Robert Maillet (born October 26, 1969 in Georgetown, Ontario) is a retired Canadian Professional Wrestler and actor best known for his time in WWE from 1997 to 1999 as Kurrgan.
He started his career in 1989 as The Acadian Giant in the Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling promotion in the Maritimes, and also competed for the hardcore W*ING promotion in Japan as Goliath El Gigante. He entered WWE in 1997 as The Interrogator as a member of the tag team the Truth Commission, whose gimmick was of a paramilitary organization from South Africa. He redebuted under the Kurrgan name on the December 8, 1997 Raw and was a member of The Oddities along with Giant Silva, Golga, Luna Vachon, Sable, the Insane Clown Posse and "George The Animal" Steele. He has also competed for the CMLL and UWA promotions in Mexico, in South Korea and for various independent promotions around Canada. Among his achievements, he is a former 3x USWA World Tag Team Champion
and a former WWA (South Korea) World Heavyweight Champion.
His acting roles include: the Über-Immortal in 300, Dredger in Sherlock Holmes (2009), Alexis Kaidanovsky in Pacific Rim, The Master in The Strain, Sluggo in Deadpool 2, Apex in Becky and the "Big Man" in Jupiter's Legacy.
"The Trope Commission":
- Amoral Afrikaner: Back when he was with the Truth Commission, whose gimmick was that they were essentially an entire stable of these guys.
- Arch-Enemy: In AGPW, Leo Burke. In WWF, The Disciples of Apocalypse (Crush, Chainz, 8-Ball and Skull), The Headbangers, the Insane Clown Posse (after they turned heel on the Oddities) and Too Much (Brian Christopher and Scott Taylor.) In CMLL, his former ally Giant Silva.
- B Show: The Oddities' wins were pretty much relegated to these (Jakked/Metal and Sunday Night Heat.)
- Bash Brothers: With Golga and Giant Silva in the Oddities.
- Belly Flop Crushing: Occasionally used the big splash on the ring, even although he doesn't have quite the body type required other than being a superheavyweight.
- Berserk Button: Being mistaken for André the Giant, which apparently has happened to him quite a few times. He stresses that he has nothing but respect and admiration for André, but it's very frustrating to have people come up to him and insist that he must be André, especially given that they don't look like each other at all aside from being giants.
- Big Damn Heroes: This was his original role in AGPW, which is understandable, given that he's seven feet tall and 350 lbs.
- Circus of Fear: The Oddities' original heel carnival sideshow gimmick.
- Cult: What the Truth Commission seemingly became after the Commandant was replaced by the Jackyl.
- The Dragon: To the Jackyl after the Truth Commission broke up and in the early heel stage for the Oddities. While he'd normally fall into the role of The Brute, he made such an impression and so completely overshadowed Recon and Sniper that he easily rose to this role.
- Enhanced Interrogation Techniques: Well, he was a Heel called "The Interrogator," but The Truth Commission came off more like The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything.
- Expy:
- The Truth Commission were one of Col. DeBeers' South African militant racist gimmick from the 1980s, although not as blunt about it.
- On the other hand, The Great Khali's gimmick had a few inspirations taken from Kurrgan's first solo run.
- Finishing Move: Paralyzer (clawhold), Kurrgan Slam (spinning spinebuster) and the good ol' chokeslam.
- Foreign Wrestling Heel: As a member of the Truth Commission, a South African white nationalist.
- The Giant: He's 6 feet 11 inches tall.
- I Have Many Names: The Acadian Giant, Goliath El Gigante, the Interrogator, Kurrgan.
- Kind Hearted Cat Lover: As seen on his Facebook.
- Lightning Bruiser: He usually didn't need much mobility thanks to his strength and size, but he was pretty fast on his feet for a wrestling giant and could even dance with some grace.
- My God, What Have I Done?: During the filming of Sherlock Holmes, he punched Robert Downey Jr. in the face, bloodying him, and reportedly felt much worse about it than Downey Jr. did.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The Interrogator, The Acadian Giant, Goliath El Gigante
- No-Sell: This was easy for him since he rarely faced opponents who were anywhere close to his size.
- The Paralyzer: After he was renamed Kurrgan, was given as a Finishing Move a clawhold that was named the Paralyzer.
- Power Stable:
- The Kardinal Sinners, in the RAW (Real Action Wrestling) promotion in Nova Scotia, Canada.
- The Truth Commission (w/Recon [Barry "Bull" Buchanan], Sniper [Luc "Rambo" Poirier] and the Jackyl)
- The Oddities, led by the Jackyl.
- Redemption Demotion: Entered the 1998 Royal Rumble at #12 while WWE was still trying to build him up as a monster heel. He eliminated Headbanger Mosh and Steve Blackman, and it took five guys, 8-Ball, Bradshaw, Ken Shamrock, Phineas I. Godwinn and the Rock, to eliminate him. By the time of the 1999 Rumble, Kurrgan had become a face, but not one with any kind of significant push. That year, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was assigned #1 and Vince McMahon got #2. However, thanks to professional moron Vince Russo, everyone from #3 (Golga) through the Godfather (#17) were guys who weren't getting any kind of push. Kurrgan came in at #14 and all it took was Kane (#18) to eliminate him. His last WWE match was the heel-turned Undertaker basically squashing him with a chokeslam on the February 28, 1999 Sunday Night Heat. See the entry for Badass Decay on The Oddities' YMMV page for more on how this affected the Oddities as a whole.
- Shout-Out: The name "Kurrgan" was taken from Highlander.
- Signature Move: He used a bearhug lift dropped into a side slam. This move was apparently called the Kurrgan Shuffle, although the name was not used on TV.
- Typecasting: As an actor, he is often cast as a Giant Mook or The Brute due to his height and build.
- Video Full of Film Clips: The Oddities' entrance video mixed footage of the team with clips from the 1932 horror classic Freaks, even starting with the lines, "We wouldn't lie to you folks, we told you we had living breathing monstrosity."
