Throughout the early and mid-1990s, wrestling world championship began expanding its roster to include more international talent. There were, of course, wrestlers like Rey Misterio Jr., Juventud Guerrera, Psychosis and La Parka, and Japanese competitors like Jushin Thunder Liger and Ultimo Dragon. Starrcade 1995 it was even branded as “The World Cup of Wrestling”, which featured matches between wrestlers from WCW and New Japan Pro Wrestling. And there were a couple of tough European talents in Fit Finlay and Lord Steven Regal, among many others. There was a European talent who had a solid run in the middle of the card, but could never make it to the top of the card. Some may forget, but it was incredibly entertaining. That would be “Das Wunderkind” Alex Wright.
Alex Wright’s first fight in WCW was against the future Triple H
Wright was discovered by WCW in mid-1994 while on tour in Germany. He signed a contract with WCW’s parent company, Time Warner, which would come into play when WCW closed its doors. He began training at the Power Plant and made his debut on the September 3, 1994 edition of WCW Saturday Night. Wright’s entrance music was of the techno variety, and he often danced while walking to or in the ring (and all the time as a heel later in his career), and he had a full head of hair.
His first fight was against Jean-Paul Levesque, better known as Triple H. Wright defeated Levesque in both men’s pay-per-view debut at Starrcade 1994, when Wright was in the midst of a winning streak to start his career. His undefeated streak included victories over Bobby Eaton at Clash of Champions XXX and Paul Roma at Superbrawl V in February 1995. In fact, WCW fired Roma after the match for refusing to sell out for Wright and working too hard, instead letting him go as instructed Wright suffered his first loss at Slamboree 1995 in a match against Arn Anderson for the WCW Television Championship. He scored a signature victory a month later over Brian Pillman in a big match to open Great American Bash 1995, before departing for Japan to participate in NJPW’s prestigious Best of the Super Juniors Tournament.
Alex Wright was a WCW Cruiserweight and Television Champion
Alex Wright had a lot of nice babyface matches in 1995 and 1996 with Diamond Dallas Page, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko and even Sabu. He worked very well in the ring, but he shone with his character work, particularly his dancing. He was a natural rival with Disco Inferno, based primarily on dance, with Wright winning most of his singles matches. However, he had given up the dance gimmick for a while, before his heel turn on Nitro on May 12, 1997, where he told all the girls to look at his body and eat his hearts. as he thrust into his hips. The swagger dance Das Wunderkind was born, and championships soon followed.
Wright defeated Chris Jericho for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship on the July 28 episode of Nitro. Although he would drop the belt to Jericho 15 days later, he had three successful title defenses, including one against Jericho on pay-per-view at Road Wild. However, five days after losing the Cruiserweight belt, Wright defeated Ultimo Dragon to win the WCW Television Championship. He held the TV title for 32 days with six title defenses before dropping it to his rival Disco Inferno on the September 22 Nitro. Wright would eventually align with Disco to form the Dancing Fools in 1998 before taking time off and undergoing a drastic gimmick change in 1999.
Alex Wright burned out and stopped wrestling after WWE bought WCW
Wright disappeared for months and resurfaced as Berlyn, sporting a black mohawk and wearing all black, including a trench coat. He refused to speak English, spoke German through an interpreter, and had a bodyguard named The Wall. Unfortunately, the timing coincided with the horrific Columbine school shooting, and Berlyn’s aesthetic and Nazi look was quite similar to the shooters, and the stunt backfired completely. After taking almost a year off, Wright returned under his own name and shaved head on the September 27, 2000, Nitro. Wright helped his former “enemy friend” Disco Inferno win a match against Konnan, and the two reunited under the name Boogie Knights.
The Boogie Knights continued through the final days of WCW and won the WCW World Tag Team Championship by defeating Mark Jindrak and Sean O’Haire at Millenium Germany. When WCW purchased WCW, Wright remained under contract to Time Warner and was not purchased by WWE. Wright was exhausted and frustrated by the backstage politics in WCW, and when his contract with Time Warner ran out, he decided not to return to wrestling. Since then he has opened his own wrestling school “The Wright Stuff” and the New European Championship Wrestling wrestling promotion, having trained current WWE Superstar Giovanni Vinci.