Kliff Hanger

Early life

Rico Lewis was born in Columbus, Ohio as the fifth of seven children born to Donald "Big Rico" Lewis, who was a single parent. He ventured into amateur wrestling, from grades four through graduation, winning many tournaments in the 55 kg and under categories. Lewis left home before graduation from Columbus South High School and supported himself since he was 17. He briefly attended Franklin University in Columbus, before leaving to pursue professional wrestling part-time and working in the trucking industry. His first exposure to professional wrestling came in the early 1980s while watching Mid-South Wrestling.

Early career (1994–2000)

Lewis's first professional match (under the alias Ivy Leege, a play on words to acknowledge his academic background) took place in Spencer, West Virginia at the National Guard Armory for NWA Tri-State Wrestling, promoted by former NWA President Richard Arpin on November 5, 1994.

He performed in the Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, and most notably in Canada's Renegade Wrestling Alliance (RWA). Ontario promoter "Sweet" Steve Hart quickly crowned The Casanova Cliq as his RWA Tag Team Champions, and they went on to feud with the well-established tag teams The All Knighters and The Hollywood Hunks. When tag team partner Dale Johnson left professional wrestling in the mid 1990s, The Casanova Cliq tag team was dissolved. Lewis then took a break from wrestling.

After several unpaid tryouts in several cities for Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), Lewis was accepted onto the ring and errands crew for ECW for fourteen months during 1999 and 2000.

Harley Race Wrestling Academy (2001–2002)

Lewis wrestled his only match of 2001—as well as the only match under his real name—on August 3, 2001 in Cornelia, Georgia for NWA Wildside. NWA Promoter Bill Behrens recommended that he go to a real pro wrestling school for additional seasoning. Behrens then supplied contact information to pro wrestling Hall of Fame wrestler "Handsome" Harley Race in Missouri. After his initial tryout on September 15, 2001 was deemed a success, Rico moved from Columbus, Ohio to Jefferson City, Missouri shortly thereafter (training was held in nearby Eldon, Missouri). Lewis never wrestled any matches for Harley Race's World League Wrestling promotion, instead opting to "start over and re-learn the business" under Race and his trainers.

Heartland Wrestling Alliance (2002–2005)

Lewis moved to Louisville, Kentucky, after five months of "re-training" and created a character called Kliff Hanger. On a whim, a fellow wrestler Vito Andretti found a cowboy hat backstage at a show and dared Kliff to wear it and make fun of the fans since he did not have a Kentucky accent. This was similar to the antics created by comedian Andy Kaufman during his foray into professional wrestling in the 1980s against the Tennessee fans. This heel posturing was the creation of a volatile character known as "The Black Redneck" Kliff Hanger. "The Black Redneck" wore tight clothes that were very stereotypical of old west cowboy culture. Hanger eventually wrestled as a babyface with an entire wrestling outfit featuring the confederate flag. The Kliff Hanger character ventured north for three years to Cincinnati, Ohio-based Heartland Wrestling Alliance (HWA). While in HWA, he twice wrestled Nigel McGuinness (now Desmond Wolfe in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling). He also had matches with several HWA stars, including Matt Stryker, Ric Byrne, Jon Moxley, Cody Hawk, and had a running feud with HWA Senior Official Joe Kopasz. Rico often states to be grateful for the experience of being allowed to express himself creatively, working with definitely much better talents than himself, and credits Desmond Wolfe for explaining how to be an "over" wrestling personality. He also credits Desmond Wolfe with being a very valuable in-ring mentor along with then-HWA President Les Thatcher.

NWA, AWA, Tennessee

Hanger captured four AWA related titles, the AWA-Supreme Championship Wrestling World Television Title, the AWA-SCW Mid-American Title (twice), and the AWA-SCW Tag Team Titles (with Apollo The H.N.I.C) in 2005 and 2006. After competing in various Nashville based independents including T.J. Weatherby's Showtime All-Star Wrestling and Tony Falk's United States Wrestling Organization, Lewis was invited to step up to the big leagues again at NWA Top Rope Wrestling. On February 7, 2009, Hanger captured the NWA CyberSlam Championship and is the longest reigning champion to date. He eventually was upended by Lawrence The Sharp Dressed Man. Hanger also feuded (mostly verbally) with NWA Top Rope Wrestling promoter Mike Sircy. It was in NWA Top Rope where he turned heel, and shed "The Black Redneck" Confederate flag persona and became "The Black Diamond," basically an extension of his real personality. As part of the gimmick, he often flaunted his real jewelry, fashion tastes, and impeccable style.

Ring of Honor, Wrestling Stars, and The Future

Kliff Hanger made his Ring of Honor (ROH) debut in Indianapolis, Indiana on October 10, 2009 at Survival of the Fittest. Kliff Hanger lost the dark match main event to ROH star Grizzly Redwood.

Kliff Hanger has crossed paths in the ring with professional wrestling stars U-gene! (Nick Dinsmore), ECW World Champion Jerry Lynn, and NWA World Champion "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin.

Kliff Hanger is still wrestling in various independent promotions, but has streamlined his focus more on the Confederate-based promotions World Wrestling Cartel, Southern Xtreme Wrestling, Showtime All-Star Wrestling, NWA Tope Rope Wrestling, and Ring of Honor.

Personal life

Lewis is the father of two biological children and two stepchildren.

Championships and accomplishments