Lenny_Lane

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Lenny Lane

Leonard Carlson, better known as Lenny Lane, is an American professional wrestler.

World Championship Wrestling (1995–2000)

Carlson was trained by Eddie Sharkey and debuted in 1995. He first appeared in World Championship Wrestling as Lane Carlson, a jobber. He later changed his name to Lenny Lane and began to wear boots marked "LL", possibly due to his resemblance to Lex Luger in his early days despite his smaller size. His first storyline saw him as Chris Jericho's lackey. He later began advertising a (fictional) product known as "Ab Solution Plus." It was a health drug that supposedly benefited the abdominal muscles.

In June 1999 he approached Lodi and stated "There's not doing much with me and they're not doing much with you. Why don't we form a tag team?" Lane had been inspired by a Saturday Night Live vignette featuring "The Ambiguously Gay Duo." WCW management were initially reluctant, but booker Kevin Nash approved the idea, and Lane and Lodi were renamed The West Hollywood Blondes (as opposed to the more famous Hollywood Blonds, "Stunning" Steve Austin and Brian Pillman). The Blondes were implied to be homosexuals, wearing pink trunks emblazoned with large pink triangles (a symbol of the gay community) and with Lane sporting pigtails, facial glitter and a lollipop. Controversially, the Blondes were later revealed to be brothers. The Blondes were an effective heel tag team, though they rarely won matches.

In an upset victory, Lane defeated Rey Mysterio, Jr. on the August 19 episode of WCW Thunder in Lubbock, Texas to win the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship. With the assistance of Lodi, he defended the title successfully throughout the next six weeks. On the October 3 episode of WCW Monday Nitro, Psychosis was announced as having defeated Lane for the World Crusierweight Championship at an unspecified House Show. However, this match likely never took place. In actuality, Lane and Lodi had been getting chants of "faggot" from the fans, and WCW was in hot water with GLAAD. Lane had already been set to lose the title to Disco Inferno that night, but WCW management was worried about a possible incident. Lane didn't appear that night and Psychosis defended and lost the title to Disco in his stead.

The Blondes were taken off television in the same month following protests from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, who threatened to organize a boycott of WCW, claiming that "The character of Lenny is presented with the intention to incite the crowd to the most base homophobic behavior" and "the audience's reaction [to Lenny Lane and Lodi being physically attacked by other wrestlers] gives permission to viewers to do harm to gay people in a very literal way..

Lane and Lodi returned as Standards and Practices, a censorious duo who opposed the "adult themes" present in WCW. In a drastic departure from their previous appearance, they wore designer suits, carried briefcases and were accompanied by a secretary, Miss Hancock. Standards and Practices was supposedly an attempt to mock the conservative views of WCW management, and was not unlike the Right to Censor faction the WWF would have shortly afterwards due to complaints from the Parents Television Council over their programming. Miss Hancock eventually abandoned the team, and both Lane and Lodi were released from WCW in August 2000. Lane briefly reappeared for a short feud with The Wall, but was released once more.

Texas Championship Wrestling (2001)

Lenny Lane moved on to Texas Championship Wrestling, in April 2001, where he formed a tag team with Shane Helms, winning the TCW Tag Team Championships. The team was split when Helms was signed by the World Wrestling Federation.

World Wrestling All–Stars (2001)

The Blondes reunited in the now defunct World Wrestling All-Stars promotion in late-2001.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2002)

Lane was signed by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2002 (Lodi would have been signed too, but he was injured). Lane formed a short-lived tag team with Bruce known as The Rainbow Express and competed on the second-ever TNA pay-per-view on June 26. However, Lane sustained an injury, and the team split on November 20, 2002 after Bruce turned on Lane. He left TNA soon after.

Independent circuit (2002–present)

Lane competed for Steel Domain Wrestling throughout 2003, and for the New Age Wrestling Alliance in 2004 and early 2005. He also works for the American Wrestling League, which is in the same TV slot and wrestles in the same venues as Steel Domain Wrestling did.

Lane appeared on the September 30, 2008 edition of World Wrestling Entertainment's ECW on Sci-Fi, losing a squash match to Jack Swagger

Personal life

Lane was born in Duluth, Minnesota on October 20, 1970. He attended Denfeld High School and was a star basketball and football player. He moved to Minneapolis to start his wrestling career in the early 1990s. Despite depicting a homosexual in several different promotions, Lane is a heterosexual.

In February 2007, Lenny Lane married his long time girlfriend, Adrian Milam.

In September 2007, Lenny Lane started a wrestling party business called WrestlingParties.com. The business has Lane attend a child's party and demonstrate pro wrestling moves and interact with the children in a wrestling ring. Wrestling Parties provides invitations, a birthday cake, ice cream, wrestling themed party plates, plastic ware, t-shirts and signed pictures of party attendees with Lane in the ring. Lane also runs a professional wrestling school in Golden Valley, Minnesota.