Scott Norton

At 62 years old, Scott Norton has this physical status:

Scott Norton (born June 15, 1961) is an American semi-retired professional wrestler.

He is best known for his stints in World Championship Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

Early life

Norton came out as a professional arm wrestler. He won over 30 championships during his time as an arm wrestler, including four national championships, and earned the nickname "Flash" after his quickness in winning matches. His fame in arm wrestling earned him a role in Sylvester Stallone's Arm wrestling film, Over the Top. Norton was approached by New Japan Pro-Wrestling about becoming a pro wrestler while on tour in Japan, but he turned it down initially. Norton served as a bodyguard for Prince during the artist's 1999 and Purple Rain Tours, in addition to his professional arm wrestling career.

Personal life

Norton is married to his wife Tammy. On May 25, 2019, Scott Norton: Strong Style, with support from Adam Randis, a long-time Norton fan, was released.

Norton, a growing boy in Minnesota, became friends with a number of new professional wrestlers, including Road Warrior Hawk, Curt Hennig, Rick Rude, John Nord, and Wayne Bloom.

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Professional wrestling career

Norton was first introduced to wrestle by former Olympic wrestler Brad Rheingans after finally deciding to go pro wrestling. Despite Norton's inexperience, Verne Gagne decided to debut him before he was fully recovered with his training, putting him on television as a regular performer for the American Wrestling Association in 1989. He has occasionally competed with John Nord as the Yukon Lumberjacks. Larry Zbyszko, then World Champions, defeated Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and Larry Zbyszko in a live arm wrestling match. If anyone beat him, he'd pay them $1,000 (kayfabe) $1,000,000. Nothing came of the challenge. Norton left the AWA in 1989 and moved to the Pacific Northwest territory to further his career. Norton wrestled in PNW as a face with a lumberjack gimmick and the name "Flapjack." He reformed his tag team with John Nord for a brief period of time, bringing back their lumberjack gimmick from the AWA. Norton became a singles champion in 1990. He dominated the Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship from Brian Adams on May 12, 1990, but was booted out two weeks later after assaulting multiple wrestlers.

Norton signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling in 1990. Norton alternated between tag team and mid-card singles matches on the promotion's debut. Norton appeared at both joint NJPW/World Championship Wrestling Starrcade in Egg Dome, bringing him close to WCW executives.

The Steiner Brothers would tour Japan on a regular basis, often wrestling against Scott Norton alongside a number of rivals. In an IWGP Tag Team Championship match on November 5, 1991, Norton acted as a substitute for the injured Scott Steiner. On the night, Norton and Rick Steiner were dissatisfied with the tag-team titles to Hiroshi Hase and Keiji Mutoh. Norton won the Tag Team Championship properly when he and Tony Halme defeated the Steiner Brothers for the gold on November 22, 1992, about a year after losing the championship he never really held. The powerhouse squad only remained in contention for a little over three weeks before losing them to the Hell Raisers (Road Warrior Hawk and Power Warrior).

Norton began working with Hercules Hernandez in March 1993 after splitting up with Halme. Hercules was a fellow powerhouse wrestler, and the two teams formed The Jurassic Powerhouse, a team that defeated the IWGP Tag Team Championship from the Hell Raisers. The Powers dominated the game for about four months before losing them to the Hell Raisers at NJPW's January 4 Dome Show. The Jurassic Powers successfully defended teams including Keiji Mutoh and Hiroshi Hase, The Nasty Boys, Takayuki Iizuka and Akira Nogami, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, and The Barbarian and Haku in non-title competition, despite being in non-title competition. The team also advanced to the finals of the 1993 Super Grade Tag League, where they lost to Keiji Mutoh and Hiroshi Hase.

Norton failed to gain much renown in the singles or in the tag team division, where he worked with a variety of vendors, including Mike Enos, Ron Simmons, Masahiro Chono, Osamu Kido, and Road Warrior Hawk, after breaking up with Hernandez.

In 1993, Norton returned to the United States and signed with World Championship Wrestling. The promoters first tried to make Norton the fans as a villain by feuding with Sting, but Norton left early in 1993 and was replaced by The Prisoner.

On October 9, 1994, Norton appeared on a WWF house show in Sunrise, Florida. Thurman "Sparky" Plugg defeated him.

After Norton inadvertently helped Randy Savage defeat Norton on the September 11 edition of WCW Monday Nitro, Norton returned to WCW in September 1995, where he briefly feuded with Shark.

Norton squared off against Ice Train on a Saturday Night taping at WCW. When both men clotheslined the other, the fight came to a close, knocking each out. The two shook hands and Norton told announcer Gene Okerlund that they would make a good tag team due to their similar wrestling styles. Fire and Ice were quickly established on the team. Big Bubba Rogers and Stevie Ray's makeshift team was quickly defeated at Slamboree, Norton, and Ice Train. Both the squads advanced to the "Lord of The Ring" war, but neither of them prevailed, but neither of them triumphed.

The Steiner Brothers, Norton's long-time rivals, met at The Great American Bash, Fire and Ice. As the two teams tried to figure out who had the best powerhouse crew, the two teams were participating in a mini-feud of sorts. The Steiner Brothers were victorious on that night, but Fire and Ice were not deterred. After a pre-PPV loss to The Rock 'n' Roll Express at Bash at the Beach, dissatisfaction erupted between the two teams, which turned into combat as Norton attacked Ice Train after another team loss. Norton beat Ice Train at Hog Wild in a submission match, but then lost to Ice Train in a rematch a month later.

Norton divided his time between WCW and NJPW, with more success in NJPW than in WCW, particularly in the tag team division. After beating Keiji Mutoh and Rick Steiner in the finals, Norton and Shinya Hashimoto teamed up and won the Super Grade Tag League in 1996.

Norton joined the New World Order (nWo), giving his WCW career a fresh start after the breakup of Fire and Ice. Norton, along with Buff Bagwell as Vicious and Delicious, was teamed as Vicious and Delicious in the nWo. They sparred with the Steiner Brothers, but they were never able to win the World Tag Team Championships.

Norton travelled back and forth to NJPW, where he was a member of nWo Japan, and became NJPW's gaijin ace, while still being one of the few wrestlers to be a regular member of both sides of both teams during his nWo days. He defeated Yuji Nagata in the vacant IWGP Heavyweight Championship on September 23, 1998. Norton's championship victory was only acknowledged on a television show in America, although the WCW version of the nWo never changed from this fact, owing in large part to the nWo's nWo's leader, Hollywood Hogan, who was the WCW World Heavyweight Champion. Norton held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for four months before losing the title to Keiji Mutoh. Norton is one of nine internationalers to win the IWGP Championship, with others being Big Van Vader, Salman Hashimikov, Bob Sapp, Kurt Angle (IGF version, not NJPW-recognized version), Brock Lesnar, Kenny Omega, and Jay White.

Norton soon found himself in WCW as part of the nWo "B-Team," which often placed him in mid-lower card tournaments, although he would continue to squash jobbers more often in singles competition. Despite being regarded as a main eventer and a constant threat to world champions, Norton was seen as a key eventer and a constant threat to world champions in NJPW. After losing a match against Goldberg on September 30 on Thunder's September 30 episode, he began focusing on NJPW, where he was a member of Masahiro Chono's Team 2000.

Norton defeated Kensuke Sasaki in Nagoya, Japan, for the second time on March 17, 2001. His second term was shorter than his first, and he lost to Kazuyuki Fujita in his first defense. After the defeat, Norton joined WCW alumnus Rick Steiner when Steiner visited Japan, but otherwise, he was solidly in the mid-card, as a test any hopeful world championship candidate would have to pass. Norton returned later this year and rejoined Steiner for a short time. After the 2006 New Japan Cup, he left NJPW after 16 years as a freelancer in the process.

Norton launched Wild West Championship Wrestling, a young, active wrestling troupe based in the southwest of the United States, where he served as both a booker and wrestler until its closing later this year.

Norton took a nearly five-year absence from wrestling before returning to Don Frye and Yoshihiro Takayama in the first part of the Pro Wrestling Expo on October 24, 2008. Norton, Frye, and Dick Togo were defeated by Chono, Eric Young, and Kohei Sato on the next day. Norton has been inactive from wrestling since then.

Norton revealed in an interview with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in August 2010. Norton lived in Brentwood, Tennessee, which is just minutes away from TNA's headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee, and said that wrestling is "something I love doing." You should miss it. I can also do well at a high level. I'm still a big, strong guy. I would like to give it another shot. I'll fold up my tent and call it a day if I can get a couple years out of it."

Norton defeated Masanobu Fuchi and Taiyo Kea in a tag team match on the first day of All Japan Pro Wrestling's 40th Anniversary Tour on October 7, 2012.

Norton returned to NJPW on January 4, 2017, Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome, taking part in the New Japan Rumble, from which Michael Elgin had withdrawn him. Norton teammates Hiro Saito, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, and Satoshi Kojima formed a ten-man tag team the following day, where they defeated Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Bone Soldier, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa).

Norton lost in a losing effort against NYWC Heavyweight Champion Bull James at April Reign in a losing match.

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