Daniel Puder

From OTMWiki

Daniel Puder (born October 9, 1981 in Cupertino, California) is an American professional wrestler and mixed martial artist, known for his short stint in World Wrestling Entertainment and its developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling.

1 Career
2 Finishing and signature moves
- 2.1 Professional wrestling
- 2.2 Mixed martial arts
3 Quotes
4 Championships and accomplishments
5 See also

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Career

Puder is a mixed martial arts fighter who participated in MMA shows before and after becoming a professional wrestler. Daniel grew up in Cupertino, California where he started his own companies including: painting, silk screening, and Puder Strength Training. PST is a non-profit strength-training program for high school athletes. His high-school wrestling coach was Matt Erdmann, now a middle school church pastor at the First Baptist Church of Eugene, Oregon. Daniel wrestled for Monta Vista High School, where he took first place in his weight division in the Central Coast Section (the governing body for high school sports in the area) with a broken hand. After high school, Daniel attended Menlo Business College where he achieved high marks. He started training with Frank Shamrock and Crazy Bob Cook at The American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose during his junior year of high school. After training in submission fighting he learned other types of fighting such as kickboxing during college.

Puder entered the fourth Tough Enough competition that was conducted as part of WWE's SmackDown! show between October and December 2004. The prize was announced as a $1,000,000 professional wrestling contract, however, it was in reality a four-year contract at $250,000 a year, with the option to terminate the contract after the first year. Puder was announced as the winner on December 14, 2004 (televised on December 16, 2004). As a result, Puder competed in his first WWE pay-per-view event, being entered in the 2005 Royal Rumble Match. Puder however was shortly eliminated after literally being tortured with chops courtesy of Chris Benoit, Hardcore Holly, and Eddie Guerrero. During his brief time in the WWE he quickly established himself as a heel when he was acting all cocky towards Hardcore Holly and the babyface divas.

During the $1,000,000 Tough Enough competition on SmackDown!, Puder placed Kurt Angle in a real submission hold, a Kimura. Angle eventually "pinned" Puder, although some have suggested Puder's shoulders were not on the mat. Some have also suggested that if Puder had the Kimura any longer or in an MMA competition, Angle would have tapped out. A video clip of the incident as well as an inside story by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer and Dave Scherer of Pro Wrestling Insider can be found here

After the 2005 Royal Rumble, Daniel Puder was sent to WWE's development territory OVW. He was sent there for further training and development with the intent of preparing him to return full time to WWE. There, he was tag-team partners with Mr. Kennedy.

In September 2005, Puder was released by WWE as a cost-cutting move. Puder was given the option of signing a development contract with WWE and transferring to its Deep South Wrestling development camp with less pay ($750 a week), but has so far declined.

Daniel Puder finally made his return to MMA fighting on March 10th 2006 for StrikeForce. The event was the largest in the history of MMA in the United States and took place in San Jose, California. This was the first legal fight in California not on an Indian reservation. Puder dominated his opponent, Jesse Fujarcyk, to win two minutes into the first round by tapout due to a rear naked choke. Puder's second fight for Strikeforce was another dominant victory. On June 9, 2006, He defeated Tom Tuggle by armbar in only 28 seconds.

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