Fred Ottman's debut as The Shockmaster may not be his finest moment, but it is his most memorable one. Despite the unfortunate situation, Ottman to this day is an open book.
Ottman, who had a better run in WWF as tag team champion Typhoon, spoke to Memorabilia Guy about the WCW snafu.
"Well the whole idea was to conceal my identity and it was done at a live event, it wasn't taped. So I had to bust this wall that wasn't gimmicked, it was 2×4's every 12 inches and because of the height of the wall they added extra materials. About an inch or two below my knee was a big piece of material. Mike Graham was the guy who was going to give me the cue as there was no way to mic the helmet. Ole Anderson did the voice-over and he said -Fred you're going to have to hit this thing pretty hard. I had two little pin holes and then they took a girls pantyhose off because the glitter was coming through the eyeholes. So I double-axehandled the wall and the momentum of hitting it so hard made me a teeter-totter. So I flip over and the helmet popped off like a champagne cork. The rest is wrestling history. So I jump up put the helmet back on my head to cover my face, remember it's live and I am supposed to be the mystery partner. It was so funny. It was a hell of a way to make a debut," said Ottman.
Despite the embarrassing incident, Ottman keeps the memories, and even some memorabilia of his own in relation to the segment.
"I love the Shockmaster and I still own the helmet. I take it with me everywhere and I will bring it to Swindon Comic Con when I come to England in June. It is like the holy grail, it has such a cult following. You tell people it's the original and they can't believe it. So many fans want a picture with the helmet," said Ottman.
Check out the full interview at this link.
