Fred Ottman | |
---|---|
![]() Ottman in 2014 | |
Birth name | Fred Alex Ottman[citation needed] |
Born | Miami, Florida, U.S. | August 10, 1956
Alma mater | Miami Senior High School (Miami, Florida)[1] |
Spouse(s) |
Sheila Ottman (m. 1987) |
Children | 3 |
Family | Dusty Rhodes (brother-in-law) Cody Rhodes (nephew) Dustin Rhodes (nephew) |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Big Bubba[2] Big Steel Man[2] The Shockmaster[2] Sigfried Super Shockmaster Hercules Haggerty Uncle Fred Terminator Tugboat[3] Tugboat Thomas Tugboat Tyler Tidal Wave Typhoon[3] |
Billed height | 6 ft 3 in (191 cm)[3] |
Billed weight | 384 lb (174 kg)[3] |
Billed from | Norfolk, Virginia [4] |
Trained by | Boris Malenko[2] |
Debut | 1984[2] |
Retired | 2009 |
Fred Alex Ottman (born August 10, 1956) is an American retired professional wrestler. He worked for the World Wrestling Federation (later; WWE) from 1989 to 1993 under the ring names Tugboat and Typhoon. As the former, he played a key babyface ally of Hulk Hogan. As the latter, he turned heel to form The Natural Disasters with Earthquake and held the WWF Tag Team Championship.[3][5][2]
In 1993, Ottman debuted as The Shockmaster in World Championship Wrestling and immediately fell over, losing his mask on live television while his teammates broke character and laughed. This botch hurt his career, and is now generally regarded as the worst debut in wrestling history, but he was able to capitalize on its notoriety after his in-ring retirement.