Kevin Wacholz

Kevin Wacholz

Professional wrestling career[]

American Wrestling Association[]

Kevin Wacholz started wrestling in 1982 in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) as Kevin Kelly, ababyface midcarder. By 1986, he was a top heel and challenged for theAWA World Heavyweight Championship. He was also using the moniker, "Mr. Magnificent" Kevin Kelly.

In 1987, he was issuing arm wrestling challenges and was managed bySherri Martel. This caused him to feud withTommy Rich, who answered one of his challenges on an edition ofAWA Championship Wrestling on ESPN. Kelly appeared to have the arm-wrestling match against Rich lost when Martel interfered on Kelly's behalf, for which Martel paid when Rich tore off her dress as payback.

After Martel left the AWA, she was replaced byMadusa Miceli as Kelly's manager. He often teamed withNick Kiniski as "The Perfect Tag Team" to contend for theAWA World Tag Team title.

He left the AWA for the independent promotions before it folded in 1991.

World Wrestling Federation[]

In 1992, a noticeably heavier Wacholz entered the WWF as Nailz, an ex-convict who, in a series ofpromos alleged that he was abused by former prison guardBig Boss Man during his incarceration, and also claimed to be innocent of his crimes. Following Big Boss Man'ssquash of Dave Roulette on a May 30 WWF syndicated program, Nailz, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, attacked Boss Man, then handcuffed him to the top rope and repeatedly hit and choked him with Boss Man's nightstick.

Nailz easily defeated numerous jobbers en route to defeating Boss Man's storyline allyVirgil atSummerSlam and continued to feud with Big Boss Man, who had recovered from Nailz's beating. Nailz is also credited with ending the full-time wrestling career ofSgt Slaughter in October 1992 (Slaughter would not appear again on WWF TV in a wrestling capacity until December 1997) Eventually, Big Boss Man defeated Nailz in anightstick match atSurvivor Series, putting an end to their feud.

He was then set to feud withThe Undertaker. The two had a stare down that aired on a WWF syndicated program and a picture of the two staring was used as the cover for the January 1993 issue of WWF's monthly magazine, but the feud never went anywhere.

However, Wacholz was fired from the WWF in December 1992, reportedly after he attackedVince McMahon in his office over a dispute over money, whileJohn Nord watched the door.Bret Hart recalls that Wacholz "cornered Vince in his office and screamed at him for fifteen minutes". Bret notes that he was just down the hall from the incident when he heard a loud crash, which was Wacholz "knocking Vince over in his chair, choking him violently". The incident led to a series of lawsuits between Wacholz and McMahon. Wacholz fired the first shot, alleging that McMahon had gave him steroids on a number of occasions; McMahon denied the claim, but Wacholz proceeded to file a wrongful termination lawsuit. The WWF filed a counterclaim against Wacholz, but later dropped the matter.

Wacholz later went on to testify against McMahon and the WWF when they were being indicted for giving their athletes steroids, saying that McMahon told him to take steroids and that he personally hated McMahon. According to the 2003 bookWrestleCrap, his testimony included the comment"I hate Vince McMahon's guts." Wacholz's testimony backfired and proved a catalyst in McMahon's acquittal.

Post-WWF[]

He went toWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1993 for a short stay as The Prisoner to feud withSting.

Wrestled In Jim Crockett's Short Lived WWN promotion in 1994 Under the name "The Convict"

In 1996, Wacholz used his Nailz gimmick inTito Santana'sAmerican Wrestling Federation. He retired in 2000.

He has two adult children and continues to reside in Minnesota. Wacholz owns & operates his own business - AAA Trailers.

In wrestling[]

• Finishing moves
  • Lateral vascular neck restraint
  • Sleeper hold

• Signature moves
  • The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (Chokehold)
  • Standing clothesline

• Managers
  • Madusa Miceli
  • Sherri Martel

• Nicknames
  • "Mr. Magnificent"

Championships and accomplishments[]

• WWWA Heavyweight Champion (1 time)
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated ranked him #336 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.

External links[]

• Kevin Wacholz profile