Lenny Lane
Encyclopedia
Leonard "Lenny" Carlson (born October 20, 1970) is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 professional wrestler
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...

. He is best known for his time in World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...

 under the ring name
Ring name
A ring name is a stage name used by a professional wrestler, martial artist, or boxer. While some ring names may have a fictitious first name and surname, others may simply be a nickname, such as The Undertaker.-Wrestling:...

 Lenny Lane. During his time tenure in WCW, he was a one time Cruiserweight Champion
WWE Cruiserweight Championship
The World Wrestling Entertainment Cruiserweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship in World Wrestling Entertainment and was originally a World Championship Wrestling title. It was challenged by cruiserweights at a maximum weight of 215 lbs...

.

World Championship Wrestling (1995–2000)

Carlson was trained by Eddie Sharkey
Eddie Sharkey
Eddie Sharkey is an American professional wrestling trainer. He is often called "The Trainer of Champions", and has been instrumental in training some of the biggest names in the industry, including the Road Warriors , "Ravishing" Rick Rude, Tom Zenk, Bob Backlund, Jerry Lynn, Sean Waltman, Nord...

 and debuted in 1995. He first appeared in World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...

 as Lane Carlson, a jobber
Job (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling slang, the term job describes a losing performance in a wrestling match. It is derived from the euphemism "doing one's job", which was employed to protect kayfabe. As professional wrestling is scripted, inevitably a wrestler will be required to lose to an opponent.The term...

. He later changed his name to Lenny Lane and began to wear boots marked "LL", possibly due to his resemblance to Lex Luger
Lex Luger
Lawrence Wendell "Larry" Pfohl , better known by his ring name Lex Luger, is an American former professional wrestler and football player currently working with WWE on their wellness policy...

 in his early days despite his smaller size. His first storyline saw him as Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho
Christopher Keith Irvine , better known by his ring name Chris Jericho, is an inactive Canadian-American professional wrestler, musician, songwriter, radio personality, television host, actor, author, and dancer...

's lackey. He later began advertising a (fictional) product known as "Ab Solution Plus." It was a health drug that supposedly benefited the abdominal muscles
Abdomen
In vertebrates such as mammals the abdomen constitutes the part of the body between the thorax and pelvis. The region enclosed by the abdomen is termed the abdominal cavity...

.

In June 1999 he approached Lodi
Brad Cain
Bradley "Brad" Cain is an American professional wrestler, author and personal trainer, better known by his ring name, Lodi...

 and stated "They're not doing much with me and they're not doing much with you. Why don't we form a tag team
Tag team
Tag team professional wrestling is a variation in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. A tag team may comprise two wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of established teams who wrestle regularly as a unit and have a team name...

?
" Lane had been inspired by a Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

 vignette featuring "The Ambiguously Gay Duo
The Ambiguously Gay Duo
The Ambiguously Gay Duo is an American animated comedy sketch that debuted on The Dana Carvey Show before moving to its permanent home on Saturday Night Live. It is created and produced by Robert Smigel and J. J. Sedelmaier as part of the Saturday TV Funhouse series of sketches...

". WCW management were initially reluctant, but booker Kevin Nash
Kevin Nash
Kevin Scott Nash is an American professional wrestler and actor. As of 2011, Nash is signed to a five year contract with WWE under their WWE Legends program and appears as part of their Raw brand roster...

 approved the idea, and Lane and Lodi were renamed The West Hollywood Blondes
Lenny and Lodi
Lenny and Lodi are a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Lenny Lane and Lodi. During their later careers in World Championship Wrestling, they were billed as "brothers" and had several team gimmicks. The first one had them dubbed the West Hollywood Blondes...

 (as opposed to the Hollywood Blonds, "Stunning" Steve Austin
Stone Cold Steve Austin
Steve Austin , better known by his ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, is an American film and television actor and retired professional wrestler...

 and Brian Pillman
Brian Pillman
Brian William Pillman was an American football player and professional wrestler best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation, Extreme Championship Wrestling, and World Championship Wrestling....

). The Blondes were implied to be homosexuals, wearing pink trunks emblazoned with large pink triangles (a symbol of the gay community) and with Lane sporting pigtails
Ponytail
A ponytail is a hairstyle in which most or all of the hair on the head is pulled away from the face, gathered and secured at the back of the head with a hair tie, clip or similar device, and allowed to hang freely from that point. It gets its name from its resemblance to the undocked tail of a...

, facial glitter
Glitter
Glitter describes an assortment of very small pieces of copolymer plastics, aluminum foil, titanium dioxide, iron oxides, bismuth oxychloride or other materials painted in metallic, neon and iridescent colors to reflect light in a sparkling spectrum...

 and a lollipop
Lollipop
A lollipop, pop, lolly, sucker, or sticky-pop is a type of confectionery consisting mainly of hardened, flavored sucrose with corn syrup mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking. They are available in many flavors and shapes.- Types :Lollipops are available in a number of colors and...

. Controversially, the Blondes were later revealed to be brothers. The Blondes were an effective heel
Heel (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a heel is a villain character. In non-wrestling jargon, heels are the "bad guys" in professional wrestling; the term heel coming from the term take to you heels, which means to run away which heel champions tend to do to avoid losing their titles.storylines...

 tag team, though they rarely won matches.

In an upset victory, Lane defeated Rey Mysterio, Jr. on the August 19 episode of WCW Thunder
WCW Thunder
WCW Thunder was a professional wrestling show produced by World Championship Wrestling which aired on TBS from January 8, 1998 to March 21, 2001...

in Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock is a city in and the county seat of Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The city is located in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado, and the home of Texas Tech University and Lubbock Christian University...

 to win the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship
WWE Cruiserweight Championship
The World Wrestling Entertainment Cruiserweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship in World Wrestling Entertainment and was originally a World Championship Wrestling title. It was challenged by cruiserweights at a maximum weight of 215 lbs...

. With the assistance of Lodi, he defended the title successfully including notably against Shaggy 2 Dope of the Insane Clown Posse
Insane Clown Posse
Insane Clown Posse is an American hip hop duo from Detroit, Michigan. The group is composed of Joseph Bruce and Joseph Utsler, who perform under the respective personas of the "wicked clowns" Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope. Insane Clown Posse performs a style of hardcore hip hop known as horrorcore...

over the next six weeks. On the October 3 episode of WCW Monday Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro was a weekly professional wrestling telecast produced by World Championship Wrestling, created by Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff. The show aired Monday nights on TNT, going head-to-head with the World Wrestling Federation's Monday Night Raw from September 4, 1995 to March 26, 2001...

, Psychosis was announced as having defeated Lane for the World Cruiserweight Championship at an unspecified house show
House show
A house show is a professional wrestling show run by a major promotion that is not televised, though they can be recorded. Promotions use house shows mainly to cash in on the exposure that they and their wrestlers receive during televised events, as well as test reactions to matches, wrestlers, and...

. Lane had already been set to lose the title to Disco Inferno
Glenn Gilberti
Glenn Gilbertti is an American professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling as Disco Inferno. He is also a former road agent for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling....

 that night, but WCW management was worried about a possible incident. Lane didn't appear that night and Psychosis defended and lost the title to Disco instead.

The Blondes were taken off television in the same month following protests from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation is a non-governmental media monitoring organization which promotes the image of LGBT people in the media...

, who threatened to organize a boycott of WCW, claiming that "The character of Lenny is presented with the intention to incite the crowd to the most base homophobic behavior" and "the audience's reaction [to Lenny Lane and Lodi being physically attacked by other wrestlers] gives permission to viewers to do harm to gay people in a very literal way.".

Lane and Lodi returned as "Standards and Practices", a censorious duo who opposed the "adult themes" present in WCW. In a drastic departure from their previous appearance, they wore designer suits, carried briefcases and were accompanied by a secretary, Miss Hancock
Stacy Keibler
Stacy Keibler is an American actress, model, and former professional wrestler and valet, best known for her work with World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment ....

. Standards and Practices was supposedly an attempt to mock the conservative views of WCW management, and was not unlike the Right to Censor
Right to Censor
The Right to Censor was a professional wrestling faction in the World Wrestling Federation from mid-2000 to early 2001...

 faction the WWF
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...

 would have shortly afterwards due to complaints from the Parents Television Council
Parents Television Council
The Parents Television Council is a U.S. based advocacy group founded by conservative activist L. Brent Bozell III in 1995 using the National Legion of Decency as a model...

 over their programming. Miss Hancock eventually abandoned the team. Soon the gimmick of Standards and Practices were dropped on an addition of WCW Nitro when both Lane and Lodi stripped off their suit and tie. In the following weeks, they competed under the tag team name 2XS, a gimmick more resembling two hard rock party goes who wore just jeans to the ring and came out to theme music resembling something from Van Halen. Announcers also began calling Lodi Idol(his name backwards) during the matches. This gimmick too was short lived as they failed to get over, even in a tag team title match and were soon pulled off TV a few weeks later. Both Lane and Lodi were released from WCW in August 2000. Lane briefly reappeared for a short feud
Feud (professional wrestling)
A professional wrestling feud is a staged rivalry between multiple wrestlers or alliances of wrestlers. They are integrated into ongoing storylines, particularly in events which are televised...

 with The Wall
Jerry Tuite
Jerry Tuite was an American professional wrestler best known by his ring names, The Wall in World Championship Wrestling and Malice while performing for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.-Career:...

, but was released once more.

Texas Championship Wrestling (2001)

Lenny Lane moved on to Texas Championship Wrestling, in April 2001, where he formed a tag team with Shane Helms
Gregory Helms
Gregory Shane Helms is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment where he wrestled as The Hurricane and Gregory Helms. He is also known for his time with World Championship Wrestling where he wrestled as "Sugar" Shane Helms...

, winning the TCW Tag Team Championships. The team was split when Helms was signed by the World Wrestling Federation
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...

. He also appeared on The AWA Stars Tour wrestling in the upper Midwest with Jim Brunzell, Buck "Rock n' Roll" Zumhofe
Buck Zumhofe
Eugene Zumhofe is a professional wrestler better known as Buck "Rock n' Roll" Zumhofe, wrestling's self proclaimed original rock and roller.-Training:...

, Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissy
Adnan Al-Kaissie
Adnan Bin Abdulkareem Ahmed Alkaissy El Farthie , better known professionally as Adnan Al-Kaissie, is a former iraqi professional wrestler and a manager best known as Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissy, Billy White Wolf, or General Adnan...

, Mantaur
Mike Hallick
Michael "Mike" Hallick is a retired American professional wrestler, best known for his stint in the World Wrestling Federation under the ring name Mantaur.-Catch Wrestling Association :...

, and others.

World Wrestling All-Stars (2001)

The Blondes reunited in the now defunct World Wrestling All-Stars
World Wrestling All-Stars
The World Wrestling All-Stars was a professional wrestling promotion founded by Australian concert promoter Andrew McManus in 2001. The promotion was operated by McManus' International Touring Company. WWA was one of several promotions to come into existence shortly after the closings of Extreme...

 promotion
Professional wrestling promotion
A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling. Promotion also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event...

 in late-2001.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2002)

Lane was signed by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling is a privately held professional wrestling promotion founded by Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett. The company broadcasts its events on television and the Internet fifty two weeks a year with over a million weekly viewers on its primary television program, Impact...

 (Lodi would have been signed too, but he was injured) and debuted on June 19, 2002. Lane formed a short-lived tag team with Bruce
Alan Funk
Alan Eric Funk is an American professional wrestler, who has previously worked in promotions such as World Championship Wrestling and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, often with comedic personas...

 known as The Rainbow Express and competed on the second-ever TNA pay-per-view
Pay-per-view
Pay-per-view provides a service by which a television audience can purchase events to view via private telecast. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it...

 on June 26. Lane sustained an injury, however, and the team split on November 20, 2002 after Bruce turned on Lane. He left TNA soon after.

Independent circuit (2002–present)

Lane competed for Steel Domain Wrestling throughout 2003, and for the New Age Wrestling Alliance in 2004 and early 2005. He also works for the American Wrestling League, which is in the same TV slot and wrestles in the same venues as Steel Domain Wrestling did.

Lane appeared on the September 30, 2008 edition of World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...

's ECW on Sci Fi, losing a squash match to Jack Swagger.

Personal life

He attended Denfeld High School
Denfeld High School
Denfeld High School is one of two high schools in Duluth, Minnesota, along with East as of 2011. Denfeld and Central merged together during the 2010-2011 school year and are called Denfeld in the newly renovated building. Serving over 1000 students from grades nine to twelve, Denfeld High School...

 and was a star basketball and football player. He moved to Minneapolis to start his wrestling
Wrestling
Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...

 career in the early 1990s. Despite depicting a homosexual in several different promotions
Professional wrestling promotion
A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling. Promotion also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event...

, Lane is a heterosexual.

In February 2007, Lenny Lane married his long time girlfriend, Adrian Milam.

In September 2007, Lenny Lane started a wrestling party business called WrestlingParties.com. The business has children coming to Lane's dojo where he teaches children the importance of exercise, healhy living, demonstrate pro wrestling moves and interacts with the children in a wrestling ring. In June 2008, Lenny started a wrestling party business for company meetings Wrestlingmeetings.com. The business has Lane going to the office that hired him, and ambushing a chosen individual (usually a manager) and putting on a impromptu match with the confused individual. Lane also runs a professional wrestling school in Golden Valley, Minnesota.

In wrestling

  • Finishing moves
    • Memory Lane
      Memory Lane
      Memory Lane may refer to* A metaphor for memories of one's past life.*Memory Lane , a Doctor Who audio drama.*Memory Lane, a song from album Wonderland by McFly....

       / Blow Pop Drop
      (Full nelson facebuster)
    • Tiger Tamer (Elevated Boston crab
      Boston crab
      The Boston crab is a professional wrestling hold that typically starts with the opponent lying supine on the mat, with the wrestler standing and facing them. It is a type of spinal lock where the wrestler hooks each of the opponent’s legs in one of his arms, and then turns the opponent face-down,...

      ) – parodied from Chris Jericho
      Chris Jericho
      Christopher Keith Irvine , better known by his ring name Chris Jericho, is an inactive Canadian-American professional wrestler, musician, songwriter, radio personality, television host, actor, author, and dancer...


  • Signature moves
    • Bulldog
    • Corkscrew diving senton onto a standing opponent outside of the ring
    • Diving crossbody
    • Inverted atomic drop
    • Frankensteiner
    • Gutwrench powerbomb
    • Shoulder jawbreaker
    • Somersault plancha
    • Tornado DDT
    • Wheelbarrow facebuster

  • With Lodi
    Brad Cain
    Bradley "Brad" Cain is an American professional wrestler, author and personal trainer, better known by his ring name, Lodi...

    • Simultaneous vertical suplex / diving crossbody combination

  • With Bruce
    Alan Funk
    Alan Eric Funk is an American professional wrestler, who has previously worked in promotions such as World Championship Wrestling and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, often with comedic personas...

    • Double
      Professional wrestling double-team maneuvers
      The double-team maneuvers in professional wrestling are executed by two wrestlers instead of one and typically are used by tag teams in tag team matches. Many of these maneuvers are combination of two throws, or submission holds. Most moves are known by the names that professional wrestlers give...

       elevated gutbuster

  • Managers
    Manager (professional wrestling)
    In professional wrestling, a manager is a secondary character paired with a wrestler for a variety of reasons. The manager is often either a non-wrestler, an occasional wrestler, an older wrestler who has retired or is nearing retirement or, in some cases, a new wrestler who is breaking into the...

    • Joel Gertner
      Joel Gertner
      Joel Gertner is an American Professional wrestling announcer and manager best known for his work in Extreme Championship Wrestling.-Early career:...

    • Miss Hancock
      Stacy Keibler
      Stacy Keibler is an American actress, model, and former professional wrestler and valet, best known for her work with World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment ....

    • Lodi
      Brad Cain
      Bradley "Brad" Cain is an American professional wrestler, author and personal trainer, better known by his ring name, Lodi...

    • Ken Patera
      Ken Patera
      Ken Patera is a former professional wrestler, Olympic weightlifter, and Strongman competitor.-Weightlifting/Strongman career:Patera is a former Olympic weightlifter and American powerlifter...

    • Mortimer Plumtree
      Mortimer Plumtree
      David Webber is an actor and former professional wrestling manager, best known by his ring name Mortimer Plumtree...


  • Nickname
    Nickname
    A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....

    s
    • "Luscious" Lenny

Championships and accomplishments

  • French Lakes Wrestling Association
    • FLWA Tag Team Championship (1 time)

  • Minnesota Independent Wrestling
    • MIW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

  • New Age Wrestling Alliance
    • Dallas/Fort Worth Championship (1 time)

  • Northern Premier Wrestling
    • NPW Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

  • Steel Domain Wrestling
    • SDW World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

  • Texas Championship Wrestling
    • TCW Texas Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Shane Helms
      Gregory Helms
      Gregory Shane Helms is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment where he wrestled as The Hurricane and Gregory Helms. He is also known for his time with World Championship Wrestling where he wrestled as "Sugar" Shane Helms...


  • World Championship Wrestling
    World Championship Wrestling
    World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...

    • WCW Cruiserweight Championship
      WWE Cruiserweight Championship
      The World Wrestling Entertainment Cruiserweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship in World Wrestling Entertainment and was originally a World Championship Wrestling title. It was challenged by cruiserweights at a maximum weight of 215 lbs...

       (1 time)

External links

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