Pro Wrestling's Heroes of Wrestling Past: The Shockmaster

Well, it's come to this. I have written an article about The Shockmaster.  In the third installment of "Heroes of Wrestling Past", we will take a look at the career of perhaps the most infamous wrestler in the history of WCW...Fred Ottman, The Shockmaster.  So buckle your seatbelts, strap on you Storm Trooper helmet, and watch your step because this is going to be...shocking (+10 points for a Shockmaster pun).

Fred Ottman was a simple boy from Virginia.  I am sure he never thought he we become one of the most famous professional wrestlers of all time (yeah, I said it).  When Ottman debuted in the WWF, he was known as Tugboat.  He wore a red and white striped shirt, a little hat, and some white sailor pants and the audience would go "Toot toot" when he pumped his fist (SPOILER ALERT: his career only goes uphill from this).  Tugboat was a rising face in WWF, but he (like most people) decided he hated Hulk Hogan.

Hogan would then have to eat his vitamins and say his prayers, because Tugboat became Typhoon.  With Earthquake, they formed The Natural Disasters.  The two big men would feud for the Tag Team titles.  They eventually captured the gold from Money Inc.  IRS and Ted Dibiase would soon win the titles back.  This would prove to be a blessing in disguise, because the next this that would happen for Ottman was going to "shock the world".

Ottman had signed with WCW.  He was set to debut in an 8-man tag match with partners Davey Boy Smith, Dusty Rhodes, and Sting.  However their opponents wanted to know the identify of the mystery man, so they called them out on "A Flair for the Gold".  Sting exclaimed , "All I can say is, he is going to "shock" the world, because he is none other than... The Shockmaster!!" (How could this go wrong, right?)  Their was an explosion, you could feel the suspense building.  a large figure with a glitter helmet burst through the wall and....fell flat on his face.  Fred Shockmaster scrambled to get his helmet back on (for fear of angering Darth Vadar).  The host, Ric Flair, yelled out "Oh, God!"  Davey Boy (God rest his soul) used some foul language.  On a side note:  He did not fall "on his arse", he fell on his face...GET IT RIGHT SMITH!  His voice over, Ole Anderson, couldn't contain his laughter.  It turns out Ottman had been sabotaged.  Not by communists, but by David Crockett,  Crockett has nailed a piece of lumber to the wall, without telling The Shockmaster, causing him to trip.  

This all led to the introduction of The Super Shockmaster!  Super Shockmaster was Shockmaster's nephew, and ofter referred to him as Uncle Fred.  Poor Freddie Shockmaster was now a klutz.  This all did not go over well.  Eventually WCW released Shockmaster.  That's why they went out of business!

The Shockmaster would return in 2009 for a brief moment.  We may never see him again.  However, we will never forget the man who shocked the world.  In my opinion, to save TNA, they need The Shockmaster.  Give him the title and let him run with it (not indoors, he might trip and fall over something).  All in all, Shockmaster may be famous for the wrong reasons, but he is certainly a man we will never forget.

Thanks for reading this edition of "Heroes of Wrestling Past".  Please feel free to comment below.  Provide us with you Shockmaster memories.  Also, let me know who you want to see on future installments of "Heroes of Wrestling Past."