Boo: Mystery Solved

Mystery Man strikes

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger on Twitter

Sticking with the Halloween-type costume theme and not so much the scary Halloween posts, I'm digging back 20 years for the WWF Superstar with no name.  However in the WWE Encyclopedia, he's listed as Mystery Man.  Does anyone remember him?  He wasn't around very long and back then he was quite the mystery.  Kinda.

I actually assumed Mystery Man was in fact Brutus Beefcake.  It was about a year after Beefcake's horrible para sailing accident.  He'd been on the shelf ever since.  Then in spring 1991, Earthquake had just beaten a jobber on Superstars.  He was about to do another post match Earthquake splash, when a guy in a mask and a crazy get up hit the ring.  This mysterious figure beat the hell out of Quake, and chased manager Jimmy Hart from the ring like a scalded dog (as Jim Ross would say)

Nice mask

The same thing happened after squash matches involving "The Model" Rick Martel and Dino Bravo.  I like mentioned before, back then Mystery Man had no name, the announcers had no idea who he was or what to call him.  And he never actually wrestled, so I'm not sure what the point was of having him come out.

Like I said, years later it was revealed to be Brutus Beefcake under the mask.  I had assumed it was him back then, just based on the build and the mannerisms of the man.  I remembered hoping this was actually going to develop into something, but it never did.  Yeah, I was a mark back then.  Probably still am.

Another version of the outfit

Legend has it that Beefcake wasn't fully recovered from the accident and wasn't yet ready to get back into the ring to wrestle.  Shortly after they pulled the plug on the Mystery Man, the Barber Shop talk show started up.  He changed up the costumes too.  In one attack he wore fur arm bands and mask.

So if you remember this gimmick for the few weeks it ran in 1991, and didn't realize it was Beefcake behind the character, consider the mystery solved.  Thanks for reading.  And don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.