| Wayne Bloom | |
|---|---|
| Ring name(s) | Beau Beverly The Sports Agent Wayne Bloom |
| Billed height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |
| Billed weight | 266 lb (121 kg; 19.0 st) |
| Born | March 22, 1958 Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Trained by | Eddie Sharkey |
| Debut | 1988 |
| Retired | 1999 |
Wayne Bloom (born March 22, 1958) is a former professional wrestler who wrestled in World Championship Wrestling, the American Wrestling Association, and the World Wrestling Federation between 1988 and 1999.
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Wayne Bloom started wrestling with the American Wrestling Association in 1988 after being trained by Eddie Sharkey. In the AWA, he competed as Wayne "The Train" Bloom. His initial run as a singles wrestler was not very successful, illustrated by the 24 second loss to Jimmy Valiant at the AWA PPV SuperClash III.[1] After his unsuccessful singles attempts, Bloom formed a tag team called The Destruction Crew with fellow rookie (and Eddie Sharkey student) ”Mean” Mike Enos. In the fall of 1989 Wayne Bloom on behalf of the Destruction Crew challenged then AWA World Tag Team champions Ken Patera and Brad Rheingans to a “car lifting” contest. During the challenge, the Destruction Crew attacked Patera and Rhenigans and injured them (kayfabe). This forced them to vacate the tag team titles.[2]
A tournament was set up to crown new tag-team champions; in the tournament, the Destruction Crew would defeat the team of Sgt. Slaughter & Baron Von Raschke in the first round and then beat Greg Gagne and Paul Diamond in the finals to win the titles.[3] Bloom also challenged the returning Brad Rheingans to a Greco-Roman match which Bloom lost. Nevertheless, the Crew's tag team victory combined with their devious tactics earned the duo a joint “Rookie of the Year” award from the readers of Pro Wrestling Illustrated, which is the only time a tag team has won this award.[4]
In 1990 the Destruction Crew joined World Championship Wrestling, which at the time was still a part of the National Wrestling Alliance. In WCW, they wrestled under masks as the Minnesota Wrecking Crew 2 and were managed by Ole Anderson (a member of the original Minnesota Wrecking Crew). They attempted without success to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship from the Steiner Brothers over the summer of 1990. During their stint with WCW they were also still under contract with the AWA; in fact, they were the AWA World Tag-Team Champions during their entire run as the masked Minnesota Wrestling Crew 2.[2]
On August 11, the Destruction Crew lost the AWA tag-team titles to longtime rivals The Trooper and D.J. Peterson.[3] The Crew tried in vain to regain the titles over the next couple of months until the AWA closed up in early 1991.
In 1991, after the AWA closed up, the Destruction Crew went to the World Wrestling Federation and became the Beverly Brothers, with Enos and Bloom wrestling under the ring names Blake and Beau Beverly, respectively. Their gimmick was that of two spoiled rich brats. They were originally managed by the Coach, then by The Genius.[2] The team was initially launched into feuds with the Legion of Doom, The Bushwhackers, and The Natural Disasters, the latter of which revolved around the WWF Tag Team Championship. The Beverly Brothers were never promoted as serious players in the tag team division and only made a few PPV appearances between 1991 and 1993[5][6][7][8][9]
In 1993, Bloom left the WWF and also semi-retired from professional wrestling. Yet within a year, he was making sporadic appearances on the independent scene as a singles wrestler among other places during the last days of Herb Abrams’ UWF. Bloom and Enos had a brief reunion in World Championship Wrestling in 1997 and 1998, but the announcers never made any comments on their past history. After a while together, the team finally disbanded for good. Bloom retired permanently in 1999. Bloom currently works in Stillwater, Minnesota at the Stillwater prison as a prison guard.
American Wrestling Association