Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
The WWF/WWE has had some type of developmental system for years now. Whether it was the USWA, Ohio Valley, Power Pro, Heartland, Deep South, Florida Championship Wrestling or NXT…many of the company’s top superstars got their start in at least one of them. While some developmental names like John Cena, Kurt Angle, Randy Orton, The Miz, Brock Lesnar and Charlotte Flair all made big stars of themselves by first training in developmental, others never got to see the light of day. This series will focus on those wrestlers…the ones that at some point were a lock to get called up to the main roster and never quite made it. What once was hot, suddenly became a “not” as a WWE superstar.
Eli Cottonwood
Kipp Christianson stands a legitimate 7 feet tall and weighs over 300 pounds. A former high school basketball star, Christianson first attended Arizona State University, before transferring to a college closer to home in Minnesota. After graduating college, Christianson played in the NBA summer league for the Milwaukee Bucks and had a tryout with the Dallas Mavericks. He then went on to play for the Continental Basketball Association and also played ball in China.
When his basketball career ended, Christianson moved to Tampa, Florida with his wife and decided to try his hand at professional wrestling. He attended basic wrestling classes run by former wrestling star Steve Keirn. After his training, Keirn recommended that Kipp tryout for a spot in WWE developmental. He did and was signed to a developmental contract in 2008 and assigned to Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW).
After competing under his real name for the first year of his career….his wrestling name was changed to ‘Eli Cottonwood.’ The name was derived from a street in the Mid West called East Cottonwood Road. His gimmick was that of a former patient in a mental hospital.
Cottonwood vastly improved in the ring, to become one of the company’s top prospects. So much so that in 2010, Cottonwood was selected to compete on WWE’s reality/competition show called ‘NXT.’ The winner of the competition would receive a contract to WWE’s main roster.
His mentor during the NXT competition was John Morrison and Eli was eliminated second on the show. Eli returned to developmental, where he would be aligned with Bray Wyatt and become the very first member of the ‘Wyatt Family.’ In June of 2012, Kipp Christianson was released from his developmental contract. He continued to wrestle sporadically on the independent scene…but announced his retirement from wrestling in 2014.
Today, Kipp Christianson works as a real estate consultant. He and his family reside in a suburb of Wisconsin.
To read about other former WWE prospects….Please Click Here
