Steve Blackman
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| Steve Blackman | |
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| Statistics | |
| Ring name(s) | Steve Blackman |
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) |
| Billed weight | 246 lb (112 kg) |
| Born | September 28, 1963 Annville, Pennsylvania |
| Resides | Harrisburg, Pennsylvania |
| Debut | 1986 |
| Retired | 2001 |
Steve Blackman (born September 28, 1963 in Annville, Pennsylvania) is a former professional wrestler who most notably worked for the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) as "The Lethal Weapon" Steve Blackman.
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[edit] Stampede Wrestling
Steve Blackman began his wrestling career in 1986 in Connecticut, training at Tony Altimore's wresling school. in Calgary, working for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling. He held the Stampede Television title. Later that year he contracted malaria while wrestling in South Africa and barely survived [1]. Steve Blackman made unsuccessful comebacks in 1991, 1992 and 1993, but the fatigue was too strong. Around this time, Blackman had a contract with the WWF but became ill and had to wait to make his debut when he finally recovered.
[edit] World Wrestling Entertainment
Steve Blackman made his WWE debut on the November 3, 1997 episode of RAW is War as a planted fan who jumped the guardrail, to help Vader fend off an attack from the Hart Foundation. Blackman was a replacement for the injured Patriot on Team USA (Vader, Goldust& Marc Mero), at Survivor Series 1997, against Team Canada (British Bulldog, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, Phillip Lafon & Doug Furnas).
The following year, Blackman joined Ken Shamrock in his efforts to combat the Nation of Domination. Eventually Blackman broke out on his own, establishing his trademark entrance involving swinging glow-in-the-dark eskrima sticks before walking to the ring. He would eventually turn heel after siding with Shane McMahon. During his run as a heel, he would bring a gym bag full of martial arts weapons with him to the ring, including his soon trademark kendo sticks. Blackman would attempt to use the weapons in the bag during or after the match.
In late-1998, Blackman competed in the WWE's Brawl For All tournament, defeating Marc Mero in the first round. However, he had to withdraw due to injury, allowing Mero to advance by default. The tournament would eventually be won by Bart Gunn.
Blackman's most notable efforts in the WWE involved his run as a tag team with Al Snow. Unofficially dubbed "Head Cheese" by Snow, the team had some measure of success and was quite popular with the fans. Snow made Blackman wear a cheese-shaped hat to complement the mannequin head that Snow would bring to the ring. The two would engage in several skits where Snow would attempt to make Blackman seem interesting. In one backstage scene, Snow would propose that the duo develop a TV show where they travel through time and solve mysteries. Snow's theme song for the show would have been "Al Snow solves Mysteries, Steve Blackman has no personality, Together they fight crime, as they travel back through time!"
After the "Head Cheese" team went their separate ways, Blackman entered the WWE's Hardcore Division. At the time, the title was defended 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (established by Crash Holly). Because of this clause, WWE would often run storylines where the champion was attacked backstage, in a hotel, etc, and the title would change hands. However, with Blackman as champion that changed. The story was that Blackman was so dangerous in hand-to-hand combat, that even surprise attacks were not enough to take the title from him. This distinction makes Blackman one of the more unique athletes to have held the Hardcore title. Blackman's most famous Hardcore title match is from Summerslam 2000, where he fought Shane McMahon for the title. During that match, Blackman took a 30-foot leap off of the Titantron onto a prone Shane McMahon below.
In early-2001, Blackman formed another tag team, this time with Grandmaster Sexay. This was much like Head Cheese in that it was a comedic wrestler paired with the personality-challenged Blackman. The recurring storyline was that Sexay would always try to convince Blackman to dance with him after their matches. The two would from a short lived stable with Raven.
By the summer of 2001, Sexay was released from his WWE contract, leaving Blackman without a storyline. At around the same time, Blackman suffered an injury, and was released in October of 2002.
[edit] Post-wrestling
Blackman opened a self-defense school in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania called "Blackman's Self Defense and Street-Fighting School" in mid-2003, and as of August 2003, Blackman & MMA/wrestler star Ken Shamrock are creating a clothing line for professional fighters. As of July 2006 Blackman has re-opened "Steve Blackman's Fighting Systems", which features MMA classes as well as professional wrestling training with Classic Championship Wrestling, a local indy wrestling promotion in Harrisburg, PA.
[edit] Finishing and signature moves
- Blackout Kick (Bicycle kick)
[edit] Championships and accomplishments
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked him # 440 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003.
- Stampede Wrestling
- 1-time Stampede Television Champion
- World Wrestling Entertainment
- 6-time WWE Hardcore Champion
- Quotes
- "It's party time!"'
- "This is my house!"'
- "Mmmmm! Cheese!"
