D'Lo Brown

D'Lo Brown
D'Lo Brown
Born	October 22, 1970 (age 54); Burlington, New Jersey, United States
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Ace the Animal; Ace Brown; D'Lo Brown; D-Lo Brown
Billed height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Billed weight	268 lb (122 kg)
Billed from	Chicago, Illinois
Trained by	Larry Sharpe, Glen Ruth, Al Snow
Debut	1994

Accie Conner (born October 22, 1970), better known by his ring name D'Lo Brown (also written D-Lo Brown), is an American professional wrestler best known for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment.

In WWE, he is a four time European Champion and a former Intercontinental Champion.^[4] He is currently working Ring of Honor Wrestling and has recently made several appearences in Pro Wrestling Noah in Japan.

Career

Conner began his wrestling career in New Jersey as Ace the Animal. He then wrestled Earthquake in the WWF in 1993 under his given name as a jobber. This led to his first widely known accomplishment in Smoky Mountain Wrestling, becoming the head of security for The Gangstas. When the Gangstas left SMW in 1995, he signed a deal with the WWF and was sent to the Heartland Wrestling Association for more training while making more appearances as a jobber on WWF television.

World Wrestling Entertainment (1997–2003)

Conner made his official WWF debut in 1997 as a member of Faarooq's Nation of Domination heel stable, most notably along with Rocky Maivia, Kama Mustafa, and Mark Henry. In early 1998, the group turned on Faarooq, allowing Maivia to assume leadership as The Rock as Kama became The Godfather. D'Lo and Henry eventually turned on both Rock and Godfather separately, moving into a feud with the Rock before finally branching out as a moderately successful tag team, later turning face along the way. Prior to the face turn, Brown had started wrestling with a chest protector, supposedly for a torn pectoral muscle sustained in a match against Dan "The Beast" Severn. Instead, he used the chest protector to his advantage, making his finishing move, the Lo Down, more effective. His career peaked when he held the European and Intercontinental Championships simultaneously. This feat was only duplicated by Jeff Jarrett, Kurt Angle, and Rob Van Dam, all of whom became World Heavyweight Champions in some form since said double reigns.

Brown was involved in inadvertently ending the career of Darren Drozdov on October 5, 1999 when a running powerbomb was botched due to Droz's baggy shirt. The match was to be aired on the October 7 edition of SmackDown!. The match was never aired and Drozdov suffered a severe neck injury, leaving him a quadriplegic. During the rest of the year and into some of the next, Brown became an ally of former fellow Nation member The Godfather, emulating his dress and walking motions. The teaming ended when Brown turned heel on the Godfather.

Brown then formed a tag team in July 2000 with Chaz named Lo Down. The team mostly wrestled on Sunday Night Heat and WWE Jakked / Metal. Shortly after the team formed, Tiger Ali Singh joined the team to become their manager. The tag team then came dressed towards the ring in Arabic ring attire and took on a gimmick very similar to Tiger's. The team was removed from WWF TV in January 2001. Chaz and Singh were later be released by WWE while D'Lo Brown stayed in WWE's developmental territory. D'Lo returned to TV on the April 28, 2002 episode of Heat, losing to Eddie Guerrero.

For the rest of the year, Brown mostly wrestled on Heat, did a little bit of commentary on the show, and even started a brief feud with Raven. In late 2002, Theodore Long retired as a WWE referee and managed D'Lo, who had complained about acts of racism being talked about on him during his matches. D'Lo started Theodore Long's group Thuggin' and Buggin' Enterprises which eventually turned into a group of African Americans who worked an angle in which they felt they were victims of racism and were being held down by the "white man." With Long's managerial services, D'Lo Brown went undefeated for several weeks.

Brown faced Booker T in a losing effort on the February 10, 2003 episode of Raw. His involvement with Thuggin' and Buggin' Enterprises was brought to a close when footage was shown on the February 16 episode of Heat of Theodore Long kicking D'Lo Brown to the curb and introducing his replacement Rodney Mack. He was then released from his WWE contract on February 14, 2003.

All Japan Pro Wrestling and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2005–2007)

Conner, still under the D'Lo Brown name, went on to wrestle for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling, competing in regular tours with the Japanese company as a member of Roughly Obsess and Destroy (RO&D). During one of these tours on September 17, 2006, Brown betrayed RO&D to join the rival Voodoo Murders faction. Brown left All Japan in 2007 and rejoined RO&D in Pro Wrestling Noah.

When not in Japan, Brown was regularly found touring the United Kingdom, as well as working for Irish Whip Wrestling in Ireland. In April 2005, Brown became one of the lead trainers of the ill–fated Celebrity Wrestling on ITV. This Saturday evening reality show saw celebrities learn wrestling and compete in challenge matches. After a few weeks the programme was to be cancelled, but was instead moved to Sunday mornings to finish its final episodes. During his time wrestling in England, he would face off in a series of matches against his Celebrity Wrestling opposition's trainer, Joe Legend.

Return to WWE (2008–2009)

In 2008, Brown wrestled in a number of dark matches for World Wrestling Entertainment, with his most notable win against Ron Killings.

Months later, on June 5, 2008, WWE announced that Brown had been signed to a contract, and he began working more dark matches for the company.^[5] He made his television return on the July 21, 2008 edition of Raw, to defeat Santino Marella and he faced him two more times, one a tag team where he teamed up with Kelly Kelly to face Santino Marella and Beth Phoenix. In the second match Beth got Brown DQ'ed for standing in front of Santino when D'lo was about to jump on him. Despite this win, Brown lost to Marella on Raw and has mainly been competing in dark matches before the flagship broadcast. Brown returned to Raw to face Mike Knox. He lost after Mike Knox delivered a Knox Out. On January 9, 2009, it was announced on WWE.com that Brown had been released from his World Wrestling Entertainment contract.^[6]

Return to the independent circuit (2009–present)

Brown debuted for Ring of Honor during Proving Ground 09 weekend in February. He was defeated by Nigel McGuinness in an ROH World Championship match. He also wrestled at the ROH 7th Anniversary Show on March 21, 2009 in Manhattan, defeating Jay Briscoe. Brown has also appeared on Ring of Honor Wrestling on HDnet. Varsity Pro Wrestling has also announced that Brown will be making his third appearance for the promotion on their February tour. Brown also made a surprise appearance in Chikara, where he filled in as a substitute for Iceberg of The Cold Front at the 2009 King of Trios tournament. D-Lo came up short in a ROH Championship match at Take No Prisoners (2009). At ROH's Manahttan Mayhem III on June 13, Brown tapped out to Colt Cabana in a four way match also involving Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli. On June 27 on an ROH show he was defeated by Colt Cabana.

Throughout April and May 2009, Brown flew to Japan to take part in the 13 night Pro Wrestling Noah Global Tag League with his partner Buchanan. During the course of the event they won and lost three matches with one contest went to a draw giving them seven points placing them sixth of the eight teams.^[7] Outside of the tournament Brown was undefeated in six-man tag team competition, adding Keith Walker to the team, including a victory over Noah founder Mitsuharu Misawa in one of his last matches.^[8]

Conner is currently a co-host of pro-wrestling/mixed-martial arts radio show Between The Ropes on ESPN 1080.

On the September 15, 2009 edition of Between The Ropes D-Lo announced that after his current tour with Ring of Honor, he will most likely be retiring from professional wrestling. In September, Conner was hired back to TNA as a road agent.^[9]