Following his release, Parmeter took time off from wrestling, before debuting for NWA Charlotte in February 2009. In July 2010, he was re-signed by WWE, and returned to FCW where he began wrestling as Conor O'Brian. In November 2010, he was announced as a participant in the fourth season of NXT.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (2001–2005)
Parmeter initially trained at the School of Hard Knocks in southern Florida under Rusty Brooks, and made his professional wrestling debut in 2001.[3][2] He went on to compete in Brooks' promotion, Four Star Championship Wrestling (FSCW) as Ryan Payne O'Reilly, and formed a tag team with Jeff "J-Dawg" Brooks, known as the "Irish Thug Connection". Together, the Irish Thug Connection won the FSCW Tag Team Championship.[10] He also won the FSCW Heavyweight Championship,[3] and spent mid-2004 feuding with Norman Smiley over it.[11][12] O'Reilly also competed for Florida's Coastal Championship Wrestling (CCW) promotion, and won the CCW Heavyweight Championship.[3] He appeared for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling during the promotion's early shows.[8]
In early 2006, O'Reilly took a leave of absence. Upon his return, he and Danny Germundo entered a tournament for the DSW Tag Team Championship but were eliminated by Team Elite (Mike Knox and Neikirk) on May 11.[13] On June 22, O'Reilly defeated Neikirk to win the DSW Heavyweight Championship.[13] He successfully defended the championship against Knox, Neikirk,[13] and Montel Vontavious Porter.[14] On September 7, O'Reilly lost the championship to Bradley Jay. During mid-2006, O'Reilly made several appearances at ECWhouse shows, teaming with Neikirk to face The FBI (Little Guido and Tony Mamaluke).[13] O'Reilly was scheduled to become part of the regular ECW roster in September, but violated the WWE Wellness Program, and was suspended for 30 days.[3]
In October 2007, both Parmeter and his girlfriend Krissy Vaine requested and were granted their release from WWE.[3] They cited health problems suffered by members of both of their families as the reason.[3][8][17]
Independent circuit (2007–2010)
In October 2007, Parmeter stated that he was taking time off from wrestling.[18] He returned to wrestling in February 2009, working for NWA Charlotte.[3] He wrestled against Truitt Fields for the territory's Heavyweight Championship, but was unable to win the title. After the loss, O'Reilly formed an alliance with Mikael Judas and Phill Shatter called III, which lasted until the territory's closure.
Return to WWE (2010-2019)
Developmental territories (2010–2011)
Parmeter was re-signed by the WWE on July 14, 2010, and was reassigned to the FCW developmental territory.[19] On August 12, he debuted for Florida Championship Wrestling as Ryan O'Riley losing to Conrad Tanner. He would compete under this name for a short while before becoming Conor O'Brian on September 30.
On November 30, 2010, during the season finale of season three of NXT, it was announced that Parmeter, under the name Conor O'Brian, would be appearing on season four, with Alberto Del Rio as his mentor.[7][4][20] He made his in-ring debut on NXT the following week, teaming with Del Rio to defeat rookie Derrick Bateman and Bateman's mentor Daniel Bryan.[21] O'Brian won his first challenge on the January 4, 2011 episode of NXT, when he won the 'Battle of the Mic Challenge' to earn four immunity points.[22] Two weeks later, on January 18, O'Brian was the second contestant eliminated from NXT. Earlier that night, O'Brian competed in a match against Ricardo Rodriguez in a losing effort.[23]
In March 2011, O'Brian was selected as one of the six former NXT contestants to return to the show in its fifth season, NXT Redemption. During this season, O'Brian was mentored by Vladimir Kozlov.[24] He was later eliminated from competition on the June 28, 2011 episode of NXT, and would later be joined, and eventually replaced, by a returning Derrick Bateman and Daniel Bryan.
On August 28, 2011, Ricardo Rodriguez announced the formation of a stable called The Ascension, with members including O'Brian, Kenneth Cameron, Tito Colon and Raquel Diaz. The first match to include all members in some capacity came on September 1, 2011, and saw Cameron, Colon and O'Brian, accompanied by Diaz, defeating CJ Parker, Donny Marlow and Johnny Curtis.[25] On September 30, Cameron and Colon had a shot at the FCW Tag Team Championship but lost to the current champions of CJ Parker and Donny Marlow. By October, however, video packages appeared promoting the Ascension under new seemingly demonic, supernatural characters, and did not include Rodriguez as he was disassociated from the team. By the end of November the Ascension had all but disbanded because O'Brian was injured, Colon had been called up to WWE to team with his cousin Primo, and Diaz became Queen of FCW and distanced herself from the group. This left Cameron as the sole survivor of the Ascension, continuing to use the Ascension gimmick during his appearances. On March 15, 2012, O'Brian returned accompanying Cameron to the ring in his match against Byron Saxton; the match ended in disqualification when O'Brian interfered. Cameron and O'Brian began wrestling as a tag team using the name The Ascension, and their first tag team match together came on March 23 when the two defeated Jason Jordan and Xavier Woods. The Ascension suffered their first loss when the pair lost to the FCW Tag Team Champions Corey Graves and Jake Carter, in a title match.[26]
With the conclusion of NXT Redemption, WWE rebranded its developmental territory FCW into NXT.[27] O'Brian and Cameron, as The Ascension, debuted on the June 20 episode of the rebooted NXT taped at Full Sail University, where they defeated Mike Dalton and CJ Parker.[28][29] The Ascension then started a feud with The Usos,[30] defeating them on the September 5 NXT,[31] and also scored a win over Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd on the October 3 NXT.[32] Two weeks later, the Ascension teamed up with Kassius Ohno to defeat Richie Steamboat and the Usos.[33] The Ascension disbanded on November 30, 2012 when Cameron was released from WWE.[34]
NXT Tag Team Champion (2012–2015)
O'Brian retained his character while using "The Ascension" as his nickname as he started to feud with Big E Langston for the NXT Championship.[35][36] O'Brian first faced Langston in a non-title match, which ended in a double disqualification.[37] O'Brian then faced Corey Graves in a number one contender match which had no winner when the Shield attacked both men to make a statement.[38] The next week, O'Brian defeated Graves and Bo Dallas to become the number one contender.[39] The feud ended after O'Brian was defeated in a title match on the April 4 episode of NXT.[40] On the May 29 NXT, O'Brian competed in an 18-man number one contender battle royal and was eliminated by Corey Graves and Kassius Ohno.[41] To reform the Ascension tag team, Rick Victor allied himself with O'Brian and they managed to win the NXT Tag Team Championships held by Adrian Neville and Corey Graves. On November 10, 2013 O'Brian's name was tweaked and shortened to "Konnor". On February 27, 2014 at NXT Arrival, he and Viktor successfully defended the NXT Tag Team Championships against Too Cool, repeating the feat on May 29, 2014 at NXT TakeOver against the team of El Local and Kalisto.
On December 8, 2019, WWE announced it had come to terms on the release of Parmeter along with his partner, ending his nine year run with the company.[44]
Return to independent circuit (2020–present)
Following their departure from WWE, Konnor and Viktor were announced for Wrestling Revolver's Pancakes and Piledrivers event during WrestleMania 36 weekend.[45] On February 20, 2020, The Ascension competed in their first match since leaving WWE at Outlaw Wrestling defeating Bull James and Bill Carr. Konnor joined the Isolation Wrestling Federation on May 9, 2020.[46]
Impact Wrestling / Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2022–present)
On November 3, 2022 edition of Impact, Konnor returned to Impact Wrestling joining Violent by Design, which would later be renamed to The Design.
On the February 1, 2024 edition of Impact!, Kon ended his partnership with Deaner, declaring that The Design is dead. Later that night, following a match between PCO and Deaner, Kon would attack both men, further signaling the end of The Design and beginning a feud with PCO. Following weeks of attacks against each other, a match between Kon and PCO was made for No Surrender.
Personal life
Parmeter began dating fellow professional wrestler Kristin Eubanks better known as Krissy Vaine in 2006.[8] In an interview in October 2007, Parmeter announced the two were engaged.[18] In September 2017, the couple had their first child, a boy, named Elijah.[49]
^Kreikenbohm, Philip. "PPW Platinumweight Championship". CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database. Archived from the original on November 1, 2021. Retrieved March 3, 2023.