Peter Gruner

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Peter Gruner


Statistics
Ring name(s)	Kid Flash Kidman Billy Kidman
Billed height	5 ft 10 in (178 cm) ^[1]
Billed weight	217 lb. (88.63 kg) ^[1]
Born	May 11, 1974 (1974-05-11) (age 33) Allentown, Pennsylvania ^[1]
Resides	Tampa, Florida
Billed from	Allentown, Pennsylvania
Trained by	Afa Anoai ^[1]
Debut	September 11, 1994

Peter Jacob Gruner (born May 11, 1974) better known by his ring name Billy Kidman (or simply Kidman), is an American professional wrestler. Kidman is best known for his work with World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s.

1 Career
2 Personal life
3 In wrestling
4 Championships and accomplishments
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links

Gruner grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania, living in the Lehigh Valley region. He joined the WCW and ultimately gained fame as a key member of several strong wrestling factions. In addition to being a member of Raven's Flock,^[1] he also was a member of the Filthy Animals and later New Blood.^[1] As a member of these factions, Gruner participated in memorable rivalries with top WCW names, including Hulk Hogan, Jeff Jarrett, Rey Mysterio, and others.^[1]

Kidman wrestled for WCW for many years and won tag team gold with partner and real life friend Rey Mysterio. Kidman gained popularity in memorable matches with Raven's Flock. Following his leaving the group, he gained the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship 3 times.

When the WWF purchased WCW, the contract of Gruner (who was still wrestling as Billy Kidman) was one of twenty-five contracts involved in the purchase. When The Invasion storyline commenced, Gruner appeared on WWF Television as a heel for the WCW Alliance faction. In July 2001, Gruner won the WCW Cruiserweight Championship from Gregory Helms in the first televised WCW match on SmackDown!.^[1]

Kidman turned face after the WCW/ECW Alliance broke up. He went on to capture the Cruiserweight Championship for the seventh time (making him the record holder for most Cruiserweight Titles at the time), by defeating Jamie Noble at Survivor Series. He spet the next few years as a star attraction in the cruiserweight division, relying solely on his in-ring work and no real gimmick. Later, Kidman was placed with a new tag team partner, Paul London. The team went on to win the WWE Tag Team Championship from The Dudley Boyz on July 8, 2004. Proving the win not to be upset, they went on to win a rematch for the titles.

The champion run of this face team came to an abrupt end after Kidman turned his back on London. Kidman was on the top rope ready to hit the Shooting Star Press, but hesitated, climbed down the turnbuckles, and slowly walked backstage overwhelmed with guilt. The heel turn came off the back of a legitimate injury on an August 24, 2004 taping of SmackDown!, where Billy Kidman's Shooting Star Press caused Chavo Guerrero to suffer a concussion and be taken to the hospital. London and Kidman fought at No Mercy 2004, where Kidman injured London with a shooting star press, while London was strapped to a stretcher. The heel turn was cause of Kidman losing his temper with everyone for attacking him as he had no intention of injuring Chavo. When Chavo returned, he faced off with Kidman in a storyline resulting from the injury.

Gruner was released from his WWE contract on July 7, 2005. It was rumored that the reason behind his release was the lack of crowd reaction and unintentional injuries he caused, but Gruner later stated in an interview with the UK newspaper The Sun that it was because he argued with management over their decision to stop booking wrestlers on first class flights overseas.^[2]

During this first tour of the UK since leaving WWE, Kidman would make a few appearances in independent British promotions. Other than his notable Frontier Wrestling Alliance 3-way match with Jody Fleisch and Jonny Storm, Kidman would also wrestle British wrestling legend Robbie Brookside in a losing effort during a British rules match to determine the first Real Quality Wrestling Heavyweight Champion.

In 2007, Gruner was at IWA, in a match for the IWA World Heavyweight Championship against Ray Gonzalez[1]. Gruner also took part in the East Coast Australian "International Assault II" Tour from June 1 - June 3, 2007 wrestling Australian superstars TNT and Mark Hilton, and pinned Bryan Danielson to win the WSW World Heavyweight Championship on the 3rd night in Newcastle.

Kidman was recently added to the WWE Alumni page at WWE.com.

On July 8, 2007, Kidman teamed up with Sean "X-Pac" Waltman as part of a triple threat match in McAllen, Texas to crown the new NWA World Tag Team Champions. The title was previously vacated by Team 3D after TNA Wrestling officially pulled out of the National Wrestling Alliance. They would lose the match to Karl Anderson and Joey Ryan. He has since signed with the American Wrestling Federation.

On September 15th, Kidman appeared at WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling losing to Florida Championship Wrestling Champion Harry Smith. Since then he has been a regular in Florida Championship Wrestling and has now become a Trainer.

Gruner was previously married to WWE Diva Torrie Wilson, but the two are now divorced. ^[3]