Peter Alan Gruner Jr. (born May 11, 1974) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Billy Kidman. He works for WWE, where he is a producer.
As a wrestler, Kidman is best known for his work with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment (WWF/E) throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s. While in WCW, Kidman gained fame as a key member of several stables. In addition to being a member of Raven's Flock, he also was a member of The Filthy Animals and later The New Blood. As a member of these stables, Kidman participated in memorable feuds with top WCW names, including Hulk Hogan, Jeff Jarrett, and Rey Mysterio Kidman also found championship success while in WCW, where he became a three time Cruiserweight Champion, a two time World Tag Team Champion, once with Mysterio Jr. and once with Konnan, and in the Cruiserweight Tag Team Champion final with Mysterio Jr.
Upon WCW's purchase by the World Wrestling Federation, Kidman became a member of the WCW/ECW Alliance. During his time in the WWF (later renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment), Kidman once again found success upon winning the Cruiserweight Championship an additional four times while the title was under the WCW banner and later the WWF/E banner, in addition to winning WWE's Tag Team Championship once with Paul London.
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Early life and education
Gruner grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, where he graduated from Parkland High School. Gruner was a banker before he started training to be a professional wrestler and was good friends with fellow professional wrestler Chris Kanyon, who he met at the Wild Samoan training center in Pennsylvania. He is a cousin of fellow professional wrestler Mikey Batts.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (1994–1996)
Gruner was trained by Afa Anoaʻi, one half of The Wild Samoans, and wrestled his first match on September 11, 1994 in Hellertown, Pennsylvania against "Wild Thing" Dan Kallis on the independent circuit as Kid Flash. He formed a tag team with Ace Darling known as The Shooting Stars, and they would find success by winning the ECWA Tag Team Championship.
World Championship Wrestling (1996–2001)
Gruner started wrestling for World Championship Wrestling on March 6, 1996 as "Kid Flash" against Chris Kanyon in a losing effort. Gruner then competed as Billy Cannon on April 10, before settling on the name Billy Kidman on May 13. He made his televised debut in WCW on the May 18 episode of Saturday Night, competing against Diamond Dallas Page in a losing effort. He mainly competed as an enhancement talent for over a year with no character. His first televised win occurred on the July 28 episode of WorldWide against Psychosis. Kidman received his first title opportunity in WCW, unsuccessfully challenging Rey Misterio Jr. for the World Cruiserweight Championship on the September 9 episode of Monday Nitro.
On the September 30 episode of Nitro, Kidman filled in for Psychosis, who could not show up due to his visa issues and competed as the masked "El Technico" by teaming with Juventud Guerrera against The Public Enemy in a losing effort. Kidman would receive two more title shots for the World Cruiserweight Championship, this time against Dean Malenko on the December 2 episode of Nitro and the December 14 episode of Saturday Night but lost both times.
On the October 13, 1997 episode of Nitro, Kidman was added to Raven's Flock. To fit in with the Flock's gimmick of being outcasts, Kidman was given the gimmick of a heroin addict, where he constantly scratched his arms and named his shooting star press, the Seven Year Itch. Kidman found little personal success with the group and competed in major matches only on a few occasions, such as participating in a battle royal to determine the #1 contender for the Cruiserweight Championship in his pay-per-view debut at Slamboree. Kidman would then lose to Juventud Guerrera at Bash at the Beach. At Fall Brawl, Kidman aided Perry Saturn in defeating Flock's leader Raven in a match, thus disbanding the group.
Following the Flock's disbanding, Kidman shed his grungy attire and heroin gimmick and began performing as a clean-cut fan favorite before eventually defeating Juventud Guerrera to win his first Cruiserweight Championship on the September 14 episode of Nitro. Kidman retained the title against various cruiserweights on a weekly basis, with his first pay-per-view title defense occurring against Disco Inferno at Halloween Havoc, where Kidman retained. Kidman lost the title back to Guerrera on the November 16 episode of Nitro but regained it in a rematch at World War 3 in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Shortly after, Kidman joined Rey Mysterio, Jr. in the latter's rivalry with the Latino World Order. At Starrcade, Kidman successfully defended the Cruiserweight Championship against Guerrera and Mysterio in a triangle match. LWO leader Eddie Guerrero challenged Kidman to an immediate title match afterwards, which Kidman accepted. Kidman retained the title after assistance by Mysterio.
World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment (2001–2005)
When the WWF purchased WCW, the contract of Gruner (who was still wrestling as Billy Kidman) was one of twenty-five involved in the purchase. When The Invasion commenced, Gruner appeared on WWF television under his Billy Kidman ring name as a tweener for The Alliance. Kidman debuted in WWF on the July 5 episode of SmackDown!, competing in the first televised WCW match on the weekly program. Kidman defeated Gregory Helms to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship in his WWF debut. As the WCW Cruiserweight Champion, Kidman proceeded to defeat the WWF Light Heavyweight Champion X-Pac at Invasion. On the July 30 episode of Raw is War, Kidman lost the Cruiserweight Championship to X-Pac in a title versus title match, with X-Pac's Light Heavyweight Championship also on the line. After this, Kidman was later sidelined with an injury during the Invasion angle and thus did not have as big of an impact as other WCW wrestlers.
After recovering from his injury, Kidman returned to WWF in October. On the October 11 episode of SmackDown!, Kidman defeated X-Pac to win his record-tying fifth Cruiserweight Championship. He lost the title to Tajiri on the October 22 episode of Raw is War. At Survivor Series, Kidman participated in the Immunity battle royal, where the winner would receive immunity from being fired. Kidman failed to win the match, and Alliance lost later that night, thus being forced to disband. As a result, all Alliance members were fired in storyline, and Kidman was taken off television, competing at house shows for the next four months.
Kidman returned to WWF television after being drafted to the SmackDown! brand as part of the brand extension on March 25, 2002. Kidman's return match took place on the March 30 episode of Jakked, where he teamed with The Hurricane against Funaki and Tajiri in a losing effort. On the April 4 episode of SmackDown!, Kidman defeated Tajiri to win his record-breaking sixth Cruiserweight Championship. However, Tajiri reclaimed the title at Backlash. Kidman continued to feud with Tajiri over the title, wrestling him on various occasions but failed to regain the title. After losing in a #1 contender's match to Jamie Noble on the June 20 episode of SmackDown!, Kidman began feuding with Noble over the title, unsuccessfully challenging him at Vengeance.
At Rebellion, Kidman and his real-life girlfriend Torrie Wilson defeated John Cena and Dawn Marie in an intergender tag team match. After this, he went on to win his record-breaking seventh Cruiserweight Championship after defeating Jamie Noble at Survivor Series. He later lost the title three months later to Matt Hardy at No Way Out.
Independent circuit (2005–2007)
Following his departure from WWE, Kidman began touring the United Kingdom. During the tour, he competed for the Frontier Wrestling Alliance in a three-way match with Jody Fleisch and Jonny Storm. He also wrestled British wrestling legend Robbie Brookside in a losing effort to determine the inaugural Real Quality Wrestling Heavyweight Champion.
In 2007, Kidman made his International Wrestling Association debut in a match for the IWA World Heavyweight Championship against Ray González, which he lost. Kidman also took part in the East Coast Australian International Assault II Tour from June 1–3, 2007, where he competed against Australian wrestlers TNT and Mark Hilton before defeating Bryan Danielson to win the WSW World Heavyweight Championship on the third night in Newcastle.
On July 8, 2007, Kidman teamed up with Sean 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 Total Nonstop Action Wrestling officially pulled out of the National Wrestling Alliance. However, Kidman and Waltman lost the match to Karl Anderson and Joey Ryan.
Return to WWE (2007–present)
Kidman returned to WWE in 2007, helping train upcoming wrestlers in its then developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling throughout 2007 and 2008. On February 23, 2008, he wrestled his last match, losing to Afa Jr. Gruner was rehired by World Wrestling Entertainment in 2010 as a producer. On September 21, 2011, WWE ran a story on their website about Gruner and his role as a producer.
On April 9, 2012, Gruner along with former wrestlers Jamie Noble, Goldust and other officials and WWE wrestlers broke up the brawl between John Cena and Brock Lesnar. In November 2013, Gruner appeared on WWE's European tour as Paul Heyman's doctor, under the name of "Dr. Weisenburg". On August 23, 2016 episode of SmackDown Live, he appeared along with Jamie Noble to prevent Dolph Ziggler from attacking AJ Styles.
Kidman's contract was furloughed by the company on April 15, 2020, due to COVID-19 cutbacks. He returned to the company on September 25, 2020.
Personal life
Gruner is Jewish. After being together for four years, Gruner married former WWE Diva Torrie Wilson on July 11, 2003. They lived together in Tampa, Florida when not traveling. The couple separated in mid-2006 and divorced in 2008.
A book detailing Gruner's career, Billy Kidman: The Shooting Star, was released in early 2014.
Championships and awards
East Coast Wrestling Association
ECWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ace Darling
ECWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2004)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Ranked No. 31 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the year in PWI 500 in 1999
Ranked No. 313 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the "PWI Years" in 2003
Revolution Xtreme Wrestling
RXW World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Trans-World Wrestling Federation
TWWF Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)
World Championship Wrestling
WCW Cruiserweight Championship (3 times)
WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Rey Mysterio Jr.
WCW World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Rey Mysterio Jr. (1) and Konnan (1)
World Series Wrestling
WSW World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment
WCW/WWF/E Cruiserweight Championship (4 times)