Steve Blackman

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Steve Blackman
Statistics
Ring name(s) Steve Blackman
Billed height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Billed weight 246 lbs (112 kg)
Born September 28, 1963 (1963-09-28) (age 44)
Annville, Pennsylvania, USA
Resides Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Billed from Annville, Pennsylvania
Trained by Tony Altimore
Debut 1986
Retired 2002

Steve Blackman (born September 28, 1963 in Annville, Pennsylvania) is a retired American professional wrestler who best known for his career in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under his own name.

Contents

[edit] Professional wrestling career

[edit] Stampede Wrestling

Steve Blackman began his wrestling career in 1986 in Connecticut, training at Tony Altimore's wrestling school. In Calgary, he worked for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling. Later that year, he contracted malaria while wrestling in South Africa and "was on his death bed for two years"[1].

After his bout with malaria, Blackman first appeared on WWF television in 1988[2], as a jobber. Blackman made unsuccessful full-time 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 Federation

[edit] Debut and early years (1997-1998)

Steve Blackman made his WWF debut on the November 3, 1997 episode of Raw is War when he 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 eventually turned heel after siding with Shane McMahon. During his run as a heel, he brought a gym bag full of martial arts weapons with him to the ring, including kendo sticks. Blackman would attempt to use the weapons in the bag during or after the match.

In late-1998, Blackman competed in the WWF 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.

[edit] Head Cheese (1999-2000)

Blackman and Al Snow formed a tag team that was known unofficially as Head Cheese, as Snow made Blackman wear a cheesehead hat to complement the mannequin head that Snow carried to the ring. Blackman had a reputation for being very serious and not displaying emotion, so the two put on comedy duo skits with Blackman as the straight-faced man. Many of the skits involved Snow's attempts to come up with a gimmick for their team. In one backstage scene, Snow proposed that the duo develop a TV show wherein they travel through time and solve mysteries. Another memorable sketch involved Snow scheduling an unsuspecting Blackman to perform stand-up comedy at a retirement home, with humorous results.

[edit] Hardcore division (2000-2002)

After the Head Cheese team went their separate ways, Blackman entered the WWF'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, WWF often ran matches wherein the champion was attacked and defeated in locations not typically associated with wrestling matches, such as backstage or in a hotel. However, with Blackman as champion, surprise attacks no longer resulted in title changes: within the matches, Blackman was so dangerous in hand-to-hand combat that surprise attacks were not effective enough to defeat him. During his stint as Hardcore Champion, Blackman's full martial arts talent was utilized. The first time he lost the title for a significant amount of time was against Shane McMahon, largely due to interference from Test, Albert, Edge, and Christian, with Mick Foley suspending the 24/7 rule to make sure McMahon didn't try to get out of facing Blackman in a rematch. At Summerslam 2000, Blackman fought McMahon for the title. During that match, Blackman lept 30-40 foot leap off of the Titantron onto a prone McMahon below[3][4]. Blackman would go on to defend the title on several occasions, including a victory over The Icon in a "Blackman Bunkhouse Brawl Match" (Where a piece of ham is hung above the ring and the first wrestler to finish the piece of ham is declared the winner). He would ultimately lose the title on a more permanent basis to Raven in late 2000.

Early in 2001, Blackman formed another tag team, this time with Grandmaster Sexay. Blackman again played the straight-faced man: a recurring element was that Grandmaster would always try to convince Blackman to dance with him after their matches. In the summer of 2001, Lawler was released from his WWF contract, and Blackman was left without a storyline. At around the same time, Blackman suffered an injury, and was released in October 2002.

Blackman made a guest appearance, and his first in over six and a half years, on WWE television during the Raw 15th Anniversary Special. Appearing in a 15-man battle royal. He was eliminated by Flash Funk.

[edit] Post-WWE

Blackman opened a self-defense school in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania called "Blackman's Self Defense and Street-Fighting School" in mid-2003. Blackman & MMA fighter (UFC Hall of Famer) and wrestler Ken Shamrock were brought in to help promote a clothing line for professional fighters, called Ground ‘n’ Pound gear (GnP)[5]. 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 independent wrestling promotion in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Blackman resurfaced in July 2007 as a guest on Nancy Grace's show[6][7], during the media blitz surrounding the Chris Benoit tragedy, where he argued with fellow former wrestler Marc Mero. He also made an appearance on Larry King Live to discuss the same topic.[8].

Steve Blackman is considering the same procedure that Kurt Angle had and a possible return to the wrestling business[9].

[edit] Personal life

According to Jim Ross's December 14, 2007 blog, Steve was about to become a father for the first time.[10]

[edit] In wrestling

  • Catchphrases
  • Nicknames
    • "The Lethal Weapon"
    • "The Silent Assassin"

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

[edit] References

  1. ^ Steve Blackman speaks on his neck, the future, WWE release, more
  2. ^ Steve Blackman, Brady Boone, & Outhouse Jack vs The Islanders
  3. ^ Summerslam 2000 - Shane McMahon Vs. Steve Blackman (Hardcore Match highlights)
  4. ^ WWF Shane O'Mac vs Steve Blackman (Hardcore Match) 2000
  5. ^ Steve Blackman speaks on his neck, the future, WWE release, more
  6. ^ Marc Mero and Steve Blackman Argue About Benoit (1 of 2)
  7. ^ Marc Mero and Steve Blackman Argue About Benoit (2 of 2)
  8. ^ YouTube - Larry King talks about Chris Benoit - 1 of 5
  9. ^ Online World of Wrestling
  10. ^ Steve Blackman, about to become a father for the first time, was in awesome physical condition and is training MMA fighters in Pennsylvania.

[edit] External links

Professional wrestling
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