Kevin Francis Sullivan (October 26, 1949-August 9, 2024), was an American professional wrestler and booker. He is perhaps best known for his feuds with the "American Dream" Dusty Rhodes and Mike Graham in the NWA's Championship Wrestling From Florida (CWF) and against Hulk Hogan and the Four Horsemen (specifically Chris Benoit) in World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
Professional wrestling career[]
Early career[]
Sullivan wrestled as Johnny West in NWA Gulf Coast in the early '70's, capturing the NWA Gulf Coast Tag Team Championship with Ken Lucas, defeating Jack Morrell & Eddie Sullivan on March 11, 1971. Next, he went to Championship Wrestling from Florida in 1972 and captured the tag team championship with Mike Graham. He took three years off from the NWA to join the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) as a mid-card face (from 1974–1977). He had a (rare for the time) face versus face battle with Pete Sanchez on an MSG undercard. Sullivan also wrestled as a face for Roy Shire for the National Wrestling Alliance in their San Francisco territory. Sullivan then worked in NWA Georgia Championship Wrestling and Championship Wrestling from Florida as a face until the early 1980s. His first heel run was in Memphis where alongside Wayne Ferris and manager Jimmy Hart he battled the local faces including Jerry Lawler. He left Memphis for Georgia but once again turned heel while in the Georgia territory before he moved on to Florida to work for Eddie Graham.
Championship Wrestling From Florida[]
Known as the heel "Boston Battler", Sullivan's "devil worshiping" gimmick started during this time. In Championship Wrestling from Florida he became associated with "Maniac" Mark Lewin (Purple Haze), Bob Roop, The Lock and Luna Vachon amongst others as the Army of Darkness. Sullivan split his time with the ICW and brought the devil-worshiping 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, Joe Savoldi and Blackjack Mulligan.
Jim Crockett Promotions/World Championship Wrestling (1987–1992)[]
Sullivan formed The Varsity Club upon arrival in the NWA 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 "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 Slaughterhouse with Cactus Jack and Buzz Sawyer 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 Merlin the Wizard briefly to manage Oz. He came to Japan in 1992, and participated in FMW. And, he fought against Atsushi Onita with Ed Farhat.
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.
Extreme Championship Wrestling (1993–1994)[]
In early 1993, Sullivan and Nancy, went to Extreme Championship Wrestling, where he teamed with The Tazmaniac. The two won the Tag Team Title and feuded with The Public Enemy. Sullivan also had a bloody feud with Abdullah the Butcher. Sullivan left Woman behind and headed to World Championship Wrestling in spring 1994.
World Championship Wrestling (1994–2001)[]
He formed a tag team with his "brother" Dave Sullivan, a dyslexic character who referred to himself as "Evad" who was being picked on by The Nasty Boys (Jerry Sags and Brian Knobbs). He enlisted Cactus Jack's help and beat them 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 Sullivan, who hated Hogan, and they started feuding. Sullivan brought in Hogan's best friend, Ed Leslie, as The Butcher, to feud with him. He also brought in Avalanche and called the trio the 3 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 rejoined forces to get rid of Hulk Hogan and his friends and formed the unsuccessful Alliance To End Hulkamania.
Afterwards, Sullivan and Horseman Chris Benoit picked up where Pillman left off and started a brutal feud, which lasted for over a year, with Benoit "stealing" Woman from Sullivan. Sullivan brought in Jacquelyn to help him and also added Konnan to the Dungeon. Sullivan lost a retirement match to Benoit at Bash at the Beach on July 13, 1997.
This loss gave him more to time to concentrate on his job as booker. Sullivan stayed on as the booker or a member of the WCW booking committee and made a brief on-screen appearance with the reformed Varsity Club of 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 Sullivan and later married). Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero and Perry Saturn would quit the night after, immediately signing with the WWF. Sullivan was fired before WCW's sale in 2001.
Independent circuit[]
In 2003, Sullivan made one surprise appearance in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, as the officiator in the first Clockwork Orange House of Fun match.
In late 2003/2004, he worked for the All World Wrestling League/Big Time Wrestling.
In 2012 he started wrestling in the Pacific Northwest with his nephew Dash Venture and Ron Von Hess (half-brother to Dash and son of Kurt Von Hess). Together they won the AIWF World Six-Man Championship.
On April 28, 2012 Sullivan made a surprise appearance, initially under a mask, during the Shane Douglas vs. 2 Cold Scorpio match at Extreme Reunion in Philadelphia, PA.
On March 8, 2013 Sullivan appeared in Nitro, WV where he reunited with Dash Venture Sullivan in his corner as he faced Ron Mathis.
On July 7, 2013 Sullivan appears at Supercon in Miami as himself to sign autographs.
He appears as himself in the opening wrestling sequence of the 2013 film "Pro Wrestlers vs Zombies."
Wrestling facts[]
- Finishing and signature moves
- Devil Stomp
- Tag teams and stables
- Army Of Darkness
- The First Family
- House Of Humperdink
- The Sullivans - with Dave Sullivan
- 3 Faces of Fear
- Dungeon of Doom
- Alliance to End Hulkamania
- Varsity Club
- Managers
- Wrestlers managed
Championships and accomplishments[]
- NWA Central States Tag Team Champion (1 time) - with Ken Lucas
- Century Wrestling Alliance
- CWA Heavyweight Champion (1 time)
- NWA Florida Heavyweight Champion (1 time)
- NWA Florida Southern Heavyweight Champion (4 time)
- NWA Florida Tag Team Champion (2 time) - with Mike Graham
- ECW World Tag Team Champion (2 time) - with Tazmaniac
- NWA Georgia Junior Heavyweight Champion (2 time)
- NWA Georgia Television Champion (2 time)
- NWA Georgia Tag Team Champion (1 time) - with Tony Atlas
- NWA United States Tag Team Champion (1 time) - with Steve Williams
- NWA Mid-America Southern Tag Team Champion (1 time) - with Len Rossi
- WCW World Tag Team Champion (1 time) - with Cactus Jack
