Erik Watts

is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation in the 1990s. He is the son of wrestler Bill Watts. Watts trained as a wrestler under his father, Bill Watts, and after wrestling for three months, he was hired by World Championship Wrestling. He debuted on August 27, 1992 in McMinnville, TN, and began a house show series against Buddy Lee Parker and Mark Canterbury. Still undefeated three months later, Watts would defeat Scotty Flamingo (later known as Raven), Vinnie Vegas, and a rookie Diamond Dallas Page. On November 2 Watts defeated Michael Hayes on WCW Saturday Night, and went on to score multiple victories against Mike Thor and Tex Slazenger. On November 8 he achieved a time-limit draw with Steve Austin on a live event in Winston-Salem, NC. In late November he entered his first feud, facing members of The Dangerous Alliance. On November 25 he upset Bobby Eaton in Baltimore, MD, winning by submission with an STF. The following month Watts took WCW US Champion Rick Rude to several time limit draws, and he gained his first pinfall victory over Steve Austin on December 5 in St Paul, MN. On December 7th at WCW Saturday Night his undefeated streak was ended by Rude. His constant pushes were controversial in that his father was WCW's booker at the time, leading to accusations of nepotism. On December 28, at Starrcade, Watts teamed with Jushin Thunder Liger, in a Lethal Lottery tag team match, losing to "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and Sting. In January 1993 Watts gained victories over The Barbarian, Tony Atlas, and a returning Paul Orndorff. In February, he was entered into a tournament to crown a new WCW TV Champion after previous titleholder Scott Steiner had departed four months earlier for the WWF. After defeating Johnny Gunn in the opening round, Watts beat Max Payne by disqualification in the quarter finals. The last two rounds of the tournament were held on March 2 in Macon, GA. Watts pinned Vinnie Vegas in the semifinals but was defeated by Paul Orndorff in the finals. Following his father's departure from WCW, Erik was targeted by Arn Anderson and began a house show series with The Enforcer as the Four Horsemen began the reformation. Watts continued to perform strongly against lower level competition, but was defeated by Steve Regal on July 18, 1993 at Beach Blast. In August, he began a house show series with Chris Benoit and came out victorious in each encounter. A month later however he began his first losing streak, dropping matches to WCW TV Champion Steve Regal on multiple occasions. On November 30, 1993 he was involved in a major angle on WCW Saturday Night. After defeating Paul Orndorff, Paul Roma came out to ringside and attacked Watts. This would lead to the formation of eventual tag-team champions Pretty Wonderful. Meanwhile, Watts continued to be victorious in 1994 against lower level competition, but was unable to break through against more experienced competition like Regal or Orndorff. His final match was on August 1, 1994 against Jean Paul Levesque in Ft Pierce, FL.