Kevin Sullivan (wrestler)

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Kevin Sullivan
Statistics
Ring name(s) Johnny West
Kevin Caldwell
Kevin Sullivan
The Boston Battler
Masked Lucifer
Merlin the Wizard
The Taskmaster
Billed height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Billed weight 252 lb (114 kg/18.0 st)
Born October 26, 1949 (1949-10-26) (age 58)
Boston, Massachusetts
Debut October 1970

Kevin Francis Sullivan (born October 26, 1949), is an American professional wrestler and booker. He is perhaps best known for his feuds with the "American Dream" Dusty Rhodes and Mike Graham in the NWA's Championship Wrestling from Florida, and against Hulk Hogan and the Four Horsemen (specifically Chris Benoit) in World Championship Wrestling.

Contents

[edit] Professional wrestling career

[edit] WWWF (Mid 1970's)

Mid-card face.

[edit] Florida Championship Wrestling (Late 1970's)

Heel. This is where the devil worshiping started. associated with Maniac Mark Lewin (Purple Haze), Bob Roop and Luna amongst others.

[edit] Jim Crockett Promotions (1987-1992)

Sullivan formed The Varsity Club upon arrival in the NWA with Mike Rotunda and Rick Steiner. They immediately started feuding with Jimmy Garvin because Sullivan wanted his wife Precious for himself. This feud lasted a while with Sullivan "breaking" Garvin's leg at one point.

Steiner left the group and was replaced by "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and Dan Spivey. They feuded with Dusty Rhodes, the Road Warriors, Rick Steiner and Eddie Gilbert. Sullivan even attacked Gilbert's wife Missy Hyatt. By late 1989, the Varsity Club was gone, and Sullivan formed Slaughterhouse with Cactus Jack and Buzz Sawyer to feud with Rotunda.[1]

Sullivan took time off in late 1990 and returned in early 1991 as the manager of One Man Gang, Black Blood, and the Angel of Death. They cut El Gigante's hair and had a brief feud. Sullivan also was the masked Merlin the Wizard briefly to manage Oz.

[edit] Extreme Championship Wrestling (1993-1994)

In early 1993, Sullivan and Nancy, now known as Woman, went to Extreme Championship Wrestling, where he teamed with Tasmaniac. The two won the Tag Team Title and feuded with The Public Enemy. Sullivan also had a bloody feud with Abdullah The Butcher. Sullivan left Woman behind and headed to World Championship Wrestling in spring 1994.

[edit] World Championship Wrestling (1994-2001)

He formed a tag team with his "brother" Dave Sullivan, a dyslexic character who referred to himself as "Evad" who was being picked on by The Nasty Boys (Jerry Sags and Brian Knobbs). He enlisted Cactus Jack's help and beat them for the Tag Team Title.[2] Dave was injured and out of action for a while and Sullivan split with Cactus after losing the titles. Sullivan defeated Cactus in a Loser Leaves WCW match at Fall Brawl on September 18, 1994.[3] Dave came back and dressed like his idol, Hulk Hogan. This infuriated Sullivan, who hated Hogan, and they started feuding. Sullivan brought in Hogan's best friend, Ed Leslie, as The Butcher, to feud with him. He also brought in Avalanche and called the trio the 3 Faces of Fear. They feuded with Hogan, Randy Savage and Sting.

In early 1995, after not being able to end Hogan's career, Avalanche left the group and Sullivan turned on Butcher. Sullivan immediately started putting together a new group with the help of his mentor, The Master. They called it the Dungeon of Doom, which included Kamala, The Barbarian, Meng, Manager Jimmy Hart, Shark (formerly Avalanche), Zodiac (formerly Butcher, formerly Brutus Beefcake), Yeti, Hugh Morrus, One Man Gang and for a very short time, Vader and Big Bubba Rogers.

Managed by Sullivan's new gimmick, The Taskmaster, four Dungeon of Doom members lost to The Hulkamaniacs in a WarGames match at September's Fall Brawl. As a result of Hogan's win over Zodiac, he got to spend five minutes alone with The Taskmaster. The Dungeon then feuded with the Four Horsemen, and Sullivan acquired a certain disliking for Brian Pillman.

Once Sullivan sent Pillman packing, the Dungeon and the Horsemen rejoined forces to get rid of Hulk Hogan and his friends. They brought in The Giant, Maxx Muscle and Big Bubba Rogers to help. They even formed the Alliance To End Hulkamania with the Horsemen in a failed attempt to do so. When they couldn't get the job done, Sullivan and Chris Benoit of the Horsemen picked up where Pillman left off and started a feud. This was a brutal feud and lasted over a year, with Benoit "stealing" Woman from Sullivan in the course of the feud. Sullivan brought in Jacquelyn to help him and also added Konnan to the Dungeon.

Sullivan lost a retirement match to Benoit at Bash at the Beach on July 13, 1997. He was already the booker so it gave him more time to do that job. Sullivan stayed on as the booker or a member of the WCW booking committee and made a brief on-screen appearance with the reformed Varsity Club of Rotunda and Rick Steiner with their cheerleader, Leia Meow. After a couple of months, he was back off TV.

Sullivan is among those blamed for the 2000 departure of Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero and Perry Saturn from WCW, though by no direct action of his own. After the departure of Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo, the resulting chaos led to Sullivan's promotion to head booker. This move infuriated a number of WCW wrestlers, given Sullivan's history of professional rivalries (notably Benoit) and poor decisions. Benoit, Malenko, Guerrero and Saturn would quit the night after, immediately signing with the WWF. Sullivan was fired before WCW's sale in 2001.

[edit] Recent years

In 2003, Sullivan made one surprise appearance in Total Nonstop Action wrestling, as the officiator in the first Clockwork Orange House of Fun match. As the match was largely rules-free, and had little need of a referee, he said he was there primarily to facilitate the violence between the two contestants.

Sullivan still makes occasional appearances on the independent circuit, mainly in Florida.

[edit] In wrestling

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

  • Century Wrestling Alliance
  • CWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[5] (Last)

1Though Sullivan and Taz won the title twice, only their first reign is recognized officially by World Wrestling Entertainment. The reign also occurred prior to ECW's withdrawal from the NWA and prior to ECW declaring their tag title a "World" title.

[edit] Personal life

During the mid-1990s, Sullivan, the then World Championship Wrestling booker, scripted a storyline in which Nancy Daus (his wife) left him in favor of his on-screen rival, Chris Benoit. During the execution of the storyline, Daus legitimately left Sullivan in favor of Benoit, divorcing Sullivan in 1997 and marrying Benoit in 2000.[23]

Kevin and his current wife Samantha have a son named James Foley, who was born in December 2006. Sullivan owns a gym in the Florida Keys called Froggy's Fitness.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Foley, Mick. Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks (p.167)
  2. ^ Foley, Mick. Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks (p.272)
  3. ^ Foley, Mick. Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks (p.281)
  4. ^ NWA World Tag Team Title (Central States) history At wrestling-titles.com
  5. ^ CWA Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  6. ^ Florida Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  7. ^ NWA Southern Heavyweight Title (Florida) history At wrestling-titles.com
  8. ^ Florida Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  9. ^ ECW World Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  10. ^ NWA Georgia Junior Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  11. ^ NWA Georgia Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  12. ^ NWA National Television Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  13. ^ NWA/WCW United States Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  14. ^ WCW World Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  15. ^ NWA Mid-America Television Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  16. ^ NWA Mid-America/AWA Southern Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  17. ^ NWA World Tag Team Title (Mid-America) history At wrestling-titles.com
  18. ^ NWA Southeast Continental Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  19. ^ NWA United States Junior Heavyweight Title (Southeastern/Continental) history At wrestling-titles.com
  20. ^ NWA United States Tag Team Title (Gulf Coast) history At wrestling-titles.com
  21. ^ NWA Southern Heavyweight Title (Tennessee) history At wrestling-titles.com
  22. ^ SWCW Southwest Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  23. ^ Schramm, C. (June 25, 2007). Looking back on the career of "Woman". Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved on June 27, 2007.

There is some suspicion that Sullivan was the alleged killer of Chris Benoit but there is no further proof to confirm that.

[edit] References

  • Mick Foley (2000). Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks. HarperCollins. ISBN 0061031011. 

[edit] External links

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