Changes: El Phantasmo

Revision as of 19:41, 2 January 2020

Riley Vigier (born October 24, 1986), otherwise known as El Phantasmo (ELP), is a Canadian professional wrestler currently working for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW), where he is the current British Cruiserweight Champion in his first reign, while also being currently one-half of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions in his first reign as part of Bullet Club.

Phantasmo started his career in 2005 in Canada making his debut for Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling and later started working in the Canadian independent circuit. In 2012, Phantasmo he was set to perform and train in the United States, but he had border problems and he was involved in a serious motorcycle crash, which almost derailed, but in 2016, Phantasmo expanded his career in the United Kingdom working throughout the British independent circuit, most notably for Revolution Pro Wrestling, where in his third year at RPW, he won the British J-Cup and later the British Cruiserweight Championship. During this time, Phantasmo began working for NJPW in May 2019 and became the newest member of Bullet Club. Two months later, Phantasmo won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Two months later, he would win the 2019 Super J-Cup.

Professional wrestling career

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2019–present)

During the first night of the New Japan Cup 2019, a vignette was shown teasing new member for Bullet Club. On May 4, 2019, at Wrestling Dontaku, Phantasmo made his debut in NJPW being revealed as the newest member of Bullet Club, which had previously had been teased. In his debut match, Phantasmo teamed with Bullet Club stablemate Taiji Ishimori in a winning effort against IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Dragon Lee and Will Ospreay. Later that month, Phantasmo took part in the 2019 Best of the Super Juniors, finishing with a record of six wins and three losses, but failed to advance to the finals due to losing to Ryusuke Taguchi in their head-to-head match. During the tournament, Phantasmo started feuding with Bullet Club stablemate Robbie Eagles, where Phantasmo helped Eagles to defeat Will Ospreay, but Eagles didn't want it, while also challenging with Ishimori for the IWGP Junior Tag Team Championship, despite Ishimori's being Eagles partner. On June 16 at Kizuna Road, Ishimori and Phantasmo defeated Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. The following day, Phantasmo along with Bullet Club stablemates Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi unsuccessfully challenged Ryusuke Taguchi, Togi Makabe and Toru Yano for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. Later that month, Phantasmo and Eagles feud culminated in Eagles turning on him and later joining CHAOS, after refusing to attack Will Ospreay. On August 22, Phantasmo entered the 2019 Super J-Cup tournament, defeating Robbie Eagles in his first round match. On August 24, Phantasmo defeated TJP, in the second round. On August 26, Phantasmo defeated Will Ospreay and then Dragon Lee, in the semifinals and finals, respectively, to win the 2019 Super J-Cup. After winning the tournament, Phantasmo challenged Ospreay to a match. On August 31 at Royal Quest, after Phantasmo and Ishimori lost to Ospreay and Robbie Eagles, Phatasmo challenged Ospreay again to a match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. He received his championship match on October 14 at King of Pro-Wrestling, unsuccessfully challenging Will Ospreay for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. From October 16 until November 1, Phantasmo and Ishimori took part in the 2019 Super Jr. Tag League, finishing the tournament with a record of five wins and two losses, but failed to advance to the finals due to losing to Sho and Yoh in their head-to-head match.

Personal life

Vigier grew up in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada. He has a step-father. He graduated from Westview Secondary School in 2004. He graduated from the Art Institute of Vancouver with a diploma for digital film and video program in 2006. He would help design event posters, intro videos, and individual match screens for ECCW. From 2010 to 2017, he was an animatic editor for Bardel Entertainment. In 2012, Phantasmo was involved in a border problem, after patrol officer suspected he was trying to move illegally and believed he could not prove that he had any plans on returning to Canada once his trip ended, being banned from entering in the United States. Shortly after, he was involved in a serious motorcycle crash, which has caused problems with his hip and took a full year of rehabilitation to recover. The police officer who described the incident stated that he had never seen somebody walk from that type of accident.

El Phantasmo's wrestling training group in 2005 included Kyle O'Reilly, Gurv Sihra, and Sid Sylum. He is known as "Mr. Ballroom Brawl" since he, as of 2017, has had a match at every Ballroom Brawl.

In wrestling

Finishing moves
- CRII - Canadian Revolution II (Double hammerlock inverted back to belly mat slam)
- Senton bomb followed by a springboard moonsault
Signature moves
- Bicycle kick
- Escalera frankensteiner
- Canadian Destroyer (Somersault piledriver)
- Facewash
- Frog splash
- Stepping handstand senton
- Hurricanrana, sometimes from an elevated position
- Kenka kick
- Ropewalk Asai moonsault
- Sankakugeri (Step-up springboard enzuigiri to an elevated opponent)
- Sole butt followed by a rising kick followed by an enzuigiri
- Sleeper hold
- Spin-out straight-jacket torture rack neckbreaker
- Standing neckscissors snap
- Suicide dive
- Superkick
- Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker
- Tornado DDT
Nicknames
- "ELP"

Championships and accomplishments

New Japan Pro Wrestling
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) - with Taiji Ishimori
- Super J-Cup (2019)
Revolution Pro Wrestling
- British Cruiserweight Championship (1 time, current)
- British J-Cup (2018)

External links

El Phantasmo's New Japan Pro-Wrestling profile

@@ Line 30: / Line 30: @@
 El Phantasmo's wrestling training group in 2005 included [[Kyle O'Reilly]], Gurv Sihra, and Sid Sylum. He is known as "Mr. Ballroom Brawl" since he, as of 2017, has had a match at every Ballroom Brawl.
+==In wrestling==
+*'''Finishing moves'''
+**''CRII - Canadian Revolution II ''(Double hammerlock inverted back to belly mat slam)
+**Senton bomb followed by a springboard moonsault
+*'''Signature moves'''
+**Bicycle kick
+**Escalera frankensteiner
+**''Canadian Destroyer ''(Somersault piledriver)
+**Facewash
+**Frog splash
+**Stepping handstand senton
+**Hurricanrana, sometimes from an elevated position
+**Kenka kick
+**Ropewalk Asai moonsault
+**''Sankakugeri ''(Step-up springboard enzuigiri to an elevated opponent)
+**Sole butt followed by a rising kick followed by an enzuigiri
+**Sleeper hold
+**Spin-out straight-jacket torture rack neckbreaker
+**Standing neckscissors snap
+**Suicide dive
+**Superkick
+**Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker
+**Tornado DDT
+*'''Nicknames'''
+**"ELP"
 ==Championships and accomplishments==