Devon Nicholson is a Canadian professional wrestler who has wrestled under the names of Kid Nichols, Hannibal and Blood Hunter. He is also a professional wrestling promoter, running the Great North Wrestling company, and has a YouTube channel, The Hannibal TV.
A graduate of the Hart Dungeon, Nicholson has wrestled internationally with several promotions. Stampede Wrestling, IWA Puerto Rico, WWC Puerto Rico, Deep South Wrestling, WWE tryouts and the Ontario based Great North Wrestling.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled in 2014 that Nicholson contracted hepatitis C from Abdullah the Butcher in a May 2007 professional wrestling match during which both wrestlers were cut and bled, and further determined Abdullah was responsible for WWE rescinding a contract offer made to Nicholson in 2009 after he was diagnosed with the disease. $2.3 million was awarded to Nicholson as a result of the court's ruling. Nicholson announced in 2013 that he was cured of hepatitis C.
In December 2021, Nicholson repeatedly stabbed a World Class Pro Wrestling (WCPW) referee with a spike, resulting in a severed artery in the referee's head that needed emergency surgery. According to the referee and Nicholson, the referee was scripted to bleed via blading. Various WCPW personnel said that Nicholson had gone off-script with the attack, and Nicholson was banned from WCPW, although Nicholson said that he quit before he was banned, and also said that the referee never indicated that he was legitimately injured.
Early life
Devon Nicholson, from Orleans, attended Cairine Wilson Secondary School and achieved success in scholastic wrestling. He won a gold medal at the 2001 Junior National Championships in London, Ontario. A month later, he gained a spot on the Canadian Junior National Team after winning the National Team trials in Vancouver, British Columbia. Nicholson won the OFSAA wrestling high school championships in 2000 and 2001 without a single point scored against him. Despite amateur wrestling success, Nicholson turned down scholarships to pursue his dream of being a professional wrestler.
Career
Nicholson started his professional wrestling career in 2001 with Stampede Wrestling, after training in the Hart wrestling family dungeon from the age of 19. In Stampede Wrestling, he played the Kid Nichols character, while in the promotion Matrats, he had the ring name Matt Lust. He has also wrestled under the ring name Adam Lust.
In 2007, Nicholson started a professional wrestling company, which by 2015 was called Great North Wrestling.
By 2007, Nicholson had established his professional wrestling character as the madman Hannibal, which Nicholson said was named by Bushwhacker Luke. Nicholson commented: "I really can be a mean person ... And I don't like people very much." At a 2015 Great North Wrestling event, Nicholson wrestled as Hannibal “The Death Dealer", against Soa Amin, with suspended Canadian senator Patrick Brazeau as the special guest referee for the match. After Nicholson won the match, he slammed Brazeau through a table.
By 2017, Nicholson's YouTube channel, The Hannibal TV, had amassed over 44,000 subscribers.
In his career, Nicholson has wrestled in Canada, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, the United Kingdom and the United States. He has wrestled against AJ Styles, Jinder Mahal, James Storm, Abyss, Kevin Nash, Sycho Sid and Tommy Dreamer.
Hepatitis C and related incidents
After Nicholson participated in 15 tryouts with WWE, the promotion in 2009 offered Nicholson a three-year contract to join them, but rescinded the offer within a month when Nicholson was diagnosed with hepatitis C. In 2011, Nicholson sued WWE for discriminating against him due to hepatitis C; the lawsuit was settled in 2012.
According to Nicholson, from 2009 to 2012 he had taken interferon and ribavirin to treat the disease, but ended the treatment due to the side effects. This is Hannibal, a 2013 documentary about Nicholson, detailed that he first retired from professional wrestling in September 2011 to focus on his health.