Boo: Dungeon of Doom

Hogan hits the Dungeon

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger on Twitter

In 1995 there was a group of wrestlers hellbent on destroying Hulkamania.  Hulk Hogan had been in WCW for about a year at that point and had already taken care of Ric Flair.  Then he defeated former friend Brutus Beefcake who was wrestling as "The Butcher."

But the Butcher wasn't done with the Hulkster.  He joined the group of misfits called the Dungeon of Doom.  The Taskmaster Kevin Sullivan seemed to be in charge of the group, although we learned he was taking orders from The Master, who was played by former WWF manager The Wizard (also King Curtis Iaukea)

Kamala, the Shark, & Zodiac

In reality, the Dungeon of Doom was almost comical, but not on purpose.  I thought the vignettes with The Master and Sullivan were laughable.  I think they really tired to make the group seem like a big threat.  With the exception of the Giant (now the Big Show) and the temporary use of Big Van Vader, the Dungeon was filled with a bunch of midcarders.  Beefcake now had crazy spiked hair, black and white makeup and was the Zodiac.  I never quite understood that.  I felt like when he jumped to WCW, despite having a friendship with Hogan, Beefcake was lost in the shuffle and became one lame gimmick after the other.

I guess Slick's intervention didn't help...

Another member of the Dungeon, Kamala.  I had always like the Ugandan Headhunter, especially in his feud with the Undertaker in WWF a few years earlier.  But to me, he seemed lost with this group.  I can't quite put my finger on it.  The One Man Gang was another wrestler I enjoyed in previous wrestling organizations, like World Class and WWF, but this time around, I just couldn't buy into him either. Hugh Morris (Tough Enough's Bill Demotte) was also a member.  If I remember correctly, he wore tights with question marks all over them and laughed a lot.  Big Bubba (Big Bossman), Konnan, Meng, the Barbarian, and apparently Lex Luger were also members.  Until I had read about it, I had totally forgotten about Luger's involvement, but I think it was when he was feuding with Randy Savage.

The Yeti.  Yes, this really happened.

John Tenta, who played Earthquake and Avalanche, wrestled as the Shark in the Dungeon.  I blogged about that gimmick before.  It was certainly beneath the big man.  Loch Ness joined the group, but was nothing more than a big man who could barely movie.  The Yeti, who was wrapped in bandages like a mummy, was a beast of a man too, but really did nothing in this group or in WCW for that matter.  The Ultimate Solution had tree trunks for arms, but didn't go very far either.  Jimmy Hart and Miss Jacqueline helped manage the group.

Tiny Lister was Hogan's rival "Zeus" in the movie No Holds Barred in the WWF.  The two had a couple of matches back in 1989.  Fast forward to 1995, and WCW thought it was a good idea to bring him back to join the Dungeon.  Z-Gangsta was just another guy who really couldn't do much brought in to destroy Hulkamania.

The Giant as champion

I think had the group focused on a just a handful of members, it might have succeeded in WCW.  This was nothing more than a group of guys who were hand fed to Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage.  They were a mix of guys who had problems with Hogan in WWF, and I think WCW put too much focus on them and took their eyes off guys who were young and hungry.  The Giant was really the only one who experienced any success.  He won the WCW title at least once, maybe twice as a member.  The only thing I didn't like about his time in the group was the fact that WCW pushed him as the son of Andre the Giant, and that whole infamous monster truck off the building incident at Halloween Havoc 1995.

The Dungeon of Doom makes it into the Halloween blogs in part because of their "fear factor" but also for the silly costumes that many of the members wore.  I'm not sure how many fans were actually scared of this group, but hey, they tried, right?

Da-Dum-Da-Dum-Da-Dum

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger on Twitter

It's Shark Week on Discovery Channel, and I figured I'd cash in on the hype as well.  Wrestling has had its share of shark and sea life gimmicks, so I figured I'd stroll down memory lane and share a few with you.

Admittedly, I had to do a Google search to find a third shark related wrestling gimmick.  Of course I remembered "The Shark" and "Shark Boy", but I had no idea there was a "Shark Girl."  Thank you Internet for helping me.  Let's start with the ones I know more about.

The Shark was a gimmick made famous or infamous by John Tenta.  He had a pretty successful run in the WWF as Earthquake.  Then when he arrived in WCW, he changed his name to Avalanche, keeping that natural disaster gimmick.  Then for some reason the powers-that-be (Eric Bischoff gets a lot of blame online, but I don't know if it's solely his fault) came up with the Shark idea.  Shark joined the Dungeon of Doom, which I think the only thing scary about the group was the silly gimmicks each man was saddled with.

The Shark wore similar tights that Earthquake wore, but instead of the seismograph, an almost grinning shark appeared on Tenta's belly.  He also had teeth painted into his beard on both sides of his mouth.  Tenta went so far with the gimmick that he changed his trademark tiger tattoo into a shark.  Online reports say it was a 24 hour process.  That's dedication.

However, the gimmick did nothing to help move Tenta any hirer than the midcard.  They eventually dropped the gimmick, and I think he went to just being John Tenta.  He would return to the WWF in the late 90's and wear a mask as Golga in the oddities.  Pardon the pun, but the shark gimmick turned Tenta into a fish out of water, though he did his best with what he was given.  Rest in peace, big man.

Photo from Sharkboy.net

Shark Boy was NOT the son of Shark, as you might think.  He's also not the same Shark Boy from the popular kids film "The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl."  He was a part of TNA in the early days and mostly served as a jobber.  I think it's safe to say the gimmick caught on with some fans, including my partner in crime, Chad.  I remember watching those early pay per views at his place with Shark Boy and D-Ray 3000 teaming up.

I enjoyed the gimmick, because in this day and age, I don't think there are enough "gimmicky" wrestlers.  Everyone has a real name and lack personality as far as I'm concerned.  But for some reason TNA turned him into a Stone Cold Steve Austin impersonator.  While the schitck was funny at times, it got old fast as far as I'm concerned.  And I don't think it was ever meant to be something to insult Austin, as I've read that Shark Boy is a big fan of the WWE legend.  They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but in the wrestling business, it can become annoying and stale.

From Impact Wrestling

He swam away from TNA eventually and is making waves on the indy scene still.  Shark Boy did appear on the Destination X pay per view recently, but I don't think it's lead to a full fledged return to the company.  I'd be interested to see what Vince McMahon and company would do with someone like Shark Boy.  I would image the gimmick would be completely scrapped.  He seems to have a pretty good thing going though on the indy scene.  Check out his website, it's full of Shark Boy merchandise, including masks, key chains, and t-shirts.  I think Chad may even have a Shark Boy mask.

You might assume that Shark Girl was Shark Boy's wife or sister.  But you'd be wrong.  This was another indy gimmick.  Honestly, I'd never heard of her until today.  Shark Girl dressed similar to her male counterpart, only in pink.  She's played by "Daphne" who you may remember from runs in WCW and Impact Wrestling.

I'm not exactly sure where the idea for Shark Girl came from, I would assume it has something to do with Shark Boy though.  Her outfit is obviously a bit more revealing with those shark bite marks in the tights.

Shark Girl wrestled in different organizations, including Shimmer and CWA.  From what I could find, she was most active in 2008.  Shark Girl also has a My Space page, so click here to check out more photos and get more information about her.

So while Shark Week on Discovery Channel is a widely popular thing, I think it's pretty safe to say shark gimmicks aren't quite as popular in the world of wrestling.  Shark Boy and Shark Girl each made the list of the 20 worst masked wrestlers on one website.  Take that for what's it worth though.

What are your thoughts?  Post here, on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube.