Clarence Mason | |
|---|---|
| Born | Herman Stevens Jr. (1965-06-17)June 17, 1965 (age 59) Sioux City, Iowa, U.S. |
| Other names | Clarence Mason J. Biggs Mr. Biggs |
| Alma mater | Southern University Law Center |
Herman Stevens Jr.[1] (born June 17, 1965) is an Americanattorney and formerprofessional wrestlingmanager, best known for his attorneygimmicks asClarence Mason in theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) and asJ. Biggs inWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1999–2000.
As a child, Stevens always wanted to be a performer in the wrestling industry. While in college, he unsuccessfully attempted to obtain an internship with WCW. When Stevens was in theSouthern University Law Center, he befriendedErnie Ladd, who managed to get him a meeting with the WWF. Stevens went to New York to meet withVince McMahon and was eventually signed to a contract.[2]
Stevens entered the WWF in 1995 as Clarence Mason (whose stage name was a play onClarence Darrow andPerry Mason), a lawyer[3] primarily introduced to play off the publicity lawyers had gotten during the ongoingO. J. Simpsontrial. His character and speaking style were based onJohnnie Cochran.
Clarence Mason was introduced as the legal counsel forJim Cornette, who was attempting to reverse a decision at anIn Your House 3pay per view event that had seen Yokozuna and the British Bulldog, whom Cornette was managing, lose theWWF Tag Team Championship held byDiesel andShawn Michaels. Following this, Mason continued his association with Cornette and hisstable of wrestlers.[4]
In August 1996, Mason left the Cornette stable and managedCrush (Brian Adams).[5] Adams had been arrested in March 1995 and spent some time in jail; upon his return the WWF gave him a biker gimmick and used his real-life incarceration as part of a storyline, with Mason as his attorney.[6] Later that year Mason became manager ofFaarooq and the two formedThe Nation of Domination, a heel stable loosely based on theNation of Islam andBlack Panther Party, Crush would join the stable as well. Mason still managed Owen & Bulldog[7] while with The Nation, but got fired by the Bulldog in March 1997.[8] In June 1997, Faarooq "fired" Mason from the Nation of Domination, according to Mason in a shoot interview, he requested to be taken out of the Nation because he was uncomfortable with their racial comments in storylines and interviews that they were doing, the other reason was becauseVince McMahon wanted managers to start taking more bumps and getting involved in matches and Mason was written off television and released from his WWF contract.[9]
In 1999, Stevens resurfaced in WCW asJ. Biggs, where he managedChris Kanyon. A few months later, Kanyon dropped his association with Biggs, which left him to search for a new client. This time, Biggs picked the newly established tag team of Harlem Heat 2000, which consisted ofStevie Ray andBig T. The team feuded withBooker T.[10] Biggs gained a (kayfabe) court order against Booker T, which stated he could not use the letter "T" after defeating Booker atSuperBrawl 2000 when the lights were turned off and Big T rolled Booker up when they were turned back on as per match stipulation. Shortly thereafter, Biggs was released from his contract and left professional wrestling.
After leaving WCW, Stevens headed to South Florida and returned to his original profession, a practicing attorney. He currently practices out of offices inDelray Beach.[1]