Nelson Frazier Jr, also known as Viscera and King Mabel in many of his WWE incarnations, has passed away after suffering a heart attack in his hometown of Memphis, Tennesse. He had just celebrated his 43rd birthday this past Friday on Valentine's day. Wrestling agent Eric Simms first broke this news on his Facebook page... Others then followed suit and paid their condolences.
I am shocked & so sad. Mabel, Viscera, Big Daddy V (Nelson Frazier) passed away. He was a good friend. He just celebrated his 43Bday Tommy Dreamer (@THETOMMYDREAMER) February 19, 2014
Nelson Frazier/Big V has died.This really hurts!He was one of the good guys, and was always a great mentor and supportive. I Love U BigV RIP Chris Masters (@ChrisMasters310) February 19, 2014
First joining the WWF way back in 1993, Frazier was one of the heaviest superstars to ever wrestle in the WWE and at one point was a legit 500 pounds competitor. He was introduced as Mabel with his storyline brother Mo as "Men On A Mission", a WWF version of their indie circuit tag team "The Harlem Knights". Their "mission" was to bring change to the inner city community neighborhoods and for a while, along with their rapper manager Oscar, their music and dance gimmick caught on with live crowds. They won the WWF Tag Team Titles from The Quebecers at a house show in London UK, a team they had beaten by countout at WrestleMania X some weeks before in a title match. Although their reign was one of the shortest in the belts history as they lost it back to them two days later in a show in Sheffield. A year later he and Mo turned heel and Mabel was given a huge push as WWF looked to build a new star, winning the King of the Ring in 1995. Granted, this was at a time when WWE's talent pool was weak but he was given the nod in a tournament that included The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Jeff Jarrett and Yokozuna, such was the faith that he could become a major player. Mabel never really caught on as expected and couldn't elevate himself to main event status and his post-KOTR WWF title shot against Diesel as the main event of SummerSlam 1995 flopped in the ring and in the ratings. Upper-card Feuds soon after with Yokozuna and The Undertaker never caught on fire and he was gone from the WWF after the Royal Rumble the following January. After over two years back on the indie circuit (which included a one night only appearance in ECW), Mable returned to WWF for a one-off appearance in July 1998 as a former KOTR winner who wanted to challenge the newly crowned king, Ken Shamrock. After impressing, WWF signed him back as a full-time wrestler and in January 1999 he returned on Sunday Night Heat before the Royal Rumble. During the PPV he was about to join the battle royal when he was "kidnapped" by The Undertaker and his Acolytes and Mideon, becoming an early member of the Ministry of Darkness. The following night on RAW he was re-introduced as Viscera, an all-black clothed bodysuit muscle man/enforcer gimmick with gothic make-up, a bleached mohawk and white-out contact lenses. He had truly gone to the dark side.It would be fair to say that Viscera was part of very few memorable matches or storylines either during the Ministry run or after the group split when he was teamed with Mideon as a glorified jobber team, and then later in a worthless and thankfully brief singles feud with Mark Henry after he splashed Mae Young. He did with his second piece of WWF gold (this time actually recorded at least!) when he won the WWF Hardcore Title, though his was during the 24/7 rule where everyone at some point held the belt. He was champion for only a few minutes. Viscera was released from his contract in August 2000 and few would have bet on seeing him again. Amazingly, he would return four years later in September 2004 when he attacked The Undertaker on Smackdown along with fellow former Ministry player Gangrel, at the request of former Acolyte, John Bradshaw Layfield. Not really knowing what to do with him beyond that, Viscera was drafted to the RAW brand just two weeks later where he was mostly relegated to nothing matches on Sunday Night Heat. By April 2005, many months later, WWE finally had something for Viscera to do. He became "The World's Largest Love Machine" and attempted to seduce the likes of Trish Stratus, Lita and for prolonged periods, Lillian Garcia. Stunningly he became a fan favourite during this run and started wrestling his pajamas. After re-buffing him on countless occasions, Lillian eventually herself proposed to "The World's Largest Love Machine", only to end up in tears as The Godfather brought escorts to the ring to show what he would miss as a married man and the former Viscera turned her down. He then teamed with fellow "Ladies Man" Val Venis as the duo V-Squared for the best part of a year, though mostly only on Heat. Another "merry go round" romance pursuit of Lillian Garcia started again as Viscera became a singles competitor again, feuding with Umaga and Charlie Haas for her hand, before turning heel again at the end of the run.A final run in the company came in 2007 when he joined the newly re-branded ECW as "Big Daddy V", initially a hired muscle for Matt Striker before moving in to an ECW title shot at No Mercy where he lost to champion CM Punk. A short-lived feud with Kane would prove to be his final noteworthy WWE appearance, being eliminated early in the No Way Out 2008 elimination chamber match. He would be released from the company in August 2008. The last years of his career saw Nelson Frazier appear on indie circuit and also for All Japan Pro Wrestling. Our sincerest condolences go out to Frazier's family and friends. (additional reporting by Matt Holmes)