Willie Mack

Willie McClinton Jr. (born January 5, 1987) is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Willie Mack, currently appearing in Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, All Elite Wrestling, Major League Wrestling (MLW) and Ring of Honor (ROH).

He is best known for his tenure with Impact Wrestling, where he is a former Impact X Division Champion.

Mack spent the first years of his career working in the independent circuit, usually in California-based promotions like Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and Championship Wrestling from Hollywood.

On February 5, 2010 after defeating Scorpio Sky in a number one contenders match for the M1W Championship, Mack entered himself into a three-way elimination match later that same evening, making it a four-way.

After Joey Ryan and James Morgan were eliminated, Mack defeated reigning champion, Bobby Marshall to claim the title.

Mack debuted for the Southern California company Pro Wrestling Guerrilla on December 11, 2010, winning his first match.

It has been acknowledged on DVD commentary that he attended PWG shows as a fan before training to be a wrestler.

On March 5, 2011, Mack lost the M1W Championship to Morgan in a four-way match that also involved Nick Madrid and Andrew Hellman.

On March 4, 2011, Mack participated in the 2011 Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament, pairing with Brandon Gatson in a loss against The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson), the eventual winners, in the Opening Round.

On May 27, Mack gained a substantial win by upsetting Kevin Steen.

He then began a streak of wrestling top names on the independent scene, defeating Chris Hero in the first round of the 2011 Battle of Los Angeles before losing to El Generico, the eventual winner, in the Semifinal Round.

On December 10, Mack beat Chris Hero for a second time in what ended up being Hero's PWG exit match.

He continued his streak by beating Naruki Doi on January 29 and Roderick Strong on March 17, 2012.

Mack took part in the 2012 Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament, teaming with El Generico as 2 Husky Black Guys.

The duo beat Roderick Strong and the debuting Sami Callihan in the Opening and the RockNES Monsters (Johnny Goodtime and Johnny Yuma) in the Semifinal Rounds, before succumbing to the Super Smash Bros. (Player Uno and Stupefied) in the Final.

On May 25, Mack faced and beat debutant Michael Elgin.

On July 21 at Threemendous III, PWG's nine-year anniversary event, Mack received a shot at the PWG World Championship, but was defeated by defending champion Kevin Steen.

The match saw an interference by Brian Cage, which launched a feud between Cage and Mack.

The 2012 Battle of Los Angeles, taking place in September, saw Mack lose against Sami Callihan on Night One.

The following month at Failure to Communicate, Mack lost in his first encounter against Brian Cage.

At Mystery Vortex on December 1, he faced Cage once more, this time in a match also involving B-Boy and T. J. Perkins, with Mack emerging victorious.

On November 2, 2013, Mack participated in a tournament to crown the first MexPro Wrestling United States Champion.

He defeated Jacob Diez and SoCal Crazy in the semi-finals, but he lost to CJ Kruz in the finale.

On November 3, 2013, Mack was defeated by Samoa Joe at Championship Wrestling from Hollywood's Open Door, in a Dream match.

On November 14, 2013, Mack was defeated by the CWFH Santino Bros. Wrestling Champion Robby Phoenix.

On June 15, 2014 Mack won the Championship Wrestling from Hollywood Red Carpet Rumble in a match which included Matt Striker, X-Pac, Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Joey Ryan.

Mack wrestled his PWG farewell match on August 31, 2014.

In September 2014, it was reported that McClinton had passed WWE's medical tests and would be reporting to WWE's developmental territory, NXT, in Orlando, Florida.

He had been signed to the promotion for a few months at this point.

However, only a month later on October 13, 2014, McClinton stated that he had been released from WWE before he had even arrived in Orlando.

He had his first national exposure in 2015, when he signed with the El Rey Network show Lucha Underground, a pro wrestling series created by Mexican promotion Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide.

He worked until 2018 as The Mack and won the Lucha Underground Trios Championship two times.

After Lucha Underground ended, he worked in the National Wrestling Alliance, where he is a former NWA National Heavyweight Champion, but he left the promotion after signing a contract with AAA partner Impact Wrestling.

Mack began his wrestling training while still in high school, but put it on hold until he graduated.

He then attended Martin Marin's WPW Training School in Anaheim, California and wrestled at their weekly events at the Anaheim Marketplace.

Knowing that he needed further training, Mack moved on to Bart Kapitzke's AWS School in Industry, California and began wrestling for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) sanctioned Alternative Wrestling Show.

At AWS, he was noticed by NWA producers and was invited to appear at tapings of NWA Wrestling Showcase, where he had the opportunity to face such wrestlers as Adam Pearce, Brent Albright, Joey Ryan, Chris Escobar and more.

Mack also wrestled at the tapings as part of a tag team with his best friend and fellow WPW graduate Jerome Robinson.

Mack began wrestling for another NWA sanctioned group, Mach One Wrestling, who run weekly events at the American Sports Center across the street from where WPW had run previously.

Mack was instantly one of the most popular wrestlers in the group.