Tatanka (wrestler)

Christopher Chavis
Data
Ring name	Chris Chavis Tatanka War Eagle
height	185 cm
Fighting weight	117 kg
birth	June 8, 1961 Pembroke , North Carolina
Announced from	Pembroke , North Carolina
Trained by	Larry Sharpe
debut	1989
Website	www.nativetatanka.com

Christopher "Chris" Chavis (born June 8, 1961 in Pembroke , North Carolina ) is an American bodybuilder and pro-wrestler , who became known under his ring name Tatanka . Chavis belongs to the Lumbee Indian tribe, so his portrayal as a Native American is based on his actual origins.

Career

Before wrestling

Chavis has been a staunch bodybuilder and powerlifter since his youth . In 1982 he took second place in the competition for the Mr. Virginia Beach bodybuilding title . A year later, Chavis won the Mr. Goldcoast title and was runner-up in the 1985 Mr. Citrus States Contest .

In 1985, Chavis was employed as Area Manager at Bally's Heath and Tennis Corporation and in the same year won first place at the First Coast Bodybuilding Championship and in 1988 winning the Mr. Gulf Coast . As early as 1987 he took part in a trial training session for the Miami Dolphins football team . However, he refrained from a contractual obligation.

Wrestling beginnings

1990 Chavis quit his job at Bally's and rose over Buddy Rogers in the pro-wrestling one. Rogers referred Chavis to Larry Sharpe , who ran the New Jersey wrestling school The Monster Factory . On March 23, 1990, Chavis made his debut as Chris Chavis at South Atlantic Pro Wrestling in Spartanburg , South Carolina . There he was a participant in the NAWA TV taping and was allowed to defeat his opponent Colt Steel. In this league Chavis spent his first time as an active wrestler. He was already at a two-day show (June 30-July 1 1990) in the title event at the NAWA Title involved. In the same year he was named third best newcomer of the year by Pro Wrestling Illustrated .

World Wrestling Federation

On October 21, 1991 Chavis made his debut under the name Tatanka in the World Wrestling Federation . The word Tatanka comes from the Lakota language , means buffalo and is intended to underline its origins as a native of America. In his first WWF fight, which he already played in an Indian scam, he defeated Skinner and the league began to build a long-running series of victories that officially lasted until late 1993. On October 30, 1993, he lost a match against Ludvig Borga after yokozuna intervened to his advantage.

In fact, the series ended on 28 November 1992 as Tatanka by Ted DiBiase at a house show in Canada was defeated. Chavis lost to DiBiase three more times in a row during other house shows in Texas and Canada. On June 1, 1992, Chavis was also a participant in a Battle Royal , which took place at another WWF houseshow in Canada. Since house shows have no relation to current historical events and are not broadcast on television, these defeats were never officially mentioned and are considered to have never occurred.

In the following years, Chavis was mainly used in the midcard and began a feud with Rick Martel , which he ended victoriously in the 1992 Survivor Series. On October 24, 1992, Chavis was also able to clearly defeat reigning Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels in Chicago , from which a longer feud program developed between the two. At WrestleMania 9, Chavis finally got a match against Shawn Michaels for the Intercontinental Championship, which he only won by counting and therefore not the title. Another chance for the title on April 4, 1993, Chavis could not use either.

A subsequent, very intense feud against Bam Bam Bigelow , who destroyed Tatanka's sacred Indian feather headdress, didn't really end on TV and was mainly fought out at house shows. At SummerSlam 1993 he defeated the Smoking Gunns Bigelow and the Headshrinkers in a six-man tag team match.

On June 13, 1993 he was a participant in the first round of the King of the Ring , but he and his opponent Lex Luger exceeded the match time limit and thus both were eliminated from the tournament.

Despite his current WWF contract, Chavis appeared in the USWA on September 13, 1993 and was able to defeat their champion Jerry Lawler in Memphis , Tennessee for the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Title .

Towards the end of 1993, Chavis was supposed to be part of the " All Americans " team and compete in an elimination match at the Survivor Series against the " Foreign Fanatics ", but according to the storyline he had to retire due to injury. From December 27, 1993, Chavis formed a tag team with Lex Luger , which mainly acted against Ludvig Borga and Yokozuna . In 1994 he was part of the WWF squad that was used in Germany for the WWF WrestleMania Revenge Tour in several cities. In June, Chavis lost to the eventual tournament winner Owen Hart at the King of the Ring , which means he was eliminated in the first round of the tournament as in the previous year. On August 15 of the same year, Chavis lost his USWA title to Sid Vicious .

In the summer of 1994 he began a program against his actual friend Lex Luger, whom he accused of having sold himself to the "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase . At the end of the following match at SummerSlam 1994, however, it turned out that Chavis was the one who had followed DiBiases call of money. After he was able to defeat Luger by scooter, he attacked him from behind and thus became part of DiBiases heel group " Million Dollar Corporation ". In January 1995 at the Royal Rumble he lost together with his former enemy Bam Bam Bigelow a tournament final for the vacant WWF Tag Team title against Marty Jannetty and 1-2-3 Kid ( Sean Waltman ). Then he teamed up with Psycho Sid and feuded against the reigning WWF champion Diesel ( Kevin Nash ) and Bam Bam Bigelow, who has now become a crowd favorite. At the King of the Ring '95 he lost a tag team match against Nash and Bigelow after Sid abandoned him.

After that, Chavis was no longer involved in any major feuds and was only seen sporadically on WWF broadcasts for a while. In January 1996 he took part in the Royal Rumble, but without any significant success. On March 11, 1996 Chavis had his last WWF match against Bret Hart when he lost to this for the WWF World Heavyweight Title . Due to personal problems, Chavis did not extend his expired WWF contract, but instead entered the international independent scene.

Independent (1996-2002)

Between September 28, 1996 and February 8, 2002 Chavis entered the independent scene. For example at STAMPEDE Wrestling and the CZW . After his appearance in the CZW (February 8, 2002), Chavis paused until August 2005. During this time he built up his company, which had specialized in sports equipment and nutritional supplements.

World Wrestling Entertainment

On August 1, 2005, Chavis made his return to WWE . He was now increasingly used in the upper combat map and competed against people like Bobby Lashley . As of January 2006, there was a downgrade in the middle combat map. On December 5, 2007, Chavis played his last single match for the WWE. He took part in the André The Giant Memorial Battle Royal on April 4, 2016, which takes place annually at Wrestlemania.

Independent (2007-present)

After his discharge from the WWE, Chavis only appears in the international independent scene. He now has legendary status and worked in Germany for the Deutsche Wrestling Allianz (most recently in October 2017 when he lost to StarBuck) and for German Hurricane Wrestling . In the latter, he last appeared on April 27, 2019 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame there.

title

• AWA Superstars of Wrestling Heavyweight Champion
• USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champion
• ASW Tag Team Champion (with Joe Gomez )
• NAWA Heavyweight Champion
• SAPW Heavyweight Champion
• Stampede North American Heavyweight Champion
• TRCW Heavyweight Champion
• UCW Heavyweight Champion
• SOW Australasian Champion
• SOW Australasian Champion
• CWA Heavyweight Champion
• IWA Heavyweight Champion
• DWA World Heavyweight Champion
• WWF / WWE First Ever 40 Man Battle Royal Winner 1992

Others

• The ancestors of Chavis come from the Lumbee tribe, the name Tatanka means "buffalo" in the Lakota language .
• Chavis has been married to Michelle since 1994, has two daughters, Christiana Mariah and Rhea Aiyana, and two sons, Joseph and Jeremiah.
• The film Natural Born Killers shows excerpts from a fight with Tatanka.

Web links

• Official website
• Profile on Cagematch.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ https://www.noz.de/lokales-dk/lokalsport/artikel/969294/tatanka-begeistert-fans-in-der-markthalle-und-verliert#gallery&64796&0&969294