Nelson Frazier, Jr.

Nelson Lee Frazier Jr. (February 14, 1971 – February 18, 2014) was an American professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment (WWF/WWE) in the 1990s and 2000s under the ring names Mabel, Viscera, and Big Daddy V. A former WWF World Tag Team Champion and WWF Hardcore Champion, he won the 1995 King of the Ring tournament and challenged for the WWF Championship in the main event of that year's SummerSlam.

Early life

Frazier grew up in Goldsboro, North Carolina, where he attended Eastern Wayne High School and took part in amateur wrestling in the ninth grade. He studied commercial art after finishing high school.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1991–1993)

Frazier began his professional wrestling career under the ring name "Nelson Knight", as one half of the "Harlem Knights" tag team with his partner and storyline brother Bobby (Robert Horne). They wrestled in the United States Wrestling Association (USWA) and the Pro Wrestling Federation (PWF), twice winning the PWF Tag Team Championship in 1992, before signing with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1993.

World Wrestling Federation (1993–1996)

Debut, Tag Team Champion (1993–1994)

Upon coming to the WWF, The Harlem Knights were given a new gimmick: Nelson became Mabel, Bobby became Mo, and they were given a rapping manager named Oscar. The new team, dubbed Men on a Mission, donned colorful gear and were introduced to the WWF audience in June 1993 through vignettes portraying them as three African American men trying to make a positive change in inner city neighborhoods, establishing themselves as faces. At Survivor Series on November 24, they teamed with The Bushwhackers (Luke and Butch) to defeat Bam Bam Bigelow, Bastion Booger and The Headshrinkers ( Fatu and Samu) in a 4-on-4 Survivor Series elimination match.

At WrestleMania X on March 20, 1994, Men on a Mission defeated WWF Tag Team Champions The Quebecers (Jacques and Pierre) by countout, but did not win the belts. On March 29, they defeated The Quebecers to win the titles at a house show in London, England, but lost them in a rematch two days later in Sheffield, England. In mid-1994, Mabel began wrestling more singles matches and competed in the 1994 King of the Ring tournament, losing to IRS in the quarterfinals on June 19. On August 29, at SummerSlam, he faced Jeff Jarrett in a match that pit "Rap vs. Country", which Jarrett won. At Survivor Series on November 23, Men on a Mission teamed with Adam Bomb, Lex Luger and the Smoking Gunns in a loss to Bigelow, Jimmy Del Ray, King Kong Bundy, Tatanka and Tom Prichard.

King of the Ring, departure (1995–1996)

In March 1995, Men on a Mission lost a title match against the reigning tag team champions Smoking Gunns. Mabel and Mo brutally assaulted them afterward, but offered an apology and brought Billy and Bart Gunn out after a match a few weeks later for a handshake. It proved to be a ruse, however, as Mabel and Mo not only beat up Billy and Bart, but also turned on Oscar and became heels. Mabel adopted a more thuggish image and received a push as a singles wrestler, defeating Savio Vega to win the King of the Ring tournament on June 25. After his victory, he became known as King Mabel, with Mo rechristened as "Sir Mo" and becoming his manager. King Mabel was awarded a championship belt engraved with "King of the Ring", which was designed and created by belt maker Reggie Parks, but was not used on WWF television. At In Your House 2 on July 23, Mabel and Mo defeated Vega and Razor Ramon.

Now the top heel in the company, he challenged WWF Champion Diesel at SummerSlam. Just before SummerSlam, on the August 21, 1995 episode of ''Monday Night Raw'', the WWF turned Davey Boy Smith, one of the company's more popular wrestlers, against the fans, replacing King Mabel as the company's top villain. Men on a Mission were to wrestle Smith and Lex Luger, who were then known as The Allied Powers. Luger was not at the event, so Smith convinced Diesel to be his partner. Smith then attacked Diesel during the match and joined King Mabel and Sir Mo in assaulting him; the attack was called the "Royal Plan". At SummerSlam on August 27, King Mabel failed to win the WWF Championship from Diesel. According to Frazier, Vince McMahon planned for him to win the title, which fell through due to backstage influence from The Kliq. On October 22, at In Your House 4, Mabel fought Yokozuna to a double countout.

During this time, Mabel was involved in a high-profile feud involving The Undertaker after Mabel helped Yokozuna attack a downed Undertaker. During the course of the attack, Mabel was to hit a series of leg drops on the fallen Undertaker, and he repeatedly struck Undertaker in the face, resulting in Undertaker suffering a legitimate fracture of his orbital bone, which put him out of action for two months. The Undertaker returned wearing a Phantom of the Opera-style mask and teamed with Vega, Fatu and Henry O. Godwinn to defeat Mabel, Jerry Lawler, Isaac Yankem and Hunter Hearst Helmsley on November 19 at Survivor Series. At In Your House 5: Seasons Beatings, Mabel lost to The Undertaker in a casket match. After the match, his push came to an end and Mabel wrestled his last three matches on the New Year's Day edition of ''Raw'', when he was buried in an eight-second loss to Diesel, on the January 6, 1996 edition of ''WWF Superstars'' when he lost another casket match to The Undertaker, and in the Royal Rumble match on January 21, where he was the third wrestler eliminated by his former rival Yokozuna.

Various promotions (1995–1998)

Frazier then wrestled for the Puerto Rico-based World Wrestling Council (WWC) from 1995 to 1996. There, he feuded with Carlos Colón. The Universal Heavyweight Championship was held up after a match between the two. Mabel soon after won the championship and held it for a month defeating Colon on January 7, 1996. He also returned to Tennessee to wrestle for the United States Wrestling Association, which went through a number of administration changes during his stay, and was rebranded Memphis Championship Wrestling and Memphis Wrestling. He captured the USWA Heavyweight Championship in March 1996 and the North American Heavyweight Championship in February 1998. These were each the top title in the promotion at the time. On December 1, 1996, he went to Tokyo, Japan and lost to Koji Kitao at Inoki Festival in Yoyogi. Mable left USWA in March 1997 before the company folded in November 1997. On November 1, 1998, Mabel made a one-night-only surprise appearance at Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW)'s November to Remember, as a Full Blooded Italians member with Ulf Herman, losing to Spike Dudley.

Return to WWF (1998–2000)

Ministry of Darkness and Corporate Ministry (1998–1999)

On the July 6, 1998 (taped June 30) episode of ''Raw is War'', Mabel made a one-night-only surprise return to the WWF, losing to the new King of the Ring Ken Shamrock.

On January 24, 1999, Frazier made his full-time return, first appearing at the Royal Rumble pre-show as Mabel, then on the show itself. He eliminated five competitors; Droz, Steve Blackman, Dan Severn, Tiger Ali Singh and The Blue Meanie. Later, he was eliminated (kidnapped) by The Undertaker, his Acolytes ( Bradshaw and Faarooq) and Mideon. The next night on ''Raw is War'', he was reintroduced as Viscera. He began acting as the Ministry of Darkness' enforcer, adopting a gothic look in the process, including white-out contact lenses, a bleached mohawk and a black bodysuit. The Ministry of Darkness lost to The Union (Big Show, Ken Shamrock, Mankind and Test) in an eight-man elimination tag team match on May 23 at Over the Edge.

Hardcore Champion and departure (1999–2000)

After the Ministry of Darkness split in July 1999, Viscera floated around the mid-card, frequently teaming with fellow former Ministry member Mideon. They competed in a tag team turmoil match at SummerSlam on August 22, but were unsuccessful. At Armageddon on December 12, he and Rikishi lost to Hardcore Holly and Crash Holly. In early 2000, Viscera feuded with Mark Henry after body splashing Henry's girlfriend, Mae Young, leading to a match at No Way Out on February 27, which Henry won. He became part of the burgeoning hardcore division, winning the WWF Hardcore Championship on April 2 at WrestleMania 2000, and losing it minutes later in the same battle royal-style match. He was taken off the WWF main roster in April and sent to the developmental territory Memphis Championship Wrestling (MCW) before he was released from his WWF contract in August.

Independent circuit (2000–2004)

Following his release from the WWF, Frazier returned to the independent circuit. He wrestled in the United Kingdom for a while. He then started working for Memphis Wrestling in 2003, and feuded with Jerry Lawler once again. He would later lose to Rocky Johnson in a boxing match on November 29, 2003. On Valentine's Day 2004, he won a 15-man battle royal.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2003)

On March 26, 2003, Frazier, as Nelson Knight, made a surprise appearance at a monthly Total Nonstop Action Wrestling pay-per-view, at the side of Ron Killings. He appeared once more the following week.

Second return to WWE (2004–2008)

World's Largest Love Machine (2004–2007)

Frazier, as Viscera, made his surprise return to the former WWF (by then renamed World Wrestling Entertainment) on the September 16, 2004 episode of ''SmackDown!'', where he and Gangrel attacked former Ministry of Darkness leader, The Undertaker, at the command of former Ministry Acolyte and WWE Champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL). After two weeks on SmackDown!, he was moved to the Raw brand. In his first three months on the Raw brand, Viscera mainly wrestled on ''Raw's'' sister show ''Heat'', only making sporadic appearances on ''Raw''.

His first major storyline started in April 2005, when he aligned with Trish Stratus as part of her feud with Lita and Lita's husband, Kane. While working together, Viscera and Stratus appeared in a segment in which he attempted to seduce her, only to be rebuffed. Stratus implied he would first need to "take care" of Kane. That segment began a gimmick change for Viscera, who transformed into "The World's Largest Love Machine". After losing to Kane at Backlash on May 1, he injured Stratus with his Big Splash finishing move, angry about her constant belittling of him, turning face for the first time since 1995. Viscera began wrestling in pajamas and making overtly sexual gestures in the ring. He became smitten with ''Raw'' ring announcer Lilian Garcia and tried different tactics to seduce her every week. At Vengeance on June 26, Garcia finally reciprocated, proposing to him in the center of the ring, only to be turned down and left crying in the ring when The Godfather arrived with many of his hos to show Viscera what he would be leaving behind if he got married.

At Royal Rumble on January 29, 2006, Viscera competed in the Royal Rumble match where he was eliminated by Carlito and Chris Masters. Viscera then teamed with Val Venis to form V–Squared. They teamed together for nearly nine months, mainly on ''Heat''. They challenged for the World Tag Team Championship on several occasions, but never held the title. When Venis was sidelined with a legitimate injury in April, Viscera returned to singles wrestling. He attempted to reconcile with Garcia, but was interrupted and attacked by Umaga during his proposal. Two weeks later, when Garcia was legitimately and accidentally knocked from the ring apron by Charlie Haas and sprained her wrist, the incident was worked into a storyline of Haas and Viscera fighting over Garcia. After Garcia declared she wanted to be just friends, Haas seemingly raked Viscera in the eye, with Viscera feigning to accidentally Samoan slam Garcia. After Viscera gave Garcia the Samoan slam, both men laughed about the incident, resulting in Viscera and Haas turning heel in the process. The team split up when Haas reunited with Shelton Benjamin to reform The World's Greatest Tag Team.

Big Daddy V (2007–2008)

On June 17, 2007, Viscera was drafted to the ECW brand in the supplemental section of WWE's draft. He debuted on the July 10 episode of '' ECW'', repackaged as Big Daddy V, a " hired muscle" character in the employ of Matt Striker, attacking The Boogeyman. Big Daddy V defeated Tommy Dreamer on the October 2 episode of ''ECW'' in the finals of the Elimination Chase to become the number one contender for CM Punk's ECW Championship at No Mercy on October 7, but lost the match by disqualification after interference from Striker. He then feuded with SmackDown!'s Kane. At Survivor Series on November 18, Big Daddy V competed in a Survivor Series elimination match where his team lost. At Armageddon on December 16, Big Daddy V and Mark Henry defeated Punk and Kane. Big Daddy V was an entrant in the Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble on January 27, 2008, but was eliminated by Triple H. At No Way Out on February 17, he took part in the Elimination Chamber match for a World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania XXIV, but was eliminated by Batista. He wrestled his last WWE match on the March 11 episode of ''ECW'', losing to Punk in a Money in the Bank qualifying match. In the 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft, he was drafted to the SmackDown brand. Frazier was released from his WWE contract on August 8.

Later career (2008–2013)

In 2008, following his WWE departure, Frazier began wrestling for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as King V. On August 8, 2009, at Juggalo Championship Wrestling (JCW)'s 10th Annual Gathering of the Juggalos, Viscera defeated 2 Tuff Tony in a "Loser Leaves JCW" match, with WWE Hall of Famer Terry Funk as special guest referee. After the match, Frazier, Funk, and Balls Mahoney (who had interfered earlier in the match) all attacked Tony. On April 23, 2011, he teamed with Rosey to defeat Derrick King and Drew Haskins of Derrick King Enterprises at a Showtime All-Star Wrestling show which aired on June 21. In September 2012, Big Daddy V appeared for the Japanese promotion Inoki Genome Federation at their GENOME 22 event, losing to Atsushi Sawada. Frazier performed at three Family Wrestling Entertainment shows in 2012 as Big Daddy V, first defeating Malta the Damager in a tables match in February. Frazier wrestled his final match on October 5, 2013, defeating René Duprée on Qatar Pro Wrestling's inaugural tour.

All Japan Pro Wrestling (2010–2011)

Frazier wrestled for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) as part of the Voodoo Murders stable under the name Big Daddy Voodoo (later just Big Daddy). He held the All Asia Tag Team Championship with Voodoo Murders stablemate TARU from April 29 to August 29, 2011. He left AJPW in late 2011, after competing in the World's Strongest Tag Determination League with Joe Doering.

Reception

During his stint as Mabel, Frazier gained notoriety for his stiff and unsafe in-ring performances. In an interview with Kayfabe Commentaries, Kevin Nash implied that his decline from the top of the card was due to his wrestling style. Nash said that Frazier's style was very reckless and he had little regard for the safety of his fellow wrestlers. He said that entering their match at SummerSlam, Frazier had already injured "six or eight" of his colleagues in the ring. Nash said that one of the injuries was to one of the Samoans on the roster ( Fatu), which he implied was not easy to do and should have raised a red flag. He pointed to Frazier's use of a frequently utilized move by wrestlers of comparable size, the sitdown splash. Most wrestlers who perform this move, like Frazier, are super heavyweights, such as the aforementioned Fatu (who adopted the move later in his career), Yokozuna, and Earthquake. These wrestlers usually do so without incident, as they perform it in such a manner that very little of their body weight actually comes in contact with the opponent's body, resulting in the wrestler landing on the opponent's chest. Frazier kicked his legs out while performing the move and thus did not allow himself to stop before impact. Nash said that this caused all of Frazier's 500-plus pound mass to shift to his backside and thus he would drop onto the opponent full force. Nash requested Frazier to leave the move out of their SummerSlam match, due to a pre-existing back injury. Frazier disregarded the request and performed the sitdown splash on Nash anyway, crashing into his lower back with enough force to cause Nash's spine to compress and his core muscles to stretch out. Nash later was diagnosed with a badly strained abdomen that affected his performance the rest of the match, as he could barely feel his legs, and he believed that he had suffered some sort of permanent damage to his spine. Backstage, Nash recounted that a furious Vince McMahon was ready to fire Frazier immediately after the match and was about to hand him his release papers, but Nash stepped in and convinced McMahon otherwise as he did not feel Frazier should lose his job over the incident.

During his feud with The Undertaker, Frazier once again found himself in trouble due to his inability to perform the leg drop correctly. Instead of landing his leg across The Undertaker's chest as in a normal leg drop, Mabel repeatedly struck The Undertaker in the face; this resulted in The Undertaker suffering a legitimate fracture of his orbital bone, which put him out of action for two months.

Death and lawsuit

Frazier died of a heart attack on February 18, 2014, just four days after his 43rd birthday. He had dropped around 100 pounds and saw his blood pressure drop to a healthy level. He was cremated, and his widow, Cassandra, divided the ashes into 500 pendants as gifts for his loved ones.

On the one-year anniversary of Viscera's death, his widow filed a wrongful death lawsuit against WWE, alleging that the company had concealed information, misrepresented research, and misinformed Viscera and other wrestlers on performance risks relating to concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which the suit claimed left him with severe short-term memory loss, migraines, and depression, which contributed to his death. WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt responded in an interview with the ''Boston Herald'', explaining that the company was considering pursuing action against Cassandra Frazier's attorney, Konstantine Kyros, who has been involved in other lawsuits against WWE. McDevitt called Viscera's death "tragic", but added: "It's ridiculous that someone can ... try to blame someone because a gentleman with a weight problem died of a heart attack in the shower eight years after he last performed." The lawsuit was dismissed by US District Judge Vanessa Lynne Bryant, who ruled that they failed to show that his death was linked to CTE.

Filmography

Championships and accomplishments

*All Japan Pro Wrestling
**All Asia Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with Taru
*Great Championship Wrestling
**GCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
*Memphis Wrestling
**Memphis Wrestling Southern Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time)
*Memphis Wrestling Hall of Fame
**Class of 2022
*Music City Wrestling
**MCW North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
*New England Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame
**Class of 2013
*Ozarks Mountain Wrestling
**OMW North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
* Pro Wrestling Federation
**PWF Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Bobby Knight
*''Pro Wrestling Illustrated''
**Ranked #49 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1995
**Ranked #340 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003
*United States Wrestling Association
** USWA Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time)
*World Wrestling Council
**WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time)
*World Wrestling Federation
**WWF Hardcore Championship ( 1 time)
**WWF Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with Mo
**King of the Ring (1995)
*''Wrestling Observer Newsletter''
** Worst Feud of the Year (2007) vs. Kane
** Worst Tag Team (1999) with Mideon
** Worst Worked Match of the Year (1993) with Mo and The Bushwhackers vs. The Headshrinkers, Bastion Booger, and Bam Bam Bigelow at Survivor Series
*Xcitement Wrestling Federation
** XWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

See also

* List of premature professional wrestling deaths

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Viscera
1971 births
2014 deaths
20th-century African-American sportsmen
21st-century African-American sportsmen
20th-century male professional wrestlers
20th-century American professional wrestlers
21st-century male professional wrestlers
21st-century American professional wrestlers
African-American professional wrestlers
All Asia Tag Team Champions
American male professional wrestlers
Professional wrestlers from Tennessee
Sportspeople from Memphis, Tennessee
Full Blooded Italians members
King of the Ring tournament winners
World Tag Team Champions (WWE, 1971–2010)
WWC Universal Heavyweight Champions
WWF/WWE Hardcore Champions