Travis Tomko

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Travis Tomko
Statistics
Ring name(s)	Tomko Travis Bane Tyson Tomko Big Travis
Billed height	6 ft 6 in (198 cm)
Billed weight	286 lb (130 kg)
Born	April 1, 1976 Jacksonville, Florida
Resides	St. Augustine, Florida
Billed from	Jacksonville, Florida Tombstone, Arizona
Trained by	Jim Cornette (OVW) Danny Davis (OVW) Shawn Michaels Hack Meyers
Debut	1999

Travis Tomko (born April 1, 1976), is an American professional wrestler, currently working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling under the ring name Tomko, and New Japan Pro Wrestling under his full name, where he is one half of the IWGP World Tag Team Champions. Tomko is perhaps best known for his appearances on the RAW brand of World Wrestling Entertainment as Tyson Tomko.

1 Career
2 Wrestling facts
3 Championships and accomplishments
4 Personal life
5 References
6 External links

Before becoming a wrestler, Tomko spent three years working as a bodyguard for the band Limp Bizkit. He began training as a wrestler under Hack Meyers in 1999 and debuted later that year, wrestling on the Floridian independent circuit.

Tomko was signed to a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) developmental contract in April 2002 and assigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) to sharpen his skill.

While in OVW he was a member of the Disciples of Synn stable and along with stablemate Seven captured the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship, on March 5, 2003, though they lost them less than a month later to The Acolytes Protection Agency.

In July 2003, Tomko began working dark matches for the WWE Raw brand. He made his television debut on the April 19, 2004 RAW, interfering in a Christian vs. Chris Jericho match on Christian's behalf and helping him pick up the win. His gimmick was that of "The Problem Solver", and acting as an "enforcer for hire" for Christian and his kayfabe girlfriend Trish Stratus in their feud with Chris Jericho. His singles matches were few and far between; his main goal was ensuring victory for his clients, usually by interfering.

When Christian suffered a (legit) back injury, Tomko continued to stand by Stratus and aid her in gaining an advantage in feuds against Jericho, Victoria, and Steven Richards, among others. The duo occasionally paired together for mixed tag team matches. Upon Christian's return, Tomko immediately paired with him again, filling the same role as before. Following the on-screen split between Stratus and Christian, Tomko remained Christian's enforcer.

His gimmick eventually evolved into that of a straight man to Christian's over-the-top character with delusions of grandeur, and Tomko could often be seen on camera shaking his head in disbelief at the situations Christian had put them in with his braggadocio. One famous incident of this was at the 2005 Royal Rumble event, during Christian's rapper feud with John Cena; Christian asked Tomko to give him a beat, and Tomko famously responded "No". This response is now frequently used on pro wrestling message boards as a bit of an injoke.

The duo also wrestled as a tag team on occasion, sometimes aligning themselves with Edge as well. Whenever the duo acted alongside Edge, fans considered Tomko a third party to the occasional reunion of Edge and Christian, often jobbing in six-man tag matches.

In June 2005, Edge, Christian and Tomko joined forces with Eric Bischoff in his crusade against Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). They were separated on June 30 when Christian was drafted to SmackDown!.

Now on his own, Tomko was pushed as a "monster heel", winning singles matches against many jobbers by (kayfabe) knock out after hitting a big boot to the back of the head. On RAW, he knocked out both World Tag Team Champions, Rosey and The Hurricane. His winning streak ended after he was pinned by John Cena on RAW two weeks in a row.

In April 2006, Tomko requested, and was granted, his release from WWE in order to wrestle in Japan.

Tomko debuted in New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) shortly after receiving his release, participating in a tournament for the vacant IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, which had been vacated by Brock Lesnar. On March 11, 2007 Tomko and Giant Bernard defeated Manabu Nakanishi and Takao Omori to win the IWGP World Tag Team Championship.

On the November 23, 2006 episode of TNA iMPACT!, Tomko made his debut in a run-in during a NWA World Heavyweight Championship number one contender's match between Christian Cage and Sting, attacking Sting and siding with Cage. He is once again acting as Christian's enforcer.

On the January 11, 2007 episode of iMPACT!, Tomko went one on one against NWA World Heavyweight Champion Abyss in a non-title match. To avoid interference, Jim Cornette locked Christian in a cage, and also had Kurt Angle at ringside. During the bout, Angle got into a brawl with Samoa Joe, leaving Cage to release himself and assault Abyss, causing Tomko to be disqualified.Then on the March 1st edition of TNA impact he beat Samoa Joe for a chance (not yet announced) for a NWA title shot against Cage.

On March 8th edition of TNA iMPACT!, Christian's Coalition lost to Kurt Angle, Rhino and Samoa Joe after interference from Abyss who Black Hole Slammed Kurt Angle.

At Destination X, while getting out of the limo onto the black and blue carpet, Christian Cage received a telegram from Tomko stating that Tomko was in Japan and would come back if Cage would give him a title shot. Once tomko returned from Japan, Christian Cage offered Tomko a spot on Team Cage at TNA Lockdown 2007, but Tomko said he would'nt choose a team until he got a title shot at the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. It ended up being that Jim Cornette came out and said that the main event on TNA impact that night would be one member from Team Cage fighting one member from Team Angle. Whichever team member won, Tomko would go to the team the member was from. It would be Abyss from Team Cage fighting Kurt Angle from Team Angle. In the end, Kurt Angle won by pinfall, but after the match, Tomko signed on to Team cage instead of Team Angle, making him the final member of Team Cage to fight Team Angle at TNA Lockdown 2007 along with Abyss, AJ Styles, Scott Steiner, and Christian Cage.