Going through the big WCW shows, I was interested by the character of Maxx Payne. A guy I knew little about, and only remembered from this run, and then showing up in WWF as Man Mountain Rock. I don't know that he's deserving of his own thread, but I would like to hear some opinions on him, and find out if anyone else was entertained by him at all.

 

I think the Maxx Payne gimmick was really good, though I'm not sure exactly what it was. Was it an attempt to cash in on the popularity of grunge, or was he more of an 80s metal guy? What was the idea behind billing him from 'the state of euphoria' (which I thought was really cool)- how did that play into the gimmick? As a heel, I thought he was quite plodding in the ring, but I did think he had an air of genuine menace about him. I bought him as a slightly unhinged guy, and thought he had an interesting look. I also remember as a kid thinking that the Payne Killer was about the most dangerous move I'd ever seen. Just the size of him and the way he wrenched back on the arm, I thought there was no possible way that he wasn't breaking dudes' arms left and right. Would the 'Badd Blaster to the face' angle be about the highlight of his heel run?

 

I was really surprised by his work as a face. The Chicago Street Fight is a match that gets talked about quite a bit, and is definitely a fun stiff-fest, but I prefer the Cactus/Payne V Nastys match from SuperBrawl, when Payne starts the match by just killing both Nastys with some vicious-looking throws. And then I thought he had legit killed Knobbs with that brutal suplex leading to the finish.

 

I haven't seen a single Man Mountain Rock match (I only remember his album reviews from the WWF magazine). Is there anything at all from that run even remotely worth checking out? What about from the rest of his career? I know he worked Europe some, which sounds promising. Did any of his Lawler matches make tape?

 

So, Maxx Payne- wrestling all-American, putter-up of Wrestlemania 2 steel cage, NJ dojo trainee, an interesting drop in wrestling's vast ocean.

Did that documentary of his ever get released? Outside of that, dude means nothing to me, I've only seen him in the Nasties matches and have it on pretty good authority that I need seek him no further.

Going through WCW 93/94, Maxx Payne was a huge disapointment. For whatever reason was under the impression the guy was a decent worker. Not exactly. He couldn't have a good match with Dustin Rhodes in 1993, that says it all. I agree the character was fun though, and he was pretty decent on promo too. And yeah, the Badd Blaster in the face would be the highlight of his career. Wait, actually, him bashing the Nasty Boys with the guitar at the end of Nasties vs Sullivan/Cactus was the highlight of his career. He had the athletic ability (legit college wrestler, no wonder he was recruited by Bill Watts), but he never put it together. I also enjoyed him almost killing the Nasties Steienr-style at Superbrawl. Maybe with some time he would have developped into a decent worker, but as it is, the guy really wasn't good. The brawl with the Nasties was fun and all, but he really played the third Nasty in it in term of talent, and it's no surprise to me that once you replaced him with Sullivan the same match got a lot better.

 

And no, his "documentary" was never released in any shape or form. I'm surprised it didn't pop out somewhere though.

I know he worked Lawler early in his career. Is their any footage given significant time of them wrestling one another. I remember the Apter mags pushing his amateur credentials. They would say he has this gimmick so his opponent wouldn't expect his skills on the mat.

Going through WCW 93/94, Maxx Payne was a huge disapointment. For whatever reason was under the impression the guy was a decent worker. Not exactly. He couldn't have a good match with Dustin Rhodes in 1993, that says it all. I agree the character was fun though, and he was pretty decent on promo too. And yeah, the Badd Blaster in the face would be the highlight of his career. Wait, actually, him bashing the Nasty Boys with the guitar at the end of Nasties vs Sullivan/Cactus was the highlight of his career. He had the athletic ability (legit college wrestler, no wonder he was recruited by Bill Watts), but he never put it together. I also enjoyed him almost killing the Nasties Steienr-style at Superbrawl. Maybe with some time he would have developped into a decent worker, but as it is, the guy really wasn't good. The brawl with the Nasties was fun and all, but he really played the third Nasty in it in term of talent, and it's no surprise to me that once you replaced him with Sullivan the same match got a lot better.

 

And no, his "documentary" was never released in any shape or form. I'm surprised it didn't pop out somewhere though.

I will second the notion that Payne is one of the most frustrating things in 1993 as well.

I can't recall liking anything Payne did other than the Spring Stampede match.

And no, his "documentary" was never released in any shape or form. I'm surprised it didn't pop out somewhere though.

There's footage of it on Kevin Nash's YouShoot, in the form of a trailer. So it might be released sometime down the road.

I ended up finding a Man Mountain Rock vs Jean-Pierre Lafitte match, which I was kinda excited about, because I love PCO, and thought this had the potential to be a good hard-hitting bout. It was about 4 minutes, and they didn't really do much in it. Payne got PCO over for a belly to belly towards the end, which was pretty impressive, and then the Cannonball always looks cool and painful. Otherwise, it was pretty plodding. I still maintain an 8-10 minute brawl between these two (preferably with Payne rather than MMR) could have been really good. I know that's not really setting the bar very high, but it isn't like I'm trying to sell Payne as some great worker. I'm fantasy booking JPL stealing Norma Jean now to kick off the feud.

 

I will say that MMR was pretty over, with a loud "Rock and Roll" chant. Unless they just dubbed audio in from an old Rock n Roll Express match.

He worked Henning right after Curt lost the AWA belt as well. IIRC the Apter mags pushed it as Curt needing to win to earn a rematch.

I remember Shaunas LeFrancois pimping Payne vs Vader ages ago as a good, hard hitting Mid-South style match...has anyone here seen it?

Maxx Payne vs. Ron Simmons - Street Fight - WCW Worldwide 5/21/94

 

When we did the did '94 Worldwide project on my blog this was one of my favorite matches. It's at Disney MGM but instead of inside a studio lot it's out on one of the main streets of the theme park and they do a wild fight including a shot with a 2x4 that legit look like it broke an arm.

I've been digging through all of the 1995 WO results archives and in the results, here were the Man Mountain Rock matches that had "star ratings" next to them. As a point of reference, these ratings were what fans submitted so they're completely just one random fan's viewpoint, but it raises the important question - how did we miss Payne vs Mantaur?!

 

6/16/1995 Sacramento, CA (WWF - 2,000) WWF Man Mountain Rock b Bob Backlund *

10/6/1995 Vienna, Austria (WWF - 4,000) WWF Man Mountain Rock b Rad Radford *

6/4/1995 Fort Wayne, IN (WWF - 2,000) WWF Man Mountain Rock b Tatanka *

6/17/1995 Anaheim Pond (WWF - 7,000) WWF Man Mountain Rock b Bob Backlund 1/4*

5/19/1995 Montreal (WWF - 8,500) WWF Man Mountain Rock b Mantaur DUD

6/10/1995 New York Madison Square Garden (WWF - 8,000) WWF Man Mountain Rock b Bob Backlund -***1/2

7/29/1995 Hampton Beach, NH (WWF - 2,000) WWF Bob Backlund b Man Mountain Rock DUD

7/30/1995 Hynannis, MA (WWF - 2,200) WWF Bob Backlund b Man Mountain Rock DUD

8/28/1995 Canton, OH (WWF Superstars & Raw taping - 1,600) WWF Non-squash results: Jean Pierre Lafitte b Man Mountain Rock *1/2

 

The MSG match vs Backlund might be out there on the internet as MSG bootlegs pop up randomly. Also, as a point of reference, there was a lot of Backlund hate for his '95 run (negative -4.5 stars against Bob Holly, -3 stars against Davey Boy) from the submitters.

Thanks for those, mookie. I wouldn't mind seeing a Payne/Backlund match.

 

As an aside, how irritating is that 'DUD' rating?

And no, his "documentary" was never released in any shape or form. I'm surprised it didn't pop out somewhere though.

There's footage of it on Kevin Nash's YouShoot, in the form of a trailer. So it might be released sometime down the road.

 

I don't think he had anywhere near enough footage. The footage on the Nash shoot is really tame anyway. I think it was just an attempt to scare some hush money out of the WWE.

I don't think I've seen any matches of his that I've really enjoyed outside of the Nasty Boys matches. I don't recall anything notable coming out of Man Mountain Rock besides the buildup of a feud with Bob Backlund that I don't recall having a blowoff.

 

Really, the first thing that comes to mind is the lawsuit he filed over the Max Payne video game.

I remember Shaunas LeFrancois pimping Payne vs Vader ages ago as a good, hard hitting Mid-South style match...has anyone here seen it?

I just watched a Vader/Payne match which was decent, but seemed set up more to give Vader a dominant win (I think it was coming off the back of the defeat to Sting in the International title match). Payne got a standard vertical suplex, but not much more. I was disappointed he didn't get a chance to throw him around a little.