Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Ernest Miller

 
Artist: Punch Miller

Similar Artists:

Worked With:

Quinn Wilson, Fred Williams, Bill Settles, Joshua Altheimer, Johnny Dodds, Blind John Davis, Big Bill Broonzy

Formal Connection With:

  • Born: June 10, 1894, Raceland, LA
  • Died: December 02, 1971, New Orleans, LA
  • Active: '20s, '30s, '40s, '50s, '60s
  • Genres: Jazz
  • Instrument: Trumpet
  • Representative Albums: "Punch Miller & Albert Wynn (1925-1930)," "The River's in Morning," "Jazz: New Orleans, Vol. 2"

Biography

A solid New Orleans trumpeter who never really made it big, Punch Miller worked in New Orleans until moving to Chicago in 1926. He played with Al Wynn, Tiny Parham, Freddie Keppard, and Jelly Roll Morton in the 1920s and worked with low-profile jazz and blues groups in Chicago until returning to New Orleans in 1956. He recorded a few numbers for Atlantic in 1962 and toured Japan with George Lewis in 1963. Punch Miller's 1920s recordings as a sideman have been gathered together and reissued on a CD by the RST label. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
Search unanswered questions...
Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics
Wikipedia: Ernest Miller
Top
Ernest Miller
Ring name(s) Ernest "The Cat" Miller
Billed height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[1]
Billed weight 235 lb (107 kg)[1]
Born January 14, 1964 (1964-01-14) (age 45)[1]
Atlanta, Georgia[1]
Resides Atlanta, Georgia[1]
Billed from Atlanta, Georgia[1]
Trained by Dwayne Bruce
WCW Power Plant
Debut 1997[1]
Retired 2004

Ernest Clifford Miller[2] (born January 14, 1964) is an American actor and former professional wrestler who worked for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) better known by his ring name Ernest "The Cat" Miller.[1]

Contents

Career

Early career

Miller graduated from Gordon High School in Decatur, Georgia, playing on the football team as a linebacker.[2] He then went to Savannah State University in Savannah, Georgia studying electrical engineering and playing football as an All-American linebacker.[2]

World Championship Wrestling

After a career as a karate tournament competitor, Miller was brought into WCW by Eric Bischoff. Miller was a karate instructor and was teaching Bischoff's son Garrett, when Bischoff asked him to become a wrestler.[1]

He started out as Glacier's tag team partner in his feud with Mortis and Wrath. He soon left Glacier and became a villain with Sonny Onoo as his manager (although Glacier actually turned on Miller first). It was during this time that Miller's popularity heightened.

As a villain, he often gloated that he could beat anybody within two minutes and managed to do so on several occasions using his signature springboard kick, The Feliner. It was also around this time that Ernest Miller began wearing ruby slippers in the ring and dancing in a James Brown-esque fashion to celebrate his victories (this led to a PPV "dance-off" between Miller and James Brown, who had been brought in specially). Miller even went as far promoting his own instructional, karate home video with a pseudo infomercial. During this time, Billy Blanks' Tae Bo exercise videos were quite popular, so Miller's infomercial was obviously a comedic parody that fit his gimmick.

While Miller was most often a villain, he eventually turned into a fan favorite and became WCW Commissioner in 2000. He began the angle as a villain but eventually turned into a fan favorite due to the high fan reaction he was getting whenever he entered an arena. He was feuding with Ric Flair's Magnificent Seven stable when WCW was purchased by Vince McMahon.

He appeared at some World Wrestling All-Stars shows before going to the WWF where he would have a somewhat brief career.

World Wrestling Entertainment

Under his Ernest "The Cat" Miller ring name and gimmick, made his televised World Wrestling Entertainment debut on the November 28, 2002 episode of SmackDown! Before that, he served as a wrestler and an announcer for Velocity. After his run on Velocity, he became an active wrestler on the main roster.

Miller appeared in the 2004 Royal Rumble match, making his entrance (along with manager Lamont) while the other two people in the ring, Chris Benoit and Randy Orton, were knocked down. Miller and Lamont proceeded to dance to his theme music, not bothering to capitalize on the advantage he'd been given. When Benoit and Orton got back up, both men quickly tossed him from the ring. During his time, his catch phrase, "somebody call my momma" (which was also used in WCW), started to be used in WWE. This phrase also appeared in the lyrics to his theme song, which he would dance to.

Miller then competed in a 15-man battle royal on SmackDown! to earn a shot at the WWE Championship against then Champion Brock Lesnar at No Way Out, but was once again thrown out during his theme song. Following this, he started a short-lived feud with Tajiri after Tajiri attacked Lamont with his trademark Buzzsaw Kick. After the feud ended, Miller was released from WWE on February 10, 2004.

Outside pro wrestling

Miller had a significant role in the Academy Award nominated film The Wrestler as The Ayatollah, in-ring nemesis of Randy "The Ram" Robinson played by Mickey Rourke. He also played Earnie Shavers opposite Michael Jai White in the 2008 Chinese television series The Legend of Bruce Lee. Miller is also in production on Blood and Bone which is expected to hit theaters in early 2009. Former WWE Champion Shawn Michaels posted an email on his official website noting that Ernest Miller has been cast as George Foreman in an upcoming HBO biopic.

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

Martial arts

Professional wrestling

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Ernest Miller profile". OWOW. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/e/ernest-miller.html. Retrieved 2009-08-19. 
  2. ^ a b c d "The early days of WCW star Ernest Miller". SLAM! Wrestling. http://www.canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingBiosM/miller_ernest_01jan10-can.html. Retrieved 2007-11-12. 
  3. ^ a b c "Horace vs Ernest Miller". World Championship Wrestling. WCW Great American Bash. 1999-06-13.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Mortis & Wrath Vs Glacier & Ernest Miller". World Championship Wrestling. WCW Bash at the Beach. 1997-07-13.
  5. ^ "Sonny Onoo profile". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/s/sonny-onoo.html. Retrieved 2009-09-10. 

External links


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Artist. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ernest Miller" Read more