Trevor Murdoch
William Theodore Mueller is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Trevor Murdoch. He is signed to the National Wrestling Alliance. Murdoch is best known for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment from 2005 to 2008.
Mueller started his career in 1999, being trained by Harley Race. In 2005, he signed with WWE and was named as Trevor Murdoch after Dick Murdoch. In WWE, he worked with Lance Cade as a tag team, winning the World Tag Team Championship three times. After the dissolution of the team, he was released in 2008. After his release, he briefly worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as Jethro Holliday. Murdoch worked for several independent promotions until 2018, when he retired. One year later, he began to work with Billy Corgan's National Wrestling Alliance as a wrestler. In the following years, he won the NWA National Championship once and the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship twice. Along with Mike Knox, they won the 2023 Crockett Cup and the NWA World Tag Team Championship.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (1999–2005)
Mueller started his career training in Central States Wrestling Alliance, in the Missouri area, in 1997. He then moved on to World League Wrestling and Harley Race's Wrestling Academy training camp in 1999 and began his wrestling career in WLW. On April 11, 2000, as Trevor Rhodes, he won the WLW Heavyweight Championship by defeating Meng. He then made a name for himself as part of the Dupps, a hillbilly tag team consisting of kayfabe brothers Stan Dupp and Bo Dupp. As a team, The Dupps wrestled in Extreme Championship Wrestling, Ohio Valley Wrestling, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. While in OVW, Mueller teamed with Lance Cade. The team was known as TNT. Mueller signed a WWE development deal in June 2005.World Wrestling Entertainment (2005–2008)
Mueller signed a 3-year deal with World Wrestling Entertainment in July, 2005. On August 22, 2005, a promo was shown showcasing Mueller's debut along with the returning Lance Cade. He was repackaged as Trevor Murdoch, and the team was simply known as Cade and Murdoch. Cade, playing a smooth-talking cowboy, while Murdoch appeared to be an angry "white trash" southern trucker.Cade and Murdoch won their debut match on the September 5, 2005, episode of Raw. They defeated World Tag Team Champions Hurricane and Rosey in a non-title match, earning themselves a title match at Unforgiven. During the match, Murdoch delivered an elevated DDT on The Hurricane to the outside, causing The Hurricane to suffer a stinger. This allowed Cade and Murdoch to win the World Tag Team Championship. They would eventually lose their title at Taboo Tuesday to Big Show and Kane.
On November 28 during his match against Shelton Benjamin, commentator Joey Styles acknowledged that Murdoch and Lance Cade were no longer a tag team. It was revealed on WWE Unlimited, that Trevor Murdoch set his sights on Ric Flair and the WWE Intercontinental Championship. On Unlimited, Murdoch had been reviewing movies that were, at the time, playing in theaters, such as Brokeback Mountain, King Kong, and Hostel. The first two movie reviews displayed various sexual habits, while the third showed cruelty in his past. The underlying point of all the reviews that Murdoch was trying to convey is that he believes "city folk" have quite an easy life, as opposed to his.
After breaking up with Cade, he wrestled in singles competition on Heat, normally winning most of his matches while still making small appearances on Raw. He would also have a short feud with The Heart Throbs on Heat which involved him defeating both of them in singles action and gaining a spot in the 2006 Royal Rumble, though he did not win. He then moved on to a short feud with Goldust but was unsuccessful in beating him. He would then feud with both Goldust and his tag partner Snitsky. This led to him helping former partner Cade win his matches and hinted at the two of them reforming their team.
Cade and Murdoch later reformed their tag team, with Cade having a new look with long jet black hair. On the September 4 edition of Raw, Murdoch and Cade lost a number one contender's Triple Threat Match for the World Tag Team Title at Unforgiven. Murdoch and Cade then starred in a WWE.com skit, parodying a KFC commercial, where Murdoch mistakenly told Cade he ate the bones, despite eating the boneless original recipe bites. The Highlanders won the match when they pinned Charlie Haas who was teamed with Viscera. Murdoch and Cade then joined forces with Edge to oppose D-Generation X.
Image:WWE-Triple-Threat-Tag-Title-Match,-RLA-Melb-10.11.2007.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Murdoch stirs-up his opponents prior to a tag-title match
Cade and Murdoch began a feud in April with World Tag Team Champions The Hardys, leading to their title match at Backlash, which The Hardys won. Cade and Murdoch suddenly gained a great deal of respect for The Hardys and began to praise their abilities. The Hardys then began an alliance with Cade and Murdoch. Despite the alliance, Cade and Murdoch faced The Hardys in a rematch at Judgment Day which The Hardys won. On the June 4 edition of Raw, Cade and Murdoch were given another shot at the World Tag Team Championship against The Hardys. Cade and Murdoch were finally successful, becoming two time World Tag Team Champions. When Cade made the pin on Jeff Hardy, Hardy's foot was on the ropes but was pushed off by Murdoch. After the match, when Matt Hardy argued with Cade and Murdoch, they attacked Matt and Jeff with the tag belts, becoming heels once again. They successfully defended their titles against The Hardys at Vengeance: Night of Champions after Cade pinned Jeff and claimed they retained their belts "all by the rules". After that Cade and Murdoch appeared on Raw and Heat in matches against London and Kendrick, The Highlanders, and Cryme Tyme. On July 23 on Raw, Cade and Murdoch teamed up with Umaga to face John Cena and Candice in a Champions-only handicap tag team match. During the match, Cade and Murdoch trapped Candice in order to set her up for Umaga to attack, until Jeff Hardy came out and attacked Umaga with a steel chair. After Candice left scared, and Umaga was chased to the back by Jeff, Cade & Murdoch were left to square off against John Cena. Cena defeated them when he threw Cade out of the ring and gave Murdoch an FU. Murdoch, along with Cade lost the titles at a house show on September 5 to Paul London and Brian Kendrick, but beat them to take the titles back on the last day of the tour. Murdoch and Cade remained champions until the Raw XV Anniversary show, losing the World Tag Team Championships to the team of Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes.
Late in April 2008, Murdoch began to develop a country singing gimmick. On the May 12 edition of Raw, Cade turned on Murdoch following a "victory song," punching Murdoch in the face twice, ending the partnership. The two faced off on the June 2 edition of Raw, with Cade getting the victory.
As part of the 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft, Murdoch was drafted to the SmackDown brand but was released from his WWE contract on July 3, 2008, before his debut.
Independent circuit (2008–2011)
On July 9, 2008, IWA Mid-South announced that Mueller would be wrestling against Insane Lane as Trevor Murdock at their Gory Days 4 show on July 26 in Sellersburg, Indiana, followed by a match against Nick Gage at Put Up or Shut Up 2008 on August 16 in Portage, Indiana. On August 24, Trevor Murdock lost in an attempt to capture the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Brent Albright. Lance Cade was released from his WWE contract on October 14, 2008, and less than a week later Cade and Murdoch began accepting bookings together as a team on the independent circuit, including IWA-Mid South. On October 18, Murdoch returned to World League Wrestling facing Chris Masters and Go Shiozaki in a match for the WLW Heavyweight Championship. Murdoch participated in Revolution Strong Style Tournament and Candido Cup and lost both. Murdoch made several appearances for Championship Wrestling from Hollywood before joining Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and continued to make independent appearances while signed to TNA.In 2010, after leaving TNA, Murdoch defeated Trent Stone in a leather strap match for the WLW Heavyweight Championship and won the MPW Heavyweight Championship in October. He lost the MPW Heavyweight Championship to Derek Stone in the beginning to 2011 and would eventually vacate the WLW Heavyweight Championship. In March, Murdoch toured Pro Wrestling Noah and had a shot at the GHC Heavyweight Championship.
Prior to the live broadcast of Raw on May 9, 2011, Mueller wrestled as 'Trevor Murdoch' in a dark match, which he lost to Evan Bourne. He wrestled a dark match the following night prior to the SmackDown tapings, losing to Jey Uso. On June 17, Mueller announced that he was going to be signing a contract to return to WWE; however, on June 29 he revealed that the deal had fallen through due to budget cuts. As a result, Mueller reportedly considered retiring from professional wrestling.
In November, Murdoch participated in Noah's Global League 2011 in block B. He earned eight points but that was not enough to progress to the next stage. In December 2011, Murdoch took part in TNA's India project, Ring Ka King under the name Roscoe Jackson.