The Harris Brothers

Donald "Don" Harris and Ronald "Ron" Harris (born October 23, 1960) are American twin brothers who achieved fame as professional wrestlers.^[1] Throughout their careers, the brothers teamed together under a variety of ring names. Ironically, for most their career, Ron was known as Don and Don was known as Ron, due to copyright issues emerging from their early career.

Both Harris Brothers have retired from wrestling and currently have a Nashville-based management company called O-Seven Artist Management.^[7] The brothers still reside in Nashville, Tennessee with their families.^[8]

Early life

Don and Ron Harris were born in Florida. In the 1980s, Ron and Don relocated to Nashville, Tennessee in order to become professional wrestlers. Ron Harris worked as a police officer in West Palm Beach, Florida prior to moving to Tennessee with his brother.^[4][9]

Professional wrestling career

Don and Ron Harris, with support from the country music group Sawyer Brown, debuted in the Continental Wrestling Association in December 1987 as The Bruise Brothers, where they became two-time World Tag Team Champions. When the CWA became the United States Wrestling Association in 1989, the Bruise Brothers remained in the promotion. Don and Ron won five more Tag Team Championships, with Don winning two additional USWA World Tag Team Championships with Brian Lee and Ron winning an additional USWA World Tag Team Championship with Jimmy Harris (no relation) as "Beauty and The Beast". The Harris Brothers made a final appearance with the USWA in 1996 as "The Grimm Brothers". In 1991, the Bruise Brothers debuted in the Oregon-based National Wrestling Alliance Pacific Northwest promotion, where they became six-time Tag Team Champions. Don Harris was also part of the last match in that promotion's television show, defeating Jon Rambo. On January 27, 1992 the Harris Twins received a tryout match with the WWF at a Wrestling Challenge taping in Lubbock, TX defeating Khris Germany & Todd Overbow. They defeated the duo the following night in Amarillo, TX.^[10] In 1993, the Harris Brothers joined Smoky Mountain Wrestling as the Bruise Brothers, managed by Jim Cornette. On June 28, Cornette led them to a victory over the Rock 'n' Roll Express, Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson, for the SMW Tag Team Championships. The Bruise Brothers remained in SMW until early 1994, participating in hardcore matches such as Street Fights and steel cage matches.^[11][12]

The Bruise Brothers appeared in ECW in 1994. On February 5, the ECW Tag Team Championships were held-up after a controversial ending to a match between the Bruise Brothers and the incumbents, Kevin Sullivan and The Tazmaniac. The Bruise Brothers went on to participate in some of the first ECW hardcore matches, and feuded with Shane Douglas.^[11][12] The Harris Brothers were signed by the World Wrestling Federation in 1995, where they were renamed "The Blu Brothers". They retained their trademark bushy beards and long hair and were managed by Uncle Zebekiah. They made their WWF debuts at the 1995 Royal Rumble and were defeated by Lex Luger and The British Bulldog in the opening match of WrestleMania XI. They eventually left the WWF and returned to ECW in 1996 as the Bruise Brothers, competing once more in the tag division, and briefly joining Raven's Nest.^[11][12]

Don and Ron Harris returned to the WWF in 1996, as the short-lived "Grimm Twins," and in June 1997, when they returned to the WWF as "8-Ball" (Ron) and "Skull" (Don), joining the Disciples of Apocalypse stable with Crush and their cousin, Chainz. The DOA participated in the "gang wars" of 1997, feuding with the African American Nation of Domination and the Puerto Rican stable Los Boricuas. They went on to compete in the tag division throughout 1998. Ron Harris also competed in the WWE's Brawl For All tournament on July 20, 1998, but lost to 2 Cold Scorpio in the third round.^[11] They continued wrestling in the company until the summer of 1999, in which they then left. In 1999, the Harris Brothers returned to World Championship Wrestling as "Gerald" (Ron) and "Patrick" (Don). The names were shots at Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco who worked for WWF as Vince McMahon's stooges. They were known collectively as "Creative Control". They went on to join the nWo 2000 in 2000 using their real names, acting as enforcers for Jeff Jarrett. They remained in WCW throughout 2000, feuding with Sid Vicious, Terry Funk and many of the younger tag teams, such as The Mamalukes. After winning the WCW World Tag Team Championship three times, the Harris Brothers began wrestling in singles matches in 2001, but WCW was purchased by the WWF in March 2001, and they were not hired.^[11][12]

In November and December 2001, Don and Ron Harris took part in the All Japan Pro Wrestling World's Strongest Tag Determination League 2001, an eight-team tag tournament. They defeated The Varsity Club (Mike Rotunda and Steve Williams) before losing to Mitsuya Nagai and Toshiaki Kawada in the tournament semi-finals. In June 2002 the Harris Brothers were hired by the upstart Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion. They joined Vince Russo's Sports Entertainment Xtreme faction in December 2002, and remained with the stable until it disbanded in mid-2003. During their time in TNA, the Harris brothers gained infamy for wearing SS shirts on national television.^[13][14] On July 19, 2003, Ron Harris appeared in Harley Race's World League Wrestling promotion, and, in a match refereed by Ricky Steamboat, won the WLW Heavyweight Championship by defeating Ron Powers (he was substituting for Trevor Rhodes, who had been injured earlier that evening). He lost the title on September 12, 2003 to Takeshi Morishima in a Tokyo title defence in the Nippon Budokan promoted by the Pro Wrestling Noah promotion.^[15] In late 2003, Ron Harris began working for wrestler and burgeoning rap artist Randy Savage as a tour manager.^[16] The Harris Brothers were reunited in November 2004 when Savage debuted in TNA and, following a backstage altercation with his rival Hulk Hogan, requested that he be accompanied by two bodyguards at all times. The job was given to Ron Harris and Savage's tour bodyguard, Brian Adams.^[17] Savage left the promotion in December 2004, but the Harris Brothers were retained to act as road agents. In February 2005, the Harris Brothers reappeared onscreen as "The Disciples of Destruction", two bikers a nod to WWE days as the DOA. They were managed by Traci Brooks and engaged in a short feud with Trinity's team Phi Delta Slam in which they were victorious.

Retirement and life after wrestling

Don Harris effectively retired from the ring in 2003, and began working backstage with TNA as production manager.^[18][19] In the same year, Ron Harris retired from professional wrestling and began working for the Christian music label Beach Street Records.^[4] In 2007 Ron, Don and Frank Miller formed the Nashville-based management company O-Seven Artist Management.

Also, they work in Aroluxe, a marketing and production company. In 2016, TNA hired the services of Aroluxe.^[20] In April 2016, it was reported that Aroluxe was in negotiations with TNA over purchasing interest in the company.^[21]

In wrestling

• Finishing moves^[4]
  • Double chokeslam
  • H-Bomb^[1] (Double belly to back side slam)^[22]
• Signature moves
  • Double big boot^[22]
  • Double DDT^[1][22]
• Managers
  • Traci Brooks
  • Jim Cornette
  • Downtown Bruno
  • Paul Ellering
  • Eddie Gilbert
  • April Hunter
  • Mortimer Plumtree
  • Raven
  • Mike Samples
  • Shane
  • Ron Slinker
  • Uncle Zebekiah
• Nicknames
  • "Big Ron"
  • "Heavy D"
• Entrance Themes
  • "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin (SMW)
  • "Get A Haircut" by George Thorogood and The Destroyers (SMW)
  • "War Pigs" by Faith No More (ECW)
  • "Loose" (Instrumental) by Primer 55 (WCW) (as Creative Control)
  • "Rockhouse" by Frank Shelley^[23] (WCW; used while a part of the New World Order)

Championships and accomplishments

• Championship Wrestling International Alliance
  • CWIA International Tag Team Championship (1 time)^[24]
• Continental Wrestling Association
  • CWA Tag Team Championship (2 times)^[25]
• Pacific Northwest Wrestling
  • NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship (6 times) ^[26]
• Smoky Mountain Wrestling
  • SMW Tag Team Championship (1 time)^[27]
• United States Wrestling Association
  • USWA World Tag Team Championship (5 times)^[28]
• World Championship Wrestling
  • WCW World Tag Team Championship (3 times)^[29]
• Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
  • Worst Feud of the Year (1997) – vs. Los Boricuas

Don Harris

• Pacific Northwest Wrestling
  • NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with The Grappler^[30]
• United States Wrestling Association
  • USWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Brian Lee^[28]

Ron Harris

• Pacific Northwest Wrestling
  • NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
• United States Wrestling Association
  • USWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Jimmy Harris^[28]
• World League Wrestling
  • WLW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[15]

References

External links

• Don Harris at the Internet Movie Database
• Ron Harris at the Internet Movie Database