Independent circuit (1995–2010) Leppan made his professional wrestling debut in 1995 at the age of 15
World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE Florida Championship Wrestling (2010–2012) Leppan debuted at a
Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW)
house show under his real name on 12 February 2010, in a losing effort against
David Otunga. He made his televised debut two weeks later, losing to
Curt Hawkins. event in February 2011 The following week, Leppan changed his ring name to Leo Kruger, chosen as a tribute to his relative and former President of South Africa
Paul Kruger, before losing to
Johnny Curtis. At the television tapings on 20 May, Kruger challenged the former Paul Lloyd, Jr. and fellow South African wrestler,
Justin Gabriel to a match. At the television tapings on 10 June, Kruger lost to Gabriel, before defeating him in a rematch on 1 July. On 8 July, Kruger teamed with
Tyler Reks to challenge Los Aviadores again for the championship, but was unsuccessful. Kruger then went on a winning streak, defeating
Big E Langston, Bateman,
Austin Watson,
Husky Harris, and
Wes Brisco, before finally losing in a
mixed tag team match, when he and
Kaitlyn lost to
Brad Maddox and Jamie Keyes on 9 September. Kruger's final match in 2010 was at the television tapings on 23 September, when he lost to
Bo Rotundo. While recuperating, Kruger became a commentator for the FCW television program. Kruger defeated
Percy Watson to make it to the final, a
fatal four-way match against Husky Harris,
Damien Sandow, and
Dean Ambrose. Kruger won the match and the championship, his first in FCW. Kruger successfully defended the championship against Harris on 24 October episode of FCW television and on 14 November episode of FCW television, Kruger defeated Harris and
Richie Steamboat in a triple threat match to retain the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship. On 18 December episode of FCW television, Kruger successfully defended the championship against
Seth Rollins, after interference from
Antonio Cesaro. In late December 2011, Kruger appeared at several WWE
house shows, losing to
Alex Riley on 27 and 28 December. On 30 December, he teamed with Riley and
Mason Ryan to defeat Tyler Reks, Curt Hawkins, and
JTG in a
six-man tag team match at a
Raw brand house show. On 2 February 2012, Kruger lost the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship to
Mike Dalton. He regained the championship from Dalton three weeks later on 23 February, but lost it that same night to Seth Rollins. Kruger's NXT television debut took place on 27 June 2012 episode of the rebooted
WWE NXT taped at
Full Sail University, where he defeated
Aiden English. On 1 August episode of
NXT, Kruger was inserted into the Gold Rush Tournament to crown the first
NXT Champion, where he was defeated by
Richie Steamboat in the quarter-finals. In September, Kruger's character was altered into that of a deranged
hunter and
mercenary. Kruger and Ohno defeated Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel on 2 January 2013 episode of
NXT. On 16 January episode of
NXT, Kruger defeated
Trent Baretta. On 30 January episode of
NXT, Ohno and Kruger entered the
NXT Tag Team Championship Tournament to crown the inaugural champions and defeated Alex Riley and Derrick Bateman in the first round. On 6 February episode of
NXT, Kruger and Ohno were defeated by
Adrian Neville and
Oliver Grey in the semi-finals. Kruger then moved on to feud with Justin Gabriel when he attempted to attack Gabriel's injured partner,
Tyson Kidd; Kruger won the series of matches 2–1. Kruger next set his sights on Bo Dallas's NXT Championship. On 18 July
NXT, Kruger won a triple threat match against
Sami Zayn and Antonio Cesaro to become number one contender. On 7 August, Kruger fought Dallas for NXT Championship, but lost. Kruger eventually feuded with Zayn with the feud culminated in Zayn winning a two-out-of-three falls match on 1 January 2014
NXT. Leppan was then removed from television, and began wrestling at house shows as a new character called
Adam Rose. As Rose, he returned to television on 6 March 2014 episode of
NXT, with his new character being an organiser of parties with various colourful costumed party-goers, who accompany him during his ring entrance. Rose's supporters are called Rosebuds. The Rose character is loosely based on comedian
Russell Brand. In August 2014, within NXT, Rose and Sami Zayn participated in a tournament for an opportunity at the
NXT Tag Team Championship, defeating Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd in the first round, but they lost in the second round to
Lucha Dragons (
Kalisto and
Sin Cara), with the Adam Rose character being pinned for the first time. On 4 September episode of
NXT, Rose suffered his first singles loss at the hands of Tyson Kidd.
The Exotic Express (2014–2015) After WrestleMania XXX,
Raw on 7 April, WWE aired introductory vignettes for Rose. Rose made his main roster debut on the 5 May episode of
Raw, by interrupting
Zeb Colter and
Jack Swagger. Rose continued to distract Swagger during his matches, leading to Swagger losing. Rose wrestled his first Raw match on the 26 May episode of
Raw in a winning effort against
Damien Sandow. During the match Swagger and Colter interfered, holding one of Rose's party members hostage. Rose saved his friend after winning the match despite the distraction. Rose defeated Swagger on the 30 May episode of
SmackDown and the 2 June episode of
Raw. Rose made his first pay-per-view appearance at
Money in the Bank where he defeated Damien Sandow. On the
Battleground pre-show, Rose defeated
Fandango. After over a month of inactivity, Rose returned on 1 September episode of
Raw, where he defeated
Titus O'Neil. On 22 September episode of
Raw, Rose teamed with his popular Rosebud, The Bunny (a
'highly athletic individual' in a rabbit suit) for the first time, as they defeated
Heath Slater and Titus O'Neil. On the 15th Anniversary episode of
SmackDown for 10 October, Rose suffered his first main roster loss at the hands of
Kane. On 31 October episode of
SmackDown, WWE teased dissension between Rose and The Bunny when
R-Truth hinted that The Bunny was upstaging Rose. After The Bunny cost Rose a match, The Bunny was assaulted and abandoned by Rose, but continued supporting Rose for his next match and often started causing Rose to lose some matches after the attempts to help him out backfired. In response, Rose allowed The Bunny to submit to Tyson Kidd during an "inter-species" match, rather than saving him when Kidd placed him in the
sharpshooter. The Bunny teamed up with Rose at
Survivor Series to take on Slater Gator (Heath Slater and Titus O'Neil) in a tag team match. The Bunny won the match but Rose was clearly displeased. The Bunny and Rose then failed to win a tag team turmoil match, which granted the winners a shot at the
WWE Tag Team Championship. In December 2014, the Bunny won a Slammy Award; Rose later explained in a
podcast how he had found him in
Times Square and hired him. Rose feuded with Kane, with Kane defeating him and The Bunny sustaining a neck injury from receiving a tombstone piledriver when he was just helping out Rose. On 22 December episode of Raw, Rose snapped after a quick loss to R-Truth and viciously attacked The Bunny, turning
heel in the process; this beat down marked The Bunny's last appearance. As part of his heel turn, Rose started to push around his Rosebuds, behaving like a
bully. He next feuded with the returning
Zack Ryder, with the pair exchanging victories and using Twitter to insult one another, with even
William Shatner (whom Rose called "Dad") joining in. Rose was one of the participants in the Second Annual André the Giant Memorial
Battle Royal at
WrestleMania 31. Rose however did not win the match. In late April, Fandango split away from
Rosa Mendes and Adam Rose was seen talking to her. A week later, Rosa cost Fandango a match with Rose, and became Rose's valet instead after a kiss. On 14 May Rose informed his Rosebuds that the party was "officially over", at this point completely ending his "Party animal"
gimmick.
Various storylines and departure (2015–2016) On 22 June episode of
Raw, Rose's gimmick was slightly altered to a pompous artiste, exclaiming that the WWE Universe had no idea of true art or passion, hyping up the reveal of his "masterpiece" in the process. The storyline was never resolved. Rose re-emerged on 29 August episode of
Main Event, sporting generic black boots and tights, a plain grey shirt, glasses, and an altered gimmick again. Though he eventually submitted to Jack Swagger, he declared in a pre-match promo his intentions to "poop on everybody's party". On 5 October episode of
Raw, Rose shared a "cryptic message", saying, "All I wanted to do was put smiles on little children's faces. Well, poop." The camera then tilted down onto what seemed to be the Bunny's mascot head. On 3 November edition of
Main Event, during and after defeating Fandango, this mystery bunny person was seen at ringside leaving Rose surprised. Rose formed a tag team with
Brad Maddox. However, the team would be short-lived as Maddox was released from his contract on 25 November. Following Maddox being released from the company, on 30 November 2015 edition of
Raw, Rose debuted a
Hollywood Minute-inspired segment entitled
The Rose Bush, in which he started talking about all the "dirt" in WWE. On 4 January episode of
Raw, Rose, along with Heath Slater,
Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas, debuted as a new stable and went on to assist Slater in defeating
Dolph Ziggler. On 11 January episode of
Raw, now billed as The Social Outcasts, the group would face
The Wyatt Family to a no contest when Ryback interfered. On 24 January 2016
SmackDown, the four defeated the team of
Goldust, Damien Sandow, Jack Swagger and Zack Ryder in an eight-man tag match. On 8 February episode of Raw, Rose defeated Titus O'Neil. At
WrestleMania 32, Rose competed in the Andre the Giant Memorial
Battle Royal, but was eliminated by the eventual winner
Baron Corbin. On 11 April episode of
Raw, Rose lost to
Apollo Crews in what would be his final match in WWE. On 16 April 2016, WWE announced that Leppan was suspended for 60 days after his second violation of the company's
Wellness Program. Four days later on 20 April, Leppan publicly addressed his suspension as "not right", saying "I did not do anything knowingly wrong and was taking prescribed medication that my [doctor] and I followed all the correct protocol on". On 3 May, Leppan posted a doctor's handwritten note on his Twitter feed, indicating that he had been prescribing Leppan
Adderall XR to treat
ADHD. Leppan wrote that WWE had known he had the prescription for over a year. Three weeks later on 11 May, Leppan was arrested in Hillsborough County, Florida for domestic violence and tampering with a witness. Later that day, WWE announced that as a result, Leppan had been suspended indefinitely. Leppan requested his release from WWE and on 23 May 2016, the company announced that it was granted. On 14 June 2016 all charges against Leppan were dropped.
Later career and retirement (2016–2019) After his release, Leppan announced his new ring name as
Aldo Rose, maintaining the party host gimmick, but as an edgier character. His first match after his release took place on 23 July, losing a match against fellow WWE alumnus
Damien Sandow. Rose took an absence from the professional wrestling industry in November. In January 2017, Rose addressed his absence from the industry, stating he had been with his family, and his social media was hacked. In addition, he announced that he had "killed off" the Adam Rose character and returned to his Leo Kruger persona, now renamed Krugar. Since then, however, he began to compete both under the Adam Rose and Krugar name. On 25 March 2017, Rose defeated Aaron Orion to become the Championship International Wrestling Heavyweight Champion; however, Rose lost the title to Orion the next day. On 21 April, Rose defeated CJ O'Doyle and Axx Clover to become the new Atomic Wrestling Entertainment Heavyweight Champion. On 18 March 2019, Leppan announced his retirement from pro wrestling, saying that he would be fulfilling the rest of his current bookings, not taking any more after that. == Other media ==