Fred Ottman

Fred Ottman
Data
Ring name	Bubba the Belt Collector Big Bubba Superstar Bubba US Steele Big Steele Man Tugboat Typhoon The Shockmaster
height	190 cm
Fighting weight	174 kg
birth	Tampa , Florida August 10, 1956
Announced from	Norfolk , Virginia
debut	1984
retirement	1994

Frederick Ottman , (* 10. August 1956 in Tampa , Florida ) is a retired American professional wrestler . He became known for his appearances as a tugboat and typhoon at the World Wrestling Federation . His greatest achievement was receiving the WWF Tag Team Championship in the Tag Team Natural Disasters . During his involvement with World Championship Wrestling , Ottman was remembered as the Shockmaster for a spectacular show mishap .

Career

Beginnings

Ottman began his wrestling career in 1984 as Bubba the Belt Collector in the American Midwest. His first notable success came from a feud with Jerry Lawler . From there Ottman went to Texas, where he received the AWA Southern Tag Team Championship twice, once with Jerry Lawler and once with "Goliath". Ottman returned to the region of the Midwest and moved from there to Florida to Florida Championship Wrestling , where he got the new ring name US Steele . Later, however, this had to because of legal problems with the US Steel in One Big Steele be changed. In Florida, Ottman had feuds with Dusty and Dustin Rhodes .

World Wrestling Federation

After signing a deal with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), he got a new gimmick called Tugboat Thomas . Outwardly, it was reminiscent of the villain Bluto of the Popeye comics, but in contrast to him was not a villain. Tugboat first appeared as a friend of Hulk Hogan to support him in tag team fights against the equally heavyweight Earthquake and Dino Bravo . A little later this role was dropped to form a team called "Natural Disasters" from Ottman and Earthquake. The ex- sumotori John "Earthquake" Tenta and Ottman, now appearing as "Typhoon", weighed around 395 kg together and therefore had no competition in terms of mass, which the WWF underlined with numerous one-sided matches against jobbers . The "Natural Disasters" subsequently feuded with the Legion of Doom and the Nasty Boys for the tag team title. After the Legion of Doom left the WWF, the promotion made Ottman and Tenta crowd favorites and challenged them for the tag team title held by Money Inc. In the course of this feud, Typhoon and Earthquake received the title on July 20, 1992, which they were allowed to defend until November 1992. The following year, the tag team broke up without the separation being explicitly explained. Ottman left the WWF a few months later.

The WCW Shockmaster

WWF's main competitor, Ted Turner- funded WCW , signed Ottman in 1993. Ole Anderson's bookers developed a new gimmick for Ottman, the Shockmaster . This character was set to make his debut at the major Fall Brawl event in an eight-man tag team match between Sting , Dustin Rhodes , Davey Boy Smith and a mysterious unknown partner on the One and Sid Vicious , Big Van Vader and the Tag Team Harlem Heat on the other hand was scheduled. To build up tension, the partner should be introduced in an interview segment moderated by Ric Flair with both parties. Sting announced the Shockmaster as a secret partner. The plan was for Ottman, dressed in a suit that included a purple, glitter-covered Star Wars Stormtrooper helmet, to break through a wall of paper. Ottman, whose vision was severely impaired by the helmet, tripped over the lower part of the wall and fell to the floor, losing his helmet in the process. The others reacted in shock. While Ottman was picking up his helmet, the microphones on set were on, so fellow wrestlers Ric Flair “Oh, god” and Davey Smith, “He fell flat on his ass! Fell flat on his fucking ass! ”( He sat flat on his ass. Falls flat on his damn ass! ) Could be understood. Despite the unsuccessful appearance, Ottman continued his appearance as originally planned and uttered wild verbal threats against the present heels , who were noticeably struggling not to laugh. The shockmaster's voice also came from Ole Anderson, who was present behind the scenes. Amazingly, the WCW didn't drop the Shockmaster gimmick , but changed it from superhero to clumsy . The superhero role was to be taken over by a newly introduced “Supershockmaster” with a similar outfit, who spoke of the “Shockmaster” as “Uncle Fred” and was also embodied by Fred Ottman. After some time, both figures were no longer used by the WCW, and Ottmann left the wrestling business.

After the WCW

In July 1994 Ottman returned briefly as Typhoon to WWF to take on the feud of Earthquake , who had recently switched to WCW , against yokozuna . After a few matches Ottman left the WWF again. 2001 Ottman returned once to take part in his old "Tugboat" -Gimmick in a Battle Royal of former stars at Wrestlemania XVII. Today he works as an occupational safety specialist for an industrial cleaning company.

Web links

• Tugboat's WWE Alumni Profile
• Interview with his previous employer
• Career profile