| Steve Lombardi | |
|---|---|
| Ring name(s) | Steve Lombardi Brooklyn Brawler[1] Boston Brawler Kim Chee[1] Abe "Knuckleball" Schwartz[1] Most Violent Player (MVP) Kangaroo Doink the Clown[2] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[3] |
| Billed weight | 240 lb (110 kg)[3] |
| Born | April 18, 1961 [1] Detroit, Michigan[3] |
| Billed from | Brooklyn, New York[1] |
| Debut | 1983 |
Steve Lombardi (born April 18, 1961) is an Italian American professional wrestler, and road agent. He is also known by his ring name Brooklyn Brawler. He currently works for WWE as a road agent.
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Lombardi began his WWF career in late 1983, competing under his real name and being used primarily as an enhancement talent[1] until early 1989, when he was repackaged as The Brooklyn Brawler. The Brawler character was that of a street fighter, wearing battered jeans and torn New York Yankees t-shirts. Under the tutelage of Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, the Brawler entered a feud with The Red Rooster.[1] When The Rooster left Heenan's villain group and became a fan favorite, Heenan stated that he had made The Rooster a star and could do the same with anyone in the Federation. The Rooster defeated The Brawler on Saturday Night's Main Event and then Heenan at WrestleMania V.[4][5] The Brawler's alliance with Heenan was then phased out and he returned to his former enhancement talent status, a role he would remain in throughout the early 1990s.
Lombardi was used in a number of gimmicks, often masked. In late 1993, he briefly replaced Matt Borne as Doink the Clown. He also portrayed Kim Chee (Kamala's handler) and Abe "Knuckleball" Schwartz (a short-lived heel baseball player gimmick used during the 1994 Major League Baseball strike), first known as MVP (Most Violent Player).[3] As Abe "Knuckleball" Schwartz, Lombardi's face was painted to look like a baseball and he wore a jersey with the number 00.[3] In addition, he was accompanied to the ring by a demonic version of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."[3] Schwartz once entered Battle Royal in which the last two wrestlers in the ring would go on to compete for the WWF Intercontinental Championship, but he was eliminated half-way through the match.[3]
Since the late 1990s, he has been semi-retired from the ring, working mostly as a road agent for WWF and only occasionally appearing in the ring, usually for comic skits and matches. Lombardi lost to Dwayne Johnson, who would later become The Rock, in Johnson's WWF tryout match on March 10, 1996. Johnson later recalled the match in his autobiography; praising Lombardi as a stand-up wrestler.[6]
While semi-retired, the Brooklyn Brawler appeared on the independent wrestling scene, managing the Flying Stirpe Brothers Lou and Rob. Although they achieved little success, they will always be remembered for wreaking havoc and throwing uncooked pasta at the crowd.
Despite his status as enhancement talent, Lombardi had some big wins and title shots. In 1991 the Brooklyn Brawler entered into a small feud with new WWF star Big Bully Busick after the Brawler challenged Busick to match to see who the real bully of the WWF was. The Brawler defeated the Bully by countout and in a rematch one week later saw the Brawler dominate the Bully until the latter's manager Harvey Wippleman grabbed the Brawler's leg, leading to a controversial win for the Bully. On October 4, 1993 Lombardi also competed in the WWF Intercontinental title Battle Royal (as The M.V.P.). In 1997, he won a battle royal for a WWF Championship match in Madison Square Garden; he went on to face then-WWF champion Shawn Michaels, but was defeated. On the September 20, 1999 episode of Raw is War, Lombardi was one of the replacement referees while the original referees were on strike. In 2000, he scored a pinfall against then-World Champion Triple H in a non-title handicap match[1] and a rare singles victory over Just Joe on an episode of WWE Jakked.
As part of an angle on SmackDown!, he adopted the moniker of the "Boston Brawler," shedding his customary New York Yankees apparel in favor of Boston Red Sox clothing.[1] This was done in response to the Red Sox' defeat of the Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series, which propelled the Sox to their World Series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. Lombardi did this in a segment on SmackDown! (in New York City) with Heidenreich. Heidenreich was looking to make more friends, but Lombardi decided he'd rather be the Boston Brawler. Heidenreich stopped wanting to be Lombardi's friend, which aided Heidenreich's ongoing face turn.
In early 2006, he still worked behind the scenes of WWE, including behind the camera with John Cena on his WWE.com show "5 Questions". Cena often makes references to Lombardi, even jokingly calling him the greatest technical wrestler of all time. Also, his face popped up in front of Cena's mouth to censor curse words, usually saying "Nu-Uh!" or "Brawler!". On the June 2, 2006 episode of Five Questions, Brawler showed his face. He even censored himself, saying "YOU are a piece of Brawler". In another episode of "5 Questions," Cena acknowledged that Lombardi was actually born in Detroit, and not in Brooklyn. On May 7, 2006, WWE.com announced that, as part of Jakks Pacific's WWE Classic Superstars collection, they would be releasing a Brooklyn Brawler action figure.[7] At Vengeance, Brawler appeared as Doink the Clown when he came out to the ring with Eugene during Eugene's match with Umaga.[8] On August 1, 2006, Lombardi went to the ECW brand for a match against then ECW wrestler, Kurt Angle. Lombardi quickly lost when Angle applied an ankle lock on him. That same week, he appeared on SmackDown! against Vito, losing by submission. On the December 18 edition of Raw, Lombardi appeared in the 30 Man Battle Royal as the Brooklyn Brawler.
On the May 5, 2007 edition of SmackDown!, Lombardi made an appearance backstage in his Brooklyn Brawler persona, waiting in line for interviews to become SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long's assistant. On the 15th anniversary of Raw on December 10, 2007, Lombardi appeared as Abe "Knuckleball" Schwartz in a segment. When Triple H saw him, he exclaimed "I guess the Brooklyn Brawler was busy tonight".
On the July 12, 2010 edition on Monday Night Raw, Lombardi made an appearance in a comedy match as "Doink the Clown" for an 8-man tag. He teamed with William Regal, Zack Ryder, & Primo Colon vs. Santino Marella,Vladimir Koslov, The Great Khali, & Goldust. The match was set up as a foil for guest host Florence Henderson who starred as Carol Brady in 70's sitcom The Brady Bunch. Lombardi was pinned by the Great Khali during the match.