Kevin Sullivan
#PWHS #Bio #Biography #KevinSullivan #Taskmaster #Gamesmaster #WCW #CWF #Wrestling #ProWrestling
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Kevin Sullivan was born Kevin Francis Sullivan on October 26, 1949 in Boston, Massachusetts. During his career he wrestled under his real name, Johnny West, Lucifer, Kevin Caldwell, The Taskmaster, The Wizard, The Gamesmaster and The Boston Battler.
Kevin Sullivan broke into the wrestling business after being trained by Ron Hill in 1970. It seems he started his career in Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), and it is often noted that in October 1970 he made his debut on Atlanta Television, losing to Skandor Akbar. He then lost to Kubla Khan on November 6 at the Atlanta City Auditorium.
On January 4, 1971, Kevin Sullivan debuted in Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling (GCCW). In that that match he teamed with Dick Dunn to face the Wrestling Pros (Leon Baxter and Tim Tyler). The match took place in Panama City, Florida. Sullivan was unable to use his real name in GCCW due to Eddie Sullivan being a top heel in the territory for two years. So, to avoid any association between Kevin and Eddie, Kevin became Johnny West.Subsequently, when referee Ronnie West joined the territory, he had to change his name to Ron Wright. A big thank you to Michael Norris for that information on GCCW. Along with Ken Lucas, Sullivan picked up the tag team gold on three separate occasions whilst in GCCW.
Toward the end of 1971 Sullivan headed down to Tennessee and teamed with Len Rossi for the first few months he was there. This time using his own name, Kevin Sullivan. Sullivan stayed in the territory until the beginning of November 1972. Along the way competing in tag team matches with various partners and also the occasional singles bout.
In November of 1972 Sullivan appeared in the Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) promotion. Upon arriving back in the sunshine state he used his real name. Sullivan took up singles action and appeared on the Florida television tapings. During his time in Florida he met such stars as Dick Slater and Emile Dupre.
On February 20, 1973 Kevin Sullivan teamed with Mike Graham to defeat Bobby Shane and Gorgeous George Jr. for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Florida Tag Team Championships at the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory in Tampa. They held the titles until June 2 of that year, when they dropped the belts to Reno Tuufuli and Tio Taylor.
Sullivan continued to pair up with Mike Graham. They even recaptured the tag team championships on August 1, 1973 from the team they originally dropped the gold too. That time the duo were dethroned by Dusty Rhodes and Dick Slater on October 6, just over two months after first taking possession of the titles.
From there Sullivan went into mainly singles action getting to compete with guys such as Les Thornton, Sir Oliver Humperdink, Toru Tanaka, Gary Hart and Danny Hodge throughout 1974. He then went back into tag-team action with various partners in the fall of that year.
Sullivan left CWF in late October to head up to Canada. From there he traveled around the different territories of America stopping off in areas across the nation including the Central States, World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), Southeast Championship Wrestling (SECW), and Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW). It was during his trips to the territories Sullivan invented his Satanic gimmick. He has said many times in interviews he was influenced mainly by heavy metal and rock music, which was heavily influencing society in general at the time. It has also been noted his trips to Singapore greatly inspired his character.
By the middle of 1981 Sullivan headed back to the Memphis, Tennessee area, and became part of Jimmy Hart's "The First Family" faction. Sullivan was only a short term member though, as he went back to travelling, mainly between MACW & GCW.
When Kevin arrived back in CWF during 1983, he was not just a part of a tag team, nor in a middle of the card feud, rather he was a part of a serious angle. When he put together the first of many factions he was the integral member of, the Army of Darkness. The faction had members that included, at various times, Billy Graham, Buzz Sawyer, The Dream, Linda Vachon, Bob Roop, Jake Roberts, the Fallen Angel, Rick Rude, the Zambuie Express, Mark Lewin, and several other wrestlers.
Two of the more memorable feuds Kevin Sullivan had were with Dusty Rhodes and Blackjack Mulligan (father of Barry & Kendell Windham, father-in-law of Mike Rotunda, and grandfather of Bray Wyatt and Bo Dallas) in CWF during 1984. The bouts are remembered as being exceptionally bloody and brutal, including a lot of violent action and even a Lights Out Match, basically an unsanctioned bout.
Sullivan remained relevant for the next couple of years going between Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and he also made a stop in World Class Championship Wrestling in 1986. It was in late 1987 when Sullivan got together with Rick Steiner and Mike Rotunda in MACW. Sullivan named the group, the Varsity Club.
Their first major feud as a faction was with Jimmy Garvin over Jimmy's girlfriend, Precious, in early 1988. The group began to bully Rick Steiner until he left the group. The Club stayed together until September 12, 1989 at the eighth Clash of the Champions. "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and Dan Spivey were also members of the pack.
Upon the splitting of the Varsity Club Sullivan formed a more Satanic faction with Cactus Jack and Buzz Sawyer, as the original Slaughterhouse. After some brief time off of television, Sullivan returned to form another faction, that time he simply acted as a manager of the Angel of Death, Black Blood (Billy Jack Haynes) and the One Man Gang. The alliance was rather short lived in the first part of 1991 though.
In another managerial role, Sullivan donned a mask as Merlin the Wizard, often referred to as just the Wizard to manage Oz. Then in 1992 he traveled over to Japan for the Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) promotion. There he had matches with the original Sheik and the owner of the company Atsushi Onita.
Sullivan spent time in Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) from late 1992 to mid 1994, where he managed Nightstalker, and had a main storyline with Brian Lee. During 1993 he traveled to Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW, later Extreme Championship Wrestling). Whilst in ECW Sullivan teamed with the Tazmaniac to capture the tag team championships on two separate occasions. Sullivan parted ways with both SMW and ECW during 1994.
He left the companies to go back to WCW (the former MACW), he took part in some meaningless feuds on his arrival featuring a character playing his dyslexic brother. Eventually Sullivan went back to being the head of a group, as he brought in the Butcher and Avalanche as the 3 Faces of Fear. The group lasted to early 1995 after failing to end Hulk Hogan's career.
After joining forces with the Master in the fall of 1995 the two formed a stable known as the Dungeon of Doom. Over the course of the group they enlisted members such as Kamala, the Barbarian, Meng, the Yeti, Hugh Morrus, Big Bubba Rogers, Big Van Vader, Braun the Leprechaun, the Giant, Jimmy Hart, Konnan, Lex Luger (kind of), Loch Ness, Maxx Muscle, the Shark, and the Zodiac (Brutus Beefcake).
The Dungeon of Doom mainly feuded with Hulk Hogan and anyone associated with the Hulkster for the most part of their existence, leading to a memorable moment when Jimmy Hart turned on Hulk Hogan. Naturally they went on to feud with the other big faction in WCW, the Four Horsemen. That feud only lasted so long though, before Kevin Sullivan's hatred for the man in red and yellow boiled over and the two stables aligned to form the Alliance to End Hulkamania.
Of course, the new group was not able to end Hulkamania either. That led to the Four Horsemen and the Dungeon of Doom not lasting long as a super group. The fall out from the split ultimately ended up with Sullivan entering into, what is arguably, the most talked about feud of his career. The one against Chris Benoit.
The feud started out just on screen over Kevin Sullivan's real life wife, Woman (Nancy Sullivan). The storyline became very real for everyone involved though. Woman started to have an affair, in real life, with Chris Benoit, which was the nature of the on-going angle. The two battled in vicious, stiff contests for approximately an entire year before Sullivan finally lost a retirement match to Benoit at the July 13, 1997 edition of the Bash at the Beach Pay-Per-View.
Going forward Kevin Sullivan was only seen on WCW in any real capacity for a forgettable attempt at the second coming of the Varsity Club, which included Rick Steiner, Mike Rotunda, and Leia Meow as their cheerleader.
Kevin Sullivan made a brief stop in Total Non-stop Action (TNA) during 2003 as the referee for the first ever Clockwork Orange House of Fun Match. He has worked for various promotions since then all over America. Just competing in a few matches per month. He even won gold in 2012 with his nephews in the Allied Independent Wrestling Federation (AIWF).
Kevin Sullivan wasn't "just" an accomplished wrestling attraction, nor was he "just" a manager though. Throughout his career from the mid 80s he took part in helping book and/or manage promotions where worked. Most notably he was a long time member of the WCW booking committee. When he retired from competition in the company he spent his time focused on the booking side of things. In 2000 he became the head booker, but this was short lived due to politics within the company.
As noted, he still wrestles occasionally to this day on the independents. He has taken part in many shoot interviews and wrestling events since his semi-retirement, following his firing from WCW in late 2000. Kevin also catches and sells lobsters with his friend and a crew to help them in the process. In his home of the Floriday Keys he owns the largest gym in the area called, "Froggy's Fitness."
The once Satanically gimmicked performer has a holiday home on Whidbey Island where he spends some time each month. He spends much of his leisure time watching American football, diving in waters surrounding either of his houses, as well as competing in shell fish competitions. He was also a big part of the wrestling documentary "Card Subject to Change."
Kevin's in-ring career is often over looked by wrestling fans due to the over the top nature of his gimmick, and for his time as the leader of the many factions. Possibly an even greater tragedy though is that Kevin Sullivan is arguably one of the greatest minds to ever take the pencil and booking sheet, yet it's only recent years he has really started to get credit for that.
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
Biography of Kevin Sullivan.
Author: Jimmy Wheeler.
Published: July 2014.
Biography: #135.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Updated: November 10, 2019.
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
Biography of Kevin Sullivan.
Author: Jimmy Wheeler.
Published: July 2014.
Biography: #135.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Updated: November 10, 2019.