RIP Kevin Sullivan

[Dyno]

Sad times

[Duke Mongoose]

It's unfortunate.

As a person who has grown up and lived my entire life in the Northeast United States, there was always something funny to me about the Florida stuff when he was the "Prince of Darkness" with that super thick Massachusetts accent.

[Thumper Moore III]

Growing up in Florida, one of my earliest wrestling memories was Sullivan scaring the heck out of me doing his satanist gimmick along with the incredibly named Purple Haze. It was a gimmick that did tremendously in FCW in what was still, at the time, the southern border of the Deep South— it got people talking, got news based on the controversy of the gimmick during the “Satanic Panic” of the early 80’s, and put butts in seats.

It seems like whenever anything happened in southern wrestling in the 70’s through the 90’s, Sullivan either was involved with it, booked it, contributed to the idea, or was one degree removed from it. He was instrumental in getting the cruiserweights on WCW television. I believe he made the decision to air an AJPW match in 1992(?) that introduced Liger and Benoit to US audiences and made me realize that there were plenty of styles outside of WWF and Southern Rasslin’ (but my memory may be off— I just remember thinking “Who is this Ben Wa guy?”). He also infamously booked his own divorce, having Nancy (Woman) betray him in storyline and put her with Benoit, who she started having actual feelings for, leading to her divorcing Sullivan, and you all know the rest of that story.

Imagine a world where that storyline doesn’t happen, Benoit and Nancy never get together, and Benoit ends up being a tragic figure leading to a discussion about depression and mental health, rather than a monster who led to a discussion about head injuries. But I digress.

Ultimately, Sullivan built up the creepy, spooky side of wrestling, had some hits and some misses, and his influence is still felt today.