Arik Cannon (born December 23, 1981) is an American professional wrestler known for competing in companies such as Chikara, Dragon Gate USA, IWA Mid-South, All American Wrestling and Wrestling Society X. He also runs the Minneapolis-based wrestling promotion F1RST Wrestling, and is also the only wrestler officially sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon. Professional wrestling career IWA Mid-South (2002–2004) Arik Cannon was trained at Midwest Pro Wrestling and is known for wrestling in IWA Mid-South. There, he became the IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Champion by defeating Petey Williams in the Ted Petty Invitational Tournament. He defended it against Roderick Strong and Austin Aries, but was forced to give it up due to injury in 2004. Chikara (2005–2006) He returned to wrestling in 2005 and entered Chikara's Tag World Grand Prix 2005 with partner Claudio Castagnoli and made it to the finals to face Superfriends, Chris Hero and Mike Quackenbush. That night, Hero turned on Quackenbush and joined Cannon and Castagnoli, leading Cannon and Castagnoli to win the Tag World Grand Prix. The three began calling themselves The Kings of Wrestling. The began feuding with Quackenbush, but Cannon left the group in 2005. Cannon competed in the Tag World Grand Prix 2006 with Jigsaw as his partner, but lost in the second round. During June 2006, Arik Cannon wrestled in Chikara's fourth annual Young Lions Cup tournament. In the final round, he defeated Cheech to win the tournament. At Chikara's Cibernetico Forever event in October 2006, however, Max Boyer managed to beat him for the Cup. Wrestling Society X (2006–2007) In November 2006, Arik Cannon partook in the Wrestling Society X promotion's first season of television tapings, which later aired on MTV. Dragon Gate (2007–2008) In October 2007, Cannon went to Japan for a tour with Dragon Gate and was brought into the Muscle Outlawz faction by Naruki Doi along with fellow gaijins Kevin Steen and Jimmy Rave. Dragon Gate USA (2009–2015) On September 6, 2009, Cannon made his debut for Dragon Gate USA at the tapings of the promotion's second pay-per-view titled Untouchable. He would wrestle in an eight-way dark match, which was won by Johnny Gargano. After making several appearances for the promotion in 2010, Cannon was entered into the Breakout Challenge tournament on April 1, 2011. After defeating A. R. Fox, Facade and Shiima Xion in his first round match, Cannon defeated Jimmy Rave in the finals to win the