Fred Ottman (born August 10,
1956 in Norfolk,
Virginia
) is a
retired American
professional wrestler best known as
Tugboat or Typhoon and teaming
with John "Earthquake" Tenta as The Natural Disasters in the World Wrestling
Federation. Ottman is also well-known for his infamous
"
Shockmaster" gimmick in
World Championship
Wrestling.
Career
World Wrestling Federation
Ottman made his first appearance in the WWF in June 1989 in a dark
match under the name Big Man Steel with
Slick as his manager. He debuted on
television in January 1990 as a face under the name Tugboat Thomas
(later just "
Tugboat"), his costume consisted of a
red striped shirt, white pants, and a sailor's hat. Part of his
gimmick included raising his fist into the air and then pulling it
down (similar to the way one would signal a trucker) and make a
"Toot-toot" noise, like a foghorn on a ship. Tugboat aided
Hulk Hogan in his feud with Earthquake and
"Canada's Strongest Man"
Dino Bravo. In
May 1991, Ottman turned heel, changing his character's name to
Typhoon and aligning himself with Earthquake as the
The Natural
Disasters, managed by Jimmy Hart. The Natural
Disasters turned face early in 1992, feuding with and eventually
winning the
WWF World
Tag Team Championship from Hart's
Money
Inc. ("Million-Dollar Man"
Ted
DiBiase and
Irwin R. Schyster) in July, before losing the titles
back to Money Inc. three months later. When Earthquake took a leave
of absence from the WWF early in 1993, Ottman wrestled in
low-profile singles matches before leaving the company that
spring.
World Championship Wrestling
The Shockmaster incident
After departing from the WWF, Ottman would find himself the center
of one of the most embarrassing moments in wrestling history.
World Championship
Wrestling (WCW) had recently signed Ottman, and he was to make
his debut in a match alongside
Sting,
Dustin
Rhodes, and
Davey Boy Smith. He
would be their mystery partner in the upcoming eight-man tag match
against the
heel team
composed of
Sid Vicious,
Big Van Vader, and the
Harlem Heat at
Fall
Brawl.
On "A Flair for the Gold", (an
interview segment hosted by
Ric Flair) in front of a live audience at
Clash of the Champions XXIV,
Sting and Smith were confronted by Sid and the Harlem Heat,
demanding to know the identity of their new partner. Sting
exclaimed , "All I can say is, he is going to "shock" the world,
because he is none other than...
The Shockmaster!!" The
camera zoomed in on a particular section of the set where two
torches set off a small pyrotechnics explosion in front of a
sheetrock wall. Ottman was supposed to make
a dramatic entrance by crashing through the wall. His new costume
consisted of a
Star Wars Stormtrooper helmet painted silver and
covered in glitter, a pair of jeans, and a long black vest.
Instead, in perhaps the most humiliating moment in wrestling
history, Ottman tripped over a piece of lumber that was framing the
set, causing his helmet to fall off and slide across the floor. He
scrambled to put the helmet back on and get to his feet, in an
attempt to salvage the disaster. Audio of Smith muttering that he
"fell on his fucking arse!" was heard on the broadcast.
Dusty Rhodes later revealed on an
episode of WWE 24/7's Legends of Wrestling that the piece of lumber
previously wasn't there during a practice run and it was later put
there by
David Crockett
without informing Ottman.
Ottman walked up to Sid and Harlem Heat, all of whom were visibly
struggling to contain their laughter. The interview, which was
actually voiced by
Ole Anderson, only
got worse as Anderson started giggling at the beginning. Despite
zero crowd reaction and leaving the announcers speechless, WCW
decided to continue with the feud.
Post-Shockmaster
WCW attempted to salvage the incident by introducing a new
character called the "Super Shockmaster." Also portrayed by Ottman,
this was intended to be the Shockmaster's nephew, who would then
refer to the Shockmaster as "Uncle Fred." Subsequently entering the
ring to a distorted version of the
Beatles
song "
Day Tripper," the Shockmaster was
then portrayed as a
klutz until the character
was eventually abandoned.
Ottman returned to the WWF as Typhoon in May of 1994, primarily
being used to put over other talent, before departing in
August.
On the August 31, 2009 edition of
Monday Night RAW,
D-Generation X and
Dusty Rhodes had a segment regarding
The Shockmaster while advertising "The Rise and Fall of WCW." After
commenting that the DVD didn't contain his favorite WCW moment,
Triple H began explaining the incident to Michaels, while Rhodes
tried to stop him. A robotic voice then said HHH's name and then
Shawn's. Triple H stopped and said the voice was coming from the a
yellow wall set piece decorated exactly like the wall from "A Flair
For The Gold". Pyrotechnics hit and the Shockmaster came out
similar to the original WCW segment and
Santino Marella revealed himself to be the
Shockmaster after DX left.
Arn Anderson (
kayfabe brother to the original voice of the
original Schockmaster) was also seen in the segment and was caught
on screen doing the Shockmaster voice over.
Personal life
Ottman retired from wrestling after WCW folded in 2001. He now
lives in Lakeland, Florida and works as a safety manager for Gaffin
Industrial Services, a building cleaning service. He also coaches
the
little league team of his
two sons and daughter, Berkley, Beau, and Bailey.
In wrestling
Championships and accomplishments
- *AWA
International Heavyweight Championship (1
time)
- *AWA Southern Tag
Team Championship (2 times) -
with Jerry Lawler (1) and Goliath
(1)
- *SWS Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Earthquake
- *WWF Tag Team
Championship (1 time) - with
Earthquake
References
Wikis
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