Virgil (wrestler)

Jones started to wrestle professionally in 1985 as Soul Train Jones in the Championship Wrestling Association based in Memphis, Tennessee. In CWA Jones defeated Big Bubba for the AWA International Heavyweight Championship,[3] unsuccessfully challenged Nick Bockwinkel for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, and [4] alongside Rocky Johnson, they won the AWA Southern Tag Team Championship.[5]

During this reign, he also participated in a tournament for the vacant AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship, defeating Tommy Rich, The Hunter and Goliath on his way to the final, where he was defeated by Austin Idol.[6]

Bobby Heenan and Virgil (left) with Mega Bucks (Ted DiBiase and André the Giant) before WrestleMania IV

After moving to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), he first appeared wrestling under the name Lucius Brown in 1986. His first WWF match was losing to "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff in Salisbury, Maryland on September 17, 1986.[7][8]

Jones then went on to debut in the summer of 1987 as Virgil, the bodyguard for "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase. Virgil carried DiBiase's money that he liked to flaunt and was the one who got beaten up while DiBiase escaped the ring. Virgil would also occasionally wrestled against DiBiase's rivals in warmup matches; before they could wrestle DiBiase and would often be DiBiase’s tag team partner.

Virgil played a significant secondary role in the WWF main event storylines throughout 1988; including some of the biggest moments in WWF History; assisting Ted DiBiase and Andre The Giant during the infamous televised “Main Event” special on NBC where Hulk Hogan lost the World Heavyweight Championship after nearly 5 years as the champion, at the ensuing Wrestlemania IV tournament, and in the main event of the inaugural Summerslam. At Summerslam 1988 Virgil was in the corner of Andre The Giant and Ted DiBiase as the Mega Bucks against Hulk Hogan, champion Randy Savage, and Miss Elizabeth as the Mega Powers.

As the bodyguard, Virgil appeared on every WWF PPV during the era. Including Survivor Series 1988, Royal Rumble 1989, Wrestlemania V, Summerslam 1989, Survivor Series 1989, Royal Rumble 1990, Wrestlemania VI, Summerslam 1990, and Survivor Series 1990.

Virgil was frequently humiliated by his boss DiBiase and eventually turned on him in 1991. After their tag team match victory over Dusty and Dustin Rhodes; Virgil hit DiBiase with his own Million Dollar Title belt at the Royal Rumble. This made Virgil an instant fan favorite because fans had been hoping for this moment for years. Virgil befriended and trained with Roddy Piper to prepare him for the anticipated match with DiBiase at WrestleMania VII.

Virgil was victorious by count-out over Ted DiBiase at Wrestlemania VII. Virgil then departed on a career as a singles wrestler and was famous for wearing his unusual red candy striped tights. Throughout most of 1991 Virgil feuded with Ted DiBiase over the Million Dollar Championship. Virgil finally won the title and became the 2nd Million Dollar Champion after pinning DiBiase at Summerslam 1991. Virgil was a fighting champion and defended the championship all summer before losing it back to DiBiase on the November 24, 1991 episode of WWF Wrestling Challenge TV show, subtitled “Survivor Series Showdown”. After Survior Series Showdown Virgil began a new feud with DiBiase’s new ally, The Repo Man; whom had hit Virgil with Million Dollar Championship belt during the Survivor Series Showdown match to help DiBiase win.

As part of this feud he appeared at Survivor Series 1991 on Roddy Piper’s team and got disqualified with his team mates by count-out and then following week at the December 1991 “This Tuesday in Texas” WWF PPV event; Virgil teamed with El Matador Tito Santana against Ted DiBiase and The Repo Man.

Virgil continued to be a WWF superstar on the rise and became a featured wrestler of the WWF roster throughout 1992.

At the 1992 Royal Rumble he entered as number 23; lasting just over seven minutes before being eliminate by Hacksaw Jim Duggan.

Shortly after the Royal Rumble, Virgil made a failed rescue attempt to save another wrestler Dusty Wolfe from Sid Justice and his manager Harvey Wimpleman on a memorable episode of WWF Superstars. After Sid Vicious had knocked out Dusty Wolfe and after match; him and Harvey Winplemen wouldn’t stop attacking the injured wrestler. Virgil came to the ring to interfere and save Dusty Wolfe; but Sid Justice retaliated and broke Virgil’s nose on a exposed turnbuckle. This incident caused Virgil to have to wear a face mask to protect his nose while wrestling for many weeks after the storyline was featured heavily on WWF television during the 1992 road to Wrestlemania VIII promotion.

At WrestleMania VIII, Virgil teamed with Big Boss Man, Sgt. Slaughter, and Jim Duggan to defeat The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags), Repo Man, and The Mountie. Virgil pinned Knobbs to win the match.[9] Afterwards Virgil lost matches against Nailz at SummerSlam 1992 and also lost a match against Yokozuna at Survivor Series 1992.[10][11] At the end of the year Virgil did receive a memorable title shot at Bret Hart's WWF World Heavyweight Championship on the November 21, 1992 episode of WWF Superstars. After a valiant effort, Virgil submitted to Hart's Sharpshooter and after the match was finished, the two shook hands out of respect. This is regarded as Jones’s best pro wrestling match in his career and was also referenced by Bret Hart in his memoir “My Life in the Cartoon World of Pro Wrestling”.

After 1992 was over, Virgil continued to wrestle on WWF television and on the house show circuit for the WWF for two more years but appeared sporadically less and less until leaving the WWF in 1995. His only two PPV appearances in this era where as entrant number six at the 1993 Royal Rumble; lasting 17 minutes and eight seconds before being eliminated by the Berzerker and as entrant number 9 at the 1994 Royal Rumble, where he was a late substitute for Kamala and was eliminated by Diesel in 31 seconds.

In the summer of 1994, Ted DiBiase retired and became a manager for Nikolai Volkoff. The Million Dollar Man mistreated Nioklai like how he used to mistreat Virgil in the past. Virgil confronted DiBiase and had a brief feud with his Million Dollar Corporation stable of wrestlers. The feud ended when Virgil lost to Nikolai in a memorable match on the July 24, 1994 episode of WWF Wrestling Challenge in Virgil’s last televised appearance.

Virgil wrestled again for WWF in 1995 in un televised live event matches against Jean-Pierre LaFitte in Western Canada and the US Midwest[7][12]

On August 25, 1995, Virgil competed in the National Wrestling Conference in the supercard event "Night of Champions". The match aroused controversy when Virgil's opponent, The Thug, came out to the ring dressed in a KKK hood with another man dressed in a full KKK outfit who revealed himself as Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart. Both men proceeded to attack Virgil with Neidhart rolling the KKK robe into a noose and hanging Virgil on the outside ropes.[13][14] The 2-on-1 assault finally ended when the building's security dragged Neidhart to the back and Virgil was carried away on a stretcher.[15]

In September 1996, Jones made a surprise return to wrestling alongside old rival Ted DiBiase in WCW as part of the nWo invasion as original members of the nWo. Jones’s character was named Vincent and he became “Head of Security” for the nWo. Vincent mostly performed a secondary bodyguard role again for Ted DiBiase and also the nWo leader Hulk Hogan, but would wrestle occasionally.

Immediately Vincent began a small undefeated streak wrestling mostly on WCW Saturday Night with impressive wins over defeating Jerry Lynn and Scott Armstrong before finally being defeated by DDP on August 6, 1996. In spring 1997 Ted DiBiase left the nWo, and Vincent started to accompany more nWo members more frequently to the ring as a corner man; such as Scott Norton, Scott Steiner, Konnan, and Brian Adams. Vincent, like Virgil; would become the nWo’s fall guy again and take the brunt of the beatings for nWo members.

Vincent's first PPV match with WCW was at World War 3 1997 in the battle Royal, where he made it to the final eight before being eliminated by the Giant with assistance from DDP. He also wrestled at Starrcade 1997, when he teamed with Scott Norton and Randy Savage to defeat the Steiner Brothers and Ray Traylor.

In 1998 the nWo split; and Vincent remained loyal to the original black and white faction led by Hollywood Hulk Hogan which was now being called nWo Hollywood. He assisted the faction in their feuds with the nWo Wolfpack and Ultimate Warrior’s “OWN”, the One Warrior Nation stable. He frequently was tag teaming with new nWo Hollywood recruit Stevie Ray and accompanied him to the ring for most of his matches.

In November 1998, he wrestled again in the Battle Royal match at World War 3 on behalf of the nWo Hollywood group.

After Starrcade 1998, the nWo Hollywood and Wolfpac factions reunited and formed two squads, Wolfpac or nWo Red & Black; also known as nWo Elite and Vincent was demoted to be a part of the nWo Black & White; known also as the nWo “B-Team” with The Giant, Brian Adams, Curt Hennig, Horace Hogan, Scott Norton, and Stevie Ray. The nWo B-Team members began competing over who would be the leader of the squad. On the February 13, 1999 WCW Saturday night before his match with Johnny Swinger; Vincent asked for an microphone and changed his name to Vince and began another winning streak. Vince had a new cocky attitude and tried to impress Hollywood Hulk Hogan for control of nWo B-Team. Vince began feuding with his main rival Stevie Ray over who would be the leader of the Black & White (B-Team) nWo but eventually lost the Harlem Street Fight at the 1999 WCW Uncensored PPV that made Stevie Ray the de-facto leader. The issue of who was leader persisted and on April 5, 1999 there was a 4 man battle Royal on WCW Nitro to finally determine who would be the leader. Vince was eliminated first by Bryan Adams and Stevie Ray won again. Vince ended up remaining with the nWo B-Team as the last remaining member of the original nWo. Over the course of 1999 both squads of the nWo shrunk as one member after another slowly left overtime ironically leaving only Vince as the sole member and leader before the faction dissolved for good in October of 1999. He never joined the nWo again.[7]

In October 1999 after the nWo dissolved, Jones changed his name to Curly Bill and joined the West Texas Rednecks with Curt Henning, Barry Wyndham, Kendal Wyndham, and Bobby Duncan Jr. [16]

Vince Russo started the “Powers That Be” and in December 1999 changed Jones’s name to Shane and made him a bodyguard character once again for himself and the Harris Brothers (known briefly as Creative Control).

In mid 2000 Jones became Mr. Jones; the manager for Ernest "The Cat" Miller, but he was soon replaced by a valet named Ms. Jones. This was Jones final character in WCW and he wrestle under his real name, Mike Jones, before departing WCW in late 2000 and retiring from pro wrestling. Only a few months WCW went out of business and was bought by WWF.

Jones retired from active competition in 2000. He began making appearances again in 2006.

In April 2006, Jones toured Asia for the Armed Forces Entertainment. He wrestled as Vincent of the nWo for U.S. troops in Korea, Tokyo, Guam and Honolulu, Hawaii. [17]

Jones posing with a U.S. Soldier by demonstrating a neckbreaker

On November 28, 2008, Jones wrestled for Next Era Wrestling in Lockport, New York, in a tag match with Patrick O'Malley, defeating Ryot and Superbeast.

Jones appeared at WrestleSlam 2 in January 31, 2009 and called out Liverpool independent wrestler The Vulture. When The Vulture arrived at the fan convention, Virgil offered him a T-shirt.[18]

On July 2, 2009, Jones wrestled in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, at Ultimate Championship Wrestling (UCW).

On the May 17, 2010 episode of Raw from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Jones returned to WWE reprising his Virgil bodyguard character, this time with Ted DiBiase Jr. He carried out all of his old actions, such as holding the ropes open for DiBiase and bringing him a microphone when asked.[19] On the June 14 episode of Raw, Virgil and DiBiase were in a tag team match against Big Show and Raw guest host Mark Feuerstein. After Virgil got pinned and lost the match, DiBiase stuffed a $100 bill in Virgil's mouth and walked out on him.[20] The following week, DiBiase first apologized to Virgil, but then fired him and replaced him with Maryse.[21]

On December 1, 2017, he wrestled a match for Preston City Wrestling (PCW) at Joey Janela's Big Top Adventure, held at the Blackpool Tower Circus.[22]

On April 5, 2019, Virgil, dressed as the character Starman from NES Pro Wrestling, appeared at Joey Janela's Spring Break 3, where he defeated Ethan Page.[23]

In late 2020, Virgil made a cameo in the ball for a ball match at Talk'N ShopAMania 2, hosted by the Good Brothers.[24]

From 2019 to 2020, Jones, under his old ring name of Soul Train Jones, began making recurring appearances for All Elite Wrestling (AEW), as an ally of Chris Jericho and The Inner Circle. On the November 6, 2019 episode of Dynamite, he appeared in a video package that mocked an earlier promo from Cody Rhodes (whom Jericho was feuding with at the time).[25] The promo saw Jones compare Jericho's talents to Olive Garden breadsticks as "unlimited" and it received critical praise from fans.[25] On the November 27 episode of Dynamite, Jones started off the show by introducing Jericho for Chris Jericho's Thanksgiving Thank You Celebration for Le Champion, which was ultimately interrupted by SoCal Uncensored.[26] On the April 29, 2020 episode of Dynamite, Jones made a cameo during the Inner Circle's Bubbly Bunch segment, appearing in the Manitoba Melee.[27]

Jones has a degree in mathematics from the University of Virginia and became a high school math teacher in Pittsburgh after retiring from full time in ring competition in 2000.[28]

After retirement, nostalgia got Jones, as his Virgil character grew and he continued to grow more popular with fans.

The Jakks Pacific and Mattel toy companies have both released Virgil WWE action figures that have become collectors items. Hasbro also made a original WWF action figure of Virgil in 1991. [29] Jones also regularly appears as Virgil in the modern WWE2k video games series. Originally, Jones did appear as Virgil in the 1989 WWF Superstars arcade game and also as Vincent in the 1998 WCW/nWo Revenge video, but never as playable characters. [30]

Jones at a convention in 2006, an early example of the "Lonely Virgil" meme

Post-fame, Jones has been attending fan conventions and has been seen at subway stations selling autographs. As a result, since 2012, there have been "Lonely Virgil" memes created where fans posted pictures of him at conventions with nobody lining up. Lonely Virgil was originally created by Sam Roberts of the Opie and Anthony radio show.[31]

In 2014, Jones appeared in the Jason Michael Brescia film, Bridge and Tunnel as Kony, a neighborhood barfly.[32] Jones was cast in the film after he met actor-producer Joe Murphy while selling autographs at Grand Central Station. In 2017, he reprised the role in Brescia's follow-up film, (Romance) in the Digital Age.[33]

In 2015, a documentary featuring Jones was released entitled The Legend of Virgil & His Traveling Merchandise Table, which discusses his wrestling career and the recent upsurge of social media discussions surrounding him.[34]

In 2016, he appeared on the "Old School" and the "Addicted to the Shindig" episodes of The Edge and Christian Show on the WWE Network.

In an interview with ESPN.com in 2016, DiBiase revealed that he and Jones had a falling out over Jones booking independent wrestling shows for the two without DiBiase's knowledge, which led to DiBiase unknowingly no-showing the events. DiBiase had to apologize to the promotions for the unintentional no-shows and had to stress that Jones does not represent him for bookings.[35]

Since the 80s there has been an urban legend inside the pro wrestling industry that Jones’s character Virgil was named after Dusty Rhodes as an inside joke rumored to be Bobby Heenan’s idea. However this has never been confirmed and is in constant dispute by WWE insider Bruce Prichard; who was on the writing team in 1987 and denies the rumor. Joel Watts came up with the name and it was a coincidence. Despite the gossip never being confirmed as true, the hearsay never went away and as result of the rumor. WCW did, in fact, name Jones’s WCW bodyguard characters after Vince and Shane McMahon as an inside joke on the popular urban legend. [36]