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Looking at the best matches of…Big Daddy V!

For my next column I was going to write some sort of ‘best matches’ piece on Chris Benoit. However, while looking around the ‘net this week I noticed that there is already a lot of this sort of column up, plus I think that actually compiling a list of great Benoit matches (even after last June’s tragic events) is to easy, as long as you are able to differentiate Benoit the worker from Benoit the person on those fateful days.

That being said I decided to go for something a bit different, and certainly more difficult to write from a workrate perspective; I decided to write a ‘best matches of Big Daddy V’ column!

For this column I didn’t want to do something a bit different to the standard top ten matches affairs that normally pop up when looking at the different subjects. In this case, I am looking to argue that Big Daddy V aka Mabel aka Viscera, is a valuable role player in the WWE who performs and has performed throughout the years in exactly the way required of him.

Big Daddy V certainly does not have a ***** match studded resume to his name in the same way as a Benoit or an Angle, but then when looking at him, and his role on the card, then it hardly seems expected of him.

Only once, comparatively early on in his WWE career (as Mabel), was he ever pushed as a legitimate Pay Per View main eventer, and then the standards he was working to were not comparable to most current headliners. From late 1994 through most of 1995 Vince McMahon was trying to push WWF Champion Kevin ‘Diesel’ Nash as his next super babyface Hulk Hogan character.

To this end he was to be fed the Hogan-esque stream of monster heels in order to provide a constant stream of different challengers while making Nash more over at the same time by his decisive victories over them. Mabel was one of these victims, and while a Shawn Michaels rematch from Wrestlemania XI would have provided a better match, Diesel’s decisive victory over the monstrous big man did its job in putting the champion over in a fashion similar to Hogan-Bundy from Wrestlemania II.

From then on, Mabel was mostly used in much the same way that he is now, as a large stepping stone for a prospective hot baby face to go over on his way into the upper card. Newer fans surprised at the quality of the Undertaker - Big Daddy V matches on Smackdown earlier this year should watch their casket match from In Your House V which was also seen as a surprisingly good little match for its time.

Mabel’s final appearance in this initial WWF run also highlighted another major recurring role of his in the federation; that of the immovable object in the Royal Rumble match, one that he has also performed annually since his current stint commenced in 2005.

In this position, Mabel/Viscera/Big Daddy V typically makes his big entrance part way through the match, eliminates a number of lower card workers before either being eliminated by a number of other wrestlers in a show of team work (thus getting over his ‘monster’ aura), or otherwise being chucked out by the eventual winner or strong contender, in an impressive show of strength.

This is a role in which he has excelled and never fails to get a cheer from the crowd.

Following the 96 Rumble, Mabel went on a lengthy spell of absence from the WWF, notably returning only for one night on the post King of the Ring 1998 RAW to put Ken Shamrock over.

Again this is an example of the much larger wrestler with some name value and recognition being brought in to make the current flavour of the month look better; at the time Shamrock was being put over most of the midcard, having beaten The Rock and Jeff Jarrett to actually win the King of the Ring, and then beating HHH and Owen Hart in the same match two weeks later, quite a list of luminaries for Mabel to be on.

The next time we would see Mabel was at the 1999 Royal Rumble - when he would begin to be repackaged as Ministry member Viscera. This gimmick is currently the most long lived in the big man’s career, and saw him operate more often than not in a tag team with Mideon.

During this period look out for Viscera in a decent (perhaps the only good) match at the UK No Mercy 1999 PPV, tagging with the Acolytes against Edge, Christian and Gangrel. Towards the end of ‘99, he was again used as the monster barrier to the upper card, competing in what was basically a super heavyweight high spot fest with WWF Champ The Big Show on the December 6th RAW, and having good ‘proving ground’ matches with Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle.

 

After a dominating turn in the Hardcore Battle Royal at Wrestlemania XVI, Viscera was released by the WWF at the end of April 2000. Apart from having a nothing (he literally did not wrestle a single match) run in TNA in 2003, he did very little until being rehired by the WWE on a pay per appearance deal in late 2004.

After first beating down and then being destroyed by the Undertaker in a handicap match along with Gangrel on Smackdown in September, Viscera made sporadic appearances in his former role. He lost to Shelton Benjamin, Chris Benoit and Batista in a string of exciting matches in early 2005, all of which accomplished their aims of portraying Viscera as a monster while eventually putting over his opponents in a strong manner.

His first PPV appearance in years resulted in a loads better than expected match with Kane at the Backlash event. This would also herald a bizarre change in gimmick for the big man, as he became the ‘World’s Largest Love Machine’, embarking on a long ‘romance’ with Lillian Garcia, while wearing a tent-like pair of silk pyjamas.

Although Viscera again had a good Rumble showing in the 2006 edition, and another losing effort to Shelton Benjamin at New Year’s Revolution of the same year, this character stint was more notable for the loser tag teams that he formed with men like Charlie Haas and Val Venis. After the usual Rumble effort in 2007 and a decent showing in a gauntlet match with Bobby Lashley, it seemed as though Big Vis was stuck in a rut and going nowhere fast.

This was all about to change though…

The debut of the Big Daddy V character in July of 2007 seemed like a retro throwback derived directly from Abdullah the Butcher.

Pushed as a true monster heel, V was finally allowed to beat (destroy) a big name wrestler in the Boogeyman, and was easily most dominant force in ECW throughout the latter half of last year. In the Big Daddy V role, Nelson Frasier’s character has essentially still been used as the enhancement worker, but his monstrous aura has been amped up to the max with his quite frankly gruesome new image.

This combined with the relative low value to the WWE of most of the workers on the ECW roster has led to V plowing through most of the talent and remaining in top contention for the ECW title throughout his tenure on the extreme brand. While his match for the title at No Mercy against CM Punk was admittedly short and disappointing, V would redeem himself with strong showings at the Survivor Series, Armageddon, Royal Rumble and No Way Out PPVs. He would also have an entertaining mini feud as part of a tag team with Mark Henry against the Undertaker and Kane on Smackdown.

Recently Big Daddy V has been sidelined with pneumonia and rumoured weight issues, but following his draft to Smackdown last week looks set to make an impact on the blue brand later this year.

As mentioned earlier, the artist now known as Big Daddy V has had a lengthy and varied career with the WWE. He has excelled in the role that WWE has consistently used him in, and while this role does not include a great run of workrate orientated matches, it should still be noted that Big Daddy V is very good at playing the character he has been asked to play.

In my eyes, that makes him a success in today’s WWE, and he should go on to have a great 2008!

James Mustoe
james@wwepreview.com

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