Dean Simon was born on August 4,1960, and better known by the ring name Dean Malenko, is an American retired professional wrestler.
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Dean Simon was born on August 4,1960, and better known by the ring name Dean Malenko, is an American retired professional wrestler.
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Dean Malenko was born into a wrestling family, and his father Boris Dean Malenko was a prominent wrestling figure.
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On January 24,1992, Dean Malenko defeated "The Superstar" for the Suncoast Pro Wrestling Southern title in Palmetto, Florida.
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Dean Malenko defeated Jimmy Backlund for the ICWA Light Heavyweight title on March 12,1992, in Tampa.
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Dean Malenko became known as "The Shooter" and was given a gimmick similar to an Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter .
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On February 25,1995 at Return of the Funker, Benoit and Dean Malenko defeated Sabu and Tazmaniac for the ECW Tag Team Championship, making Dean Malenko a double champion.
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On May 2,1996, Dean Malenko defeated Shinjiro Otani for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship in Orlando.
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Dean Malenko lost the match after Eddie Guerrero inadvertently caused Dean Malenko to be hit with Guerrero's United States Title belt.
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Dean Malenko then entered a feud with Guerrero, angry over the fact that he had caused him to lose his Cruiserweight belt, and began to attempt to win the United States title from him.
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At World War 3, Dean Malenko participated in a 60-man, three-ring battle royal won by The Giant.
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Dejected and worn down, Dean Malenko replied simply, "Home, " and would not be seen on WCW TV for two months.
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Dean Malenko entered the battle royal dressed as masked wrestler Ciclope and won the match, after Juventud Guerrera shook his hand, and eliminated himself.
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Dean Malenko went on to defeat Jericho for his fourth and final WCW Cruiserweight Championship, thus becoming the first-ever wrestler to win the Cruiserweight title four times.
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Dean Malenko was stripped of the title as he did not earn the title shot as himself.
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At Bash at the Beach 1998, Dean Malenko interfered in Jericho's title defense against Rey Mysterio Jr.
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Dean Malenko was fired in storyline, but returned at Road Wild 1998 as the special guest referee during Jericho's defense against Juventud Guerrera.
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In September 1998, Dean Malenko became a part of the final incarnation of Ric Flair's Four Horsemen faction.
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At Bash at the Beach, Dean Malenko challenged David for the US title but lost the match.
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Dean Malenko's last WCW match was a "catch-as-catch-can" match with Billy Kidman at Souled Out.
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Early on, Dean Malenko instinctively left the ring to regroup and was disqualified under the match stipulations because his feet hit the arena floor.
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Dean Malenko first appeared in the crowd with the infamous Radicalz – himself, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, and Perry Saturn – who all made exits from WCW at the same time.
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At Backlash 2000, Dean Malenko successfully defended the title against Scotty, thus ending the feud between the two.
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Around this time, Dean Malenko briefly became known as "Double Ho Seven", a parody of the fictional character, James Bond.
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Dean Malenko's third-last wrestling match took place at the 4th Annual Brian Pillman Memorial Show in August 2001, where he teamed with longtime friend Perry Saturn and defeated Raven and Justin Credible.
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Dean Malenko appeared in the ring along with other WWE alumni during WWE Raw Homecoming on October 3,2005.
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Dean Malenko appeared along the rest of the WWE roster after the April 23,2012 episode of Raw to celebrate John Cena's 35th birthday.
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In November 2015, Dean Malenko was inducted into 2300 Arena Hardcore Hall of Fame.
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On May 24,2019, All Elite Wrestling announced that Dean Malenko has joined them as a senior producer, which he makes occasional appearances on TNT since his last match on the December 27,1999 episode of WCW Monday Nitro.
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