Rich Swann

Richard Anthony Swann (born February 15, 1991) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).

He is a former Impact World Champion, TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Impact X Division Champion and Impact Digital Media Champion.

He also wrestles for Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), where he is the current CZW World Heavyweight Champion in his first reign.

Swann is also known for his time in WWE, where he was a former WWE Cruiserweight Champion.

Additionally, Swann has competed for promotions such as Full Impact Pro, Evolve, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), Chikara, Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), Dragon Gate and Major League Wrestling (MLW).

He is a former RevPro British Tag Team Champion, FIP World Heavyweight Champion, FIP Tag Team Champion, Open the United Gate, Open the Owarai Gate and Open the Triangle Gate Champion.

Richard Anthony Swann was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on February 15, 1991.

Swann's father was killed by his girlfriend when Swann was 12 years old.

His mother died when he was 16, after which Swann "fell in with a rough crowd" and began using cocaine.

However, after his supplier died of a heart attack, Swann, with help from his aunt, stopped using cocaine, got an apartment and finished high school.

Swann originally started training for professional wrestling at the age of 14 in 2005 under Adam Flash, Darren Wyse and Ray Alexander in York, Pennsylvania.

He made his debut in 2008, working under the ring names Rich Money and El Negro Mysterio.

Swann's influences include Psicosis, Eddie Guerrero, Chavo Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Rob Van Dam, Jerry Lynn, Super Crazy and The Hardy Boyz.

In 2009, Swann began training under D. J. Hyde, Drew Gulak, Ruckus and Sabian at Combat Zone Wrestling's (CZW) training school and made his debut for the promotion on May 9, 2009, wrestling in a dark match, where he was defeated by Sabian.

Swann made his main card debut on June 13 with a win over Chris Halo.

On October 10, Swann entered a tournament to determine the inaugural CZW Wired TV Champion.

After a win over Joe Gacy, he was eliminated by Adam Cole in his second round match on November 14.

On January 30, 2010, Swann formed the "Irish Driveby" tag team with Ryan McBride, defeating the Spanish Armada (Alex Colon and LJ Cruz) in their first match together.

After a win over the Switchblade Conspiracy (Joe Gacy and Sami Callihan) on February 13, Swann and McBride were granted a shot at the CZW World Tag Team Championship on March 13, but were defeated by the Best Around (Bruce Maxwell and TJ Cannon).

Afterwards, Irish Driveby earned victories over teams like Notorious Inc. (Devon Moore and Drew Blood), The Garden State Gods (Corvis Fear and Myke Quest), and Team Macktion (Kirby Mack and T.J. Mack).

On August 7, Swann unsuccessfully challenged Drew Gulak for the CZW Wired TV Championship.

On September 10, Swann and McBride entered a tournament to determine the new CZW World Tag Team Champions, defeating Team Macktion in their first round match.

However, on November 13, they were eliminated from the tournament in the semifinals by Philly's Most Wanted (BLK Jeez and Joker).

On July 24, 2010, Swann made his debut for Dragon Gate USA, defeating Scott Reed at the tapings of the Enter the Dragon 2010 pay-per-view.

On September 11, Swann made his debut for Dragon Gate USA's close affiliate, Evolve, taking part in a six-way match, which was won by Johnny Gargano.

On January 7, 2011, the Irish Driveby was defeated by the Runaways (Joe Gacy and Ryan Slater) in what would turn out to be the team's final match together.

After twice failing to qualify for the Best of the Best X tournament and unsuccessfully challenging Adam Cole for the CZW World Junior Heavyweight Championship, Swann was looking to restart his CZW career, but on May 14, 2011, suffered another loss against Alex Colon.

After the match, Robbie Mireno, Ruckus and Chrissy Rivera entered the ring and announced they were reforming Blackout, before offering both Swann and Colon spots in the stable, which both accepted.

With his new partners, Swann formed a new, exciting and popular version of one of CZW's most accomplished groups.

After a six-month break from CZW, during which Swann supposedly represented Blackout in Japan, Swann returned to the promotion on November 12, when he, Colon and Ruckus defeated Alex Payne, Joe Gacy and Ryan Slater in a six-man tag team match.

On January 14, 2012, Swann received another shot at the CZW World Junior Heavyweight Championship, but was unable to dethrone Sami Callihan.

During 2012, Swann began spending more and more time in Japan, resulting in his time with Blackout being short-lived as early in the year, Alex Colon and Chrissy Rivera quit Blackout to form the new 4Loco stable.

After another seven-month break from CZW, Swann returned to the promotion on August 11, losing to newcomer Shane Strickland in a singles match.

The two had a rematch on September 8, where Strickland was again victorious.

After the match, Swann offered to shake Strickland's hand, but then laid him out with a spin kick.

On November 10, Swann first unsuccessfully challenged Masada for the CZW World Heavyweight Championship during an afternoon show and later in the evening, also failed to capture the CZW Wired TV Championship from A. R. Fox in a four-way match, which also included Lucky 13 and rival Shane Strickland.

Swann and Strickland had their third singles match against each other on December 8 at Cage of Death XIV, where Swann was able to pick up his first win over the newcomer.

Swann received another shot at the CZW Wired TV Championship on February 9, 2013, at CZW's fourteenth anniversary show, but was again defeated by A. R. Fox.

In 2018, Swann signed with Impact Wrestling winning the Impact X Division Championship and later winning the Impact World Championship becoming the second African-American to hold that championship (after Bobby Lashley) and the third African-American world champion in the history of the company after Ron Killings and Bobby Lashley.

In 2021, Swann would unify the Impact World Championship and the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.