Roderick Strong
Christopher Lindsey (born July 26, 1983) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Roderick Strong and is the leader of The Diamond Mine. He is best known for his time in impact Wrestling . Strong was a member of The Undisputed Era from 2018 to 2021. He is perhaps best known for his 13-year tenure with Ring of Honor, where he is a former one-time ROH World Champion, a two-time ROH World Television Champion, and a one-time ROH World Tag Team Champion with Austin Aries, which made him the second-ever ROH Triple Crown Champion.
He debuted as The Jester on the Floridian independent circuit before quickly changing to his current name. He worked for IPW Hardcore and NWA Florida, before debuting for ROH in September 2003. In mid-2004, Strong joined forces with Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, and Jack Evans, collectively known as Generation Next. As part of Generation Next, Strong won the ROH World Tag Team Championship with Aries. Strong later turned on Aries, forming a new faction, the No Remorse Corps, with Davey Richards and Rocky Romero. During this time, he was also competing for ROH’s sister promotion, FIP, and debuted for PWG. Strong toured Japan with Dragon Gate and Pro Wrestling Noah and had a brief stint in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2005.
In FIP, he won the World Heavyweight Championship three times, and the Tag Team Championship twice, once with Erick Stevens and once with Rich Swann. In PWG, he is a one-time World Champion and a three-time World Tag Team Champion, having held the title with Davey Richards, Pac, and Jack Evans respectively. In addition, he is the only wrestler to win PWG’s annual Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament with two different partners (PAC in 2007 and Evans in 2008).
After signing with WWE in 2016, Strong debuted in NXT as a fan-favorite before turning into a vilain and joining the Undisputed Era, where he became a two-time NXT Tag Team Champion (both with O’Reilly) and a one-time NXT North American Champion.
In the autumn of 1994, Lindsey’s father, a collegiate wrestler, began training as a wrestler under Jim Neidhart. After Lindsey attended several training sessions and met Harry Smith, a third generation wrestler, he decided to become a wrestler. Lindsey was also trained by his father,[3] Neidhart and a number of other wrestlers in Tampa, Florida and debuted in 2000 as The Jester on the Floridian independent circuit for the RWA.[3][7]
Strong wrestled his first match for the Independent Professional Wrestling promotion, competing in a twenty-man cruiserweight Battle royal. He was initially one-third of a stable known as “Risk Factor” with The Kamikaze Kid and Kid Lethal before he formed a tag team with his trainee and kayfabe brother, Sedrick Strong. The Strong Brothers defeated Wrongful Death (Naphtali and Dagon Briggs) for the IPW Tag Team Championship on June 28, 2002 in St. Petersburg, Florida. They held the title until September 20, when they lost to Naturally Marvelous (Scoot Andrews and Mike Sullivan) in a steel cage match in which Roderick suffered a concussion.[3][7][8]
After Sedrick cost the Strong Brothers a number of matches, Roderick turned into a villain on February 8, 2003, betraying Sedrick and aligning himself with the Alliance of Defiance, a dominant villainous stable.[9]
After IPW closed down in late 2003, Strong began working for NWA Florida, a promotion which had had a working relationship with IPW for two years. Strong defeated David Babylon for the Florida Unified Cruiserweight Championship on July 19, 2003, in St. Petersburg. While Strong was champion, the title was renamed the Florida Unified Junior Heavyweight Championship. He lost the title to Jerrelle Clark in a four-way match on December 13, 2003 in St. Petersburg. Clark vacated the title on January 10, 2004, after winning the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship, and Strong defeated Mikey Batts for the vacant title on February 21 in the New Alhambra Sports and Entertainment Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He lost the title to Sedrick Strong on April 29, 2004, in New Port Richey, Florida.[7][10][11]
In addition to wrestling for NWA Florida, Strong served as the head trainer of the territory’s wrestling school.[9]
On January 13, 2005, Strong made a one-off appearance in World Wrestling Entertainment’s SmackDown episode. On the episode, Strong was defeated by Kurt Angle in Angle’s “3-Minute Hometown Hero Challenge”.[12]
