Al Poling

American professional wrestler from New York City best known for his work for ECW from 1994-1996 as 911. He trained at Larry Sharpe's Monster Factory and competed in some independents before arriving in ECW. His original role was as the anonymous handler who wheeled Sabu (Terry Brunk) to the ring until he was officially named at ECW The Night the Line Was Crossed (1994). He was Paul E. Dangerously (Paul Heyman)'s bodyguard and would beat up anyone who threatened him. The one real move he had was the Chokeslam, so his matches were usually just him Chokeslamming his opponent and pinning him. He left ECW in early 1996 after the heel-turned Taz (Peter Senerchia) choked him out after being the first guy to get up from the Chokeslam. He went to WCW where he was renamed Tombstone and was a jobber (wrestler whose role is to lose to other wrestlers) and later left for the independent circuit. He made a surprise return as a heel on the September 23, 1998 episode of Eastern Championship Wrestling (1993), leading to him getting squashed by Spike Dudley (Matt Hyson). As for his in-ring achievements, he is a former 2x JAPW (Jersey All Pro Wrestling) Heavyweight Champion, a former 2x NWA Jersey Heavyweight Champion, a former NWA (Jersey) World Light Heavyweight Champion, and, in 1994, "Pro Wrestling Illustrated" named him Rookie of the Year. The name Tombstone was a rip on the fact that Paul E. Dangerously had managed a wrestler named Tombstone (Mark Dumer) in Championship Wrestling from Florida. He was a very popular character in ECW. Often, if the fans were trashing something or something just wasn't working, 911 would come out and Chokeslam whoever was there to pop the crowd. He was the "Big Al" that Mick Foley mentioned in his autobiography "Have A Nice Day" when he was talking about how, as Cactus Jack, he needed a tag team partner to take on The Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge (Mike Durham) and Flyboy Rocco Rock (Ted Petty)) after Terry Funk had no-showed their match. This was the August 27, 1994 event which was highlighted by the NWA World Heavyweight Championship Tournament, which Shane Douglas won and then threw down the belt and proclaimed himself the ECW World Heavyweight Champion.