Mark Canterbury
Encyclopedia
Mark Canterbury is an American professional wrestler
, best known for his stint in the World Wrestling Federation
under the ring name
Henry O. Godwinn.
and the Italian Stallion
before debuting in 1989 under the ring name "Mean" Mark Canterbury. He quickly formed a tag team with Dennis Knight
who was at the time wrestling as Tex Slazenger. He is currently working for OCW, or NEWOCW (Ohio Championship Wrestling, located in Ashland, Kentucky.
In October 1992, the duo began wrestling for World Championship Wrestling
, with Canterbury adopting the ring name Shanghai Pierce. Dusty Rhodes
suggested that Canterbury wear a mask because Canterbury's good looks could make him too likable for the heel tag team. The two didn't have a tag team name. They remained with the promotion until 1994.
In mid-1994, Canterbury joined the World Wrestling Federation
, where he was renamed Henry Orpheus Godwinn and given the gimmick of an Arkansan
pig farmer
who carried a bucket of "slop" to the ring, which he would throw upon his opponents. Canterbury was originally a heel
, and assisted the Million Dollar Corporation
on several occasions. When the leader of the Corporation, Ted DiBiase
, was asked on an episode of WWF Action Zone whether or not Canterbury was a member of the Corporation, however, DiBiase instead insulted Canterbury. This inspired Canterbury to turn face
by "slopping" DiBiase, and led to a brief feud between Canterbury and Corporation member Sycho Sid
.
Godwinn engaged in a feud
with the aristocratic
Hunter Hearst Helmsley
. The feud culminated in December 1995 in an "Arkansas Hog Pen match" that Helmsley won. After the match, however, Godwinn tossed Helmsley into the slop, much to the blueblood's distaste.
In 1996, Canterbury was reunited with Knight, who had been renamed Phineas I. Godwinn. The duo were portrayed as being cousins and were collectively known as "The Godwinns
". The two were faces and were managed by Hillbilly Jim
. They began to feud with the Body Donnas with Phineas having a crush on Sunny
and signed her as their manager. Eventually she turned on them costing them their titles. The Godwinns feuded with the now heel Smoking Guns, in losing efforts. In 1997, the Godwinns began a heel turn dropping Hillbilly Jim as a manager and picking up Uncle Cletus
. The duo adopted an inbred redneck persona inspired by the movie Deliverance
. The Godwinns quickly won the tag titles a second time from the Headbangers and began a heated feud with the Legion of Doom
, which saw the team attempt to break Road Warrior Hawk
's neck. They eventually dropped the titles to LOD in a match on Monday Night RAW that had LOD's career on the line. Soon after that match they attacked and fired Cletus.
In late 1997, in a rematch between The Godwinns and the Legion of Doom
, Canterbury suffered a cracked C7
vertebra when the Legion of Doom botched
a Doomsday Device
. He was advised by doctors to rest for 15 weeks, but returned to the ring in less than eight weeks.
In 1998, Canterbury entered the Brawl for All
, a shoot-fighting
tournament held by the WWF. He lost in the first round to Bradshaw
.
Later that year, the Godwinns dropped their pig farmer gimmicks, now going by their real names and wearing sharp suits under the name "Southern Justice", the bodyguards of Tennessee Lee
. Six months later, Canterbury hernia
ted his C7 vertebra and pinched a spinal nerve, necessitating spinal fusion surgery. This came as a result of him returning to the ring too early after his neck injury. He eventually left the WWF and retired, due to the neck injury suffered in 1997.
In September 2006, Canterbury wrestled several tryout matches with World Wrestling Entertainment. On September 15, 2006, WWE announced that he had been signed to a contract. He debuted in Deep South Wrestling on November 30 as a tag partner for Ray Gordy
. Gordy was known as Cousin Ray and they both reformed The Godwinns
. Since both Gordy and Drew Hankinson
went to the SmackDown! brand, however, Godwinn's role remained uncertain.
On May 19, the Wrestling Observer reported that Canterbury had been released from his developmental contract.
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
, best known for his stint in the World Wrestling Federation
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
under the ring name
Ring name
A ring name is a stage name used by a professional wrestler, martial artist, or boxer. While some ring names may have a fictitious first name and surname, others may simply be a nickname, such as The Undertaker.-Wrestling:...
Henry O. Godwinn.
Career
Canterbury trained under George SouthGeorge South
George South is a professional wrestler who has appeared as a preliminary wrestler in World Championship Wrestling, Jim Crockett Promotions and the World Wrestling Federation.-Professional wrestling career:...
and the Italian Stallion
Gary Sabaugh
Gary Sabaugh is an American professional wrestler, known by his ringname The Italian Stallion, who has competed in North American independent promotions throughout the 1980s and 1990s including stints in both the World Wrestling Federation and National Wrestling Alliance, specifically Jim Crockett...
before debuting in 1989 under the ring name "Mean" Mark Canterbury. He quickly formed a tag team with Dennis Knight
Dennis Knight
Dennis Knight is a retired American professional wrestler best known for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment as Phineas I. Godwinn and Mideon.-Career:...
who was at the time wrestling as Tex Slazenger. He is currently working for OCW, or NEWOCW (Ohio Championship Wrestling, located in Ashland, Kentucky.
In October 1992, the duo began wrestling for World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
, with Canterbury adopting the ring name Shanghai Pierce. Dusty Rhodes
Dusty Rhodes (wrestler)
Virgil Riley Runnels, Jr. , better known as "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, is a semi-retired American professional wrestler currently working for WWE...
suggested that Canterbury wear a mask because Canterbury's good looks could make him too likable for the heel tag team. The two didn't have a tag team name. They remained with the promotion until 1994.
In mid-1994, Canterbury joined the World Wrestling Federation
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
, where he was renamed Henry Orpheus Godwinn and given the gimmick of an Arkansan
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
pig farmer
Swineherd
A swineherd is a person who looks after pigs. The term has fallen out of popular use in favour of pig farmer.-Swineherds in literature:* Hans Christian Andersen wrote a Fairy tale called, "The Swineherd"....
who carried a bucket of "slop" to the ring, which he would throw upon his opponents. Canterbury was originally a heel
Heel (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a heel is a villain character. In non-wrestling jargon, heels are the "bad guys" in professional wrestling; the term heel coming from the term take to you heels, which means to run away which heel champions tend to do to avoid losing their titles.storylines...
, and assisted the Million Dollar Corporation
Million Dollar Corporation
The Million Dollar Corporation was a heel stable in the World Wrestling Federation from April 1994 to May 1996 and was led and managed by the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase.-Beginning :...
on several occasions. When the leader of the Corporation, Ted DiBiase
Ted DiBiase
Theodore Marvin "Ted" DiBiase, Sr. is a retired professional wrestler, manager, ordained minister and color commentator. DiBiase achieved championship success in a number of wrestling promotions, holding thirty titles during his professional wrestling career...
, was asked on an episode of WWF Action Zone whether or not Canterbury was a member of the Corporation, however, DiBiase instead insulted Canterbury. This inspired Canterbury to turn face
Face (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a babyface or face or in simple words, a fan favorite is a character who is portrayed as a heroic relative to the heel wrestlers, who are analogous to villains...
by "slopping" DiBiase, and led to a brief feud between Canterbury and Corporation member Sycho Sid
Sid Eudy
Sidney Raymond "Sid" Eudy is an American professional wrestler, best known as Sid Vicious in World Championship Wrestling, and as Sid Justice and Sycho Sid in the World Wrestling Federation...
.
Godwinn engaged in a feud
Feud (professional wrestling)
A professional wrestling feud is a staged rivalry between multiple wrestlers or alliances of wrestlers. They are integrated into ongoing storylines, particularly in events which are televised...
with the aristocratic
Aristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
Hunter Hearst Helmsley
Triple H
Paul Michael Levesque is an American professional wrestler, professional wrestling authority figure, WWE Executive Vice President of Talent and actor, better known by his ring name Triple H, an abbreviation of the ring name, Hunter Hearst Helmsley...
. The feud culminated in December 1995 in an "Arkansas Hog Pen match" that Helmsley won. After the match, however, Godwinn tossed Helmsley into the slop, much to the blueblood's distaste.
In 1996, Canterbury was reunited with Knight, who had been renamed Phineas I. Godwinn. The duo were portrayed as being cousins and were collectively known as "The Godwinns
The Godwinns
The Godwinns was the best known gimmick of the professional wrestling tag team composed of Dennis Knight and Mark Canterbury that they used in the WWF. The team has used other gimmicks before they joined the WWF and had a gimmick change in the WWF shortly before disbanding...
". The two were faces and were managed by Hillbilly Jim
Hillbilly Jim
Jim Morris , best known to fans as Hillbilly Jim, is an American professional wrestler and disc jockey. He was one of the World Wrestling Federation's most popular wrestlers of the mid-to-late 1980s.-Career:...
. They began to feud with the Body Donnas with Phineas having a crush on Sunny
Tammy Lynn Sytch
Tamara "Tammy" Lynn Sytch is an American professional wrestling manager, personality,and occasional wrestler. She achieved her greatest success under the ring name Sunny within the World Wrestling Federation during the 1990s, and is widely considered as one of the first Divas...
and signed her as their manager. Eventually she turned on them costing them their titles. The Godwinns feuded with the now heel Smoking Guns, in losing efforts. In 1997, the Godwinns began a heel turn dropping Hillbilly Jim as a manager and picking up Uncle Cletus
Tony Anthony
Darrell W. "Tony" Anthony is a semi-retired American professional wrestler best known as Dirty White Boy, who wrestled primarily for independent promotions in the Southeastern United States...
. The duo adopted an inbred redneck persona inspired by the movie Deliverance
Deliverance
Deliverance is a 1972 American thriller film produced and directed by John Boorman. Principal cast members include Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty in his film debut. The film is based on a 1970 novel of the same name by American author James Dickey, who has a small role in the...
. The Godwinns quickly won the tag titles a second time from the Headbangers and began a heated feud with the Legion of Doom
Road Warriors
The Road Warriors were a professional wrestling tag team composed of Michael "Hawk" Hegstrand and Joseph "Animal" Laurinaitis. They performed under the name "Road Warriors" in the American Wrestling Association, the National Wrestling Alliance, and World Championship Wrestling, and the name Legion...
, which saw the team attempt to break Road Warrior Hawk
Road Warrior Hawk
Michael James Hegstrand was an American professional wrestler. He is best remembered as Road Warrior Hawk, one half of the tag team known as the Road Warriors or The Legion of Doom , with Road Warrior Animal.-Early life:While living in Chicago, Hegstrand met Joe Lauranaitis, who would be later...
's neck. They eventually dropped the titles to LOD in a match on Monday Night RAW that had LOD's career on the line. Soon after that match they attacked and fired Cletus.
In late 1997, in a rematch between The Godwinns and the Legion of Doom
Road Warriors
The Road Warriors were a professional wrestling tag team composed of Michael "Hawk" Hegstrand and Joseph "Animal" Laurinaitis. They performed under the name "Road Warriors" in the American Wrestling Association, the National Wrestling Alliance, and World Championship Wrestling, and the name Legion...
, Canterbury suffered a cracked C7
Coccyx
The coccyx , commonly referred to as the tailbone, is the final segment of the vertebral column. Comprising three to five separate or fused vertebrae below the sacrum, it is attached to the sacrum by a fibrocartilaginous joint, the sacrococcygeal symphysis, which permits limited movement between...
vertebra when the Legion of Doom botched
Botch (professional wrestling)
To botch in professional wrestling means to attempt a scripted move that does not come out as it was originally planned due to a mistake, miscalculation, or a slip-up. Most botches are harmless but embarrassing, such as a wrestler simply flubbing a line or missing a cue, or falling before his...
a Doomsday Device
Doomsday Device
Doomsday Device, often shortened to Device, is a term used in professional wrestling to reference a tandem move in which one wrestler hoists the opponent on their shoulders so that they are facing in the same direction in what is known as the electric chair position, while another wrestler climbs...
. He was advised by doctors to rest for 15 weeks, but returned to the ring in less than eight weeks.
In 1998, Canterbury entered the Brawl for All
WWF Brawl For All
The WWF Brawl for All was a shootfighting tournament held in the World Wrestling Federation that lasted from June 29, 1998 to August 24, 1998.-Inception:...
, a shoot-fighting
Shoot (professional wrestling)
A shoot in professional wrestling is a term that refers to any unplanned, unscripted or real-life occurrence within a wrestling event. Contrary to popular belief, the name does not originate from "shooting in" for a takedown, as in amateur wrestling - rather it is a carny term shortened from...
tournament held by the WWF. He lost in the first round to Bradshaw
John Layfield
John Charles Layfield is a former American professional wrestler, a former commentator/host for mixed martial arts promotion Vyper Fight League and financial analyst for Fox News...
.
Later that year, the Godwinns dropped their pig farmer gimmicks, now going by their real names and wearing sharp suits under the name "Southern Justice", the bodyguards of Tennessee Lee
Robert Fuller
Robert Welch is a professional wrestler and manager better known by his ring names Robert Fuller and Col. Robert Parker. Robert and his brother Ron co-owned Continental Championship Wrestling for a time.-Career:...
. Six months later, Canterbury hernia
Hernia
A hernia is the protrusion of an organ or the fascia of an organ through the wall of the cavity that normally contains it. A hiatal hernia occurs when the stomach protrudes into the mediastinum through the esophageal opening in the diaphragm....
ted his C7 vertebra and pinched a spinal nerve, necessitating spinal fusion surgery. This came as a result of him returning to the ring too early after his neck injury. He eventually left the WWF and retired, due to the neck injury suffered in 1997.
In September 2006, Canterbury wrestled several tryout matches with World Wrestling Entertainment. On September 15, 2006, WWE announced that he had been signed to a contract. He debuted in Deep South Wrestling on November 30 as a tag partner for Ray Gordy
Ray Gordy
Terry Ray Gordy, Jr. is an American professional wrestler best known for his time in World Wrestling Entertainment appearing on its SmackDown brand under the ring names Jesse and Slam Master J...
. Gordy was known as Cousin Ray and they both reformed The Godwinns
The Godwinns
The Godwinns was the best known gimmick of the professional wrestling tag team composed of Dennis Knight and Mark Canterbury that they used in the WWF. The team has used other gimmicks before they joined the WWF and had a gimmick change in the WWF shortly before disbanding...
. Since both Gordy and Drew Hankinson
Drew Hankinson
Andrew "Drew" Hankinson is an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment , where he appeared under the ring names Festus and Luke Gallows...
went to the SmackDown! brand, however, Godwinn's role remained uncertain.
On May 19, the Wrestling Observer reported that Canterbury had been released from his developmental contract.
Personal life
Canterbury is married to Michelle Byrd-Canterbury. Canterbury has two sons, named Shane and Jordan. Jordan was accidentally shot by a high school friend and died on October 31, 2003 in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Canterbury also has a stepdaughter, Ashley. On 11/9/2011 Mark reportedly drove his automobile off the road in West Virgina. He suffered two punctured lungs, thirteen broken ribs and a broken leg.In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Pumphandle slam
- Slop Drop / Problem Solver (Reverse DDT)
- Signature moves
- Big boot
- Diving knee drop
- Gutwrench powerbomb
- Standing wheelbarrow facebuster
- With Cousin RayRay GordyTerry Ray Gordy, Jr. is an American professional wrestler best known for his time in World Wrestling Entertainment appearing on its SmackDown brand under the ring names Jesse and Slam Master J...
- Country Thunder (Pumphandle slam by Godwinn followed by a diving splash by Ray)
- With Phineas I. GodwinnDennis KnightDennis Knight is a retired American professional wrestler best known for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment as Phineas I. Godwinn and Mideon.-Career:...
- Double Slop Drop (Double inverted DDT)
- ManagersManager (professional wrestling)In professional wrestling, a manager is a secondary character paired with a wrestler for a variety of reasons. The manager is often either a non-wrestler, an occasional wrestler, an older wrestler who has retired or is nearing retirement or, in some cases, a new wrestler who is breaking into the...
- Uncle CletusTony AnthonyDarrell W. "Tony" Anthony is a semi-retired American professional wrestler best known as Dirty White Boy, who wrestled primarily for independent promotions in the Southeastern United States...
- Hillbilly JimHillbilly JimJim Morris , best known to fans as Hillbilly Jim, is an American professional wrestler and disc jockey. He was one of the World Wrestling Federation's most popular wrestlers of the mid-to-late 1980s.-Career:...
- Sunny
- Uncle Cletus
- NicknameNicknameA nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
s- "Hank"
- "H.O.G."
- "Mean Mark"
Championships and accomplishments
- Pro Wrestling IllustratedPro Wrestling IllustratedPro Wrestling Illustrated is a professional wrestling magazine. PWI is currently based in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania and published by Kappa Publishing Group.-History:The first issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated was released in 1979...
- PWI ranked him #106 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1996
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- Worst Tag Team (1996, 1997) with Phineas I. GodwinnDennis KnightDennis Knight is a retired American professional wrestler best known for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment as Phineas I. Godwinn and Mideon.-Career:...
- Worst Tag Team (1996, 1997) with Phineas I. Godwinn
- World Wrestling FederationWorld Wrestling EntertainmentWorld Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
- WWF Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Phineas I. GodwinnDennis KnightDennis Knight is a retired American professional wrestler best known for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment as Phineas I. Godwinn and Mideon.-Career:...
- WWF Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Phineas I. Godwinn