Brooklyn Brawler

Photo credit: World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.

Real name: Steve Lombardi
Date of birth: 1961
From: Bronx, NY

Biography

– First and only major angle came in 1989, after The Red Rooster (Terry Taylor) turned face and left manager Bobby Heenan’s stable. Heenan claimed he could make anyone a star and turned Lombardi into The Brooklyn Brawler. Neither Rooster nor Brawler got significantly over as a result of the feud. Taylor left the WWF in early 1990, and Brawler went back to jobbing.
– In 1992, worked under a mask as Kim Chee, serving as Kamala’s “trainer,” along with manager Harvey Whippleman briefly competed at house shows in late 1993 and early 1994 as the face-turned Doink the Clown, before Gary Fall took over the role full-time. was given the baseball player gimmick Abe “Knuckleball” Schwartz, also known as MVP, in 1994. However, the Major League Baseball strike screwed up the gimmick and so Schwartz would sit in the stands holding a sign that said “On Strike.”
– On March 4, 1998, Brawler defeated Bobby Clancy in La Salle, Ontario, Canada to win the vacated BCW Unified Television Title.
– On June 20, 1998, Brawler defeated two-time NWA Michigan Heavyweight Champion Gene Austin in Tecumseh, MI to win the belt.
– Brawler held the belt until December 27, 1998, when he lost it to Skull Ganz in Brownstone, MI. On July 26, 1998, at the WWF Fully Loaded PPV in Fresno, CA, Vince McMahon announced that if The Undertaker did not appear for his match where he would team with Steve Austin against Kane and Mankind, The Brawler would be his replacement. Undertaker did appear and UT and Austin won the tag titles that night.
– On the July 4, 2000 edition of “Smackdown,” The Brawler teamed with Kaientai (TAKA Michinoku and Shoichi Funaki) in a handicap match against Triple H. After Triple H beat both Kaientai members, he was about to Pedigree Brawler when Chris Jericho interfered, faceplanted and Lionsaulted Triple H, and Brawler pinned Triple H.
– Lombardi was in Eugene’s corner as the Doink the Clown at Vengeance ’06.
– In May 2016, WWE released the Brawler.