Neil Andrew Horsfall (born 29 April 1981), better known by the
ring name Neil Faith, is an English
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 o ...
.
Early life
Faith was born in
Colchester
Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian.
Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colch ...
,
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...
. He was raised in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and
Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex. He also attended the
Thomas Adams School in
Wem,
Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...
. He played football and rugby in high school. He studied
kickboxing and was also a submission wrestler, competing in numerous
shoot wrestling tournaments.
Professional wrestling career
In April 1999, Faith started training for professional wrestling in England at the
Hammerlock Wrestling Academy. After leaving the
Hammerlock Wrestling Academy he traveled to Florida to wrestle for BANG TV on Fox, Then in January 2002 he moved to Calgary, Alberta, Canada to train with the
Hart family
The Hart wrestling family, sometimes known as the Hart dynasty, is a mainly Canadian family with a significant history within professional wrestling. The patriarch of the family was wrestling legend Stu Hart (1915–2003). An amateur and professi ...
.
Faith made his
Stampede Wrestling
Stampede Wrestling was a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta. For nearly 50 years, it was one of the main promotions in western Canada and the Canadian Prairies. Originally established by Stu Hart in 1948, the pro ...
debut in 02.22.2002 beating
"Highlander" Rob Roy with a
spinning tombstone piledriver. He then went on to team with fellow British wrestler
Rick Vain to feud with
Bruce
The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been ...
and
Teddy Hart
Edward Ellsworth Annis (born February 2, 1980) is a Canadian-American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Teddy Hart. He currently wrestles on the independent circuit. He wrestled on a National scale for Major League Wrestling ...
in tag team matches. After departing from Stampede Wrestling in April 2002, he traveled to Japan to train in the
New Japan Dojo in Tokyo.
Faith returned to
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
where he wrestled on independent wrestling shows. In 2002 he wrestled
P. N. News
Paul Neu (born July 9, 1966) is an American professional wrestler. He is perhaps best known under the ring name P. N. News and for his stints in Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling.
Professional wrestling career
Earl ...
in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
,
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 ...
at the national basketball arena. In 2002 he continued to wrestle all over Europe where he filmed a
documentary called ''Ultimate Warriors'' on
The Bravo Channel and appeared regularly on
The Wrestling Channel
The Fight Network (formerly The Wrestling Channel, TWC and TWC Fight!) was a free-to-air digital satellite television sports channel in the United Kingdom and Ireland, devoted to airing programming related to boxing, mixed martial arts, pro-w ...
on
SKY TV.
Faith returned to Florida to wrestle for
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 ...
's ''BANG TV'' show on Fox and ''Throwdown'' on The Brighthouse network.
After leaving ''BANG TV'' He returned again to Europe where he Worked tours for NWA - UK and made it to the Semi-Finals of The NWA-UK 2003 King of the Ring tournament.
From 2003 to 2004, he wrestled all over Europe, In countries such as Germany, Ireland, Russia, Holland, Scotland, Wales and England. He wrestled his last match in Europe on 05.02.2005 appearing for Revolution British Wrestling in London.
In June 2005, he permanently moved to the United States where he began working for Southern Championship Wrestling and
World Xtreme Wrestling
World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW) is a Florida-based independent professional wrestling promotion which has held events across the United States and toured in Japan, the Middle East and South Pacific region including American Samoa and Guam.
The pr ...
's Rage TV, which airs on the brighthouse network in Central Florida and is owned and operated by WWE Hall of Famer Afa the Wild Samoan.
In October 2008, Faith had several WWE tryouts in
Tampa, Florida
Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...
. At Vintage Wrestling's first show, "Ignition", held in 2009 in
Sanford, Florida, he wrestled in the main event against
Jake "The Snake" Roberts
Aurelian Smith Jr. (born May 30, 1955), better known by the ring name Jake "The Snake" Roberts, is an American professional wrestler and actor currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) where he performs as manager to Lance Archer. He is be ...
. In December 2009, he started a
tag team
Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...
with
Adam Windsor called European Union. Quickly after joining WXW they defeated tag team champions Hatchet City All-Stars to become the
WXW Tag Team Champions.
As of July 2010, The European Union are regularly listed in the top 5 Tag Teams in the state of Florida in polls ran by wrestling911.com and marcuspitts.com, they are also currently listed in the top 5 tag teams for NWA Florida/NWA Fusion as well. In 2010, Faith was also ranked #4 in the top 50 wrestlers in Florida poll by www.marcuspitt.com and www.wrestling911.com. He was also rated #8 in the top ten most hated wrestlers in Florida list in January 2011.
On 11 September 2010. The European Union defeated Los Ben Dejo's for the Vintage Wrestling Tag Team titles in a 2 out of 3 falls match. Faith was also listed as a trainer at the Hard Knocks Wrestling Academy in
Daytona Beach, Florida.
Personal life
Faith married his current wife in 2005. They have two children.
Championships and accomplishments
*
!Bang!
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 ...
**BANG International Championship (1 time)
**BANG TV European Championship (1 time)
**BANG TV Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with
Adam Windsor
*Dynamite Championship Wrestling
**DCW Heavyweight Championship
*First Class Championship Wrestling
**FCCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
*Main Event Championship Wrestling
**MECW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
*Vintage Wrestling
**Vintage Wrestling Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Adam Windsor
*
World Xtreme Wrestling
World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW) is a Florida-based independent professional wrestling promotion which has held events across the United States and toured in Japan, the Middle East and South Pacific region including American Samoa and Guam.
The pr ...
**
WXW Tag Team Championship
This is a chronological list of WXW Tag Team Champions. The WXW Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team title created in 1996 as part of for Top Rope Productions (later renamed World Xtreme Wrestling
World Xtreme Wrestling ...
(1 time) - with Adam Windsor
*Other titles
**SWF Tag Team Championship - with Adam Windsor
Filmography
References
External links
Neil Faith on Instagram His Instagram profile
The Horsfall Team His Real Estate Company
Neil Faith on Twitter His Twitter profile
Neil Faith's Facebook Page His Facebook page
German Website with Match Information on Neil FaithVintage Wrestlings Spotlight on Neil Faithcagematch.net profile on Neil Faith1Wrestling.com Article "the Great Britons" (Paragraph 30)Official European Union YouTube Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Faith, Neil
1981 births
Living people
21st-century male professional wrestlers
English male professional wrestlers
People from Burnham-on-Crouch