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G'Angelo Hancock (born July 27, 1997) is an American professional wrestler and former Greco-Roman wrestler. He won one of the bronze medals in the 97 kg event at the 2021 World Wrestling Championships held in Oslo, Norway.[1][2] At the 2020 Pan American Wrestling Championships held in Ottawa, Canada, he won the gold medal in the 97 kg event.[3] He is also a silver medalist at the 2019 Pan American Games held in Lima, Peru. He represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.[4][5]

In August 2022, Hancock signed with WWE as a performer on the NXT brand under the ring name Tavion Heights and is a member of the No Quarter Catch Crew stable.

Greco-Roman wrestling career

In 2016, Hancock competed at the United States Olympic Team Trials hoping to represent the United States at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He finished in third place in the 98 kg event.

Hancock won one of the bronze medals in the 98 kg event at the 2017 Pan American Wrestling Championships held in Lauro de Freitas, Brazil.[6] He also competed in the 98 kg event at the 2017 World Wrestling Championships held in Paris without winning a medal.[7] He won his first match against Fatih Başköy and lost his next match against Artur Aleksanyan.[7] Aleksanyan went on to win the gold medal.[7] At the 2018 World Wrestling Championships held in Budapest, Hungary, he was eliminated in his first match in the 97 kg event.[8]

In 2019, Hancock won the silver medal in his event at the Pan American Wrestling Championships held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.[9] In that same year, he represented the United States at the Pan American Games held in Lima, Peru and he won the silver medal in the 97 kg event.[10] In the final, he lost against Gabriel Rosillo of Cuba.[10] He also competed in the 97 kg event at the 2019 World Wrestling Championships held in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan where he was eliminated in his second match by Mélonin Noumonvi of France.[11]

Hancock competed in the 97 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan.[4] He won his first match against Mikheil Kajaia of Serbia and he was then eliminated in his next match by Tadeusz Michalik of Poland.[4][12]

After qualifying for Team USA for the 2022 World Championships at 97 kg at Final X in New York City,[13] Hancock announced his retirement on August 9, 2022, and was replaced on Team USA by Braxton Amos.[14]

Professional wrestling career

In August 2022 after departing Greco-Roman wrestling, Hancock signed a developmental contract with the WWE.[15] On December 1, 2022, Hancock made his debut on NXT Level Up under the name Tavion Heights in a losing effort against Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo.[16] On December 12, 2023, Heights was announced as one of the competitors for the NXT Men's Breakout Tournament.[17] Heights defeated Luca Crusifino in the first round of the tournament but was defeated by Oba Femi in the semi-finals as Femi went on to win the tournament.

See also: No Quarter Catch Crew

On the June 25, 2024 episode of NXT, Heights defeated No Quarter Catch Crew's Damon Kemp in a match to join the stable, turning heel for the first time in his career.[18]

Achievements

Year Tournament Location Result Event
2017 Pan American Wrestling Championships Lauro de Freitas, Brazil 3rd Greco-Roman 98 kg
2019 Pan American Wrestling Championships Buenos Aires, Argentina 2nd Greco-Roman 97 kg
Pan American Games Lima, Peru 2nd Greco-Roman 97 kg
2020 Pan American Wrestling Championships Ottawa, Canada 1st Greco-Roman 97 kg
2021 World Championships Oslo, Norway 3rd Greco-Roman 97 kg

References

  1. ^ Burke, Patrick (October 9, 2021). "Olympic medallist Saravi one of two Iranian winners on penultimate day at UWW World Championships in Oslo". InsideTheGames.biz. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
  2. ^ Kortemeier, Todd (October 9, 2021). "G'Angelo Hancock Closes Out Wrestling Worlds With Bronze Medal". Team USA. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
  3. ^ Rowbottom, Mike (March 6, 2020). "United States win three golds on day one of Pan American Wrestling Championships in Ottawa". InsideTheGames.biz. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c "Wrestling Results Book" (PDF). Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 7, 2021. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
  5. ^ Newman, Kyle (July 22, 2021). "G'Angelo Hancock's meteoric rise to stardom in Greco-Roman wrestling makes Fountain native a gold medal contender in Tokyo Olympics". The Denver Post. Retrieved August 22, 2021.
  6. ^ "2017 Pan American Wrestling Championships Results Book" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 22, 2021. Retrieved August 22, 2021.
  7. ^ a b c "2017 World Wrestling Championships" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 1, 2019. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
  8. ^ "2018 World Wrestling Championships Results" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 14, 2020. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  9. ^ Etchells, Daniel (April 18, 2019). "Cuba and US collect three Greco-Roman gold medals as action begins at Pan American Wrestling Championships". InsideTheGames.biz. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  10. ^ a b "2019 Pan American Games Wrestling Results" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
  11. ^ "2019 World Wrestling Championships Results" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 12, 2020. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  12. ^ Brunt, Cliff (August 2, 2021). "USA's Gray loses 76kg final to Germany's Rotter-Focken". The Seattle Times. Retrieved August 22, 2021.
  13. ^ "Final X 2022 - New York - 06/08/2022 Results". usawmembership.com. Retrieved August 9, 2022.
  14. ^ Rader, JD (August 9, 2022). "Braxton Amos To Replace G'Angelo Hancock On Senior World Team". Flo Wrestling. Retrieved August 9, 2022.
  15. ^ "G'Angelo Hancock's Departure From Greco Left Many Questions". flowrestling.org. September 5, 2022. Retrieved January 6, 2024.
  16. ^ "Former Olympian G'Angelo Hancock Set For Pro Wrestling Debut In WWE". wrestlinginc.com. Retrieved January 6, 2024.
  17. ^ "Brackets Revealed For WWE NXT Men's Breakout Tournament". wrestlinginc.com. Retrieved January 6, 2024.
  18. ^ Moore, John (June 25, 2024). "NXT TV results (6/25): Moore's review of Tag Team Turmoil for a shot at the NXT Tag Titles, NXT Champion Trick Williams vs. Shawn Spears in a non-title match, Tony D'Angelo vs. Nathan Frazer for the NXT Heritage Cup". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved June 26, 2024.

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