Fred Ottman Talks About His Infamous Debut As The Shockmaster, Ethan Page Says He'll Do What Johnny Gargano Wishes He Could (Video)

Fred Ottman Talks About His Infamous Debut As The Shockmaster, Ethan Page Says He’ll Do What Johnny Gargano Wishes He Could (Video)

The Shockmaster

Fred Ottman, also known as Tugboat/Typhoon among other gimmicks, recently spoke with Justin Barrasso for Sports Illustrated Extra Mustard‘s Week In Wrestling.

Ottman spoke about the debut of perhaps his most infamous gimmick, The Shockmaster, which will ‘celebrate’ its 23rd anniversary tomorrow (August 18, 1993). Ottman talks about before the debut and the aftermath, and how it still remains a popular wrestling memory even though it didn’t go as planned:

Ottman talks about his infamous debut as Shockmaster:

“It was really bad that night. It was live TV, and it was a nightmare. I’d driven to Daytona, Florida–where it took place–from my house in Tampa, and it was a hard drive back at night. All Dusty Rhodes [who produced the segment] could do was shake his head.”

Ottman explains what went wrong, including a 2×4 placed on the wall that caused him to fall:

“I tripped over that two-by-four. And they couldn’t mic me, so Ole Anderson did the voice. There was pantyhose over the holes of my mask because the glitter from the mask was falling into my eyes. Mike Graham gave me the cue, but his last words were, ‘Fred, you’re going to have to hit this thing hard.’ The next thing I knew, I fell and exposed myself on live television.”

Ottman on the Shockmaster’s lasting impression with fans:

“I still have the helmet in my house. It is the holy grail whenever I do the comic cons, and the new action figure. It was a humiliating night, but people are still talking about it.”