Midcarders of yesteryear: Steve Blackman

[spinningtorturerack]

Hello my fellow Midcardigans!

And welcome once again to...wait can you hear the drums? That can only mean either a marching band is after me or (the more likely solution) our Midcarder of today is none other than:

Steve Blackman

Yes the six time hardcore champion the "lethal weapon" steve blackman. This guy used a martial arts gimmick for his entire career with the WWE. Blackman was known for showing no emotion except anger in his matches, much like this guy:

Yes....

Steve floated between the hardcore division and being in tag teams. His most notable one was being apart of "Head cheese" with Al snow which led to some hilarious skits, including wrestlemania 2000 where Snow introduced Chester McCheesington.

He also played the straight man with grandmaster sexay but that didnt go far due to Sexay leaving due to injury.

Regardless Blackman has always been exciting to watch, swinging his sticks about (I don't know the technical terms!) and doing amazing things with trash cans.

He had a great feud with Ken shamrock (a future article subject!), but I think he mostly be remembered for this moment at summerslam 2000 in a match with shane McMahon:

[YOUTUBE]mv7cLnSVTKw[/YOUTUBE]

So what do you guys reckon of the lethal weapon? Was he a Bruce Lee or merely a karate kid (who rocked but not in comparison to Lee)? Were your bored of his emotionless bearded face or excited by his hardcore antics?

poster-san, please reveal your views on honourable blackman...

 

[therealicon86]

i didn't really like blackman all like that for the fact he lacked charisma and the only thing that made him cool was when the lights when out and the sticks glowed in the dark outside of that its nothin.... and as for the moment at summerslam shane mcmahon was always a dare devil we know that and on top of that it looked like blackman was and is scared of heights and also his lions den match he had with ken lame rick was boring i think all of the lion's den matches were boring it did nothing for me i still to this day use them as smoke braked just like the undertaker's entrance and also al snow carried blackman in all of the hillarious skits so blackman was better as a top of the card performer.

 

[Piss Bucket]

He wasn't a wrestler, he was a Karate man, he would've been much better off in an MMA company than WWF/E IMO.

It also doesn't help when you have the personality of a Lego brick.. Which is why his tag team with Al Snow failed IMO, cos he couldn't do comedy like Snow could.

 

[whoopwhoop12]

I actually liked Steve Blackman. I Know he had no personality and he was just a stunt-karate guy, but it was always intriguing to see as to what he was going to do. At one time, I considered him a legit contender. What's the saying "Action's speak louder than words"...thats Steve Blackman. I personally think he could have been something more if they allowed him to expand, and he is very conditioned. Most of the guys that were in the Raw Battle Royal from the past were out of shape and just didn't click. Guys like Gangrel, Scotty Too Hotty got big praise, but when Steve Blackman came out, people were shocked, not only because he was back, but he was in great shape.

Blackman was bland. I wouldn't even say he was a legit mid-carder, just a guy who got by not saying much and not showing much expression.

Blackman was cool though...

 

[ThegameBigB1222]

Here is a guy by himself was not all that impressive. I think he could have been very impressive in the right tag team. For example I think Steve Blackman and Nathan Jones could have made an impressive martial arts tag team which could have been impressive if put in the right matches.

 

[thisisatest]

I always enjoyed Steve Blackman, but I can see why others found him bland what with the black outfit, the strictly martial-arts gimmick, etc. I don't understand why people don't think he pulled off the Head Cheese gimmick well though, he was the PERFECT straight man to Al Snow's off-the-wall shenanigans, kind of like Booker T when he was with Goldust. I remember reading somewhere about him almost dying or something due to an illness he contracted in Africa while on tour with WWE but I don't remember the specifics of it.

 

[INDYjon22]

God I loved Blackman, don't really know why. He really was not all that special in the ring or on the mic or anything but I really enjoyed him. He had away of making me laugh when there should be absolutly no laughter. He was one of the greatest "straigh guy" gimmicks I have ever seen in wrestling, probably because he was actually that way in real life much like Lance Storm.

I really dug his martial arts gimmick which probably explains my love for mma now a days as well. He made every thing he did look painful, probably was since I am guessing he was fairly stiff in the ring. Point is he made simple moves look very painful.

One of my favorite and earliest wrestling memories was when he cained Shane O'Mac off of the Titantron, 50 or 60 feet in the air. My jaw literally dropped when I saw that happen. And then he jumped off himself, probably the moment I decided I liked the guy.

He held the Hardcore title 6 times and made the belt actually look like it was worth a shit. Seriously who only holds that belt 6 times? A guy who actually defends it successfully night after night. He was the only guy in the division that could pull of a legit title defense and make it seem real.

When WWE had him back for the legends battle royal a couple years ago I marked out so bad. It was great to see him back in the ring but I guess he is doing good. The word is that he and Ken Shamrock? opened up a mma training school or something in Pennsylvania. Good talent who really didn't get a lot of attention. Keep it up man, I love remembering these guys from the past.

 

[Gregory Helms]

I personally loved Blackman.

I also think the gimmick would work today, due to the pg era the kids could relate.
However the hardcore style would be weakened and made to look like a Mick Foley wannabe!

He would also most likley get buriedi n the mid card and job to The Miz or even worse Eric Escobar depending on the brand.
Oh my i've gone off topic.
Oh well Enjoy the reading .
Good post By The Way.

 

[NSL]

I never hated Blackman, but i was never really a fan either. He was more boring than Lance Storm on the mic, and his matches just never looked right, because he never really adapted to being a wrestler. The feud he had with Shamrock was OK, and his time teaming with Snow wasn't half bad, but I tend to think those were accidents, and totally not his fault.

A tag team jobber, and a low mid-carder were all he was ever going to be, and that's all he ever was.

 

[DaDigi]

I usually don't post much, but I really liked Blackman's gimmick and his style in which he used.

He wasn't the best, and he certainly wasn't the worst, but he was consistently able to please the crowd and put on a good match. That's what I usually look for in a wrestler. After (most) all of his matches, all you could say was "wow" or something to that degree, and I certainly did so. Overall, he looked great when he came back for the 15th Anniversary Battle Royal, and hope that he's invited back to the WWE in the near future for some more special appearances.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

Dude...

Steve Blackman was AWESOME. He brought a great energy to the mid-card and had some intense skills with those sticks. He was ripped to shreds, and wore sweet red boots with black pants. EPIC. And who could forget the music? It just made me want to kung-fu kick people in the face.

And he had some great comedic moments as 1/2 of Head Cheese.

 

[Toroc102]

Hmm, I haven't seen a Blackman highlight in years, but I always liked him when I was younger and always dug his matches. His music was awesome, his enterance, awesome, could've sworn his matches were, but in retrospect I can't even remember his finisher. Wasn't it some sort of kick like an axe kick or something?

Ah well, I can't wait till Shamrock, thats one guy I alays wanted to main-event.

 

[Goldlust]

For about a week in mid-2000, Steve Blackman was my absolute favourite wrestler. Although to be fair, it probably had less to do with his tough, martial arts based arsenal or his silent but deadly persona and more to do with the fact that Summerslam 2000 was the first full wrestling show that I ever watched.

Give the guy his dues though, he was a lot more succesful then he probably should have been in his time with the WWE. His reigns as hardcore champion were impressive and brought prestige to a title which was never meant to be more than a running joke.

When the Hardcore title was first introduced, although being a championship belt made of garbage, it still had a slight significance when it was being defended by the likes of Big Boss Man and Al Snow. However, upon the arrival of the 24/7 rule it became just a complete joke with champions such as Joey Abs, an elderly Pat Patterson and one of Godfather's ho's. The sheer intensity that Blackman brought to the ring changed that though. He would very rarely speak, just come to the ring and kick some ass just to make sure he didn't lose a belt made of rubbish. For a short time he gave a purpose to a comedy belt and I think that is very impressive.

Outside of hardcore wrestling he was never really going to find much success. He never really adapted to a WWE wrestling style and he had absolutely no charisma. A European title reign could have been a possibility but it was never to be.

To me, at least, Steve Blackman will be remembered as a talented fighter who exceeded the expectations of him but just lacked the charisma necceseary for being a major player.

 

[Blade]

I always mildly enjoyed Blackman. His Hardcore matches, at least, were decent. And the match with Shane Mcmahon had people legit marking out. So he could entertain the crowd when he was working with a gimmick match.

But he used too much martial art-y stuff in his matches. It's all well and good if you mix martial arts with wrestling, CM Punk has done that very well, but if you put in too much martial arts then.... Well, it's not wrestling, it's MMA. I think that hindered Blackman a little bit. That, and the fact that he had all the charisma of a fork.