James Harrison

James Steven Harrison MBE (born February 6, 1996) is an English professional wrestler who is signed to the WWE performing on the SmackDown brand, where he is the current Universal Champion in his record fourth reign as champion.

Harrison trained in the United Kingdom, making his debut aged 13 in 2009. He spent time on the independent circuits in the UK, Japan and United States before joining WWE. Harrison is recognised by WWE as a seven-time World Champion having won the both the Universal Championship four times and the WWE Championship three times. He is a former three-time United States Champion and a former Intercontinental Champion. Alongside Neville he won the NXT Tag Team Championship, before winning three Raw Tag Team Championships and one SmackDown Tag Team Championship with Neville and Tyler Breeze and a further three Raw Tag titles with Neville, Breeze and Drew McIntyre. He has also won the WWE World Cup and the Mixed Match Challenge, winning the latter alongside wife Alexa Bliss and the men's Money in the Bank contract in 2021. He is also one of only seven multiple Royal Rumble winners, winning in 2016 and 2019.

Harrison has also received acclaim for his in-ring work with 20 of his matches earning at least a five star rating from Dave Meltzer with six surpassing five stars and one against Kenny Omega at the G1 Special in San Francisco earning a joint record seven stars.

NXT (2012–14)
Harrison debuted on NXT television on June 20, 2013 teaming up with Adrian Neville to face Luke Harper and Erick Rowan for the NXT Tag Team Championship, which they won after Neville pinned Harper after a Red Arrow. The following week they faced Enzo and Cass in their debut as a team, during the match Harrison hit Enzo with his signature knee strike but with a little too much force breaking Enzo's nose. The move injured Marcus Louis and Sylvester Lefort in a tag match giving Louis a black eye and breaking Lefort's orbital bone. The move is known as one of the most dangerous in the WWE.

Pipebombs (2014–15)
Harrison debuted on Raw following WrestleMania XXX as the opponent for Rob Van Dam, he defeated the former WWE Champion by pinfall. Over the next few months Harrison continued to pick up victories and had title matches on pay-per-view winning a few via disqualification or count-out but per WWE rules he didn't win the title, but what he is best remebered for throughout 2014 is his pipebombs. Throughout the year he continued to interupt fellow wrestlers during promos and blasted them on the mic in either worked shoot or shoot promos. According to Harrison when he appeared on the Stone Cold Podcast in 2016 quite a lot of these promos were made up on the spot and admitted to struggling to stick to the PG rating, he said he was allowed to ignore it during live events and usually would.

Feud with Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens (2016–2017)
On the November 7, 2016 episode of Raw Harrison faced Kevin Owens in a double title match with each man putting up their respective singles titles. Harrison pinned Owens after a Flatliner to not only retain his WWE United States Championship but win Owens' WWE Universal Championship, thus becoming not only the youngest ever world champion at 20 years and 274 days but the first ever British world champion. Harrison competed at Survivor Series as part of Team Raw but he was the final member of Team Raw to be eliminated as his team were unsuccessful in defeating Team SmackDown. During the match Harrison eliminated Shane McMahon after catching him in a spear as he attempted a Coast to Coast. The following night on Raw Harrison successfully defended his Universal Championship against Kevin Owens in a no disqualification match despite interference from Chris Jericho.

On the December 12, 2016 episode of Raw Neville and Tyler Breeze successfully defended the Tag titles against The New Day and Gallows and Anderson in the opening match of the night, the team were forced to defend them in the same night in the main event against the teams of Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho, and Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, this time Harrison defended the titles succesfully alongside Neville. At Roadblock: End of the Line Neville and Breeze lost the tag team titles to Sheamus and Cesaro thus ending their 553 day record reign. Harrison successfully defended the Universal Championship in his first main event later that night but was attacked by Chris Jericho before being helped out by Tyler Breeze. The following night on Raw Harrison praised both Neville and Breeze for their actions at the pay-per-view Neville for attacking the crusierweight division and Breeze for helping him out, as a result Neville will get a future Cruiserweight Championship match and Harrison awarded Breeze the United States Championship.

Harrison faced off against Owens for the final time at the Royal Rumble with Harrison successfully defending the Universal title in a six-star match. Harrison would then go on to face Goldberg at Fastlane in the main event and defeated him in 22 seconds. Harrison would then go on to defend his title again at WrestleMania 33 defeating Sami Zayn.

Intercontinetal Champion and undefeated streak (2017–2018)
Following WrestleMania 33 the Superstar Shake-Up took place with Harrison's wife Alexa Bliss joining him on Raw despite rumours that began in December indicated Harrison wanted to join his wife on SmackDown Live. On the April 10, 2017 episode of Raw it was announced Harrison would face Dean Ambrose at Payback with Harrison's Universal Championship and Ambrose's Intercontinental Championship on the line, after The Miz defeated Ambrose the following week he was added to the match. At Payback Harrison was victorious claiming the Intercontinental title for the first time in his career thus completing the Grand Slam and extended Harrison's undefeated streak to 100–0.

On the May 1, 2017 episode it was announced Harrison would have to defend both of his titles at Extreme Rules. The following week The Miz defeated Dean Ambrose to become the number one contender to the Intercontinental Championship. Then on May 15, 2017 it was announced Harrison would have to defend his Universal Championship in a six-pack challenge against Finn Bálor, Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, Samoa Joe and Seth Rollins at Extreme Rules. At the event Harrison successfully defended both of his titles opening the show against The Miz and then competing in the main event. On the June 5, 2017 episode of Raw Brock Lesnar returned to the WWE for the first time since WrestleMania 33 and challenged Harrison to a Universal Championship match at the upcoming Great Balls of Fire pay-per-view. At the event as Lesnar was being introduced Harrison attacked Lesnar and the duo fought outside the ring with Harrison powerbombing Lesnar through the Spanish announce table, after a six minute match Harrison hit Lesnar with a brainbuster to claim victory and retain his title.

On the July 17, 2017 episode of Raw Harrison was informed he had to defend his Intercontinental Championship that night or face losing it as he had not defended it within a 30-day time limit, he would face Samoa Joe later that night successfully defending his belt. The following week on Raw Roman Reigns, Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman were facing off for the number one contendership to Harrison's Universal title but Harrison alongside Tyler Breeze jumped the three men ending the match in a no contest. On Raw the next week Harrison was informed by the General Manager Kurt Angle that due to his actions he would have to face all three match in a fatal four-way at SummerSlam.

Just six days before SummerSlam Kurt Angle told Harrison he would have to vacate his Intercontinental Championship as he had gone over thirty days without defending it. At SummerSlam Harrison successfully retained his Universal Championship against Reigns, Strowman and Joe despite Strowman putting Harrison through two announce tables. Following this impressive showing Strowman was given a one-on-one title match with Harrison at the No Mercy pay-per-view, in which Harrison successfully defended his belt. At TLC Harrison was told by Raw General Manager to chose his own opponent and he faced off against Samoa Joe at retain his belt again.

On the October 30, 2017 episode of Raw Harrison defended his Universal title in a 30-minute Iron Man match against Finn Bálor winning 3–2 in sudden death overtime. Harrison along with Tyler Breeze defeated Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose on the November 6, 2017 episode of Raw to win the Raw Tag Team Championship for the second time. At Survivor Series Harrison and Breeze defeated The Usos in a champion vs. champion match and Harrison later won his 200th consecutive match defeating AJ Styles in another champion vs. champion match. In November 2017 it was reported Harrison has grown frustrated after he had not been offered a new contract with his ongoing one expiring in December 2017 but after Survivor Series he signed a substantially larger contract.

In December 2017 Harrison along with Breeze and Neville began a feud with The Shield. They continued to face off and attack each other in the build up to a match at the Royal Rumble in which The Resistance won.

Move to SmackDown and return to Raw (2019–2020)
Harrison entered the 2019 Royal Rumble as the #1 entrant and lasted over 61 minutes eliminating a record 14 wrestlers to claim victory and challenge Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 35. On the Raw following the Rumble Harrison confirmed he along with Neville and Tyler Breeze were to move to SmackDown, thus leaving Drew McIntyre on Raw, Harrison confirmed Ricochet would take his place in the group. On the January 29, 2019 episode of SmackDown he vacated the United States Championship to focus on the winning the WWE Championship. This meant for the first time since winning the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship in June 2015 Harrison didn't hold a championship. At the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view Harrison defeated Andrade Almas in the semi main event, prior to this Neville and Breeze won the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship, Harrison was credited as a champion under the freebird rule. On the SmackDown following the Elimination Chamber Harrison along with Neville successfully defended the belts against The New Day team of Big E and Xavier Woods. In February 2019 during his feud with the heel Daniel Bryan, Harrison switched close to a tweener character, neither face nor heel. After winning the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 35 against Bryan and Kofi Kingston in a triple threat match he reverted to his heel status. Following this Harrison began a programme with Kingston defeating him at three consecutive pay-per-views, Money in the Bank, Super ShowDown and Stomping Grounds. Following this series he moved on to face former champion Daniel Bryan at Extreme Rules, where he once again retained his title. He then moved onto a short programme with Randy Orton defeating him twice at SummerSlam at Clash of Champions. This then saw a return of the rivalry with Kofi Kingston where Harrison defended his title once more at Hell in a Cell. Five days after Hell in a Cell Harrison vacated the WWE Championship after being drafted number one overall back to Raw.

Video games
Harrison made his WWE video games debut in WWE 2K15 and has since in appeared in WWE 2K16, WWE 2K17 and WWE 2K18. In 2017 Harrison began appearing in the reality show Total Divas. In January 2017 WWE released a DVD documenting the record breaking Tag Championship reign of The Resistance which Harrison was a main part of.

Persona and Reception
In February 2017 following a feud with Kevin Owens, Harrison turned heel to begin his brief feud with Goldberg from here Harrison adopted a new character mixing a sadistic villain with an aloof millennial. This character received huge praise from critics with Dave Meltzer calling Harrison "a natural heel", from this point Harrison was positioned as the companies top heel. Harrison received further praise for using unorthodox heel tactics in promos and matches. The WWE were praised for allowing Harrison freedom in his promos to generate genuine heel heat.

Personal Life
Harrison is married to fellow wrestler Alexis Kaufman, better known by her ring name Alexa Bliss, they first met in 2013 shortly after Kaufman signed with NXT and began dating later that year and in mid-2014 they became engaged before marrying in 2015. Harrison has eight siblings, Laura, Jessica, Freya, Alyona, Matthew, Peyton, Alanna and Luke, his six sisters are all also professional wrestlers signed to the WWE.

In Wrestling

 * Finishing moves
 * Last Rites (Canadian rack hold transitioned into a DDT)
 * The Last Shot (Shining Wizard) – 2009–2016; used as a signature thereafter
 * Superkick, sometimes followed by a bridging German Suplex – 2013–2016; used as a signature thereafter
 * Flight of the Phoenix (630° senton or a corkscrew 630° senton) – 2016–2018; used as a signature thereafter
 * High Fly Flow (Split-legged frog splash) – 2018–present – adopted from Hiroshi Tanahashi
 * Signature moves
 * 450° splash
 * 720° splash
 * Air Raid Crash (Over-the-shoulder belly-to-back piledriver onto the knee)
 * Arabian Press (Slingshot split-legged moonsault)
 * Bicycle knee strike
 * Biel throw
 * Corkscrew moonsault
 * Dragonrana
 * Dragon Bomb (High-angle senton bomb)
 * Final Curtain (Flip DDT) – 2017–present
 * Flying forearm smash
 * Frankensteiner
 * Fujiwara Armbar
 * Hurricanrana
 * Imploding 450° splash
 * Inverted frankensteiner, sometimes whilst springboarding
 * Last Breath (Kick to an opponent legs on the second turnbuckle, followed by a double foot stomp)
 * Multiple kick variants
 * Backflip
 * Coast to Coast (Corner-to-corner missile drop)
 * Drop, sometimes whilst springboarding
 * The Soul Taker (Spin)
 * Step-up enzugiri
 * Multiple shooting star variants
 * Press, sometimes whilst standing
 * Corkscrew, rarely used
 * DDT
 * Leg drop
 * Senton
 * Shoot
 * Springboard, usually to an opponent outside the ring)
 * Multiple suplex variations
 * Belly-to-belly
 * Dragon
 * Exploder
 * German
 * Half nelson
 * Snap
 * Tiger
 * Phoenixrana
 * Rolling elbow
 * Running back elbow to a cornered followed by a diving corkscrew elbow smash
 * Sling blade
 * Spear, sometimes whilst slingshotting
 * Spinebuster
 * Sunset flip powerbomb
 * Thunderboard Knee Dive (Springboard knee strike)
 * X-Plex (Rolling release suplex)
 * Managers
 * Alexa Bliss
 * Drew McIntyre
 * Neville
 * Sasha Banks
 * Tyler Breeze
 * ​Wrestlers Managed
 * Alexa Bliss
 * Drew McIntyre
 * Neville
 * Sasha Banks
 * Tyler Breeze
 * Tag Teams and Stables
 * The Resistance
 * Nickname(s)
 * "The Ace of WWE"
 * "The Daredevil"
 * "The Ghost"
 * "The God of War"
 * "The Indestructible"
 * "The Emperor of Mayhem"
 * ​Entrance Themes
 * "Enter Sandman" by Metallica (PCW)
 * "Faceless" by Left With Tomorrow (NXT; 2013; used whilst teaming with Neville)
 * "Flash Burn" by Daniel Holter and Kyle White (NXT; 2014; used whilst teaming with Neville)
 * "Break Orbit" by CFO$ (NXT/WWE; 2014; used whilst teaming with Neville)
 * ​"Parabola" by Tool (April 7, 2014 – May 14, 2018)
 * "Blood Plague" by Cryptic Demon; used whilst part of The Resistance
 * "Tattered Banners and Bloody Flags" by Amon Amarth (May 21, 2018 – May 16, 2021)
 * "The Serpentine Offering" by Dimmu Borgir (May 17, 2021 – present)

Championships and Accomplishments

 * All Star Wrestling
 * ​British Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * CBS Sports
 * Wrestler of the Year (2018)
 * Match of the Year (2018) vs. Kenny Omega on July 7
 * WWE Match of the Year (2018) vs. Sami Zayn on August 19
 * Best Promo of the Year (2018)
 * Smack Talker of the Year (2018)
 * Dragon Gate
 * Open the Twin Gate Championship (1 time) – with Pac
 * Open the Triange Gate Championship (1 time) – with Pac and Masato Yoshino
 * Dragon Gate USA
 * Open the United Gate Championship (1 time; inaugural) – with Pac
 * New Generation Wrestling
 * ​NGW Undisputed Championship (1 time)
 * NWA UK Hammerlock
 * ​NWA British Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * One Pro Wrestling
 * ​1PW Heavyweight Championship (1 time; final)
 * 1PW Tag Team Championship (1 time; final) – with Kid Fite
 * 1PW Openweight Championship (1 time)
 * Preston City Wrestling
 * ​PCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time; inaugural)
 * Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
 * PWG World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Super Dragon
 * Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 * Wrestler of the Year (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)
 * Tag Team of the Year (2015) with Neville
 * Tag Team of the Year (2016) with Neville and Tyler Breeze
 * Tag Team of the Year (2018) with Neville, Tyler Breeze and Drew McIntyre
 * Match of the Year (2015) vs. Seth Rollins on August 3
 * Match of the Year (2016) vs. Kevin Owens on November 7
 * Match of the Year (2017) vs. Kevin Owens on January 29
 * Match of the Year (2018) vs. Kenny Omega on July 7
 * Match of the Year (2019) vs. Seth Rollins on November 24
 * Feud of the Year (2016) with Neville and Tyler Breeze vs. The New Day
 * Feud of the Year (2018) with Neville, Tyler Breeze and Drew McIntyre vs. Bullet Club
 * Most Improved Wrestler (2015)
 * Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2017, 2018, 2019)
 * Wrestler of the Decade (2010s)
 * Match of the Decade (2010s) vs. Kenny Omega on July 7, 2018
 * PWI ranked him #1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016, 2018 and 2019.
 * Pro Wrestling Ulster
 * ​PWU Championship (1 time)
 * Real Quality Wrestling
 * ​RQW Cruiserweight Championship (2 times)
 * Rolling Stone
 * WWE Wrestler of the Year (2016, 2017)
 * Rookie of the Year (2015)
 * WWE Match of the Year (2015) vs. Seth Rollins on August 3
 * WWE Match of the Year (2017) vs. Kevin Owens on January 29
 * Most Improbably Awesome Match of the Year (2017) vs. Braun Strowman on September 24
 * Sports Illustrated
 * ​Wrestler of the Year (2017, 2018)
 * WWE
 * WWE Championship (3 times)
 * WWE Universal Championship (4 times; current)
 * WWE United States Championship (3 times)
 * WWE Intercontinental Championship (1 time)
 * WWE 24/7 Championship (1 time; current)
 * WWE (Raw) Tag Team Championship (8 times) – with Neville, Tyler Breeze and Drew McIntyre (4), with Neville and Tyler Breeze (4)
 * WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship (3 times; current) – with Neville and Tyler Breeze (2), with Rampage Brown and Ridge Holland (1; current)
 * WWE Mixed Match Challenge I – with Alexa Bliss
 * WWE World Cup (2018)
 * Men's Royal Rumble (2016, 2019)
 * Money in the Bank (2021)
 * Twenty-Seventh Triple Crown Champion
 * Fifteenth Grand Slam Champion
 * Slammy Award (2 times)
 * Breakout Star of the Year (2015)
 * Trash Talker of the Year (2020)
 * Year-End Awards (6 times)
 * Male Superstar of the Year (2018)
 * Hottest Rivalry (2018) vs. Roman Reigns
 * Best Match (2018)  vs. Sami Zayn on August 19
 * Best Diss (2018)
 * Best on the Mic (2018)
 * Most Hated (2018)
 * WWE NXT
 * NXT Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Neville
 * Wrestling Observer Newsletter
 * 7 Star Match (2018) vs. Kenny Omega on July 7
 * 6 Star Match (2017) vs. Kevin Owens on January 29
 * 6 Star Match (2018)  vs. Sami Zayn on August 19
 * 6 Star Match (2019) vs. Seth Rollins on November 24
 * 6 Star Match (2021) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura on June 20
 * 5¾ Star Match (2018) vs. Sami Zayn on June 17
 * 5¼ Star Match (2018)  vs. Kevin Owens on October 8
 * 5 Star Match (2011) with Super Dragon vs. The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) on December 10)
 * 5 Star Match (2015) vs. Seth Rollins on August 3
 * 5 Star Match (2016) vs. Kevin Owens on November 7
 * 5 Star Match (2016) vs. Kevin Owens on December 18
 * 5 Star Match (2017) vs. Sami Zayn on April 2
 * 5 Star Match (2017) vs. Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman and Samoa Joe on August 20
 * 5 Star Match (2017) vs. Finn Bálor on October 30
 * 5 Star Match (2017) vs. AJ Styles on November 19
 * 5 Star Match (2017) vs. John Cena on December 25
 * 5 Star Match (2018) with Tyler Breeze and Neville vs. The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins) on Jan 28
 * 5 Star Match (2018) vs. Seth Rollins on June 4
 * 5 Star Match (2018) vs. Seth Rollins on July 15
 * 5 Star Match (2018) vs. Seth Rollins on July 16
 * 5 Star Match (2018) vs. Finn Bálor on June 25
 * 5 Star Match (2018) vs. Seth Rollins on October 1
 * 5 Star Match (2019) vs. Seth Rollins on October 31
 * 5 Star Match (2018) vs. Seth Rollins on December 15
 * 5 Star Match (2021) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura on March 21
 * Pro Wrestling Match of the Year (2016) vs. Kevin Owens on November 7
 * Pro Wrestling Match of the Year (2018) vs. Kenny Omega on July 7
 * Pro Wrestling Match of the Year (2019)  vs. Seth Rollins on November 24
 * Wrestler of the Year (2016–2018)
 * Most Outstanding Wrestler (2016–2019)
 * United States/Canada MVP (2018, 2019)
 * Feud of the Year (2016) with Neville and Tyler Breeze vs. The New Day
 * Tag Team of the Year (2016) with Neville and Tyler Breeze
 * Best Box Office Draw (2017, 2018, 2019)
 * Best on Interviews (2014–2019)
 * Best Technical Wrestler (2017)
 * Best Flying Wrestler (2015, 2016)
 * Most Underrated (2014)
 * Rookie of the Year (2013)
 * Best Wrestling Maneuver (2017, 2018) Flight of the Phoenix
 * Best Wrestling Maneuver (2020) Last Rites
 * Best Gimmick (2017, 2018)