Today, we mourn the loss of one of the greatest minds in professional wrestling, Kevin Sullivan. His contributions to the sport will always be remembered.  He was 74.

From Boston, Sullivan began his wrestling career in the early 70s and competed across the United States in his first ten years, though usually in the mid-card.  He broke through the main event in the early 80s in the Florida territory, where he developed a demonic cult leader character and led a stable called the Army of Darkness.  He feuded with the top babyfaces of the territory, including “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes and Barry Windham.

In 1987, Sullivan joined Jim Crockett Promotions, where he stayed three years, primarily as the leader of the Varsity Club and feuded with Jimmy Garvin, and later Rick Steiner.  He bounced around independents and entered WCW as Cactus Jack’s tag team partner and later as the leader of the Three Faces of Fear and then the Dungeon of Doom, a group obsessed with ending Hulk Hogan.  Behind the scenes, he served as one of the bookers for the promotion.  He retired in 1997 and concentrated on booking afterward, though he was fired before the end of the promotion in 2001.

In our last Notinhalloffame update of those to consider for the WWE Hall of Fame, Sullivan was ranked at #42.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to Kevin Sullivan's fans, friends, and family.

In terms of training, Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker is easily in the top twenty-five ever, but in regards to in-ring accomplishments, we realize that is a stretch to put him on here even if we were the extend this list to 2,000. 

Oh boy.

Bill DeMott was a decent wrestler and had a long run in WCW where in the promotion’s later days, he was a United States Champion and leader of his own faction.  In the WWE however he wasn’t given much of a role, at least in the ring anyway.

The first half of Kevin Sullivan’s in ring career was solid, but fairly non-descript.  He was lean and muscular and was often in the mid card or in tag teams of which ever promotion he worked.  In his mid thirties, Sullivan’s career did an about face with the advent of a devil worshiper gimmick that had never been done before.

The majority of wrestling fans who remember seeing King Curtis Iaukea would remember him as the mouthpiece for Kamala during his 1987 run and later as the figurehead leader of the unintentionally comical Dungeon of Doom in the mid 90’s.  Prior to his managing stint, Iaukea was one of the most feared wrestlers and wreaked havoc in various promotions in the 60’s and 70’s.

When the Barbarian received a WCW World Heavyweight Title shot at 1992’s Halloween Havoc Pay Per View, a lot of wrestling fans wondered aloud how a life long mid carder could be on the semi main event of a major PPV.  Looking back, Sionne Vailahi (The Barbarian) had every physical gift imaginable and the skills and if booked differently could have been the top card monster that many of his co-workers thought of him as.  As a member of Paul Jones’ Army, one half of the Powers of Pain, a Headshrinker, a member of the Dungeon of Doom and a Face of Fear, the Barbarian may not have been a main eventer, but he was a dependable heel and a valuable asset on any roster.

Tall men with exceptional girth may be a rare sight on the street but in the world of professional wrestling it is actually commonplace.  What wasn’t standard was for those wrestlers to have agility, skill and a solid workrate.  In the case of George Gray, A.K.A., the One Man Gang, all those attributes were present.

The next wrestler has to be considered the toughest wrestler on this list.  In fact, any informal poll of wrestlers conducted would likely name Haku as the man would least want to mess with in a legitamite fight (ask Jesse Barr and his glass eye about that).  Regardless of his out of ring exploits, Haku was an underrated worker who had incredible strength, speed, and an imposing look that told you he could kick your ass just by looking at him funny.  He is probably one of the rare wrestlers who may have been booked better in WCW than in the WWE, as he was always at his best when playing a vicious monster.  He had a very solid mid card career, which just might be enough to squeak in an induction. …besides you tell hill him he doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame!

His only American run as “Loch Ness” came nearly twenty years past his prime, but that prime saw him as one of the biggest draws in England and was possibly the largest worker of his day.  Giant Haystacks became an International star, though he failed to gain any real foothold in North America.   The question with one of the heaviest wrestlers in British history, is would there be a place for a man who was only truly over in Europe in the WWE Hall of Fame?  We have been shocked before.

Often when you look the large men in wrestling you assume that they got into to Professional Wrestling just because when you are that big, it “makes sense” to do that.  In the case of John Tenta, the big man was actually in wrestling all of his life.