Karl Anderson

This article is about the American professional wrestler. For other people, see Karl Anderson (disambiguation).

Karl Anderson
Anderson in 2016
Birth nameChad Allegra[1][2]
Born (1980-01-20) January 20, 1980 (age 44)[3]
Asheville, North Carolina, U.S.[1][3]
Alma materMars Hill College
Spouse(s)Christine Bui[4]
Children5
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Chad 2 Badd[5]
Chad Allegra[5]
Karl Anderson[1][2]
Killshot[2][6]
Billed height6 ft 1 in (185 cm)[7]
Billed weight215 lb (98 kg)[3][7]
Billed fromTokyo, Japan by way of Cincinnati, Ohio
Trained byLes Thatcher[2]
Roger Ruffen[1][2]
Inoki Dojo
DebutMay 10, 2002[1]

Chad Allegra (born January 20, 1980) is an American professional wrestler known by the ring name Karl Anderson. He is signed to WWE where he performs in the SmackDown brand.

Anderson is known for his work as a tag team specialist, most notably in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a former four-time IWGP Tag Team Champion. He also holds the record for the longest reign and most defenses with the title, achieved on his first reign with former partner Giant Bernard. Anderson and Bernard also held Pro Wrestling Noah's GHC Tag Team Championship, and were voted tag team of the year by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter in 2011. Anderson is a founding member, second leader and mouthpiece of the Bullet Club stable, and a three-time winner of NJPW's top tag team tournament, the G1/World Tag League, having won it in 2009 with Bernard, in 2012 with Hirooki Goto, and in 2013 with Doc Gallows. He also wrestled for Southern California–based independent promotion Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) between 2007 and 2009.

Anderson spent the majority of his career in Japan, before signing with WWE alongside Gallows, A.J. Styles, and Shinsuke Nakamura in 2016. During his first run in WWE, Anderson and Gallows won the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship twice. In April 2020, Anderson and Gallows were released by WWE and, three months later, signed a contract with Impact Wrestling, where they became three-time Impact World Tag Team Champions. Their contracts with Impact expired in 2022, and that same year, Anderson won NJPW's NEVER Openweight Championship, and, while still champion, he and Gallows returned to WWE in October 2022. At Wrestle Kingdom 17 on January 4, 2023, Anderson became the first WWE contracted wrestler to perform at NJPW's marquee event where he lost the title.

  1. ^ a b c d e "Wrestler Profile: Karl "Machine Gun" Anderson". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d e Oliver, Greg (January 30, 2013). "Getting to know the unknown 'Machine Gun' Karl Anderson". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on August 5, 2015. Retrieved September 19, 2013.
  3. ^ a b c "ザ・マシンガン"カール・アンダーソン. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on January 30, 2016. Retrieved July 4, 2013.
  4. ^ Trock, Gary (August 27, 2019). "WWE Star Karl Anderson Destroys Las Vegas Steak With 'Hot Asian Wife'". Yahoo!. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Karl Anderson". Cagematch. Retrieved June 20, 2010.
  6. ^ Meltzer, Dave (October 24, 2011). "October 24 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: 2011 Hall of Fame issue, GSP down, Bound for Glory and Bobby Roode, Hogan vs. Sting, giant issue". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Campbell, CA: 37. ISSN 1083-9593. Jeff Katz's Wrestling Revolution Project taped its first season in Los Angeles this past week. [...] Kenny Omega, known as Scott Carpenter, was the star, with strong matches against Chris Masters (Known as Concrete) and Killshot (Karl Anderson).
  7. ^ a b "Karl Anderson". WWE. Retrieved June 5, 2016.