10 WCW Fates Worse Than Death
2. The Shockmaster’s Mortifying Trip
You knew this would be in here somewhere. One does not simply discuss WCW fates worse than (onscreen) death without bringing up The Sh...Sh...Sh...Shockmaster. Fred Ottman debuted under that guise at Clash Of The Champions XXIV on 18 August 1993. It’s a day he'll never forget. Not only was he wearing a glittery Stormtroopers helmet (no, really), but Shockmaster also fell through the set and made history.
On set, Davey Boy Smith could be heard saying he fell “flat on his fookin’ arse”. The modified Star Wars prop Ottman was wearing fell off, and the character was cooked. It was all rather mortifying. Apparently, following rehearsals earlier in the day, a member of the production team had nailed a piece of wood to the bottom of the frame Shocker was going to burst through.
So, poor Uncle Fred tripped over that and meme’d himself before memes were even a thing. It's impossible not to feel sorry for him all these years on. Part of him must've died inside as he landed on his hands and knees then scrambled around looking for his Stormtrooper headpiece. Can you imagine being Ottman in that precise moment?! He had to know his WCW career had just gone down the toilet.
Everything about this sucked. His outfit was lame, the Star Wars helmet was too obvious (no amount of glitter or paint was covering that up), Ole Anderson's voiceover was cheesy, then disaster struck when Fred fell down. Hey, at least people are still talking about this over 30 years on.
Not in a positive way, but they're still talking.