WCW's Dungeon Of Doom: Where Are They Now?
Doomed from the start...
The mid-90s was a troubling time for pro-wrestling. After allegations of sexual harassment and steroid abuse forced Vince McMahon to revaluate the then WWF’s business strategies, he decided to focus his efforts on nurturing young talent a new, more experimental gimmicks. Although ‘The New Generation Era’ gave rise to stars like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker, it also led to an overabundance of bloated factions and bizarre occupational gimmicks that aren’t quite so fondly remembered.
Meanwhile in Ted Turner’s domain, this trend was taken to its logical (or illogical) conclusion, as WCW introduced The Dungeon of Doom, a villainous stable of cartoonish ‘monsters’ hell-bent on eradicating Hulkamania. Needing a group of foils for Hulk Hogan, whose popularity was on the wane, WCW producer Kevin Sullivan introduced The Dungeon in May 1995, and over the course of their two year run, the stable grew to include twenty members.
Watching the group’s skits and matches today is like watching the cast of a really good episode of Goosebumps wandering onto the set of a really bad episode of Lucha Underground, and while The Dungeon of Doom is now remembered as just another wacky relic of a bygone era, it did provide a jumping off point for some very talented individuals.
14. The Master
Every demonic cabal needs a leader, and while Kevin Sullivan may have been directing the troops on the ground, the mind behind The Dungeon’s madness was ‘The Master’, a mysterious overseer who would welcome new members into the group. Portrayed by Hawaiian territorial mainstay King Curtis Iaukea, The Master cut a fairly imposing figure sat atop his throne. Although he might have been covered in fake cobwebs and chalk, he was still a 400+ pound monster with a forehead full of scar tissue.
Sounding like a cross between Brian Blessed and Immortan Joe, The Master would bark such quotable lines as: “Now! I give you a warrior who knows no pain nor pleasure, who has walked in darkness, walked in light. I give you a warrior who will be the biggest key of all, because he is the brother of lightness himself: The Man from the Zodiac!”
Iaukea was a former WWWF Tag Team champion, after a reign with Baron Mikel Scicluna in 1972. Unfortunately, Iaukea’s love of ‘colour’ would catch up with him. After blading left The Master with deep scars, he caught an infection from a wrestling mat in 1979, which would eventually force him to retire from in-ring competition. Later in life, Iaukea ran a concessions stand with his wife, and raced pigeons from his home in Hawaii, before passing away in December 2010, aged 73.