Chad Allegra was on born January 20, 1980. Allegra is a professional wrestler from the United States who goes by the ring name Karl Anderson. He is now contracted with WWE and works on the SmackDown brand. He is a former member of the Bullet Club and a member of the stable The O.C.
Anderson is best known as a tag team specialist, most notably in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he was a four-time IWGP Tag Team Champion. He also holds the record for the longest reign and the most championship defenses, both of which he accomplished during his first reign with former partner Giant Bernard. Anderson and Bernard also held the Pro Wrestling Noah's GHC Tag Team Championship and were named the Wrestling Observer Newsletter's tag team of the year in 2011.
Anderson is a founding member and the second captain of the Bullet Club stable, as well as a three-time winner of NJPW's elite tag team competition, the G1/World Tag League, alongside Bernard in 2009, Hirooki Goto in 2012, and Doc Gallows in 2013. Between 2007 and 2009, he performed for the Southern California-based independent organization Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG).
| Name | Chad Allegra |
| D.O.B | January 20, 1980 |
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Weight | 98 kg |
| Occupation | Professional wrestler |
| Professional Debut | 2002 |
| Ring name | Karl Anderson |
| Wife | Christine Bui Allegra |
READ MORE: Pete Dunne aka Butch
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Allegra grew up with his younger brother and mother in Pipestone, Minnesota. He attended Mars Hill College in his home state on a baseball scholarship before leaving out to pursue a wrestling career. He began training at Les Thatcher’s Main Event Pro Wrestling Camp, which is affiliated with the Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA), after moving to Cincinnati, Ohio.
Shortly after starting his training with Les Thatcher in 2000, Allegra suffered a concussion at the hands of fellow student Derek Neikirk, which sidelined him for nearly a year. When he thought he was ready to return, he called Kirk Sheppard, the head trainer at BoneKrushers (the NWF’s wrestling school), who referred him to Roger Ruffen, the head trainer of the Northern Wrestling Federation (NWF) in Cincinnati. Allegra trained for many months before making his professional debut under his true name on May 10, 2002, in a defeat to The Zodiac. He competed against Prince Justice, Jimmy Valiant, Chris Harris, Shark Boy, and Jerry Lawler in the early phases of his career.
Allegra began his NWF career as a member of the Young Lions, a four-man group of popular rookies who joined the promotion around the same time. Matt Parks was the first to depart the organization. Allegra subsequently turned heel and began feuding with Ryan Stone and Jay Donaldson. The NWF and the HWA launched an inter-promotional dispute in the summer of 2005. It all came down to a title vs. championship bout between Allegra, the NWF champion, and Cody Hawk, the HWA champion.
Allegra had the opportunity to wrestle at the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) annual convention in October 2005, when he was discovered by Dave Marquez of NJPW LA Dojo. He began working with Joey Ryan on NWA shows promoted by David Marquez in 2007. He appeared weekly on MavTV, a tiny broadcast network that was only available on a few stations. The team’s first championship bout was a loss to The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) for the AWS Tag Team Championship.
Anderson defeated Human Tornado in the EWF American Championship in April. On July 8, 2007, he and Ryan won the vacant NWA World Tag Team Championship in a three-way tag match. On September 7, 2007, Anderson lost his EWF American Championship to Mikey Nicholls in a 30-minute Iron Man bout that also featured Ryan Taylor. Anderson and Ryan, now known as the Real American Heroes, successfully defended their championship several times before losing it against Los Luchas (Phoenix Star and Zokre) on February 10, 2008.
Anderson made his Ring of Honour (ROH) debut on October 19, 2007, losing to Chris Hero in a Survival of the Fittest qualifying bout. Anderson was beaten in a singles match two days later by Adam Pearce. Anderson returned to ROH on April 5, 2013, at Supercard of Honour VII, defeating Roderick Strong after being off for nearly five years. Anderson defeated Michael Elgin again in the Ring of Honour Wrestling tapings the next day. Anderson returned to the WWE on July 27 to compete in the ROH World Championship tournament, where he defeated A. C. H. in the first round. Michael Elgin eliminated Anderson from the competition in the quarterfinals on August 17.
Anderson spent much of his career in Japan before joining WWE in 2016 alongside Gallows, A.J. Styles, and Shinsuke Nakamura. Anderson and Gallows won the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship twice during his initial tenure in WWE. Anderson and Gallows were released by WWE in April 2020 and signed a deal with Impact Wrestling three months later, where they became three-time Impact World Tag Team Champions. Their contracts with Impact expired in 2022, and that same year, Anderson won NJPW’s NEVER Openweight Championship, after which he and Gallows returned to WWE in October 2022 while still champions. Anderson became the first WWE contractual wrestler to appear at NJPW’s premier event, Wrestle Kingdom 17, on January 4, 2023, where he lost the championship.
Anderson debuted in WWE in 2016 as part of the tag team “The Club” with Luke Gallows, better known as Doc Gallows. They were previously known as members of New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s Bullet Club faction.
Anderson and Gallows won the Raw Tag Team Championship once during their time in WWE. They had famous feuds with teams like The New Day and The Usos. Anderson also appeared in a number of singles and tag team contests on WWE television. Karl Anderson was released by WWE on April 15, 2020, along with numerous other superstars, as a result of COVID-19 pandemic-related actions.
Gallows and Anderson made a surprising comeback to WWE as faces on the October 10, 2022, episode of Raw, assisting AJ Styles in his attack on The Judgement Day. Anderson was selected to the SmackDown brand in the 2023 WWE Draft.
