Accie Julius Connor (born October 22, 1973), better known by his ring name D'Lo Brown (also formatted as D-Lo Brown), is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he works as a producer. He is best known for his time with WWE. Brown is also known for his appearances in Ring of Honor (ROH), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), Irish Whip Wrestling (IWW) and Pro Wrestling Noah.
Professional wrestling career
Smoky Mountain and early career (1994–1997)
Connor began his wrestling career in New Jersey as "Ace the Animal". He then wrestled Earthquake in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1994 under his given name as a jobber.
Connor debuted in Smoky Mountain Wrestling in September 1994 as "A.C. Conner". In October 1994, he was renamed "'Downtown' D'Lo Brown" and introduced as the head of security for the Gangstas (Mustapha Saed and New Jack). Brown was the worker of the stable, complementing Saed's size and Jack's animated personality. He regularly wrestled on Smoky Mountain Wrestling's television show, unsuccessfully challenged for the SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship on several occasions. At Sunday Bloody Sunday II in February 1995, the Gangstas lost to the Heavenly Bodies and Jim Cornette. At Bluegrass Brawl III in April 1995, the Gangstas lost to Tracy Smothers and The Undertaker in a handicap match. Brown wrestled his final match for Smoky Mountain Wrestling in October 1995.
After leaving Smoky Mountain Wrestling, Brown signed a deal with the WWF and was sent to the Heartland Wrestling Association for more training while also making appearances as a jobber on WWF television. Brown also spent most of 1996 wrestling in Puerto Rico for the World Wrestling Council.
World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment (1997–2003) Nation of Domination (1997–1998)
In April 1997, Brown was reintroduced to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as a member of Faarooq's heel Nation of Domination stable, debuting as one of several non-descript people in suits that accompanied the group to the ring. During this time, his most notable moment was when Ahmed Johnson slammed him onto the roof of a car during Shotgun Saturday Night. His first televised match as a member of the Nation was on the April 26, 1997, episode of Shotgun Saturday Night, as he, Crush, and Savio Vega defeated Aldo Montoya, Steve Corino, and Freddie Joe Floyd. On May 26, 1997, he had his first match on Raw is War, defeating Bob "Spark Plugg" Holly. After the King of the Ring 1997, Faarooq fired the rest of the Nation's members, except for D-Lo, who was later joined by Ahmed Johnson (later replaced by Rocky Maivia), Kama Mustafa, and Mark Henry.
In early 1998, the Nation of Domination turned on Faarooq, allowing Maivia, now going by the name "The Rock", to assume leadership. During this period Kama also changed his name to "The Godfather" and began portraying a pimp character. Brown and Henry eventually turned on both Rock and Godfather separately, moving into a feud with the Rock before finally branching out as a moderately successful tag team, later turning face along the way. Prior to the face turn, Brown had started wrestling with a chest protector, supposedly for a torn pectoral muscle sustained in a match against Dan "The Beast" Severn. Instead, he used the chest protector to his advantage, making his finishing move, the Lo Down, more effective.
Title pursuit (1998–2000)
In 1998, he feuded with X-Pac over the WWF European Championship. His career peaked when he held the European and Intercontinental Championships simultaneously during a feud with Jeff Jarrett and Mark Henry. This feat has only been duplicated by Jeff Jarrett, Kurt Angle, and Rob Van Dam, all of whom became world champions in some form, later in their careers.
Brown was involved in inadvertently ending the career of Droz on October 5, 1999, when a running powerbomb was botched due to Droz's baggy shirt. The match was filmed for the October 7 edition of SmackDown!, but was never aired. Droz suffered a severe neck injury, rendering him a quadriplegic. During an interview with Title Match Wrestling, Brown dispelled a popular rumor that a fan had thrown an object into the ring which caused him to slip and badly injure Darren Drozdov. Brown took responsibility for botching the move, stating that the accident could have happened to "any" wrestler he had been in the ring with that night. He also said the accident caused him to "wrestle differently" and to second guess every move he performed in the ring from that day forward. Drozdov maintained that he did not blame Brown for his injuries and believed the incident was an accident.
During the rest of the year and into some of the next, Brown became an ally of former fellow Nation member The Godfather, emulating his dress and walking motions. The teaming ended when Brown turned heel on the Godfather.
Lo Down (2000–2001) Brown then formed a tag team in July 2000 with Chaz named Lo Down. The team mostly wrestled on Sunday Night Heat and WWE Jakked / Metal. Shortly after the team formed, Tiger Ali Singh joined the team to become their manager. The tag team then came dressed towards the ring in Sikh attire and took on a gimmick very similar to Tiger's. The team was removed from WWF television in January 2001 after Singh was injured. According to Brown, it was the lowest point in his career. Brown also spent six months in Puerto Rico wrestling for the International Wrestling Association teaming with Chaz. He later teamed with Glamour Boy Shane holding the IWA tag team titles.
OVW and Heartland (2001–2002) Chaz and Singh were later released by WWF that year, Brown stayed in WWE's developmental territory, OVW. Notably, Brown wrestled future World champion Batista in a losing effort. He also worked for Heartland Wrestling Association going into 2002.
Alliance with Theodore Long (2002–2003)
Brown returned to television on the April 28, 2002, episode of Heat, losing to Eddie Guerrero. For the rest of the year, Brown mostly wrestled on Heat, did a little bit of commentary on the show, and even started a brief feud with Raven. In late 2002, Theodore Long retired as a WWE referee and managed D'Lo, who had complained about acts of racism during his matches. D'Lo started Long's group Thuggin' and Buggin' Enterprises which eventually turned into a group of African Americans who worked an angle in which they felt they were victims of racism and were being held down by the "white man". With Long's managerial services, D'Lo Brown went undefeated for several weeks.
Brown faced Booker T in a losing effort on the February 10, 2003, episode of Raw. His involvement with Thuggin' and Buggin' Enterprises was brought to a close when footage was shown on the February 16 episode (taped February 10) of Heat of Theodore Long kicking D'Lo Brown to the curb and introducing his replacement Rodney Mack. He was then released from his WWE contract on February 14, 2003.
NWA Total Nonstop Action (2003–2004) Connor, still under the D'Lo Brown name, Joined NWA Total Nonstop Action in March 2003. During his time in TNA, he teamed with AJ Styles on many occasions together even challenging for the NWA World Tag Team Championships but were unsuccessful. After the team split up Brown challenged Styles for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship but came up short on every occasion doing a best of 3 series.
On the March 19, 2003, edition of NWA-TNA, Brown teamed with Dusty Rhodes and Jeff Jarrett defeating Erik Watts, Brian Lawler and David Flair. On April 2, 2003, edition of NWA-TNA weekly pay-per view D'Lo Brown unsuccessfully challenged Jeff Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. On April 14, 2004, Brown and Gran Apolo won the NWA World Tag Team Championships defeating Kid Kash and Dallas, They lost the titles just seven days after winning them. D'Lo later left TNA in the summer of 2004.
On a September 2014 interview, Brown said there was a time in TNA during this time where the creative team wanted to radically change his character; on top of not feeling like he was a good fit with TNA, Brown felt that by wrestling in Japan, he could still wrestle there while being D'Lo Brown.
All Japan Pro Wrestling and overseas (2004–2009) Brown Joined All Japan Pro Wrestling, competing in regular tours with the Japanese company as a member of Roughly Obsess and Destroy (RO&D). During one of these tours on September 17, 2006, Brown betrayed RO&D to join the rival Voodoo Murders faction. Brown left All Japan in 2007 and rejoined RO&D in Pro Wrestling Noah.
When not in Japan, Brown was regularly found touring the United Kingdom, as well as working for Irish Whip Wrestling in Ireland. In April 2005, Brown became one of the lead trainers of the ill-fated Celebrity Wrestling on ITV. This Saturday evening reality show saw celebrities learn wrestling and compete in challenge matches. After a few weeks the programme was to be canceled, but was instead moved to Sunday mornings to finish its final episodes. During his time wrestling in England, he would face off in a series of matches against his Celebrity Wrestling opposition's trainer, Joe Legend.
Return to WWE (2008–2009) In 2008, Brown began wrestling in a number of dark matches for WWE. On June 5, WWE announced that Brown had been signed to a contract, and he began working more dark matches for the company. He made his television return on the July 21, 2008, edition of Raw, defeating Santino Marella. Following this, Brown's appearances on television became more sporadic, and on January 9, 2009, it was announced on WWE's website that he had been released from his WWE contract due to cost-cutting measures.
Independent circuit (2009–2010)
Brown debuted for Ring of Honor during Proving Ground 09 weekend in February. He was defeated by Nigel McGuinness in an ROH World Championship match. He also wrestled at the ROH 7th Anniversary Show on March 21, 2009, in Manhattan, defeating Jay Briscoe. Brown also appeared on Ring of Honor Wrestling on HDNet. Varsity Pro Wrestling also announced that Brown would be making his third appearance for the promotion on their February tour. Brown also made a surprise appearance in Chikara, where he filled in as a substitute for Iceberg of The Cold Front at the 2009 King of Trios tournament. Brown came up short in an ROH World Championship match at Take No Prisoners (2009). At ROH's Manhattan Mayhem III on June 13, Brown tapped out to Colt Cabana in a four-way match also involving Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli. On June 27 on an ROH show he was defeated by Cabana.
Throughout April and May 2009, Brown flew to Japan to take part in the 13-night Pro Wrestling Noah Global Tag League with his partner Buchanan. During the course of the event they won and lost three matches with one contest went to a draw giving them seven points placing them sixth of the eight teams. Outside of the tournament Brown was undefeated in six-man tag team competition, adding Keith Walker to the team, including a victory over Noah founder Mitsuharu Misawa in one of his last matches.
On the September 15, 2009, edition of Between The Ropes, Brown announced that after his current tour with Ring of Honor, he would retire from in-ring action. Also, on this edition of Between The Ropes, Brown announced he would become a semi-regular co-host when his TNA scheduling allowed him to be in studio.
He defeated Mr. Anderson on June 12, 2010, TCW event in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He did not wrestle again until 2013.
Return to TNA (2009–2013)
In September 2009, Connor was re-signed by TNA as their lead agent. Additionally, D'Lo was in charge of talent development and acquisitions heading up the TNA Gut Check program.