Prince Nana

This article is about the wrestler. For the footballer, see Prince Nana (footballer).
Prince Nana

Nana at a Ring of Honor show in 2011
Birth name Nana Osei Bandoh
Born 1977
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Prince Nana
Billed height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1]
Billed weight 235 lb (107 kg)[1]
Billed from Ghana, West Africa[1]
Trained by Angel Medina
Vito LoGrasso[1]
Devon Hughes[1]
Johnny Rodz[1]
Mr. Fabian Street[1]
Debut 1996[1]

Prince Nana Osei Bandoh is an American retired professional wrestler and manager of Ghanaian extraction, better known by his ring name, Prince Nana. He has stated that he is an Ashanti prince.[2][3]

Professional wrestling career

Although Nana was born in the United States, he states that he is the son of an Ashanti tribe member with royal heritage and the heir to the throne of Ashanti in Ghana. When Nana was three, his family relocated to Ghana for five years, returning so that Nana could be educated in America. As a teenager, he relocated to New York City in America as an exchange student. In 1992, at the age of fifteen, Nana watched WrestleMania VIII, and was inspired by the WWF Championship match between "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Ric Flair to become a wrestler. A year later, he wrote to the World Wrestling Federation and asked their advice as to which professional wrestling school he should attend. The WWF recommended that he train under Larry Sharpe, but Nana felt that Sharpe's school (in Westville, New Jersey) was too far away. Instead, Nana became a photographer for Johnny Rodz, who operated Gleason's Gym in New York. Nana worked for Rodz until he turned eighteen, when Rodz began training him as a wrestler. He debuted in 1996, wrestling in a church in Spanish Harlem.[2][4][5][6]

Nana worked regularly for the East Coast Wrestling Association in Delaware and USA Pro Wrestling in New York, as well as making appearances with the WWF and with Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX in Japan.

Ring of Honor (2002–present)

In 2002, he joined the upstart Ring of Honor promotion, where in 2004 he formed a heel stable known as The Embassy. In storylines, Nana used his wealth gained from the taxes of people of Ghana to hire wrestlers to wrestle his opponents and rivals. Under his management John Walters defended his ROH Pure Championship and Jimmy Rave, Alex Shelley and Abyss won the Trios Tournament in 2006. He remained with Ring of Honor until September 2006, when he gave his notice.[7]

Nana in 2005

On October 24, 2008, in Danbury, Connecticut, Nana made a surprise return to Ring of Honor, saying he has no more riches, no more crown, and just wants a job before he was dragged away by security. The next night, Nana made an appearance at Ring of Honor's Edison, New Jersey show and did the same thing. Again, he was dragged away by security. The next time ROH was in Edison on January 17, 2009, Nana again appeared, only to be dragged away by security. He has since been featured in segments on the ROH Video Wire. In a March edition of the ROH Video Wire, Nana revealed that he had regained his riches due to President Obama's stimulus package, and has been directing Bison Smith's attacks on ROH wrestlers. On March 20, at the ROH show in Elizabeth, PA, Nana declared that he had officially reformed the Embassy, with himself, Bison Smith and Ernie Osiris.[8] The next day in New York City they were joined by the returning Jimmy Rave. Other members of the stable came to include Claudio Castagnoli, Joey Ryan, Erick Stevens, Shawn Daivari and Necro Butcher, but by October 2010 all of them, except Osiris, had left the group. On January 22, 2011, Nana debuted the latest version of the Embassy, consisting of Ernesto Osiris, Mia Yim, R.D. Evans, and Tommaso Ciampa, who would take over Jimmy Rave's former role as Nana's number one wrestler.[9] The following April and June, both Dave Taylor and Rhino made appearances representing the Embassy.[10][11] On the July 28 episode of Ring of Honor Wrestling, The Embassy disbanded, when Ciampa turned on Nana, after R.D. Evans had revealed his deal with Truth Martini, which had cost Ciampa the ROH World Television Championship.[12]

On Monday June 3, 2013, Nana received a tryout with WWE, Nana commented on the tryout on Facebook, writing, "Great day with the WWE...The future may be bright....Fools."

In mid-2013, Nana was given the new on-screen role of ROH Talent Scout.[13] In late 2014, Nana formed yet another version of the Embassy with Moose, Stokely Hathaway and Veda Scott, which was later disbanded.[14]

Nana is currently managing Donovan Dijak after he sent him some envelopes every time he wrestled, until he finally departed from The House of Truth that took place on February 25, 2016 episode of ROH tapings.[15]

In wrestling

The Embassy in 2011: Nana (right) with Tommaso Ciampa (center) and Ernie Osiris (left).

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 "Prince Nana". OnlineWorldOfWrestling.com. Retrieved May 20, 2007.
  2. 1 2 Clevett, J. (May 31, 2005). "Nana an honorable Prince". Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved May 20, 2007. I was born in the U.S., but when I turned three we went back to Ghana for five years. I came back to go to school. My Father is part of the Ashanti tribe in Ghana, West Africa with Royal Heritage. I am part of that because of my relation to the existing chiefs of the Ashanti tribe. If my uncle is to pass away, because he is the chief uncle, legally I will be the next King.
  3. ↑ "Prince Nana at Cagematch.net". Retrieved May 23, 2007.
  4. ↑ Clevett, J. (May 31, 2005). "Nana an honorable Prince". Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved May 20, 2007. ...it was the classic feud between Randy "Macho Man" Savage and Flair that culminated at Wrestlemania 8 that changed his life.
  5. ↑ Clevett, J. (May 31, 2005). "Nana an honorable Prince". Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved May 20, 2007. A year later I was looking into schools and I wrote to the WWE, who told me to go to Larry Sharpe's school. It was too far way because I was living in New York City as an exchange student from Ghana. After a few months I found Gleason's gym on Front Street. I started as a photographer for Johnny Rodz...
  6. ↑ Schwan, B. (2005). "Ten Questions With Prince Nana". WrestlingClothesline.com. Retrieved May 20, 2007.
  7. ↑ Clevett, J. (May 31, 2005). "Nana an honorable Prince". Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved May 20, 2007.
  8. ↑ "10/24 ROH in Danbury, CT. Results & Discussion". October 24, 2008. Archived from the original on February 14, 2010. Retrieved October 24, 2008.
  9. 1 2 3 Martin, Adam (2011-01-23). "Spoilers: 1/22 ROH HDNet tapings in Philadelphia". WrestleView. Retrieved 2011-03-04.
  10. 1 2 Caldwell, James; Radican, Sean (2011-04-02). "ROH Internet PPV report 4/2: Caldwell & Radican's ongoing "virtual-time" coverage of live ROH PPV from Atlanta". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  11. 1 2 Radican, Sean (2011-06-26). "Radican's "Best in the World" internet PPV report 6/26: Ongoing "real-time" coverage of live PPV from New York City". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  12. ↑ Namako, Jason (2012-07-28). "ROH on Sinclair Results - 7/28/12". WrestleView. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
  13. ↑ "Final Battle: Ring of Honor World Tag Team Title Match". Ring of Honor. 2013-11-18. Retrieved 2013-11-19.
  14. 1 2 Caldwell, James (2014-12-07). "Caldwell's ROH Final Battle 2014 PPV results 12/7: Complete "virtual-time" coverage of live PPV from New York City". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2014-12-08.
  15. ↑ 2/27 RING OF HONOR TV TAPING RESULTS FROM LAS VEGAS, NV - PWInsider.com
  16. ↑ "ECWA Night Of The Unusual Matches 2004". Cagematch. Retrieved 2010-09-15.
  17. ↑ Valvo, Anthony (2009-11-19). "ROH HDNet Recap - 11/16/09". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-09-15.
  18. ↑ "Towel Boy profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-09-15.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Cook, Steve (2006-10-11). "Ask 411 Wrestling 10.11.06: Warrior Warrior's promos, ROH factions, Sid's Bowel Movements and More!". 411Mania. Retrieved 2010-09-15.
  20. 1 2 Lipinski, Keith; Burgan, Derek (2006-04-03). "ROH 4/1 in Chicago Ridge, IL: Detailed report of Cabana vs. Homicide, Dragon vs. Storm". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2010-09-15.
  21. ↑ "ICW Impact Cup 2010". Cagematch. Retrieved 2010-10-23.
  22. ↑ "Lethal vs Dijak signed for May 11th in Toronto". Ring of Honor. Retrieved 2016-05-04.
  23. 1 2 3 "Past results". Ring of Honor. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
  24. 1 2 Caldwell, James (2013-08-18). "Show results - 8/17 ROH in New York City: New ROH tag champions, ROH Title tournament continues, Homicide returns with a friend, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2013-08-18.
  25. ↑ Valvo, Anthony J. (2010-07-15). "ROH HDNet Recap - 7/12/10". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-09-15.
  26. ↑ Valvo, Anthony J. (2010-05-30). "ROH HDNet Recap - 5/24/10". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-09-15.
  27. ↑ ""PWI 500": 301–400". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. 2010-07-27. Retrieved 2010-07-31.
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