A big influence on wrestlers from Mick Foley to Bray Wyatt, the charismatic and (kayfabe) deeply peculiar Kevin Sullivan had run a devil worshipper gimmick since the early 1980s in various promotions from Boston to Florida. But this wasnt just your prototypical evil heel character. Sullivans cultist was a talker, and a compelling one, the combination of theatrics and psychology one part Alice Cooper, one part Charles Manson. What made the smaller Sullivan so successful wasnt his sound technical ability and his intensity in the ring. No, Sullivan knew how to get people over, and how to connect with the crowd. As the leader of several large and sinister stables over the years, including the Army Of Darkness in Florida and the Dungeon Of Doom in WCW, he led a varied and motley crew of talent like a dark ringmaster. Imagine if, over the course of their first few months, the Wyatt Family had swelled its ranks with some of the excellent hands being wasted on WWEs roster, as people initially expected would happen. That was where Sullivan excelled as the creepy, villainous Satanic father figure to a whole cabal of weird-ass characters.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
