Billy Kidman

Peter Alan Gruner Jr. (born May 11, 1974) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Billy Kidman.

He currently works for WWE as a producer.

As a wrestler, Kidman is best known for his work with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment (WWF/E) throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s.

While in WCW, Kidman gained fame as a key member of several stables.

In addition to being a member of Raven's Flock, he also was a member of The Filthy Animals and later The New Blood.

As a member of these stables, Kidman participated in memorable feuds with top WCW names, including Hulk Hogan, Jeff Jarrett, and Rey Mysterio Kidman also found championship success while in WCW, where he became a three time Cruiserweight Champion, a two time World Tag Team Champion (once with Mysterio Jr. and once with Konnan) and a one time (and the final) Cruiserweight Tag Team Champion with Mysterio Jr.

Upon WCW's purchase by the World Wrestling Federation, Kidman became a member of the WCW/ECW Alliance.

During his time in the WWF (later renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment), Kidman once again found success upon winning the Cruiserweight Championship an additional four times while the title was under the WCW banner and later the WWF/E banner, in addition to winning WWE's Tag Team Championship once with Paul London.

Gruner grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, where he graduated from Parkland High School.

Gruner was a banker before he started training to be a professional wrestler and was good friends with fellow professional wrestler Chris Kanyon, who he met at the Wild Samoan training center in Pennsylvania.

He is a cousin of fellow professional wrestler Mikey Batts.

Gruner was trained by Afa Anoaʻi, one half of The Wild Samoans, and wrestled his first match on September 11, 1994 in Hellertown, Pennsylvania against "Wild Thing" Dan Kallis on the independent circuit as Kid Flash.

He formed a tag team with Ace Darling known as The Shooting Stars, and they would find success by winning the ECWA Tag Team Championship.

Gruner started wrestling for World Championship Wrestling on March 6, 1996 as "Kid Flash" against Chris Kanyon in a losing effort.

Gruner then competed as Billy Cannon on April 10, before settling on the name Billy Kidman on May 13.

He made his televised debut in WCW on the May 18 episode of Saturday Night, competing against Diamond Dallas Page in a losing effort.

He mainly competed as an enhancement talent for over a year with no character.

His first televised win occurred on the July 28 episode of WorldWide against Psychosis.

Kidman received his first title opportunity in WCW, unsuccessfully challenging Rey Misterio, Jr. for the World Cruiserweight Championship on the September 9 episode of Monday Nitro.

On the September 30 episode of Nitro, Kidman filled in for Psychosis, who could not show up due to his visa issues and competed as the masked "El Technico" by teaming with Juventud Guerrera against The Public Enemy in a losing effort.

Kidman would receive two more title shots for the World Cruiserweight Championship, this time against Dean Malenko on the December 2 episode of Nitro and the December 14 episode of Saturday Night but lost both times.

On the October 13, 1997 episode of Nitro, Kidman was added to Raven's Flock.

To fit in with the Flock's gimmick of being outcasts, Kidman was given the gimmick of a heroin addict, where he constantly scratched his arms and named his shooting star press, the Seven Year Itch.

Kidman found little personal success with the group and competed in major matches only on a few occasions, such as participating in a battle royal to determine the #1 contender for the Cruiserweight Championship in his pay-per-view debut at Slamboree.

Kidman would then lose to Juventud Guerrera at Bash at the Beach.

At Fall Brawl, Kidman aided Perry Saturn in defeating Flock's leader Raven in a match, thus disbanding the group.

Following the Flock's disbanding, Kidman shed his grungy attire and heroin gimmick and began performing as a clean-cut fan favorite before eventually defeating Juventud Guerrera to win his first Cruiserweight Championship on the September 14 episode of Nitro.

Kidman retained the title against various cruiserweights on a weekly basis, with his first pay-per-view title defense occurring against Disco Inferno at Halloween Havoc, where Kidman retained.

Kidman lost the title back to Guerrera on the November 16 episode of Nitro but regained it in a rematch at World War 3 in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

Shortly after, Kidman joined Rey Mysterio, Jr. in the latter's rivalry with the Latino World Order.

At Starrcade, Kidman successfully defended the Cruiserweight Championship against Guerrera and Mysterio in a triangle match.

LWO leader Eddie Guerrero challenged Kidman to an immediate title match afterwards, which Kidman accepted.

Kidman retained the title after assistance by Mysterio.

Kidman's title reign continued into 1999 with a successful title defense against Guerrera, Psychosis and Mysterio in a four-way match at Souled Out.

Kidman then retained the title against various challengers such as Chavo Guerrero, Jr. at SuperBrawl IX and Mikey Whipwreck at Uncensored, before losing the title to Mysterio on the March 15 episode of Nitro.

Following this, Mysterio asked Kidman to be his tag team partner in a match for the World Tag Team Championship.

Kidman at first declined, as a previous attempt at a tag team between the two did not reach any level of success.

The two, however, faced Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko for the titles on the March 29 episode of Nitro, and succeeded with unwanted aid from Raven and Saturn.

Kidman then faced off against Mysterio in an attempt to win back the Cruiserweight Championship at Spring Stampede, however, Mysterio retained his title.

The three teams feuded for several weeks, which ended in a three-way tag team match for the World Tag Team Championship at Slamboree.