Does any of you remember Van Hammer, no?!?Well here we go.Van Hammer started in Global Wrestling Federation in 1991. He debuted on July 19th. In Spetember Hammer at the time, later changed to Van Hammer joined WCW. At Clash of the Champions XVI, he beat Terrance Taylor in 39 seconds. Which is a great way to hype up a heavy metal rock star gimmick. He would debut on WCW TV on October 15th on Saturday Night beating Paul Lee. 12 days later he beat Doug Somers at Hallowen Havoc. After all 2 ppv wins and TV wins including house shows he lost his undefeated streak to Cactus Jack at Clash of the Champions XVII. At Starrcade, Hammer teamed with Big Josh in a losing effort to Steve Austin and Rick Rude. After sticking with Big Josh for a little bit Hammer went back to being a solo act and went for Srunning Steve's TV title. Sadly he did not best the champ. Through out until September Van Hammer went on a lossing streak. In september, Hammer went on a 10 match win streak.
Over the streak Hammer beat Dallas Page, Vinnie Vegas, and Super Invader (Hercules Hernandez). He received a US Title shot against Rick Rude on the November 21st episode of WCW Power Hour, but came up short. Hammer teamed with Eric Watts at Halloween Havoc 92 and won against The Vegas Connection. For the remainder of October and November he was strongly pushed, going 19-2 in a streak that included victories over Tony Atlas, The Barbarian, and Mustafa Saed.
On November 21st episode of WCW Worldwide, Hammer was entered into the Jesse "The Body" Ventura Strongest Arm Tournament and defeated Vinnie Vegas. On the December 12th episode, Hammer upset Vader to advance to the finals against WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ron Simmons. The following week Hammer defeated Simmons to win the arm wrestling challenge.
Over the streak Hammer beat Dallas Page, Vinnie Vegas, and Super Invader (Hercules Hernandez). He received a US Title shot against Rick Rude on the November 21st episode of WCW Power Hour, but came up short. Hammer teamed with Eric Watts at Halloween Havoc 92 and won against The Vegas Connection. For the remainder of October and November he was strongly pushed, going 19-2 in a streak that included victories over Tony Atlas, The Barbarian, and Mustafa Saed.
On November 21st episode of WCW Worldwide, Hammer was entered into the Jesse "The Body" Ventura Strongest Arm Tournament and defeated Vinnie Vegas. On the December 12th episode, Hammer upset Vader to advance to the finals against WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ron Simmons. The following week Hammer defeated Simmons to win the arm wrestling challenge.
Hammer teamed with Sting and was victorious in a tag-team match on the November 21st episode of WCW Saturday Night, defeating Rick Rude & Cactus Jack via disqualification. On a November 26th house show at the Omni in Atlanta, GA, Hammer was given a broken nose by Rick Rude during a six-man tag-team main event match held in a cage. Rather than take time off he instead took a Sharpie, inserted it into his nose, and straightened it out. Despite the injury he missed no dates and continued to be victorious on the house show circuit. Hammer made his second Starrcade appearance, where he and his trainer Dan Spivey defeated Cactus Jack and Johnny B. Badd to qualify for theBattlebowl. In the main event, The Great Muta defeated both Hammer, Spivey and five other wrestlers to win the Battlebowl
On January 2, 1993, Van Hammer lost to Tony Atlas in the quarterfinals of a tournament for the vacant United States Heavyweight Championship on Saturday Night. A day later he lost to World Heavyweight Champion Big Van Vader on a house show in Bristol, TN, after which he took time off to have surgery to repair the broken nose that he had been wrestling with. He would be out for a month before returning on the February 9th taping of WCW Power Hour. Hammer continued to be a mainstay on Saturday Night, winning the majority of his matches. At the first-ever Slamboree pay-per-view, Van Hammer lost his match with Sid Vicious in only 35 seconds.
Despite the quick loss Hammer continued to be pushed, defeating Vinnie Vegas on a house show in Louisville, KY on June 3rd. He was victorious as well against Tommy Angel and Vladimir Koloff as well that month, although he sustained a defeat to Rick Rude. On July 3rd, Hammer defeated Lord Steven Regal at a house show in Spartanburg, SC. His final WCW match came on July 11th in Tower City, PA when he pinned Wrecking Crew Fury. However due to WCW's lengthy tapings that began that month, he continued to appear much later in the year. On the September 11th episode of WCW Worldwide (taped July 7th in Orlando, FL) he teamed with 2 Cold Scorpio and Marcus Alexander Bagwell in a losing effort against Sid Vicious & Harlem Heat. His final television appearance came on the November 6th episode of WCW Worldwide (taped July 10 in Orlando, FL), Hammer attempted to defend his Jesse Ventura's Strongest Arm championship but was defeated by The Equalizer in the first round.
On January 2, 1993, Van Hammer lost to Tony Atlas in the quarterfinals of a tournament for the vacant United States Heavyweight Championship on Saturday Night. A day later he lost to World Heavyweight Champion Big Van Vader on a house show in Bristol, TN, after which he took time off to have surgery to repair the broken nose that he had been wrestling with. He would be out for a month before returning on the February 9th taping of WCW Power Hour. Hammer continued to be a mainstay on Saturday Night, winning the majority of his matches. At the first-ever Slamboree pay-per-view, Van Hammer lost his match with Sid Vicious in only 35 seconds.
Despite the quick loss Hammer continued to be pushed, defeating Vinnie Vegas on a house show in Louisville, KY on June 3rd. He was victorious as well against Tommy Angel and Vladimir Koloff as well that month, although he sustained a defeat to Rick Rude. On July 3rd, Hammer defeated Lord Steven Regal at a house show in Spartanburg, SC. His final WCW match came on July 11th in Tower City, PA when he pinned Wrecking Crew Fury. However due to WCW's lengthy tapings that began that month, he continued to appear much later in the year. On the September 11th episode of WCW Worldwide (taped July 7th in Orlando, FL) he teamed with 2 Cold Scorpio and Marcus Alexander Bagwell in a losing effort against Sid Vicious & Harlem Heat. His final television appearance came on the November 6th episode of WCW Worldwide (taped July 10 in Orlando, FL), Hammer attempted to defend his Jesse Ventura's Strongest Arm championship but was defeated by The Equalizer in the first round.
On July 26th, 1993 Hildreth received a tryout match at a WWF Superstars taping in Utica, NY. Wrestling as Van Hammer, he worked as a heel but was defeated. The following day at a Wrestling Challenge taping in Plattsburgh, NY he was defeated by Damien Demento in another dark match.
In addition to making a television appearance in November 1993 (due to the pre-taping in July) in the Jesse Ventura arm-wrestling challenge, Hammer's name was also mentioned on the January 4th episode of WCW Main Event in a segment with Dallas Page. The heel randomly drew names out a fishbowl, and Hammer's name was one of the selections. However Hildreth would not make his actual return until November 29th, 1994, when he was defeated by Dick Slaytor in a television taping.
On the January 21, 1995 episode of WCW Pro (taped on Dec 4th, 1994 in Dalton, GA) another challenge was made by Dallas Page, this time a call to defend his arm wrestling title. Van Hammer made a surprise appearance to accept the challenge and Page immediately backed off. One month later, on the February 25th episode of WCW Pro, Page defeated Hammer in an arm wrestling match after Max Muscle interfered.
FLOCK DAYS:
Hildreth returned to WCW in November 1997 under the shortened ring name Hammer, where he was placed in Raven's stable The Flock.Despite being an undercarder, much like the rest of The Flock's members, he was granted a title match against the United States Heavyweight Champion Diamond Dallas Page on the February 23, 1998 episode of Monday Nitro, but was unsuccessful in winning the title. On the March 2, 1998 episode of Nitro, Hammer lost to Page via disqualification in a title rematch.
In addition to making a television appearance in November 1993 (due to the pre-taping in July) in the Jesse Ventura arm-wrestling challenge, Hammer's name was also mentioned on the January 4th episode of WCW Main Event in a segment with Dallas Page. The heel randomly drew names out a fishbowl, and Hammer's name was one of the selections. However Hildreth would not make his actual return until November 29th, 1994, when he was defeated by Dick Slaytor in a television taping.
On the January 21, 1995 episode of WCW Pro (taped on Dec 4th, 1994 in Dalton, GA) another challenge was made by Dallas Page, this time a call to defend his arm wrestling title. Van Hammer made a surprise appearance to accept the challenge and Page immediately backed off. One month later, on the February 25th episode of WCW Pro, Page defeated Hammer in an arm wrestling match after Max Muscle interfered.
FLOCK DAYS:
Hildreth returned to WCW in November 1997 under the shortened ring name Hammer, where he was placed in Raven's stable The Flock.Despite being an undercarder, much like the rest of The Flock's members, he was granted a title match against the United States Heavyweight Champion Diamond Dallas Page on the February 23, 1998 episode of Monday Nitro, but was unsuccessful in winning the title. On the March 2, 1998 episode of Nitro, Hammer lost to Page via disqualification in a title rematch.
Hammer began jobbing to several top stars before winning a Loser Leaves The Flock match against fellow Flock member Perry Saturn on a special Friday episode of Nitro on May 4. Despite the win, The Flock attacked Hammer after the match and he was thrown out of the group. In his first match following his expulsion from The Flock, Hammer faced the new United States Heavyweight Champion Goldberg for the title the following night on Saturday Night, but lost.He then abandoned the grunge-related attire he had while with The Flock and became a face by adopting a hippie gimmick. After spending the rest of 1998 and January 1999 jobbing, he became a heel again and changed his gimmick to that an anti-pacifist and returned to using his full Van Hammer name. Following this, he began a short winning streak over the next few weeks before losing to Bam Bam Bigelow on the February 22, 1999 episode of Nitro.Van Hammer quickly rebounded and began another winning streak over the following weeks on Nitro, Thunder, Saturday Night and even on pay-per-view at The Great American Bash on June 13 by defeating Mikey Whipwreck.Hammer's winning streak was ended a few weeks later as he lost to Rick Steiner in a title match for Steiner's World Television Championship on July 11 at Bash at the Beach. On the October 11 episode of Nitro, Hammer lost to Sid Vicious in a match for the United States Heavyweight Championship.
On the May 2, 2000 episode of Thunder, Hammer participated in a 41-man battle royal to determine the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship, which was ultimately won by Ric Flair. Soon afterwards, Hammer joined the Misfits In Action and was renamed Major Stash so as to fit in with the stable's military gimmick. He was originally to be named Private Stash, as an inside joke to marijuana, but balked at being given the lowest rank in the stable, leading him to being "promoted" to "Major".However, Stash's tenure with the Misfits was short-lived, as he wrestled what turned out to be his final match in WCW, a losing effort to The Demon on the July 12, 2000 episode of Thunder, as he was released from his contract shortly after.
After leaving WCW, Hildreth took a brief hiatus from wrestling. On March 16, 2001, under his Van Hammer ring name and rock star gimmick, he lost to Thrasher in a match forMaryland Championship Wrestling.He returned to MCW on June 9, and defeated Dino Devine. On December 16, he teamed with Cowboy to defeat Devine and Chad Bowman.On February 16, 2002, Hammer teamed with Cowboy in a rematch against Devine and Bowman, which he and Cowboy lost. After a year long hiatus, Van Hammer returned to MCW on July 16, 2003 at MCW's annual Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup, where he won an eight-man tag team match alongside Gillberg, Thrasher and Kelly Bell against Brock Singleton, Genesis and The Holy Rollers (Earl the Pearl and Rich Meyes).
In 2009, Hildreth attended an MCW show where wrestler Champ Pain performed a promo calling Hildreth "washed up" and comparing him to Randy "The Ram" Robinson, the character played by Mickey Rourke in the film The Wrestler. In response, Hildreth entered the ring, but Champ Pain fled before a fight could break out. On April 11, 2009, at MCW's event Xtreme Measures, Hildreth - wrestling as "Van Hammer" - came out of retirement for one night to defeat Champ Pain,and dom should sign him
In 2009, Hildreth attended an MCW show where wrestler Champ Pain performed a promo calling Hildreth "washed up" and comparing him to Randy "The Ram" Robinson, the character played by Mickey Rourke in the film The Wrestler. In response, Hildreth entered the ring, but Champ Pain fled before a fight could break out. On April 11, 2009, at MCW's event Xtreme Measures, Hildreth - wrestling as "Van Hammer" - came out of retirement for one night to defeat Champ Pain,and dom should sign him