January 4, 2001

Wrestling His Way to The Top

By Joe Christofield
The Kentucky Recorder

Chris Harris continues to climb the ladder to stardom. As a matter of fact, Harris occasionally uses a ladder to gain the upper hand on anyone who gets in his way.

Harris, 27, is a professional wrestler with World Championship Wrestling, better know as WCW.

The Villa Hills resident is 6-foot-3 230 pounds and goes by the "Wildcat," a nickname he earned when he was training to become a wrestler.

Harris grew up in Ludlow where he used to wrestle with friends in backyards or in front of a home video camera at his father's house. He later moved to Ft. Wright and graduated from Covington Catholic High School in 1991. After high school Harris attended Northern Kentucky University for two years before coming to a roadblock in his life.

"I went those two years in college and had no idea what I wanted to do," said Harris. "I had always loved wrestling and had been interested in it. At that point I decided if I was going to try it, it was going to have to be now."

Through contacts he had made, Harris then called several nearby training centers, and met up with wrestling trainer Charlie Fulton in Marion, Ohio, in 1994.

Harris spent the next year training to become a wrestler one day a week while holding a job as a truck driver for 7-Up on the side.

Harris would be the first to tell you how hectic his scheduling was at the time.

"I would work at 7-Up at 5 a.m. each day and once a week I would drive from here in Northern Kentucky to Marion, which is about 3-1/2 hours away," said Harris. "I would then train for about three hours and then drive back home, get back around 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. and then have to work at 5 a.m."

Those days on the road kept him wondering if he was doing the right thing, he said, but Harris never lost focus of what he wanted to do.

"Driving all of the time isn't the greatest. There's a lot of times that I thought to myself, 'What if I don't make it?' and 'Am I wasting my time?'" he said.

Asked if he thought he'd be where he is today, Harris said "It's hard to say. I'd say yes, but I don't want people to me as being cocky. I always told people I was going to make it."

Harris said telling family and friends that he was following his dream in life of becoming a professional wrestler wasn't exactly news to them.

"Some would say that wrestling is stupid and that you're too small and will never make it. I had no support, but I used what they said to motivate me," said Harris.

After wrestling in Ohio, Harris continued in the independent circuit, joining the Northern Wrestling Federation, or the NWF, in 1995 when he wrestled at Peel's Palace in Erlanger.

Harris said he entered a comfort zone for the next five years, wrestling in the NWF before his last match with the organization in December of 1999.

"I had to decide if I was willing to sacrifice my career and make a little less money in order to be able to move up the ladder. Sometimes that's what happens, though, and it might be worth it in the long run," said Harris.

Was it worth it for him?

"Absolutely," he said.

The key to making it as a professional wrestler is to be noticed. Harris was noticed in 1999.

"I took a trip to Nashville for a tryout to wrestle in the NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) after someone had put a good word in for me. It was an instant done deal because they were interested in me right away," said Harris.

NWA Worldwide is affiliated with one of the two largest professional wrestling organizations in the United States, World Championship Wrestling. ( The World Wrestling Federation is the other.)

It wasn't long after joining the NWA that Harris won the heavyweight title against his opponent, Air Paris, in May of last year.

After losing the best back to Air Paris five months later, Harris joined 15 other potential wrestlers in R & B Security in the summer of 2000.

R & B Security was one of the storylines, or scenarios, in WCW which featured then story-writer Vince Russo and executive Eric Bischoff who "needed" security to protect them from the wrestlers in the organization.

Harris' schedule called for him to fly out on Mondays, come back on Wednesdays, then drive back down to Nashville and spend Friday and Saturday wrestling in the NWA before driving back home Sunday and getting ready to fly back out on Monday.

"It was a rough schedule and you have to have a supportive wife and mine has been," said Harris of his wife, Susan, a quality coordinator for Betts USA Inc. in Elsmere.

Harris and Susan have been married for two years. The two met through a friend of a friend four years ago.

"At that time she didn't care about wrestling. She didn't like me because of wrestling, she like me because of me," said Harris.

While wrestling in Nashville in July, Harris made a country music video with rising star Clay Davidson, titled "I Can't Lie to Me."

The video features Harris, who struggles with being a professional wrestler while keeping a relationship kindling, and WWF star Jerry Lawler, who makes a cameo appearance.

Harris said the video was made possible thanks to his agent, Burt Prentice.

"I didn't even know what was going on. I'd never even heard of Clay Davidson much less listen to country music. I showed up one night to wrestle and some people were watching me. They offered me a spot in the video and we went from there," said Harris.

Currently the video sits at No. 2 on the country music video charts.

Harris said he can't believe the response he's gotten from the video.

"I am completely shocked. I can't believe people stop me and say that they recognize me from the video. I get stopped at the grocery store, the drive thru's, wherever I go. My family and friends love it. Some of my Family members even had tears in their eyes after watching it for the first time," He said.

Harris' father and stepmother, Rick and Renee Harris, live in Fort Wright and his mother and stepfather, Peggy and Bill Shively, live in Villa Hills.

With WCW, most of Harris' driving days are now over.

With WCW, I fly everywhere across the United States and even Canada," said Harris.

Harris said having no other job but wrestling is rewarding.

"That's part of my dream come true. Wrestling is now how I make my living," said Harris.

Harris' schedule now involves flying out on Sunday, then back home on Tuesday.

"Sometimes I may choose to wrestle somewhere else like here at Peel's Palace, but for the most part I'm home four to five days a week. My wife use to ask me 'When are you coming home?' and now she's asking me 'When are you leaving again?'" he said.

And of those 15 wrestlers in the R & B security, Harris was the only one to receive a contract from WCW, a two-year contract which began in October.

Harris said WCW creative team member Terry Taylor was one of the main people responsible for getting him his contract. Taylor is better know for his stint as the "Red Rooster" in the World Wrestling Federation in the late '80s.

Harris is listed on WCW's official Website, www.wcw.com, as a crossover star and will be one of the featured wrestlers on "World Wide Wrestling" and "WCW Saturday Night." Harris hopes to one day wrestle on WCW's most popular television show, "Nitro."

Although he's wrestled around 25 matches in the WCW, Harris' biggest moment in the spotlight so far with the WCW came just three months ago in Las Vegas during a pay-per-view titled "Halloween Havoc."

In a match featuring Sting and "The Chosen One" Jeff Jarett, Harris came from underneath the ring dressed as a Sting look-alike to distract the real Sting. It worked as Jarrett eventually won the match because of the confusion.

WCW is interested in debuting Harris on "Nitro" using the Davidson country music video sometime soon.

He is working on a new finishing maneuver, a version of the neck breaker. His old finisher was the top rope elbow drop.

Harris' latest match took place Dec. 30 at Peel's Palace when he wrestled longtime foe Air Paris, who made a special trip up from Nashville.

Harris' won the non title match in vintage Wildcat fashion, getting the 1-2-3 after his top rope elbow drop.

This is home to me. This is where I started," said Harris.