William Charles DeMott II (born November 10, 1966) is a retired American Professional Wrestler and trainer from Titusville, Florida best known for his work in WCW in the 1990s as Hugh Morrus.
He started in 1990 as Sweet William working various independent promotions. He went to the AWF in Puerto Rico where he changed his name to Crash the Terminator. He would use this name in SMW, ECW, the hardcore promotion W*ING in Japan and elsewhere before arriving in WCW in 1995.
He made some appearances as The Man of Question before he was introduced as Hugh Morrus in November 1995 as a member of the Dungeon of Doom. After the DOD was dissolved following "The Taskmaster" Kevin Sullivan losing his "Retirement Match" to Chris Benoit at WCW Bash at the Beach 97, Morrus stuck around in the midcard. He had the misfortune of being Goldberg's first TV opponent, on the September 22, 1997 WCW Monday Nitro, where Goldberg became the first wrestler to kick out of Morrus' No Laughing Matter moonsault en route to winning the match and kicking off what would later become known as "The Streak." Morrus reunited with his DOD allies Meng, The Barbarian and manager Jimmy Hart at the end of 1998 to form The First Family, which was stuck in the midcard before being dissolved following the arrival of Vince Russo. In Spring 2000, Morrus was renamed Hugh G. Rection, which was later changed to General Rection when he became the leader of Misfits In Action. During that run, he became a 2x WCW United States Heavyweight Champion
and a 1x WCW World Tag Team Champion with Alex Wright. He went back to Morrus before the end of WCW.
After WCW died, he was one of the wrestlers brought in for the InVasion/Alliance angle. He went back to his own name and became a color commentator for Velocity and a trainer for WWE Tough Enough and at WWE's short-lived developmental promotion Deep South Wrestling in Georgia. He later retired but has since returned to the independent scene.
"The Laughing Tropes":
- Acrofatic: His primary Finishing Move was a moonsault. He claimed that when Kevin Sullivan called him to offer him a job in WCW, the two questions Sullivan asked were, "Are you still fat and can you still wrestle?"
- All-American Face: Became this as General Rection for his feud with Lance Storm and Team Canada.
- Autobiography: 2011's The Last Laugh
- Bested by the Inexperienced: His loss to the debuting Goldberg.
- Boring, but Practical: Constantly stressed the need to "hook the leg" while commentating on WWE Velocity.
- Colonel Badass: As General Rection.
- Don't Explain the Joke: WCW main commentator Tony Schiavone had a bad habit of explaining Hugh Morrus' punny name by pronouncing it "humorous."
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Was essentially this as a trainer on Tough Enough. It carried over into his brief in-ring career with WWE.
- Evil Laugh: This was the whole idea behind the Hugh Morrus gimmick. In the DOD vignette where he was introduced, Sullivan told the Master that he was giving him "the greatest gift of all, laughter."
- Facial Markings: In ECW as Crash the Terminator
- Finishing Move: No Laughing Matter. In WWE, he had a rolling cutter called No Joke.
- Fun with Acronyms: Two instances:
- Misfits In Action.
- After they started their feud with Team Canada, he said that the initials stood for Made In America.
- I Have Many Names
- Insistent Terminology: Called Velocity "Billocity"
- Last of His Kind: He was the last member of The Dungeon of Doom who was introduced in a vignette in the Dungeon itself.
- Parts Unknown: Billed from there as Hugh Morrus. In his DOD vignette, Sullivan said that he was giving the Master "the man from the Isle of Nowhere," though he was never actually billed from there.
- Power Stable:
- (in Maryland indies): The Profit Corporation
- (in WCW): The Dungeon of Doom, the First Family and Misfits In Action
- (in WWE): The Alliance
- Punny Name: Hugh Morrus, Hugh G. Rection
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: MIA, of course. It was a military-themed group thematically made up of the tenured midcarders who didn't fit in either with the Millionaire's Club (tenured main eventers) or the New Blood (younger, newer wrestlers). It was made up of an Acrofatic heavyweight, two up-and-coming Cruiserweights (Lt. Loco [Chavo Guerrero Jr.] and Corporal Cajun [Lash LeRoux]), a Stoner character who had previously been a heavy metal guitarist, a member of Raven's Flock, and a hippie (Major Stash [Van Hammer]), a Ms. Fanservice (Major Gunns [Tylene Buck]) and a big guy who had previously been the bodyguard for Berlyn (Alex Wright) (Sgt. A-WOL [The Wall]). Booker T was in the group for about a month, May-June 2000, as "G.I. Bro," which was his original gimmick in his GWF days, before he went back to himself.
- Red Baron: "The Laughing Man"
- Retired Badass: Works behind the scenes for WWE and as a trainer for FCW and WWE Tough Enough. He also worked briefly as a color commentator. Some of the wrestlers who have trained under him are Jack Swagger, John Morrison, Fandango, Ryback, and Brodus Clay.
- Sadist Teacher: Has been accused of being one since 2007 in Deep South Wrestling. He defended himself saying most complaints came from those not good enough for the main roster, but when evidence was presented by Kevin Matthews of some heinous things he did, he in turn produced evidence to show he was taking orders from John Laurinaitis. Austin Draven and Ethan Carter III insisted he kept it up after Laurinaitis was demoted, though. A spike of allegations in early 2015 left to him resigning as an NXT trainer "to protect WWE's reputation," although he denied them on the way out the door.
- Something Person: "The Laughing Man," "The Man of Question"
- Spell My Name With An S: It's Hugh Morrus, not Hugh Morris.
- Training from Hell: Apparently, what it was like to train under him.
- Unstoppable Rage: While working as Bill DeMott, WWE would always talk about him being "ANGRY and INTENSE."
