As far as were concerned, no wrestling gimmick ever devised was as bad (or as wince-inducingly brilliant) as that of The Shockmaster. In fact, some days, we get down on our knees and pray to the great Gods of wrestling that we live in a universe kind enough to gift us with such instant comedy gold. If you havent seen the infamous footage of what has gone down in wrestling history as The Shockmaster incident, then Google it, Google it now and treat yourself to the very definition of a royally crap gimmick. Fred Ottman, who is better known for playing the characters Tugboat and Typhoon in the WWF, was first announced to WCW fans as The Shockmaster during a segment in which Sting, Dustin Rhodes and Davey Boy Smith were involved in a standoff against their Fall Brawl opponents Sid Vicious, Harlem Heat and Vader. Sting proudly proclaimed that his teams mystery partner was going to shock the world, because he was none other than...THE SHOCKMASTER! Before the heel team could react, a nearby wall exploded and out fell (yes, fell) a portly wrestler garishly attired in jeans, a fur coat and a glittery stormtrooper helmet (that promptly fell off of his head). As Ottman crawled around looking for his helmet, Sid valiantly tried to get the angle over, whilst everybody else broke character and fell about laughing like deranged baboons. Shockmaster, having regained both his helmet and a measure of composure, then delivered a completely woeful promo (provided by Ole Anderson the same guy that had voiced The Black Scorpion three years earlier). ...But wait, it gets better. Due to this foul-up being broadcast live, WCW felt the need to save face by re-packaging Shockmaster as a bumbling comedy character. When that failed, they tried to pitch Ottman as his own nephew, billing this new version as The Super Shockmaster and replacing the fur coat and disco helmet with yellow suspenders and a cheap luchadore mask. So ridiculously awesome is The Shockmaster character, that this writer has a picture of him hanging over his desk at all times and looks at it whenever he needs a little cheering up! There will, invariably, be crappy wrestling gimmicks in the future, but, as far as were concerned, none will ever be as delightfully dreadful as that of THE SHOCKMASTER! - CQ
I am a professional author and lifelong comic books/pro wrestling fan. I also work as a journalist as well as writing comic books (I also draw), screenplays, stage plays, songs and prose fiction.
I don't generally read or reply to comments here on What Culture (too many trolls!), but if you follow my Twitter (@heyquicksilver), I'll talk to you all day long!
If you are interested in reading more of my stuff, you can find it on http://quicksilverstories.weebly.com/ (my personal site, which has other wrestling/comics/pop culture stuff on it).
I also write for FLiCK http://www.flickonline.co.uk/flicktion, which is the best place to read my fiction work.
Oh yeah - I'm about to become a Dad for the first time, so if my stuff seems more sentimental than usual - blame it on that!
Finally, I sincerely appreciate every single read I get. So if you're reading this, thank you, you've made me feel like Shakespeare for a day! (see what I mean?)
Latcho Drom,
- CQ
