his father's departure from WCW, Erik was targeted by Arn Anderson and began a house show series with The Enforcer as the Four Horsemen began the reformation. Watts continued to perform strongly against lower-level competition, but was defeated by Steve Regal on July 18, 1993, at Beach Blast. In August, he began a house show series with Chris Benoit and came out victorious in each encounter. A month later however he began his first losing streak, dropping matches to WCW TV Champion Steve Regal on multiple occasions.

On November 30, 1993, he was involved in a major angle on WCW Saturday Night. After defeating Paul Orndorff, Paul Roma came out to ringside and attacked Watts. This would lead to the formation of eventual tag-team champions Pretty Wonderful. Meanwhile, Watts continued to be victorious in 1994 against lower-level competition, but was unable to break through against more experienced competition like Regal or Orndorff. His final match was on August 1, 1994, against Jean Paul Levesque in Ft Pierce, FL.

World Wrestling Federation (1995–1996)

In 1995, Watts followed his father to the World Wrestling Federation. In the WWF, Watts was renamed "Troy" and, together with Chad Fortune as "Travis", formed Tekno Team 2000. Wearing silver smocks and tight zubaz, their gimmick was that they represented the cutting edge of cyberculture. Their tag team made its debut on the May 27, 1995, episode of Superstars in a victorious effort against The Brooklyn Brawler and Barry Horowitz. Eight months later Watts made a full-time return, and would win his first 2 matches back out of the gate. Before mainly being used as enhancement talent working on Saturday Night, WorldWide and on rare occasions on Monday Nitro. He would receive a shot at the WCW Television Championship on the March 30 edition of WCW Saturday Night, but would fall short at the hands of Booker T. His last TV appearance was on November 13 as he lost in a match against Disco Inferno on Saturday Night. Great Championship Wrestling GCW Heavyweight Championship (2 times) GCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with John Bogie Ranked No. 37 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1998 Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling TCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Scotty Anton Wrestling Observer Newsletter Most Overrated Wrestler (1992) Readers' Least Favorite Wrestler (1992) Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic (1992)