Mace (wrestler)

Mace
Born
Brennan Marcel Williams

(1991-02-05) February 5, 1991 (age 33)
Easton, Massachusetts, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
SpouseCiarra Williams
Children3
FamilyBrent Williams (father)
Ring name(s)
  • Brennan Williams
  • Dio Maddin
  • Mace
  • ma.çé
  • Marcellus Black[1]
  • Mase Madden[2]
  • Mason Madden[3]
  • Mason D. Madden
Billed height6 ft 8 in (203 cm)[4]
Billed weight286 lb (130 kg)[5]
Billed from"The savage lands of Shaolin"[6]
Trained by
DebutFebruary 1, 2016
American football career
refer to caption
Williams with North Carolina in 2012
No. 73, 65
Position:Offensive tackle
Personal information
Height:6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Weight:314 lb (142 kg)
Career information
High school:Catholic Memorial
(West Roxbury, Massachusetts)
College:North Carolina
NFL draft:2013 / round: 3 / pick: 89
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Stats at Pro Football Reference

Brennan Marcel Williams[1] (born February 5, 1991) is an American professional wrestler and former football player. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Mason Madden as one-half of the tag team MxM Collection alongside Mansoor. He also performs for its sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH) and on the independent circuit. He is best known for his tenure in WWE, where he performed under the ring names Dio Maddin, Mace, and ma.çé.

Prior to beginning his professional wrestling career, Williams played college football for the North Carolina Tar Heels. He was selected by the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL) in the third round of the 2013 NFL draft. He joined WWE from 2016 to 2023.

Early life

[edit]

Williams was born in North Easton, Massachusetts, and attended Catholic Memorial School.

While at Catholic Memorial, Williams was a member of PrepStar's High School All-America team, a member of the "Super 26" team in 2008, an all-scholastic by the Boston Globe and Boston Herald. He was named all-conference as both a junior and senior. He was rated as the eighth best offensive lineman in the country by SuperPrep All-America. Rivals.com rated him the seventh best offensive guard in the country. Scout.com rated him as the 15th best offensive lineman in the country. ESPN.com rated him the 35th best offensive tackle in the country. He was also a member of the Rivals 250. He also played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.[7]

On February 15, 2014, Williams's number 73 was retired by Catholic Memorial.[7]

Football career

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College

[edit]

Williams received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he played for the North Carolina Tar Heels football team from 2009 to 2012. As a senior in 2012, he received honorable mention All-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) honors.[7] Williams tore his labrum his senior year of college.[8] Williams majored in communications while attending North Carolina.[9]

Professional

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Houston Texans

[edit]

The Houston Texans selected Williams in the third round with the 89th overall pick of the 2013 NFL draft.[10] He would go on to miss his rookie season with a microfracture in his knee.[7] On July 21, 2014, he was released.[11]

Jacksonville Jaguars

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On February 20, 2015, Williams was signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars, to a two-year contract, with the intention of being a backup to starter Jeremy Parnell.[12] On August 29, 2015, Williams was released by Jacksonville.[13]

New England Patriots

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On October 20, 2015, the New England Patriots signed Williams to their practice squad. They waived him two days later.[14]

Professional wrestling career

[edit]

Reality of Wrestling (2016)

[edit]

After being released by the Patriots, Williams returned to Houston to train to become a professional wrestler[14] under the tutelage of WWE star Booker T.[15] He made his debut with Booker's Reality of Wrestling promotion on February 1, 2016, under the ring name of Marcellus Black.

WWE (2016–2023)

[edit]

Early appearances (2016–2020)

[edit]

On February 11, 2016, Williams participated in a WWE try-out at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.[16] On August 1, 2016, WWE officially announced the signing of Williams, who started training at the Performance Center the same day.[17][18] He made his in-ring debut for the company at a NXT live event in Orlando, Florida, on September 30, 2016, competing in a battle royal.[19]

In June 2019, Brennan was given the new ring name, Dio Maddin. However, on September 10, 2019, Maddin joined the commentary team for 205 Live, replacing Nigel McGuinness.[20] Later that same month, WWE announced as part of their "Premiere Week" that the commentary teams would be changed, with Maddin becoming an analyst for the Raw commentary team with Vic Joseph and Jerry Lawler. His work as commentator ended in November 2019, when he was sent back to NXT to train. His absence was explained when, on the November 4, 2019, edition of Raw, Maddin was attacked by Brock Lesnar who performed an F-5 on Maddin through the announcer's table.[21]

Retribution (2020–2022)

[edit]
Main article: Retribution (professional wrestling)

On the September 21, 2020, episode of Raw, he made his main roster debut. Now as a wrestler, he was revealed as a member of the villainous stable Retribution, under the ring name Mace, with a mask, new outfit, and sporting a noticeably lighter and more defined physique.[22] On the October 5 episode of Raw, Mustafa Ali revealed as the stable's leader. At Fastlane on March 21, 2021, Mace and T-Bar attacked Ali, disbanding the stable. On the April 12 episode of Raw, Mace and T-Bar attacked Drew McIntyre. The following week on Raw, Mace was finally unmasked along with T-Bar in a tag team match against McIntyre and Braun Strowman, in which Mace and T-Bar won by disqualification. Later in an interview, they confirmed the start of their tag team run. As part of the 2021 Draft, Mace was selected to the SmackDown brand while T-Bar remained on the Raw brand, thus disbanding the team.[23]

Maximum Male Models (2022–2023)

[edit]
Main article: Maximum Male Models

On the April 15, 2022, episode of SmackDown, Mace returned in a dark segment as LA Knight's first acquisition under Knight Model Management. Following the announcement, Mace defeated Erik of The Viking Raiders in a dark match.[24] On the July 1 episode of SmackDown, Knight, now known as Max Dupri, announced Mace and Mansoor, under the tweaked names ma.çé and mån.sôör, as his new tag team, Maximum Male Models.[25] Maximum Male Models later welcomed Maxxine Dupri, Max's (kayfabe) sister, to manage the team. Maximum Male Models joined the Raw brand on February 6, 2023, and remained on Raw following the 2023 WWE Draft.[26][27] After weeks of spending time with Otis of the Alpha Academy, Maxxine left Maximum Male Models to join Alpha Academy on the May 15 episode of Raw when she cheered on Otis and Chad Gable eliminating ma.çé and mån.sôör in the Intercontinental Championship number one contenders' battle royal match.[28][29] After months of inactivity, ma.çé and mån.sôör both announced on X that they were no longer with WWE on September 21.[30]

Return to ROW (2023–2024)

[edit]

On December 7, 2023, Reality of Wrestling (ROW) announced the signing of Williams, under the ring name Mason Madden (or Mason D. Madden). He made his ROW return at Slamuary on January 13, 2024.[31][32]

Independent circuit (2023–present)

[edit]

Madden made a surprise appearance at Deadlock Pro-Wrestling (DPW) 2nd Anniversary taping on December 10, 2023, alongside Mansoor as part of the tag team MxM.[33][34] MxM made their in ring debut for DPW at DPW Live 4 on January 20, 2024.[35]

On April 18, 2024, he made his Soft Ground Wrestling debut confronting Lord White.

All Elite Wrestling / Ring of Honor (2024–present)

[edit]

Madden and Mansoor, as MxM Collection, made their Ring of Honor (ROH) debut on the July 4, 2024 episode of Ring of Honor Wrestling in a pre-taped vignette.[36] On July 10, it was reported that MxM Collection had signed a deal with ROH and its sister promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW).[37] MxM Collection made their ROH in-ring debut at Death Before Dishonor: Zero Hour on July 26 defeating Spanish Announce Project (Angélico and Serpentico).[38] MxM Collection made their AEW debut on the July 27 episode of AEW Collision, in a losing effort against FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood).[39]

Personal life

[edit]

Williams is the son of Jacquelyn and former NFL defensive end Brent Williams. He has three children with his wife Ciarra.[40] His brother Cam played as a linebacker for Ohio State and became a scout for the New England Patriots.[41] His younger sister Jaylen, a former basketball player at Penn State,[42] signed with the WWE from August 19, 2021, until April 29, 2022.[43][44] Williams has been a fan of professional wrestling growing up,[1] citing Eddie Guerrero and The Great Muta as some of his favorite wrestlers.[1] He is also a fan of video games, anime and manga.[45] His love for anime is part of his wrestling gimmick, with his running knee attack named "Nico Nico Knee", a play on the catchphrase "Nico Nico Nii" which belongs to the character Nico Yazawa from the anime Love Live!.[46]

Other media

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JiBo VT
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2021–present
GenreVTuber
Subscribers10.9 thousand[47]
Total views726.2 + thousand[47]
Last updated: July 15, 2024

Williams has appeared in various streams on the tabletop role-playing YouTube channel The Third Wheel, most notably in the role of The Batsu Sama, the scariest person in the world.[48][49] He joined the main series of the channel "Thrilling Intent", as a steely alchemist named Harlock, with a bionic arm and a love for traps, as well as another series on the channel, No Smarts But Hearts, where he plays the prestigious Clover Von Krone, a warm-natured, but incredibly strong member with the elite Adventurer Knights.[50] He also appears on several series on the tabletop role-playing channel Stabbyness, in "Forgotten Indigo", "Carbon Interface", and "Reflection".[51][52]

Williams took part in multiple collaborations with the YouTube channel Super Best Friends Play, where he earned the nickname "Better Woolie" for his resemblance to group member Woolie Madden, from which his name change to Dio Maddin is partly derived. He also appeared in a Minecraft Wrestling Show called "Minecraft Wrestling Alliance".

He has also done voice-over/narration for various videos, such as "Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 2" by Did You Know Anime,[53] and "Welcome to YouTube Comments (2016) - Part 1" by JelloApocalypse.[54]

On February 3, 2021, Williams re-launched his YouTube channel as a VTuber under the name JiBo.[55]

Championships and accomplishments

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See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d "NFL's Brennan Williams Now Wrestling as "Marcellus Black"". Title Match Wrestling. Retrieved July 20, 2016.
  2. ^ Lafferriere, Nicolas (December 11, 2023). "Mace y Mansoor realizan su primera aparición fuera de WWE". Solo Wrestling (in Spanish). Retrieved December 11, 2023.
  3. ^ "Mace: Fox nixed plans for WWE Retribution angle". Wrestling Observer. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
  4. ^ "ma.çé WWE". WWE.com.
  5. ^ "ma.ce « Wrestlers Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". Cagematch.net.
  6. ^ "Marcellus Black Wrestling Debut: The Shogun of the Row". YouTube.com. Title Match Wrestling. Retrieved July 25, 2016. See between 1:49 to 1:55
  7. ^ a b c d Hall, Brendan C. (February 15, 2014). "Texans' Williams gets number retired at CM". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
  8. ^ "Brennan Williams, OT". CBS Sports. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
  9. ^ "Brennan Williams" (PDF). UNC. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2016. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
  10. ^ "2013 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved May 14, 2023.
  11. ^ Hanzus, Dan (July 21, 2014). "Brennan Williams released by Houston Texans". National Football League. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  12. ^ "Jaguars' Brennan Williams finally close to fully healthy". FoxSports.com. June 9, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
  13. ^ "Jaguars Make Roster Move". Jaguars.com. Archived from the original on February 23, 2015. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  14. ^ a b Kyed, Doug (October 22, 2015). "Brennan Williams Released By Patriots, Will Pursue Dream Of Joining WWE". NESN.com. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
  15. ^ "WWE Legend Booker T Training Ex-NFLer for Wrestling Stardom". TMZ. Archived from the original on February 11, 2016. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  16. ^ Pendergast, Sean (February 12, 2016). "Former Houston Texan Brenna Williams Makes His Pro Wrestling Debut". HoustonPress.com. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
  17. ^ Meltzer, Dave (August 1, 2016). "WWE signs former NFL lineman Brennan Williams". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  18. ^ Clapp, John (August 1, 2016). "WWE signs former NFL player Brennan Williams". WWE. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  19. ^ "9/30 WWE NXT Results in Orlando – Team Nakamura main event, Asuka, Itami, 15-man battle royal, William Regal appears". PWTorch. October 2016. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
  20. ^ "Dio Maddin Joins 205 Live Commentary Team". Pro Wrestling Sheet. September 11, 2019. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
  21. ^ "Brock Lesnar attacks Raw announcer Dio Maddin".
  22. ^ "WWE RAW: Mia Yim, Dio Maddin, Mercedes Martinez, Dominik Dijakovic, y Shane Thorne debutan en la empresa como RETRIBUTION". Solowrestling (in Spanish). September 22, 2020. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
  23. ^ "See all the results from the 2021 Draft".
  24. ^ Rose, Bryan (April 19, 2022). "LA Knight manages Mace in WWE SmackDown dark match". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
  25. ^ Rose, Bryan (July 1, 2022). "Max Dupri reveals Maximum Male Models on WWE SmackDown". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  26. ^ Chelsea Green is unsatisfied with how she has been treated: Raw, Feb. 6, 2023
  27. ^ Aguilar, Matthew (May 2, 2023). "Every Pick of the 2023 WWE Draft". ComicBook.com. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
  28. ^ Quinlan, Olivia (May 15, 2023). "WWE Raw Results (05/15) - Cody Rhodes Answers Brock Lesnar's Challenge, We Hear From Becky Lynch And More". Wrestling Inc. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  29. ^ Alpha Academy eliminate the Maximum Male Models, retrieved June 20, 2023
  30. ^ Yanofsky, Daniel (September 21, 2023). "WWE releases and roster cuts 2023: Dolph Ziggler, Mustafa Ali, Elias headline full list after TKO Group takeover". www.sportingnews.com. Retrieved September 21, 2023.
  31. ^ @TheOfficialROW (December 6, 2023). "‼️ TALENT ANNOUNCEMENT ‼️ Reality Of Wrestling alumni & former WWE Superstar @GREATBLACKOTAKU returns home to Reality Of Wrestling on Saturday, January 13th for the first event of 2024. #Slamuary" (Tweet). Archived from the original on December 13, 2023. Retrieved December 13, 2023 – via Twitter.
  32. ^ "ROW LIVE! JAN 13 2024". Reality of Wrestling. December 4, 2023. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  33. ^ Tessier, Colin (December 10, 2023). "Mace And Mansoor Make Surprise Appearance At DPW 2nd Anniversary". Fightful. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
  34. ^ Tessier, Colin (December 11, 2023). "Mace And Mansoor Make First Post-WWE Appearance At DPW 2nd Anniversary". Wrestlezone. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
  35. ^ @deadlockpro (December 18, 2023). "🚨 DPW L4 UPDATE 🚨 MXM make their in-ring DPW debut against WEST COAST WRECKING CREW in a tag team grudge bout on January 20th in Raleigh! DPW LIVE 4 🗓️ 01/20 | Raleigh, NC 🎟 http://dpwtix.com" (Tweet). Retrieved December 20, 2023 – via Twitter.
  36. ^ Defelice, Robert (July 4, 2024). "MxM Collection (Mason Madden And Mansoor) Arrive In Ring Of Honor With Vignette On 7/4/24 ROH". Fightful. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  37. ^ Thomas, Jeremy (July 10, 2024). "MxM Reportedly Signed With AEW & ROH". 411 Mania. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  38. ^ Powell, Jason (July 26, 2024). "ROH Death Before Dishonor results: Vetter's review of Mark Briscoe vs. Roderick Strong for the ROH Championship, Athena vs. Queen Aminata for the ROH Women's Championship". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
  39. ^ Mrosko, Geno (July 27, 2024). "AEW Collision & Battle of the Belts 11 results, live blog". Cageside Seats. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
  40. ^ Pendergast, Sean (November 17, 2015). "Plan B: Brennan Williams Hopes to Turn His NFL Disappointment Into a Wrestling Career". HoustonPRess. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  41. ^ Landis, Bill (February 3, 2016). "Cam Williams, former Ohio State linebacker, accepts scout job with New England Patriots". cleveland.com.
  42. ^ "Jaylen Williams - Women's Basketball".
  43. ^ Winnard, Liam (August 20, 2021). "Here's Who WWE Hired At Latest Tryouts". WrestleTalk. Retrieved November 11, 2024.
  44. ^ Lambert, Jeremy; Guzzo, Gisberto (April 30, 2022). "Raelyn Divine Released By WWE, Posts Comment Saying She's Still In Love With Wrestling". Fightful. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
  45. ^ Winkie, Luke (July 17, 2015). "Catching up with Jaguars OL Brennan Williams: The NFL's biggest nerd". Sports Illustrated.
  46. ^ Anime News Network: "Love Live! Reference Makes It Into WWE 2K22 Game"
  47. ^ a b "About JiBoVT". YouTube.
  48. ^ "The Third Wheel". YouTube.
  49. ^ "TENRA BANSHO ZERO - The Book of a Thousand Destinies". YouTube.
  50. ^ "Thrilling Intent". YouTube.
  51. ^ "The Crew". Stabbyness. June 6, 2023.
  52. ^ "Forgotten Indigo: Third Impact". Youtube.
  53. ^ "Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 2 - Did You Know Anime?". YouTube.
  54. ^ "Welcome to YouTube Comments (2016) - Part 1". YouTube.
  55. ^ D'Anastasio, Cecilia (April 28, 2021). "He's a WWE Star and a Vtuber. Those Worlds Aren't So Different". Wired. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
  56. ^ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2021". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  57. ^ O'Donnell, Art. "RETRIBUTION The 2020 Gooker Award winner". WrestleCrap. Archived from the original on March 4, 2023. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  58. ^ Jaymond P (February 24, 2023). "2022 Wrestling Observer Awards Results". WrestlePurists. Archived from the original on February 28, 2023. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  59. ^ Meltzer, Dave (February 2023). "February 2023 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Results of the 2022 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards". Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
[edit]
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