Tony Kozina (born October 23, 1970) is an American professional wrestler who is best known for his work in the Pacific Northwest especially in

Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling (ECCW) (formerly known as NWA: Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling and Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling) is a Western Canada-based professional wrestling promotion and a former member of the Nati ...

and

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 ...

. He has also made appearances in

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 ...

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Los Angeles, California. It is owned and operated by wrestlers themselves, having been created by Disco Machine, Excalibur, Scott Lost, Joey Ryan, Super Drago ...

Full Impact Pro Full Impact Pro (FIP) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is currently part of the World Wrestling Network (WWN) along with Shine Wrestling. Sal Hamaoui founded the company and serves as the President while Trevin Adams is the ...

IWA-Mid South Independent Wrestling Association (IWA) Mid-South (also known as IWA Mid-South, IWA-MS, and IWA Mid South Wrestling) is an American independent professional wrestling promotion based in New Albany, Indiana. It was formed by Ian Rotten in 1996 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

Professional wrestling career

Training

In the summer of 1996, Kozina started training with

Billy Jack Haynes William Albert Haynes III (born July 10, 1953) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Billy Jack Haynes. Professional wrestling career Early career (1982–1984) Haynes started wrestling in 1982 at the ag ...

and "Maniac" Matt Borne and helped train others at North American Wrestling Asylum.

Independent wrestling (1997–present)

On October 20, 1998, Kozina defeated Torch for the newly created

NWA Pacific Northwest Junior Heavyweight Championship The NWA Pacific Northwest Junior Heavyweight Championship was the junior heavyweight championship of Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling, a member of the National Wrestling Alliance based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The championship was consi ...

. On July 21, 2001, Kozina defeated Scotty Mac to claim his sixth NWA Pacific Northwest Junior Heavyweight Championship. The title was vacated on April 5, 2002 due to inactivity. On January 14, 2000, Kozina won his first

NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship The NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world championship in the National Wrestling Alliance. Created in 1945, the title is competed for by junior heavyweight wrestlers. History The first NWA World Junior ...

by defeating Vince Kaplack. In a rematch at the '' NWA 52nd Anniversary Show'' on October 20, Kaplack defeated Kozina to become the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion.

Canadian Wrestling's Elite (2015–present)

On May 5, 2017; at Canadian Wrestling's Elite 8th Anniversary Show in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Kozina defeated Mentallo to become the new Canadian Unified Junior Heavyweight Champion. This marks the first time in nearly 10 years that the title has been active. Following the match, Kozina called out

Billy Corgan William Patrick Corgan Jr. (born March 17, 1967) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and professional wrestling promoter. He is best known as the lead singer, primary songwriter, guitarist, and only permanent member of the rock band the ...

and the

. He stated he wants a shot at the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship. On the January 1, 2018, Canadian Wrestling's Elite stopped in

St. Albert, Alberta St. Albert is a city in Alberta on the Sturgeon River northwest of the City of Edmonton. It was originally settled as a Métis community, and is now the second-largest city in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region. St. Albert first received its town ...

with the "Pick Your Poison Tour." "The Original" Marky defeated Kozina to become the new Canadian Unified Junior Heavyweight Championship. On January 3, 2018; the CWE "Pick Your Poison Tour" made a stop in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. Kozina won the Canadian Unified Junior Heavyweight Championship for the second time in a Six Man Scramble which included "The Original" Marky, Chayse Britton, Strife, Darren Burns, and "The Prodigy" Matt Hart.

WWE

On August 10, 2003, Kozina teamed up with Buddy Wayne on an episode of ''

WWE Heat ''WWE Heat'' (formerly known as ''Sunday Night Heat'' and also known as ''Heat'') is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and aired from August 2, 1998 to May 30, 2008. Ori ...

''. They lost to the team of

Mark Jindrak Mark Robert Jindrak (born June 26, 1977) is an American businessman, former professional wrestler, and actor. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as Mark Jindrak and ...

and Garrison Cade.

Ring of Honor

In January 2011, Kozina faced

Davey Richards Wesley David Richards (born March 1, 1983) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to Major League Wrestling (MLW), under the ring name Davey Richards, and is the current MLW National Openweight Champion in his first reign. ...

in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Richards won via knockout when the referee stopped the bout in just under 5 minutes.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

On February 16, 2015 (which aired on September 4, 2015) Kozina faced

for the TNA One Night Only Gut Check pay-per-view. Richards won when Kozina went up top for a moonsault, but slipped off and Richards got the roll up for the win.

Fale Dojo (2018–present)

On May 28, 2018

Bad Luck Fale Simi Taitoko Fale (born 8 January 1982) is a Tongan-New Zealand professional wrestler and former rugby union player. He currently works for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as . In NJPW, he is a three-time NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champio ...

owner of

Fale Dojo Simi Taitoko Fale (born 8 January 1982) is a Tongan-New Zealand professional wrestler and former rugby union player. He currently works for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as . In NJPW, he is a three-time NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion ...

in New Zealand announced Kozina as their head trainer.

Filmography

Championships and accomplishments

* American Wrestling Association Superstars of Wrestling **AWA Washington Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *Canadian Wrestling's Elite **Canadian Unified Junior Heavyweight Championship (3 times) *

NWA Canadian Junior Heavyweight Championship The NWA Canadian Junior Heavyweight Championship was the National Wrestling Alliance Board-controlled version of the Canadian Junior Heavyweight title. Previous non-NWA versions of the title also existed in Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba. The title ...

(3 times) **NWA Pacific Northwest Junior Heavyweight Championship (6 times) *

(2 times) * National Wrestling Alliance Virginia **NWA Virginia Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *Pinnacle Pro Wrestling **Pinnacle Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with

*''

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 #179 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the year 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 2002 *''

Slam! Wrestling Canoe.com is an English-language Canadian portal site and website network, and is a subsidiary of Postmedia Network. The phrase Canadian Online Explorer appears in the header; the name is also evidently a play on words on canoe (or ''canoë'' in ...

'' **Canadian Hall of Fame

References

External links

*
Tony Kozina's Online World of Wrestling profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kozina, Tony 1970 births Living people American male professional wrestlers Sportspeople from Portland, Oregon Professional wrestlers from Oregon 20th-century professional wrestlers 21st-century professional wrestlers NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champions