The Black Scorpion

The Black Scorpion was a professional wrestling gimmick in World Championship Wrestling in 1990 that was played by a variety of wrestlers.

History
In August 1990, The Black Scorpion debuted in WCW (it was still under the NWA banner at this time) in vignettes taunting NWA World Heavyweight Champion Sting. He wore a hooded robe so nobody could see his face and told Sting he was after him. The wrestler playing this part was Ole Anderson. His voice was distorted enough to keep the fans wondering who it was. The announcers and parties involved attempted to imply that the Scorpion was a former friend of Sting, with the main suspects being former tag partner Jim Hellwig (a.k.a. The Ultimate Warrior), or former training and Powerteam USA partner Dave Sheldon aka The Angel of Death.

The Black Scorpion debuted in the ring against Sting for his title at Clash of the Champions XII on September 5, 1990. The wrestler playing him this time was Al Perez, who, according to Ric Flair, was supposed to remain the Black Scorpion until his unmasking -- that is, before he quit. Sting was about to unmask him when another Black Scorpion appeared on the ramp to the ring, allowing the one that wrestled to get away. The Scorpion would also incorporate amateur illusion "magic" into his taunting of Sting by doing parlor tricks with members of the audience, presumably "plants". According to one wrestling website, magician Franz Harary was the magician who did the illusions.

Sting wrestled Black Scorpion at house shows and could never unmask him because he kept getting attacked by Sid Vicious. The wrestlers he was wrestling at the house shows playing the Scorpion were either Jeff Ellis or The Angel of Death. The gimmick was cut short by an accident in training when Ole's arm was broken and his comeback plans had to be scrapped forcing a rewrite to the entire storyline; Ole would eventually become a referee.

Eventually, Sting got another match for his title at a PPV against the Black Scorpion. It was on December 16, 1990 at Starrcade that Sting defeated the Black Scorpion and unmasked him to reveal Ric Flair, a willing volunteer to finish off the whole gimmick. According to Flair, it would have been either himself or Barry Windham. Flair volunteered thinking the gimmick wouldn't hurt him, whereas it could Windham. The gimmick ended with Flair's unmasking.

Wrestlers who played The Black Scorpion

 * Ole Anderson
 * Al Perez
 * Jeff Ellis
 * Wild Bill Irwin
 * David Sheldon
 * Ric Flair
 * Stan Pain
 * Barry Windham
 * Matt "the Cowboy" Hunter
 * Jumping Joey Janela
 * Randy Colley aka Moondog Rex