Typhoon (wrestler)
| 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, United States |
| Children | 3 |
| Family | Cody Rhodes (nephew) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Big Bubba Big Man Steel Big Steele Man Bubba the Belt Collector The Shockmaster Sigfried the Giant Sugar Daddy Super Shockmaster Superstar Bubba Tugboat Tugboat Thomas Tugboat Tyler Typhoon U.S. Steel |
| Billed height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Billed weight | 384 lb (174 kg) |
| Trained by | Boris Malenko |
| Debut | 1984 |
| Retired | 2000 |
Fred Alex Ottman (born August 10, 1956) is an American retired professional wrestler. He worked for the World Wrestling Federation 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.
In 1993, he 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 in the short term, but is now generally regarded as the worst debut in wrestling history, a notoriety he capitalized upon after his in-ring retirement.
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 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 horn of a ship. On the May 20th episode of Wrestling Challenge, Hulk Hogan made a promo explaining that he personally trained Tugboat and brought him to the WWF. Following Tugboat's win on that very same show Hogan came out into the ring and raised his arm, showing his full support. Tugboat railed for fans to send encouraging letters to Hogan after Hogan was brutally attacked by Earthquake. 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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