Fredd Ottman: a Career Retrospective Sep 07 - 06:21 pm EDT
Opinion by SPMAN
Fred Ottman A Career Retrospective
Fred Ottman, when you hear this name, what do you think of? A happy go lucky sailor? Perhaps a clumsy construction worker? Maybe just an overweight guy who never got a break. Fred Ottman is one of many wrestlers throughout the years who just never got a fair shake. Saddled with bad gimmicks and terrible partners, Ottman was always booked towards failure. That’s not to say that had he ever gotten a fair push, he wouldn’t have totally bombed or anything, but the man deserves at least some respect for putting up with everything wrestling bookers have put him through over the years. This is his story
Beginnings
Fred Ottman’s career began in the late eighties, wrestling for the Dusty Rhodes owned promotion PWF, or Pro Wrestling from Flordia which was at that time a member of the massive NWA conglomerate. Wrestling under the name US Steel, Fred got a cushy spot in the main event of the promotion due to being Dusty’s Brother in Law. Managed by DDP, Steel could usually be found fighting Dusty for the promotions world title, and squashing jobbers. Unfortunately, wrestling in a small Territory doesn’t give you much room for exposure in this industry, so Fred left at the first opportunity he got.
Tugboats, Typhoons, and Disasters Oh My!
Tugboat left the PWF for the bright lights and bigger opportunities found in the WWF in September of 1989. Fred got more then he bargained for though, because he was immeditly saddled with the gimmick of Tugboat Thomas the Sailor (The Thomas part was dropped soon after his debut). Wrestling is debut match with the promotion in September 1989 against “Iron” Mike Sharp; Tugboat quickly made a joke of himself with his goofy sailor outfit and his incessant tooting. After months of wrestling house shows and dark matches, Tugboat finally made his first TV Appearance in April 1990. Tugboats matches usually consisted of him using his immense weight to squash his opponent, while he tooted and played to the crowd. Eventually, after months of Jobber Squashes that led to no where, Tugboat was booked into the position of Hulk Hogan’s best friend after Hogan was killed dead by Earthquake. Tugboat encouraged little Hulkamaniacs to send Hogan letters of support to help him heal. Tugboat was all set to be in Hogan’s corner at the 1990 Summerslam when Vince suddenly decided that he didn’t like Tugboat anymore, so he had Earthquake kill him dead too. The Bossman replaced The Tugster as Hogan’s corner man.
After a short absence, Tugboat returned in October 1990, usually teaming Hogan to fight Earthquake and Dino Bravo. This led to the Survivor Series 1990 show where Hogan, Tugboat, and a group of Hogan’s other close friends teamed up to take on Earthquake, Bravo, and some of Jimmy Harts other goons. After this match, Vince seemingly gave up on Tugboat altogether, putting him in the opening match, and jobbing him for a better part of 1991. By August 1991, Tugboat was about as low on the roster as you can get. At this point, Earthquake, who had also seen his stock take a radical drop over the past couple months, requested that Tugboat and Earthquake team up. Vince McMahon thought this was a great idea, and within a week, it happened. During a six-man tag match featuring Tugboat and The Bushwhackers vs. Earthquake and The Nasty Boys, Tugboat turned on the Bushwhackers and joined Jimmy Harts stable using the name Typhoon. Earthquake and Typhoon were dubbed The Natural Disaster. The Disasters were put in a feud with then Tag Champions, LOD which lasted months…and months… and months…, much to the fans displeasure. Despite their massive size, The Natural Disasters were never seen as legitimate title contenders in the eyes of the fans, so it was decided that as a change of pace, the Natural Disasters would beat up Jimmy Hart and turn face.
So it was to be, the Natural Disasters turned on Jimmy Hart, and entered a feud with his top men, Ted Dibiase and IRS, Money Incorporated who at that point held the Tag Titles. The Disasters even got a run with the belts, defeating Money Inc. for them on July 20th, 1992. Vince tried his darndest to push the team, but due to a poor choice of opponents to feud with (Beverly Brother anyone?) along with Earthquake and Typhoons obviously limited ability, The Disasters ended up jobbing the belts back to Money Inc. on October 13th 1992. This title loss was the death knoll for The Disasters in the WWF. They were quickly relegated to opening matches and house shows, including a less then stellar performance in the 1993 Royal Rumble. In January 1993, Earthquake went on hiatus from the WWF, leaving Typhoon without a tag partner. With no other logical place to go, Typhoon spent the rest of his tenure as jobber fodder for the WWF’s upcoming stars such as Yokozuna, Bam Bam Bigelow, and Doink the Clown. Typhoon contract ended in June 1993 and was not renewed.
Tripping without moving
Without a job, Fred Ottman again turned to his Brother in Law Dusty Rhodes for work. Rhodes, now a prominent player in WCW got Ottman a role as Sting and Davey Boy Smiths partner for the upcoming Wargames match. It wasn’t a great role, but it was a spot none the less. Ottman of course jumped at this chance as fast as he could, had he known what he was getting himself into, you can be assured he would have stayed as far away for WCW as possible.
Clash of the Champions XXIV August 18th, 1993. On this show on this date, Fred Ottman was set to debut as the biggest thing to ever come to WCW. Unfortunately for Fred, in what was meant to be what was meant to be a strong debut turned into one of the funniest moments in WCW history. Clad in a sliver Storm Trooper helmet and a black cape, Fred, now known as The Shockmaster was set to run through a fake wall on the set after a huge pyro exploded. Well, the pyro exploded, and Shockmaster ran through the wall, but what wasn’t planned was The Shockmaster tripping over the wall and falling over, knocking off his mask. By this point, everyone who wasn’t blind could tell that it was just Typhoon in a helmet, but Fred gathered his bearings, got up, put the helmet back on, and preceded to cut a terrible dubbed promo. This segment was a huge embarrassment for WCW, and as you could imagine, the gimmick didn’t last too long. To make it even dumber, WCW tried a short lived gimmick where Fred would wrestle under three different personas, Uncle Fred, a fat construction worker who happened to be clumsy. The Shockmaster, and The Super Shockmaster, the Shockmasters brother. It didn’t take a genius to realize this wouldn’t work out, and by 1994, Fred was again out of a job.
Conclusion
In 1994, Fred Ottman started a successful Business in his home state of Flordia. He got out of the wrestling business to concentrate on its success. He occasionally worked Indy’s and did a tour of Japan in 1995, but he mostly stayed at home with his family. In 2001, he got a call from the WWF asking him to make one final appearance as an entrant in the Gimmick Battle Royal. Fred accepted, and entered the match as Tugboat. Many people, who were at the show, relate as to what a nice guy he was during the autograph signings at the fan fest. One story even started circulating about a fan that asked him to sign a picture as Shockmaster. This prompted Earthquake to get up and do an entire re-enactment of the scene. Fred Ottman’s career is remember mainly for his work with Earthquake, and despite his embarrassing run in WCW, Fred was just a likable guy who could never get over with the crowd.
