Raphael Rhodes

Since he was last in the AWA, Raph has packed on lean muscle due to a change in his weightlifting programs. While he's still under 220 pounds, he has great muscle definition in his arms and shoulders. He's also stopped tinkering with his hair (either dyeing it or shaving it into strange designs), sporting brown hair just long enough to be considered shaggy, but not long enough to get into his eyes, and he also sports a neatly trimmed beard. His in-ring attire usually consists of either simple blue or red leg-length tights with a white stripe down each leg, white kneepads, and white boots. When he's out of the ring he usually has on a hooded sweatshirt, with the hood pulled up so he can ignore people. When his hood is down, he is signaling that he is willing to talk.

Raphael Rhodes is a fourth-generation wrestler, as his great grandfather, both grandfathers, as well as both his mother and his father were wrestlers. In addition, his uncle, his brother, and his sister are wrestlers, and he has several cousins who wrestle. In addition, his great-aunt wrestled in Japan and married into the Ishikawa family, and is the grandmother to Japanese women wrestlers Misaki and Naomi Ishikawa.

Raph did not enter pro wrestling immediately, though, taking up mixed martial arts at the age of 19 and fighting as both a welterweight and a middleweight. He fought in MMA from 2002 to 2007, racking up a 15-7 record, but was never considered a serious title contender. Raph also spent time in between fights taking up occasional pro wrestling matches, usually due to medical suspension from MMA but needing to make money. It was after leaving MMA that he finally gave pro wrestling a full-time go, landing in the AWA in 2008.

He had what many considered to be a landmark feud against Juan Vasquez in the infancy of the AWA, and wrestled in the first-ever steel cage match in AWA history. Many pegged Raph to be a future star, but he was unfocused. This lack of focus was quickly pounced on by Stevie Scott, who recruited him to the Southern Syndicate as a means of eliminating contention for the National title, essentially demoting Raph to a bodyguard. Raph used his role in the Southern Syndicate to try and look out for his brother Simon, who at the time had just left rehab to deal with his alcohol problem. After the Rhodes brothers had a feud with the Keenings, Raph ended up being the surprising winner of the 2010 Rumble, a win that got him booted from the Southern Syndicate and Simon injured via a spike piledriver on concrete.

Raph took Simon's injury hard, as he always had trouble with his family growing up. He had practically no relationship with his father, who was always away wrestling, and essentially being forced to become the protector of his older brother due to Simon's alcoholism (which returned after Simon's injury), caused Raph to spiral himself. Raph drifted aimlessly around the card, never getting true revenge on the Southern Syndicate (short of injuring Adrian Freeman), and ended up leaving the AWA in early 2012, opting to be closer to home by returning to England. He only wrestled when he would tour Japan via Jun Yamamoto's Rising Pro promotion, aside from a one-time reappearance in the AWA in 2015, and occasional appearances in European promotions, where he had a run-in with Logan Blackburn. Raph refuses to talk about his time in Europe, finding it frustrating.

It was during one of those Rising Pro tours in 2013 that Raph met powerlifter and trainer Dana Kaiser, who was in Japan training lifters for a competition. The two became fast friends, and friendship eventually led to a relationship, albeit long distance. It was after the passing of Raph's uncle Jeremy Rhodes that Raph's family started to fall apart, and he decided that he wanted to start a new family. He proposed to Dana, and the two were married at the end of 2014. Raph ended up moving to Dana's hometown of Minneapolis, figuring there was nothing left in England for him. He still keeps touch with several members of his family (mostly his sister, his cousins Maggie and Connie, as well as the Ishikawas), but has opted not to keep touch with his parents or his brother. He was emotionally devastated by the loss of his uncle Jeremy, and it remains a berserk button whenever people bring him up in a negative light. It was rumored that there was abuse in Raph's life but he never talks about it, at least not publicly.

In the years that followed, with Dana's guidance, Raph changed his training style from a very primitive style taught to him by his trainers in Wigan to a much more advanced style, including changing his weightlifting style, which resulted in him packing on nearly 20 pounds of muscle. Raph had also been seeing a therapist to go over his family issues, and one thing he felt was left unsettled was that he never got to finish things the way he wanted to in the AWA. Now, with a new training style and his wife to help keep him on track, he feels he's in a much better position to reclaim the glory everyone thought was due to him.

German suplexNOTE: Raph's moveset is flexible, and his grappling and striking skills are quite capable. Consider the list above to be nothing more than reliable favorites, but he's willing to branch out to whatever he sees as the best possible opening in a match.

Dana Kaiser. Dana is Raph's 32-year-old wife, a powerlifter, personal trainer, and nutritionist from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Dana also serves as Raph's business manager, and Raph has asked Dana to do most (or all) of his talking for him. Dana also tends to be Raph's voice of reason, and Raph will occasionally look to her if he's losing control of his emotions and needs to recenter himself. Dana calms Raph down simply with her presence, enough so he can refocus himself. Dana is 5'7", approximately 160 pounds (she says she only steps on the scale when she's training for her own powerlifting meets, so she has no idea what she weighs anymore), has shoulder-length blonde hair (dyed; natural color is brown) and green eyes, and has great muscle definition. She might have better arms than some of the guys but she tries not to overshadow anyone (except for that one time she posted a flexed bicep story on Instagram and it made the rounds on the news sites for some reason, with the headline of "who knew Dana Kaiser's arms were so big?"). She definitely practices what she preaches in terms of her strength and nutrition coaching. SHE IS NOT A WRESTLER. Dana rarely, if ever, gets involved in Raph's matches outside of vocal encouragement and strategy reminders, and is simply there for motivation and support. Think of her as the powerlifting Miss Elizabeth to Raph's British grappling Randy Savage, except she does most of the talking.

Grappling talent. Raph's grappling skill has always been strong, and his decision to refocus his in-ring strategy based on that skill makes him all the more dangerous. The Raph of 2009 would try to strike it out just to say he could. The Raph of today will only strike if he feels it's advantageous, otherwise he'll take you to the mat and grind you to a pulp.
- Physical health. Dana's training and nutrition program has made Raph physically stronger, as well as more aware of how to train to avoid injury instead of the singularly focused training he used before. As a result, Raph is healthier overall, and less prone to injury. He also has a significant amount of both gripping and lifting strength, making his submissions all the more fearsome.
- Emotionally centered. Raph has been trying to deal with the emotional problems of his past, and while he hasn't exactly mellowed, he seems to be in a better position to deal with those emotions. Having Dana do his talking for him in interviews also keeps him from running his mouth off and getting himself in trouble. Also, even just looking at Dana can calm him down when Raph is stressed. Raph has abandonment issues, and even just knowing that Dana is still physically present can be enough to relax him a little.

Size. Raph's added strength has been a major boost, but he's still only 5'9", which means he's going to be at a significant disadvantage against most competition.
- Anger management issues. While he's in a better headspace and his temper is not so much hair trigger as it was before, Raph is still quick to anger and can be thrown off his gameplan if an opponent finds a way to make him upset. If Raph starts getting mouthy in the ring, it's a sign he's not happy and he's about to lose control. It will get even worse if he's in a high-pressure situation and he's not able to find some time to calm himself down, either by taking out his aggression on his opponent or by consulting with Dana. An out of control Raph makes very dumb mistakes, and can take a long time to calm down.
- Loner. Raph doesn't make friends easily, and his lack of willingness to socialize with anyone outside of Dana means that he doesn't fare well in situations where he could really use an ally, like tag matches or battle royals.

Zack Sabre Jr., with shades of Fit Finlay and Dave Taylor

a emotionally mending salty grappler who doesn't really trust anyone aside from his wife, and doesn't much care about who he fights and if he's cheered or booed as long as he gets paid well