Knuckles Nelson

Brendan Higgins (born September 26, 1963), best known by his ring name Knuckles Nelson is a retired American professional wrestler, promoter and trainer who wrestled throughout the North American independent circuit during the 1990s and 2000s.

He competed in several regional promotions such as the Century Wrestling Alliance, the National Wrestling Alliance and the United States Wrestling Association.

He was a founding member of Tony Rumble's The Brotherhood, a "heel" stable which dominated NWA New England during the late 1990s, and which included Eric Sbraccia, Dukes Dalton and Rick Fuller.

He eventually made his debut in 1994, under the name Tully McShane, and spent some time in Coastal Pro Wrestling before meeting Tony Rumble who would bring him into his emerging Boston promotion, the Century Wrestling Alliance.

Nelson's first match in the CWA was under a mask and against Rumble himself.

He suffered a bloody mouth during the match and Rumble ended up beating him with a Boston crab submission hold.

Rumble paid him $100 and booked for three more shows beginning the start of his long career in the promotion.

Rumble didn't like the "Tully McShane" name and began helping develop his later in-ring persona, Knuckles Nelson.

On February 4, 1995, Nelson made a one-time appearance in the United States Wrestling Association where he teamed with The Shadow against PG-13 (J. C. Ice & Wolfie D).

PG-13, then feuding with Tommy Rich and Doug Gilbert over the USWA Tag Team Championship, were attacked by their rivals during the post-match interview.

Back in the CWA, he was initially paired with Sonny C as The Cash Money Boys but split up and feuded with each other during 1996.

A top contender to the CWA Heavyweight Championship during this time, he was unable to take the title from then champion Kevin Sullivan.

He did, however, win the CWA Television Championship from Vic Steamboat in Derry, New Hampshire, on July 6, 1996.

Earlier that year, he had also appeared on the 1st annual Eddie Gilbert Memorial Show in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, defeating the Inferno Kid after hitting him with brass knuckles.

He was also a regular on the promotion's television show, Mass Madness.

On one occasion, during a match against a young Steve Bradley, Nelson attempted to use his brass knuckles but lost them to Bradley.

The referee, seeing the foreign object, immediately disqualified Bradley giving Nelson the win.

It was also on the show that he started teaming with Erich Sbraccia.

He also briefly appeared in World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation as well as touring Japan as Super Destroyer between 1997 and 1999.

On March 17, 1997, Knuckles Nelson appeared on Monday Night Nitro alongside longtime independent star T. Rantula to take on Lex Luger & The Giant in Savannah, Georgia.

He and his tag team partner lost the match when The Giant pinned Nelson with a chokeslam and, following the match, Luger put T. Rantula in the "Torture Rack".

On May 18, he faced another WCW tag team, The Power Company (Dave & Dean Power), whom he and partner Tre lost to.

At the end of the night, Nelson and Tre took part in a 10-man tag team match with Tony Rumble, Waldo and Rick Fuller to beat Vic Steamboat, El Mascarado, Baby Black and the Power Company.

Holding the CWA Television Championship for over a year and a half, Nelson lost the title back to Steamboat in Brattleboro, Vermont, on December 8, 1997.

He and Sbraccia won the NWA World Tag Team Championship in 1998, and defended both the World and NWA New England titles with Sbraccia and other Brotherhood members in their home promotion for almost two years.

On January 24, 1998, Knuckle Nelson appeared at a CWA fundraising event, billed as "Killer Kowalski Night" held at the high school in Ridgefield, CT. Along with Killer Kowalski in attendance, other high-profile stars included Tony Rumble, King Kong Bundy, Tito Santana, Devon Storm and Johnny Grunge.

That same night, the CWA announced that it would be joining the National Wrestling Alliance and changed its name to NWA New England.

That same year, Rumble arranged for Nelson to tour Japan as Super Destroyer with Barry Darsow and Wild Bill Irwin, Irwin having once been a mainstay of World Class Championship Wrestling.

By early-1998, Nelson had formed a successful tag team with Erich Sbraccia as part of Tony Rumble's "heel" stable The Brotherhood.

Two months before dropping the television title to Steamboat, they had won the CWA Tag Team Championship from The Extremists (Ace Darling & Devon Storm) and held the titles until the CWA became NWA New England.

Following Rumble's death, Nelson helped run NWA New England for a time and later became a full-time booker and promoter for Wrestling Star Wars until his retirement in 2003.

As head of "The Combat Zone" wrestling school, he was involved in training several independent wrestlers, most notably, Yankee Pro Wrestling veteran "Big Gun" Jim Sergeant.

Born in Providence, Rhode Island.

As a child, he often watched wrestling on Fox 25 Boston and was a fan of both World Class Championship Wrestling and the Von Erich family as well as a reader of wrestling newsletters The Torch and The Observer.

As a young man, he decided to try his luck in the business after reading an article in the Warwick Beacon of a retired professional wrestler starting a local independent promotion.

He and a friend visited a trainer at the promotion's headquarters, then occupying a rundown warehouse in Providence, and returned the following day to start their first training session.

It was there that they met local independent wrestlers Bob Evans and Paul Lazon who invited them to their wrestling school in Freetown, Massachusetts.

Nelson took them up on their offer and soon began training at the Freetown facility.

It was there that he met Nick Steel and Brian Brieger who, in addition to Evans and Lazon, became his principal trainers.

One of his earliest matches was against his former trainer Bob Evans whom he defeated at a show in New Bedford, Massachusetts.