Lance Hoyt

Ring name(s) Lance Steel,Breakdown,Shadow,Dallas,Lance Hoyt
Billed height 6 ft 9 in (206 cm)
Billed weight 290 lb (131.5 kg)
Born February 27, 1977,Hearne, Texas
Resides Austin, Texas
Billed from Dallas, Texas
Trained by Solo Fiatala
Pro Wrestling Debut: July 2000


Lance Hoyt (born February 27, 1977 in Hearne, Texas) is an American professional wrestler, currently working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in Orlando, Florida.

As a child, Hoyt aspired to be a marine biologist. He began playing football in high school as a quarterback, which eventually led him to Howard Payne University. Hoyt later transferred to Southwest Texas State University, where he graduated with a degree in English. He then moved to Austin, Texas and began entertaining patrons in a bar known as The Voodoo Room with a breakdancing act.

In 2000, Hoyt began training as a wrestler under Solo Fiatala, and debuted in July 2000, facing Tarzan Taylor in his first match. He spent the next four years working on the Texan independent circuit, using the stage names Lance Steel (in the Southwest Wrestling Federation) and Breakdown (a character created on the spur-of-the-moment by Hoyt in Corpus Christi when he had forgotten his usual ring attire and was forced to wrestle in his street clothing). In 2001, Hoyt joined the Arlington-based Professional Championship Wrestling promotion as Shadow, a character based on the "Crow" persona of the wrestler Sting. He faced WWE superstar Charlie Haas on PCW's Friday night show, Uncut in January 2005 and also faced ECW superstar Sabu in May at PCW Captital Punishment

Hoyt was hired by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in March 2004, and immediately teamed up with X Division mainstay Kid Kash as Dallas, Kash's bodyguard, tag team partner and (kayfabe) relative. He and Kash took part in a tournament for the vacant NWA World Tag Team Championships, and won the vacant titles by defeating Low-Ki and Christopher Daniels in the finals on April 7. They lost the titles to D'Lo Brown and Apolo the subsequent week, then regained them from Brown and Apolo the week following that. Their second and final reign ended on June 4 of that year when they were defeated by America's Most Wanted.

After Kid Kash was suspended by TNA in June 2004, Hoyt was reduced to wrestling dark matches. He appeared sporadically with TNA throughout the remainder of the year, and aided Kash in his feud with A.J. Styles upon his return from suspension. In January 2005, Hoyt began wrestling under his own name at the instruction of booker Dusty Rhodes. He and Kash competed in the tag team division, unsuccessfully challenging America's Most Wanted for the NWA World Tag Team Championships at Against All Odds 2005 on February 13, until Kash was released by TNA on April 19, 2005. Left without a partner, Hoyt teamed with Chris Candido to face Sonny Siaki and Apolo in a cage match at Lockdown 2005 on April 24. In the course of the match, Candido suffered a serious leg injury and was stretchered out. Outnumbered, Hoyt was pinned shortly thereafter. Following the match, Candido's cohorts, The Naturals, attacked Hoyt, thus turning him face.

Hoyt began developing a strong fan following, leading to his introducing a gimmick known as "Hoytamania" (a reference to the "Hulkamania" surrounding Hulk Hogan). He feuded with Team Canada throughout mid-2005, and lost to Abyss at Sacrifice 2005 on August 14. When TNA hit Spike TV, he set up for a match against Monty Brown at Bound for Glory 2005, which he again lost. He was also involved in the 10-man Gauntlet match at the end to determine the No.1 contender for Jeff Jarrett's NWA World Heavyweight Championship. In that match "The Ticked Off Texan" was eliminated by eventual winner Rhino. He began teaming with Matt Bentley in mid-card tag matches until a misinterpreted steel chair incident lead Bentley to believe Hoyt had "screwed" him, and he severely turned on him with a spontaneous brawl by ringside, consisting of several chairshots. Hoyt defeated Bentley at the Destination X 2006 pay-per-view on March 12, 2006. He returned to TNA at No Surrender 2006 in the Triple Chance Tag Team Battle Royal as a partner to Ron Killings,but he was one of the first eliminated from the match. Hoyt made his Spike TV Pro Wrestling Debut: teaming with Killings to defeat Matt Bentley and Kazarian.

Hoyt participated in the Fight for the Right Tournament, where he was one of last two remaining men, making it to the third stage of the match. Despite putting up a fighting effort, he lost to Abyss, who won a bye to the tournament finals for a shot at the the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Even so, he wrestled Ron Killings in the quarterfinals of the tournament at November 2 episode of Impact, but was defeated.

On November 19, 2006 at TNA's Genesis pay-per-view event, Hoyt and his tag team partner Ron Killings defeated Austin Starr and Alex Shelley with Kevin Nash at ringside.