10 Absolute Wrestling FREAKS! ?

2. Nailz

Sid freak
WWE

Those old enough to have lived through Nailz' WWE debut will speak with equal parts fondness and fear over the damage done by the ex-con to his former prison guard, The Big Boss Man.

With a repertoire limited to strangulation and beating every last breath out of guys with a nightstick, Nailz was fortuitously so limited as to appear method. The brief was effectively "guy that's been fighting in prison for years" and the man also known as Kevin Wacholz absolutely...uh...nailed it. It was golden-era freak material, but it wasn't without some cool timeline lore too - the period Nailz spoke of with such trauma was in kayfabe a time that Boss Man would have been an absolute horror to know. The Cobb County lawman turned babyface in WWE in 1990, but Nailz wouldn't have known that as he silently plotted his revenge until his release and/or escape.

The pair eventually fought over their shared weapon at the 1992 Survivor Series, culminating in Boss Man scoring the decisive win. Nailz' next chapter was to be even freakier than the last before an acrimonious exit that had enormous consequences for wrestling history two years later. An Undertaker feud never went beyond a stare-down snapped for a magazine cover, before a fight over a payoff resulted in separate meetings in court with Vince McMahon.

Per the back-and-forths and charges at the time, he attempted physical harm towards McMahon backstage, later alleged wrongful termination and sexual assault (all dropped), and infamously said he hated McMahon's guts while being questioned under oath during the 1994 steroid trial. He was, gloriously, a freak to multiple bitter ends.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett