Richard Cornell (born January 4, 1969) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Reno. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling from 1999 to 2001, where he held the WCW Hardcore Championship. Early life Prior to professional wrestling, Cornell was an amateur wrestler throughout high school before becoming a professional kickboxer. Professional wrestling career World Championship Wrestling (1999–2001) After completing his training at World Championship Wrestling's Power Plant wrestling school in 1999, Cornell made his WCW television debut On the October 26 edition of WorldWide under his real name in a losing effort to Kid Romeo. On the August 16 edition of Thunder, Reno helped form The Natural Born Thrillers with Chuck Palumbo, Shawn Stasiak, Sean O'Haire, Mark Jindrak and Mike Sanders by attacking The Filthy Animals. Upon joining the Thrillers, Reno's character was expanded to a shootfighting martial artist who fought in Las Vegas's "underground fighting leagues" complete with a queue ponytail, all of which was based on his legitimate training as a kickboxer. The Thrillers soon became the new enforcers for Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff by replacing their original enforcers, the Filthy Animals. Soon afterwards, the Thrillers and the Animals began feuding with each other. The tension between the two teams quickly grew as the Thrillers attacked their former trainer, Paul Orndorff, who was subsequently saved by the Animals. At Fall Brawl, the Thrillers and the Animals faced off in an elimination match. The Thrillers eliminated all but two members of the Animals, with the match ending in a no-contest after Orndoff legitimately injured himself after botching his signature piledriver. The following night on Nitro, the Thrillers wrestled against the two survivors from their elimination match, Rey Misterio Jr. and Tygress, but lost. After this, the Thrillers began chasing the World Tag Team Championship while Reno took a more reserved role. On October 2, 2000, Reno began pursuing the Hardcore Championship, losing to Sgt. AWOL in a tournament final for the belt. Fellow Thriller member Mike Sanders, who was WCW's Commissioner at the time, reversed the decision, however, and gave the win and the title to Reno instead. He then defeated AWOL at Halloween Havoc to retain the title. On November 8, Reno lost the belt to Crowbar. He soon began a brief feud with both Crowbar and former Hardcore Champion Big Vito, with all three men competing