Fred Ottman
| Fred Ottman | |
|---|---|
Ottman in 2014
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| Birth name | Fred Alex Ottman |
| Born |
August 10, 1956 Norfolk, Virginia, United States |
| Residence | Lakeland, Florida |
| Children | 3 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Big Bubba Bubba the Belt Collector U.S. Steel Big Steel Man Tugboat Tyler Tugboat Thomas Tugboat Typhoon The Shockmaster Sigfried the Giant Super Shockmaster |
| Billed height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Billed weight | 384 lb (174 kg) |
| Debut | 1984 |
| Retired | 2001 |
Fred Alex Ottman (born August 10, 1956) is a retired American professional wrestler. He is best known by the ring names Tugboat and Typhoon, the latter being half of the tag team The Natural Disasters with John "Earthquake" Tenta. Ottman is also well known for The Shockmaster in World Championship Wrestling. In the WWF, he is a one-time World Tag Team Champion.
Ottman was trained by Boris Malenko and got his start as Sigfried the Giant in February 1985, for Championship Wrestling from Georgia. He later wrestled for Texas All-Star Wrestling and the Continental Wrestling Association as Big Bubba.
In September 1988, Ottman wrestled on the Gordon Solie-hosted TV shows of Florida Championship Wrestling as a babyface called U.S. Steel. He feuded with Scott Hall, among others.
Ottman made his very first appearance in the WWF in June 1989 in a dark match under the ring name Big Steel Man with Slick as his manager. He wrestled three more dark matches that summer, defeating Paul Roma and Boris Zukhov, and losing to Mr Perfect. That September, his name was changed to Tugboat Tyler, then Tugboat Thomas, as he portrayed a fan favorite on house shows, defeating the likes of Barry Horowitz, The Brooklyn Brawler and Boris Zhukov. He debuted on WWF television on the January 27, 1990 episode of Superstars under the Tugboat Thomas moniker and defeated Iron Mike Sharpe. His ring name was soon after shortened to Tugboat. His costume consisted of a red striped shirt, white pants, and a sailor's hat. Part of his gimmick included miming pulling the cord of an airhorn and making a "Toot-toot" noise, like a foghorn on a ship. Tugboat aided Hulk Hogan in his feud with Earthquake and "Canada's Strongest Man" Dino Bravo. This coincided with a substantial push that saw Tugboat emerging victorious on television against numerous opponents. He made his pay-per-view debut at that November's Survivor Series, where he teamed with Hogan, The Big Boss Man and Hacksaw Jim Duggan to face the team of Earthquake, Dino Bravo, Haku and The Barbarian. Tugboat was eliminated when he and Earthquake fought to a double count-out, and Hogan went on to be the sole survivor. Tugboat was the first true test of The Undertaker, who defeated him in numerous matches between December 1990 and March 1991. Tugboat received a shot at Mr. Perfect's Intercontinental Championship on the May 5, 1991 episode of Wrestling Challenge, but was unsuccessful.
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