Chris Hamrick

Early career

Hamrick began watching wrestling as a child. He made his professional debut at the age of sixteen in a promotion operated by his father, facing Alvin Melton in Mooresboro, North Carolina.^[1] Hamrick wrestled on the independent circuit for several years.

In 1994, Hamrick wrestled several televised matches as a jobber for the World Wrestling Federation, working with the likes of Razor Ramon, Owen Hart, Billy Gunn, Jeff Jarrett and others.^[2]

Although he did not win many matches at the big time level, he did in the independent circuit. Hamrick went to the IWWA, often to team up with Tommy "Wildfire" Rich and had memorable matches against Rock Parsons and Ivan Koloff. Later he teamed up with Rock to go against Lord Zoltan and Chief Jay Eagle which was a 4 out of five stars and was in the top five independent matches of the year. Hamrick went on to wrestle for Smoky Mountain Wrestling before returning to the independent circuit.

Extreme Championship Wrestling (2000–2001)

Hamrick wrestled a tryout match with Extreme Championship Wrestling on May 25, 2000 in Columbia, South Carolina, and remained with the promotion until it declared bankruptcy in April 2001.^[1] In ECW, Hamrick was known as "Confederate Currency" Chris Hamrick and was part of the stable known as Hot Commodity with EZ Money, Elektra and Julio Dinero.

Back to the independent circuit (2002–2015)

In 2002, Hamrick made several appearances with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, wrestling under a mask as the luchadore character Crimson Dragon. In 2002 and 2003, he frequently wrestled for Xtreme Pro Wrestling, where he formed a tag team with Tracy Smothers known as Southern Comfort, also having a long-running feud for the TV title with Kaos and The Enterprise.

In 2003, Hamrick toured the UK with Frontier Wrestling Alliance. He won the All-England Championship after defeating the Zebra Kid, later on he lost the championship to Jonny Storm.^[3] In 2006 he returned to work in the UK, this time Hamrick worked full time for One Pro Wrestling.^[4]

On 28 July, 2005, Hamrick returned to work for WWE in an episode of WWE SmackDown, he wrestled for the tag team championships when he teamed up with Chuck Szili in a losing effort against Heidenreich & Road Warrior Animal. In early 2006 he worked two matches on WWE Heat. On the August 20, 2007, episode of WWE Raw, Hamrick made an appearance as a fake version of Triple H, in which he placed a crown on King Booker's head during a royal ceremony, leading up to Booker's match with Triple H at SummerSlam.

Hamrick was featured on Wrestling Society X's first episode on MTV, getting into an argument with fellow ECW alumni New Jack, then getting eliminated by him in the WSX Rumble later that night. Despite both of them getting eliminated from the bout, Hamrick took an elbow drop from New Jack off the top of a truckbed through a table. At HCW: Beg 4 Mercy 2007 in April, Hamrick returned to Mooresboro, NC and defeated New Jack in an Extreme Weapons Match. Three months later, Hamrick won the HCW Triple Crown Championship after defeating Axl Knight, Wicked, and Shea Shea McGrady in a Four Way Dance at HCW's Cold Blooded and hardcore event. In March 2008, Hamrick was stripped of the title. On June 14 at Underground Revolution 2008, Hamrick defeated the current champion, Shea Shea McGrady, to reclaim the title.

One of his most recent matches took place in February 2015 in Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling. Hamrick lost to Johnny Swinger.^[5]