Doug Basham

Photo credit: World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.

Real name: Lyle Douglas Basham Jr
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 240 lbs.
Date of birth: May 12, 1971
Hometown: Louisville, KY
Pro debut: 1993
Trained by: Danny Davis
Finishing move: The Last Impression

Biography

– Basham began his career as ‘Doug Basham’ working for various independent promotions in Kentucky and Indiana, and would occasionally compete as ‘Doug O’Briley’
– In the second half of 1994, Basham had a run in the USWA. He would continue competing on-and-off for the promotion through to January 1996
– In February 1996, Basham joined Ohio Valley Wrestling
– On January 11, 1998, Basham & Flash Flanagan defeated Jebediah Blackhawk & Cousin Otter, David C & Jason Lee and Nick Dinsmore & Rob Conway to win the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
– On July 5, Basham defeated David C to win the OVW Heavyweight Title
– On August 9, Basham defeated Juan Hurtado by DQ to retain the OVW Heavyweight Title
– On December 29, Basham defeated Rip Rogers to win the NWA-OVW Heavyweight Title, but would lose it back less than a week later
– Basham made his first WWF appearance on a Shotgun Saturday Night taping on May 24, 1999, losing to Christian
– In 2001, Basham was a semi-regular enhancement talent on WWF Jakked
– In May 2001, Basham debuted a new masked character, ‘The Machine’
– The Machine lost his mask to Nick Dinsmore in June 2001, but Basham would continue with the gimmick regardless
– On February 6, 2002, The Machine & The Damaja defeated Nick Dinsmore & Rob Conway in an Iron Man Match to win the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
– On March 20, The Machine & The Damaja defeated Trailer Park Trash & Flash to retain the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
– On April 17, The Machine & The Damaja defeated Trailer Park Trash & Flash, Shelton Benjamin & Red Dogg and Nick Dinsmore & Rob Conway in an Elimination Match to retain the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
– On May 1, The Machine & The Damaja defeated Shelton Benjamin & Red Dogg to retain the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
– Following their tag team title loss at the end of May, Basham dropped the ‘Machine’ moniker
– Basham began competing on Smackdown branded house shows in late 2002
– On April 9, 2003, Basham defeated Nick Dinsmore in a Best Of 3 Falls Match to win the OVW Heavyweight Title
– On May 7, Basham defeated The Damaja to retain the OVW Heavyweight Title
– Basham was officially called up to Smackdown for the May 29, 2003 episode, reuniting with Damaja as ‘Doug & Danny Basham, The Basham Brothers’. The pair were saddled with a BDSM-esque gimmick
– At No Mercy 2003, The Basham Brothers defeated The APA (Bradshaw & Faarooq)
– On the following episode of Smackdown, The Basham Brothers defeated Los Guerreros (Eddie & Chavo) to win the WWE Tag Team Titles
– At Survivor Series 2003, The Basham Brothers defeated Los Guerreros to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles
– On the December 18, 2003 episode of Smackdown, The Basham Brothers defeated Los Guerreros (Eddie & Chavo), The World’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin) and Rikishi & Scotty 2 Hotty to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles
– On the January 8, 2004 episode, The Basham Brothers defeated Los Guerreros (Eddie & Chavo) to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles
– On the January 29 episode, The Basham Brothers defeated Paul London & Billy Kidman to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles
– Following their tag team title defeat at No Way Out 2004, The Basham Brothers were largely absent from Smackdown for the remainder of the year
– The Basham Brothers returned to prominence in November 2004, joining JBL’s Cabinet
– At Armageddon 2004, The Basham Brothers defeated Hardcore Holly & Charlie Haas
– On the January 13, 2005 episode of Smackdown, The Basham Brothers defeated Eddie Guerrero & Booker T, Luther Reigns & Mark Jindrak and Rey Mysterio & Rob Van Dam in an Elimination Match to win the WWE Tag Team Titles
– A week later, The Basham Brothers defeated Eddie Guerrero & Rey Mysterio to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles
– In June 2005, The Basham Brothers quit JBL’s Cabinet. Soon after, Danny was traded to Raw, leaving Doug to go solo on Smackdown
– The Basham Brothers reunited on the new ECW brand in 2006, becoming Paul Heyman’s personal security
– Basham was released from his WWE deal in January 2007
– The Bashams debuted for TNA on the May 10, 2007 episode of Impact
– At Sacrifice 2007, The Bashams defeated Kip James in a Handicap Match
– In August 2007, The Bashams left TNA
– In 2008, Basham competed almost exclusively in Europe
– Basham retired following a victory over Francisco Ciatso at a Pro Wrestling Fusion event in Florida on September 5, 2009
– Basham joined Al Snow’s Wrestling Academy in the fall of 2020
– In August 2022, Basham came out of retirement, teaming with Al Snow to defeat Joe Mack & Adam Revolver at an OVW event