Damian Mackle (born 20 February 1985) is an Irish
Prior to joining WWE, Mackle won the ICW World Heavyweight Championship while wrestling for Insane Championship Wrestling.
On 19 October 2016, WWE announced that Mackle had signed a developmental contract with the company and had arrived at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. He began to work in the NXT brand as part of the stable Sanity, along with Nikki Cross, Eric Young and Alexander Wolfe. In 2018, Dain, Wolfe and Young were drafted to SmackDown, where they worked as a stable until the dissolution. Then, he was drafted again to NXT, where he stayed until his release, in June 2021.
Early life
Mackle played as a goalkeeper for his university football side.
He also played
rugby union (up to university level),
basketball and
judo.
He stated that as a child he was attracted to professional wrestling because of the "larger than life" personas and face paint of wrestlers such as Sting and The Ultimate Warrior.
He cites fellow countryman
Dave Finlay as a huge influence on his wrestling style and inspiration for his success.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (2004–2013)
Mackle began his training with Scottish Championship Wrestling, before moving on to train with the SWA/NWA Scotland under Robbie Brookside (now a trainer at WWE NXT) and others. Of Brookside, he stated; "I don't think there is enough hyperbole to explain how good a coach he is...I can't think of a better coach I'd met in any sport".
After training at NWA Scotland, Mackle debuted for the Scottish Wrestling Alliance at the age of 20 under the ring name
Damian O'Connor. He originally wrestled in Scotland and the North of England as a tag team called "Britain's Most Wanted" with Scott Renwick. Together the two won a variety of tournaments and tag team championships in promotions such as SWA (4 times), W3L (2 times), SSW and 3CW. While they never officially split up, they would both focus on singles competition around 2009. This proved to be fruitful for both and O'Connor started touring his native Ireland, the United Kingdom, mainland Europe and the United States. O'Connor would win the Heavyweight Titles in SWE, W3L, XWA, Pride as well as the Laird of the Ring Title in SWA. In 2009, O'Connor took over the SWA training school named the "Source Wrestling School". O'Connor has trained numerous wrestlers, including Joe Coffey, Joe Hendry and
Nikki Cross.
Insane Championship Wrestling (2012–2016, 2018, 2021–present)
O'Connor wrestled sporadically for ICW between 2009 and 2012 under various gimmicks, but his return in November 2013 saw him debut as
Big Damo. After a long feud with Drew Galloway, Damo defeated Chris Renfrew for the ICW World Heavyweight Championship in Belfast on 27 February 2016,
marking the first time the title changed hands outside of Glasgow and making Damo the first ever Northern Irish-born champion. Damo defended the title in Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States against the likes of Drew Galloway, Grado, VSK,
Jack Jester and others.
On 31 July 2016, at
Shug's Hoose Party III, Damo was defeated for the Championship by Joe Coffey.
On 11 November 2018. O'Connor (as Killian Dain) returned to ICW for one night only, defeating Mikey Whiplash.
After leaving WWE, Damo returned to ICW under his original name in 2021. He would feud with Andy Wild, going to a twenty-minute time limit draw at Fear & Loathing XIII before Wild defeated Damo in a steel cage match at Barred II 24 April 2022.[ ICW Barred II 24.04.2022. Events Database, cagematch.net, Retrieved 26 January 2024]
In 2023, Damo challenged Leyton Buzzard twice for the ICW World Heavyweight Championship. On ICW Fight Club they went to a no-contest when Andy Roberts interfered. Damo was given a rematch in a Three Way Dance at ICW's Get The F Out! PPV but was eliminated from the contest by Roberts.
Independent circuit (2014–2016)
In December 2014, Damo unsuccessfully challenged Drew Galloway for the EVOLVE Championship in
Inverness, Scotland.
In 2014, Damo debuted in Revolution Pro Wrestling.
In October 2015, Damo debuted for Global Force Wrestling (GFW) on their UK Invasion tour, losing to Bram.[ PBW Maximum Impact 2015. Events Database. cagematch.net, Retrieved 26 January 2024]
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2016)
In January 2016, Damo appeared for Total Nonstop Action (TNA) as part of their
Maximum Impact tour.
On the 1 March episode of IMPACT Wrestling, Big Damo unsuccessfully challenged Eric Young for the TNA King of the Mountain Championship.
WWE (2016–2021)
Sanity (2016–2019)
In June 2016, Mackle signed with
WWE to perform on their NXT brand.
On 19 October 2016, WWE announced that Mackle had signed a developmental contract with the company and had arrived at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
On 4 November, Mackle appeared at an
NXT house show and cut a promo.
Mackle made his in-ring debut at an NXT live event on 11 November, defeating
Rich Swann under the ring name
Damian O'Connor.
He then reverted to using the ring name
Damo.
On the 7 December episode of NXT, Damo attacked No Way Jose and seemed to align himself with the heel stable SAnitY.
On the 28 March 2018 episode of NXT, Dain was named as one of six participants in ladder match at to determine the inaugural NXT North American Champion.
During the 2018 WWE Superstar Shake-up, SAnitY (excluding Cross) were drafted to SmackDown.
The group competed in only two more televised matches throughout the remainder of 2018, while primarily competing at live events.
After a near four-month hiatus from television, SAnitY returned on the 2 April 2019 episode of SmackDown LIVE, losing a three-on-one Falls Count Anywhere match to The Miz.
Return to NXT (2019–2021)
During the 2019 WWE Superstar Shake-up, Young was drafted to Raw.
With Wolfe joining NXT UK,
the group was officially disbanded. Dain made his return to NXT live events on 16 May, defeating
Bronson Reed.
On the 3 July episode of
NXT, a promo advertising Dain's return was aired.
He made his return on the 17 July episode of
NXT, attacking
Matt Riddle following Riddle's match against
Arturo Ruas.
This led to a match between the two being scheduled for the 7 August episode of
NXT. However, Dain attacked Riddle before the match could begin.
On the September 25 episode of
NXT, Riddle defeated Dain in a #1 contender's street fight match for the
NXT Championship ending the feud. Shortly after, Dain would enter in a three-way feud with
Pete Dunne and
Damian Priest. At , Dain faced Dunne and Priest in a triple threat match to determine the #1 contender for the NXT Championship which Dunne won. In September 2020, he formed a dysfunctional tag team with
Drake Maverick, turning face in the process.
On June 25, 2021, Dain was released from his WWE contract, this as part of a fourth round of layoffs executed by the brand due to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Control Your Narrative (2022)
In February 2022, it was announced Damo was joining the new Control Your Narrative wrestling promotion created by EC3 and
Adam Scherr.
All Elite Wrestling (2022)
On the May 20, 2022 episode of
AEW Rampage, Mackle made his debut in All Elite Wrestling (AEW), using his ring name "Big Damo." In his debut match, Damo was defeated by
Shawn Spears.
New Japan Pro Wrestling (2022)
On the June 4, 2022 episode of
NJPW Strong, Big Damo made his debut in New Japan Pro Wrestling losing to
Tomohiro Ishii.
Personal life
Mackle is a lifelong supporter of
Premier League team Manchester United and NBA team
Orlando Magic.
He has stated that he believes wrestling – unlike other sports – can be a uniting factor for people in his native Belfast as there are "no (sectarian) affiliations" in wrestling. He stated that he would not support Scottish football because there is "a lot of connotations" with sectarianism. He grew up in what he described as a mixed area and is conscious of keeping political affiliations out of his public life.
On January 17, 2019, Mackle married fellow WWE wrestler, Nicola Glencross, known by her ring name Nikki Cross.
Other media
Dain appears as a playable character in the video games
WWE 2K18 and
WWE 2K19.
Championships and accomplishments
-
BODYSLAM Pro Wrestling
-
BODYSLAM Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) – with Axel Tischer
-
3 Count Wrestling
-
3CW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Scott Renwick
-
Insane Championship Wrestling
-
ICW World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
-
ICW Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) – with Axel Tischer
-
Over The Top Wrestling
-
OTT World Championship (1 time, current)
-
Pride Wrestling
-
Pride Wrestling Championship (1 time)
-
Progress Wrestling
-
PROGRESS World Championship (1 time)
-
PROGRESS Atlas Championship (1 time)
-
Progress Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Axel Tischer
-
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
-
Ranked No. 119 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2018
-
Pro Wrestling Österrich
-
PWÖ Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Axel Tischer
-
Reckless Intent Wrestling
-
Reckless Intent Hardcore Championship (1 time)
-
Reckless Intent Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
-
Scottish School of Wrestling
-
SSW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Scott Renwick
-
Scottish Wrestling Alliance
-
SWA Laird of the Ring Championship (1 time)
-
SWA Tag Team Championship (6 times) – with Scott Renwick (4), Pete O'Neil (1), Micken (1)
-
Scottish Wrestling Entertainment
-
SWE Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
-
WhatCulture
-
WCPW Championship (1 time, inaugural)
-
W3L Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
-
W3L Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Scott Renwick
-
W3L Heavyweight Title Tournament (2011)
-
WWE
-
NXT Year-End Award (1 time)
-
Tag Team of the Year (2017) – with Alexander Wolfe and Eric Young
-
X Wrestling Alliance
-
XWA British Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
-
XWA British Heavyweight Title Tournament (2014)
External links
