Kevin Sullivan and the Army of Darkness

Before this history lesson you must first indulge in some primo visual and verbal aggression. Sullivan in his Nasty Savage shirt wearing glory (Starting at 0:12) and severe ring psychology. UPDATED 1/3/13: "video has been removed by the user" what in the NAME OF ABUDDAHDEIN" are you doing, man?!? Anyway, here's this.

Boston-born (and heavily Boston accented) Kevin Sullivan was a wrestler with an atypical phyisique who started in the usual territory work in the late 70's and early 1980s. He began in the hot territory of Georgia Championship Wrestling which along with Florida, Memphis, and Portland were loaded with talent. His   Obsessed with Wrestling  (the Metal-Archives for wrestling!) profile says he once used the names Kevin Caldwell and Johnny West which were likely generic names when he jobbed in the beginning stages of his career. However, he made his TV debut in 1970 jobbing for future World Class/Mid-South-era manager  Skandor Akbar (the only man on TV with both a Texas accent AND an Arabic name).  

Later Sullivan worked various N.W.A. territories in San Francisco, Sacramento and L.A. In San Francisco - they taped the shows at a studio run by UHF station, KBHK-44. He worked as a heel with Bob Roop, his future partner and Army of Darkness member in Florida. Later he showed up in Memphis where he worked with Jimmy "Mouth of the South" Hart who was a huge part of Memphis wrestling along with such legends as Jerry Lawler, Jimmy "Boogie Woogie Man" Valiant, Jim Cornette,  and even some guy from Vero Beach named Terry Boulder was there. Other parts of his early grappling resume read like a typical worker of the time - employed by promotions from West to East to Central and back. More of these details are found at Online World of Wrestling

I first heard of Sullivan through reading Pro Wrestling Illustrated and the wild tales of his satanic gimmick and  bloody matches he had with Dusty Rhodes and Blackjack Mulligan. Wrestling, like metal music held an aura of mystery in this kayfabe/pre-internet era. Since the smaller territories were limited in television exposure, fans in different regions traded VHS tapes, made fanzines, newsletters. In turn they would put ads for trading or zines in the classifieds of the bigger newsstand wrestling magazines. This way fans in different territories could watch wrestlers from out of their area or out of the country (ex: Japan, Mexico, UK, Australia). Former ECW star Tommy Dreamer talks about this in his interview on Colt Cabana's podcast.

In 1985, Sullivan was thanked on the debut of Florida power thrashers Nasty Savage's debut LP. Plus, Sullivan, Lok and Luna's images appear in at least 2 of the photo collages from this LP and the 2nd LP Indulgence. Images of Nasty Savage's mayhemic metal along with the The Army of Darkness' mayhemic wrestling were etched deep in my brain early on. Naturally, I put them at the top of this blog.  

The origins of his "Prince of Darkness" gimmick was a mix of his travels in Singapore and other parts of South East Asia and various early MTV videos. In multiple interview's Sullivan's mentioned Billy Idol's "White Wedding" video and basically and "rock music" were his influences. Though he did say that the names of the  Army of Darkness members came from a mix of music and mysticism. (This stable of wrestlers and managers came ten years before the Evil Dead sequel. Regardless, I'd like to see how the two sides would match up). 

Army of Darkness line up (dunno the exact dates but I know "Superstar" Graham was in the first incarnation in 1982):

Kevin Sullivan

The Purple Haze (aka: "Maniac" Mark Lewin)

"Superstar" Billy Graham

Jake "The Snake" Roberts

Maya Singh (aka: Bob Roop)

Mike "The Dream Davis - named for his short-lived Dusty Rhodes knockoff gimmick within the Sullivan vs. Rhodes story arch. 

Luna

Lok/Lock

Nancy "Fallen Angel" Sullivan (later Nancy Benoit)

Buzz Sawyer

Karmha/Molokai (aka: Cousin Luke from the The WWF Hillbilly Jim family!?!?) 

Nasty Ronnie & Nasty Savage

Unclear on the details/rumored Army members: Alice Cooper, Roddy Piper, Incubus, the Saint, Rev. Black (no idea who these 3 are). 

More of Sullivan's career details are in this really cool shoot interview from Brutal Truth TV. Part 1  goes into how the press hyped his satanic gimmick even though he never said the word "Satan" or"devil". In contrast to a direct idea of evil, Sullivan would mix in references to climbing the 13 steps, being tied to the tree of woe and one eyed ladies who gave him "cosmic cookies".

 "My thing was mystical...people knew what I was saying but I wouldn't (outright) say it (satan/satanism)". - K.S. from Brutal Truth TV interview. More history on this gimmick.

"How did the "devil worshipping" gimmick evolve? He talks about how it was all over music at that time, like Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, Billy Idol, etc. and figured that he could get the redneck fans to believe he was really a devil worshipper. He said that if you can get the boys in the back to believe it, it's usually good enough to convince the fans. The only time they went too far was when Dusty hung him on TV. He said that the vignettes with this gimmick were well done and didn't go too far. He takes credit for most of the ideas but that the production was all Dusty (Rhodes)." - Kevin Sullivan shoot interview video review from Kayfabe Memories. 

Now a visual tribute to a number of his career highlights. 

Early 70's & Late 70's babyface era.

Slightly funky (yet oily) Memphis territory era from probably '79-'80. With "Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart and Wayne Ferris (later aka: The Honky Tonk Man). 

Hyponotizing glares & a sales graph on his head? Sir Oliver Humperdink on the right. 

My 'lil Army of Darkness tribute including my old 'zine Marketing Ploy. Also, note the great "salesmanship" by the Starlog & Apter mag writers. 

Even more of the proto-Black Metal corpse paint vibe: 

^ Why of COURSE I had this on my wall!

Proto-Black Metal meets "The Warriors" Baseball Furies. 

Original Army of Darkness-era L to R:  Superstar Billy Graham, The Creep Show (?!), The Lok, Kevin Sullivan and Nancy "Fallen Angel" Sullivan.

Mixed emotions from the Army foreshadowing a controversial angle to come...

and now for something far more interesting than the Presidential debates...

                            

Perfect for yer punk/metal flyers or album covers. Jus' let 'em know you saw here it first. 

High weirdness by PhotoShop. 

Holding power over "Maniac" Mark Lewin aka: The Purple Haze. 

As King Missle would say - "this is it, this is mystical shit". 

Possibly later-Army of Darkness era with the pink/purple & black. 

Florida Beach...Rituaaaaaaaaallll! 

Invoking occult powers while modeling the latest in summer wear

Lok and Luna - the Daughters of Darkness who were in the later era-of the Army of Darkness. They sang back up on Nasty Savage's "XXX" (from Indulgence). Luna was the daughter of ring legend Paul "Butcher" Vachon and niece of Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon. 

Bone necklace sportin' Sullivan with a very normal looking Jake "The Snake". 

Sullivan doing a "Blackout"-era Scorpions gimmick alongside his short lived Florida protege, Kharma aka: Cousin Luke of mid-80's WWF. 

Addendum:  Confederacy of Scum rockers, The Tunnel Rats wrote a tribute to Sullivan called "Prince of Darkness". In the wake of the Nancy Benoit-Chris Benoit & children murder-suicide there was a load of Internet conspiracies naming Sullivan as the murder due to his earlier occult-satanic schtik. In 2010, Columbus noise-rockers, Unholy Two released a record called $$kum of the Earth with a song called "Sullivan Killed Benoit".  Here's some info on his current status.

Finally, here's a great WCW promo from 1996 that continues the mystical-occult vibe with the ever reliable King Curtis (aka: King Curtis Iaukea) at his side.

UPDATE 1/3/2013: The Return....

Playboy Buddy Rose and Portland Punk

"Matt Bourne - when I get done with you - you're gonna be so down under they're gonna have to air  mail in light." - "Playboy" Buddy Rose. 

Above image from Punk Business Manager (whadda weird blog name but if Barry Darsow can be a Russian, a member of Demolition and the Repo Man, why not?). This is a 7" single from Portland punkers The Cleavers (not sure if they're name after Beaver & Wally's family or the actual kitchen instrument/horror movie prop). The above link delves into a lot of Portland punk history and a bit about this 7"'s b-side - "Commie Symp". Former Cleavers member Jeff Warner said their overtly-right wing attitude was exaggerated for reaction (hmm....like an angle?) and "was done 100% to irritate the humorlessly earnest knee-jerk leftists of the early punk scene... 'We were in actuality no more right wing than we were the than we were the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but it was a lot more fun to go against the grain than join the chorus."

I first heard of Buddy Rose when he was in the AWA which was first broadcast early Saturday AM on S.F.'s KTZO TV-20 under the banner "All Star Wrestling" and about a year later in Pro Wrestling Illustrated where he was in Pro Wrestling Illustrated complaining the fans in his then-current territory in Florida who " are all a bunch of geriatrics who eat cube steak!" At the time I had no idea what a geriatric or cube steak was but either way I was sold on Buddy Rose's versatile ways of insulting the fans. I thought "wow, this guy seems like a first-class jerk but he sure is funny!" 

I saw Playboy Buddy Rose in Oakland when he ballooned up to over 350 lbs (though he insisted on being billed at 217! He was known for doing behind the back pushups.and sit up aerobics in...Afrikaans?!?). However this didn't deter his ability in the ring - he would often refer to his He was part of a mostly solid card at the legendary (a term I DON'T use lightly) Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium. That night, Rose with his tag partner "Pretty Boy" Doug Summers, special 3-man tag partner Alexis Smirnoff (a bog standard Russian gimmick) vs. The Midnight Rockers (Marty Jannetty and Shawn Michaels) and Curt Hennig.  The Rose/Summers/Smirnoff team was managed by "Sensational" Sherri Martel on this very card. Wrestle-nerd note: they don't include the dark match or untelevised match between Brad Rhenginas and the Russian Boris Zhukov. It was in this match my friend Steve & I threw ice at Zhukov but also manage to hit Rhiengians. It was a dull match  and we preferred our Russians to sing the national anthem or have crazy American defectors as their friends. 

What were you expecting, the John Cena & Baptista? 

True to his name, The Playboy came out to the ring with women dressed as Playboy Bunnies (and his "Lefties are Better Lovers" tee). There's a great obit on Rose over at Can't Stop the Bleeding which has the first comment by "Leaping" Lanny "The Genius" Poffo (yeah, that's right in wrestling you can have more than 1 gimmick). It also has a great video from the early 80's Portland wrestling which is one of my favorite "read about it in the 80s but never saw it 'til YouTube" territories. Finally, here's the lo-down of all various places he wrestled and held belts in, an impressive list for sure. 

Random Image Goodness

                      Don't say "holy shit" 'cause Abdullah's gonna stab some guy's face off with a fork.

Freddie Blassie is a strummin'.

"Heavy Metal" Van Hammer (surprisingly not Jamie St. James from Black N' Blue).

Hey, Jimmy Hart that background looks familiar, 
you sure you weren't inspired by Death Metallers Possessed? 

with the Original Sheik on drums (and Sabu on air drums?)


Sting(s) together on bass. What do they have in common? They're both horrible on the mic. 

Raven Wreck Ramones

Sabu supports Brody's Militia. 

No idea who this band is but looks like that's George "The Animal" Steele on the cover. 

Who knew the bassist from the Doobie Bros had a (yacht) rock & wrestling connection? On a similar but different note, Alice Cooper was in Jake The Snake Roberts corner during Wrestlemania III. 

Hüsker Dü - with Bob Mould on the right in AWA shirt. 

Lemmy, cheesy fashion plate and Chris Jericho.

"Sickening Horror of Blood Matches" should be a Death Metal song. 

Kevin Sullivan's 1990's not quite as good as the his 80's face paint like this...

Why is not this on YouTube? It actually exists! (See January 1984)

Iron-on, self-proclaimed titles = eternal greatness!

Barry Horowitz is an "undisputed winner".

High Weirdness From Memphis:

Not so good character Ta-Gar from Memphis' USWA territory uses the intro to Ozzy's "Journey to the Center of Eternity" mixed with weird bluescreen effects and volcanic imagery.

                                  

   

 Next up is the crazy Southern Heavyweight champ Eric Embury fresh off his run in Texas' World Class (which merged with some of the Memphis territory in the USWA circa: the early 90s). Here Embry promos in near Death Metal style with "graves dug up...bodies dismembered" and then shows a clip from the classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This is turn promotes the Leatherface angle.

      

This Leatherface was a part of the short-lived tag-team with Ta-Gar (who was only in the territory for a few weeks). Ta-Gar, Leatherface and Embry also had Tojo Yamamoto (who was a legendary heel in Memphis), Judge Dredd (!?). Say what you will about "fixed", "fake" and "scripted" but a guy with a chainsaw running loose in a closed-in TV studio is doesn't have a happy ending. Hell, I should know I saw Stan "The Lariat" Hansen whup a bullrope only feet a away from my head at the Henry J. Kaiser in Oakland (June 1986). The dude was big & way scary and you DON'T fuck around with someone who was once tag champs with Bruiser Brody.

Getting back to the rock connection with all of this - we find Leatherface's FMW aka: Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (Japan) federation theme which sounds very mid-period Megadeth to me - very riffy & heavy Oops - just discovered this is done by Bay Area metallers, Laaz Rockit.I wasn't much into them but this song's defo. one of their best. However, this appears to be cover with minimal lyrics with only the chorus in English. 

Anyway, I DO agree with one of the commentators the Ta-Gar clip. The worst of USWA angle or character is 1000x better than the some of the best stuff McMahon's WWE has come up with. Yeah, John Cena can wrestle but ideally, his character should have less heat than the Mulkey Brothers.

Lighting Beat-Man will suicida plancha your fake-garage rock ass!

I recently finished reading Eric Davidson (vocalist of the excellent garage-punkers, New Bomb Turks) great book We Never Learn - The Gunk Punk Undergut, 1988-2001  While the book is quite thorough with both the underground and overground of late 80's/1990's garage rock/lo-fi rock/whatever you call it, it's missing the wild and crazy lucha libre/Z-movie inspired Swiss weirdo, Lightning Beat-Man. Admittedly I've not heard a ton of LBM but I did read about him a bit in Maximum Rock n' Roll. He also has the right aesthetic for this here blog, if you wheel.* Here's a dirty 'lil number with some hazy stop motion lucha action. Think of it like a squared circle rudimentary rock version of a Ray Harryhausen film. Lyrically, it comes across like an even more stripped down & even more ridiculous version of the Dwarves but this ain't exactly a post-modern essay on fucking Radiohead!

 Now here's Lighting Beat-Man interviewing his inspiration, the Wild Man of West Virginia, the late, great Hasil Adkins.

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Here's what some of his records look like. Gotta love the slogan "The No Hit Wonder"

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Loads more info here: http://www.voodoorhythm.com/LBM.html

* Say just like "The American Dream". ** A plancha (suicida) looks like this.