Orlando Jordan

Early years (2003–2004)

Jordan made his WWE television debut on the May 31, 2003 episode of Velocity, where he defeated Jamie Noble. On June 26, 2003, Jordan made his first SmackDown! appearance as a face at Madison Square Garden, where he lost to John Cena. Although he did not win the match, he was impressive enough that when Cena attacked Jordan after the match was over, The Undertaker, with whom Cena was feuding with, came to the ring and helped Jordan to his feet.

The Cabinet (2004–2005)

After being a face for several months, Jordan turned heel by joining John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL)'s Cabinet and being appointed as his "Chief of Staff". This happened when he saved JBL from an attack from The Undertaker. A few months after joining, Jordan began changing his look by growing out his hair. While a part of The Cabinet, Jordan, along with the Basham Brothers (who became the newly appointed "Co-Secretaries of Defense"), helped JBL manage to keep his WWE Championship for nine months by interfering in his title matches against Eddie Guerrero, Booker T, the face run of Big Show, and The Undertaker, who was the first person to show Jordan respect.

After JBL began a feud with a now-face John Cena over the WWE title leading up to WrestleMania 21, Jordan faced off with Cena on the March 3, 2005 edition of SmackDown! from the Times Union Center in Albany, New York. Orlando defeated John Cena with the help of JBL to win the United States Championship, his first and only title in WWE. After losing his WWE Title to John Cena at WrestleMania 21, JBL stated that his Cabinet had been holding him back, which led to the departure of the Bashams. His first major successful title defense was against Heidenreich at Judgment Day. At The Great American Bash, Jordan began feuding with the newly drafted Chris Benoit. Jordan defeated Benoit and retained his United States Championship after removing the turnbuckle pad and shoving Benoit head-first into the exposed steel and covered him for the win. Feeling cheated, Benoit continued to chase Jordan for the title. He finally defeated Jordan (in a record 25.5 seconds) at SummerSlam to win the title. Following this quick match, Jordan attempted to win his title back on multiple occasions, leading to 3 consecutive losses with all matches lasting less than a minute. The first rematch lasted 23.4 seconds. During the second rematch, Jordan actually almost knocked out Benoit with a punch in the opening moments but still lost at 22.5 seconds, which was even faster than the first match. During the third match, Jordan stalled until the time, which was being displayed on the TitanTron, went over 25 seconds. He got so excited when his time went over 30 seconds that he dropped his guard and Benoit took the opportunity to lock on the Sharpshooter for a win at the 49.8 second mark. Earlier in the show, Orlando stated that he had mastered every counter to Benoit's signature Crippler Crossface, which was shown when during the match every time Benoit attempted the Crippler Crossface, Jordan countered it. After those unsuccessful rematches, Jordan later broke away from JBL, although both later made a few appearances together later on.

Various feuds (2005–2006)

When Booker T got injured halfway through his Best of Seven series for the United States Championship, he needed a replacement to face Chris Benoit. As the series was at 3–1 in Booker's favor, Booker T only needed his replacement to win one match in order to become the United States Champion. Jordan approached him about the position, but Booker T and his wife Sharmell belittled him and made jokes about his quick submission losses to Benoit. Booker instead asked Randy Orton to substitute for him. After Orton failed to win the deciding match, leading Jordan to once again ask for the position the next week, Booker T once again turned Jordan down after belittling him. During the sixth match in the series, Jordan jumped the rail, grabbed Booker T's crutch, and hit Benoit for a disqualification finish and thus giving Benoit the victory and tying the Best of Seven Series at 3–3. The next week, Jordan ran to ringside to attempt to halt Booker T from winning the championship, but was unable to prevent Orton from eventually beating Benoit to win the series for Booker T.

Jordan was then pushed down to Velocity and won several matches there. Jordan made his final SmackDown! appearance on the May 12 episode of SmackDown! in a backstage segment, telling Nunzio that he had seen someone who looked like his partner Vito dressed in drag at a night club during the recent UK tour. His final WWE appearance was a loss to Gunner Scott on the May 13 episode of Velocity.

Independent circuit (2006–2010)

Jordan began competing on the independent circuit soon after his WWE departure along with wrestling overseas, most notably for Nu-Wrestling Evolution, a promotion based in Italy, as well as New Japan Pro Wrestling. Jordan became NWE Champion in April 2008. Later in that month, he was involved in a confrontation with the Ultimate Warrior, leading to the return of Warrior after a ten-year absence to face Jordan in a match in June 2008. Jordan lost the title to Warrior on June 25, 2008 in Barcelona, while holding the honor of being Warrior's very last opponent.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2010–2011)

On the January 4, 2010, live, three-hour, Monday night edition of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's Impact! television show Jordan made his debut for the company in a backstage segment with D'Angelo Dinero. He then as a heel, defeated Dinero in a singles match on the January 21 episode of Impact!. After scoring an upset victory over Samoa Joe on the February 18 edition of Impact!, Jordan disappeared from TV, before re-surfacing on the March 29 edition of Impact!, debuting a new look and starting the bisexual angle he had proposed to WWE creative before his release from that company. On April 9 Jordan announced that he had signed a new multi-year contract with TNA. On the May 3 edition of Impact!, Jordan debuted his new interview segment, O-Zone, during which he attacked and started a feud with the Global Champion Rob Terry. At Sacrifice Jordan challenged Terry for the Global Championship, but was unsuccessful. The following Thursday on Impact!, Jordan scored a non-title victory over Terry, after capitalizing on Terry's injured knee, which he had injured at Sacrifice. Jordan's feud with Terry came to an end on the June 3 edition of Impact!, when the Global Champion pinned him in a tag team match, where he teamed with Desmond Wolfe and Terry with Abyss.

On the July 21 episode of Explosion, Jordan defeated Homicide, On the July 29 edition of Impact! Jordan, himself formed a dysfunctional tag team with face Eric Young, who had been battling (kayfabe) mental problems ever since taking a bump on the head, being completely unaware of Jordan's sexual orientation and interest in him. on September 29 edition of TNA Xplosion, Jordan defeated Suicide. on September 24 edition of TNA Xplosion, Jordan and Eric Young faced Ink Inc. in a losing effort this led to a rematch At Bound for Glory Young's antics cost him and Jordan their match against Ink Inc. (Jesse Neal and Shannon Moore). on the October 15 edition of TNA Xplosion, Jordan and Eric Young defeated Rob Terry and Suicide. on the November 3 edition of TNA Xplosion, Jordan defeated Magnus, Upon the team's next appearance on Impact! on December 16, Jordan had turned face as he and Young defeated Generation Me (Jeremy and Max Buck) in a tag team match. On April 17, 2011, at Lockdown, Jordan and Young were unsuccessful in becoming the number one contenders to the TNA World Tag Team Championship in a four tag team steel cage match, which was won by Ink Inc. on May 12, 2011 edition of Impact! Jordan competed in a battle royal to become the #1 contender for the world heavyweight championship but failed to win the match. on June 28, 2011, Jordan faced Magnus in the 1st round of the Xplosion Championship Challenge but lost the match. After this point, Eric Young went on a singles run and won the TNA Television Championship, the title formerly known as the TNA Global Championship, while Jordan was taken off television. Jordan last TNA match took place on July 2, 2011 at a TNA Live Event where Jordan, Eric Young and Amazing Red defeated Robbie E, Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams in a six-man tag team match. On July 11, 2011, it was reported that Jordan had been released from TNA.

Return to the independent circuit (2011–present)

On November 5, 2011, at a NWA event, Jordan faced Steve Anthony in a lumberjack match but lost the match. At Outback Championship Wrestling's Battle for Ballarat event on May 31, 2013, Jordan defeated Andy Phoenix in what would be his final match before retiring from professional wrestling.

On June 3, 2016, at Menai Mania II, Jordan beat AWE Heavyweight Champion Luke Knight, having qualified for a title opportunity through the Innerwest rumble. He would, however, drop the title to Knight weeks later.

Personal life

Jordan was misdiagnosed with autism as a child. He also had speech difficulties, and attended classes to help him overcome them. He competed in gymnastics as a child, and participated in amateur wrestling. He attended Boise State University after winning the 1993 state championship at 189 pounds for Hermitage High School in Richmond, Virginia. Before becoming a professional wrestler, he was a member of the United States Forest Service. He then relocated to Florida, where he became a reputable amateur boxer.

As of June 2011, Jordan is the co-owner (along with independent wrestler Luke Hawx) of WildKat Sports & Entertainment, a professional wrestling training center located outside New Orleans. Their school has since spawned a Louisiana-exclusive wrestling federation, WILDKAT Pro, which was briefly a member territory of the National Wrestling Alliance. On August 20, 2012, Jordan opened another wrestling school in Melbourne, where he currently resides.

Jordan is openly bisexual. On October 10, 2013, he announced his marriage to a woman in Australia. The following year, his daughter Dakota Mae, was born.

In other media

Jordan appeared as a playable character in the video games WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2006 and WWE Day of Reckoning 2.

In wrestling

Amateur wrestling

Professional wrestling