Ernest Miller
Encyclopedia
Ernest Clifford Miller is an American actor
and former professional wrestler
who worked for World Championship Wrestling
(WCW) and World Wrestling Entertainment
(WWE) better known by his ring name
, Ernest "The Cat" Miller.
, playing on the football team as a linebacker
. He then went to Savannah State University
in Savannah, Georgia
studying electrical engineering
and playing football as an All-America
n linebacker.
tournament competitor, Miller was brought into WCW by Eric Bischoff
. Miller was a karate instructor and was teaching Bischoff's son Garrett, when Bischoff asked him to become a wrestler.
He started out in 1997 as Glacier's
tag team
partner in his feud
with Mortis
and Wrath
. He soon left Glacier and became a villain
with Sonny Onoo as his manager (although Glacier actually turned on Miller first). It was during this time that Miller's popularity heightened.
As a villain, he often gloated that he could beat anybody within two minutes and managed to do so on several occasions using his signature springboard kick, The Feliner. It was also around this time that Ernest Miller began wearing ruby slippers in the ring and dancing in a James Brown
-esque fashion to celebrate his victories. This led to a pay-per-view "dance-off" between Miller and James Brown, who had been brought in specially. Miller even went as far promoting his own instructional, karate home video with a pseudo infomercial. This served as a comedic parody to Billy Blanks'
Tae Bo
exercise videos which were quite popular at the time.
While Miller was most often a villain, he eventually turned into a fan favorite
and became WCW Commissioner in 2000. He began the angle as a villain but eventually turned into a fan favorite due to the high fan reaction he was getting whenever he entered an arena. He was feuding with Ric Flair
's Magnificent Seven
stable during the purchase of WCW by Vince McMahon
in March 2001.
Miller appeared at some World Wrestling All-Stars
shows before going to the WWE where he would have a somewhat brief career.
on October 28, 2002. He then served as an announcer for Velocity
. After his run on Velocity, he became an active wrestler on the main roster, competiting for the SmackDown brand.
Miller appeared in the 2004 Royal Rumble
match, making his entrance (along with manager Lamont) while the other two people in the ring, Chris Benoit
and Randy Orton
, were knocked down. Miller and Lamont proceeded to dance to his theme music, not bothering to capitalize on the advantage he'd been given. When Benoit and Orton got back up, both men quickly tossed him from the ring. During his time, his catchphrase, "somebody call my momma" (which was also used in WCW), started to be used in WWE. This phrase also appeared in the lyrics to his theme song, which he would dance to.
Miller then competed in a 15-man battle royal on SmackDown! to earn a shot at the WWE Championship
against then Champion Brock Lesnar
at No Way Out
, but was once again thrown out during his theme song. Following this, he started a short-lived feud with Tajiri
after Tajiri attacked Lamont with his trademark Buzzsaw Kick. After the feud ended, Miller was released from WWE on February 10, 2004.
The Wrestler as The Ayatollah, in-ring nemesis of Randy "The Ram" Robinson played by Mickey Rourke
. He also played Earnie Shavers
opposite Michael Jai White
in the 2008 Chinese television series The Legend of Bruce Lee
. Miller was also in the 2009 film Blood and Bone
. In a January 2009 interview, Miller mentioned that he has been cast as George Foreman
in an upcoming HBO biopic.
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and former professional wrestler
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
who worked for World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
(WCW) and World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
(WWE) better known by his ring name
Ring name
A ring name is a stage name used by a professional wrestler, martial artist, or boxer. While some ring names may have a fictitious first name and surname, others may simply be a nickname, such as The Undertaker.-Wrestling:...
, Ernest "The Cat" Miller.
Early career
Miller graduated from Gordon High School in Decatur, GeorgiaDecatur, Georgia
Decatur is a city in, and county seat of, DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. With a population of 19,335 in the 2010 census, the city is sometimes assumed to be larger since multiple zip codes in unincorporated DeKalb County bear the Decatur name...
, playing on the football team as a linebacker
Linebacker
A linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...
. He then went to Savannah State University
Savannah State University
Savannah State University is a four-year, state-supported, historically black university located in Savannah, Georgia. Savannah State holds the distinction as the oldest public historically black university in Georgia...
in Savannah, Georgia
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
studying electrical engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
and playing football as an All-America
All-America
An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...
n linebacker.
World Championship Wrestling (1997-2001)
After a career as a karateKarate
is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was developed from indigenous fighting methods called and Chinese kenpō. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands. Grappling, locks,...
tournament competitor, Miller was brought into WCW by Eric Bischoff
Eric Bischoff
Eric Aaron Bischoff is an American entrepreneur, and professional wrestling booker and on-screen personality currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling...
. Miller was a karate instructor and was teaching Bischoff's son Garrett, when Bischoff asked him to become a wrestler.
He started out in 1997 as Glacier's
Ray Lloyd
Raymond M. Lloyd is an American martial artist, professional wrestler, and actor. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling in the late 1990s under the ring name Glacier.-Early life:...
tag team
Tag team
Tag team professional wrestling is a variation in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. A tag team may comprise two wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of established teams who wrestle regularly as a unit and have a team name...
partner in his feud
Feud (professional wrestling)
A professional wrestling feud is a staged rivalry between multiple wrestlers or alliances of wrestlers. They are integrated into ongoing storylines, particularly in events which are televised...
with Mortis
Chris Kanyon
Christopher Klucsarits was an American professional wrestler, best known for his work in World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation, under the ring names Chris Kanyon and Mortis.-Early career:After college, he began training under Pete McKay Gonzalez, Ismael Gerena and Bobby...
and Wrath
Bryan Clark
Bryan Emmeth Clark, Jr. is a American former professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling.-Early career:...
. He soon left Glacier and became a villain
Heel (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a heel is a villain character. In non-wrestling jargon, heels are the "bad guys" in professional wrestling; the term heel coming from the term take to you heels, which means to run away which heel champions tend to do to avoid losing their titles.storylines...
with Sonny Onoo as his manager (although Glacier actually turned on Miller first). It was during this time that Miller's popularity heightened.
As a villain, he often gloated that he could beat anybody within two minutes and managed to do so on several occasions using his signature springboard kick, The Feliner. It was also around this time that Ernest Miller began wearing ruby slippers in the ring and dancing in a James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
-esque fashion to celebrate his victories. This led to a pay-per-view "dance-off" between Miller and James Brown, who had been brought in specially. Miller even went as far promoting his own instructional, karate home video with a pseudo infomercial. This served as a comedic parody to Billy Blanks'
Billy Blanks
Billy Wayne Blanks is an American fitness guru, martial artist, actor, and the inventor of the Tae Bo exercise program.-Career:Blanks began his study of the martial arts at the age of eleven and practices Karate and Taekwondo...
Tae Bo
Tae Bo
Tae Bo is an aerobic exercise routine that became popular in the 1990s. It was developed by taekwondo practitioner Billy Blanks and was one of the first "cardio-boxing" programs to enjoy commercial success. Such programs use the motions of martial arts at a rapid pace designed to promote fitness...
exercise videos which were quite popular at the time.
While Miller was most often a villain, he eventually turned into a fan favorite
Face (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a babyface or face or in simple words, a fan favorite is a character who is portrayed as a heroic relative to the heel wrestlers, who are analogous to villains...
and became WCW Commissioner in 2000. He began the angle as a villain but eventually turned into a fan favorite due to the high fan reaction he was getting whenever he entered an arena. He was feuding with Ric Flair
Ric Flair
Richard Morgan Fliehr is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Ric Flair. Also known as "The Nature Boy", Flair is one of the most well-known professional wrestlers in the world....
's Magnificent Seven
Magnificent Seven (professional wrestling)
The Magnificent Seven was a professional wrestling heel group in WCW.-History:The "Magnificent Seven" was formed and led by Ric Flair in January 2001 in WCW...
stable during the purchase of WCW by Vince McMahon
Vince McMahon
Vincent Kennedy "Vince" McMahon is an American professional wrestling promoter, announcer, commentator, film producer, actor and former occasional professional wrestler. McMahon is the current Chairman, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee of professional wrestling promotion WWE...
in March 2001.
Miller appeared at some World Wrestling All-Stars
World Wrestling All-Stars
The World Wrestling All-Stars was a professional wrestling promotion founded by Australian concert promoter Andrew McManus in 2001. The promotion was operated by McManus' International Touring Company. WWA was one of several promotions to come into existence shortly after the closings of Extreme...
shows before going to the WWE where he would have a somewhat brief career.
World Wrestling Entertainment (2002-2004)
Under his Ernest "The Cat" Miller ring name and gimmick, he made his dark match debut for World Wrestling EntertainmentWorld Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
on October 28, 2002. He then served as an announcer for Velocity
WWE Velocity
WWE Velocity was a professional wrestling television program produced by World Wrestling Entertainment . It replaced two syndicated WWE shows, Jakked/Metal. Once a weekly Saturday night show on Spike TV and on Sky Sports 2 in the UK on Sunday mornings, Velocity became a webcast from 2005 to 2006...
. After his run on Velocity, he became an active wrestler on the main roster, competiting for the SmackDown brand.
Miller appeared in the 2004 Royal Rumble
Royal Rumble (2004)
Royal Rumble was the seventeenth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment . It took place on January 25, 2004 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
match, making his entrance (along with manager Lamont) while the other two people in the ring, Chris Benoit
Chris Benoit
Christopher Michael "Chris" Benoit was a Canadian professional wrestler whose career and life ended in a murder–suicide...
and Randy Orton
Randy Orton
Randal Keith "Randy" Orton is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to WWE wrestling on its SmackDown brand...
, were knocked down. Miller and Lamont proceeded to dance to his theme music, not bothering to capitalize on the advantage he'd been given. When Benoit and Orton got back up, both men quickly tossed him from the ring. During his time, his catchphrase, "somebody call my momma" (which was also used in WCW), started to be used in WWE. This phrase also appeared in the lyrics to his theme song, which he would dance to.
Miller then competed in a 15-man battle royal on SmackDown! to earn a shot at the WWE Championship
WWE Championship
The WWE Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in WWE. It is the world title of the Raw brand and one of two in WWE, complementing the World Heavyweight Championship of the SmackDown brand. It was established under the then WWWF in 1963...
against then Champion Brock Lesnar
Brock Lesnar
Brock Edward Lesnar is an American mixed martial artist, actor and a former professional and amateur wrestler. He is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and is ranked the No.5 Heavyweight in the world by Sherdog...
at No Way Out
No Way Out (2004)
No Way Out was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment , which took place on February 15, 2004 at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California...
, but was once again thrown out during his theme song. Following this, he started a short-lived feud with Tajiri
Yoshihiro Tajiri
, is a Japanese professional wrestler, perhaps best known for his appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment. He is currently competing in SMASH as TAJIRI.-Early years :...
after Tajiri attacked Lamont with his trademark Buzzsaw Kick. After the feud ended, Miller was released from WWE on February 10, 2004.
Outside pro wrestling
Miller had a significant role in the Academy Award nominated filmFilm
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
The Wrestler as The Ayatollah, in-ring nemesis of Randy "The Ram" Robinson played by Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
. He also played Earnie Shavers
Earnie Shavers
Earnie Dee Shaver , better known as Earnie Shavers, is an American former professional boxer and is widely considered along with George Foreman as the hardest punchers of all time...
opposite Michael Jai White
Michael Jai White
Michael Jai White is an American actor and martial artist who has appeared in numerous films and television series. He is the first African American to portray a major comic book superhero in a major motion picture, having starred as Al Simmons, the protagonist in the 1997 film Spawn...
in the 2008 Chinese television series The Legend of Bruce Lee
The Legend of Bruce Lee
The Legend of Bruce Lee is a Chinese biographic television series based on the life story of martial artist and actor Bruce Lee. The 50 episodes long series was produced and broadcast by CCTV and had been aired since 12 October 2008. It starred Hong Kong actor Danny Chan as Bruce Lee and American...
. Miller was also in the 2009 film Blood and Bone
Blood and Bone
Blood and Bone is a 2009 American direct-to-DVD martial arts film directed by Ben Ramsey and written by Michael Andrews. The film stars Michael Jai White, Eamonn Walker and Julian Sands, and features martial artist Matt Mullins and MMA fighters Bob Sapp, Kimbo Slice, Maurice Smith, Gina Carano and...
. In a January 2009 interview, Miller mentioned that he has been cast as George Foreman
George Foreman
George Edward Foreman is an American two-time former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Olympic gold medalist, ordained Baptist minister, author and successful entrepreneur...
in an upcoming HBO biopic.
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Feliner (Corkscrew roundhouse kick540 kickIn martial arts and tricking, the 540 kick, also known as inside turning kick, jump inside kick, tornado kick and Xuanfengjiao , is a jump kick move...
) - Superkick
- Feliner (Corkscrew roundhouse kick
- Signature moves
- Cat's CradleCat's cradleCat's cradle is a well known series of string figures created between two people as a game. The name of the entire game, the specific figures, their order, and the names of the figures vary. Versions of this game have been found in indigenous cultures all over the world—from the Arctic to the...
(Outside cradle) - Knife-edged chop
- High knee strike
- Multiple kick variations
- Bicycle
- DropDropkickA dropkick is an attacking maneuver in professional wrestling. It is defined as an attack where the wrestler jumps up and kicks the opponent with the soles of both feet; this sees the wrestler twist as he or she jumps so that when the feet connect with the opponent one foot is raised higher than...
- Enzuigiri
- RoundhouseRoundhouse kickA roundhouse kick is a kick in which the attacker swings his leg around in a semicircular motion, striking with the front of the leg or foot. This type of kick is utilized in many different martial arts and is popular in both non-contact and full-contact martial arts competitions...
, sometimes from the top rope - Shoot
- Spinning sole
- Scoop slam
- Springboard stomp into a standing opponent
- Cat's Cradle
- ManagersManager (professional wrestling)In professional wrestling, a manager is a secondary character paired with a wrestler for a variety of reasons. The manager is often either a non-wrestler, an occasional wrestler, an older wrestler who has retired or is nearing retirement or, in some cases, a new wrestler who is breaking into the...
- Sonny Onoo
- Mr. JonesMike Jones (wrestler)Mike Jones is an American professional wrestler, who most recently performed for World Wrestling Entertainment under the ring name Virgil, where he appeared on its Raw brand as Ted DiBiase, Jr.'s personal assistant...
- Miss Jones
- Lamont
Martial arts
- KarateKarateis a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was developed from indigenous fighting methods called and Chinese kenpō. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands. Grappling, locks,...
- World Karate ChampionKarate World ChampionshipsThe WKF Karate World Championships also known as the World Karate Championships; are the highest level of competition for Karate. The competition is held in a different Country every two years. The most recent events include Madrid in 2002; Monterrey in 2004; Tampere in 2006; Tokyo in 2008, and...
(3 times)
- World Karate Champion
Professional wrestling
- Pro Wrestling IllustratedPro Wrestling IllustratedPro Wrestling Illustrated is a professional wrestling magazine. PWI is currently based in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania and published by Kappa Publishing Group.-History:The first issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated was released in 1979...
- Pro Wrestling IllustratedPro Wrestling IllustratedPro Wrestling Illustrated is a professional wrestling magazine. PWI is currently based in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania and published by Kappa Publishing Group.-History:The first issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated was released in 1979...
(PWI) ranked him # 479 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated