Theodore James "TJ" Wilson (born July 11, 1980), better known by the ring name Tyson Kidd, is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he works as a producer.
The final graduate of the Hart Dungeon, Wilson wrestled internationally in several promotions such as Stampede Wrestling between 1995 and 2007, where he won the Stampede International Tag Team Championship on two occasions with Bruce Hart and Juggernaut, the Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship, and Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship on two occasions. Before signing with WWE, Wilson competed in Prairie Wrestling Alliance, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, All Star Wrestling, and AWA Superstars of Wrestling.
In November 2006, Wilson signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment, and was assigned to various WWE's developmental territory, like Deep South Wrestling (DSW), and Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). Prior to his debut on the main roster in 2009, Wilson formed the Hart Dynasty with David Hart Smith winning the Unified Tag Team Championship with Smith in April 2010. He retired in 2017 due to a spinal cord injury.
Theodore James Wilson was born on July 11, 1980, in Calgary, in Alberta, Canada, to Cheryl Wilson. He is of English descent through his paternal grandparents.
Training and Stampede Wrestling (1995–2007)
Wilson trained at Stu Hart's Dungeon in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Wilson furthered his wrestling training under the watch of Tokyo Joe, who later helped him get booked in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as well as in England. He wrestled his first match in Stampede Wrestling in Calgary at the age of fifteen in 1995. At age sixteen, he wrestled in the opening match of a World Wrestling Federation house show in Calgary, teaming with Andrew Picarnic against Teddy Hart and Harry Smith. The following year, Wilson started training with Bret Hart.
As part of Stampede Wrestling, Wilson was nicknamed the "Stampede Kid". He held his first championship in the promotion in February 2004, when Wilson became Bruce Hart's new tag team partner and co-holder of the Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship to replace the injured Teddy Hart. He won the Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship on October 15, 2004 by beating Duke Durrango. In October 2005, Wilson and Durrango were made the bookers for Stampede Wrestling. On September 15, 2006, Wilson defeated Apocalypse to capture the Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship in a match that took place at half time of Calgary Stampeders vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers Canadian Football League game at McMahon Stadium. On November 10, 2006, Wilson replaced one-half of the Tag Team Champions Pete Wilson, who was injured, and became Juggernaut's tag team partner. Wilson had his final singles match for Stampede on January 26, 2007, where he was defeated by his long-time rival Apocalypse. He returned on February 9, 2007, for his final match with the promotion, defending his International Tag Team Championship, against The A-Team (Michael Avery and Dusty Adonis). He and Juggernaut won the match, however, afterwards Wilson awarded the Championship to The A-Team, as he was leaving and could not defend the Championship. He was also heavily involved with training the younger stars of the promotion at a camp called B.J.'s Gym.
Various promotions (2002–2006)
As the Stampede Kid, he completed several tours of Japan, competing at New Japan Pro-Wrestling. He debuted in a six-man tag team match in November where he teamed with GOKU-DO and Super Crazy and lost to Heat, Masahito Kakihara and Masayuki Naruse. His first win came only a few days later, when he teamed with Super Crazy to defeat El Samurai and Jushin Thunder Liger, and he finished his tour in late December. He returned in March 2003, and mostly teamed up with American Dragon. Between the months of May and June he competed in the Best of the Super Juniors, he mostly lost his matches however he did beat El Samurai and Jado which gave him an overall score of four points. He returned in 2004 for another month-long tour. In 2005, he participated in Best of the Super Juniors and again lost most of his matches, but beat Jado and Minoru Tanaka to earn four points overall. His last on June 16, 2005 where he teamed with Hirooki Goto to lose to Akiya Anzawa and El Samurai.
In 2005 he started his tour of Europe and mostly wrestled for All Star Wrestling. He beat Five Star Flash in his first match in ASW. He participated in One Night Tournament and was knocked out of the competition by Douglas Williams. While in Europe he wrestled all around the United Kingdom but also wrestled in other countries such as Germany and the Netherlands. He took on GSW Breakthrough Champion Murat Bosporus for the championship and lost.
Wilson spent a lot of time in Canada at AWA Superstars of Wrestling. He teamed up with Harry Smith to take part in the Grapple Cup Tournament where they beat Cadillac Caliss and WildCard in the finals. In 2006 he beat Harry Smith for the AWA Pinnacle Heavyweight Championship and held it for five months before losing it to Laramie Lexow.
World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE
Developmental territories (2006–2008)
Wilson signed with World Wrestling Entertainment in November 2006 after receiving impressive reviews from former WWE trainer Bill DeMott. He moved to WWE developmental territory Deep South Wrestling (DSW) in February 2007 with fellow signee and girlfriend Nattie Neidhart.
When DSW and WWE parted ways, Wilson relocated to Tampa, Florida to train in the WWE developmental facility Florida Championship Wrestling. In late 2007, he worked with Harry Smith, Nattie Neidhart, Teddy Hart, and Ted DiBiase Jr. as the Next Generation Hart Foundation.
On December 1, 2007, he won the FCW Southern Heavyweight Championship by defeating Afa Jr. in a ladder match. He lost it to Ted DiBiase Jr. on December 18. In mid 2008, he began teaming with Smith again, and the two were managed by Natalya (Nattie Neidhart). On October 30, they won the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship, but they lost it to Tyler Reks and Johnny Curtis on December 11, 2008 at the FCW television taping.
Wilson made his WWE television debut on the February 10, 2009, episode of ECW managed by real-life girlfriend Natalya, under the name Tyson Kidd, defeating a local wrestler, Bao Nguyen, and establishing himself as heel. Although Natalya was managing Kidd on ECW, she was still officially a member of the SmackDown brand until April 15, 2009, when she was drafted to ECW as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft to join Kidd. On April 28 edition of ECW, Kidd defeated Fit Finlay, on May 5 edition of ECW, Kidd lost to Evan Bourne. On the May 12 ECW, Kidd's match with Finlay was interrupted by DH Smith, now using the name David Hart Smith, who attacked Finlay to aid Kidd. Kidd, Smith and Neidhart formed The Hart Trilogy, which was later changed to The Hart Dynasty on the May 26 ECW. On the May 26 edition of ECW, Kidd, Jack Swagger & David Hart Smith defeated Tommy Dreamer & Christian in a 3 on 2 handicap match. On the June 2 edition of ECW, Kidd lost to Christian. On the June 9 edition of ECW, The Hart Dynasty defeated Christian & Jack Swagger. On the June 23 edition of ECW, Kidd lost to Evan Bourne in Kidd's final match as part of the ECW roster.
On June 29, The Hart Dynasty were traded to the SmackDown brand. They began an on and off feud with Cryme Tyme in July and the feud ended in October. At the Bragging Rights pay-per-view in October, Kidd and Smith competed in a seven-on-seven tag match with Chris Jericho, Kane, Finlay, Matt Hardy and R-Truth as Team SmackDown to defeat Team Raw. The Hart Dynasty got a title match for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship on the December 25 SmackDown against D-Generation X, but were unsuccessful. They started a feud with Matt Hardy and The Great Khali on the January 22, 2010 SmackDown. The feud ended with each team trading wins against each other.