Robert Malcolm "Bob" Sapp (born September 22, 1973) is an American professional wrestler, actor, comedian and former American football player best known for his career as a kickboxer and mixed martial artist. He is well known in Japan, where he has appeared in numerous commercials, television programs, and various other media, and has released a music CD, It's Sapp Time. He also appeared in an episode of the HBO program Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. He is currently working sporadically for various MMA promotions in the United States, Japan, and Europe.
Professional wrestling[]
Bob Sapp's professional wrestling career started in NWA Wildside in 2001. He was quickly contracted by WCW as a developmental wrestler, before the company was bought out by WWF. In 2004, Sapp competed for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), debuting on October 14, 2002, with a win over Manabu Nakanishi. On March 28, 2004, Sapp defeated Kensuke Sasaki to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, becoming the first (and only, to date) African-American to hold the title. After successfully defending the title against Shinsuke Nakamura on May 3 at Nexess, Sapp forfeited the title after losing to Kazuyuki Fujita in a mixed martial arts fight. On October 16, 2007, Sapp made a surprise appearance at Hustle's Korakuen Hall event, attacking Razor Ramon HG and his partner Wataru Sakata. Sapp aligned himself with Generalissimo Takada's Monster Army. He also announced that he would wrestle at the Hustle Mania 11/25 Yokohama Arena event. His opponent was later confirmed to be Razor Ramon HG,whom Sapp went on to defeat. In 2008, Sapp began to participate in WWA, a pro-wrestling organization in South Korea. On October 26, 2009, Sapp captured the WWA Heavyweight title by defeating Lee Wang Pyo. On July 24, 2011, Sapp made his debut for Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) at the "2011: A Ryogoku Peter Pan" event, using a "Beast will fight for money" gimmick. In a comedy match, he was defeated by Danshoku Dino, a wrestler with a homosexual character, being pinned after a kiss and a roll-up. At a NJPW event on December 20, 2012, Toru Yano announced that Sapp would represent the heel CHAOS unit on January 4, 2013, at Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome. At the event, Sapp teamed with Yano, Takashi Iizuka and Yujiro Takahashi in an eight-man tag team match, where they were defeated by Akebono, Manabu Nakanishi, MVP and Strong Man. Sapp made another appearance for New Japan on April 7, 2013, at Invasion Attack, where he and CHAOS stablemates Takashi Iizuka, Tomohiro Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi were defeated by Akebono, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi and Super Strong Machine in another eight-man tag team match. On September 8, Sapp took part in the Wrestle-1 promotion's inaugural event, teaming with Keiji Mutoh in a main event tag team match, where they defeated René Duprée and Zodiac. In 2014, he would compete in the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) and would lose to Aztecaser in his debut match.
In wrestling[]
- Finishing moves
- Avalanche Hold (Falling powerslam)
- Beast Backbreaker (High-angle backbreaker rack)
- Beast Backdrop (Bridging leg hook belly to back suplex)
- Beast Bomb(Falling powerbomb), sometimes done (three times)
- Human Bullet Headbutt (Muscle buster)
- Signature moves
- Airplane spin
- Body avalanche
- Chokeslam
- Elbow drop
- German suplex
- Lariat
- Multiple turnbuckle thrusts
- Plancha
- Sambo suplex
- Shoulder block
- Throwing scoop powerslam
Championships and accomplishments[]
- New Japan Pro Wrestling
- IWGP Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked him #26 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2004
- Tokyo Sports
- MVP Award (2002)
- World Wrestling Association (Korea)
- WWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- Most Charismatic (2003)