"I have hung from the Tree of Woe..."
Kevin Francis Sullivan (born October 26, 1949) is a retired body builder turned Professional Wrestler and booker from Boston, Massachusetts best known for his work in WCW during the 1980s and 1990s. He has wrestled for the WWWF, various National Wrestling Alliance territories, WCW, ECW, W*ING, FMW, Juggalo Championship Wrestling, SMW, New Japan Pro-Wrestling and many independent promotions. He made his PPV debut in the Tower of Doom match teaming with Mike Rotunda, Ivan Koloff, Al Perez and the Russian Assassin in a losing effort against The Road Warriors, Jimmy and Ronnie Garvin and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams at NWA The Great American Bash 88. Among his in-ring achievements, he held the NWA ECW Tag Team Titles
twice with the Tazmaniac and the WCW World Tag Team Titles with Cactus Jack.
Not to be confused with the Comic book character villain Taskmaster, or the completely unrelated task-setting UK comedy series Taskmaster. Or the unrelated, but very similarly named, video game Taskmaker
Works associated with Kevin Sullivan that have pages on TV Tropes:
"These tropes have hung from the Tree of Woe and seen the lady with the Third Eye":
- Anti-Role Model: His occult practices were held up as an example of what not to do with your life in CWF Florida.
- Arch-Enemy: During his GCW and Florida days, "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes. During his WCW days, first Hulk Hogan himself and then Chris Benoit.
- Author Avatar: He was one of Championship Wrestling From Florida's bookers, and much more infamously, one of WCW's.
- Ax-Crazy: As the Master, sent mysterious threats to Brian Lee in late 1992 SMW. Made his debut at the November 8 show which was held at, of all places, the Sandlick Elementary School in Haysi, VA. He came to the ring in a hooded robe with Gregorian chants as entrance music. Right when the match was about to start, he threw a fireball at Lee and removed the robe. Sullivan pulled out a metal spike (with announcer Bob Caudle saying, "Well, he's criminally insane, anyway") and proceeded to repeatedly stab Lee with the spike, leaving him a bloody mess. Sullivan's associates, the Nightstalker (Bryan "Adam Bomb"/"Wrath" Clarke) and Malachi (Peter "The Mongolian Mauler" Flowers) joined in on the beating. Raised to Crosses The Line Twice by the fact that this show took place at an elementary school.
- Badass Longrobe: Wore one at different points in his career.
- Bald of Evil: Not by choice.
- Bash Brothers: With The Purple Haze ("Maniac" Mark Lewin), Abdullah the Butcher, the Tazmaniac (in W*ING, SMW, ECW, IWCCW) and Cactus Jack
- Beard of Evil: The effect was often secondary to his face paint but rarely ever absent.
- Big Bad: Of the Army of Darkness in the Florida territories, and of the Dungeon of Doom in mid 90s WCW.
- Blood Knight: He and his "brother" Dave were supposed to team up against Tex Slazenger and Shanghai Pierce (Dennis Knight and Mark Canterbury, aka WWE's the Godwinns on the May 14 (taped April 20), 1994 WCW Saturday Night, but it was announced that Dave had been injured. So, Sullivan went in there alone and was able to fight off both guys, sending them both out to the floor. Then The Nasty Boys showed up and attacked him. They were able to successfully double team until Cactus Jack ran out and hit Sags with a chair, knocking him off the top, sending the Nasties away.
- Brainwashing: During his Florida Championship Wrestling run he attacked Kendall Windham while the promotion's reporter, Trudy Herd, was giving him an award. During the fight Sullivan knocked Herd out and afterwards he took her into his army of darkness, turning her into Luna Vachon.
- The Cameo: Refereed the Raven-Sandman Clockwork Orange House of Fun Match at NWA TNA #35, March 5, 2003.
- Celebrity Endorsement: Listen to Caged Heat Radio or Kevin Sullivan will kick down your door, strap you down and turn your radio on full blast.
- Charlie Brown from Outta Town: Lucifer, when he was suspended for a year in Florida in 1983. It ended when Dusty, doing his own version as the Midnight Rider, defeated and unmasked him.
- Cluster Bleep-Bomb: On the March 3, (taped February 22), 1990 episode of World Championship Wrestling, Sullivan's Slaughterhouse (Sullivan and "Mad Dog" Buzz Sawyer, w/Cactus Jack) lost a Squash via DQ. After the match, Jim Ross attempted to interview them, with Sullivan telling a bizarre story about Buzz's mother being a nomad out in the desert, with a she-wolf getting involved somehow, and some of his comments were replaced with crowd reactions.
- Cult: His Army Of Darkness resembled a cult of personality more than an army.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Turned beating up jobbers into an art-form.
- Darker and Edgier
- His heel work in Florida, and has said that the Dungeon of Doom was supposed to have been darker than it was.
- Back in late 1992-early 1993 in SMW, he cut a promo against wrestling being aimed at kids. If Sullivan wasn't so hated by online fans, this would qualify as Hilarious In Hindsight since much of what Sullivan said in the promo sounds like the complaints of online fans about WWE's current "PG Era" today.
- The Dreaded: Steve Corino, leader of SCUM, may have been the most evil man professional wrestling of his time, but he defaulted to Kevin Sullivan, the most evil man in professional wrestling of all time.
- Diabolus ex Nihilo: Sullivan and his army of Darkness jumping the Ring Warriors Grand Champion Bruce Santee after his defense against Steven Corino in 2013, without explanation(not at first anyway). Turns out it was exactly because people had thought they had become obsolete!
- Dirty Coward: Often in Squash Matches during the Dungeon of Doom's run, he'd throw his victim to the floor and occupy the Easily-Distracted Referee so that whichever DOD members (e.g., the Giant, Jacqueline) he brought with him could beat up the poor guy on the floor before throwing him back into the ring. Sometimes he'd get away with this multiple times in the same match.
- Establishing Character Moment: His "Satanic" heel turn in Florida created the image that would carry him through much of his career.
- Evil Minion: Snakemaster Abudadein
- Evil Is Petty: Himself and The Giant shaving off Hulk Hogan's mustache.
- Expy/Legacy Character: The Undertaker (particularly his Ministry of Darkness run), Mick Foley, Raven, and, through Raven, CM Punk have all drawn on Sullivan. Sullivan himself took a lot of ques from "Crazy" Chris Colt.
- Facial Markings: Came up with some rather distinctive combinations in Florida and in WCW.
- Fat Bastard: For most of his career, Sullivan was noticeably paunchy.
- Feather Boa Constrictor/Reptiles Are Abhorrent: During his Florida run, he sometimes wore snakes around himself while walking to the ring.
- Finishing Move: The Tree of Woe (running knee with opponent upside down in the corner) followed by the Double Stomp on the Stomach
- He's also used a Samoan Drop and a sleeper.
- Garbage Wrestler: He actually had an amateur wrestling background before going pro, but found that he was at his best in wild brawls.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Sullivan is afraid of Vampire Warrior because Sullivan is convinced Vampire Warrior wants to take Sullivan's throne. Kevin's jealous guarding of this lead him to stake Vampire Warrior but this only immobilized Vampire rather than dust him this just made Vampire Warrior stop moving, making Sullivan scared of what may happen if the stake was moved.
- Groin Attack: Dropped a ring bell onto the crotch of Jimmy Jacobs
- Hates Everyone Equally: During The Varsity Club's run, he cut a promo where he said, "We don't like ANYONE!"
- Heel: He was this during much of his career and is best known in this role.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Has said that he hated working face.
- In Mick Foley's autobiography Have A Nice Day, when he is talking about how he didn't want to have to go heel against Kevin on his way out of WCW, he mentions a conversation he had with Rip Rogers, who called Sullivan "the least sympathetic character in the business."
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Prior to his BIG turn in Florida, had turned on Jerry "The King" Lawler in Memphis and had also gone heel in Georgia.
- Evil Laugh: In various promos, including at the end of the one mentioned in Take That! below.
- Foreign Wrestling Heel: In the hardcore promotions FMW and W*ING in Japan.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Has said
- Hollywood Satanism/Cult: His gimmick in Florida.
- I Have Many Names: Johnny West, Kevin Caldwell, Task Master, Masked Lucifer, Wizard
- I Was Quite a Looker: Started out as a prettyboy bodybuilder. That ended when he got bald and paunchy.
- Large Ham: He put a lot of enthusiasm into the early Dungeon of Doom vignettes.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Evolve's Gabe Sapolsky called it karma when told about Jimmy Jacobs stealing a rail road spike from him, saying it made up for Sullivan stealing one of his jackets.
- Legacy Character: Pretty much any wrestler leading a Cult (Raven, The Undertaker [during the Ministry of Darkness run in 1999], Raven, UltraMantis Black).
- Lighter and Softer: While wrestling for Jim Crockett Promotions. His gimmick was a heel varsity wrestling coach.Kevin Sullivan even said that he didn't do the Satanic gimmick when the NWA promoter brought him in after closing Florida because Crockett was a Baptist.
- Living Legend: To paraphrase it, "Never stripped, lost, stolen or hidden. Kevin Sullivan, once, now and forever Florida Heavyweight Champion."
- Monochromatic Eyes: His eyes were rolling back into his head well before the Undertaker started doing it.
- No-Sell: Often in squashes, otherwise it would vary depending on who his opponent was at the time. For example, he no-sold some of Benoit's punches early on in their Falls Count Anywhere match at WCW The Great American Bash 96, though he did sell Benoit slamming the men's room stall door on his head, for obvious reasons.
- Noodle Incident: Jim Cornette attempted to interview Sullivan's Slaughterhouse (himself/Buzz/Cactus) on "The Louisville Slugger" on the March 2 (taped February 22), 1990 episode of WCW Power Hour. Amidst Cactus's odd jokes and Buzz's ranting, yelling and insane laughter, Sullivan insisted, "In this country, you're supposed to be innocent until you're proven guilty. Buzz never was proven guilty," with Buzz saying, "I was guilty," and Sullivan tried to get him to stop talking. Cornette asked, "Of what?" and Sullivan said, "Doesn't matter of what." (For what happened next, see Cluster Bleep-Bomb above.)
- One-Steve Limit: Held the NWA Gulf Coast (Alabama) Tag Team Title and the NWA (Gulf Coast) United States Tag Team Title as "Johnny West" because Eddie Sullivan (real name Ruben Huizar) was already established in the territory.
- Parts Unknown: (As "The Taskmaster" of the Dungeon Of Doom): "The Iron Gates of Fate"
- Perky Female Minion: The Daughters Of Darkness, Luna and Lock, who doubled as a Tag Team. Also his valet, "The Fallen Angel", who remained "happy" even when he beat her and drug her around by chains.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Under 6', and had legitimate weightlifting credentials and could bulk up or cut down as needed for years.
- He slammed Kamala during their match at W*ING Desire for Blood, April 5, 1992.
- Power Stable
- Jimmy Hart's First Family, basically a bunch of guys set up to take down the ever popular Jerry Lawler, more Legion of Doom.
- The Army of Darkness in Florida (including Luna Vachon, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, the Purple Haze ["Maniac" Mark Lewin], the Chairman of the Board [King Curtis Iaukea), The One Man Gang, "Superstar" Billy Graham and others)
- The Varsity Club (NWA/WCW 1988-1989, 2000): with Rick Steiner and Mike Rotunda (both versions), "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and Dan Spivey (80's version), and Leia Meow (real name Kristina Laum, aka Kimona Wanalaya) (2000 version).
- Dungeon Of Doom (WCW 1995-1997): with Kamala, the Zodiac (Brutus Beefcake), the Shark (John Tenta), The Giant, Meng, the Yeti, Jimmy Hart, Lex Luger, Hugh Morrus, Konnan, Jacqueline, The Barbarian, Loch Ness and others.
- Political Correctness Is Evil: He argued that Bruce Santee's efforts to "clean up" pro wrestling amounted to political overcorrectness. (Santee though, was only "politically correct" by comparison.)
- Politically Incorrect Villain: On Caged Heat Radio's Reality Check, he said political correctness was what was ruining pro wrestling, and to a lesser extent, the United States Of America, citing the fact that he was being interviewed by a "woman and a minority" in Amber Rodriguez. Just exactly what was someone who worked with Jacqueline and would have against women and minorities was never adequately explained beyond supposed locker room mixing resulting from a planned interview.
- Put on a Bus: Replaced as head booker for WCW by Kevin Nash in late 1998, leading to Nash booking himself to kill Goldberg's streak and to the eventual demise of the company some 2 years later.
- The Bus Came Back: After Vince Russo's first run as booker in late 1999-early 2000 failed, was brought back with James J Dillon and Terry Taylor to try to salvage his mess. Sent away again when Russo and Eric Bischoff were brought back in April 2000.
- Red Baron: "The Boston Battler," "The Gamesmaster," "The Taskmaster," "The Prince of Darkness"
- Ring Oldies: Started back in the early 1970s and could still be found making appearances on independent shows in 2015. In 2013 he unveiled the Florida Heavyweight Title belt he won in 1982, boasting it had never been taken from him and that it never would be.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Worked as a booker in Memphis, Florida and in WCW.
- Sdrawkcab Alias: His big Heel turn in Florida centered in part around a mysterious check written out to Jake "The Snake" Roberts that had been signed by a "Nivek Navillus," making it possibly the most serious Don't Explain the Joke moment in wrestling history, and it became a hallmark of his booking style. See below.
- Sdrawkcab Name: In January 1994, the Equalizer was reintroduced as Kevin's "Dyslexic" "brother" Dave, aka "Evad."
- Lodi (real name Brad Cain) of Raven's Flock was so named because he looked like Billy Idol.
- Shout-Out: Has said that the Varsity Club were like The Three Stooges: Rick Steiner was Curly, Rotundo was Larrynote , he was Moe and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams was Curly Joe.
- Singapore: He was billed from there for a time. During his SMW run, he introduced a Gimmick Match called the "Singapore Spike Match."
- Squash Match: Some fairly nasty ones at that, especially in 1995-1997 WCW. Seriously, nobody could beat the shit out of jobbers like Kevin Sullivan could.
- Start My Own: His gym, Froggy's Fitness, which he later sold.
- Tag Team: The Three Faces of Fear, with the Butcher (Brutus Beefcake) and Avalanche (John Tenta).
- Take That!: In Florida, reintroduced "Maniac" Mike Davis as "Dusty Rhodes," complete with Davis dressing and wrestling the same way and copying Dusty's voice, and even calling Dusty by his real name, Virgil Runnels.
- Crossed with Artistic License – Geography: After Davis' first match in this role, Sullivan cut a promo about how "The Dream" had spent time with Abudadeinnote on Bugis Street in Singapore. Davis apparently hadn't been briefed on Southeast Asian geography, since he mentioned that he had been to Bangkok.
- During Sullivan's Slaughterhouse's debut on "The Louisville Slugger" mentioned under Noodle Incident above, Sullivan said, "This is not the most elite group in professional wrestling. We don't ride in no limos. We're the ones who go and turn the limos over and grab the people who ride in the limos, who fly the jets."
- Crossed with Artistic License – Geography: After Davis' first match
- Talk Show with Fists: The very short-lived "Sullivan's Saloon."
- Third Eye: During his Florida run, talked about "the Lady with the Third Eye," revisiting it at WCW The Great American Bash 91 in a promo before the match between The One Man Gang (w/Sullivan) and El Gigante.
- Tournament Arc: Many, though the one he is known for is the 1982 Florida Heavyweight Title tournament where he beat Barry Windham in the finals.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Valet: Fat, bald and crazy during his most successful period, and yet he had Woman, Jacqueline and the former Kimona Wanalaya in his corner at different points in his career.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Has probably teamed with Abdullah the Butcher as many times as they have been opponents.
- Worked Shoot: One of the first, with Brian Pillman. In an "I Respect You" match (where the point was to force the opponent to say 'I respect you'), Pillman began wrestling sluggishly, then stopped all together, said "I respect you, Bookerman" (referencing Sullivan's role as WCW booker) and walked out of the match.
- Worthy Opponent: Dusty Rhodes, the Steiner Brothers, The Road Warriors, Terry Funk, Abdullah the Butcher, Chris Benoit.
- The X of Y: The Army of Darkness, The Tree of Woe, the Dungeon of Doom.
