,anyone remember the bezerker ? As a kid I thought he was a cool character (Yes I know he sucked  but I was 7 years old) 

Any of you have any memories of him, his matches, feuds etc? 

Love reading back on old retro characters like this 

Cool topic.

Even growing up as a heel fan I did not like The Berzerker. He was a big bearded buffoon with a stupid ring name*. I viewed him as basically the bad guy version of Hacksaw Jim Duggan. That is not a compliment. The constant HUSSing got on my nerves and I thought his finisher was the dumbest thing around. A star intentionally winning his matches by countout was the lamest thing in the world to 91-92 me. Dude was just a total moron. Jimmy Jacobs as a comedy cosplay Berzerker > Real Berzerker. Though I did buy into Berzerker as a serious threat in Battle Royals and Royal Rumbles since his finisher gave him an advantage in those matches. Commentary team also deserves some credit for always pushing that as a talking point. 

*I didn't know what a Berzerker was in 91-92. To me it would be like having a wrestler called The Crazier. That's an awful ring name. Plus his original ring name was The Viking. That was a cool ring name with possibilities. And I actually knew what a Viking was.

Anyway, trying to stab Undertaker with his sword was the coolest thing Berzerker ever did in WWF by a million miles. It's one of those moments every fan of that era seems to have fond memories of.

I did like The Berzerker as Yukon John- one half of The Lumberjacks (with Scott Norton!) in the dying days of AWA though. They came out to CCR and....acted like Lumberjacks. It was awesome.

Random Tangent: The more I think about it, the more I realize AWA was my favorite promotion in 1990. Even as a kid I thought WWF kind of sucked that year (relatively speaking) and I barely watched any NWA until the Black Scorpion generated some playground buzz late in the year. AWA w/ Zbyszko, Milkman, Destruction Crew, Lumberjacks, Illustrious Johnnie Stewart, Texas Hangmen, Colonel DeBeers.... That was my shit right there.

I can also say with 100% certainty that Nord The Barbarian would have cracked my Top 10 had I been lucky enough to live in Minnesota circa 1987 when this cinematic masterpiece hit the local airwaves.....

SPOILER: Click to show

TL;DR Version
Berzerker- BOO!
Pre-Berzerker- YAY!

I actually remember him coming in as The Viking. Then one week all of a sudden he was the Berzerker. This was a (very brief) topic of conversation with my best friend at the time. Like "What was that about? Is a Berzerker a special kind of Viking? Is he no longer a Viking? Can somebody just randomly change their name for no reason? Can we just randomly change our names for no reason?" The sword in the mat is peak Berzerker. I don't really remember anything else but that. I had no idea who Bruiser Brody was, so when I found out he was the original "Huss!" guy it took me at least a decade to believe that Bruiser Brody was good.

Jul 27, 2018 3:46:22 GMT Kilgore said:

I actually remember him coming in as The Viking. Then one week all of a sudden he was the Berzerker. This was a (very brief) topic of conversation with my best friend at the time. Like "What was that about? Is a Berzerker a special kind of Viking? Is he no longer a Viking? Can somebody just randomly change their name for no reason? Can we just randomly change our names for no reason?" The sword in the mat is peak Berzerker. I don't really remember anything else but that. I had no idea who Bruiser Brody was, so when I found out he was the original "Huss!" guy it took me at least a decade to believe that Bruiser Brody was good.

I think Zerk had the same impact on me as far as my reluctance to buy into the Brody hype.

I've grown to like Zerk more and more over the years, and he's even now a guaranteed lock on my dream heel Survivor Series team, the Horde: The Warlod, Barbarian, Zerk, Herc, and rotating fifth member as needed. Maybe Roma, because P&G rules!?

Thinking on it now, had I not loved Power & Glory so much, Zerk & Herc would've been a favorite tag team just for that name combination alone.

Some guy watched and wrote about every WWF Berzerker match he could find, plus a bunch of his post WWF matches. I may not be the biggest Berzerker fan around but I am so glad this exists.... segundacaida.blogspot.com/2017/02/complete-accurate-berzerker.html

Jul 27, 2018 22:54:05 GMT Baker said:

Some guy watched and wrote about every WWF Berzerker match he could find, plus a bunch of his post WWF matches. I may not be the biggest Berzerker fan around but I am so glad this exists.... segundacaida.blogspot.com/2017/02/complete-accurate-berzerker.html

The fact that that guy watched every Berzerker match and only found 4 "skippable" makes him a legend. 

Like Baker , the constant hussing annoyed me (a "huss huss huss" once or twice a match would've sufficed) and I thought the name was stupid, because I had no idea of the origin of the word berserk.

Similar to my points when we discussed Adam Bomb, he didn't have any introductory vignettes and was never placed in feuds or angles. Why was I supposed to dislike this viking guy? Why was he with a Japanese manager? His goofiness in terms of facials and bumps (such as the splits one) didn't help to make him menacing. At least he had a sword and shield as potential weapons and the countout finish gimmick. He worked hard though for a big man with plenty of rope running and the aforementioned bumps, but again, that didn't really help his cause as a big man heel.

He debuted on TV in February 1991 and what did he do in that first year? I don't remember a single feud. He was in that thrown together Survivor Series tag where Steamboat, Anvil and Busick were replaced. In the Rumble he didn't get a single elimination, despite that being his gimmick. He worked with Bulldog a bit in early 92 and their match at Mania VIII was cut for time. But it wasn't like there was an actual feud there with any angles or story. In fact, Bulldog beating Berzerker in a fun little match at MSG was shown on PTW in early Feb, which shows how little was being thought about any potential program between the two.

Finally, 15 months after debuting, we got something memorable from the Berzerker when he tried to stab Taker on Superstars. But it isn't like that was built to, with Fuji just offering a challenge in an insert promo the week before. But it gave the character a little purpose, although he didn't do much for the next 2 months. They had him give an interview on Wrestling Challenge where they reminded us of the sword incident and he cut Mean Gene's tie with his sword while threatening to stab Taker. Then he fittingly won a Battle Royal on PTW shortly afterwards, and the next week on Superstars he attacked Taker post-match. So it felt like perhaps they were finally going to try something with him. I know TV angles were often just a way to generate interest in house shows in those days (and we were getting Taker/Berzerker and Warrior/Taker vs. Shango/Berzerker matches at this time), but we really should've seen this mini-feud blow-off at SummerSlam. Instead Berzerker lost to Tatanka in one of the matches that were cut from the delayed US PPV screening and Taker/Kamala worked a match that was really starting/setting up their feud to come and could easily have been done on TV.

He was out of the ring for the next few months and then got a World Title shot during Bret's fighting champion phase. He wasn't on Survivor Series meaning he had not been on PPV since the Rumble. So after a year with no PPV showing, he was in the 1993 Rumble and at least got a single elimination this time. His final appearance was being eliminated by Owen Hart in a battle royal on the Feb 15th 1993 RAW.

So from a 2-year run, there were 2 months where something was tried with him and it was memorable but did not have any sort of climax and did not lead to them doing anything with him afterward. He definitely could've been more.

His 85 or 86 Mid South run teaming with Jake was great, but when he turned on Jake has to be one of my all time favorite heel turn.

This just came to me, but you could almost make a similar point that I made about Adam Bomb and Berzerker to Bam Bam as a heel. He was a better worker than those guys, but what was his character really? Why were we supposed to dislike him? He was an agile big man, but he didn't come across like a taunting, nasty bully like Vader.

I feel like the head tattoos may have hurt him in the end, as it kind of determined his look with the flame costume and did not allow him to be given another character that could have worked out better for him. Considering his ability, it feels like he should've done so much more in 1993 and 1994.

Aug 1, 2018 0:04:37 GMT Strobe said:

This just came to me, but you could almost make a similar point that I made about Adam Bomb and Berzerker to Bam Bam as a heel. He was a better worker than those guys, but what was his character really? Why were we supposed to dislike him? He was an agile big man, but he didn't come across like a taunting, nasty bully like Vader.

I feel like the head tattoos may have hurt him in the end, as it kind of determined his look with the flame costume and did not allow him to be given another character that could have worked out better for him. Considering his ability, it feels like he should've done so much more in 1993 and 1994.

The timeline doesn't fit, but Bam Bam would have been perfect in a DOA that didn't absolutely suck. If you took the concept of badass bikers, but had an ABA Undertaker as the leader, Bam Bam would have been a great second in command, and you got something pretty cool going. Bam Bam could have worn biker street clothes, and certainly would have looked the part. Maybe keep the flame tights, but a cutoff denim top.

I suppose the entire idea of Aces & Eights was "DOA but good" too, but TNA doesn't count.

Jul 27, 2018 3:43:25 GMT Baker said:

*I didn't know what a Berzerker was in 91-92. To me it would be like having a wrestler called The Crazier. That's an awful ring name. Plus his original ring name was The Viking. That was a cool ring name with possibilities. And I actually knew what a Viking was.

Jul 27, 2018 3:46:22 GMT Kilgore said:

I actually remember him coming in as The Viking. Then one week all of a sudden he was the Berzerker. This was a (very brief) topic of conversation with my best friend at the time. Like "What was that about? Is a Berzerker a special kind of Viking? Is he no longer a Viking? 

Finally got to the bottom of the Viking to Berzerker name change mystery. Berzerker was a recent guest on an AWA Podcast I listen to. He explained there was a wrestler in Japan who had trademarked the Viking name (Borga perhaps?). Vince didn't want to risk any lawsuits so he changed it to The Berzerker. As usual Kilgore isn't far off the mark. Vince explained it to him as "A Berzerker is a type of Viking." Nord was with us in not being a fan of the new name, but he didn't want to rock the boat just a few weeks after finally making it to the bigtime.

It was actually a pretty fun two episodes. Nord is a jovial fellow with all the attributes of a stereotypical Mongo. He attended Robbinsdale High. It's incredible how much talent came though that high school. Our beloved 80s & 90s wrestling would have been a lot different if Robbinsdale High never existed. Hennig, Rude, Berzerker, Smash, Zenk, Brady Boone, and Nikita Koloff all graduated between 76-78 while nearby Henry High "only" produced Road Warrior Hawk &  Scott Norton during that same time. Other Robbinsdale alum include Verne & Greg Gagne, Larry Hennig, Gene Okerlund, and Madusa. Wild how a town of 15,000 produced so many pro wrestling legends.

Another podcast I recently listened to had host John McAdam and his guest host give their Top 10 Underachievers. These are guys who never reached their full potential due to boneheaded personal decisions rather than those who were poorly booked. Guest host had our guy The Berzerker at #10 while McAdam shocked me by having him all the way up at #1 with his logic being Nord coulda shoulda made big money main eventing with Hogan had he played his cards right. Some examples of Nord shooting himself in the foot...

-Turned down an opportunity to be the new big bad Russian in NWA after Nikita Koloff turned face because he didn't want to shave his head. This would have put him at or near the top of the card opposite Dusty & Nikita. You can't really compare him to the other Minnesota bodybuilder who ended up getting the spot as Vladimir Petrov because that guy got arrested soon after starting the gimmick and actually saw some prison time.

-Refused to job to Kevin Von Erich in World Class at a big Texas Stadium Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions show. Kevin was the only Von Erich working the show so of course he HAS to win. This is basically a smaller time version of refusing to put over Hogan at Wrestlemania. 

-No showed so many AWA shows everybody lost count. Only reason Verne kept bringing him back is because Nord's father-in-law was one of his best friends.

-Finally makes it to WWF despite having a notorious reputation by this point. No shows the flight back to the US after Summerslam 92 in England. Spends a few weeks chilling over there unbeknownst to everyone. Casually turns back up a few weeks later. Gets suspended for a while.

-After miraculously lasting two years in WWF he's gone about a month after being the lookout for his buddy Nailz when the ex con attacked Vince. Oh, as for Nailz, Zerk casually says "he's robbed a few banks and killed some people" the same way you or I might say "I'm going to the grocery store."

*Zerk basically acted like his mentor Bruiser Brody without having Brody's long track record as a proven draw.