Kevin Sullivan

Kevin M. Sullivan

Kevin Francis Sullivan (October 26, 1949 – August 9, 2024) was an American professional wrestler and booker, best known for his roles in Championship Wrestling From Florida and World Championship Wrestling. Early life Sullivan was born on October 26, 1949 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the son of a police officer. He grew up in a working class Irish American neighborhood. As a youth, Sullivan parti...

Kevin Francis Sullivan (October 26, 1949 – August 9, 2024) was an American professional wrestler and booker, best known for his roles in Championship Wrestling From Florida and World Championship Wrestling. Early life Sullivan was born on October 26, 1949 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the son of a police officer. He grew up in a working class Irish American neighborhood. As a youth, Sullivan participated in amateur wrestling at the YMCA and at boys' clubs, as well as weightlifting. He was a fan of the local Big Time Wrestling professional wrestling promotion. Professional wrestling career Early career (1970–1982) Sullivan had been an amateur wrestler in the Boston area, and was not trained professionally. His first professional match was in Montreal, beating Fernand Frechette. Sullivan wrestled as "Johnny West" in the National Wrestling Alliance's Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling in the early 1970s, capturing the NWA Gulf Coast Tag Team Championship with Ken Lucas, defeating Jack Morrell and Eddie Sullivan on March 11, 1971. Next, he went to Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) in 1972 and captured the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship with Mike Graham. He then went north to join the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) as a mid-card face from 1974 to 1977. He had a (rare for the time) face versus face battle with Pete Sanchez on a Madison Square Garden undercard. Sullivan also wrestled as a face for promoter Roy Shire's Big Time Wrestling in San Francisco. Wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling, Sullivan and partner Austin Idol challenged The Fabulous Freebirds for the NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship in November 1980. During this feud was the angle where the Freebirds flattened all four of Idol's tires to prevent him and Sullivan from wrestling for the titles (though Idol only mentioned a single flat tire). Sullivan also worked in CWF as a face until the early 1980s. His first heel turn was in Georgia in late 1980, when he won the NWA National Television Championship from Steve Keirn on November 29, after Sullivan attacked Keirn during the match while Keirn was re-entering the ring. Sullivan would lose the belt to Steve O on January 16, 1981, due to outside interference by Keirn. From April to July 1981, Sullivan wrestled as a heel in the Memphis territory, where alongside Wayne Ferris (The Honky Tonk Man) and manager Jimmy Hart, he battled the local faces including Jerry Lawler, while also continuing his feud with Keirn, who also was wrestling in Memphis at the time. Sullivan returned to Georgia as a heel in November 1981, but turned face by late-March 1982, feuding with Buzz Sawyer while in the Georgia territory before returning to Florida again to wrestle for Eddie Graham. Championship Wrestling from Florida (1982–1987) Known as the heel "Boston Battler", Sullivan's "Prince of Darkness" gimmick started during this time, adopting the persona of an occultist and cult leader who would invoke the powers of dark spirits in promos and matches. The gimmick was inspired by the then-ongoing Satanic panic. In CWF he became associated with "Maniac" Mark Lewin (Purple Haze), Mike Davis, Bob Roop, The Lock and Luna Vachon and others as the Army of Darkness. His biggest rivals during this time included Dusty Rhodes, Barry Windham, and his former partner Mike Graham. Sullivan split his time with International Championship Wrestling and brought "The Prince of Darkness" gimmick there, along with Lewin and Roop. He had the Fallen Angel as his valet, who later became known as Woman. Sullivan was the top heel in ICW when the company first went national and had noted feuds with Austin Idol, Superstar Billy Graham, Bruiser Brody, Joseph Savoldi and Blackjack Mulligan. Jim Crockett Promotions / World Championship Wrestling (1987–1991) Sullivan formed the Varsity Club upon arrival in Jim Crockett Promotions with Mike Rotunda and Rick Steiner. They immediately started feuding with Jimmy Garvin because Sullivan wanted Garvin's wife Precious for himself. This feud lasted a while with Sullivan kayfabe breaking Garvin's leg at one point. Steiner left the group and was replaced by "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and Dan Spivey. They feuded with Dusty Rhodes, the Road Warriors, Rick Steiner and Eddie Gilbert. Sullivan even attacked Gilbert's wife Missy Hyatt. By late 1989, the Varsity Club was gone, and Sullivan formed the stable "Sullivan's Slaughterhouse" with Cactus Jack and Buzz Sawyer (later replaced by Bam Bam Bigelow) to feud with Rotunda. Sullivan took time off in late 1990 and returned in early 1991 as the manager of One Man Gang, Black Blood, and the Angel of Death. They cut El Gigante's hair and had a brief feud. Sullivan also was the masked Great Wizard briefly to manage Oz. Sullivan left WCW in August 1991 upon his contract expiring. Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling / W*ING (1992) In 1992, Sullivan worked in Japan, participating in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling where he wrestled against Atsushi Onita with Ed Farhat, and later moved on to compete in W*ING. Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1992–1994) Sullivan was in a feud with "Primetime" Brian Lee where after Lee's matches there would be a miniature tombstone brought to ringside. During this feud he was known as The Master and enlisted the help of The Nightstalker and the Mongolian Mauler to soften up Lee. After Lee defeated Nightstalker, he finally came face to face with The Master who was revealed to be Sullivan after he delivered a fireball to the face of Lee and was joined by Nightstalker in busting open Lee on live television. Lee would return and finally get the upper hand on Sullivan in a Singapore Spike match with Sullivan which Lee won after Nightstalker accidentally hit Sullivan with the spike. Sullivan left SMW shortly after losing a match to Ronnie Garvin by DQ in March 1994. Eastern Championship Wrestling (1993–1994) In September 1993, Sullivan – along with Woman – joined the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based promotion Eastern Championship Wrestling. He debuted at UltraClash, teaming with Abdullah The Butcher against Stan Hansen and Terry Funk in a bunkhouse match. At NWA Bloodfest the following month, Sullivan faced Abdullah in a steel cage match that ended in a double disqualification. At Terror at Tabor in November, Sullivan won a battle royal. The following day, at November to Remember, he defeated Tommy Cairo. In December 1993, Sullivan formed a tag team with The Tazmaniac. In their first match together, the duo defeated Shane Douglas and Tommy Dreamer for the ECW Tag Team Championship. They successfully defended the titles against opponents such as Badd Company and The Young Dragons before a match against The Bruise Brothers in February 1994 ended in controversial fashion, resulting in the titles being vacated. Sullivan and The Tazmaniac defeated The Bruise Brothers in a rematch the following month to regain the titles, but lost them to The Public Enemy the next day. At The Night the Line Was Crossed that month, Sullivan and The Tazmaniac lost to Pat Tanaka and The Sheik. At Ultimate Jeopardy on March 26, 1994, Sullivan teamed with The Tazmaniac, Road Warrior Hawk, and ECW Heavyweight Champion Terry Funk to face Mr. Hughes, The Public Enemy, and Shane Douglas in an Ultimate Jeopardy match with the stipulation that Sullivan and The Tazmaniac would be forced to disband if they were defeated; the match ended when Douglas pinned Funk. Sullivan continued to team with The Tazmaniac until April 1994. In May 1994, Sullivan unsuccessfully challenged Mikey Whipwreck for the ECW Television Championship. His final match for ECW was a loss to Jimmy Snuka on May 14, 1994 at When Worlds Collide; during the match, Woman left Sullivan to join forces with The Sandman. Sullivan subsequently left ECW to return to World Championship Wrestling full-time; Woman remained in ECW until February 1996. While working for WCW, Sullivan – along with Brian Pillman and Sherri Martel – made an appearance at an ECW event on November 18, 1994 as part of a settlement for a copyright infringement claim filed against WCW by ECW. Return to WCW (1994–2001) Three Faces of Fear; Dungeon of Doom (1994–1997) Sullivan made appearances with World Championship Wrestling in January and March 1994, teaming with his kayfabe brother Dave Sullivan (a dyslexic character who was being picked on by The Nasty Boys) at house shows and on WCW Pro and WCW Worldwide. In April 1994, Sullivan began appearing regularly with WCW. Sullivan enlisted Cactus Jack's help and beat The Nasty Boys for the Tag Team Title. Dave was injured and out of action for a while and Sullivan split with Cactus after losing the titles. Sullivan defeated Cactus in a Loser Leaves WCW match at Fall Brawl. Dave came back and dressed like his idol, Hulk Hogan. This infuriated Kevin, who hated Hogan, and they started feuding. Kevin brought in Hogan's best friend, Ed Leslie, as The Butcher, to help him with his feud against Hogan. He also brought in Avalanche and called the trio the Three Faces of Fear. They feuded with Hogan, Randy Savage and Sting. In early 1995, after not being able to end Hogan's career, Avalanche left the group and Sullivan turned on The Butcher. Later in 1995 Sullivan began hearing the voice of someone calling for him to come find him. Over the course of several weeks, vignettes were shot with Sullivan searching for the man, who eventually became known as The Master. Once Sullivan found The Master he was rechristened with a new gimmick, The Taskmaster. The two men immediately started putting together a new group that eventually became known as the Dungeon of Doom. In time, the group grew to include Kamala, The Barbarian, Meng, The Yeti, Hugh Morrus, Loch Ness, One Man Gang, Big Bubba Rogers, and The Giant. Sullivan also brought in his former 3 Faces of Fear stablemates, with Avalanche wrestling as The Shark and The Butcher wrestling as The Zodiac. For a very short time, Big Van Vader also was a member. Managed by Sullivan, four Dungeon of Doom members lost to The Hulkamaniacs in a WarGames match at September's Fall Brawl. As a result of Hogan's win over Zodiac, he got to spend five minutes alone with Sullivan. The feud with Hogan continued for much of the remainder of the year and saw the group add Jimmy Hart as its manager, after he turned on Hogan in October 1995 and cost him the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in a match with the Giant. The Dungeon then feuded with the Four Horsemen, and Sullivan acquired a certain disliking for Brian Pillman. Once Sullivan sent Pillman packing, the Dungeon and the Horsemen joined forces again to get rid of Hulk Hogan and his friends and formed the unsuccessful Alliance To End Hulkamania. Retirement and switch to booking duties (1997–2001) Afterward, Sullivan and Horseman Chris Benoit began a feud much like his with Pillman. It lasted for over a year, during which Benoit took Woman from him. Sullivan brought in Jacquelyn to help him and added Konnan to the Dungeon. He lost a retirement match to Benoit at Bash at the Beach on July 13, 1997. This loss gave him more time to concentrate on his job as booker. Sullivan stayed on as the booker or a member of the WCW booking committee after he put Benoit over and made a brief on-screen appearance with the reformed Varsity Club of Mike Rotunda and Rick Steiner with their cheerleader, Leia Meow. After a couple of months, he was back off television. In 2000, after the demotion of Ed Ferrara and Vince Russo (and subsequent departure of the latter), the resulting chaos led to Sullivan's promotion to head booker. This move infuriated a number of WCW wrestlers, given Sullivan's history of professional rivalries with Benoit (Benoit had an affair with Nancy Benoit and later married her). Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero and Perry Saturn would quit the night after, immediately signing with the World Wrestling Federation. Sullivan was fired before WCW's sale in 2001. Independent promot