In the early '90s, Chris Chavis achieved a modicum of success in the WWF with his Native American 'Tatanka' gimmick, being pushed as a top babyface and given an unbeaten run stretching between 1992 and 1993. WCW, looking on with envious eyes, decided to try a similar gimmick of their own. It didn't quite work out. Their solution was Charlie Norris. Billed from the Chippewa Reservation, Norris would skip to the ring bedecked in a feathered headdress, finishing off his foes with a strangely familiar tomahawk chop. Unusually for professionally wrestling, it wasn't just a gimmick; like Chavis, Norris was a legitimate Native American, hailing from Red Lake, Minnesota. Unlike Chavis, he wasn't a success. Though he had a small mid-card push culminating with a TV title match against Steven Regal, Norris was gone from the company within five months. He later claimed he was the victim of racial discrimination in the company by being forced into playing a 'degrading' Native American gimmick, ultimately rendering his position untenable. He sued the company for $50,000 in damages. Coincidentally, Norris had already spent every last penny he'd earned in the industry.
Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know).
He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.
