From a young age, Wendel immersed himself in
first-person shooters (FPS), such as
Doom, in the early 1990s. After finishing his regular sports activities in high school during the day, he would spend hours playing
Quake online at night. Additionally, he participated in
Quake sessions at
LAN parties and local tournaments in the
Midwest. It was during this time that he became acquainted with another player named Eric "Batch" Paik, and they began meeting up every weekend to play
Quake. On one occasion, Wendel defeated Paik in nine or ten consecutive matches. Paik, who had recently returned from a successful tournament in London, suggested to Wendel that he should consider competing in larger-scale tournaments. Once Wendel completed high school, he resided with his father while simultaneously attending computer classes and working part-time. However, he aspired to become a professional video game player, so he struck a deal with his father — if he failed to earn any money in his first major tournament, he would return to school. In 2001, Wendel secured a victory in the 2001 CPL World Championship for the game
Aliens vs. Predator 2. As a result, he was awarded a custom-painted
Ford Focus and $40,000. However, Wendel experienced a setback when he failed to qualify for the
2002 World Cyber Games, prompting him to shift his focus to a different game:
Unreal Tournament 2003. He participated in the 2002 CPL Winter event held in Dallas, where he emerged as the champion, claiming the $10,000 grand prize. Another achievement in his career came in 2004 when he became the first-ever
Doom 3 champion at
QuakeCon 2004, securing a grand prize of $25,000. These victories solidified his position as one of the prominent figures in the esports industry during that era. In 2005, Wendel made a transition to playing
Painkiller for the 2005 CPL World Tour, a year-long tournament series that spanned across four continents and culminated in December at the
Nokia Theater in Times Square, New York. In 2006, Wendel shifted his focus to
Quake IV. Competing in the
World Series of Video Games (WSVG) Finals, which adopted a double-elimination tournament structure, Wendel advanced through the lower bracket to reach the finals. His opponent in the finals was Johan "Toxjq" Quick, who boasted an undefeated record in best-of-three series. Wendel became the first player to defeat Quick by winning the first match. However, Quick emerged victorious in the second match, resulting in Wendel securing the second-place position in the event. Following the WSVG Finals, Wendel made the decision to retire from professional play due to the decline of his preferred genre in gaming. == Legacy ==