Dungeon of Doom

The Dungeon of Doom was the name of a professional wrestling stable in World Championship Wrestling that existed from 1995 to 1997.

History
The Dungeon of Doom was a stable of wrestlers born from Kevin Sullivan's hatred of Hulk Hogan and was dedicated to ridding WCW of Hulkamania. The stable was a direct continuation of Sullivan's previous stable The 3 Faces of Fear stable that had a similar goal.

The origin
After Kevin Sullivan defeated The Man with No Name at Slamboree 1995 Sullivan started to hear a voice calling for him, urging him to come and find him. After Sullivan searched high and low he came to a cave in “Parts Unknown” where he found a mysterious figure covered in dust and cobwebs. Sullivan immediately threw himself down in front of The Master who proceeded to tell Kevin Sullivan that from now on he was "The Taskmaster" of the Dungeon of Doom and that the task was to destroy Hulkamania.

The group initially consisted of a group of people with rather bizarre and “horrifying” gimmicks such as The Shark (who had teamed with Sullivan before as "The Avalanche"), Kamala “The Ugandan Giant”, Zodiac (who had also teamed with Sullivan before as "The Butcher"), Meng, and Vader who also sought to destroy Hulkamania and began his overly hyped “Road Kill Tour” which consisted of a series of squash matches that would lead to his destruction of Hogan.

Fighting Hulkamania
The group was quickly joined by a young man known then as The Giant who claimed to be the son of André the Giant out for revenge on Hogan for defeating his father (kayfabe, as Andre the Giant only had one child, a daughter).

The feud between the Dungeon of Doom and Hulk Hogan and his friends led to a WarGames match at the 1995 Fall Brawl where Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Lex Luger and Sting took on Kamala, Zodiac, The Shark, and Meng inside the double ring cage. As a result of winning the match Hulk Hogan was given 5 minutes alone in the cage with Kevin Sullivan, but once the 5 minutes began the Giant made his way to ringside, tore the cage open and attacked Hogan laying the champion out. Shortly after the PPV Kamala left WCW and was never associated with the Dungeon after that.

After the brutal attack on Hogan at Fall Brawl a world title match was signed between the two and the plans were set for their infamous clash at the 1995 Halloween Havoc. On this night Hulk Hogan and his “Mortal Enemy” the giant decided that before they got in the ring and wrestled they would face off in a Sumo Monster truck competition on the roof of the Joe Louis Arena. Hogan won the Sumo match and then the two started fighting on the roof. The fight go so out of control that the Giant fell off the roof, supposedly down into the river. Hogan was distraught over apparently killing the Giant, but when it was time for the main event the Giant just strolled down the aisle with Kevin Sullivan behind him, no explanation given as to how he could still be alive. Hogan and the Giant proceeded to have a match, a match with the Giant won by disqualification when Hulk Hogan’s manager Jimmy Hart hit the referee with his megaphone. The next night Jimmy Hart revealed that he put a clause in the contract that stated that the championship could change hands on a disqualification, thus making the Giant the new champion (in his second professional match ever) and Hart the manager of the Dungeon of Doom.

Due to the unconventional nature of the Giant’s title victory the World Title was vacated and a new champion to be crowned in a Three Ring, 60 man battle royal at an event called World War III. The Hulk Hogan / Dungeon of Doom feud was the focus of the Battle Royal but it would be Randy Savage who won the title. The feud between Hulk Hogan and the Dungeon of Doom simmered along from World War 3 until SuperBrawl VI during this time period the Dungeon had been joined by Loch Ness, the Yeti, Hugh Morrus, Konnan, Big Bubba Rogers, One Man Gang. At SuperBrawl VI Hulk Hogan defeated the Giant inside a Steel cage ending their feud.

At some point during the spring of 1996 Hulk Hogan revealed that the man known as “the Zodiac” was actually a spy sent to join the group by Hulk Hogan, his old friend had been spying for Hulk all this time. The revelation transformed the Zodiac into the Booty Man, an ally of Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage as they faced the Alliance to End Hulkamania (which consisted of several Dungeon members as well as Ric Flair and Arn Anderson. At this point the “Alliance” became the focal point while the Dungeon of Doom itself became less prominent.

Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage faced off against the Alliance to End Hulkamania at Uncensored in 1996 inside the Tower of Doom Steel Cage. The two overcame the 8 on 2 odds and won, effectively ending the short lived alliance. After the loss the Dungeon members returned to the group and started to feud with other people than Hulk Hogan and his friends. The Shark shed his gimmick to become John Tenta (his real name) and feuded with the Dungeon, especially “Big” Bubba.

The Dungeon slowly fades
After falling to eliminate Hulk Hogan once again the Dungeon was soon pushed out of the spotlight in favor of the New World Order. By this point, its membership consisted of Sullivan, Meng, The Barbarian, Big Bubba, Konnan, and Hugh Morrus, with Jimmy Hart managing. The main focus of the Dungeon became Sullivan's long feud with Chris Benoit and Woman. Meng and The Barbarian, tagging as Faces of Fear feuded with The Outsiders over the Tag Team Titles but failed to win them. The Dungeon of Doom continued to be heels, although when wrestling the nWo, they became de facto babyfaces.

When the nWo began to take off the Giant, Konnan and “Big” Bubba all joined the faction, while the One Man Gang and Maxx Muscle left WCW all together. The Dungeon quietly disbanded after Sullivan lost a retirement match to Benoit at Bash at the Beach in 1997.

Some of the former Dungeon members (Hugh Morrus, Meng and the Barbarian) joined Jimmy Hart’s short lived First Family in 1999.

Members

 * The Master of the Dungeon of Doom
 * Former 3 Faces of Fear members
 * "The Taskmaster" Kevin Sullivan
 * The Man With No Name/Zodiac
 * The Shark
 * Kamala “The Ugandan Giant”
 * One Man Gang
 * Big Van Vader
 * The Faces of Fear
 * The Barbarian
 * Meng
 * The Giant
 * Lex Luger
 * Braun The Leprechaun
 * Maxx Muscle
 * Loch Ness
 * The Yeti
 * Big Bubba Rogers
 * Konnan
 * "The Man of Question" Hugh Morrus

In wrestling

 * Managers and valets
 * "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart (manager)
 * Jacqueline (valet)

Championships and accomplishments

 * World Championship Wrestling
 * WCW World Heavyweight Championship (2 times) – The Giant
 * WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (2 times) – One Man Gang (1 time), Konnan (1 time)
 * WCW World Television Championship (2 times) – Lex Luger


 * Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
 * Worst Feud of the Year (1995) vs. Hulk Hogan