Wrestling / Danhausen

Very Nice, Very Evil.

Donovan Danhausen, or simply Danhausen (born August 17, 1990), is a professional wrestler and internet personality from Detroit, Michigan. Initially trained by Truth Martini and Jimmy Jacobs, Danhausen began receiving buzz on the indie circuit with Black Label Pro in 2013, where he dropped his first name, and then began acting a bit... strange. Whoever Donovan was before, Danhausen has taken his place. Somewhere between a vampire or a classic horror lackey that broke containment; he is a wrestler of contrasts: He professes to be very evil, and yet is very nice. He collects teeth and threatens to curse his foes, but only ever to the true bad guys. He wants to rule the world, but is also a major stickler against swearing in all its forms. He wears corpse paint, and also dances to "Tequila". Truly, Danhausen is a unique talent. When not actually wrestling, Danhausen runs his own Youtube account, which generally consists of "interviews" (in which he mostly confuses or annoys) of wrestlers backstage at events in which Danhausen appears at, and all the misadventures he often ends up in over the course of his time there, usually ending with him getting kicked out or shooed away, or one of his unusual neuroses being used against him.

Really, The best way to describe him is, as the man once put it "Conan O'Brien, if he were possessed by a demon."

Danhausen's big break was when he joined Ring of Honor in 2019, where he attempted to gain a contract with the company with mixed success, starting with a series of attempts to gain the Television title, and then finally obtaining one at Final Battle 2020. His other big break came in 2022, where a match between Orange Cassidy and Adam Cole was suddenly interrupted quite early on by none other than Danhausen, hiding underneath the ring! He was revealed to have been signed to "A&W", as Danhausen referred to it, shortly after.

Danhausen is a one time BLP tag team champion with Ethan Page, a one time FIP Florida Heritage Champion, and a one time MWA Michigan Champion. While he was ultimately unsuccessful in his pursuit of the ROH TV title, the buildup and eventual match was quite an event in and of itself.

Love Those Tropehausens

• Ambiguously Human: Or at least, he certainly thinks he's beyond human.
• Attack the Mouth: His signature move: Pouring a jar of teeth into his opponent's mouth and hitting them. Since mouths already have teeth, pouring more teeth into them doesn't break the rules banning the use of foreign objects.
• Berserk Button: He doesn't go berserk, but he does not like it when others are swearing within earshot of him. He explains that swearing will risk getting him and whatever show he's on cancelled, which hampers his plan to become more famous.
  "If you swear, Danhausen gets taken off the air. So Danhausen says no swearing because then we get taken off the television (or internet), and then Danhausen cannot be famous. It's quite, quite simple, really."
• Blatant Lies: Is billed as claiming to stand 6'7" and weigh "over" 300 lbs, while being of average height and fairly scrawny.
• Came Back Wrong: Danhausen's first characterization as "Danhausen A.D." was that he was a murdered Donovan who came back to life, albeit as a violent and sadistic Heel.
• Comically Missing the Point: Much of his schtick revolves around his inability to understand basic concepts. When fans suggested he join AEW, for example, he posted a picture of a filled-out job application to A&W, an American fast-food chain.
• Creepy Good: Pro wrestling's current title holder for it, being a "very nice" yet wrestler who is nonetheless quite strange in his mannerisms.
• Curse: If Danhausen poses and points at someone, they're meant to be "cursed". When performed in the midst of a match, the recipient will usually be guaranteed a loss.
• Denser and Wackier: Let's just say that the Danhausen we know today is a far cry from the original "Danhausen A.D." character.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Before his proper AEW debut, Danhausen had already been a staple of many of the AEW wrestler vlogs and was also known for his own social media interactions with people signed to the promotion. In-particular, his unusual Twitter feud with the Gunn Club (dubbing them the "Ass Boys", to Billy Gunn’s approval and his sons' annoyance) did wonders to improve the group’s reputation among fans. The only reason his debut was still a surprise in spite of this is that since it took place in Cincinnatti, Ohio, fans were largely expecting Johnny Gargano to make a hometown debut instead.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Donovan Danhausen, before he was Danhausen, was much larger and bulkier, as well as preferring trunks to the tights he wears now.
  • The first version of the Danhausen gimmick "Danhausen A.D" was actually a relatively no nonsense heel, who was implied to be Donovan having been murdered and then come back to life. Danhausen once joked on twitter that he was "Too Evil".
• Finishing Move: "Go To Sleephausen", the iconic fireman's carry knee strike, so iconic that even got CM Punk's blessing!
• Harmless Villain: Much of his "villainy" is comically inept at best, though he insists he is, in fact, very evil.
• Horror Comedy: His style is heavily in-debt to this genre, contrasting his attempts at horror with how out of place he is in wrestling as a whole.
• Looks Like Cesare: Given Danhausen's inspirations, it was more than likely intentional. There's also a bit of Pazuzu and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown in there, too.
• Malaproper: His accent is only compounded by the fact that he often either mispronounces certain wrestlers names or refers to them by some bizarre recreation of their nicknames.
• Odd Friendship: With Hook; AEW took advantage of this pairing with the Portmanteau, "HOOKHausen".
• Parts Unknown: Billed from "someplace far away."
• Shout-Out: His "Tequila" routine is a direct reference to Pee-Wee Herman.
  • The first version of his face paint was directly inspired by the album art for Jane Doe.
  • His YouTube channel is titled "Love That Danhausen".
  • For Halloween of 2023, he did a series of promos that were a direct homage to the Silver Shamrock commercials in Halloween III: Season of the Witch as a countdown to his return from injury.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: The Gunn Club, whom he has taken to calling "The Ass Boys" since they're the sons of "Mr. Bill Ass" (Billy Gunn, who wrestled in the WWF under the ring name of "Mr. Ass" from 1999 to 2000).
• Slasher Smile: If there's a PG-rated version of this, he unquestionably has it.
• Third-Person Person: Danhausen frequently speaks like this.
• Tweener: He's both Very Nice and Very Evil.
• Two Decades Behind: His official website looks like it was made in 1999, complete with a number of visitors counter that is permanently set at 666.
• Unknown Rival: His numerous failed attempts to curse Hook infuriated him to no end, even though Hook barely acknowledged his existence. Averted after becoming tag team partners in a match against Tony Nese and "Smart" Mark Sterling at AEW Double or Nothing 2022.
• Verbal Tic: Danhausen has a particular habit of adding "-hausen" to the end of random wordshausen.
• What the Hell Is That Accent?: Somewhere between the Crypt Keeper and Mark Hamill's Joker, lies Danhausen's exact voice. His diction on the other hand is quite bizarre.

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