Steve Blackman (born September 28, 1963) is a retired American Professional Wrestler, martial artist and MMA trainer from Annville, PA who competed for WWE first as a Jobber in 1988 and then full-time from 1997-2002. He debuted in 1986 and first worked for Stampede Wrestling in Calgary. He made a surprise return/debut on the November 3, 1997 Raw, coming out of the crowd to rescue Vader from the Hart Foundation. His first match was as the replacement for the Patriot on Team USA (Vader/Goldust/"Marvelous" Marc Mero) against Team Canada (Davey Boy Smith/Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart/Doug Furnas/Phil LaFon) at Survivor Series 1997. Over the course of his WWE run, he would hold the WWE Hardcore Title
six times. He retired in 2002 after his contract ran out.
Not to be confused with Scary Black Man, although he was definitely scary to boot.
"The Lethal Tropes":
- Awesome, but Impractical: He used to twirl glowing sticks as part of his ring entrance but stopped when they turned out too troublesome for the technical crew.
- Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: With Al Snow.
- Bounty Hunter: Well a bail bondsman actually, which he became after retiring from wrestling.
- Bullying a Dragon:
- A story in Bob Holly's book tells how a drunken John "Bradshaw" Layfield decided to repeatedly play the jerk on Blackman in an airport, only for Steve to backhand him in the face and start raining punches on him before being restrained by other wrestlers. Blackman was supposedly charging a low kick before they grabbed him, and Holly assured that had Steve's leg not got caught in a bag handle, Layfield would have had to go to the hospital. (Another popular version has Blackman actually managing to land crescent kick to the jaw, but given that we know John came out of the incident alive, we will believe Holly instead.)
- Another anecdote by Teddy Long sees Big Show messing with Blackman while the latter was resting laying on the floor. Apparently, all Blackman needed were his feet and a legsweep to take Show down and immobilize him.
- He had a beef with Vader and Buzz Sawyer since they bullied him while they all were working in Japan. At the time Blackman was still sick and a new boy in the crew and had promised his family and girlfriend not to get in fights, so he had to suck it up. However, when Vader and him met again in WWF, Blackman didn't have these limitations anymore. As soon Vader saw what was coming for him, he apologized profusely to him in front of the entire locker room.
- The Bus Came Back:
- For the "Raw 15th Anniversary Battle Royal," on the December 10, 2007 episode. Flash Funk eliminated Blackman, and himself in the process.
- He also appeared on an episode of the JBL and Cole Show.
- Cannot Tell a Joke: One memorable Blackman bit involved Al Snow trying to bring out Blackman's personality by having him do stand-up comedy at a nursing home. Hilarity Ensues.
- Combat Pragmatist: At his first and only Brawl 4 All shootfight, Blackman faced Marc Mero, a former Golden Gloves boxing champion. Blackman's answer? Taking him down. Repeatedly.
- The Comically Serious: He loosened up when he entered the hardcore division. "It's party time!" doubled as a Catchphrase and a Pre Ass Kicking One Liner, as it would set up him beating the hell out of his opponents with weapons en route to his winning the match.
- Cool Shades: While teaming with Grandmaster Sexay.
- Cut Short: His WWF run by Brian Christopher getting in trouble and by a pinched nerve in his neck. Then The Brawl For All came and nearly broke his leg when a 200 pound training partner rolled on it.
- Determinator: In Real Life, he almost died after contracting malaria and dysentery while wrestling in South Africa. He not only recovered, but the martial arts that would help cement his gimmick in the WWE helped him with his physical therapy.
- The Dreaded: According to the aforementioned Holly book, when Blackman found out he was in the Brawl 4 All shootfighting tournament, he asked if it was allowed to kick people's knees out. The bookers immediately made a ruleset limiting strikes to punches only, fearing Blackman would cripple up half of the roster. Holly and Ken Shamrock have gone to claim Blackman would have won the entire tournament anyways if he hadn't got injured.
- Dual Wielding: Some of his signature weapons were a pair of combat sticks, one wielded in each hand. One of Blackman's trademark moves was hit the opponent so fast and hard with these sticks he looked like he was playing a drum solo on his opponent.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Before his second run with WWE that he is most known for, he had a mullet and a bodybuilder's build (which he was before he got into wrestling).
- Finishing Move: Bicycle Kick, Dragon Sleeper, Cross Armbreaker, Guillotine Choke.
- Hired Gun: For Vince McMahon briefly in 1999 against former Corporation member Ken Shamrock.
- I Know Karate: An interesting variation. Although his entire gimmick was about his martial arts background, exactly which styles Blackman was trained in remain a mystery. For what's said, he trained boxing and amateur wrestling at college, as well as possibly Kickboxing; judging for his in-ring style, he was at least familiar with Karate, Taekwondo or both due to his kicking stances, as well as Judo or some form of jiu-jitsu due to his submissions, and maybe Eskrima for his weapons expertise; and finally, a WWE article describes him as having a background in Muay Thai and an unspecified style of jiu-jitsu. In any case, he’s a Mixed Martial Arts trainer now.
- Ignore the Fanservice: Defended the WWE Hardcore Title against Albert (w/Trish Stratus) on the October 5 (taped October 3), 2000 WWE SmackDown!. Trish started taking off her coat to distract Blackman, who proceeded to drown her in fire extinguisher spray, and then did the same to Albert, en route to winning the match after a flying kendo stick shot.
- Meaningful Name: While it's pretty much a coincidence, "Steve" sounds very much like "stiff", which means "hitting for real" in pro wrestling and is typically seen in shooters and wrestlers with martial arts gimmicks like Blackman.
- Murderous Thighs: He used an inverted triangle choke as an occasional finishing move.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: While other wrestlers had quirky gimmicks, made Badass Boasts or played mind games with their opponents, Blackman never wasted any time and went right for the kill. His strict, no-frills approach was reflected as much by the plain black pants he wore as ring attire and his simple, straightforward theme song.
- Not So Above It All: When he won a three-person tag match with Trish Stratus and Grand Master Sexay against the Right to Censor, Blackman joined Sexay and Trish in a victory dance with some sweet jump kicks.
- One-Steve Limit: Pun aside. Averted, since "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and, later, Stevie Richards were both there during his run.
- Only Sane Man: At Survivor Series 99, he was on a team with wrestling porn star Val Venis, "Sexual Chocolate" Mark Henry and wrestling vampire Gangrel. At least relatively sane, given that he was still a martial arts guy with a murder stare.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: He would often shout "it's party time!" to the crowd before playing a drum solo on his opponent with his twin combat sticks.
- Red Baron: "The Lethal Weapon". He was also introduced in WWE as "The Silent Assassin", though it never caught on.
- Red Herring Shirt: His return/debut, after a nine-year absence, and actually getting a push when he had only ever been a jobber before.
- Start My Own: His training schools, first called Blackman Fighting Systems then later BlackmanMMA, and his Pennsylvania Fighting Championships promotion.
- The Stoic: He didn't talk much. But when he did and said his Catchphrase, chances are that someone was get beaten up badly.
- Straight Man: To everyone, but especially Grand Master Sexay and Al Snow.
- Tag Team: Head Cheese, with Al Snow.
- Would Hit a Girl: Blackman didn't go any easier on women who interfered in his hardcore matches than he did on the men he was fighting. As noted above, he sprayed Trish Stratus with a fire extinguisher when she tried to distract him in his match with Albert. When Terri Runnels jumped onto his back when he was fighting Perry Saturn, Blackman nearly spanked her until Saturn interfered.
