173:, but left the newspaper at about the time he made his wrestling debut for an independent promotion run by Beau James, who went on to establish AMW and serves as a mentor to Harnsberger to this day. James gave Harnsberger his ring name of Daniel Richards. He continued to work odd jobs to help make ends meet during his early years in the business. While he tried several gimmicks, he was unable to develop a memorable character; he moved back to the Richmond area in 2005, and left wrestling in 2009. For the next five years, he worked many jobs and frequently traveled abroad.
201:. He would return to wrestling in 2014 when a longtime acquaintance on the independent circuit needed a wrestler on short notice. Harnsberger devised the "Progressive Liberal" gimmick while on the road in his then job as a courier. He debuted the character during a 2015 show in
153:, the young Harnsberger was described by his mother in a 2017 interview as a child who "always demanded our attention" and someone who "never quit". He began following wrestling after watching a tape of
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in southern West
Virginia in 2003, started training in wrestling. During his training, he supported himself as a reporter with the
217:, Harnsberger was concerned that her loss would force him to come up with a new gimmick, but he found that Trump's win emboldened
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In a 2017 interview, Harnsberger recalled that he began to turn toward the political left during a 2011 trip to
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fans; he would say in the aforementioned interview, "Now, they have something to laugh at me about."
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house show in
Richmond. Harnsberger played basketball in high school, and after graduating from
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403:"There's a new wrestler called the Progressive Liberal and the fans love to hate him"
320:"Wrestling's new villain named himself 'Progressive Liberal.' Hillary's on his shirt"
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377:"Q&A: 'Progressive Liberal' Daniel Richards isn't playing a character"
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455:"There's Actually A Wrestling Villain Called 'The Progressive Liberal'"
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429:"The 'Progressive Liberal' Is Maybe The Perfect Wrestling Heel"
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called the "Progressive
Liberal", under which he performs as a
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Ranked No. 500 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the
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16:American professional wrestler (born 1980)
117:. He gained mainstream notice by using a
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215:2016 United States presidential election
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553:Professional wrestlers from Virginia
543:American male professional wrestlers
318:Andrews, Travis M. (June 28, 2017).
109:(born July 10, 1980) is an American
349:Siegel, Alan (September 20, 2017).
351:"The Progressive Liberal's Agenda"
193:on the debt-ceiling fight between
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401:Salisbury, Drew (June 26, 2017).
225:Championships and accomplishments
74:6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
558:People from Midlothian, Virginia
480:"SSW Heavyweight Championship"
427:Kalaf, Samer (June 26, 2017).
1:
453:Dicker, Ron (June 28, 2017).
375:Greene, Dan (June 27, 2017).
51:Professional wrestling career
505:"2017 PWI 500 on ProFightDB"
238:SSW Heavyweight Championship
113:best known by the ring name
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548:Concord University alumni
252:Pro Wrestling Illustrated
232:Southern States Wrestling
82:240 lb (109 kg)
171:Bluefield, West Virginia
141:Early life and education
199:United States Congress
219:American conservative
203:Sabine, West Virginia
111:professional wrestler
151:Midlothian, Virginia
43:Midlothian, Virginia
157:and later seeing a
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163:Concord University
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32:Daniel Harnsberger
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509:. Retrieved
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211:Donald Trump
195:Barack Obama
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127:conservative
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90:Jimmy Garvin
59:Ring name(s)
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533:1980 births
360:February 4,
527:Categories
511:October 1,
355:The Ringer
271:References
187:Al Jazeera
149:suburb of
87:Trained by
29:Birth name
484:cagematch
177:Character
464:June 29,
438:June 29,
433:Deadspin
412:June 29,
386:June 29,
329:June 29,
303:June 29,
189:and the
183:Cambodia
147:Richmond
133:in more
489:May 13,
264:in 2017
261:PWI 500
213:in the
137:areas.
135:liberal
119:gimmick
129:and a
45:, U.S.
97:Debut
513:2017
491:2020
466:2017
440:2017
414:2017
388:2017
362:2018
331:2017
305:2017
197:and
131:face
123:heel
37:Born
191:BBC
169:of
159:WWF
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