Rodney Begnaud

Rodney Begnaud (born October 12, 1972) is an American professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. He is best known for his stint in World Wrestling Entertainment and for his work on its Raw brand under the ring name Rodney Mack. He currently performs on the independent circuit.

Professional wrestling career

Debut and Extreme Championship Wrestling (1998–2002)

After training with his uncle, the Junkyard Dog, Begnaud made his wrestling debut in 1998 as Redd Dogg, and began competing for Southwestern independent promotions.^[1] He made his debut in NWA Southwest, losing to Scott Putski in 29 seconds. After working on the independent circuit, Mack signed on with Extreme Championship Wrestling in 2000, making his debut as a member of Da Baldies.

World Wrestling Entertainment (2003–2004)

After ECW's closure, Begnaud was signed by WWE to wrestle in Ohio Valley Wrestling. While in OVW, Begnaud formed a tag team with Shelton Benjamin called The Dogg Pound. Together, The Dogg Pound won their first and only Southern Tag Team Championship on July 17, 2002.^[3] Begnaud, under his Redd Dogg ring name, then made his televised WWE debut on the January 16, 2003 episode of SmackDown!.^[4] He was placed alongside John Cena in an enforcer role, replacing Bull Buchanan, who was betrayed by Cena. After only one appearance on the SmackDown! brand, Begnaud was immediately moved over to the Raw brand and was subsequently renamed to Rodney Mack.^[1] He made his Raw debut by attacking D'Lo Brown on an episode of Sunday Night Heat, with Theodore Long switching his managerial services from Brown to Mack.^[5][6]

Mack re-started Theodore Long's group "Thuggin' And Buggin' Enterprises", which eventually turned into a group of African Americans who worked a race angle in which they felt they were victims of racism and were being held down by the white man.^[7] Jazz joined the group in April.^[8]

On Raw, he often competed in "White Boy Challenges".^[9] In these challenges, usually, a Caucasian wrestler would wrestle Mack for five minutes and attempt to beat Mack. He was undefeated in these matches until he was challenged and defeated by Goldberg in 26 seconds on June 23, 2003.^[10]

Mack also teamed with Christopher Nowinski when Nowinski joined Theodore Long's Group as a white male who helped with Long's race angle, claiming he was held down by the man because he was a genius. Mack and Nowinski scored their biggest win as a team by defeating the Dudley Boyz at Bad Blood on June 15.^[11] They teamed together until Nowinski suffered an injury and was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome, which subsequently resulted in Nowinski's retirement soon after.^[12]

A few months later, manager Theodore Long announced that Mark Henry would become Mack's new tag team partner. Mack and Henry competed as a team for about two months and were fairly successful and caused some upsets over some prominent tag teams.^[13][14]

In November 2003, he suffered a knee injury which prevented him from wrestling.^[15] Begnaud was supposed to return to action between March and June 2004, but was sent back to OVW and worked Raw dark matches throughout June and July 2004. Mack made his return to WWE television on July 26, 2004, where he participated in an over the top rope battle royal for a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship.^[16]

On November 4, Mack was released from his contract along with a few others, including his wife Jazz.^[17]

Return to the independent circuit (2005–2006)

After his release, Begnaud began competing on the independent circuit, most prominently for in NWA Cyberspace.^[18] In late 2005, Begnaud and Jazz opened Dirtysouth Championship Wrestling, an independent promotion based in Louisiana.^[1] However, DCW would be renamed Downsouth Championship Wrestling due to copyright issues in early 2006 before ceasing operations in early 2007.^[1]

Return to WWE (2006–2007)

On September 15, 2006, it was reported on WWE.com that Begnaud, along with Marty Jannetty and Brad Armstrong, had been hired by WWE.^[19] He started wrestling at ECW house shows on September 30, 2006.^[1] On January 18, 2007, Mack along with several other superstars (including his wife Jazz) were again released by WWE.^[20]

Return to the independent circuit (2007–2008)

After leaving WWE, Begnaud would make sporadic appearances on the independent circuit before winning the All-American Wrestling Tag Team Championship with Heidenreich on May 18, 2008 after defeating Latinos Locos.^[1][21] However, the title was vacated soon afterwards due to interference in the original title match.^[22]

Mixed Martial Arts

On June 7, 2008, Begnaud made his mixed martial arts debut against Joe Nameth in his hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana. He defeated Nameth via knockout in the first round.^[23]

Personal life

Begnaud is a nephew of Sylvester Ritter, better known as the Junkyard Dog.^[2] He is also married to Carlene Moore, better known as Jazz.^[1][2] In November 2008, the couple had twin girls named Summer and Skye.^[24]

Mixed martial arts record

Result	Record	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location	Notes
Win	1-0-0	Joe Nameth	TKO (Strikes)	USA-MMA - Lafayette vs. The World	02008-06-07 June 7, 2008	1	0:21	Louisiana, United States

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Cobra clutch slam^[25]
  • DDT^[1]
  • Spear^[1]

• Signature moves
  • Belly to belly suplex
  • Double leg slam
  • Double underhook powerbomb^[1]
  • Running powerslam – OVW; used as a regular move in WWE / independent circuit
  • Spear
  • Spinning spinebuster
  • Snap DDT, sometimes to a kneeling opponent
  • STO^[1]
  • Vertical suplex

• Managers
  • Theodore Long

• Nicknames
  • "Badd Dogg" Rodney Mack^[2]
  • "The Pitbull" Rodney Mack^[1]

Championships and accomplishments

• All-American Wrestling (Louisiana)
  • AAW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Heidenreich^[1]

• NWA Southwest
  • NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship (3 times)^[3][26]

• Ohio Valley Wrestling
  • OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Shelton Benjamin^[3][27]

• XCW Wrestling
  • XCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[28]

References

External links

Professional wrestling portal

• Rodney Mack Speaks On WWE's Backstage Politics, XCW
• Rodney Mack at Online World of Wrestling
• Rodney Mack at MySpace
• Rodney Mack at XCW
• Rodney Mack at Royal Wrestling Alliance in Jonesboro, AR