Chris Raaber (born September 6, 1981) is an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

, better known by his

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projecting ...

Bambikiller (occasionally spelled Bambi Killer). He runs his own promotion European Wrestling Association. Raaber is a former one time (Zero1) World Heavyweight Champion, one-time wXw Heavyweight Champion and four-time EWA World Heavyweight Champion.

Professional wrestling career

Europe

In 1997, Chris Raaber met with Michael Kovac who was wrestling in Europe; by then Raaber accepted Kovac's offer to teach him to wrestle. At the age of 16, Raaber made his debut in Independent Wrestling World wrestling in

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German States of Germany, state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germa ...

Niedersachsen Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

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, against Gary Mountain as he lost by disqualification. Less than a year into his career, Raaber won the WFU Rookie Trophy by defeating German Kid in the finals of the tournament. During his early years, Raaber wrestled for several German promotions including German Wrestling Association, German Wrestling Federation and NWA Germany. After a short stint in North America, Raaber returned to Germany, making his debut for Westside Xtreme Wrestling in May 2001. After winning a number one contenders tournament, Raaber faced Mad Cow for the vacant

wXw World Heavyweight Championship The wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship, contested in the German professional wrestling promotion, Westside Xtreme Wrestling. The championship was established in 2001 as the wXw Worl ...

, which he lost. However, on February 3, 2002, he won another number one contenders tournament and defeated Thomas Blade for the wXw World Heavyweight Championship. He later vacated the title in July 2002. During his time as champion, he won the ACW International Championship from Aykut in May and in June he made his

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

debut where he won the EWA World Heavyweight Championship. Raaber lost his ACW International Championship back to Aykut in September only to win it back in December, he lost the title to Mr. Natural Wonder in March 2003. As the EWA World Heavyweight Champion, Raaber wrestled throughout western Europe, making his debut in France. On December 14, 2004, Raaber lost the championship to Cannonball Grizzly but regained it on April 3, 2005. On April 2, 2006, Raaber won the ICW Italian Championship in a fatal four way but would lose it a month later to Kaio. In December, he would lose to

Joe E. Legend Joseph Edward Hitchen (born September 2, 1969) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler and trainer, known under his ring name Joe E. Legend. He also wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 2000 to 2001 under the ring name Just J ...

in the semi final of the EPW Iron Man Tournament and the next day would defeat him by DQ in a match for the EPW Heavyweight Championship. In August 2007, Raaber made his debut in Finland and took on Finland's top star, Starbuck and would retain his World Championship. In September, Raaber would win the Königsschlacht Battle Royal at the European Wrestling Association. On April 5, 2008, Raaber made it to the final of the King Of Kutenholz Tournament before losing to Karsten Kretschmer. In the spring of 2009, Raaber had to vacate the EWA World Heavyweight Championship when he signed a development contract with

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

. Raaber returned to Europe in early 2010 and made a sudden impact the EWA Iron Man Cup 2010 on April 24. In November he would tour with American Wrestling Rampage. On April 9, 2011, Raaber won his fourth EWA World Heavyweight Championship when he defeated Tiny Iron for the vacant title. In October 2012, Raaber won the Catch Wrestling World Grand Prix by last defeating

Nelson Frazier, Jr. Nelson Frazier Jr. (February 14, 1971 – February 18, 2014) was an American professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment (WWF/WWE) in the 1990s and 2000s under the ring ...

America

As he was wrestling throughout Europe and he met with Ian Rotten during one of their shows in Germany then started training the American style of wrestling, Raaber was sent on a learning excursion to the United States where he enter the

Funking Conservatory The Funking Conservatory is a professional wrestling school owned by Dory Funk Jr. and established in 1991. It started as a six-day camp, but it later expanded to a three-week program. In 2001, it began running a professional wrestling promotion ...

a professional wrestling school in

Ocala, Florida Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County within the northern region of Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 63,591, making it the 54th most populated city in Florida. Home to ...

, run by

Dory Funk Jr. Dorrance Earnest Funk (born February 3, 1941), known professionally as Dory Funk Jr., is an American retired professional wrestler and wrestling trainer. The son of Dory Funk (Dorrance Wilhelm Funk) and brother of Terry Funk, he was the promoter ...

and became the FC International Champion. While in the US he appeared on

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nation ...

as part of R and B Security with

James Storm James Allen Cox (born June 1, 1977) is an American professional wrestler better known by the ring name James Storm. He is best known for his time in Impact Wrestling. He started his career in 1997 and after working on several independent pr ...

Cassidy O'Reilly Cassidy James Riley (born November 21, 1976), also known as Kassidy James, is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his work with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and WWE. Career Early years (1995–2002) O'Reilly became interest ...

and Chris Harris, although he didn't have any matches his memorable moment was being chokeslammed to a table by Scott Steiner on ''

Nitro Nitro may refer to: Chemistry *Nitrogen, a chemical element and a gas except at very low temperatures, with which many compounds are formed: **Nitro compound, an organic compound containing one or more nitro functional groups, -NO2 **Nitroalkene, ...

''. In 2007, Raaber participated in the Campeonato Internacional De Lucha Libre X-Trema CWS 2007 for Colombian Wrestling Superstars and made it to the final before losing a battle royal to Lloyd Anoaʻi. In spring 2009 it was revealed that Raaber had signed a developmental contract with

and was sent to

Florida Championship Wrestling Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) was a professional wrestling promotion based on the former National Wrestling Alliance member promotion, Championship Wrestling from Florida, which operated from 1961 until 1987. From October 2007 to August ...

. He made his debut on May 28, losing to Eric Escobar. Raaber changed his in-ring name to Christoph Herzog and made several FCW TV appearances before being released in late 2009.

Japan

Throughout Raaber's career, he has toured Japan on several occasions under the name Bambikiller for the most part. Raaber debuted for Pro Wrestling Zero1 in summer 2005 when he participated in the

Fire Festival is an annual professional wrestling round-robin tournament held by Pro Wrestling Zero1 to determine the top wrestler in the promotion, typically contested in late July/early August. Within the English-speaking professional wrestling world, th ...

and gained four points, not enough for advancement. In 2006, Raaber became a representative member for an interpromotional company called Global Professional Wrestling Alliance which is run by the founder Mitsuharu Misawa and joined along with other wrestling organizations. On October 27, 2006, he lost the EWA World Heavyweight Championship to

Takao Omori is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he is a one-time Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion and seven-time World Tag Team Champion. He is also part of the All Japan Board of Directors. He ...

but would regain it on November 11. In October 2008, he participated in the Continent Confrontation Tournament. On July 11, 2010, Raaber defeated Kohei Sato to become the

World Heavyweight Champion At boxing's beginning, the heavyweight division had no weight limit, and historically the weight class has gone with vague or no definition. During the 19th century many heavyweights were 170 pounds (12 st 2 lb, 77 kg) or less, tho ...

and would lose the title on September 9, 2010, to Daisuke Sekimoto. In 2012, Raaber participated in that years

Real World Tag League __NOTOC__ The , more commonly known in the West as the Real World Tag League, is an annual professional wrestling tournament held by All Japan Pro Wrestling since 1977, usually, run on the first weeks of December. The first tournament was actually ...

, paired with Franz Dynamite and only managed to win one match. In November 2013, Bambi Killer came together with

D'Lo Brown Accie Julius Connor (born October 22, 1970), better known by his ring name D'Lo Brown (also formatted as D-Lo Brown), is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in Impact Wrestling and WWE. Brown is also known for his ...

and

Kenso is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is perhaps best known for his appearances with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and in the United States with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he was a one-time WWE Tag Team Champion in the lat ...

to form the DK (Dark Kingdom) stable. Bambikiller faced New Japan Pro Wrestling star Hiroshi Tanahashi at GL1 Gloucester Leisure Centre Oct 4th in England for Superstars Of Wrestling.

Championships and accomplishments

*Athletik Club Wrestling **ACW International Championship (2 times) *Bullhead City Wrestling **Bullhead City Wrestling Championship (1 time) *European Pro Wrestling **EPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time, current) *European Wrestling Association **Catch Wrestling World Grand Prix (2012) **Iron Man Cup (2010) **EWA World Heavyweight Championship (5 times, current) *Federation Francaise de Catch Professional **FFCP Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *

**FC International Championship (1 time) *Independent Wrestling World **WFU Rookie Championship Trophy *Italian Championship Wrestling **ICW Italian Championship (1 time) *Nigerian Pro-Wrestling Federation **BRF Intercontinental Championship (1 time) *Power Of Wrestling **POW Catch Weltcup (2014) **POW World Heavyweight Championship (2 times, current) *Power Wrestling Entertainment **PWE World Championship (1 time, inaugural) *Pro-Wrestling SUN **WDB Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Saki Maemura * Pro Wrestling Zero1 ** World Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) *Qatar Pro Wrestling **QPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *Wawan Wrestling Championship **WWC Heavyweight Championship (1 time, current) * Westside Xtreme Wrestling **wXw #1-Contender Tournament (2001, 2002) **

( 1 time)

References

External links

All Japan Pro Wrestling profile

Catch Wrestling DojoMyspace profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raaber, Chris 1981 births Living people 20th-century professional wrestlers 21st-century professional wrestlers Austrian male professional wrestlers Professional wrestling executives People from Leoben