John Czawlytko (February 22, 1963 – June 27, 2019) was an American

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

. He is best known for his appearances in

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Natio ...

under the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projectin ...

s Max Muscle, Maxx Muscle and Maxx.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1992–1993)

After a career as a

bodybuilder Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's muscles (muscle building) by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes. It is distinct from similar activities such as powerlifting because it focuse ...

, Czawlytko began training to become a professional wrestler. Following his training, Czawlytko adopted the ring name The Brute and began competing as part of a tag team called The Skull Crushers alongside Bryan Carreiro, who performed under the ring name The Beast. He wrestled as Big Bad John in

Global Wrestling Federation Global Wrestling Federation was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Dallas, Texas. It started in June 1991 and folded in September 1994. At one time its shows were presented on the ESPN television network. Often the promotion pr ...

in Texas.

World Championship Wrestling (1993–1997)

In 1993, Czawlytko signed a contract with

. He was sent to the

WCW Power Plant The WCW Power Plant was a professional wrestling school in Atlanta, Georgia, owned and operated by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The school was founded by wrestler Jody Hamilton, who opened the training center in 1989 in Lovejoy, Georgia. ...

for seasoning. Later in the year, he debuted on WCW television under the name Big Bad John, making appearances on the promotion's secondary television shows ''

Saturday Night Saturday Night may refer to: Film, television and theatre Film * ''Saturday Night'' (1922 film), a 1922 film directed by Cecil B. DeMille * ''Saturday Nights'' (film), a 1933 Swedish film directed by Schamyl Bauman * ''Saturday Night'' (1950 fil ...

'', ''

Main Event In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

'', and '' Pro''. In 1995, he was repackaged as a heel under the ring name Max Muscle and became

Diamond Dallas Page Dallas Page (born Page Joseph Falkinburg Jr., April 5, 1956), better known by his ring name Diamond Dallas Page (often stylized as DDP), is an American actor and retired professional wrestler. In the course of his wrestling career Page has wre ...

bodyguard A bodyguard (or close protection officer/operative) is a type of security guard, government law enforcement officer, or servicemember who protects a person or a group of people — usually witnesses, high-ranking public officials or officers ...

, where he consistently helped Page cheat in arm wrestling contests. However, Muscle's alliance with Page ended by 1996, as Muscle broke away from Page and briefly turned

face The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may aff ...

. However, this was short-lived, as Muscle joined the Dungeon of Doom later on in the year under the ring name Maxx, reverting into a heel in the process. While a member of the Dungeon, Maxx wrestled and lost to Page on the March 17, 1997 episode of ''Saturday Night'' and then again on the March 19 episode of '' Nitro''. During the 3rd August 1997 episode of ''WCW Worldwide'', Czawlytko wrestled his final match in a tag team match for WCW against the Steiner brothers .

Retirement

After leaving WCW, Czawlytko took a two-year-long hiatus from wrestling. On March 11, 1999, Czawlytko competed in his return match, then under the tweaked ring name Maxx Muscle, where he and Corporal Punishment wrestled to a no contest for

Maryland Championship Wrestling MCW Pro Wrestling (formerly known as Maryland Championship Wrestling) is a regional independent wrestling promotion based in Joppa, Maryland. It has regularly run events in the Mid-Atlantic region since the late 1990s. History Maryland Champion ...

. On April 8, Muscle lost to Punishment in a rematch. Following losses in both singles and tag team matches, Czawlytko left MCW in mid-October and wrestled his final match on January 29, 2000, when he resumed his Maxx ring name as he defeated Felony in a match for

Xtreme Pro Wrestling Xtreme Pro Wrestling (XPW) is an American independent professional wrestling promotion owned by Rob Zicari. Zicari originally ran the promotion out of Los Angeles from 1999 to 2003. He appeared on shows as the on-camera owner under the name ...

. In 2008 he returned to wrestling working for IHWE in Texas. Then he retired in 2009.

Death

On July 1, 2019, longtime friend Diamond Dallas Page revealed on his Facebook account that Czawlytko had died on June 27, 2019.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Muscle, Max 1963 births 2019 deaths American male professional wrestlers American people of Polish descent People from Texas Professional wrestlers from Texas Professional wrestling managers and valets