The Failed Mordecai Character in WWE
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- Опубліковано 29 сер 2024
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Mordecai was a failed WWE character who, at one point, was heavily featured on the Smackdown brand. It's been confirmed by numerous sources that Mordecai was on track to face The Undertaker (with Kevin Fertig saying the match was supposed to take place at WrestleMania 21) but ultimately Mordecai was taken off TV and he was never seen again.
Numerous reasons were given for Mordecai's release. Bruce Prichard would say Mordecai didn't get over with Vince McMahon from an in-ring perspective, Kevin Fertig said an altercation at a bar caused him to get released, and another reason was discussed that involved a former WWE writer making unwanted advances at Kevin. Whatever the case, Mordecai only lasted a few weeks in WWE though he did return as Kevin Thorn in the WWE ECW brand.
Special thanks to James and René Duprée from the Café René Podcast:
/ @cafederene
#WWE #Wrestling - Спорт
"I don't need tag teams, I need singles stars."
The words that will be etched into Vince's Gravestone. Never forget who he was.
But what kills me is that, every time they crown a new singles champ,they put them in a tag match afterwards. Every time they crown new tag champs,they put them in singles matches😂😂😂wwe
Well WWE. Most of the time there's only really like 3 Tag Teams that actually wrestle as a tag team regularly. And the Tag Team Title seems to exist mostly for "Who the babyface can squash in a Handicap match to show he can handle the champion". So yeah. It's a shame. I like Tag Matches and I think there's a lot of fun dynamics you can do with them that you just can't with singles. But the WWE is never where you're going to find that. As pretty much every tag match follows the Initial Domination followed by the other team doing a lot of quick tags and holding the opponent away from tagging out. To the final Double Down into a Hot Tag where everyone just enters the ring and once and the team that made the hot tag wins.
I'm not sure if it's their creative people were just incapable of thinking of other ways Tag Matches could go... or Vince just didn't care and refused to have any more complex tag mtaches if he could help it. I think possibly both as there were great tag matches I remember that broke away from that... like the first "TLC" match in 1999's Summerslam if I remember. Organically build up as the three teams (Dudley Boys, Hardy Boyz, and Edge and Christian) all had been attacking each other, all specialized in a particular weapon for it (Tables, Ladders, and Chairs respectively), and had a wild and memorable three way tag match.
... it was so good that like 4 months later Vince had a singles version of the match with people who had nothing to do with the weapons involved just because he seemed to think Singles Matches are just inherently better than tag matches I suppose.
... and eventually to create an entire PPV based around that match that still never really features tag team competition.
It's weird to think about how an actual creative Tag Team Match (I'm going to guess because of how creative and how it actually worked story wise it was probably pitched by the wrestlers themselves pushing it, though I have nothing beyond suspicions about that), got turned into a very bland PPV of Singles Matches almost exclusively, usually featuring wrestlers that never used those weapons at all.
@@rayb.1180 Yeah, Vince loved breaking up real tag teams, but he also sure loved teaming random people together.
Wrestling Bios has absolutely set the bar for 21st wrestling content. Best there is, best there was, best there ever will be.
I have to agree, bios' vids are always very well researched and produced, certainly a match for any other wrestling content on UA-cam
He doesn't set the bar, he IS the bar.
He’s a jam up guy
Eh he's aight
Absolutely ,makes my day 3 times a week
Mordecai could just compete on Biblical Sounding PPVs along with Wrestlemania. Just Think Judgment Day, Unforgiven, No Mercy and Armageddon
Vengance
The Judgement Day he debuted at was built around him.
Great idea and he can get buildup with seasoning up to them
I loved Mordecai. I get kind of mad when people say that Mordecai wasn’t over because Mordecai wasn’t around long enough to get over. It takes time for most wrestlers to get over with the fans.
Bro yes!!! All of this, I loved Mordecai and even when he came back as Kevin Thorn
Agreed. They could of did well like they did with Kane.
I mean people love romance reigns and I don5 think I've ever actually seen him wrestle definitely hasn't won much name for himself on his own.
The IWC loves to hate on things in retrospect. However, when this was going down on tv, I thought it was pretty interesting. It never got the time to sink or swim, so we can't really call it a failure.
@@twiztedclown learn how to spell properly
I loved the vignettes and the entrance music of Mordecai. Also fun fact the guy that played the character is a realtor now.
You learn something new every day.
It was Kevin Thorn
@Billy In Indianapolis, IN
I love vignettes also. And that’s cool I wonder if he sells haunted houses.
That is a brilliant business decision
I'd buy a house from Mordecai/kevin thorn
Ah yes, The Overtaker.
Overgiver*
😂
Always referred to him as the anti-taker
The American Goodass
Overator
They dropped the damn ball on this character with terrible booking!🤦♂️
Sadly a lot of people will just parrot popular opinions rather than actually taking an unbiased look for themselves and forming their own opinion, instead of just adopting other people's opinion. That's one of the many reasons why I enjoy this channel so much; you always give us your opinion and not just the popular opinion. I respect that a lot.
He was lame.
@@luisgomez8635 you’re lame
How bout instead of opinions we get facts. Absolutely no mention of mordecai being in that bar fight. Thats why he got sent back to ovw
That's the case with so many people in so many situations. Society is full of sheep
The guy in the front row doing the Razor Ramone moves @11:01 when Mordecai does the Razor's Edge was hilarious! 🤣🤣
These are the vids I love. The lesser known characters always fascinate me. Thanks once again Mr Bios!
really wish this or Kevin Thorn would have held more time to develop they were both very good gimmicks from a great wrestler
Just wanted to mention that I love what you do Mr. Bios. I'm sure I can speak for everyone here that you've got the Stuff like Buff! One thing I noticed is, watching back a lot of your older videos, that your confidence and execution in what you're producing here has gone up a lot. Love all of your stuff old and new, but definitely see you're getting into your groove in a big way
I didn't mind Mordecai tbh. I thought this gimmick showed a little promise so it's a shame it didn't work out. Excellent job at covering everything that happened with the character. 🤍👍🏻
Also, 13:28: "Mordecai visiting the red-light district and finding Shawn Michaels' fanny pack" is funny af and made me laugh so good stuff lol! 😂😭💀
Amazing video as always! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Wrestling Bios, Wrestling With Andy and MarkyD123. My Holy Trinity of top notch wrestling content on UA-cam.
I love revisiting these characters and angles through your Bios. Thanks so much for keeping my favorite eras of wrestling relevant for new and old fans alike.
Gotta give wrestling with wregret some love, brother love.
Shuv it man
@@ShubhamMishrabro shut up or I’ll smack you one lol
I was 11 years old. I remember liking the Mordecai gimmick and actually wanting to keep seeing it every week on TV. I was becoming a mark for him, because I was digging the character work and I wanted to see him wrestle The Undertaker! I don't know how much I'd be in love with it now, but as an 11 year old, for some reason I wanted to see some damnation gimmick run through the roster with some moral compass as an anti-Undertaker. Consider me an original fan and you're right, I never understood why people put this under some "all time failure gimmick" list, because it wasn't, it was something that was building up that was cut short and that was that.
Yeah, it's not fair to call something a flop when they just pulled the plug on it suddenly.
Why would they keep a guy like Bob Holly around when he's going out of his way to sabotage young talent they're trying to build up?
I couldn't agree more, So many Pro Wrestling UA-camrs completely dropped the ball on reporting facts about Mordecai. Honestly I was in my 20's when Mordecai came out. My friends and I all loved him too, no age requirement. He will always be my favorite wrestler that never was.
Mordecai vs undertaker at a WrestleMania would be great
And I also liked that Mordecai didn't have a character bio on the Smackdown website ..it kept his character mysterious
I was hoping you would cover this. I was pretty gutted it ended so abruptly.
All he needed was a sidekick named rigby and his character would've been $$$
Skips, muscleman and high five also could be wrestling characters lol
Everyone forgets about Pops
Whoaoaoaoaoaoaoa!!!
Needed a good chinlock finisher to get over with the fans.
He looked like Colonel Sanders evil brother.
Was gutted when Mordecai disappeared. Brilliant character, & a good wrestler.
I absolutely loved this character they could of done so much with him and taker and Kane storylines
No disrespect to Mr. Fertig, he did a good job and had an awesome idea. But I just can't help but think this would have gone a little better if they had picked Sean O'Haire for this. His "Devil's Advocate" promos tell me that much - and he would have really suited this character with a better look as well. Kevin looked too young to pull off the white hair thing IMO. They could have put more effort into the lighting; made it look like a dark church with candles, etc.
Apparently the reason why O'Haire didn't really work out was because he could do the pre tape stuff but when it came to actually cutting a promo Infront of the crowd in the ring he just couldn't pull it off the same
I had high hopes for Mordecai. It's a shame his legs were cut out from underneath him before he got a chance to run with his gimmick
I don't agree he would of gotten stale, what would of happened based on the booking if he beats Rey , eventually he would get in the upper mid card maybe even win the Ic or us title depending on which brand he was on and fued with Eddie eventually going to undertaker
I remember Mordecai from the infamous House Show in Munich during which JBL did the "Sieg Heil" salute.
Everything was very silent when Mordecai came to the ring and there was no reaction at all during the match from. It felt awkward start to finish and I remember it to this day...
The dudley boys had the best pop during that event.
Now you know why Muhammed Assan fail in WWE.
I was excited for this guy. I like fantastical characters in wrestling. The Brood, Acolytes, Ministry of Darkness, Taker and Kane obviously, original Mankind. Hell I was even looking forward to Seven before Dustin killed it. I would have loved Batista to carry on his Leviathan gimmick in WWF.
Thanks for the upload!
11:00 Just pointing that the guy in the front with the Austin 3:16 is marking out like crazy for that Razor's Edge
Mordecai had such potential I really wanted that character to work out. woulda been great if it made it to a match with Undertaker at Least
That's what the plan originally was during May of smackdown 2004 it was gonna be Undertaker vs. Mordecai at Judgement Day instead of Booker T
Everyone consistently compared him to Taker, but being a huge mark for the Brood during the Attitude Era, I had always viewed as somewhat of a creepier, albeit a slightly watered down version of Gangrel. Anybody else agree??
Gangrel and Brock lesnar's lovechild
I agree. This character could’ve worked. They gave up way too soon. But at this point, this company had completely lost its way, so it’s not surprising.
I think this was during the ringrat romp competitions
I mean diva search so not surprised look at all the characters at the time, it didn't succeed because they didn't allow it success
I really, really liked this character and was sad to see it cut short so soon. The entrance and music were top tier and it had so much potential.
I enjoyed the Thorne gimmick as well. Shame he didn't get used to his full potential
Well like V1 from OSW Review said, *"How can you have this tailor-made feud for The Undertaker, it's clearly what it's for and never even get there?!?"*
Listening to this video I think what ultimately doomed Mordecai was the grandiosity of the idea. Mordecai was never going to work as mid card gimmick. It has to be at least upper midcard, and in order to do that, you need to get your in ring stuff over, so the higher ups pulled the plug.
I agree with that. I think had they let Kevin build in the mid card then transform into this crazy character.
They didnt want him to shine over the undertaker
This guy was so cool to me. I thought him vs undertaker would have been awesome
Didn't we all?
WrestlingBios you once said in one of your video's that you liked wrestlers who came from movies who had an interesting gimmick but unfortunately the mordecai gimmick isn't any different. Kevin fertig may have thought he created the gimmick on his own but in actuality the character had already existed because it came from a keanu reeves movie in 1995 " Johnny Mnomic" which also starred ice-t and dolph lundgren. As a matter of fact that still image silhouette you have in your own video at 1:38 with mordecai holding the cross was also in that movie when your first introduced to dolph lundgren's religious zealot character.
When they deaded the character out of nowhere I was so lost as a kid. So happy you did this.
When I notice a new wrestling bios video, I immediately stop what I am doing and watch. Granted I ain’t often doing anything important, but still.
I loved how the kid in the front row did Scott Hall's cha-cha taunt after Mordacai did the Razor's Edge
I caught that when I saw this match the first time, glad it was in here as I always remembered that
Mordecai is like a mix of Right to Censor, Dustin Runnel's born again gimmick and an inversion of Ministry Undertaker
I want to shout out wrestling bios for making wrestling content on the niche bits of wrestling that made up my childhood. Second I want to mention how interesting it is when you look in Mordecai's career and the possibility of a route that could have been taken. Should Eddie Guerrero not felt such a hit when it came to the Smackdown ratings and won his match with JBL kept the belt and feuded with Mordecai as it was allured too. Maybe also pick up that feud against Taker at WrestleMania 21 possibility even ending the streak before it even began could have been a very stardom start to a big career.
His Kevin Thorn character had way more potential in my opinion, but once again WWE gave up on it. But it did last a few years rather than just a few months at least.
Envisioning a preacher who hates sin so much that he busts through the confessional booth to grab the sinner by the neck and that sounds like an AMAZING character.
I remember WWE introduced a whole slew of new characters around this time - Kenzo Suzuki, Mordecai, Kazarny, Kennedy, Carlito - and did precisely nothing with most of them.
The fact that so many people still remember and talk about this, just shows that it did have legs.
Not hearing the proud MUFUGGIN middle name of one Steve Blackman was a shock I was not prepared for. Sort of like Glacier's debut...
@2:38 YOU'RE AS COLD AS ICE!
Yeah, I was surprised too when I heard him just say Steve Blackman. 😂🤣
Underrated talent. I loved his unorthodox style in the ring.
Bruh, your output is insane. I wish I had a fraction of your productivity.
This guy is PRIME boy stable material. So sad we never got the dream match of Mordecai vs. Devil's Advocate Sean O' Haire.
I just thought of them before I seen this comment they should have been on teams if anything
Boooooo
What about ultimo dragon as a boy?
To me the time period in WWE when Mordecai debut is a strange one because I feel like WWE was struggling to build completely new WWE stars and it felt like often they would debut someone new only to have them not be around too long afterwards because maybe they got bored with the character.
You should look at the also short lived WWE run of Kizarny. I thought the concept of the character was interesting but they didn’t do much with him once he officially debut.
I remember when Mordecai started and I was expecting Mordecai vs Undertaker at Summerslam that year
You were on the right track. It might not've been at Summerslam, but Mordecai's whole presentation was definitely for a feud with Undertaker. I'd imagine he would've been in the Heidenreich spot from the fall of 2004 to the beginning of 2005.
A fued with Eddie first would've made sense as he mentioned him in a promo.
@@cpb1998 I thought this weeks before that promo aired.
@@gabepollock1641 At the time I just assumed (in Mid-May) that they were building it up for a big show and the next big show would be Summerslam
@@PeterHowe228 I can see why you’d assume that; it makes booking sense.
You efforts to upload videos so frequently is GREATLY appreciated. That’s for your hard work.
Who’s Paul London referring to as “lasagne”?
I've had the opportunity to talk with Kevin several times at my job, and each time he's remembered me by name. He's such a genuine and kind guy. Wish things would've worked out for him in "The E." I did get to see him a few years back in a tag match with Billy Gunn, he also came to my buddies house one Wrestlemania night, took pics and signed autographs. What a guy.
This is the first video I am watching on your channel that I wasn't watching WWE at the time for. I've heard a couple of stories about how Kevin was treated in the back and it was a shame if true.
Hadn’t thought about this since right now. Another reason I absolutely love this channel.
I am glad you give your own opinion. 99 of 100 channels have the same views. You work hard too. Keep it up. Thanks
His attire and character was perfect for a undertaker match.
They can give Matt Hardy 45 failed gimmicks that he recycles, but this guy couldn't get one. Shame.
I literally have no recollection of this character or that he had two ppv matches. I recall people talking about him during the dreadful Syfy ECW days, but never saw anything besides one image still.
12:27 bringing a sign to cheer for your local EB Games is quite a stance to take at a wrestling show
Echoing some of the comments below, I remember being really big on this character at the time. It actually shocked me to learn just how quickly the experiment was over, but I knew as soon as he took a loss to Rey, he sadly wasn't going anywhere anymore.
One thing I remember about Mordecai was how he was brought in and immediately dropped in near-succession with Heidenreich...
which now that I think about it would have been a classic tag-team!
Well... maybe "a MEMORABLE tag-team" would be more accurate.
Halfway through the video, I realized it was the same guy who was later Kevin Thorn and was amazed by how neat Mordecai seemed vs how lame Thorn was.
I'm so glad you covered this character. I actually got to speak with Kevin Fertig at a "House of Hardcore" show in Philadelphia several years ago. He was one of the nicest guys there. He told me the exact same story of how he met Vince McMahon. He also said he was pitched for his match with The Undertaker that he would come out of the sky and The Undertaker would come up from the ground. Though vague and presented differently, they did use this type of entrance between The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels at WM25.
Lasagna? No idea who those people are.
Imagine lights go out, you hear pianos, red lights flashing.... then lights go back on and he's full of blood.... next PPV he comes back and joins the Undertaker with Gangrel. Destroying Heyman and the Dudleys.
It’s a shame this happened when Goldust was away from wwe. The “purity vs debauchery” rivalry and stunts write themselves. It would have been great. This was 2004, I think Goldust came back 2005-ish.
Really loved that character. Wasn’t a fan of Kevin Thorne the Vampire, but I feel like a feud with the Ministry until finally reaching the Undertaker.
I was years out of wrestling at this point.
Seeing some photos of Mordecai ... I honestly thought it was a Gangrel Reboot
Nice, this reminds me of the early days when you were called wrestling lists and you did stuff no one else was doing like doink the clown or men on a mission. I like the obscurer stuff that other channels ignore.
I've literally shared this channel with all my friends. Best yt content by far. Especially on long drives with no reception these reliving the wars videos are a godsend
It's winning me over but osw takes the cake and it turns out it's the Scottish Irish connection so they are all boys.
He works out at my gym. I talked to him for a bit right after Vince left. He was a really nice guy.
Lord Bios has uploaded once again 🙇♂️ 🙏🏽 🐐
11:01 Look just to the right of the performers. Someone in the audience sees him do the razors edge & immediately does razor's classic taunt, the "cha cha cha" while pointing at himself with his thumbs... He could've done the same move, but turn it into a tiger bomb after the setup to differentiate
I will never stop thinking about the nickname the Italian commentators and fans gave him: Mordeicani ("Hebitesdogs")
I had a very similar idea for a gimmick myself. I had written out a back story and everything for it, and I did it years before Mordecai came out. When the character debuted, it was kinda like my idea coming to life. I was super excited about the character. I think it could have worked. Fertig wasn't a ring general by any means, but I don't think the failure of the character was his fault. I think it could have worked if it had been booked differently, and if they had found a way to weave it into the Undertaker/Kane story. I tend to believe Fertig's account of the events. One thing you missed in the video is the involvement of Holly. Holly's status as an unofficial enforcer for McMahon has been well documented over the years. Many guys have said that they knew McMahon was pissed at them when they suddenly found themselves booked against Holly. Something obviously happened between the Eddie Guerrero promo and the beginning of the mini feud with Holly. Fertig's run was over before the match with Holly even took place.
Could have had a Heaven or Hell match. Hell, you get buried, Heaven, you rise out of the stadium...
A video package airs telling us "The Time of Reckoning is Upon Us". The words "Hear Me, Fear Me" appear as a church door opens up and blacks out the screen. I don't know what this is, but it's coming to WWE, and I can't wait to find out more next week.
What a shock, Bruce Prichard taking credit for things he had very little or nothing to do with
**Uploaded 1 minute ago**
Great video!! Love the ending!!! Super informative 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Dumb question: who is Lasagna? Is that a code word for someone they can’t mention?
Kevin ".VAMPIRE DUDE" fertigg..The albino undertaker ...looked like a PHOTO NEGATIVE 😂😂
These dudes really went to some extreme levels to take over a wrestling company
very well done, so much more information than you get on some of the other videos on this subject
Who is "Lasagne"?
Great stuff WB / Ryan - have watched a couple of vids on this and as usual your research sets you apart, nice job
“I don’t need tag teams…”
Ya don’t fxcking say, Vince!
Great theme remix. Also, lol, who's Lasagne?
This gimmick was interesting and it would have been intriguing seeing Mordecai and Taker in a program.
Vince: "i don't need tag teams".
We know Vinnie, we know..
always have a dream scenario where Kizarny is making his goofy intro and Mordecai jumps and beats him to a pulp then the next week he is in the ring "people ask me why Mordecai why Kizarny how is he a sinner...WHY? God hates clowns" then start kind of small feud that way and have great back in forth matches from there; but they both got screwed big time was cool to see them tag in the indies with another guy that got screwed named Gangrel
Wasn't Mordecai's entrance music the original version of Undertaker's theme or a remix of it or something like that? I remember Jim Johnston saying something like that on Steve Austin's podcast.
There’s so much you can do with a character like this, angles that could play out for years if paced well! There’s a temptation angle, a hypocrisy angle, a crisis of faith angle, a leaving the faith angle, a return to the faith angle, a conversion angle (can you tell I grew up in the church yet?), etc. Something like this could be done today, just less theatrically.
This is all awesome dude, I would co book with you anyday.
A Mordecai Vs Undertaker program in a battle of light Vs darkness match at a ppv would have been epic and it's such a shame that we never got to see them cross paths on Smackdown, the promos and build up alone would have been very interesting.
Especially interesting as the light character was the heel and the dark character the face
When he made his in ring debut, I 100% expected him to attack the Undertaker on that same show (Just like Mankind did the night after WM 12).
@@TheDarkVampire666 exactly, that alone would have made the dynamic between them even more interesting
@@toptenguy1 that would have been a great way to kick off the feud and set up a match for Judgment Day
I would tone it down like 20% and just have him mimic an actual fire and brimstone preacher. Make it a bit more natural. Put him in suits instead of robes. Make him give sermons. I think that kind of thing works a lot better post 90s.
@Marc Carran No it doesn't. go spread your stupid elsewhere.
I was at that Judgement Day. Even at a young age I knew that it was heading toward a Taker match
could we get your opinion on todays wrestling product? and whether you fall closer to jim cornettes pov of wrestling or closer to the young bucks/kenny omega side of wrestling? and general thoughts on the new triple h wwe and aew?
I was a kid when this guy was around! Was very confused he just disappeared. My dumb ass was excited for him.
I loved Mordecai for the very short time he was there. Thank you so much for the inifnite banger videos you produce. This one is one of my personal favorites
i have always liked this gimmick i remember seeing him wrestle live at a house show in germany in june of 2004 and he got a huge reaction from the german fans they were cheering him like he was the top star of the company