Tank Toland

Last updated
Tank Toland
Tank13.jpg
Toland in 2003 holding an OVW Southern Tag Team Championship title belt
Birth nameJohn Michael Toland
Born (1973-08-31) August 31, 1973 (age 50)
Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) James Dick
Tank Toland
Billed height5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Billed weight225 lb (102 kg)
Billed from Margate City, New Jersey
Trained by Ohio Valley Wrestling
Larry Sharpe and Bill Granatt
Debut2000
Retired2008

John Michael Toland (born August 31, 1973) is an American former professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Tank Toland. Toland is best known for his appearances on the independent circuit with promotions such as Ring of Honor, as well as his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment on its SmackDown! brand in 2005 to 2006 as James Dick.

Contents

Professional wrestling career

Toland was trained at The Monster Factory and made his debut in 2000.

World Wrestling Entertainment (2003–2006)

Toland wrestled in World Wrestling Entertainment's developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling starting in May 2003, teaming with Chris Cage. The babyface duo won the Tag title three times. During 2005 Toland turned heel and began to team with Chad Wicks, who posed as his cousin, Chad Toland they wrestled as the Blond Bombers and on April 12, 2005, the team won the OVW Southern Tag Team Title from the Thrillseekers (Matt Cappotelli and Johnny Jeter). Toland also went on to hold the OVW Heavyweight Title which he won from his former partner Chris Cage on December 1, 2004. He held it until he had to surrender it due to his first torn biceps that required surgery. While in OVW Toland was voted by the fans to be both the most popular babyface as well as most popular heel, which made him one of the major draws for the company.

Toland made his debut as a heel on WWE Friday Night SmackDown as James Dick along with his partner, Chad Toland who was now using the name Chad Dick on October 14, 2005, as The Dicks. [1] Their gimmick was dressing up like chippendales and using body oil (which was really water) to spray in their baby-face opponents eyes. After The Mexicools won their 8-man tag match with their partners Road Warrior Animal and Heidenreich by defeating Paul Burchill and William Regal and MNM, The Mexicools were ambushed by the Dicks, and in the process they threw the then current WWE Cruiserweight Champion, Juventud out of the ring and laid out Super Crazy and Psicosis using two of their signature tag team finishers.

On the October 28 episode of SmackDown, The Dicks appeared once again, helping MNM capture the WWE Tag Team Championship when they attacked Heidenreich before Paul Burchill was about to receive the Doomsday Device finisher. This began a brawl with all the teams as the Dicks began attacking Road Warrior Animal. This allowed MNM to hit the Snapshot on Heidenreich and win the title.

On the November 5 episode of Velocity , The Dicks made their in-ring debut in WWE defeating jobbers James Prentice and Kevin Antonio. On the November 25 episode of SmackDown, The Dicks made their official SmackDown! debuts, defeating Heidenreich and Road Warrior Animal after blinding Road Warrior Animal with body oil.

On February 22, 2006, however, The Dicks were released from their WWE contracts. Their last match in WWE was on SmackDown which was broadcast on February 24, 2006, where The Dicks were defeated by The Boogeyman. [1] Both men returned to Ohio Valley Wrestling, where Toland and Wicks began an angle together.

In May 2006, while still wrestling for OVW, ROH and other promotions, Toland became the head instructor for OVW/WWE's developmental amateur class. He was responsible for training new students as well as WWE contracted wrestlers that were new to the wrestling business.

Ring of Honor (2006–2008)

In late 2006, Toland began wrestling for the Philadelphia based promotion Ring of Honor, being called "The All Natural Superior Athlete" Tank Toland. He made his debut at Suffocation on October 17, competing in a Four Corners Survival match against Roderick Strong, Chris Hero and Mark Briscoe. Toland wrestled several shows for ROH in 2006, his final being at The Chicago Spectacular: Night Two, before taking time off from the company due to a torn biceps that required surgery.

At the Fifth Year Festival: Dayton on February 23, 2007, Toland returned to ROH after being hired by Larry Sweeney as the new personal trainer to his client, Chris Hero. In his return match, he defeated Mitch Franklin, a student from the ROH Wrestling School. He was a member of Sweeney's Sweet 'n' Sour Inc. faction. On June 27, 2008, he made his return to the faction, teaming with Shane Hagadorn.

Personal life

Toland grew up on the beaches of Margate City, New Jersey where he is a Lieutenant lifeguard on the Beach Patrol. He attended Atlantic City High School where he was a captain of both his football and baseball teams. He was also active in both school programs and community charity work. Toland continues to stay active within the community and the support of various charities.

Along with being a professional wrestler, Toland holds multiple degrees in Exercise Physiology, Kinesiology, Teaching Health and Physical Education and has a minor in Psychology from West Chester University. Toland was a successful teacher of health and physical education before making the transition to professional wrestling. He is now back to pursuing his teaching career, working full-time as a physical education teacher at Atlantic City High School while still wrestling part-time.

In 2009, Toland got engaged to professional wrestler Jillian Fletcher, better known by her ring name Jillian Hall, whom he met when they were both training at Ohio Valley Wrestling. They have since separated.

Championships and accomplishments

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rodney Mack</span> American professional wrestler and mixed martial artist

Rodney Begnaud is an American professional wrestler and mixed martial artist, better known by the ring name Rodney Mack. He is signed to the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), where he performs under the ring name Damage as a member of Blunt Force Trauma, and is currently one-half of the NWA World Tag Team Champions. He is best known for his time with WWE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugene (wrestler)</span> American professional wrestler

Nicholas David Dinsmore, better known by his ring name Eugene, is an American retired professional wrestler.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Road Warrior Animal</span> American professional wrestler (1960–2020)

Joseph Michael Laurinaitis, better known by his ring name Road Warrior Animal, was an American professional wrestler. Along with Road Warrior Hawk, he was one half of the tag team The Road Warriors/The Legion of Doom. He headlined multiple pay-per-view events for the WWF and WCW, competing for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at 2001's Sin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Heidenreich</span> American professional wrestler and football player

Jon Heidenreich is an American retired professional wrestler, better known simply as Heidenreich. He is best known for his tenure with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on its SmackDown brand where he was a one time Tag Team Champion with Road Warrior Animal as a part of the 2005 version of the Legion of Doom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Bucci</span> American professional wrestler

Michael Bucci is an American retired professional wrestler. Bucci is best known for his appearances in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) as Nova, Super Nova, and "Hollywood" Nova and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as Simon Dean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melina Perez</span> American professional wrestler and valet

Melina Nava Perez is an American professional wrestler and model. She is best known for her time with WWE under the ring name Melina. Outside of WWE, Perez most recently wrestled for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joey Mercury</span> American professional wrestler

Adam Birch, better known by the ring names Joey Mercury and Joey Matthews, is an American professional wrestler who is best known for his two tenures in WWE. Birch was most recently signed to Ring of Honor, where he worked as a producer, trainer, and member of the creative team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MNM (professional wrestling)</span> Professional wrestling stable

MNM were a professional wrestling stable in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) who consisted of Joey Mercury, Johnny Nitro, and their manager Melina Perez.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Burchill</span> English professional wrestler

Paul Birchall, better known by his ring name Paul Burchill, is an English professional wrestler, currently making appearances for the National Wrestling Alliance under the ring name Burchill. He is best known for his time with WWE. Prior to joining WWE, Burchill wrestled for the Frontier Wrestling Alliance and other promotions in Europe.

Charles Wicks is an American retired professional wrestler best known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he wrestled as Chad Toland in its Ohio Valley Wrestling affiliate and later as Chad Dick on its SmackDown! brand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caylen Croft</span> American retired professional wrestler

Kris Pavone is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he wrestled under the ring name Caylen Croft. He was one half of the DudeBusters tag team with Trent Barreta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aron Stevens</span> American professional wrestler

Aron Steven Haddad is an American retired professional wrestler currently working as a manager in the National Wrestling Alliance under the name Aron Stevens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brent Albright</span> American professional wrestler

Brent Albright is an American retired professional wrestler, perhaps best known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment, during which he appeared on SmackDown! as Gunner Scott. Aside from WWE, Albright is a one-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, having won the title while performing for Ring of Honor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shad Gaspard</span> American professional wrestler and actor (1981–2020)

Shad Javier Gaspard was an American professional wrestler and actor. He was best known for his time with WWE, where he performed under his real name, or mononymously as Shad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnny Jeter</span> American professional wrestler

John Jeter is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2006 as Johnny, a member of The Spirit Squad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Mondo</span> American professional wrestler

Michael Brendli is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in WWE as Mike Mondo and Mikey as a member of The Spirit Squad. He also appeared in Major League Wrestling (MLW) in a tag team with fellow Squad member Kenny Dykstra during 2019. He also worked in Ring of Honor and Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cliff Compton</span> American professional wrestler

Cliff Treiber is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring names Domino and Cliff Compton. He is best known for his work in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cryme Tyme</span> Professional wrestling tag team

Cryme Tyme was an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of JTG and Shad Gaspard, best known for their tenure in WWE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Damian Adams</span> American professional wrestler (born 1978)

Luis Almodovar is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Damian Adams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamin Olivencia</span> American professional wrestler (born 1985)

Jamin Olivencia is an American professional wrestler best known for his time at the Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) promotion, where he is a former three-time OVW Heavyweight Champion holding the former record for the longest reign at 241 days. He is also tied, with Mohamad Ali Vaez, for the most OVW Television Championship reigns with eight.

References

  1. 1 2 Shields, Brian and Kevin Sullivan (2009). WWE Encyclopedia. DK/BradyGAMES. p.  79. ISBN   978-0-7566-4190-0.
  2. ↑ "4th Annual X8 Tournament". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
  3. ↑ "Tank Toland Awards". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.