Dean Malenko

Dean Shelly Simon (born August 4, 1960), better known by his ring name Dean Malenko, is an American retired professional wrestler. Trained by Boris Malenko, he began his professional career in 1985 and is billed from Tampa, Florida. Over the course of his in-ring career, Malenko competed prominently in ECW, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), as well as New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Although he never captured a world championship, he accumulated 11 total titles across ECW, WCW, and the WWF. Pro Wrestling Illustrated named him the number one wrestler in the world in 1997, and he was inducted into the Hardcore Hall of Fame in 2015. Commentators have described him as one of the most underrated wrestlers of all time, a sentiment echoed by multiple-time world champion Bryan Danielson, who stated that Malenko was his "number one guy, growing up." Following his retirement as an in-ring competitor in 2001, Malenko served as a road agent for WWE until 2019. He has since signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a senior producer.