Scott Levy (born September 8, 1964), better known as "Raven", is an American professional wrestler, currently performing for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He has enjoyed considerable success in every major professional wrestling promotion in the United States.

Career

Early Career

Levy started wrestling as Scotty the Body in the NWA's "Pacific Northwest" territory in 1988. He was the main heel for three years there, winning all of the titles and feuding heavily with Steve Doll.

He next spent a little time in Memphis' "Mid-Southern Wrestling" where he was the boy-toy of Missy Hyatt, who used him to her and Eddie Gilbert's advantage.

His first national TV exposure was in the Global Wrestling Federation as Scotty Anthony. He was a member of The Cartel with Cactus Jack, Rip Rogers and Makhan Singh. GWF was aired on ESPN.

He got his first major exposure as a wrestler in 1991 in World Championship Wrestling under the name Scotty Flamingo, and won the short lived WCW Light Heavyweight Title (also known as the first incarnation of the WCW Cruiserweight Championship) in 1992. He had feuds with Brian Pillman, Brad Armstrong and Johnny B. Badd. He won a "boxing" match over the former Golden Gloves champion Badd at the Clash of Champions on November 18, 1992 when his ring corner men, Diamond Dallas Page and Vinnie Vegas, loaded his gloves with water so he could KO Badd. He left later that year.

In early 1993, Levy joined the then-World Wrestling Federation as the manager Johnny Polo, a spoiled, rich kid, and was placed with Adam Bomb. More famously, he was also the manager of the Quebecers tag team, whom he led to a few reigns as WWF World Tag Team Champions. He occasionally wrestled, worked as a color commentator, and, behind the scenes, worked as a producer for the WWF's Monday Night RAW TV program, before leaving in 1994. He would then start to make his impact in professional wrestling.

Extreme Championship Wrestling

In 1995, now bulked up to approximately 230 lb (104 kg), Levy debuted in Extreme Championship Wrestling under the name Raven (a reference to the poem by Edgar Allan Poe). In a dramatic departure from his former characters, Levy began portraying a depressed, nihilistic misanthrope. He made his debut with Stevie Richards, attacking Tommy Dreamer, claiming Dreamer was his enemy when they were children at Summer Camp. He also debuted with the valet, Beulah McGillicutty, a heavier girl who liked Dreamer as a child, but is now seeking revenge. Raven and Dreamer had a great deal of matches with Raven coming out victorious every time.

Another major ECW feud was with Sandman. He "brainwashed" his son to join his cult like following, and turned him against his father. Raven would get at Sandman by having his son deny his relationship with his father, and he would do Raven's taunt to slowly eat away at Sandman. This led to many bloody matches, which Sandman's son interfered to help his father. After the match, the two embraced, but Raven came from behind with a Kendo Stick, and smacked his enemy. Steven Richards and the Blue Meanie came out with a giant wooden cross, and tied Sandman down to it. They then lifted it up, and "crucified" him. The fans gave a negative reaction. At the time, Kurt Angle was in the audience, and the offensive angle caused him to leave and threaten a lawsuit if his name appeared on the same episode as the "crucifixion." Raven came out, and gave a questionable apology for his actions.

Levy enjoyed two reigns as ECW World Heavyweight Champion during his tenure in ECW. He started a legendary feud with Tommy Dreamer that lasted for the next two years, before Dreamer finally defeated him at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in June 1997.

World Championship Wrestling

In 1997 Levy left ECW and rejoined WCW, leading The Flock. He enjoyed some moderate success with WCW, but nothing on the level of his former ECW main event status. He won the WCW World Tag Team Championship with fellow Flock member Perry Saturn, as well as the WCW U.S Heavyweight Championship. Unfortunately, the latter reign lasted only a day as Raven defeated Diamond Dallas Page at a Pay Per View and lost the belt the following night to Bill Goldberg on WCW Monday Nitro.

Raven had a notable fued with Perry Saturn after losing the U.S Title to Goldberg. He blamed the flock and Saturn in particular for his loss. This led to a series of matches, the last of which happened at WCW Fall Brawl 98. Without the Flock, Raven began a series of depressing interviews and walked out on several matches. In October at WCW's Halloween Havoc 98, Raven refused to wrestle Chris Jericho for the Television Title, but eventually was convinced to return to the ring. He lost the match and wasn't seen until 1999. He was reunited with his former valet Chastity, who WCW claimed was his sister, and moved into other storylines, creating feuds with Chris Kanyon, Bam Bam Bigelow, and Hak (The Sandman). He later joined with Vampiro, The Great Muta, and the Insane Clown Posse in a short-lived stable called The Dead Pool. Dissatisfied with WCW's creative direction, Raven left the company in 1999.

Return To Extreme Championship Wrestling

Raven rejoined ECW and teamed up with his old enemy, Tommy Dreamer. A reluctant tag team, Raven and Dreamer reigned as ECW World Tag Team Champions for several months. When they lost those belts, they feuded once again before Levy left for the WWF in the summer of 2000.

World Wrestling Entertainment

Raven made his debut at Unforgiven 2000 when he interfered in the Strap Match between Tazz and Jerry Lawler, by DDTing Lawler. He then started teaming with Tazz before they went their separate ways. But, Levy's WWF/WWE run was not a success. Despite a large reaction from fans to his early appearances, the WWF showed little interest in pushing him beyond the Hardcore division. Like many other former ECW wrestlers, Raven lost his ECW look and switched to the more uniform WWF style of dress. This eventually led to him wearing a kilt, and then to a standard pair of trunks and boots. Raven made the latter change on his own initiative, hoping that this would win the WWE's attention. Still, the WWE kept him lower on the card, to the point where he became something of a joke (Color commentator Jerry Lawler would point out that Raven spent most of his time on Sunday Night HEAT). Raven could not advance beyond midcard status and was used mainly on the "B" shows or in the Hardcore division. He won the WWE Hardcore Championship a total of 27 times (which he holds the record for) before being released in early 2003.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Levy's main exposure since then has been for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (then NWA-TNA), and in Europe for the Frontier Wrestling Alliance, where he reverted to his original grunge image. He also appeared in Ring of Honor that year, battling CM Punk in one of the company's most famous feuds which was based around Punk's straight-edge lifestyle as opposed to Raven's years of drug and alcohol abuse during the height of his fame in the late nineties.

Raven debuted in TNA Wrestling in 2003, attacking Jeff Jarrett and stealing the NWA World Heavyweight Title from him. Raven proceeded to start a long-running storyline in which he claimed it was his "destiny" to win the NWA World Heavyweight Title. Despite two shots at the belt (versus Jarrett and AJ Styles, respectively), he was unable to capture the gold at the time.

On September 17, 2003, Raven lost his trademark long hair after he was defeated by Shane Douglas in a hair versus hair match. He later regrew it. While in TNA, he formed a stable known as The Gathering, though they would later turn on him.

On June 19, 2005, Raven fulfilled his self-proclaimed destiny when he won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at the TNA Slammiversary PPV, defeating A.J. Styles, Abyss, Sean Waltman and Monty Brown in a five way King of the Mountain match. The unique part of this situation was that Raven was previously suspended by Director of Authority Larry Zbyszko for attacking him, and was inserted into the match on the pay per view pre-show when Jarrett was removed for attacking a fan (the fan was really indy wrestler Sal Rinauro).

After successfully defending the title at TNA No Surrender 2005 on July 17, 2005, against Abyss in a brutal Dog Collar Match, he was gored by Rhino, who aligned with Jeff Jarrett in yet another effort to get Jarrett into the title picture. Jarrett would get a title shot if he pinned Raven in a tag-team match at TNA Sacrifice on August 14, where Raven teamed with Sabu and Jarrett teamed with Rhino. Ultimately Rhino got the pin on Raven after goring him through a table, and was given the title shot at TNA Unbreakable on September 11.

At Unbreakable, Raven made the request of making the match a "Raven's Rules Match", to which Rhino agreed. Raven's Rules means no-disqualification, with Raven pushing a shopping cart to the ring containing various nominally-illegal foreign objects. In the match, Rhino got sliced in the face by a pizza cutter, while Raven was split open by a shot from a garbage can and shot in the forehead twice with a staple gun. In the end, after unsuccessful interference by Jeff Jarrett, Rhino suffered the Raven Effect DDT, and Raven retained the NWA World Heavyweight Championship once more.

On September 15, 2005 Raven lost the NWA Title to Jeff Jarrett in Oldcastle, Ontario, Canada, at a special event of Border City Wrestling. America's Most Wanted ("Wildcat" Chris Harris and "Cowboy" James Storm) came out and made and interfered on Jarrett's behalf. TNA Director of Authority Larry Zbyszko was immediately contacted by BCW officials, who declared the title change official.

Raven was enraged by this acceptance, and went on the rampage backstage during the weeks leading up to Bound For Glory. As a result, when challenger Kevin Nash went down to illness and forfeited his title shot, Larry Zbyszko refused to grant Raven a rematch. Rhino came out and berated Raven, asking where the sick person that crucified The Sandman in ECW went, and saying Raven now was pathetic.

During this, and a segment with Cassidy Riley on the following episode of iMPACT, it has been hinted that Raven has "gone soft" as a result of his involvement with an as-yet unrevealed woman. On the December 3 addition of iMPACT, he lost a "Raven's House Of Fun Match" against The Diamonds in the Rough.

Currently fueding with Larry Zbyszko, Raven has been repeatedly pressured to sign a release form and leave TNA. He has steadfastly refused, and Zbyszko has brought back some of Raven's past cronies (P.J. Polaco (Justin Credible) and Chris K. (Chris Kanyon)) in an attempt to "punish" him.

Raven was set to face an opponent of Zbyszko's choosing at Final Resolution. If Raven won he would have gotten a NWA World Heavyweight title match, but if Larry's choice won, Raven would be kicked out of TNA.

Raven's opponent was Sean Waltman. Halfway through the match, the referee was knocked out and Larry Zbyszko became the ref and constantly gave Raven a slow count. However, he would give Sean Waltman the same count, showing some objectivity. It ended when Sean Waltman gave Raven an X-Factor through a table off of a ladder. Sean went for the pin, and Raven got his foot on the rope but Larry didn't see the rope break. Afterwards, Raven ran into Jackie Gayda, who informed him that they had something in common - they were both being screwed by "TNA Management".

Credit: Wikipedia.org

• Levy is reportedly responsible for the creation of many types of wrestling matches including the Raven's Rules Match, the Hangman's Horror Match and the Clockwork Orange House of Fun Match (Raven's House of Fun Match, Bowery Death Cage Match).
• Levy has a reported IQ of 143, and is a member of Mensa International.
• Levy is the only wrestler to have an action figure of himself made in ECW, WCW, WWE and TNA, arguably the four most prominent promotions in North America of the 1990s and early 2000s. In addition, Levy was featured in video games produced by ECW, WCW and WWE, with TNA also set to release a video game in the future, and has won championships in all four promotions, placing him among a select few.
• Levy, along with Brian Azzarello, wrote Issue #14 of Spider-Man's Tangled Web, entitled "The Last Shoot". The comic was based around the professional wrestler who Peter Parker defeated in the character's first appearance in Amazing Fantasy. Levy's influence is clearly seen by the insider's take on professional wrestling within the issue, including the use of kayfabe terminology.
• In ECW & ROH, Levy's theme music was The Offspring's Come Out and Play (Keep 'Em Separated).
• During his WCW career, Levy's theme music was an instrumental sound-alike of Nirvana's Come As You Are.
• Levy is an alumnus of Theta Chi Fraternity, which he joined during his days at the University of Delaware.
• In Wizard Magazine's May 1999 issue Levy is quoted as saying "I love the Marvel Knights line. I'm a big Kevin Smith fan, and his work on Daredevil is the best on that book since Frank Miller's stuff. Inhumans is also great. It could be the break-out book of the year because they're finally treating them as real characters instead of just freaks and monsters with no personality." The article goes on to say that he is a big fan of Watchmen, Swamp Thing, and especially Sandman and that he has a tattoo of Neil Gaiman's Sandman character on his back.
• In March of 2005, TNA released Nevermore: The Best of Raven. Raven can also be seen on the TNA DVD's Phenomonal: The Best of AJ Styles, Enigma: The Best of Jeff Hardy & The Best of The Bloodiest Brawls.