Travis Tomko

Travis David Tomko (born March 23, 1976) is an American former professional wrestler.

Tomko was signed to a World Wrestling Federation (WWF) developmental contract in April 2002 and assigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) to sharpen his skills.

He is best known for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) from 2003 to 2006 under the ring name Tyson Tomko, with New Japan Pro-Wrestling from 2006 to 2008 under his real name, and with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) between 2006 and 2010 under the ring name Tomko.

Championships held by Tomko include the IWGP Tag Team Championship and TNA World Tag Team Championship.

While in OVW he was a member of the Disciples of Synn stable and along with stablemate Seven captured the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship, on March 5, 2003, though they lost them less than a month later to the Acolytes Protection Agency (APA).

In July 2003, Tomko began working dark matches for the Raw brand.

He made his television debut on the April 19, 2004, Raw, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, interfering in a Christian versus Chris Jericho match on Christian's behalf and helping him pick up the win.

His gimmick was that of "The Problem Solver", and acting as an "enforcer for hire" for Christian and his kayfabe girlfriend Trish Stratus in their feud with Chris Jericho.

His singles matches were few and far between; his main goal was ensuring victory for his clients, usually by interfering.

When Christian suffered a legit back injury, Tomko continued to stand by Stratus and aid her in gaining an advantage in feuds against Jericho, Victoria, and Steven Richards, among others.

The duo occasionally paired together for mixed tag team matches.

Upon Christian's return, Tomko immediately paired with him again, filling the same role as before.

Following the on-screen split between Stratus and Christian (their dispute was seemingly over Tomko's services), Tomko remained Christian's enforcer.

The duo also wrestled as a tag team on occasion, sometimes aligning themselves with Christian's former tag team partner and real-life friend Edge.

In June 2005, Tomko, Christian, and Edge joined forces with Eric Bischoff in his crusade against Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW).

Tomko and Christian were separated on June 2005 when Christian was drafted to SmackDown!.

Now on his own, Tomko was pushed as a "monster heel", winning singles matches against many jobbers by (kayfabe) knock out after hitting a big boot to the back of the head.

On Raw, he knocked out both World Tag Team Champions, The Hurricane and Rosey.

His winning streak ended after he was pinned by John Cena on Raw two weeks in a row.

Tomko then went on to form a tag team with Snitsky, however, they were not given much of a push.

On April 3, 2006, Tomko quit WWE on good terms.

He then began to work in Japan.

Tomko debuted in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) on July 1, 2006, participating in an eight-man tag match which he won.

A few days later, Tomko and Giant Bernard took part in a tournament to determine the interim IWGP Tag Team Champions and reached the finals before losing to Shiro Koshinaka and Togi Makabe.

Tomko participated in a tournament for the vacant IWGP Heavyweight Championship, which had been vacated by Brock Lesnar, and lost in the first round to Yuji Nagata.

He also participated in G1 Tag League 2006 in block B with Giant Bernard and reached the semi-final before losing to the eventual winners, Masahiro Chono and Shinsuke Nakamura.

At Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome, Tomko teamed up with D'Lo Brown and Buchanan to take on Tomohiro Ishii, Togi Makabe and Toru Yano, Makabe pinned Buchanan.

On the November 23, 2006 episode of TNA Impact!, Tomko made his debut in a run-in during a NWA World Heavyweight Championship number one contender's match between Christian Cage and Sting, attacking Sting and siding with Cage, once again acting as Christian's enforcer.

Tomko lost to Togi Makabe in the first round of the New Japan Cup 2007.

On March 11, 2007, Tomko and Giant Bernard defeated Manabu Nakanishi and Takao Omori to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship.

Tomko and Bernard joined Masahiro Chono's BLACK faction and would eventually defect to RISE.

The pair won G1 Tag League 2007 by defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi and Koji Kanemoto.

At Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome II, Tomko and Bernard defeated The Steiner Brothers.

On the January 11, 2007 episode of Impact!, Tomko went one on one against NWA World Heavyweight Champion Abyss in a non-title match.

To avoid interference, Jim Cornette locked Christian in a cage, and also had Kurt Angle at ringside.

During the bout, Angle got into a brawl with Samoa Joe, leaving Cage to escape the cage and interfere in the match, causing a disqualification.

They lost the titles on February 2, 2008, to Great Bash Heel members Togi Makabe and Toru Yano.

Tomko was released early in March 2008 after NJPW decided not to renew his contract.

NJPW were struggling financially and could not afford to keep him going.

They did however, re-sign his tag team partner Giant Bernard.