Early career (1985–1987) In 1985, Jones met
Tony Atlas in a
Pittsburgh gym, who recommended Jones to professional wrestling. After training with
Afa Anoaʻi that year, Jones began wrestling as
Soul Train Jones for the
Championship Wrestling Association (CWA). In June of 1987, Jones was repackaged as
Virgil, the "Million Dollar Man"
Ted DiBiase's silent bodyguard. At
This Tuesday in Texas on December 3, Virgil and
Tito Santana lost to DiBiase and Repo Man.
Various storylines and departure (1992–1994, 1995) Virgil then embarked in a career as a singles wrestler, serving as a
jobber to the stars, and was famous for wearing unusual red candy-striped tights. He also lost to
Nailz at
SummerSlam on August 29 (aired on August 31). He received a shot at Hart's
WWF World Heavyweight Championship on the November 21 episode of
WWF Superstars, but submitted to Hart's
Sharpshooter. After the match, the two shook hands out of respect. Virgil lost to
Yokozuna in the latter's pay-per-view debut on November 25 at
Survivor Series. Virgil’s time in the spotlight began to fade in 1993 but he remained in the undercard of the WWF. Virgil's last WWF pay-per-view appearance was at the
Royal Rumble on January 22, 1994, entering the
Royal Rumble match at number 10, but was quickly eliminated by
Diesel. Following a feud in the summer with
Nikolai Volkoff, who had been “bought” by DiBiase and defeated Virgil in a series of
house show matches, Virgil left the WWF in August 1994. From May to June 1995, Virgil briefly returned to the WWF to compete in several matches against
Jean-Pierre LaFitte in
Western Canada and the
Midwestern United States.
National Wrestling Conference (1995) On August 25, 1995, Virgil competed in the
National Wrestling Conference in the supercard event "Night of Champions". The match aroused controversy when Virgil's opponent, The Thug, came out to the ring dressed in a
KKK hood. The Thug was accompanied by another man dressed in a full KKK outfit, who revealed himself as
Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart. Both men attacked Virgil, with Neidhart rolling the KKK robe into a noose and hanging Virgil on the outside ropes. The 2-on-1 assault ended when the building's security dragged Neidhart to the back and Virgil was carried away on a stretcher.
World Championship Wrestling (1996–2000) New World Order (1996–1999) In 1996, Jones debuted for
World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as
Vincent, the eighth member of the original
nWo along with Ted DiBiase. He was given the role of nWo's "Head of Security" and often took the brunt of the beatings from WCW wrestlers to protect the other nWo members. At
Starrcade on December 28, 1997, he teamed with Norton and
Randy Savage to defeat the
Steiner Brothers and
Ray Traylor. When the nWo split in 1998, Vincent remained loyal to the original black and white faction led by
Hollywood Hulk Hogan, which was now being called “nWo Hollywood”, frequently teaming with new nWo Hollywood recruit
Stevie Ray. After
Starrcade, the nWo Hollywood and Wolfpac factions reunited and formed two squads, Wolfpac or nWo Red & Black (also known as nWo Elite), and Vincent was demoted to be a part of the nWo Black & White (known as the nWo “B-Team”) with
The Giant, Adams,
Curt Hennig,
Horace Hogan, Norton and Ray. On the February 13, 1999 episode of
WCW Saturday Night, before his match with
Johnny Swinger; Vincent asked for a microphone and changed his name to
Vince. He began feuding with Ray over who would be the
de facto leader of the nWo B-Team, but Ray became the leader after defeating Vince in a Harlem
Street Fight at
Uncensored on March 15. The issue of who was the leader persisted, and on April 5 episode of
Monday Nitro, a 4-man battle royale was held to determine the leader, but Vince was the first man eliminated by Adams; Ray won the match. In the following months, Vince remained with the nWo B-Team as the last remaining member of the original nWo. Both squads of the nWo shrunk as one member after another slowly left over time, leaving only Vince as the sole member and
de facto last leader of the original nWo before the faction dissolved for good in October.
West Texas Rednecks, Powers That Be, Mr. Jones and end of WCW (1999–2000) After the nWo dissolved, Jones changed his name to
Curly Bill and joined the
West Texas Rednecks with Hennig,
Barry Windham,
Kendall Windham and
Bobby Duncum Jr. Vince Russo started the “Powers That Be” and in December 1999 changed Jones’s name to
Shane and made him a bodyguard character once again for himself and the
Harris Brothers (known briefly as Creative Control). In mid-2000, Jones became
Mr. Jones; the manager for
Ernest "The Cat" Miller, but he was soon replaced by a valet named
Ms. Jones. This was Jones' final character in WCW and he wrestled under his real name, Mike Jones, before departing WCW in late 2000.
Later career (2000–2020) in April 2006 On April 29, 2006, Jones appeared at the
World Wrestling Legends (WWL) pay-per-view 6:05 The Reunion, losing to
Rick Steiner. Also that year, he wrestled for the Armed Force Entertainment as Vincent of the nWo for U.S. troops in
Korea,
Tokyo,
Guam and
Honolulu. On December 1, 2017, he wrestled a match for
Preston City Wrestling (PCW) at
Joey Janela's Big Top Adventure. On April 5, 2019, Virgil, dressed as the character Starman from
NES Pro Wrestling, appeared at
Joey Janela's Spring Break 3, where he defeated
Ethan Page. In late 2020, Virgil made a cameo in the ball for a ball match at Talk'N ShopAMania 2, which was hosted by the
Good Brothers.
Return to WWE (2010) On the May 17, 2010 episode of
Raw, Jones, reprising his Virgil character, returned to WWE as the bodyguard of
Ted DiBiase Jr. He carried out all of his old actions, such as holding the ropes open for DiBiase and bringing him a microphone when asked. On the June 14 episode of
Raw, Virgil and DiBiase were in a tag team match against
Big Show and
Raw guest host
Mark Feuerstein. After Virgil got pinned and lost the match, DiBiase stuffed a $100 bill in Virgil's mouth and walked out on him. The following week, DiBiase first apologized to Virgil, but then fired him and replaced him with
Maryse.
All Elite Wrestling (2019–2020) From 2019 to 2020, Jones, under his old ring name of Soul Train Jones, began making recurring appearances for
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as an ally of
Chris Jericho and
The Inner Circle. On the November 6, 2019 episode of
Dynamite, he appeared in a video package that mocked an earlier promo from
Cody Rhodes (whom Jericho was feuding with at the time). On the November 27 episode of
Dynamite, Jones introduced Jericho for his Thanksgiving Thank You Celebration, which was interrupted by
SoCal Uncensored. On the April 29, 2020 episode of
Dynamite, Jones made a cameo during the Inner Circle's Bubbly Bunch segment, appearing in the Manitoba Melee. ==Other media==