| Maxx Payne | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Darryl Peterson |
| Born | (1961-10-03)October 3, 1961 (age 63) Iowa City, Iowa, United States |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Beater Blacksmith Buffalo Peterson Heavy Metal Buffalo Lucifer Payne Man Mountain Rock Maximum Payne Max Pain Max Payne Maxx Payne |
| Billed height | 6 ft 6 in (198 cm)[1] |
| Billed weight | 350 lb (159 kg)[1] |
| Billed from | "Hell's Kitchen" "The State of Euphoria" |
| Trained by | Red Bastien |
| Debut | 1987[2] |
| Retired | 2003 |
Darryl Peterson (born October 3, 1961) is an American musician, actor and retiredprofessional wrestler. He is best known for his time inWorld Championship Wrestling asMaxx Payne, and in theWorld Wrestling Federation asMan Mountain Rock.
Peterson became involved in wrestling ingrade school when he transferred fromfootball toamateur wrestling as result of a personality clash with the football coach. His amateur career was halted by amotorcycle accident in hisjunior year ofhigh school. After playing a high school wrestler in the filmTake Down withLorenzo Lamas, Peterson married and had a child. He began working in the construction industry, but decided after two years to return to amateur wrestling.[3]
Peterson earnedwrestlingscholarships tojunior college and then toIowa State University, competing in theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). In 1985 he was an All-American, placed fifth in the NCAA competition and also won the Gorriarian award for having the most falls in the least amount of time at the tournament. Every match he won that year at the NCAA's, he won by fall. It was his best and only NCAA finish. Then he relocated toLos Angeles to pursue an acting career. While working as asecurity guard, he was introduced to professional wrestlerRed Bastien by his boss, and decided to train with him.[4]
Peterson worked for theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) in March 1986, and put together thesteel cage used in the main event ofWrestleMania 2. With his training complete, he debuted in June 1987 and soon after traveled to Japan to work forNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he trained in the New JapanDojo alongside fellowgaijinChris Benoit for five months.[3]
In 1988, Peterson developed thecharacterMax Pain (short for "Maximum Pain"), a sinister,grungy,Jimi Hendrix-lovingheavy metal guitarist.[5] His original idea wasLucifer Payne, but he felt that this was too foreboding. He used the nameMax Payne, hailing fromHell's Kitchen, New York nationally in the United States as well as in Europe and Japan. Following a short stint with theUniversal Wrestling Federation (UWF), Pain debuted in theTennessee-basedContinental Wrestling Association (CWA). He quickly began pursuing theCWA Heavyweight Championship, and on February 8, 1988 inMemphis he defeatedJerry Lawler to win the championship. He then went after Lawler'sAWA World Heavyweight Championship, but was unable to win the title. He forfeited the CWA Championship toBrickhouse Brown on May 23, but won the title once more on June 27. His second reign ended on July 10 when he was defeated byPhil Hickerson.[6]
Pain left the CWA after a year before returning toUtah, where he opened his ownpromotion, featuring wrestlers such asLouie Spicolli. He also made an appearance under his real name as ajobber on a February 1989 episode ofWWF Prime Time Wrestling, losing toBret Hart. After his employees began to leave the territory, Peterson applied for a job with WordPerfect. Soon after, he received a phone call from Benoit, who invited him to join an upcoming tour of Germany. Peterson received his plane ticket to Germany half an hour before he received a job offer from WordPerfect, so decided to join the tour. He spent six months in the GermanCatch Wrestling Association asHeavy Metal Buffalo and won the vacantCWA Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship on October 25, 1992, defeatingGiant Haystacks. He then successfully defended the title againstThe Warlord atEuro Catch Festival on December 19. He vacated the title the following year when he returned to theUnited States.[3][7]
World Championship Wrestling (WCW)bookerBill Watts was impressed by Peterson's amateur credentials, and hired him in 1993, with Peterson relocating toMarietta, Georgia. Peterson made his televised debut in WCW as thevillainMaxx Payne on the January 30, 1993 episode ofWorldwide by defeatinglocal competitor Scott Allen.[8] Peterson's firstpay-per-view match was atSuperBrawl III, where he played Taps[9] on his guitar before challengingDustin Rhodes for theWCW United States Heavyweight Championship, substituting for the injuredRon Simmons. After Rhodes locked him in anabdominal stretch from which he was unable to escape, Payne pushed the referee over rather than submit and was subsequently disqualified.[3][10]
At the June 17Clash of the Champions XXIII, Payne shotJohnny B. Badd in the face with aconfetti gun, (kayfabe) scarring him so badly that he had to wear a mask and forcing him to forfeit their scheduled match.[11] This led to a match atBeach Blast on July 18, which Payne lost.[12] They faced one another again at the August 18Clash of the Champions XXIV in amask versus guitar match, with Payne putting his guitar on the line in order to unmask and therefore humiliate the mutilated Badd. Badd won once more and took Payne's guitar. Badd unmasked willingly to reveal he was fully healed.[3][13]
Payne took part in WCW'sJesse "The Body" Ventura Strong-Arm Tournament in late 1993, but was eliminated in the first round bySid Vicious. On November 20, Payne entered theBattlebowl, a tournament which saw randomly assigned tag team partners work together in order to progress to abattle royal. He was partnered with2 Cold Scorpio, with whom he lost in the first round toStunning Steve Austin andRic Flair.[14] Payne later turnedface and formed atag team withCactus Jack towards the end of the year. AtStarrcade 1993 they defeatedTex Slazenger andShanghai Pierce,[15] and at the January 27, 1994Clash of the Champions XXVI, they defeatedThe Nasty Boys.[16] They faced the Nasty Boys once more, this time for theWCW World Tag Team Championships, in a ChicagoStreet Fight atSpring Stampede 1994, but were defeated.[3][17]
During his and Jack's feud with The Nasty Boys, Payne had become increasingly unhappy with theirstiffness and insistence on controlling the match. During their brawl atSuperBrawl IV,Brian Knobbs and Payne did not cooperate on a fall, and Knobbs broke his shoulder as a result. After the match, WCW PresidentEric Bischoff shouted at Payne for hurting Knobbs, and Payne responded in kind. As a result, he was subsequentlyburied. He was fired from WCW soon after, although he did help Jack and his new partner,Kevin Sullivan, defeat The Nasty Boys with a guitar shot.[3]
The morning after he was released by WCW, Peterson was contacted by wrestlerRick Rude, who convinced WWF ownerVince McMahon to hire him. RenamedMan Mountain Rock in honor of early-20th century wrestlerMan Mountain Dean, his WWF character was considerably more upbeat and less gritty than the popular Maxx Payne character and did not achieve the same success. Debuting in February 1995 on an episode ofWWF Superstars of Wrestling, Man Mountain Rock played a large electric guitar shaped like the WWF logo. He frequently stated, "If it's too loud, then you're too old!" In the latter part of his WWF tenure, his music incurred the wrath of veteranBob Backlund, then playing the part of a cantankerous heel crusading against the younger generation, who objected to the music Man Mountain Rock was playing. Backlund smashing Man Mountain Rock's guitar led to a feud, with both trading victories back and forth on house shows, but Man Mountain Rock was released before they could wrestle on television. Man Mountain Rock had suffered several injuries during his amateur career, and had hoped to secure a backstage position with WCW. When he moved to the WWF, he asked to be made an announcer, but his request was denied. His career in the WWF met with several disruptions, including a serioushernia, an addiction to pain pills anddowners and amarijuana habit, which ultimately led to his release in October 1995.
While working for the WWF, Peterson filmed several hours of behind-the-scenes footage with avideo camera which he often carried and claimed that he would release a documentary calledThe Thing that Should Not Be orThe Real Maxx Payne based on the footage, but never did.[3] The footage reportedly contained scenes showingsubstance abuse andsolicitation.[3]
After WWF, Payne returned to CWA (Germany) as Buffalo Peterson.
In July 2003, Peterson filed a$10 millionlawsuit in theUnited States district court forUtah againstRockstar Games,3D Realms,Gathering of Developers, andRemedy Entertainment, accusing them of stealing his ring nameMaxx Payne and hisneo-noir theme for the protagonist of the video gameMax Payne.[5][18][19] The case was settled out of court.[20]
On April 17, 2004, Peterson addressed an audience in the Schubert Theater at the Western States College for the Performing Arts inGooding, Idaho, talking about professional wrestling.[21]
,Internet Wrestling Database