Bad Breed competed in ECW's tag team division in the early years of the company until the team was forced to disband after losing to The Pitbulls and engaged in a rivalry against each other that Pro Wrestling Illustrated named Feud of the Year in 1995.
After an unsuccessful singles career, Rotten formed short-lived tag teams with Hack Meyers and D-Von Dudley before forming Hardcore Chair Swingin' Freaks with Balls Mahoney in 1997. The team lasted until he departed ECW in 1999. He then wrestled on the independent circuit and appeared at World Wrestling Entertainment's ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view in 2005.
Professional wrestling career
Training and early career (1986–1993)
Knighton was trained to wrestle by Ricky Lawless at a gym on Baltimore's North Avenue, receiving supplementary training from Joey Maggs. He debuted on the independent circuit at the age of 17, adopting the ring name "Axl Rotten", a portmanteau of the rockersAxl Rose and Johnny Rotten.[1] Rotten won his first championship teaming with Lawless to win the tag team titles in Frank Cain's Star Cavalcade Wrestling during the summer of 1988. He also succeeded Lawless as the promotion's heavyweight champion when, shortly after reigning champion Ricky Lawless was murdered, he won the vacant title from The Psycho in Thomasville, Georgia, on November 30, 1988.[5]
In the early 1990s, Rotten trained Ian Rotten, who formed a tag team with Axl, masquerading as his brother and taking his stage name from Cheech Marin's character in Get Out of My Room. The duo, known as The Bad Breed, wrestled primarily in the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation. Axl later opened his own professional wrestling promotion in Maryland called Universal Independent Wrestling. The promotion featured wrestlers such as the Bad Breed, Bam Bam Bigelow and Scotty The Body. It had a television series that aired on Saturday nights on the local ABC channel. The promotion closed in the mid-1990s.
From 1991 to 1993, Axl and Ian Rotten had a run with the Global Wrestling Federation (GWF) in Texas, being featured on their daily ESPN show. While in GWF, Axl succeeded in winning both the GWF Commonwealth title and the GWF Tag Team Championship, with Ian Rotten.
At The Doctor Is In, Rotten competed against D-Von Dudley in a match which ended in a no contest after interference by Dudley Brothers. Rotten left with D-Von after the match and formed a tag team with D-Von, thus turning into a villainouscharacter for the first time in his ECW career.[35] Beginning at Natural Born Killaz, Rotten and Dudley wrestled Dudley Brothers in a series of matches throughout the fall of 1996.[36][37][38] Rotten defeated his former tag team partner Hack Meyers at November to Remember.[39] Rotten and D-Von pursued the World Tag Team Championship, receiving title shots against The Gangstas on the December 10 episode of Hardcore TV[40] and The Eliminators at House Party on January 11, 1997,[41][42] but failed to win the titles. Rotten followed with a feud against Dudley Brothers member Spike Dudley, whom he defeated in matches at Winter Blowout[43] and CyberSlam.[44]
Hardcore Chair Swingin' Freaks (1997–1999)
D-Von Dudley went on to form a tag team with Buh Buh Ray Dudley called Dudley Boyz at Crossing the Line Again,[45] which broke up Rotten's team with D-Von and Rotten moved on to singles competition. Shortly after, he formed a tag team with newcomer Balls Mahoney called The Hardcore Chair Swingin' Freaks, thus turning into a fan favorite again. The team began pursuing the World Tag Team Championship and feuded with teams such as Dudley Boyz, The Full Blooded Italians and The Gangstanators for the title. Rotten made his pay-per-view debut at November to Remember, where Hardcore Chair Swingin' Freaks competed against Gangstanators, FBI and Dudley Boyz in a four-way dance for the tag team titles, where they were the last team eliminated by defending champions Full Blooded Italians.[46] Mahoney and Rotten often teamed with the likes of New Jack and Spike Dudley to feud with Dudley Boyz and The Full Blooded Italians.
Mahoney and Rotten were frequent contenders for the World Tag Team Championship but came up short in their bid for the titles. They received several title shots against Chris Candido and Lance Storm for the tag team titles including one at Wrestlepalooza on May 3, 1998, but came up short in their title opportunities.[47] Rotten was out of action due to injury in September and returned to ECW on December 4 by attacking Buh Buh Ray Dudley with a barbed wire baseball bat after a match between Dudley Boyz and The Gangstanators.[48] Hardcore Chair Swingin' Freaks would then challenge Rob Van Dam and Sabu for the World Tag Team Championship on numerous occasions including the House Partyevent on January 16, 1999, but failed to win the title.[49] They also entered a feud with Danny Doring and Roadkill after beating Doring and Roadkill and FBI in a three-way dance at Guilty as Charged,[50] resulting in Mahoney and Rotten taking on Doring and Roadkill in a series of matches including one at Crossing the Line, which Mahoney and Rotten won.[51] At CyberSlam, Hardcore Chair Swingin' Freaks and New Jack lost to Mr. Mustafa and the Dudley Boyz in an Ultimate Jeopardy match.[52]
Rotten performed at the ECW reunion event Hardcore Homecoming on June 10, 2005, reuniting with Ian Rotten in a loss to The Gangstanators.[57] At the follow-up event, November Reign, on November 6, 2005, Rotten defeated Ian Rotten in a Taipei Death match.[58] Rotten also wrestled at the Extreme Reunion event on April 28, 2012, defeating Balls Mahoney.[59] His last match was teaming with partner Ian Rotten defeating Peter B. Beautiful and Simon Seez in a Taipei Deathmatch at IWA Mid-South on June 14, 2013.
On October 30, 2014 Rotten's back gave away, and was left agony on the floor. He was hospitalized making him retire form the sport.
World Wrestling Entertainment (2005)
In June 2005, Rotten was temporarily hired by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) for its ECW tribute pay-per-view, One Night Stand. He debuted in WWE on the June 6, 2005, episode of Raw, storming the ring with several other ECW alumni.[60] At One Night Stand on June 12, 2005, Rotten, Balls Mahoney and Kid Kash brawled with The Blue World Order prior to the main event.[61] Rotten went to wrestle several dark matches for WWE in July 2005.[62]
Knighton experienced a spine injury in his final years that forced him out of the ring and required the use of a wheelchair. He was living in Anchorage Rehab Center in Salisbury, Maryland. [64]
Death
Knighton was found dead by police in a McDonald's bathroom next to the hotel he was staying at in Linthicum, Maryland, on February 4, 2016. An autopsy showed that Knighton's cause of death was a heroin overdose.[65][66]
In July 2016, his estate was named part of a class action lawsuit filed against WWE which alleged that wrestlers incurred traumatic brain injuries during their tenure and that the company concealed the risks of injury. The suit was litigated by attorney Konstantine Kyros, who has been involved in a number of other lawsuits against WWE.[67] On October 21, 2016, it was revealed Knighton experienced CTE.[68] US District Judge Vanessa Lynne Bryant dismissed the lawsuit in September 2018.[69]