Wrestling / Dungeon of Doom

The Giant and the Yeti at WCW Halloween Havoc 95.

The rarely-seen WCW Dungeon of Doom shirt.

The Dungeon of Doom was a Professional Wrestling Power Stable that existed in WCW from May 1995 to July 13, 1997. It developed out of the short-lived Power Trio the Three Faces of Fear (Kevin Sullivan, the Butcher and Avalanche) which existed from late October 1994 until April 1995. At WCW Slamboree 95, May 21, 1995, Sullivan d. The Man With No Name (Butcher). After the match, The Master (Curtis Iaukea - no relation to Mike "Prince Iaukea" Haynor) appeared on the video screen ranting about Hulkamania and how it needed to be stopped. Sullivan ran through the crowd and out of the arena. This led to a vignette showing Sullivan running through a forest with the Master calling for him. Then Sullivan disappeared and reappeared at the Master's feet inside the Dungeon, with the Master talking about how the "warriors were gathering." Sullivan said that he didn't want to disappoint the Master, but "no one can defeat the Immortal Hulk Hogan, no one." The Master told Sullivan, whom he called his "SONNNNNNNNNN," to take "the final step," leading to Sullivan running toward another area of the Dungeon. He reemerged in a red robe as "The Taskmaster," calling the Master "Father" and saying that he knew what his "Father" meant when he said that it was etched in STOOOONNNE!!!!! Over the next few weeks on WCW TV, the Master would present different warriors to be used to destroy Hogan, starting with Kamala (his WCW debut), the Shark (Tenta), the Zodiac (Beefcake), Meng and, most importantly, the centerpiece, The Giant.

During the feud with Hulkmania, the Yeti and Lex Luger were added to the Dungeon's lineup. Additionally, The Shark would be kicked out of the group after he decided to go after the WCW World Title even though it was held by The Giant, and Zodiac would quit after it turned out he was a spy working for Hogan sent to infiltrate the group. After the New World Order angle took off, the Dungeon languished as the home of midcard and lower midcard heels who weren't doing anything better at the time. During this period of time Hugh Morrus, The Barbarian, The One Man Gang, Loch Ness, Maxx Muscle, Braun the Leprechaun, Konnan, and managers Jacqueline and Jimmy Hart would join. The Dungeon officially disbanded when Kevin Sullivan lost a career vs career match with Chris Benoit in mid 1997.

Jimmy Hart would form a Spiritual Successor stable called the First Family (reviving the name of his stable from when he was a top heel manager in Memphis in the early 1980s) with Dungeon alumni Meng, Hugh Morrus and the Barbarian, along with Nasty Boy Brian Knobbs and Jerry Flynn. Although Meng was the initial Centerpiece of the stable, he'd get arbitrarily kicked out of it at the start of 1999 and the stable never found a replacement Centerpiece. The First Family seemed to be in line for a fairly significant push, but a combination of injuries to its members and the hiring of a new booking staff headed by Vince Russo caused the stable to quietly disband.

Sullivan would form a second DOD in USA Pro (later renamed USA Xtreme) Wrestling in New York City with Gangrel, Luna Vachon (who got her start in Sullivan's Army of Darkness in Florida in the 1980s), the Wall (Jerry Tuite), "Psycho" Sam Dudley (Mark Vartanian- who had teamed with Big Dick Dudley, thus giving him a connection to the Dudleys) and "Hardrock" Ken Sweeney.

Championships won by DOD members while IN the DOD:

• The Giant d. WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan for the title at WCW Halloween Havoc 95, October 29, 1995. He regained the belt from Ric Flair on the April 29 (taped April 22), 1996 WCW Monday Nitro.
• In a somewhat bizarre decision, WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Kensuke Sasaki (best known for his work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling) forfeited the title to the One Man Gang after defending it against him in a dark (non-televised) match at Starrcade on December 27, 1995.
• Lex Luger defeated WCW World Television Champion Johnny B. Badd (Marc Mero) for the title at a house show (non-televised event) on February 17, 1996 and lost it back to Badd the next day at another house show.^note Yes, they had the TV TITLE change hands at a non-televised event. No, it did not make any sense in context. Luger, then one-half of the WCW World Tag Team Champions with Sting (see below under Double Agent) defeated Badd to regain the title on March 9 (taped March 6), 1996 episode of WCW Saturday Night and held it until Lord Steven Regal defeated him on the August 31 (taped August 20), 1996 WCW Saturday Night.

Not to be confused with the Roguelike The Dungeon Of Doom.

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"THESE TROPES HAVE BEEN ETCHED IN STOOOONNNE, MYYYYYYYYYYYSONNNNNNNNNN!"

• 11th-Hour Ranger: As part of The Alliance to End Hulkamania, this is what Z-Dogg and The Ultimate Solution were supposed to be. Thing is, despite being huge, they were actors, not wrestlers - Z-Dogg was Tommy "Tiny" Lister, best known as "Zeus" in Hogan's 1989 movie No Holds Barred, and Ultimate Solution was Robert "Jeep" Swenson (Bane in the 1997 movie Batman & Robin). But despite their being actors, Hogan was willing to sell for them and act like they were a serious, dangerous threat when he wasn't willing to sell for the actual wrestlers in the match.
• Acrofatic: "The Laughing Man" Hugh Morrus was quite agile for his size (close to 300 lbs and far from slim), and especially known for his "No Laughing Matter" moonsault.
• Afro Asskicker: Meng, widely believed to be the toughest man in WCW.
• Alliterative Name: Lex Luger, Maxx Muscle, Big Bubba.
• Animal Motifs:
  • Sharks for... the Shark.
  • Also, the Master referring to Hogan as "the rare white Bengal Tiger"
• Arc Words: "For it is etched in stone..." The Master and Sullivan repeated this over and over again, saying that it was predetermined that the Dungeon of Doom would defeat Hulk Hogan and destroy Hulkamania, which, of course, didn't happen.
• Arch-Enemy: Hulk Hogan, of course, Randy Savage, Sting, later Brian Pillman and Chris Benoit.
• Artistic License – Geography:
  • In the original DOD vignette, the Master announced "the warriors are gathering, on the four continents and the seven oceans." There are officially seven continents, North and South America, Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Europe and Oceania. However, as the Americas ARE connected, Europe and Asia are connected due to Russia and to Turkey, and Africa and Asia are connected via The Middle East, and Antarctica and Oceania are completely separate landmasses, it could be suggested that the Master was not entirely wrong.
  • In the vignette that introduced the Shark, the Master referred to "The Seven Seas and the four oceans."
• The Bad Guy Wins: In a really roundabout way, they did succeed in their mission to put an end to Hulkamania.
• Bald of Evil: The Master, Taskmaster, Z-Gangsta, Konnan.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: After spending a year attempting to destroy Hulkamania, believing that "no Hulkamania" meant "no Hogan," Hogan did the Face–Heel Turn of the year at Bash at the Beach 96, launching the nWo and destroying Hulkamania, and disproving Sullivan's theory.
• Beard of Evil: The Master, Taskmaster, Kamala, Shark, the Giant, Meng, Hugh Morrus, the One Man Gang, Barbarian, Loch Ness, Big Bubba, Braun the Leprechaun.
• Berserk Button: Sullivan would point to Kamala's opponents during squashes and yell "Hulkamania!" to get him to focus.
• The Berserker: Braun the Leprechaun.
• Big Bad: The Taskmaster.
• Big "YES!"/Big "NO!": The Zodiac shouting "YES! NO! YES! NO!"
• Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: The Yeti, real name Ron Reis. Of course, he was actually a Mummy. Then he ditched the mummy bandages and dressed up like Scorpion as the Super Giant Ninja. Yes, it Makes Just as Much Sense in Context.
• Brawn Hilda: Jacqueline and her muscles were portrayed as scary rather than unattractive, but same general idea.
• British Teeth: Loch Ness and Braun the Leprechaun
• Carry a Big Stick: The Master had a staff that he held in the early vignettes, waving it to bring out Kamala and the Shark.
• Catchphrase:
  • (The Master): "TASKMASTER, MYYYYYYYYYYYSONNNNNNNNNN!"
  • "IT IS ETCHED IN STOOOONNNE!!!!!"
  • "SHARK ATTACK! SHARK ATTACK!"
  • (The Zodiac): "YES! NO! YES! NO!"
• Cerebus Syndrome: Braun the Leprechaun aside, not surprisingly, the feud with Benoit was devoid of the cartoonish qualities of the Hogan feud.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome:
  • The Master disappeared without any reason given and was never mentioned again.
  • The Super Giant Ninja's final appearance was a squash loss to One Man Gang.
  • The One Man Gang left after SuperBrawl VI in February 1996 after dropping the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship to Konnan and was never seen or mentioned again.
  • Maxx Muscle disappeared at some undetermined point in 1997 as well.
  • Braun the Leprechaun also disappeared into thin air without official explanations. The real reasons was complete failure to get over.
  • After leaving the Dungeon, Jacqueline managed Harlem Heat until one day she just stopped showing up forever.
• Cobweb of Disuse: The Master had some cobwebs on him in the early vignettes inside the Dungeon.
• Cool Shades: Jimmy Hart, them being almost as known as his megaphone.
• Covered with Scars: The Master's forehead, as King Curtis was notorious for having perhaps the most scarred-up head in wrestling history from years of bloody brawling. Kevin Sullivan and Kamala also had rather rough foreheads.
• Dark Action Girl: Jacqueline. The last-ever member of the DOD, her role was to accompany Sullivan to the ring for his squash matches and beat up his opponents.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: This was their goal, defeat Hulk Hogan and destroy Hulkamania.
• Demoted to Extra: After the nWo became the top heel group, and, especially, after the Giant joined them.
• Department of Redundancy Department: In the vignette that introduced the Shark, the Master said that he had "surfed a tidal wave from the South China Sea to Waikiki." When the Shark walked in, he said the same thing.
• Don't Explain the Joke: If you didn't realize that Hugh Morrus' name was a play on 'humorous' to match his Laughing Man gimmick, don't worry, Tony Schiavone would kill the joke and grind its corpse into dust every time Morrus wrestled. He wouldn't just pronounce the man's name Humorous, he'd change his speaking rhythm to make sure he said Humorous with exceptional clarity and emphasis. And he'd do it every single time.
• Doomy Dooms of Doom: Dungeon of Destiny apparently didn't get the point across.
• Double Agent: Lex Luger turned heel at Halloween Havoc 95 and sided with the Dungeon. However, he and Sting defeated Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray) for the WCW World Tag Team Titles on the January 22, 1996 WCW Monday Nitro, which meant that he was aligned with both a top babyface and a top heel group at the same time. WCW finally resolved this by turning Luger face in the Doomsday Cage match at Uncensored in March, because they needed him as a face due to what was coming two months later.
• Dragon-in-Chief: Kevin Sullivan may have been the leader of the Dungeon, but he was never among the more formiddable members. Meng was generally Sullivan's Dragon and could have easily been a Dragon in Chief if he'd wanted to, but despite being an uncontrollable monster, Meng wasn't an ambitious uncontrollable monster. The Giant, however, was a Dragon in Chief, and when Sullivan failed to treat The Giant with as much respect as The Giant wanted, he ditched the Dungeon for the nWo.
• Duality Motif: The Zodiac had a zebra striped face and gear. In the vignette where he debuted, the Master said that he "knows neither pain nor pleasure. Has walked in darkness, has walked in light."
• Early-Bird Cameo: The Zodiac actually debuted in... Mr. Nanny, years before the Dungeon started, albeit as a seconds-long cameo alongside other members of Hogan's Rogues Gallery.
• Evil Laugh: The Master, in the entrance music, Taskmaster, also Hugh Morrus, of course. Braun the Leprechaun's laugh was more of an insane cackle. And then there was a lot of sampled laughter from the various members of the stable in the Dungeon's theme song.
• Evil Mentor: The Master was the Taskmaster's mentor. His involvement in the Dungeon angle was mostly limited to promos and vignettes, as he was long-retired from in-ring competition by that time.
• Evil Redhead: Braun the Leprechaun.
• Expy: The Undertaker's Ministry of Darkness drew comparisons to the Dungeon, and not positive ones. As a general rule, when someone says that [X] is like the Dungeon of Doom, he or she is saying that, in that person's opinion, [X] is stupid.
• Extremely Dusty Home: The Dungeon looked to be built inside of a cave, and it looked like it probably could have used a good dusting.
• Face–Heel Turn: Jimmy Hart, Hogan's manager, turned on him during Hogan's match with the Giant at Halloween Havoc 95, costing Hogan the WCW World Heavyweight Title as it was later revealed that Hart had set up the contract so that the belt could change hands on a DQ. To add to this, Lex Luger, who had come back from WWE a month earlier and was immediately distrusted by Randy Savage, turned on Savage after both guys had run into the ring, presumably to help Hogan.
• Facial Markings: The Taskmaster, Kamala, Zodiac, the Ultimate Solution
• Finishing Move:
  • Taskmaster: Tree of Woe (Running knee to opponent upside down in the corner) followed by the Double Stomp on the Stomach.
  • Kamala: Big splash
  • Shark: Shark Attack (running clothesline)
  • Zodiac: Top-rope knee to the back of opponent's head
  • Giant: Chokeslam
  • Meng: Asian spike (thumb to the throat nerve hold), Tongan Death Grip
  • Lex Luger: Torture Rack
  • Hugh Morrus: No Laughing Matter (moonsault)
  • The One Man Gang: Splash
  • Barbarian: Kick of Fear
  • Loch Ness: Elbow drop
  • Maxx Muscle: Swinging Full Nelson neckbreaker
  • Big Bubba: Bubba Slam (sidewalk slam)
  • Konnan: Tequila Sunrise, Cradle DDT
  • Braun the Leprechaun: Top rope kneedrop
• The Giant: The Giant, Kamala, The Yeti, the One Man Gang and Loch Ness.
• Gimmick Matches: The most prominent ones were the Hogan-Giant Monster Truck Match at Halloween Havoc 95 and the Hogan/Savage-Alliance to End Hulkamania Doomsday Cage Match at WCW Uncensored 96. Aside from those, a lot of early Squash tag matches where it was the Shark with Kamala and/or Zodiac would be unofficially turned into handicap matches, where Shark would have to do almost all the work himself, since Zodiac would be saying "YES! NO! YES! NO!" when Shark looked for a tag and Kamala wouldn't want to even get in the ring. (See Screw This, I'm Outta Here below.)
• Greater-Scope Villain: The Master. Although he had more of a defined character than most Greater Scope Villains, his involvement in the Dungeon angle was mostly limited to promos and vignettes, as he was long-retired from in-ring competition by that time.
• Heel–Face Turn: It happened a couple times.
  • The Shark was kicked out of the Dungeon after the WCW World Heavyweight Champion The Giant defeated him and Big Bubba shaved off half of his hair. Shark abandoned the gimmick and went back to his own name of John Tenta for the remainder of his WCW run.
  • During Kevin Sullivan's career vs career match against Chris Benoit, Jacqueline turned against Sullivan and hit him with a chair, costing him the match. She never gave a reason for having done so, and moved on to manage Harlem Heat for the remainder of her WCW stint.
• Jumped at the Call: Sullivan running out of the Bayfront Arena to find The Master is a rare villainous example of this.
• Large Ham: The Master, the Taskmaster, the Shark, the Giant, Jimmy Hart.
• Leprechaun: Yes. Full name Braun the Leprechaun. Real name DeWayne Bruce, better known as Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker of the Jobber-to-the-stars tag team the State Patrol and as a trainer at WCW's wrestling school the Power Plant. He lasted about a month. His TV debut can be seen here.^note Featuring the bonus of Insane Dusty Commentary.
• Legion of Doom: When they joined the Alliance To End Hulkamania.
• Lightning Bruiser: The Shark, Meng, Barbarian.
• Locked in the Dungeon: The stable had its HQ in a dungeon, from where the stable took its name.
• The Master: Well, duh; it was only King Curtis Iaukea's Stage Name here, and like most examples, you wouldn't be blamed of being wary of him.
• Mighty Glacier: Kamala, The Yeti, Loch Ness.
• The Mole: After the Zodiac left the group in February 1996, he was repackaged as the Booty Man (sort of like Billy Gunn's "Mr. Ass" gimmick), now a Face and a friend of Hogan. Hogan later explained that he had sent him into the Dungeon as a "mole," which reveals a lot when you consider the finish of the War Games match between the Hulkamaniacs (Hogan/Savage/Sting/Luger) and the Dungeon of Doom (Kamala/Shark/Zodiac/Meng) at WCW Fall Brawl 95, September 17, 1995. The Hulkamaniacs won when Hogan "forced" Zodiac to submit.
• Monster Mash: Invoked, as Sullivan and the Master assembled the various monsters/giants/oddballs for the purpose of destroying Hulkamania.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: A wrestling shark?
• No Indoor Voice: The Master, the Taskmaster, the Shark, the Giant, Jimmy Hart. Hart's was high-pitched, as opposed to the more booming voices of the Master, the Shark and the Giant.
• No-Sell: The Giant and Meng both regularly no-sold things. Kevin Sullivan also no-sold a lot when he'd wrestle jobbers on the syndicated shows.
• Parts Unknown: Of course.
  • "The Taskmaster," from "The Iron Gates of Fate."
  • The Shark, from "Tsunami," later changed to "The Great Barrier Reef" (it exists, but, obviously, no human actually lives there as it's underwater.)
  • The Zodiac, from "The Land of Yin and Yang."
  • In the vignette that introduced Hugh Morrus, Sullivan said he was from "The Isle of Nowhere," although he was never announced as being from there. Michael Buffer did once announce him as being "from Parts Unknown, height unknown, weight unknown", however.
• Punny Name: Hugh Morrus.
• Put on a Bus: A couple Dungeon members at least got storyline reasons for their disappearance.
  • Kamala quit WCW without forewarning - and because a PPV match between him and Randy Savage had been hyped, WCW had to come up with a reason it wasn't going to happen. They announced that "Kamala was scared of Savage so Kevin Sullivan beat him up and sent him back to Africa" and switched Zodiac into the match.
  • Loch Ness got kicked out of WCW entirely by The Giant. As the story went, The Giant was resentful that Loch Ness was ever brought to WCW, and one day attacked him during his entrance for a match that would have been against Lex Luger. Jimmy Hart decided to side with Giant over Loch Ness, and Loch Ness departed WCW after losing a match to The Giant.
• Ring Oldies: At the time they joined the Dungeon, Kevin Sullivan was 44, Kamala was 45, and Loch Ness was 49. Several members were in their late 30s.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Kamala (w/Zodiac in his corner) was originally scheduled to face Randy Savage at Halloween Havoc, but quit out of frustration with WCW legitimately not paying him. Sullivan explained that Kamala had told him that he was "afraid" of Savage so Sullivan beat him up and sent him back to Uganda. Savage subsequently squashed Zodiac.
• The Sixth Ranger: While not an official member, Big Van Vader was loosely affiliated with the DOD, as the Master and the Taskmaster sent him on a "Roadkill Tour" leading to his match with Hogan at Bash at the Beach 1995. This tour saw Vader go on a long streak of Squashes and even make a cameo in Jerry Lawler's United States Wrestling Association in Memphis, TN, which was affiliated with WWF at the time.
• Sixth Ranger Traitor: The DOD were not immune from their own members turning on them, as three members all quit for the nWo:
  • First, the Giant switched, after Hogan had defeated him for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. His reason? Money.
  • On the December 16, 1996 Nitro, the Faces of Fear (Meng and the Barbarian) d. WCW World Tag Team Champions the Outsiders (Scott Hall and Kevin Nash) by DQ when DOD member Big Bubba ran in and hit Meng with the Bubba Slam, thus joining the nWo.
  • Konnan broke away from the DOD in June 1997, though his re-debut with the nWo was on July 14, 1997, the night after the DOD collapsed. See below.
  • Jacqueline turned on Sullivan, costing him his Career vs. Career match against Benoit at WCW Bash at the Beach 97, July 13, 1997, thus ending the DOD.^note By this time, the group was down to Sullivan, Meng, Jimmy Hart, Hugh Morrus, Barbarian and Jacqueline. (Sullivan went back to work in the office, though he did not compete again until Starrcade 1999.)
• Slogan-Yelling Megaphone Guy: 'The Mouth Of The South' says this page aint going any further till you mention Jimmy Hart
• Spell My Name With An S: It's Hugh Morrus, not Hugh Morris.
• Spiritual Successor: Is arguably a Lighter and Softer version of Sullivan’s Army of Darkness stable in 80s.
• Squash Match: Many DOD matches not involving Hogan, Savage, Sting, the Steiners, Harlem Heat or Benoit would fall into this category.
• Tag Team: The Faces of Fear (Meng and the Barbarian).
• Take That!: The August 10, 1996 episode of WCW Saturday Night, which aired live before the first WCW Hog Wild PPV (later renamed Road Wild due to a trademark issue), featured a vignette where, in part, the Taskmaster brought out a leprechaun named Braun, calling him the DOD's answer to Chris Benoit — a stealth insult towards Benoit's height (yes, coming from Kevin Sullivan, who wasn't exactly an NBA prospect himself).
• Teleportation: Sullivan saw an image of The Master in a forest and was simply zapped into the Dungeon.
• Tempting Fate: Nothing they said or did themselves. Sullivan/Bubba/Faces of Fear, (w/Hart, Morrus and Maxx) squashed Mr. JL, Joe Gomez and The Armstrongs (Scott and Steve) on the November 17, 1996 WCW Pro. The commentators said that the Dungeon was united. A month later, on the December 16, 1996 Nitro, Bubba turned on The Faces of Fear and joined the nWo.
• Unlimited Wardrobe: Jimmy Hart had a variety of jackets that he wore while seconding various DOD members, though the "Taskmaster" one is the most famous.
• Unrelated Brothers: More like Unrelated Father and Son; The Giant was introduced as the Kayfabe "son" of André the Giant.
• Wild Man: Tony Schiavone called Braun the Leprechaun this near the end of his debut match.
• Wild Samoan: Meng and the Barbarian were Wild Tongans, but the purpose was the same.
• Wrestling Monster: The majority of the stable. Loch Ness, The Giant, The Yeti, The Shark and Kamala were all billed at over 400 lbs. Hugh Morrus, Maxx Muscle, Big Bubba and The Barbarian were all over 300 lbs. Meng was a bit under 300 lbs, but so convincingly badass he was always portrayed as a monster anyhow.
• You Can Run, but You Can't Hide: The segment with Hogan in the Dungeon at Clash of the Champions XXXI, August 6, 1995, ended with The Giant telling Hogan, Savage, Sting and Jimmy Hart, "RUN YOU COWARDS RUN!" and then turning to the camera and saying the trope name word for word.
• You Have Failed Me: The Shark was kicked out of the Dungeon after failing to defeat The Giant for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship - but only after he lost the match. Though the Dungeon had a problem with Shark taking the title shot, presumably had he been able to win the match it would've been The Giant who was kicked out.

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