Rodney Kellman (born September 24, 1974), 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 ...

s Dru Onyx and Soa Amin, is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

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 ...

, stuntman and trainer of professional wrestlers. He wrestled the majority of his career in Canada for the

National Wrestling Alliance The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion and former professional wrestling governing body operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA ...

, and

Northern Championship Wrestling Northern Championship Wrestling (Les Promotions NCW Inc.) is an independent professional wrestling promotion based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. History Founded in 1986 by François Poirier and Phil Bélanger in Joliette, Quebec as the Amateur ...

Early life

Kellman was born in Saint Michael, Barbados, but when he was still young, his family moved to

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...

, Canada. Six years later, they relocated to Chomedey Laval where, as a teen, he played both

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. Kellman played football for the John Abbott Islanders and the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa ...

Gee Gees. He also played Semi Pro for the Montreal Condors, Plattsburg North Stars, and Lake City Stars. He then worked as a security for the Saudi Arabian Embassy Consulate Section in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Professional wrestling career

Kellman started his professional wrestling career in February 1999 as a graduate of the Northern Championship Wrestling’s school. He was trained under the guidance of Marc Pilon. He debuted six months later against Pilon for the NCW Quebec Heavyweight Championship. In the fall, wrestling was put on hold to go play university football for the Ottawa Gee Gees. In 2002, he came back to the Montreal wrestling scene for Paul Leduc’s Federation Lutte Québécoise.

IWS

He then joined Internet Wrestling Syndicate (IWS) where he feuded with the Green Phantom over the IWS version of the World Heavyweight Championship for almost half a year. Upon winning the title on March 15, 2003 in his hometown of Laval Quebec, he defended the title five months before losing the title to Arsenal in a

ladder match A ladder match is a type of match in professional wrestling, most commonly one in which an item (usually a title belt) is hung above the ring, and the winner is the contestant who climbs a ladder and retrieves the item. The ladder itself becom ...

Onyx returned to the IWS on June 3, 2005 to team up with his nemesis Green Phantom to battle

Pierre Carl Ouellet Carl Joseph Yvon Ouellet (born December 30, 1967) is a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, PCO (originally a contraction of his long-term former ring name Pierre Carl Ouellet, but now standing for Perfect Creation One) ...

and Sabu in what was Sabu’s last indie appearance before going to

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 ...

National Wrestling Alliance and Championship Wrestling Association

Onyx first worked with the

(NWA) was going on a one-week tour in 2004 for Andre Baker's NWA UK Hammerlock where he wrestled in tag team matches siding with Dany Williams in a series of matches against

Fergal Devitt Fergal or Feargal are Irish, male given names. They are anglicized forms of the name Fearghal.Mairéad Byrne, Irish Baby Names – 25 Apr 2005 The arts * Fergal Keane, OBE (born 1961), Irish writer and broadcaster *Feargal Sharkey (born 1958), f ...

and Paul Tracey. In the United Kingdom, Onyx used his "Son of Abdullah" alter-ego, which is influenced by

Abdullah the Butcher Lawrence Robert Shreve (born January 11, 1941), better known by the ring name Abdullah the Butcher, is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. He has a reputation for being involved in some of the most violent and bloody hardcore wrestling matc ...

. Shortly after a tour with NWA UK Hammerlock, Onyx joined Championship Wrestling Association (CWA) on January 28, 2004 and was their federation’s first champion holding the title for three months before losing the title to Sunny Warcloud on May 29, 2004 in an Indian Strap match. Onyx regained the Quebec title a month later in a three-way dance with Sunny Warcloud and Manuel Vegas. Later on when CWA joined partnership with NWA Quebec, the CWA title was then recognized as the NWA Quebec Heavyweight Championship. On October 15, 2004 Onyx won the

NWA British Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship The NWA British Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship that formerly served as the major title in the NWA UK Hammerlock promotion. The title is currently promoted by Dru Onyx's Torture Chamber Pro Wrestling ...

defeating Australia's Will Phoenix in Winnipeg. He then toured for NWA Ireland again using his "Son of Abdullah" alter-ego. On his second tour with NWA UK Hammerlock, after making three mandatory defenses in England, he lost the NWA British Commonwealth title to

(Pegasus 2) on October 27 in Cardiff Wales in a

hardcore match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

. Two days later, Onyx beat Paul Tracey for the

NWA United Kingdom Heavyweight Championship The NWA United Kingdom Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship in the NWA UK Hammerlock promotion. The championship has existed since 2001. Title history See also * Professional wrestling in the United Kingdom *Profe ...

in Maidstone Kent. On October 29 in Ashford Kent, England he also won back the NWA British Commonwealth title from Devitt in a handicap match with Devitt and Tracey working together. Due to the fact the UK Heavyweight Championship had to be defended within the next 30 days, Onyx was forced to relinquish the title and concentrate on defending the British Commonwealth title for the last two days of his two-week tour. On January 26, 2005 Jake Mathews defeated Onyx for the NWA Quebec Heavyweight title. On October 8, 2005 in Nashville, Tennessee at the NWA 57th anniversary show Fergal Devitt once again defeated Onyx for the British Commonwealth title. After the match both participants were invited to the New Japan Inoki Dojo. Coming back from the Inoki Dojo Onyx captured more NWA gold on April 22, 2006 in Southern Championship Wrestling. In Almonte Springs,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, Onyx defeated Thomas Marr and Chasyn Rance in a three-way to win the

NWA North American Heavyweight Championship The NWA North American Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship created by the National Wrestling Alliance in 1994 after World Championship Wrestling withdrew from the NWA. There were various regional versions of the Nort ...

. Subsequently, he defended the North American title in both Canada and the United States, including on July 7, 2006 at a

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Impact Wrestling (stylized as ''IMPACT! Wrestling''), is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment. Founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett in 2002, the promot ...

house show A house show or live event is a professional wrestling event produced by a major promotion that is not televised, though they can be recorded. Promotions use house shows mainly to cash in on the exposure that they and their wrestlers receive du ...

. He also defended the title overseas in both Ireland and in the UK. After an over one-year reign as North American Heavyweight Champion, he lost the title to Damien Waynes on August 24, 2007 in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. On October 26, 2007 in St. Albans, Vermont, Onyx defeated Paul Tracey to once again become the NWA British Commonwealth Champion.

NJPW

In October 2005, Dru Onyx lived and trained at

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority shares ...

's dojo in Los Angeles, California, where he trained in pro wrestling alongside

Rocky Romero John R. Rivera (born October 28, 1982) is a Puerto Rican-American professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. He is currently signed non-exclusively to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), better known by his ring name Rocky Romero (ロッ ...

Alex Koslov Alex Sherman (born January 21, 1984) is a Moldovans, Moldovan-born retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and color commentator, currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling under the ring name Alex Koslov. Koslov has mainly worke ...

and

Daniel Puder Daniel Puder (born October 9, 1981) is an American retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. As a mixed martial artist, Puder trained at the American Kickboxing Academy, in San Jose, California. He is undefeated in MMA competitio ...

Top Of The World Wrestling

March 5, 2010, Onyx made his T.O.W. debut at the T.O.W. 5 in the main event, a 3-Way casket match in March 2010 for Montreal promotion TOW against Darkko and

Sylvain Grenier Sylvain Grenier (born March 26, 1977) is a Canadian TV host and semi-retired professional wrestler. He has been signed to WWE as a producer since 2020. He is best known for his time wrestling for WWE between 2002 and 2007 where he was part of L ...

; the match was won by Grenier. July 19, 2010 Dru Onyx fought

at T.O.W. 6 in a losing effort. September 24, 2010 T.O.W. 7 in the main event

& Hurricane Helms defeated Dru Onyx &

Shelton Benjamin Shelton James Benjamin (born July 9, 1975) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under his real name. He is also known for his work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Pro Wres ...

. Jun 3, 2011 T.O.W. 8.25 Dru Onyx & Carl Leduc defeated Sex Factor & the Flatliners for the T.O.W. Tag Team Championship. May 5, 2012 T.O.W. 9 Dru Onyx & Eric Mastrocola defeated Thomas Dubois & Mathieu St.Jacques.

North Shore Pro Wrestling

In 2010, Onyx wrestled mostly for NSPW, starting the year by losing the NWA British Commonwealth Heavyweight title to

Adam Pearce Adam John Pearce (born June 24, 1978) is an American professional wrestling executive and former professional wrestler. He is currently employed by WWE as Director of Live Events, producer, trainer, coach, and on-screen authority figure. He is ...

on January 23 a title he had defended against

Kevin Steen Kevin Steen (born May 7, 1984) is a Canadian professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Kevin Owens. Steen began his career in 2000, at the age of 16. Prior to joining WWE in lat ...

. In late February during the ''Weekend of Excellence'', Onyx wrestled as Soa Amin against Darkko in a match that ended with a double countout, and on the night after Amin won a match against Pauly Platinum. For his next three NSPW appearances, he reverted to his Dru Onyx persona, winning a match against Michael Style on March 20. The month after he teamed up with Kevin Skully to take on James Stone and Michael Style on April 24 (a loss). On May 8 Onyx participated in a 4-way match for the NSPW Heavyweight title against champion Kevin Skully, Michael Style and Mathieu St-Jacques. The match was won by St-Jacques. In July the Soa Amin character returned, teaming up with Giovanni to face the team of veteran Sunny War Cloud and Pee-Wee in a losing effort. On August 6, Onyx got another shot at the NSPW Heavyweight title again St-Jacques, once again coming up short in his bid for the championship. He bounced back with a win over Michael Style on September 8 and finished off 2010 with a loss in a chain match against Ismael. As Soa Amin he got his revenge on Ismael, defeating him on February 5, 2011 in a falls count anywhere match. Onyx wrestled one more time for NSPW in 2011, losing to Damien Steele at NSPW Fifty on October 22. In July 2012, Onyx made a return to the company as Soa Amin, losing to Matt Falco. In late 2012 he participated in the Standing 8 Tournament, winning in the first round against

Franky The Mobster Marc-André Boulanger is a Canadian professional wrestler and actor, better known by his ring name Franky The Mobster (or F.T.M. for short). He currently wrestles for Montreal's International Wrestling Syndicate (IWS) and Northern Championship Wr ...

before getting eliminated in the second round by Giovanni.

Montreal Wrestling Federation

Throughout 2011 and 2012, Onyx worked in the Montreal Wrestling Federation (MWF) as Soa Amin. After a loss against Franky The Mobster in September 2011, Amin defeated Jason Starr, Shayne Hawke, HC Ryder and then HC Ryder & Chris Cruze in a tag-team match where he teamed up with Hawke. In early 2012, he won against Bryan Kevins on January 14 before participating in a match with Jake Matthews that would end in a no contest on January 28. Soa Amin and Green Phantom teamed up on February 4 defeating the team of Stew Ramjattan and Jake Matthews. Later on in the same month Amin and Pat Guénette wrestled to a no contest. On March 17 at ''MWF No Remorse'', Amin lost to Jake Matthews in a Last Man Standing match. On March 31, Amin and Darkko teamed up in a match for the MWF Tag Team titles against champions Stew Ramjattan and Pauly Platinum, losing the match by disqualification.

Northern Championship Wrestling

(NCW), Onyx held the NCW Québec title for 11 months from June 2012 to May 2013 where he lost it to Pat Guénette. During his reign as champion, Onyx successfully defended the title against Jay Phenomenon, Handsome JF, Guénette, Gorgeous Mike, Pitbull Brando, William Brady, James Stone and Alextreme. He feuded with Pat Guénette, and they competed in a no disqualification match on June 22 at ''Fight Nationale'' for the Québec championship.

Other promotions

Victory Ring On November 13, 2015, in Wickham, Qc, Dru Onyx became the second Victory Ring champion after defeating Alex North who held and defended the title for over a year. In April 2010 he wrestled to a no contest against

Gran Apolo Gran may refer to: People *Grandmother, affectionately known as "gran" *Gran (name) Places * Gran, the historical German name for Esztergom, a city and the primatial metropolitan see of Hungary * Gran, Norway, a municipality in Innlandet count ...

for an NWA on Fire event held in Maine. Onyx along with Derek Platinum lost to the GCW-NS champions the Hillbullies (Jeff Black and Cousin Eddie) on February 4, 2012 in Oshawa. In 2011, Onyx received in invitation to train at

WWE 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 ...

's developmental camp in Florida and wrestle at several of their

house shows A house show or live event is a professional wrestling event produced by a major promotion that is not televised, though they can be recorded. Promotions use house shows mainly to cash in on the exposure that they and their wrestlers receive du ...

. He used his "Son of Abdullah" gimmick at the camp. On January 30, 2015, Dru Onyx wrestled his first match for

Ring of Honor Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. The promotion was founded by Rob Feinstein on February 23, 2002, and was operated by Cary Silkin from 2004 until 2011, when the promotion was so ...

in Dearborn, Michigan on the Winter Warriors Tour against The Romantic Touch Soa Amin Soa Amin is Onyx's other known gimmick, which he has wrestled as often throughout his career, switching back and forth between this alter ego and Dru Onyx since October 2003. He was originally billed as the son of Hardcore Legend Abdullah The Butcher (unrelated in real life, but has been endorsed by him), who used originated the gimmick. Like his father, Soa Amin is a violent, bloodthirsty, and mysterious as he rarely talks. His appearance is highlighted by his many different costumes, and horned tip wrestling boots. Amin's tends to be much more aggressive and weapon-friendly with variety of submissions then the Dru Onyx character. Amin's finisher is a cannonball into the turnbuckle. The Soa Amin's is the gimmick most fans in England & Ireland know Onyx for, as he wrestled as Soa Amin throughout the 2000s for the NWA promotions NWA Hammerlock & NWA Ireland. Onyx in 2004 opened his opened his own professional wrestling school in Quebec called Torture Chamber Pro Wrestling Dojo.

Other media

In 2017 he appeared on Tele-Quebec’s show Cochon Dingue as himself. In 2016 he appeared in an episode of ALT for VRAK TV as himself. 2014-2015 Onyx worked on a French-Canadian sitcom produced by Radio Canada’s called La Theorie Du K.O. starring Remi-Pierre Paquin & Michel Cote, a comedy based on Paquin’s character losing his wife and is forced to become a professional wrestler to support his family. In the two seasons & twenty-five episodes. Onyx trained the actors in the art of professional wrestling, produced all the wrestling choreography, acquired pro wrestlers for the show, and was the onset coach throughout the series. Onyx also worked as a stunt double, doing the stunts and wrestling choreography for Kwasi Songui. He released a CD titled ''Sinebriated'' in September 2004. It was released under his rap alter-ego R-Kade. Onyx began rapping when he was 16 and has collaborated with

Bran Van 3000 Bran Van 3000 (also known as BV3) is a Canadian alternative rock and hip hop collective from Montreal, Quebec. Founded by James Di Salvio and E.P. Bergen, they collaborated on a number of songs with Stéphane Moraille, Sara Johnston, Steve "Liqui ...

. In addition, he is the CEO of Clutch Records and is involved with a local talent agency.

Film

Championships and accomplishments

* All Canadian Wrestling **ACW Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *Championship Wrestling Association **CWA Heavyweight Championship (2 times) *Combat Revolution Wrestling **CRW Quebec Championship (1 time) **CRW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Bryan Kevins *Federation Canadienne De Lutte **FCL Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Dom Boulanger *

International Wrestling Syndicate International Wrestling Syndicate (IWS) is a professional wrestling promotion based out of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Originating from the Dawson Wrestling Federation, it was formerly known as the Internet Wrestling Syndicate and World Wrestling Syn ...

**IWS World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **IWS World Tag Team Championship (1 time) *Jonquiere Championship Wrestling ** JCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *Montreal Wrestling Federation **MWF National Championship (1 time) **MWF Regional Championship (1 time) * NWA Quebec Pro Wrestling **NWA Quebec Heavyweight Championship (2 times) *NWA UK Hammerlock **

( 5 times, current) **

( 1 time) *

NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship The NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship is a National Wrestling Alliance-sanctioned tag team professional wrestling championship based mainly in the Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling promotion, although the title has been contested for in the ...

( 3 times) - with Jeremy Prophet (1 time) and Mike Marston (2 time, current) **

( 1 time) *

**NCW Quebec Championship (2 times) **NCW Inter- Cities Championship (1 times) *Top of the World Wrestling **TOW Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Carl XL Leduc (1) and Eric Mastrocola (2) *Victory Ring **Victory Ring Championship (1 time, current) *

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publish ...

** PWI ranked him # 349 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the

PWI 500 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishi ...

in 2012