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Mike Enos

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Mike Enos
File:Mike Enos with Paul Billets.jpg
Enos with a fan
Birth nameMichael Enos
Born (1963-06-11) June 11, 1963 (age 61)
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Blake Beverly[1][2]
The Masked Sky Scraper[3]
The Mauler[3]
Mike Enos[1][2]
Total the Terrible[4]
Billed height6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
Billed weight252 lb (114 kg)
Billed fromShaker Heights, Ohio
(as Blake Beverley)[1]
Trained byEddie Sharkey
Debut1988
Retired2000

Michael Enos (born June 11, 1963) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association (AWA) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under his birth name and with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as Blake Beverly. For much of his career, Enos teamed with Wayne Bloom as The Destruction Crew/The Beverly Brothers.[3]

Professional wrestling career

American Wrestling Association (1988–1991)

See also: The Destruction Crew

Mike Enos started wrestling in the late 1980s after being trained by Eddie Sharkey. His signing with the AWA was due to trainer Eddie Sharkey’s connections in the federation. Early on, Enos worked mainly as a referee but slowly got more and more bookings as a wrestler. He was billed as "The Construction Worker" Mike Enos, that name was soon replaced by “Mean” Mike Enos, as he teamed up with fellow rookie Wayne "The Train" Bloom to form The Destruction Crew. The Destruction Crew was managed by Johnny Valiant.[5] In the fall of 1989 the Destruction Crew challenged then AWA World Tag Team champions Ken Patera and Brad Rheingans to a "car lifting" contest. During the challenge the Destruction Crew attacked Patera and Rhenigans and injured them (Storyline) and forced them to vacate the tag team titles.[6]

A tournament was set up to crown new tag team champions. In the tournament, the Destruction Crew would defeat the team of Sgt. Slaughter and Baron von Raschke in the first round and then beat Greg Gagne and Paul Diamond in the finals to win the titles.[6] That victory combined with their devious tactics earned the duo a joint Rookie of the Year award from the readers of Pro Wrestling Illustrated, which is the only time a tag team has won the award.[7]

At the last original AWA television taping on August 11, 1990 the Destruction Crew lost the AWA tag-team titles to longtime rivals The Trooper and D.J. Peterson.[6]

World Championship Wrestling (1990)

See also: The Destruction Crew

While still AWA World Tag Team Champions, the Destruction Crew joined World Championship Wrestling during the spring of 1990. In WCW they wrestled under masks as the "Minnesota Wrecking Crew II" and were managed by Ole Anderson who was part of the original Minnesota Wrecking Crew. They attempted without success to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship from The Steiner Brothers during a brief feud.

Enos also made a one-off appearance at WrestleWar 1990 as the (masked) third member of The Skyscrapers, called "The Masked Skyscraper." He was a last-minute replacement for Dan Spivey, who had left WCW days earlier.[8]

New Japan Pro Wrestling (1990)

After the AWA closed, the Destruction Crew went to Japan and compete in a series of matches in the New Japan Pro Wrestling including an unsuccessful title match against then IWGP Tag Team Champions Keiji Mutoh and Masahiro Chono on August 19, 1990.[9]

World Wrestling Federation (1991–1993)

See also: The Beverly Brothers

In May 1991, Enos and Bloom signed with the World Wrestling Federation. The two wrestlers were repackaged as a team of spoiled rich brothers from Shaker Heights, Ohio. They became known as the Beverly Brothers, with Enos given the name Blake Beverly while Bloom was given the name Beau Beverly.[1][2] They were originally managed by Coach, then later on by The Genius.[5] The team was initially promoted as a force to be reckoned with in the tag team division. After making their WWF pay-per-view debut on a winning team at Survivor Series '91,[10] they were launched into feuds with the Legion of Doom, The Bushwhackers (who they defeated at the 1992 Royal Rumble)[11] and The Natural Disasters (who they unsuccessfully challenged for the WWF World Tag Team Championship at SummerSlam '92).[12] By the later part of 1992, however, they would be used primarily to put over other tag teams; they were on the losing end of an eight-man elimination tag team match at Survivor Series '92[13] and were defeated by their old rivals The Steiner Brothers at the 1993 Royal Rumble.[14]

The team broke up in 1993 when Bloom decided to leave the business. Enos stuck around for a while longer, mostly serving as an enhancement talent on the WWF's weekly syndicated shows.

Return to WCW (1996–2000)

After leaving the WWF, Enos made several appearances for New Japan Pro Wrestling before returning to WCW in 1996. Enos was initially known as The Mauler, but then returned to wrestling under his real name as he had in the AWA. He teamed with Dick Slater as "Rough & Ready" and once again worked mainly as enhancement talent for tag teams on the rise. In 1997 Enos and Bloom had a brief reunion in WCW, with the announcers briefly acknowledging their history as a team. After a few matches together the team split up without much fanfare. He was managed by Col. Rob Parker but did not have much success. A notable moment in Enos' second WCW run was him wrestling against Steve Doll on the May 27, 1996 episode of WCW Monday Nitro when Scott Hall interrupted and made his WCW debut, planting the seeds for the New World Order.

Enos and Wayne Bloom had a brief reunion in 1997 but remained low-card performers, and after a few matches together, the team finally disbanded.

Enos competed in the WCW double elimination tournament for the vacated WCW tag team titles in February 1999 teaming with Bobby Duncum Jr. and became one of the final four teams along with Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko, Dave Taylor and Fit Finlay, and Curt Hennig and Barry Windham, until he and Scotty Riggs (replacing Duncum) were eliminated by Benoit and Malenko.

Enos retired from wrestling in 2000 after working on the WCW weekend shows and smaller independent shows.

Personal life

In July 2016, Enos was named part of a class 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.[15] The lawsuit was dismissed by US District Judge Vanessa Lynne Bryant in September 2018.[16]

Championships and accomplishments

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Are McGillicutty & Otunga really THAT boring? We don't think so". WWE.com. WWE. August 30, 2011. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c "Can you tell these tag team partners apart?". WWE.com. WWE. May 11, 2014. Archived from the original on December 20, 2014. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
  3. ^ a b c "Mike Enos". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved August 14, 2009.
  4. ^ "Battle of The Breakfast Cereal, 1989". March 16, 2019.
  5. ^ a b Greg Oliver and Steve Johnson (2005). The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams. ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-55022-683-6.
  6. ^ a b c Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  7. ^ a b "PWI 1989 Reader Awards". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. London Publishing Co. 1990.
  8. ^ "Wrestle War Show results (1990)". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved April 4, 2007.
  9. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. "NJPW show results 1990". Archived from the original on April 3, 2007. Retrieved April 4, 2007.
  10. ^ "Survivor Series Show results (1991)". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved April 4, 2007.
  11. ^ "Royal Rumble Show results (1992)". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved April 4, 2007.
  12. ^ "SummerSlam Show results (1992)". Pro Wrestling History. Archived from the original on December 25, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2007.
  13. ^ "Survivor Series Show results (1992)". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved April 4, 2007.
  14. ^ "Royal Rumble Show results (1993)". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved April 4, 2007.
  15. ^ "WWE sued in wrestler class action lawsuit featuring Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka, Paul 'Mr Wonderful' Orndorff". FoxSports.com. Fox Entertainment Group (21st Century Fox). July 18, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2016.
  16. ^ Robinson, Byron (September 22, 2018). "Piledriver: WWE uses 'Hell in a Cell' as springboard to future shows". Montgomery Advertiser. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
  17. ^ "Pro Wrestling History". prowrestlinghistory.com.
  18. ^ "Awards « Blake Beverly « Wrestlers Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net.
  19. ^ "Wrestling Information Archive - Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Top 500 Wrestlers of the PWI Years". June 16, 2008. Archived from the original on June 16, 2008.
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