WWE Tough Enough 3: Introducing Trainer Bill DeMott

Bill DeMott, like many wrestlers, started his mat career as an amateur wrestler in high school and college. Feeling the call of the business, he began training with "Unpredictable" Johnny Rodz. TE1 trainer Tazz also trained under Rodz, although I'm not sure if they trained at the same time. DeMott wrestled some indy matches as "Sweet William" DeMott before joining "garbage" promotion W*ING in Japan.

In W*ING, DeMott wrestled as "Crash the Terminator" with a painted face. I couldn't find any pictures of Crash, and in fact have never even seen him in that identity. I do know that he has a match on the Wrestling Gold: Before they were Superstars DVD so if you're interested in seeing him in this period, that would be a good place to start.

It was late 1992 when DeMott, as Crash, won his first title, sharing the W*ING tag team belts with Mr. Pogo. They held the belts for four months, and in mid-1993, Crash made his mark as a singles wrestler by winning the W*ING World Heavyweight Title. After holding the title for a few weeks, Crash lost the title and left the promotion. He wrestled in Japan for a few more months before returning to America.

In the Fall of 1995, Crash the Terminator signed a contract with World Championship Wrestling. A gimmick change was in order, however, perhaps because WCW decided that they had enough wrestlers with painted faces. For whatever reason, DeMott was named "The Man of Question" Hugh Morrus, with a maniacal laugh (later becoming known as "The Laughing Man") and question-marks over his tights, he was a distinctive wrestler to be sure.

Morrus joined The Dungeon of Doom, a stable led by Kevin Sullivan which also contained Meng, The Zodiac, and The Shark, later adding Konnan, Barbarian, and The Giant (WWE's Big Show) among others. The main purpose of the evil Dungeon was to eliminate Hulk Hogan and his friends from wrestling. Why this didn't make them the most popular figures in the company, I'll never know.

Morrus spent the better part of the year as a lower-card guy, fighting minor matches against nobodies and serving as cannon-fodder to upper-card guys to make them look good for their upcoming matches. His first pay-per-view (PPV) appearances were as a part of the 95 and 96 "World War III" battle royals. Considering that these matches consisted of 60 participants each, everyone on the WCW roster competed. Morrus played minor roles in each match, being eliminated early on both times.

With the emergence of the nWo in mid-1995, WCW became less of heel vs. face as much as everyone else vs. the nWo. Morrus' part came in the form of his first major PPV appearance, fighting Big Bubba (WWE's Big Boss Man) in a Mexican Death Match at Souled Out in January 1997. Morrus lost the match when Bubba ran him over with a motorcycle (no, really!), but it began a minor push for Morrus.

His next PPV match was in a tag-team match with Konnan at Slamoree in May 1997 against the Steiner Brothers. They lost to the dominant Steiners, which began weeks of infighting between the two. The feud between Morrus and Konnan led to one of my favorite quotes ever, as a deadpan Tony Schiavone announced "He's… he's… he's got a broom!" describing Konnan's weapon of choice when attacking Morrus before a match. As with most people who fight Konnan (see Jericho, Chris), it ended with a horrible match and complete end of Morrus' push.

Throughout the rest of 1997 and most of 1998, Morrus remained a lower-card wrestler, occasionally wrestling nothing matches. His one moment of fame before taking time off for injury was a loss to a debuting wrestler, you may have heard of him. His name was Bill Goldberg, who went on to become a major force in WCW. Morrus went the opposite direction for months.

After returning from injury, Morrus joined Jimmy Hart's "First Family," a huge loogie on the legacy of Hart's original First Family in Memphis. Nothing against Morrus, but nobody cared, and there was no reason to sully the name of a classic stable with something no one cared about. But that's WCW for you.

In any case, Morrus was a large part of the "Junkyard Battle Royal" match at Bash at the Beach 99, a ridiculous farce even by WCW's low standards. In any case, Morrus and the rest of the Second Family would feud with the eventual winner Dave "Fit" Finley until Finley almost severed a leg going through a table courtesy of Brian Knobbs.

Morrus then teamed up with the aforementioned useless lump Knobbs in tag matches, feuding seemingly randomly with Harlem Heat, The Revolution, and the Filthy Animals. After a loss to Harlem Heat at Halloween Havoc 99, Morrus started to feel the effects from his multiple concussions over the last few months. In fact, Jim Cornette called DeMott, hands-down, the wrestler with the most concussions ever. It will be interesting to see if this comes into play during TE3.