17 Wrestlers Who Took Forever To Get To WrestleMania (and Why)
2. Steve Lombardi
Lombardi joined the WWF in 1983 and served as one of its most dependable enhancement talents. Lombardi’s best shot at a Wrestlemania match, it seemed, came after adopting the name, “The Brooklyn Brawler,” aligning himself with Bobby Heenan, and feuding with Terry Taylor. Alas, the two wrestled each other not at Wrestlemania 5, but at the Saturday Night’s Main Event leading up to that pay-per-view (where Taylor defeated Heenan handily).
As the masked Kim Chee, Lombardi feuded with Kamala in the lead-up to Wrestlemania 9, but again, their score was settled before the big event. The chances of a Steve Lombardi match at Wrestlemania looked near-impossible until, like Michael Hayes, Duke Droese, and Kamala, Lombardi was granted a berth in Wrestlemania 17’s Gimmick Battle Royal.
The good news was that, after eighteen years and sixteen Wrestlemanias, Lombardi finally got on the card. The bad news was that, as he was wrestling under the Kim Chee mask, few even realized it was him.