Outback Jack (wrestler)

Outback Jack
Born 12 February 1958[1]
Victoria, Australia
Resides Florida[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) The Mercenary
Sgt. Green
Outback Jack
Billed height 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)[2]
Billed weight 300 lb (140 kg)[2]
Billed from Humpty Doo, Australia[2]
Trained by Les Thornton[1]
Debut 1985

Peter Stilsbury (born 4 February 1958) is a former Australian professional wrestler, best known for appearing in the World Wrestling Federation as Outback Jack from 1986 to 1988. He portrayed a northern Australian bushman coming to America to compete in the WWF.

Professional wrestling career

Early career

Stilsbury started his career touring in Canada with Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling.[1] He was brought into the WWF in the mid 1980s in response to the mainstream popularity at the time of the Australian film Crocodile Dundee.[3] Wearing an Australian bush jacket,[4] he appeared in several vignettes hyping his debut by showing him in the wilds of the Australian Outback—specifically, the Northern Territory.[2][5] In the vignettes, he drove a Jeep and drank beer with cows.[5] In addition, as part of the storyline, he claimed to have learned survival skills from the Aborigines.[2]

World Wrestling Federation (1986–1988)

Stilsbury made his WWF debut in November 1986, as Outback Jack.[6] His wins mainly came over jobbers such as Jose Estrada, Steve Lombardi, Barry O, Barry Horowitz and "Iron" Mike Sharpe.[1][7] However, Outback Jack also defeated well-known superstars such as Nikolai Volkoff and former WWE Champion The Iron Sheik.[8]

He soon became a jobber himself, losing matches to high-level superstars such as "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Rick Rude. On the 7 May 1988 episode of WWF Superstars of Wrestling, Outback Jack teamed with Brady Boone and Steve Blackman in a loss to The Islanders; this was the only match in which The Islanders competed as a team of three, as they were joined by new Islander Sivi Afi.[1][9] Outback Jack feuded with Frenchy Martin, and the two had matches featured on the 4 May and 25 May 1987 episodes of WWF Prime Time Wrestling. Outback Jack won both matches.[10][11]

On the 3 August 1987 episode of WWF Prime Time Wrestling, Outback Jack rescued Tito Santana from an attack by Ron Bass. This led to a match between Outback Jack and Bass later in the show. Bass won,[12] but the pair continued to face each other into the following year.[8][13]

In May 1988, Outback Jack left the WWF after feuds with Frenchy Martin and Killer Khan. He also made one appearance on the interview segment The Snake Pit with Jake "The Snake" Roberts.[1][14] He stated in an interview that the WWF had planned to have him win the WWF Tag Team Championship with Hillbilly Jim, but the plans were cancelled for reasons that were never made clear to him.[15]

Post-World Wrestling Federation

World Wrestling Entertainment (formerly the WWF) had LJN Wrestling Superstars create an Outback Jack action figure to be produced and distributed worldwide.[5] In 2003, Pro Wrestling Illustrated published a list of the top 400 wrestlers in WWE history; Stilsbury was ranked #371.[16] Stilsbury stated in an interview that he does not often think about his time with the World Wrestling Federation.[17]

In recent years Stilsbury has been involved in Highland Games caber tossing events in Florida. His eyesight has been declining, and he is now blind in one eye and has limited vision in his other eye. His sudden departure from the WWF has led to him being described as "one of the most asked about people in the business".[15]

Outback Jack recently appeared on Internet Radio Show Cloverleaf Radio, declaring he is now nearly 100 percent blind, and uses a computer program to read his emails.

In wrestling

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "Outback Jack profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Shields, Brian and Kevin Sullivan (2009). WWE Encyclopedia. DK/BradyGAMES. p. 228. ISBN 978-0-7566-4190-0.
  3. ↑ Reynolds, R.D.; Blade Braxton (2007). The Wrestlecrap Book of Lists!. ECW Press. pp. 339–340. ISBN 1-55022-762-9.
  4. ↑ Ball, Michael R. (1990). Professional Wrestling as Ritual Drama in American Popular Culture. Edwin Mellen Press. p. 93. ISBN 0-88946-112-0.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Reynolds, R.D. (2003). WrestleCrap: The Very Worst of Pro Wrestling. ECW Press. p. 34. ISBN 1-55022-584-7.
  6. ↑ Cawthon, Graham. "Ring Results: 1986". The History of WWE. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
  7. ↑ Nevada, Vance (12 May 2008). "Iron Mike Sharpe Jr.". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Cawthon, Graham. "Ring Results: 1987". The History of WWE. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
  9. ↑ "WWF Superstars of Wrestling". 1988-05-07. Syndicated. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  10. ↑ "Prime Time Wrestling". 4 May 1987. USA Network. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  11. ↑ "Prime Time Wrestling". 25 May 1987. USA Network. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  12. ↑ "Prime Time Wrestling". 3 August 1987. USA Network. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. ↑ Cawthon, Graham. "Ring Results: 1988". The History of WWE. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
  14. ↑ "WWF Superstars of Wrestling". 1987-06-06. Syndicated. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Outback Jack shoots on McMahon’s ego". Online World of Wrestling. 4 May 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2009.
  16. ↑ "PWI's WWE Top 400 Wrestlers". Wrestling Information Archive. Retrieved 28 June 2009.
  17. ↑ "Interview: Outback Jack". Media Man Australia. 14 November 2001. Retrieved 19 June 2009.
  18. ↑ "WWF Superstars of Wrestling". 1987-02-07. Syndicated. Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links