 The Warlord in 2016 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Terry Scott Szopinski[1][2] (1962-03-28)March 28, 1962 (age 63)[1][2] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Super Assassin #2[1][2] Violence Warlord[2] The Warlord[3] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 5 in (196 cm)[3] |
| Billed weight | 323 lb (147 kg)[3] |
| Billed from | "Parts unknown"[3] |
| Trained by | Eddie Sharkey[2] Rey Misterio Sr.[4] |
| Debut | 1986[2] |
Terry Scott Szopinski[1][2] (born March 28, 1962) is an Americanprofessional wrestler. He is best known by hisring nameThe Warlord and for his tenures inJim Crockett Promotions and theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) as one-half of thePowers of Pain alongsideThe Barbarian.[3][5]
The Warlord's first national exposure was in the NWA territory Jim Crockett Promotions, where Powers of Pain held theWorld Six-Man Tag Team Championship until they departed the company in 1988 and joined the WWF, where they competed in the tag team division until the team was quietly split in 1990. Warlord then competed as a singles wrestler until departing in 1992 and had a small stint inWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1996, where he briefly reunited with The Barbarian as theSuper Assassins.
In 1986 while working out at a gym inMinnesota, Szopinski met its owner Joe Laurinaitis, better known as the professional wrestlerRoad Warrior Animal.[5] After coming up with possible ring names with Sharkey and Animal, Szopinski adopted the "Warlord" as his ring name and sent some photos of his work toDusty Rhodes.[5] Soon afterwards, Rhodes hired him and he began wrestling for theNational Wrestling Alliance'sJim Crockett Promotions later that year. After a brief stint in JCP, the territory's ownerJim Crockett Jr. sent him to the Kansas City-basedCentral States Wrestling territory for more training. While there, he teamed with Karl Kovac and won theNWA Central States Tag Team Championship on June 8, 1987, in a tournament.[1] However, he and Kovac were soon stripped of the title when Kovac was fired and Szopinski travelled to Japan for more training.[1]
In late 1987, Szopinski returned to Jim Crockett Promotions under his Warlord name and began teaming withIvan Koloff withPaul Jones as their manager. In 1988, he then formed a permanent tag team withthe Barbarian known as the "Powers of Pain", theheel counterparts tothe Road Warriors, while retaining Jones as their manager.[1][6]
While continuing to team with Koloff, The Powers of Pain feuded heavily with The Road Warriors, and defeated them and Dusty Rhodes for theNWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship.[5] To continue thefeud, JCP management wanted them to do some scaffold matches against the Warriors, but this was met with opposition from Szopinski and Vailahi over fears of injury.[5] As a result, they both left JCP and joined theWorld Wrestling Federation, vacating the six-man tag team title in the process.[5][7]
The Powers of Pain made their debut on June 18, 1988, as a replacement forStrike Force (Tito Santana andRick Martel) in aWWF World Tag Team Championship match where they beatDemolition bycountout.[8] Their televised debut was filmed June 21 inGlens Falls and screened on the July 16 episode ofSuperstars where - having earlier in the night, in a dark match taped and later released on DVD, gained another countout win over Demolition when the champions walked out[8] - they defeatedenhancement talentsIron Mike Sharpe and Tony Ulysses.[9][8] Although the Barbarian had already been wearing face paint in JCP, it was at this point that the Warlord began to also use face paint.
Upon their arrival, the Powers of Pain werefaces managed by Santana.[10][11] They feuded with Demolition[12] who had defeated Strike Force for the title and then injured Martel (kayfabe). The Powers of Pain were introduced as mercenaries to help Martel and Santana gain revenge on Demolition for both the title loss and the injury to Martel. They had their first televisedrivalry againstThe Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff andBoris Zhukov). They defeated Bolsheviks in theirpay-per-view debut atthe inaugural SummerSlam, where they introduced their new managerThe Baron.[13] The Baron left the WWF in early November.
AtSurvivor Series, the Powers' team defeated Demolition's team in a tag team elimination match, with the Powers being the sole survivors of their team.[6][14] Near the end of the match, Demolition's managerMr. Fuji double-crossed them and after they beat him up and left, the Powers came to his aid, gaining Fuji as their manager in the process, in return for which his interference helped the Powers eliminate the last remaining opponents, theConquistadors.[5][6] Afterwards, the Powers and Fuji celebrated until Demolition returned and drove them from the ring. As a result, the Powers became villains while Demolition became fan favorites.[6]
Following this, Demolition and the Powers (with Fuji now in their corner) engaged in a series of championship matches at house shows, typically ending in double disqualification or a narrow countout victory for the Powers. On December 12 episode ofPrime Time Wrestling, Fuji was confirmed as the new manager of The Powers of Pain. On February 20 episode ofPrime Time Wrestling, Powers of Pain received an opportunity for the Tag Team Championship against Demolition, which they lost via disqualification. In 1989, Szopinski entered theRoyal Rumble as the twenty-first entrant, but lasted only two seconds before being eliminated byHulk Hogan, setting the record for shortest time spent in a Royal Rumble match, although this record would be broken bySantino Marella at theRoyal Rumble in 2009. AtWrestleMania V, Powers of Pain and Mr. Fuji competed against Demolition for the title in ahandicap match, where Demolition retained the title by pinning Fuji.[6]
In March 1990, The Powers of Pain split, with Fuji selling Barbarian's contract toBobby "The Brain" Heenan while selling Warlord's contract toSlick.[6] After the team's split, Warlord received an attire change, where he abandoned his Road Warrior-like reverse mohawk and face paint in favor of a shaved head and a silver metallicCyborg-stylePhantom of the Opera-like half-mask and black armor. He also brought a metal staff topped with aW with him to his matches and used it as a weapon on occasion. He temporarily shaved his beard into a horseshoe moustache. He began a feud withthe British Bulldog leading to a match atWrestleMania VII. He was granted a chance at the world title againstHulk Hogan on August 2, 1991, in which he was defeated. He then began a long-running series of matches withthe Texas Tornado, which rarely had either man winning. However, he did manage to score a singles victory over a high-profile wrestlerJake Roberts on August 23, 1991. On April 17, 1992, Szopinski lost toVirgil in his final match for the WWF in Birmingham, England.[15]
After leaving the WWF for theindependent circuit, Szopinski traveled to theCatch Wrestling Association and lost toCWA World Heavyweight ChampionRambo in the CWA Catch Cup 1992 on August 22, 1992, in Germany.[16] He wrestled two additional times in the fall, losing to Rambo in a rematch and then falling to new championBuffalo Peterson.
In April 1993 Szopinski traveled to another German promotion, World Wrestling Superstars and had considerable success as he dominatedButch Reed in multiple encounters. Throughout the year he appeared in multiple other promotions, includingHerb Abrams'Universal Wrestling Federation, theWorld Wrestling Council,Extreme Championship Wrestling, andWAR. In 1994 Szopinski narrowed his focused to theIndependent Wrestling Federation and WAR, participating in lengthy tours with both companies. On August 26, 1994, he teamed withBob Backlund andScott Putski to defeatGedo,Hiromichi Fuyuki, andJado and win theWAR Six-Man Tag Team Championship in an event held in Yokohama, Japan. They lost the titles days later in a rematch on September 1.[17]
On September 23, 1994, the Powers of Pain reunited for the first time in over two years to compete for the vacantUWF Tag-Team Championship atUWF Blackjack Brawl. They were defeated by the Killer Bees. Szopinski and Vailahi continued their renewed partnership in 1995, traveling to theNWC where they faced the team Aerial Assault (Bob Bradley and a youngRob Van Dam).
On October 11, 1995, Warlord and Barbarian made their return toWorld Championship Wrestling. They were now dubbed the "Super Assassins", wrestled under masks, and were managed byColonel Robert Parker. The Super Assassins were defeated bythe Nasty Boys in their first match. Both wrestlers participated in the three-ring battle royal in the main event ofWCW World War 3 on November 26. On December 16, they earned their first victory, defeating the State Patrol onWCW Worldwide.[18] Their last match was on the January 1, 1996, edition of Monday Nitro where they fell toLex Luger andSting, after which the team was disbanded.[19]
The Warlord was forced to retire from wrestling due to suffering neck injuries in a car accident involving a Pizza Hut delivery van in 1996.[1][2][5] The accident caused significant life-altering injuries, including nerve damage that left one side of his body permanently disfigured.[20]
Warlord returned for one match teaming withTyphoon as they lost to theHarris Twins at Key West, Florida for Wrestling International Pro on May 31, 1997.[21]
After attempting a comeback in 2001, Szopinski was sidelined yet again after suffering severe leg damage in a motorcycle accident.[5] During his recovery, he retired from wrestling and began training as asecurity guard and started providing his services for Relief Group International, an auto relief group.[5] He soon extended his services into bodyguarding, and worked alongside celebrities such as50 Cent,Thomas Jones andKimbo Slice, who nicknamed Szopinski the "Wall".[5]
On January 10, 2003, Szopinski made his first wrestling-related appearance in years as he acted as a special guest referee for Hardkore Championship Wrestling in a match betweenChristian York andReckless Youth, which Youth won.[1] On January 25, he made his official in-ring return under his Warlord name and character as he defeatedJoe Gomez.[1]
After wrestling regularly throughout the rest of 2003 and 2004, Warlord wrestled at thefirst WrestleReunion on January 29, 2005, where he competed in abattle royal for the IWA Heavyweight Championship. However, he was eliminated byGreg "The Hammer" Valentine, who would go on to win the match and the title.[1]
On April 29, 2006, he defeated Chaz to win the Maximum Xtreme Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Championship, his first singles title.[1]
In August 2012,Chikara announced that the Warlord would be making his debut for the promotion in the following month's2012 King of Trios tournament, where he will reunite with the Barbarian and Meng as the "Faces of Pain".[22] On September 14, the team was eliminated from the tournament in the first round by TeamROH (Mike Bennett,Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson).[23][24] Two days later, on the final day of the tournament, the Barbarian and the Warlord took part in a tag teamgauntlet match, from which they eliminated their old WWF rivals, Demolition, before being eliminated themselves by the1-2-3 Kid andMarty Jannetty.[23]
In July 2016, Szopinski was named part of aclass action lawsuit filed against WWE which alleged that wrestlers incurred traumatic brain injuries during their tenure and that the company concealed the risks of injury. The suit was litigated by attorney Konstantine Kyros, who has been involved in a number of other lawsuits against WWE.[25] The lawsuit was dismissed by US District JudgeVanessa Lynne Bryant in September 2018.[26]
The Warlord is the second opponent in the 1991 computer game,WWF WrestleMania.
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