Lance Kurtis McNaught (March 2, 1981 – August 13, 2010) was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his time in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he performed under the ring name Lance Cade.
After being trained by Shawn Michaels, Cade made his debut in 1999 and worked in Japan before being signed to a developmental contract in February 2000 by WWE. He was assigned to Memphis Championship Wrestling (MCW), and later Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA), before ending up in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in 2003. He formed a tag team with Mark Jindrak in OVW and they were promoted to the Raw brand in June 2003. The team split up in March 2004, and Cade took time off after a knee injury, before returning to Raw with new tag partner Trevor Murdoch in August 2005. The pair teamed together for almost three years and won the World Tag Team Championship three times before they broke up in May 2008. Cade then formed an alliance with Chris Jericho, however, he was released in October 2008.
Professional wrestling career Early career (1999–2001) McNaught started his professional wrestling career by becoming a student of Shawn Michaels at the Shawn Michaels Wrestling Academy in San Antonio, Texas in 1999.
Cade and fellow wrestler Bryan Danielson went to Japan on December 1, 1999. They competed in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW). Cade and Danielson worked as a tag team for a while before they went their separate ways; Cade stayed in FMW and faced off against Extreme Championship Wrestling wrestler Balls Mahoney in tag team matches and a three-way dance against another FMW wrestler. Cade left FMW after he was defeated by Mahoney in a three-way dance on February 25, 2000, also involving Crazy Boy.
World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment (2001–2008) Heartland Wrestling Association (2001–2002) After Cade signed with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), he was sent to Memphis Championship Wrestling in 2001. During the summer of that same year, he was moved to Les Thatcher's Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA). Cade quickly formed a tag-team with Surfer Cody Hawk, but the team split after only a few months when Cade joined the World Championship Wrestling camp in HWA's Invasion angle. Cade aligned with Mike Sanders, a former WCW wrestler. The downfall of the team came on February 13, 2002, when Lance Cade and Mike Sanders defeated Val Venis and Steve Bradley to win the HWA Tag-Team titles. Cade and Sanders broke up that very day, and the titles were vacated. The next week, Cade faced Sanders and defeated him in a singles match, giving Cade the belts. Cade then chose Steve Bradley to be his new partner. However, Cade and Bradley had problems defeating WWF competition, as Hugh Morrus and Raven defeated on March 12, 2002, for the titles. Cade and Bradley, however, won the HWA Tag Titles three days later.
In April 2002, Cade's first HWA tag-team partner returned, as Cody Hawk and the Ice Cream Man defeated Cade and Bradley for the tag-team titles. Cade and Bradley tried for the next month to get the titles back, even winning a tag team championship contendership match to get another shot, but never managed to get the titles back. On May 19, 2002, Cade defeated Johnny the Bull to become the HWA Heavyweight Champion. Cade defended the title for 2 months before Johnny the Bull won the title back on July 20. On the same night, however, Cade defeated Johnny in a second match, becoming the 2-time Heavyweight Champion. This reign lasted only one day, as Cade, lost his title to Cody Hawk.
Ohio Valley Wrestling (2003–2004) During the summer of 2002, the HWA was dropped as a developmental territory by the renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), but Cade was transferred over to WWE's main developmental company, Ohio Valley Wrestling when he signed a developmental contract in 2003. Cade continued to search for a strong tag-team partner to work with. He found René Duprée and both joined Kenny Bolin's Bolin Services. The two worked as a tag-team throughout most of their stay in OVW.
In the OVW Tag Team Championship Tournament contested in February/March 2003, Cade and Duprée defeated Matt Morgan and BJ Payne, but could not beat the Disciples of Synn in the finals. Cade and Duprée had another shot at Spring Break-Out 2003, but the current champions at the time were WWE regulars The APA, and Cade and Duprée could not overcome the odds. Mark Jindrak later joined Bolin Services. Duprée appeared in WWE only a few weeks after their title shot. Cade continued tagging with Mark Jindrak, but was promoted to the Raw brand in June 2003 under the name, Garrison Cade.
Teaming with Mark Jindrak (2003–2005) Cade debuted on an episode of Sunday Night Heat against Lance Storm on June 1, who forced him to submit to the Sharpshooter. The next week on Raw, he faced Storm in a re-match. Stone Cold Steve Austin came out interrupted, chanting the word "Boring", and Storm became distracted, allowing Cade to sneak in and get the victory. Soon afterwards, Cade again found a tag-team partner in Mark Jindrak and began to challenge for the World Tag Team Championship. The belts were being held by former Cade ally René Duprée and his new partner Sylvain Grenier, a unit collectively known as La Résistance.
Over the next few months, Cade and Jindrak fought against many different teams, from La Resistance and the face gimmicks of the Dudley Boyz to battles against the top heels on Raw, Evolution. The duo also formed a semi-partnership with then babyface, Maven, helping each other out on occasion. Cade and Jindrak soon began to be known more for their cheating ways, however, rather than their abilities. This led them to turn heel and be entered into the Tag-Team Turmoil Match at Armageddon for the World Tag Team Championship. They came in from the crowd when their turn hit and quickly rolled up The Hurricane to eliminate him and Rosey. Cade and Jindrak next faced a face gimmick of Lance Storm and Val Venis, and Cade tripped up Venis from the outside on a suplex attempt, then held onto Venis' legs while Jindrak made the pinfall. The next team to come down were the Dudley Boyz, who eventually took out Jindrak with the 3-D to eliminate the boys. The duo got some revenge, though, attacking the Dudley Boyz after the match before leaving, making it harder for the Dudley Boyz to come out victorious (which they did not, losing at the end to then heels, Ric Flair and Batista).
Going into 2004, Cade and Jindrak continued to work together as a team, firmly entrenched in the mid-card ranks. The team got a win in March 2004, when they defeated The Hurricane and Rosey to earn a shot at the World Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania XX. Cade and Jindrak entered a four-way tag match against the champions, then babyface, Booker T and Rob Van Dam, and the other two competing teams, La Résistance and the Dudley Boyz. Cade and Jindrak lost the match, though, after Rob Van Dam pinned Rob Conway. After Jindrak was drafted to the SmackDown! brand, Cade briefly associated himself with Jonathan Coachman, helping Coachman get a win over Tajiri at Backlash. Cade later teamed up with Coachman at Vengeance to take on the debuting team of Rhyno and Tajiri. Cade and Coachman lost the match, and Cade was taken off WWE television after an injury in July 2004.
While off WWE television for quite some time, Cade returned to OVW in 2005 under his former ring name Lance Cade in order begin a return to the main roster. Cade sided with The Blueprint Matt Morgan and Vengeance against the OVW Heavyweight Champion Elijah Burke. In February 2005, Cade took on Burke in a $5,000 Bounty Match, but was defeated. Cade faded into the background for the next few weeks, eventually making his return to the ring at the June 3 OVW Summer Sizzler Series 2005 show, taking on Al Snow. While Cade brought his cowboy hat with him, Snow brought Head, routinely turning to the mannequin head for guidance. During the match, when Cade was knocked to the outside, Snow destroyed Cade's hat, stomping on it. This made the match more personal to Cade, but in the end, Snow knocked out Cade with Head, getting the victory. Later that night, Cade interfered in the Brent Albright/Elijah Burke OVW Heavyweight Title match, with Cade attacking the champion, Albright. The two foes had a No Disqualification, Loser Must Tap Out Match at the OVW Summer Sizzler Series 2005 show on June 17, 2005. Cade tried to pin Albright early in the match. The ref did not allow it, causing a shoving match between the two. Later in the match, Albright got his Crowbar submission on Cade, but Cade escaped, then appeared to be leaving, with Albright chasing him down. Albright got the Crowbar applied on Cade again, right on the ramp. With nowhere to go, Cade was forced to tap, losing to Albright.
Teaming with Trevor Murdoch (2005–2008)
On August 22, 2005, a promo was shown on Raw showcasing a long-haired Cade, who was soon to be returning with tag team partner Trevor Murdoch. The promo showed Cade and Murdoch portraying rednecks, with Cade (who retained his real first name) playing the role of a smooth-talking cowboy while Murdoch was depicted as an angry Southern trucker.
Cade and Murdoch debuted as a team on Raw on September 5, 2005. They defeated the World Tag Team Champions, the Hurricane and Rosey in a non-title match. This earned them a World Tag Team title shot at Unforgiven. During the title match, Murdoch delivered an elevated DDT on The Hurricane to the outside. The DDT caused Hurricane to suffer a kayfabe stinger. It also allowed Cade and Murdoch to defeat Hurricane and Rosey for the World Tag Team championships. They defended against random teams on Raw for the next month before losing the titles to Big Show and Kane at Taboo Tuesday. After losing in a rematch on the November 7 episode of Raw, Cade and Murdoch began to be squashed by other tag teams, before wrestling singles matches.
On the November 28 episode of Raw, it was announced that Cade and Murdoch had parted ways as a tag team. The next week, Cade debuted with the gimmick of a "Refined Southern Gentleman," wearing new tights with rhinestones on them as well as his new jacket he wore to the ring. Cade was relegated to Heat, making very few appearances on Raw at the end of 2005. He had a chance to get into the 2006 Royal Rumble, competing with Rob Conway and Gregory Helms against the Big Show in a Second Chance Battle Royal. However, The Big Show won the spot in the Rumble.
Eventually, the Cade and Murdoch tandem reformed as they were seen helping Chris Masters and Carlito attack Kane. On the edition of April 14 of Heat, it was announced that Cade and Murdoch were reuniting as a tag team after Murdoch helped Cade defeat Goldust. Cade also debuted another slight change with wet hair and shorter tights with a design similar to when he was teaming with Murdoch. On the edition of May 19 of Heat Cade and Murdoch officially reformed their tag team by facing and defeating Charlie Haas and Viscera.
Cade and Murdoch next entered a short-lived feud against D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels). It started when Cade and Murdoch ambushed Shawn Michaels and Triple H, before Triple H's match with Vince McMahon on the September 11 episode of Raw. Cade and Murdoch continued to battle DX, until they were defeated in a street fight, ending the feud on the October 9 episode of Raw.