Robert Anthony Fish was born on October 27, 1976, in
Albany, New York, and is the youngest of three children to Richard and Ann Fish. Fish's father worked as a firefighter in Albany, and was a former
U.S. Marine.[6] He grew up near
Central Avenue. Fish attended
Colonie Central High School, where he played as a
linebacker for the football team. He then played football at
Hudson Valley Community College, before moving to
Siena College during his junior year. He graduated in 2000, with a bachelor's degree in English, becoming the first member of his family to graduate from college. He previously worked as a bartender and also returned to his former high school as a substitute teacher, while working independent events on the weekends. In 2012, he was about to take a job at a
Target distribution center in
Wilton, until
Ring of Honor offered him a contract, continuing his wrestling career.[7][8]
Professional wrestling career
Early career (2002–2006)
Bobby Fish made his pro wrestling debut in 2002 after training with
Tony DeVito and
Harley Race.[5] He competed for several years in the Northeast under the names Jerkin Jackson and Madden Fisher before settling on the name he continues to use, Bobby Fish. He made his debut for
Ring of Honor on October 2, 2004, where he teamed with Scott Cardinal and lost to the Rebel's Army.[9] He was utilized as a jobber for ROH for the entirety of his early appearance. Fish wrestled for Pro Wrestling Unplugged for the majority of his early career making his debut in February 2005. He formed a partnership with Scott Cardinal, whom he had wrestled many times on the Northeast indie scene. On May 20, he and Cardinal defeated three other teams to win the vacant PWU Tag Team Championship before vacating them in September.
After returning from his first tour with Noah, Fish returned to the Northeastern independent circuit and continued to compete there when he returned from Noah tours. Fish wrestled for New England Championship Wrestling regularly between his early tours of Noah. In April 2007, he defeated DC Dillinger by disqualification in a match for the NECW Undisputed Triple Crown Championship, but failed to win the title. Fish took part in Iron 8 2007, making it to the finals where he lost to
Eddie Edwards. Fish returned to ROH at Reborn Again in a loss to
Claudio Castagnoli, teamed with Matt Cross at Final Battle 2007 in a loss against the Vulture Squad[9] (
Ruckus and
Jigsaw), and appeared in several matches on Ring of Honor Wrestling in 2009.[10]
In 2009, he was announced as one of the participants scheduled to wrestle on the first Evolve Wrestling show.[11] On January 10, 2010, he performed in the opening match at Evolve 1, in which he lost to Kyle O'Reilly via pinfall.[12]
Pro Wrestling Noah (2006–2013)
Fish first toured Japan in 2006 with
Pro Wrestling Noah, making his debut on May 19, 2006, defeating
Atsushi Aoki. For a number of years Fish toured with Noah at least once a year, sometimes enjoying several tours a year. In 2010, Fish and Eddie Edwards lost to
Ricky Marvin and
Taiji Ishimori in the semi-final of the
GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship tournament. Fish participated in 2011s Global League gaining only four points. In 2012, Fish and Edwards participated in NTV G Cup Junior Heavyweight League, once again gaining four points. From April 17 to 24, 2013, Fish and Edwards took part in the
2013 Global Tag League, where they won one of their four matches, failing to advance from their block.
On May 8, 2016, at
Global Wars, Fish defeated
Tomohiro Ishii to become the new ROH World Television Champion.[33] He lost the title to
Will Ospreay on November 18.[34] Fish was scheduled to compete in a four-way match for the Television title at
Final Battle, against champion
Marty Scurll, Will Ospreay, and
Dragon Lee, but was forced to pull out due to a family emergency.[35] On January 3, 2017, it was reported that Fish had re-signed with ROH.[36] Fish was unsuccessful in an attempt to win the
ROH World Championship from
Adam Cole at Manhattan Mayhem VI. In March 2017, Fish announced his departure from Ring of Honor.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2014–2016)
Through ROH's relationship with NJPW, reDRagon made an appearance for the Japanese promotion on August 10, 2014, unsuccessfully challenging
Time Splitters (
Alex Shelley and
Kushida) for the
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.[37] reDRagon returned to NJPW on October 25 to take part in the
2014 Super Jr. Tag Tournament.[38] On November 3, reDRagon defeated The Young Bucks in the finals to win the tournament.[39] Five days later at
Power Struggle, reDRagon defeated Time Splitters in a rematch to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions.[40] They made their first successful title defense on January 4, 2015, at
Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome, in a four-way match against Forever Hooligans, Time Splitters and The Young Bucks.[41] On February 11 at
The New Beginning in Osaka, reDRagon lost the title to The Young Bucks in a three-way match, also involving Time Splitters.[42][43]
reDRagon returned to NJPW on May 3, 2015, at
Wrestling Dontaku 2015, where they unsuccessfully challenged for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in a three-way match with
Roppongi Vice (
Beretta and Rocky Romero) and The Young Bucks.[44] Later that month, Fish entered the
2015 Best of the Super Juniors.[45] He finished second in his block with a record of five wins and two losses, narrowly missing advancement to the finals of the tournament.[46] Following the tournament, reDRagon received a rematch for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in a three-way match, also involving Roppongi Vice, but were again defeated by The Young Bucks on July 5 at
Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall.[47] On August 16, reDRagon defeated The Young Bucks to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for the second time.[48] They lost the title back to The Young Bucks in a four-way match on January 4, 2016, at
Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome.[49] On September 17 at
Destruction in Tokyo, Fish received his first singles title shot in NJPW, when he unsuccessfully challenged
Katsuyori Shibata for the
NEVER Openweight Championship.[50]
Fish made his debut in
WWE's
developmental territoryNXT at the June 23, 2017 television tapings, losing to
Aleister Black.[51]Triple H confirmed Fish's signing on July 12.[52] At
NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III, Fish, alongside O'Reilly (who had also signed with WWE), attacked
SAnitY after they defeated
The Authors of Pain to win the
NXT Tag Team Championships.[53] Later on in the night, the two assisted the debuting
Adam Cole in attacking newly crowned
NXT ChampionDrew McIntyre, turning Fish heel in the process.[54] The following month, the trio of Fish, Cole and O'Reilly was officially dubbed "
The Undisputed Era".[55][56] The trio faced the teams of Sanity and Authors of Pain and Roderick Strong in a
WarGames match at
NXT TakeOver: WarGames. During the match, The Undisputed Era emerged victorious.[57] On the December 20 episode of NXT, Fish and O'Reilly defeated Sanity to win the NXT Tag Team Championship.[58] At
NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia, Fish and O'Reilly defeated The Authors of Pain to retain the NXT Tag Team Championships.[59][60] On March 4, Fish suffered a torn ACL and torn MCL in his left knee at an NXT live event. He later underwent surgery and was out of action for six months.[61] During his absence, Fish's role as champion was filled by Cole and later on by
Roderick Strong, who joined the stable at
NXT TakeOver: New Orleans. After returning on October 17, at
NXT TakeOver: WarGames the stable were defeated by the team of
Pete Dunne,
Ricochet, and The War Raiders in a WarGames match.
Fish and O'reilly regain the titles on the August 16 tapings of NXT. At
NXT TakeOver: WarGames, The Undisputed Era were defeated by Team Ciampa in a WarGames match.[62] The next night, at
Survivor Series, Fish and O'Reilly faced
The New Day and
The Viking Raiders in a triple threat tag team match but were defeated as The Viking Raiders won the match.[63] Heading into 2020, Fish and O'Reilly entered the
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and defeated
Gallus in the first round, but were defeated by
The Grizzled Young Veterans in the second round.[64][65] The Undisputed Era entered a brief feud with
Imperium and it was announced that the two factions would face each other at
Worlds Collide. At the event, Imperium defeated The Undisputed Era.[66] At
NXT TakeOver: Portland, Fish and O'Reilly dropped the titles to The BroserWeights (Pete Dunne and
Matt Riddle) ending their reign at 172 days.[67] Over the summer, The Undisputed Era slowly turned face as they assisted Cole in his feud with
Pat McAfee which culminated in a WarGames match at
NXT TakeOver: WarGames, where The Undisputed Era defeated Team McAfee.[68] However, during the match, Fish suffered an injury to his triceps, taking him out of action once again.[69] During his absence, The Undisputed Era disbanded following Cole's betrayal of O'Reilly and Strong. While Fish returned on the May 11, 2021 episode of NXT,[70] Fish then made his in-ring return on the May 25 episode, where he faced Dunne in a losing effort.[71] he worked on NXT until his release on August 6.[72]
Major League Wrestling (2021)
Fish was announced to appear at
Major League Wrestling,[73] where he debuted as a participant in the
2021 Opera Cup tournament at
Fightland, defeating Lee Moriarty in the quarterfinal before losing to
Davey Richards in the semifinal. On the same show, Fish briefly mentioned about his romantic desire with then partner
Brandon Cutler in a backstage segment with
Alicia Atout.[74]
All Elite Wrestling (2021–2022)
Fish made his debut for
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) on the October 6, 2021 episode of
Dynamite, where he challenged
Sammy Guevara for the
AEW TNT Championship, but was unsuccessful.[75] After the event, it was announced that he had signed a contract with the company.[76] Fish reunited with his Undisputed Era stablemate Adam Cole as part of The Elite and, in December, with Kyle O'Reily, who left WWE to work for AEW.[77] On the February 23, 2022 episode of Dynamite, reDRagon (Fish and O'Reily) won a 10-team battle royal to earn a place in the Triple Threat match for the AEW Tag Team Championship at AEW Revolution.[78][79]reDRagon lost the match.[80] On August 31, 2022, Fish's contract with AEW expired and his contract was not renewed, thus making him a free agent.
Fish would return on the episode November 20, 2022 of
NJPW Strong, defeating Kevin Blackwood. Later in the show Fish would join
Team Filthy by attacking
Homicide.[86] Fish quietly departed Team Filthy after being defeated by
David Finlay on the
Battle in the Valley pre-show.
Sporting an iconic
Van Dyke beard, Fish is often seen wearing a custom mouth guard during his matches, usually with a shark-tooth design. Along with tag team partner Kyle O'Reilly, his entrance theme in both ROH and AEW is "Dance Away" by the band Damn Valentines; in NXT, he used the song "Behind Bars" by Auracle.
Amateur kickboxing career
Fish trained with Jerrick Jones at Albany Boxing before his
kickboxing debut on January 29, 2010. He had his first fight for the Cage Wars organization at the
Washington Avenue Armory in Albany, New York, and defeated Justin Pierpoint by
technical knockout in the third round after Pierpoint suffered a broken nose at the end of the second.[89]
Tag Team of the Year (2019) – with Kyle O'Reilly
Tag Team of the Year (2020) – with Kyle O'Reilly, Adam Cole and Roderick Strong
^Fish and O'Reilly originally won the title as a duo, but Cole and Strong also became recognized as champions under the
Freebird Rule after Fish suffered an injury.
^IMPACT Wrestling Staff (September 23, 2022).
"Victory Road 2022 Full Results". Impact Wrestling.
Archived from the original on September 24, 2022. Retrieved September 24, 2022.