 Sean O'Haire was born in Atlanta GA and moved to Hilton Head SC when he was 8.
O'Haire has always been athletic, training in gymnastics, kickboxing and submission shootfighting ( a combination of kickboxing and wrestling.) "He worked out almost everyday", said Matt Kuhlmann of Atlanta, a best friend of O'Haire while growing up on Hilton Head. "Once when Sean was still living at home, he redid his bedroom. All that was in there was a mattress and he made the room a working dojo where he and I would workout and make videos of us working out", said Kuhlmann.
After graduating from Hilton Head High School, O'Haire competed nationally in underground Ultimate Fighting tournaments and sanctioned kickboxing matches."It was tough," he said, "but it went well. I was undefeated." He spent time in NC and won 17 Toughman competitions later becoming a professional boxer in New York. "When I was in high school, me and my friends would beat up the Marines from Paris Island [SC] and the Army Rangers from Savannah [GA]. "I like beating people up", says Sean. "I'm just here to kick people's asses. It doesn't matter right now whether I'm a champion or not. I look at it in a different point of view.  I was raised a martial artist. Therefore, I just love to fight naturally. Whoever you put in front of me, I want to knock him down. That's the mentality I have. That's why it doesn't matter if I'm the champ or what the company is doing. I'm here to have fun, and fighting is fun to me. I'm glad I get paid for it. The more people I knock out, the more I get paid, and the more fun I'll have," says Sean. "I like to go out and drink and beat up people in bars, and I'm not allowed to do that anymore."
His resume' consists of kickfighting, submission shootfighting, boxing and now professional wrestling. "One of the reasons I felt I was going to excel was because of my kickfighting experience...I was able to kick high and flip in the air thanks to my gymnastic experience, the instructors saw something they can work with." added O'Haire. Those same incredible gymnastic skills allow the 6 foot 6 285 pound behemoth to pull off the infamous "Seanton Bomb". Through leads from his friend Kuhlmann, in November of 1999, O'Haire went to Atlanta to join the WCW Power Plant. "The training was extremely rigorous. At times we (the Power Plant students) had to do 1,000 squats and 500 push-ups and then go in the ring to wrestle." recalls O'Haire. Within six months of entering the WCW Power Plant O'Haire was a professional wrestler. It was a practically unheard of rise to the top, but he was seen to have all the tools, developed from an early age. He also attributes his success at the Power Plant to original tag-team/ fellow classmate Mark Jindrak of Auburn NY, Mark Graham and Paul Orndorff. "The kid was a winner 15 minutes into his tryout. He had a look about him, experience in martial arts and knew his way around the mat," Orndorff said. "Sean's athletic ability, his physical and mental condition, everything about him...he is way ahead of schedule and I know he is going to be a huge name in this business." 
He was quickly granted a push in WCW and on September 25 2000 he and partner Mark Jindrak won a Battle Royal to capture the WCW World Tag Team Championship. They became part of the Natural Born Thrillers faction and in an amazing night of action in Sydney Australia on October 09, lost and then quickly regained the tag gold from Lt. Loco and Cpl Cajun.
Their tag team title reign became infamous when they reigned in a classic triangle match against Billy Kidman/Rey Mysterio and Alex Wright/Disco Inferno at Halloween Havoc. Despite dropping the tag gold on November 16, O'Haire was soon back on top of the mountain with a new partner securing his biggest victory to that date. On January 14, 2001 at the Sin PPV in Indianapolis, Indiana, O'Haire teamed with Chuck Palumbo to defeat the Insiders (Diamond Dallas Page and Kevin Nash) for the tag team gold. They then defeated former partners Shawn Stasiak and Jindrak at Superbrawl Revenge, and secured another huge championship victory over Totally Buff (Luger and Bagwell) at the Greed PPV. With WCW days under the Turner regime grinding to a halt, the race was on to go down as the last tag team champions in Nitro history. On that final broadcast, O'Haire and Palumbo overcame Mike Awesome and Lance Storm in Panama City. So O'Haire and Palumbo arrived as the fresh-faced young team of the WCW Invasion. 
They were the reigning WCW Tag Team Champions and maintained a successful early run by overcoming such established WWF Tag Teams as The APA and The Hardy Boys. They seemed like an unbeatable combination until they ran into the reigning WWF Tag Team Champions, the so-called Brothers of Destruction Kane and The Undertaker. In an undisputed tag team championship match Kane and Undertaker toppled their young adversaries.
For O'Haire it was the start of a mini slump. His in-ring work had looked below-par and his pacing of matches had struggled in the larger WWF rings. Though there was never any denying his potential, he needed seasoning and WWF (soon to be renamed WWE) sent him to OVW in Kentucky for training. He returned midway through 2002 but only in a partial capacity. He put together a neat undefeated streak on the Sunday Night Heat program, defeating such luminaries as Justin Credible and Raven. However he never made it to the Raw program, still considered to be in the development stage of his career. He continued his seasoning in OVW until in early 2003 a series of mysterious vignettes featuring a new-look O'Haire debuted on WWE TV. 
O'Haire made a number of impressive vignettes making commentaries about politics, sex and violence. He basically encouraged people to live life by their own rules uttering the catch phrase "I'm not telling you anything you don't already know". He was quickly signed to the Smackdown roster and made a number of appearances backstage encouraging wrestlers to take part in crazy antics, from Brian Kendrick's infamous streak, to Dawn Marie flashing the crowd.
However still WWE didn't seem to have a suitable role for O'Haire. That was until Rowdy Roddy Piper returned to WWE television in the segment known as "Piper's Pit". Piper was ranting and raving about the heritage of Piper's Pit when Rikishi appeared to payback Piper for one of the segments most infamous moments - the coconut cracked over Jimmy Snuka's head. Piper backed off from Rikishi only for Sean O'Haire to run in from ringside and batter Rikishi with the set of Piper's Pit before Piper cracked a coconut over the Samoan's head. The following week Piper made his alliance with O'Haire official, describing him as the one man who may be even more evil than him, and the wrestler for the new millennium. On February 1, 2003, O'Haire defeated Rico at Madison Square Garden in New York NY. With "Rowdy" Roddy Piper in his corner, O'Haire defeated Rikishi at the 2003 Backlash PPV. Another one of O'Haire's biggest victories was a count out win over Mr America thanks to a timely ringside distraction from McMahon, ushering Hogan's friend Zach Gowen to be arrested at ringside. The following week O'Haire's momentum continued when he used the ropes to assist in a victory over Chris Benoit – maintaining a credible undefeated streak. In April 2004, WWE released O'Haire from his contract. Some in WWE feel that Sean O'Haire was released because he did not show the dedication needed to become a star. Others feel he was a victim because he was paired with Roddy Piper who left the company out of the blue. O'Haire continued to wrestle independently doing shows in Japan & New York. Meanwhile various rumors were spreading that he may be heading to TNA, K-1 & even UFC. In August 2004, O'Haire went back to his roots as a martial artist & is now fighting under Valor Fighting & Management, a company focused on the worldwide growth of NHB (No Holds Barred fighting) and founded by the president of UPW California. |