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Fangin' and bangin'.

"Oh oh yeah oh no oh get ready ready"

David William Heath (born February 16, 1969) is an American Professional Wrestler from Fort Lauderdale, FL best known for his work in various independents in the 1990s as Vampire Warrior and in WWE from 1998-2001 as Gangrel. He debuted in 1988 in the Florida independent scene before going on to Stampede, Herb Abrams' UWF, All Japan Pro Wrestling, the USWA, the National Wrestling Alliance and ECW. He made his PPV debut as Apocalypse of the Black Harts, teaming with Destruction (Tom Nash) in a victory over Fire Cat and Jim Cooper at UWF Beach Brawl, June 9, 1991. He debuted in WWE on the August 16, 1998 WWF Sunday Night Heat. In October, he, Edge and Christian formed The Brood. They feuded with the J.O.B. Squad before surprising a lot of people by joining The Undertaker's Ministry of Darkness. They later split from the Ministry, with Edge and Christian eventually going on to bigger and better things. Gangrel tried replacing them with the Hardyz as The New Brood, but they broke away from him after defeating E&C in a ladder match at WWF No Mercy in October 1999 to win Terri Runnels' Terri Invitational Tournament. Gangrel floundered in the midcard before being quietly released. He has regularly competed in the independents ever since. Among his in-ring achievements, he is a former USWA Heavyweight Champion and a 1x Stampede International Tag Team Champion as Apocalypse of the Black Harts with Destruction (Tom Nash).


"The tropes of Gangrel flow through you!":

  • Aerith and Bob: Edge, Christian, Matt, Jeff, and…Gangrel. To be fair, "Edge" is more in the middle than either Bob or Aerith.
  • Amicable Exes: With Luna Vachon. They remained best friends even after splitting up, and in interviews where Gangrel talks about her it's obvious how much he loved her.
  • And Show It to You: During his match with "Retrosexual" Anthony Greene at Beyond Uncharted Territory Episode 2, April 10, 2019, someone in the crowd yelled "Tear his heart out Gangrel."
  • Arch-Enemy: Sable and Marc Mero, due to Luna Vachon's (his wife at the time) Real Life feud with her.
  • Bash Brothers: Blackheart Apocalypse, Blackheart Devastation, Viscera, Mideon, Edge, Christian, Rio Storm, Billy Blade.
  • Becoming the Mask: He had dental surgery done to give himself real fangs!
  • Big Entrance: And how! It ties with The Undertaker's as one of the best ones as he's actually rising from a ring of fire.
  • Blood Bath: There was even something called a Blood Bath Match prior to Edge and Christian leaving the Brood.
  • The Bus Came Back: John "Bradshaw" Layfield brought him back with Viscera during JBL's feud with the Undertaker.
    • Again, for the "Raw 15th Anniversary Battle Royal," on the December 10, 2007 episode.
  • Cool Old Guy: Anyone who meets him will agree that David Heath is one of the most chill guys in the entire wrestling business. And despite having passed 50, he's aged so gracefully that a lot of people think he might actually be a for-real vampire!
  • Cool Shades: So he's mostly sunlight proof, too much light isn't good for his eyes though.
  • Cool Teacher: Among others, he and Rikishi trained Alexander Rusev. He also trained Sammy Guevara, something he cited as his reason for siding with Sammy when he showed up in the Elite Deletion match between Sammy and Matt Hardy.
  • Crazy Jealous Guy: When Luna came to ECW he was none too pleased to see his wife working for Tommy Dreamer, making it easy for Raven to manipulate him.
  • Creepy Good: He's a vampire but he's so affable that he can cross into Friendly Neighborhood Vampire territory at times. He's also known to rise from rings of fire, spit out blood and has larger fangs than his former Brood partner Edge.
  • Crossover: A very odd one, for a good cause. October 7th 2018 marked the first Race A Wrestler between Gangrel's Wrestling Asylum and K1 Speed, a go kart company, at an indoor location in Florida, with all the money made going towards breast cancer treatment.
  • Cute Little Fangs: Those things are sharp (and real), and make him even more like a vampire.
  • Demoted to Extra: After the Hardys split from him, he became a mid-carder and lost prominence in the WWF.
  • Defeating the Undefeatable: When he debuted, he went on a minor undefeated streak. It came to an end when he lost to D-Lo Brown in a European Championship title defense.
  • Disney Owns This Trope:
    • The name Gangrel comes from Vampire: The Masquerade. They even paid White Wolf for the rights to use it.
    • A wrestler is a very unlikely profession for a Gangrel. A Brujah, on the other hand…
      • in a shoot interview, David Heath mentioned that he himself was Brujah in his personal life.
    • His leadership/mentoring role in the Brood justifies the name.
  • The Dreaded: Vampire Warrior scares Kevin Sullivan, mainly because Sullivan is convinced Vampire Warrior wants to take his throne, and because preemptively staking Vampire Warrior "only" immobilized him rather than rid Sullivan of him forever.
  • Easily Forgiven: Averted. During his first AEW appearance, Gangrel is shown to still be salty about the Hardy Boyz betraying him.
  • Evil Laugh: Him rising from his ring of fire is punctuated with this. Downplayed since according to interviews, Gangrel is actually legitimately happy playing this vampire gimmick to a tee.
  • Facial Markings: As Vampire Warrior.
  • Finishing Move: Implant DDT (sometimes called The Impaler).
  • Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: He's actually quite affable as a vampire but calling him "Friendly" is a bit of a stretch.
  • Glass Cannon: He's very powerful, and can do a great variety of suplexes for someone his size. Unfortunately, he admits that constantly getting hurt kept him from going anywhere in the WWF.
  • Homage: According to Edge's biography, his gimmick was based on The Lost Boys at the time.
  • I Have Many Names: He's also been the Black Phantom, the Warlock and Lestat the Vampire.
  • Insistent Terminology: Inverted; commentators in the WWF never referred to him as a vampire. Instead, they said he lived a "Gothic lifestyle". And that goblet doesn't contain blood, no it was viscous liquid.
  • Law of Chromatic Superiority: Zigzagged. Gangrel's entrance video was mainly his name and cross logo against a red background that sometimes shifted to gray.
  • Light Is Not Good: Maybe. He always wore white when leading the Brood, but, apart from their time in the Ministry, their face-heel alignment was never properly defined.
  • Man Bites Man: Vampire Warrior did this in the USWA.
  • Mysterious Past: Nothing is ever given in regards to his relationship with Edge and Christian. The closest we ever get involves their bloodlines mixing and how "the blood of Gangrel flows" through Edge's veins.
  • Noodle Incident: Can anyone get him to ask what his relationship with Edge and Christian were back when they were in the Brood?
    • According to the man himself, they were never let in on what was supposed to be going on with their characters, so they just went out and did what they were told.
  • Older Than He Looks: Considering the fact that his face simply hasn't changed at all since 1999, it makes you wonder if he really is a vampire after all.
  • Our Vampires Are Different: He wears Cool Shades, has a Big Entrance where he rises through the floor surrounded by a Ring of Fire and drinks from a goblet before his matches.
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: He's got a great moveset, had one of the best entrances and gimmicks in the WWF and had multiple chances to get the Intercontinental Championship, but he just never got there. (See Screwed By The Network on the Trivia page.)
  • Parts Unknown: "The Other Side of Darkness".
  • Perky Goth: Subverted: The rest of the Brood were goths, Gangrel was a vampire who just happened to sort of look like and hang out with a few of them.
  • Power Stable:
    • (in Florida indies): The Army of Darkness (the 1990s version led by Abudadein).
    • (in ECW): Raven's Nest. (Luna had sided with Raven's nemesis Tommy Dreamer.)
    • (in WWE): The Brood, the Ministry of Darkness and the New Brood.
    • (in USA Pro): The Dungeon of Doom.
  • Power Trio:
    • Most famously, The Brood with Edge and Christian.
    • Then the New Brood with the Hardy Boyz.
    • The Day Walkers with Alex Castle and Matt Cage on the indies.
  • The Quiet One: Kayfabe-wise, this guy is silent. You could count on one hand the amount of times he's spoken in interviews or promos. While working as Vampire Warrior in MXPW in 2003, an interviewer approached him and he said, "I don't do interviews." Completely averted as a regular person in everyday life, though.
  • Red Baron: His Vampire Warrior name becomes this on the indies where he's allowed to use both names.
  • Ring of Fire: His usual entrance back in the WWF.
  • Ring Oldies: Past 50 and still has no intention of quitting the ring.
  • Shout-Out: His name was taken from the wild vampire clan in Vampire: The Masquerade, although some questioned why a Gangrel would become a professional wrestler (a Brujah on the other hand...). The WWF had to license the name from White Wolf.
  • Start My Own: Gangrel's Wrestling Asylum, a training facility.
  • Tag Team
    • The Black Harts with Blackheart Apocalypse and then Blackheart Devastation while he was Blackheart Destruction.
    • Blood Line with Billy Blade, sometimes as "Vampire Warrior" but usually as Gangrel.
  • Take That!: One of the Brood's T-shirts featured the question, "Why Suck It When You Can Bite It?"
  • Vocal Dissonance: His first interview in the WWF had him sound nervous and he had a bit of a nasally voice...not quite the voice of a vampire one was hoping for.
  • Weakened by the Light: Subverted, sunlight is just a minor annoyance to Gangrel. What, you thought the name Day Walker meant nothing?
  • We Used to Be Friends: Billy Blade tried to end his career in Vendetta Pro Wrestling for allegedly leaving him behind and even recruited OVW/WWECW's Ariel to help him in this task.
  • Wrestling Family: Was married to Luna Vachon. Later married "Krazy" Kiara Dillon after Luna's passing.
  • Wrestling Monster: His match against Billy Blade at Vendetta Pro's Immortal Fear in 2013 had the tagline "The monsters come out to play." Oh yeah, and he's a vampire.

Alternative Title(s): Gangrel, Vampire Warrior

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