| The Brooklyn Brawler |
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| The Brooklyn Brawler
Height: 6' Weight: 240 lbs. Real name: Steve Lombardi Hometown: Brooklyn, New York Pro debut: 1985 Finishing move: Swinging Neckbreaker Other aliases: The Boston Brawler (WWE), Kim Chee (WWE), Abe "Knuckleball" Shwartz (WWE), MVP, Doink (not THE Doink), The Red Knight Career highlights: BCW Unified Television Champion, NWA Michigan Heavyweight Champion Lombardi is often recognized as the most famous "jobber" in the history of WWE. For the majority of his career whenever he was seen on television it was almost a guarantee that he was going to lose. As "Brooklyn Brawler," he had his only mid-card push in 1989, in a feud against The Red Rooster. When Taylor left Bobby "The Brain" Heenans heel stable and turned face Heenan stated that he had made Taylor a star and he could do the same to anyone in the company. Neither wrestler got over however and Brawler ended up back as a jobber. Lombardi has been used for a number of gimmicks, often masked. He has portrayed Kim Chee, (Kamala's handler), and Abe "Knuckleball" Schwartz (a heel baseball player) and was one of Jerry "The King" Lawlers knights. In late 1993, he briefly replaced Matt Borne as Doink the Clown. Since the late 90's he has been semi-retired from the ring, mostly working as a road agent for WWE and only occasionally appearing in the ring, usually for comic skits and matches. Despite his status as a jobber Lombardi had some very big wins and even title shots. In 1997 he won a battle royal in Madision Square Garden, and went on to face then WWF champion Shawn Michaels (where he lost). On Raw is War, September 20, 1999, Lombardi was one of the replacement referees while the original referees were on strike. In 2000, when he scored a pinfall against then-World Champion Triple H in a non-title handicap match. As part of an angle on WWE television on Smackdown, he adopted the moniker of the "Boston Brawler," shedding his customary New York Yankees apparel in favor of Boston Red Sox clothing. This was done in response to the Red Sox' defeat of the Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series, which propelled the Sox to their World Series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. He did this in a segment on Smackdown (in New York City) with Heidenreich. Heidenreich was looking to make more friends, but Lombardi decided he'd rather be the Boston Brawler. Heidenreich stopped wanting to be Lombardi's friend, which aided his ongoing face turn. Still working behind the scenes of WWE, he has lately been working behind the camera with John Cena on his WWE.com show "5 Questions with the Champ". Cena often makes references to Lombardi, even jokingly calling him the greatest technical wrestler of all time. Also, recently his face has popped up in front of John Cena's mouth to censor curse words, usually saying "Cena You Are Censored!" or "Brawler!". On The June 2,2006 episode of Five Questions. Brawler showed his face on five questions. He even censored himself, saying "YOU are a piece of Brawler." On May 8th, 2006 WWE.com announced that, as a part of their "Classics" series, Jakks Pacific would be releasing a Brooklyn Brawler figure. On August 1st, 2006, Lombardi returned on WWE's brand of Extreme Championship Wrestling in a match against Kurt Angle. He quickly lost when he got stuck in the Ankle Lock. |