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British professional wrestler (born February 1997) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Daniel Joseph Moloney (born February 9, 1997) is an English professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he performs under the ring name Drilla Moloney. He is a member of Bullet Club and its War Dogs subgroup. He is a former two-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion alongside Clark Connors. Moloney also makes appearances for various British promotions such as Progress Wrestling, TNT Extreme Wrestling and prior to 2024, Revolution Pro Wrestling.[3] In NJPW, Moloney was a former member of the United Empire stable for a brief time before betraying them for Bullet Club at Dominion (June 4, 2023).
| Drilla Moloney | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Birth name | Daniel Joseph Moloney |
| Born | February 9, 1997[1] Birmingham, England |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Drilla Moloney Dan Moloney Daniel Moloney Super Santos Sr. Los Federales Santos Sr. |
| Billed height | 178 cm (5 ft 10 in)[2] |
| Billed weight | 90 kg (198 lb) |
| Trained by | The Hunter Brothers |
| Debut | 2013 |
Moloney made his debut in Progress Wrestling at PROGRESS Chapter 80: Gods And Monsters on December 8, 2018, where he unsuccessfully challenged Trent Seven for the Progress Atlas Championship.[4] He competed in various event gimmicks, such as at PROGRESS Chapter 89: 26th May 1988, a comedic event which took place on May 26, 2019, where he wrestled under the name of "The Teflon Sheik" and fell short to Mark Davis who portraited "Wally Handford".[5] At PROGRESS Chapter 90 on June 30, 2019, Moloney teamed up with Trent Seven in a losing effort against Latin American Xchange (Santana and Ortiz).[6] At PROGRESS Chapter 95: Still Chasing on September 15, 2019, Moloney took part into a rumble match to determine the inaugural Progress Proteus Championship, bout won by Paul Robinson which also involved various wrestlers such as Chris Brookes, Ilja Dragunov, Travis Banks, Eddie Kingston, Millie McKenzie, Jonathan Gresham, Spike Trivet, Charli Evans and many others.[7] At PROGRESS Chapter 104 on February 20, 2021, he unsuccessfully challenged Cara Noir for the PROGRESS World Championship.[8] Moloney won his first title on Progress Wrestling, the PROGRESS Tag Team Championship alongside his "The 0121" tag team partner Man Like DeReiss at PROGRESS Chapter 131: 10th Anniversary Show on March 25, 2022, by defeating the previous champions Smokin' Aces (Charlie Sterling and Nick Riley) in a five-way tag team match also involving Lykos Gym (Kid Lykos and Kid Lykos II), Sunshine Machine (Chuck Mambo and TK Cooper), and North West Strong (Chris Ridgeway and Luke Jacobs).[9] At PROGRESS Chapter 139 Warriors Come Out To Play on August 28, 2022, Moloney unsuccessfully challenged Big Damo for the PROGRESS World Championship.[10]
Moloney made his first appearance for the promotion at RevPro Live At The Cockpit 43 on July 7, 2019, where he teamed up with MK McKinnan to defeat Dan Magee and Kurtis Chapman.[11] At RevPro High Stakes 2021 on September 19, Moloney unsuccessfully faced Shota Umino.[12] At RevPro Lethal Weapon on March 8, 2020, Moloney teamed up with Robbie X, falling short to Bullet Club's El Phantasmo and Hikuleo.[13]
On March 26, 2023 at Revolution Rumble, a show promoted by Revolution Pro Wrestling, Moloney defeated Francesco Akira in singles competition. After the bout concluded, Will Ospreay offered Moloney a spot in the United Empire stable which Moloney accepted.[14]
Moloney made his debut in WWE on the NXT UK brand, while taking part in the inaugural United Kingdom Championship Tournament. He wrestled his first match on the first night of the tournament from January 14, 2017, where he fell short to Mark Andrews in the first rounds.[15] On the second night of the tournament from January 15, Moloney teamed up with Nathan Cruz in a losing effort against Saxon Huxley and Tucker.[16] He continued to make sporadic appearances on NXT UK, competing in various live shows such as the WWE United Kingdom Championship Special show from May 7, 2017, where he teamed up with Rich Swann in a losing effort against The Brian Kendrick and TJP.[17] Moloney often teamed up with his indie tag team partner Man Like DeReiss in various events of the brand, such as the NXT UK #83 episode from March 6, 2020, where they fell short to Pretty Deadly (Lewis Howley and Sam Stoker).[18]
Maloney's final appearances for NXT UK occurred in 2021 where he teamed with Andy Wild in losing efforts to Symbiosis in June and Jack Starz and Dave Mastiff in September.[19][20]
On April 27, 2023, Moloney was announced as an entrant in New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Best of the Super Juniors 30 tournament, competing in the B Block.[21] Moloney finished the tournament with 8 points, failing to advance to the semi-finals.[22] On June 4 at Dominion, Moloney betrayed United Empire after attacking Francesco Akira and TJP alongside Clark Connors, following the duo's IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match and joined Bullet Club.[23] On July 4 on Night 1 of NJPW Independence Day, Moloney (now going by Drilla Moloney) and Connors defeated Catch 2/2 to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships, marking both men’s first NJPW championships.[24]
The following night, the duo made their first title defence, defeating Chaos (Rocky Romero and Yoh).[25] The duo made another successful title defence at Destruction in Ryōgoku on October 9, defeating Intergactic Jet Setters (Kushida and Kevin Knight).[26] 5 days later, the duo made another successful defence against Leon Slater and Cameron Khai, at Royal Quest III.[27] Later in the month, Moloney and Connors entered the Super Junior Tag League.[28] The duo finished their tournament campaign with 10 points, failing to advance to the finals.[29] Following the tournament final, the duo attacked tournament winners Catch 2/2, ahead of their scheduled title defence against the duo at Wrestle Kingdom 18.[30] Ahead of the match at Wrestle Kingdom, the two teams faced off in NJPW's first ever coffin match, which was won by Bullet Club, after they locked TJP in the coffin.[31] At the event, Akira and TJP defeated Connors and Moloney, ending the duo's reign at 184 days,[32] only to regained them a month later.
In 2022, Moloney played the role of Si in the British sitcom Deep Heat, broadcast on ITV2 where he worked with comedy actress Pippa Haywood and Sex Education actor Alistair Petrie. Moloney said he struggled with scripts due to him suffering from dyslexia.[33]
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