The Infamous One
Robert Anthony Fish (born October 27, 1976), known professionally as Bobby Fish, is an American professional wrestler best known for his time performing in NXT and All Elite Wrestling. He was a member and co-founder of The Undisputed Era, and is a former 2-time NXT Tag Team Champion alongside his tag team partner Kyle O'Reilly.
Fish is also well known for his appearances with Ring of Honor from 2013 to 2017, where he wrestled as one-half of the tag team reDRagon with O'Reilly and held the ROH World Tag Team Championship three times and the ROH World Television Championship once. He is also known for his appearances in Japan for Pro Wrestling NOAH and for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship twice.
Flying Fish Tropes:
- Affably Evil: As a heel, particularly in Ring of Honor. In ROH, Fish loved the Code of Honor, especially the handshaking part, and would become annoyed if you didn't want to shake his hand and exchange niceties before the asskicking.
- Alliterative Name: Fish was once known as Jerk Jackson, unrelated to Matt and Nick, though they did give him many super kicks. He began working under his real name in Pro Wrestling NOAH, how long did it take you to figure out why?
- Animal Motifs: Fish, of course. His mouthpiece frequently has shark's teeth on it.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Or, "Arrogant Muay Thai Guy". His submission and striking game is extensive, and he'll be the first to tell you he'll kick your head off.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: In both his ROH and NXT singles' career. He's definitely the best-dressed in The Undisputed Era.
- Bash Brothers: With O'Reilly most of the time, but has also tagged with Strong.
- Berserk Button: It's not hard to press his, but among them:
- Don't hurt his tag partners, especially Kyle O'Reilly.
- His sense of humor really doesn't extend to singalongs, as Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne found out.
- Be Yourself: A lesson he learned in NOAH. Unfortunately for the rest of the roster, "yourself" in his case is a giant troll.
- Big Brother Instinct: As the eldest member of both The Undisputed Era and his former tag team of reDRagon, he's the one most often ready to throw down for messing with his brothers. This goes double when the one being messed with is Kyle. EC3 definitely found this out the hard way.
- The Big Guy: Takes this role in the Undisputed Era, due to his power game (though ironically, he's also the shortest member).
- Brooklyn Rage: Well, Albany Rage, but he's definitely short-tempered.
- The Bus Came Back: Returned to NXT on the 5/11 show to save Kyle O'Reilly from a Dunne and Lorcan beatdown.
- The Cameo: Played a security guard restraining Jeff Hardy on a 2009 episode of Smackdown. He's pretty recognizable, even a few years before his breakout runs in Evolve and ROH.
- Chairman of the Brawl: If he's grabbing a weapon, it's probably a chair. And if he has a chair, and you've just hurt his tag team partner, run.
- Combat Commentator: Bobby was told on Supercard of Honor X that he had to go the commentary table and stay there if he wanted to stick around after his match was over. He also filled in on commentary during a number of other ROH matches, usually while partner Kyle O'Reilly was competing in singles' action.
- Commuting on a Bus: Spent a good chunk of 2018 inactive, owing to a knee injury, but still appeared with the stable in backstage segments.
- Continuity Nod: Fish's Red Baron "The Infamous One" is to his first ROH tag team, "Infamous Talent" with Scott Cardinal.
- Cool Old Guy: He's a decade older than most of his contemporaries, but still only in his early 40's.
- Deadpan Snarker: His default mode of communication.
- Extremity Extremist: Proficient in Muay Thai and kickboxing (enough to have been a legit competitor in both sports), though he's more of a power wrestler. He's scored some one-hit KO's with his roundhouse kicks, mind you.
- Expy: Fish is basically Victorian-era catch wrestler Dan McLeod with a mouthpiece.
- Fascinating Eyebrow: The best in wrestling aside from The Rock.
- Finishing Move: Usually relies on a moonsault or a number of submissions (fish hook or crossface).
- In AEW, he's taken to using an inside roundhouse kick called "The Last Rites".
- Friend to All Children: In ROH he said reDRagon served to be role models to all the children of North America. And especially North Korea. Do you understand these kids learned English on their own to correspond with O'Reilly and himself?
- Game-Breaking Injury: The two significant ones in NXT have been his knee injury in 2018 and a triceps tear in War Games in 2020. Both times, he's been out for over six months.
- Genre Savvy: Most notably in Ring of Honor, where he and Kyle would exploit common wrestling tropes (usually at the expense of fellow Genre Savvy wrestlers like Jay Lethal and The Young Bucks).
- Glass Cannon: As seen above, he has a tendency to be injury-prone; went down with a serious knee injury in 2018, a non-serious elbow injury in 2019, and a triceps tear in late-2020.
- Guest Fighter: He had a short tenure in Impact Wrestling in 2022.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Kyle O'Reilly, his tag partner in reDRagon and The Undisputed Era, for ten years. To the point where reDRagon would be the only Undisputed Era members to remain on speaking terms a few months after Adam Cole's betrayal as of May 2021, respecting each other's independent objectives whereas Roderick Strong couldn't.
- He's Back!: While he'd been seen on television in many promos and segments alongside his Undisputed Era brothers, he made a significant return from knee injury in 2018 wielding a steel chair and unleashing hell on both EC3 and the Velveteen Dream.
- His May 2021 return from a triceps injury involved him making the save for Kyle O'Reilly, driving off Pete Dunne and Oney Lorcan.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Ironically, Bryan Danielson made him tap out to a heel hook (one of Fish's Signature Moves) in their first AEW match.
- I Know Madden Kombat: Like many former football players, Bobby employs the Spear in his arsenal.
- Jack of All Stats: Primarily a striker, but he can turn just about any contact situation into a leg lock. Then there are his rolling sentons, sometimes with a slingshot, as well as his top rope moonsault (ode to Muta). He's legitimately proficient in Muay Thai and kickboxing, enough to have been an official competitor in both sports, and in WWE he's made more use of his power wrestling game.
- Jobber: His role in ROH before forming reDRagon.
- Lucky Charms Title: The "infamous" on his tights uses a star instead of an "a".
- Manly Facial Hair: Bobby has a disctintive Van Dyke beard, which certainly helps enhance his image as an old-style hook-focused wrestler.
- Name of Power: Flying Fish Hook (High Knee), Fish Hook Deluxe Edition (Heel Hook).
- The Napoleon: Among Undisputed Era, he's the shortest (despite serving as The Big Guy in the group). There were a few funny moments in Ring of Honor where Bobby would climb onto the turnbuckle to be taller than his opponent.
- No Indoor Voice: Possibly the only wrestler to out-yell Bobby is Kevin Owens. It's rare that you can get Bobby to stop trash-talking in or out of the ring.
- No-Sell: While O'Reilly and Strong were both staggering after an exchange of strikes, Fish looked to capitalize and in ring debuting Cheeseburger tried to cut Bobby off. Fish was not amused and, unlike O'Reilly earlier, Just Hit Him. Caused enough of distraction for Strong to recover and fight off both for awhile though.
- Not So Similar: Bobby Fish has self confidence, Roderick Strong is insecure, according to Bobby Fish.
- Older Than They Look: Moreso in Ring of Honor, where commentary was fond of telling the audience Bobby was "the youngest thirty-____ year old in the business". Nowadays, he looks his actual age of forty-four.
- Platonic Kissing: Frequently smooches the faces/foreheads of the other Undisputed Era members.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Or purple. Or white. Bobby's never been shy of utilizing color in his nice suits.
- Red Baron: The "Infamous" Bobby Fish. O'Reilly's nickname for him was occasionally "The Dalai Lama of Yokohama".
- Signature Move: The superplex, spear, fall away slam, exploder suplex, and the senton atomico. He used to utilize the moonsault and the avalanche Falcon Arrow in Ring of Honor, but hasn't pulled either move out in a while.
- He's added a slingshot into the ropes to the exploder suplex, making it even more devastating.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Has always had a potty mouth, especially on the indies, but it's become an issue now. According to Adam Cole, Bobby's been told more than once to watch his mouth during NXT matches (which have mics built into the canvas and ring) and it got so bad during War Games 2019 that the production team yelled at him too.
- Smug Snake: After losing the IWGP Junior Heavyweight titles, Fish bought Roderick Strong a beer, so Strong would have something to drown his sorrows with, being his next opponent.
- He carried this into his NXT career, being the smuggest snake in a stable of them.
- Tag Team:
- reDRagon, of course. Bobby and Kyle teamed in ROH, New Japan, PWG, and over a half-dozen indy promotions, carrying over to NXT as well.
- With Eddie Edwards in Pro Wrestling NOAH.
- A short-lived team with Roderick Strong in NXT.
- Talk Show with Fists: The Fish Tank. It had a
paper thin budget, even when he was holding a title belt. - Theme Naming: Fishes, of course.
- Took a Level in Badass: Became a much more credible threat upon his return in 2012 and joining Kyle O'Reilly in reDRagon.
- Trash Talk: Oh, just try and stop Bobby Fish from yelling at his opponents, his partner, the timekeeper, the referee, fans in the third row...
- Troll: Bobby Fish's middle name. Virtually incapable of not trash-talking an opponent or instigating with referees.
- Vocal Evolution: Like his mentor Triple H, Bobby's voice has gone from fairly high and nasal in his early Ring of Honor days to a lower Baritone of Strength in NXT.
- Worthy Opponent: Had a significant moment with Lio Rush during the 2016 Survival of the Fittest Tournament, where the victorious Bobby gave last-man-standing underdog Lio a hug and a raised hand after the match.
