Wrestling has always been regarded as a big man’s sport. Few have been bigger than King Mabel. His size got him to the top of the industry quickly, and it didn’t last long. He learned the hard way that staying on the mountain required more than being the size of one.
Nelson Frazier, Jr. was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina, in 1971. He watched pro wrestling since he was three years old.
Nelson Fraizer Jr – Before There Was A King Mabel
He knew early on that it was what he wanted to do with his life. He started competing in amateur wrestling in the ninth grade to prepare for his future career.
Frazier enrolled in Gene Anderson’s wrestling school when he was nineteen. The veteran saw great marketing potential in him because of his size.
Frazier was 6’ 9’’, and weighed over 450lbs throughout his career. Sadly, Anderson passed way a short time later. The school closed down before he could finish his training. His classmate Bobby Horne suggested they try to break into the business as a tag team.
Promoters would sometimes overlook experience and ability if the wrestler had the size. Yet they struggled to get booked. George South packaged them as “The Harlem Knights” and booked him as the Pro Wrestling Federation’s top stars.
But they only made a total of $5 in their first two years. Nelson Knight insisted they took a gamble and relocate to Nashville.
They sought a try-out with the United States Wrestling Association. While Bobby Knight was speaking to Jerry Lawler, Lawler took one look at Nelson and hired both men on the spot.
Lawler was also working for the World Wrestling Federation at the same time. He was present when Vince McMahon expressed interest in signing an African-American tag team.
Lawler pressured Jerry Jarrett into giving the Knights a strong push in the USWA. He even defended the Unified World Heavyweight Championship against Nelson to help get him over. The Knights were only with the USWA for two months before they signed with the WWF.
Men On A Mission – Mabel would emerge with Mo and Oscar To Form A New Alliance
McMahon added Greg Girard to the team and repackaged them as “Men On A Mission”. They were an instant hit with fans.
Their two main selling points were freestyle raps Oscar (Girard) performed, and the size of Mabel (Frazier). Announcers always rounded his weight up. Mabel and Mo (Horne) mainly worked with Barry Horowitz, Steve Lombardi, and the Headshrinkers.
“When I saw Mabel, I could not believe that a human being that was not in the circus could be that big.
I mean, he was just huge. I was looking up. My neck was hurting. I’m like ‘Hello, Mr. Mabel’.”
– Oscar on meeting Mabel for the first time.
MOM made their pay-per-view debuts at Survivor Series 1993. They were half of “The Four Doinks”. The Bushwhackers eliminated the Headshrinkers, while “Mabel Doink” squashed Bam Bam Bigelow and Bastian Booger.
They then had a long feud against WWF Tag Team Champions The Quebeccers. MOM defeated them by count out at WrestleMania X.
They finally claimed the titles a week later in England. They were only champions for two days. Then Mo suffered a leg injury.
The “WrestleMania Fall Out” is a term coined by Pro Wrestling Illustrated. It refers to a period where the WWF tries to capitalise on the success of WrestleMania while freshening up the product.
This entailed introducing new stars and giving others bigger pushes. Mo was side-lined with a leg injury. As they saw Mabel as the star of MOM, they treated this as a chance to test him with a singles run.
Mabel was mainly used as a high-profile enhancement talent. McMahon believed that the fastest way to establish a heel was to have him defeat a larger babyface.
And there was no babyfaces physically larger than Mabel. This proved to be a wise decision. Aside from wrestling, Mabel lived an inactive lifestyle.
He had poor stamina and could not tag out for a breather. He struggled with his weight and diabetes. And he was still under-developed as a wrestler. Mabel understood that he needed to get better. Not just of his own career, but for Mo and Oscar too.
He received a lot of help from others. Mo helped him improve his fitness. The Headshrinkers taught him how to work matches as a super heavyweight.
He was mainly used as a high-profile enhancement talent. McMahon believed that the fastest way to establish a heel was to have him defeat a larger babyface.
And there were no babyfaces physically larger than Mabel. Irwin R. Schyster taught him ring psychology and better techniques.
Even though he never had a match with Ted DiBiase, the Million Dollar Man taught him how to work crowds. His biggest privilege was tuition from his childhood hero; Bam Bam Bigelow.
Mabel had his first PPV singles match at SummerSlam ’94. He faced newcomer Jeff Jarrett. MOM had battled Jarrett many times in the USWA.
But this was the first time that Jarrett was the heel, and Mabel was the babyface. Jarrett was introduced with a cocky country singer character.
The motivation for their feud was that Jarrett felt that rap music was not proper music. In tradition with their previous matches, Jarrett won.
Mabel also competed on Lex Luger’s “Guts & Glory” team at Survivor Series. Even though he scored the first pin, he was the first eliminated on his team. They were defeated by Bigelow and King Kong Bundy of the Million Dollar Team.
MOM returned to competing as a tag team once Mo was medically cleared. With the Smokin’ Gunns being pushed as the top babyface team, MOM struggled to gain any momentum.
Mabel sensed that their careers were in trouble. He asked McMahon for a change. McMahon decided to give Mabel another push, but this time as a main-event heel.
MOM ambushed the Gunns after losing a match for the tag titles. They cemented the heel turn by attacking the Gunns again.
They phased out everything that made the fans cheered. First was removing Oscar by having Mabel attack him. Mabel even grew out his bleached Mandinka hairstyle for a mohawk. Mabel squashed Adam Bomb at the first In Your House PPV.
Mabel became the first person to pin Undertaker on a PPV. This should have set Mabel up for the rest of his career. He squandered that momentum within an hour.
His victory was in the quarter-finals of the King of the Ring tournament. Another match ending in a draw gave Mabel a free pass to the finals. His opponent Savio Vega had to win three consecutive matches to get there. The longer it took Mabel to pin his weakened opponent, the worse Mabel looked.
Crowning Mabel the King of the Ring had far reaching consequences for the industry. The Philadelphia crowd loudly rejected his coronation.
They had been chanting “E-C-Dub” throughout the show, and even louder when he won. McMahon didn’t understand why they liked NWA: Eastern Championship Wrestling so much.
He had some agents look into the company. They learned that former photographer Paul Heyman was running it. He had taken it out of the National Wrestling Alliance, and relaunched it as “Extreme Championship Wrestling”.
It was designed to be an adult-orientated alternative to the WWF. McMahon became a secret investor and used it as a developmental territory.
ECW’s story lines and characters would influence other companies, especially the WWF. Mabel’s coronation is still regarded as the tipping point for that change.
King Mabel began wearing the traditional crown and cape. He carried the usual gabble that other heel kings used as a foreign object.
A suited Sir Mo led the way while “peasants” (enhancement talents) struggled to carry him to the ring on a throne. The throne weighed half of a ton with Mabel on it.
He was told to stop dancing on it as it made it harder for the peasants to carry. This was actually Mabel’s subtle way of dodging the small objects that fans threw at him.
Mabel also commissioned his own “King of the Ring” title belt. He genuinely intended for it to be passed down across all future KOTR winners. It would never be seen on television, and nobody else would ever hold it.
The KOTR was intended to build someone up quickly ahead of a major push. He was one of the lumberjacks in the main event of In Your House 2: The Lumberjacks.
When WWF Champion Diesel (Kevin Nash) threw challenger Sycho Sid into the heel lumberjacks, Mabel was the only one that did not get knocked down.
Fans mistook this as Mabel trying to avoid hurting anyone else. This was actually a subtle hint that he was going to be the next challenger.
King Mabel faced Diesel for the Championship at SummerSlam. Nash was unwilling to work with him. Mabel had only been in the company for two years, and had injured several opponents.
Nash himself was almost injured at a recent house show. Mabel had put his full weight behind a running splash into the corner. His reputation was so bad that there is a long-standing myth that his first title win was accidental.
MOM won and lost the Tag Team Championships during a tour in England. None of the events were taped. The rumour alleges that they were not supposed to win the titles.
It was assumed that Mabel had botched a move and legitimately knocked Pierre out cold. Pierre did not kick out of the pin attempt, and the referee was “forced” to declare MOM the new champions.
However, both Mabel and Pierre have debunked this myth many times. Both title changes were intentional. It was McMahon’s tactic to try and persuade fans to buy tickets for untelevised events too.
Only the fans who attended these shows got to witness the title changes. The company still uses this tactic on international tours on occasion.
McMahon persuaded Nash to work the SummerSlam match. Nash agreed with two conditions. It was common for PPV opponents to work a house show tour together.
Nash was unwilling to work with Mabel multiple times as it increased the risk of injury. MOM formed an alliance with British Bulldog dubbed “The Royal Plan”.
This meant that Diesel could face Bulldog at house shows, and only face Mabel at PPVs. The other condition was that Mabel did not use his sit down splash. Mabel did not know how to perform the move properly and had injured other super heavyweights with it.
During the heat of the match, Mabel forgot his promise. He stood over a prone Diesel and dropped his full weight unto his back. Nash immediately lost feeling in his legs.
While was able to stand up, he was concerned that he had suffered permanent spinal damage. They knew weeks in advance that Mabel was too large and heavy for Diesel to perform his Jack Knife Powerbomb finisher.
The new finish was for Diesel to perform a diving attack from the top rope. Nash decided not to risk climbing the ropes because of his injury. They then improvised a more boring finish.
When Nash returned backstage, McMahon declared his intentions to fire Mabel over the incident. Nash insisted it was not serious enough to cost Mabel his job.
McMahon settled for giving him a severe dressing down. The “Royal Plan” quietly disbanded just one week after it was first formed. Bulldog took Mabel’s place for the rest of the feud with Diesel.
King Mabel as given a second chance. He moved onto a feud with Undertaker. His PPV victory was still recent enough to capitalise on. Just like at KOTR, Mabel squandered this opportunity too.
Mabel mistimed a clothesline during a house show match. He accidentally punched Undertaker directly in the eye and broke his orbital bone.
On the next episode of Monday Night Raw, they filmed a spot where Mabel and Yokozuna pummelled Undertaker with leg drops.
Mabel intentionally directed his attacks towards Undertaker’s face. This was used as the story line explanation for Undertaker’s injury. It was so effective that fans believed it was genuine thirty years later.
He was sent for further training with the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico. Fans were always excited to see star they recognised from television.
It allowed King Mabel to compete there with a clean slate. Nobody questioned it when Mabel feuded with promoter Carlos Colon for the Universal Heavyweight Championship right away. The feud ended with Mabel claiming the title.
Mabel was careful not to let the crowd support go to his head. He knew that he had heat on him back at the WWF, and it was important that he improved before he went back.
He also understood that the local talent did not like having Americans coming in and taking their spots (for making better money).
He was also aware of how Bruiser Brody passed away. Brody had been fatally stabbed in the locker room several years earlier.
There is a long-standing belief that he was denied proper medical care and justice because he was American. Before he stepped onto the plane, Mabel had already decided he would quit if he detected any heat on him, or if he was asked to work with the guy suspected of Brody’s murder.
Undertaker returned to action before he had fully recovered. He had chosen to work while wearing a protective mask. His early return cut Mabel’s sabbatical in Puerto Rico short.
Most of Mabel’s matches for the next few months were losses to Undertaker and the Gunns. Mabel captained a team in the main event of Survivor Series.
Undertaker single-handedly disposed of Lawler, Isaac Yankem, and Hunter Hearst Helmsley in quick succession, and Mabel got himself counted out.
Their feud featured several casket matches. Only two of these were televised. His final singles match was a loss to Diesel in eight seconds.
These were not necessarily punishments for injuring opponents. They were intended to transfer credibility back to them now that Mabel was no longer a star.
MOM were released after the 1996 Royal Rumble. This allowed Mabel to end his involvement with WWC. He returned only once to drop the Universal title to Abdullah the Butcher. They were allowed to keep using their WWF ring names wherever they went.
Tensions had been forming between King Mabel and Sir Mo since the KOTR. The two had been treated and paid differently.
This continued when they returned to the USWA. King Mabel immediately became a top star in both the singles and tag divisions. Mabel saw no problem with this as he was the bigger star and worked considerably more matches.
The duo had been in negotiations with World Championship Wrestling. Eric Bischoff has gone back and forth on this, but there was serious discussion about King Mabel becoming the “Third Man” in the Outsiders.
He would have been a powerhouse who backed up co-leaders Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. MOM had to wait until their “No Compete Clauses” with the WWF lapsed before they could sign a deal. However, WCW lost all interest before then. This was the final straw for Sir Mo who then went his own way.
King Mabel relocated to Memphis to solidify his commitment to the territory. He defeated Brian Christopher Lawler for the Southern Heavyweight Championship.
He stayed faithful as the USWA became Memphis Championship Wrestling. Demand for King Mabel increased. He began making appearances for other promotions throughout 1998.
Mabel made a surprise appearance at ECW’s November To Remember PPV. Ulf Herman and himself did a run-in as new members of the Full-Blooded Italians.
Part of the stable’s gimmick was that all of the members claimed to be Italian when they were not (apart from the ones that actually were).
They attacked opponents after a match until Little Spike Dudley beat them down. Commentator Joey Styles happily gloated to viewers about how Mable winning King of the Ring brought ECW to international attention.
Even though Mabel was paid very well by his own admission, he did not want to join the company due to their financial situation.
He was glad to be offered a shot at redemption. The WWF had been keeping track of his career. They had him return in June 1998. He challenged the new King of the Ring Ken Shamrock on Raw.
Then, he heard nothing for several months. He suspected this was to shame him out of using the “King” moniker on the indie circuit.
Then, the WWF offered him a new contract at the beginning of 1999. Part of him suspected that Mo still had heat in the company, and the delay was to see if they were still closely associated. No matter what the truth is, Mabel returned at the Royal Rumble event.
The theme of the event was that the McMahon-led Corporation were trying to take out their main rivals. Mabel appeared on Sunday Night Heat and attacked WWF Champion Mankind.
He then appeared in the Rumble itself after ambushing Mosh backstage. He was in the ring for a short time before the lights went out. When they came back on, he was face-to-face with someone who was not happy Mabel was back.
Undertaker had recently developed a more sinister persona. He was now leading a heel stable called “The Ministry of Darkness”.
In real life, Undertaker had still not forgiven Mabel for injuring him and others during his first run. He was against Mabel being brought back.
When he realized it was happening whether he liked it or not, he suggested adding Mabel to the Ministry.
His reasoning was that if they were in the same team, they would never face each other as opponents. That way, Undertaker could not be injured by Mabel again.
Mabel’s return was mired with a botch. This time, it was not his fault. The members of the Ministry were meant to abduct Mabel while the lights were out.
Mabel got into position on the aisle immediately. When the lights came back on, the other Ministry members were still in the ring, nowhere near where Mabel had been. Lawler improvised by claiming he saw the Ministry eliminate Mabel while the lights were off.
Each member of the Ministry had developed an occult persona. Mabel was renamed “Viscera”, a joke referring to his large gut. His appearance was based on his earlier Nelson Knight look.
He started wearing leather jackets to the ring, and sometimes throughout his matches. Viscera started out as back up to the other Ministry members.
When he did compete, he typically won quickly. Yet his wins were always perceived as upsets. Such as the time he beat Mark Henry in a “Body Slam” match.
The first person to perform a body slam on their opponent was declared the winner. Henry was the favourite to win, even though Viscera was much bigger and heavier.
The Ministry mainly feuded with The Corporation until the two factions merged. When McMahon was unveiled as the “Higher Power”, the Corporate Ministry fizzled out.
The original Ministry split into three parts. Undertaker was now in a tag team with Big Show called “The Unholy Alliance”. The Acolytes (Bradshaw and Faarooq) rose to the top of the tag team division.
Viscera and Mideon were mainly enhancement talents. The three teams would sometimes assist each other. Both Viscera and Mideon substituted for Undertaker in a “Dark Side Rules” match.
The Acolytes turned babyface, and Undertaker was side-lined with an injury. Viscera and Mideon became directionless.
When Viscera did compete in singles matches, it was mainly to put other super heavyweights over. He sometimes appeared in comedy skits on Heat.
On one occasion, he acknowledged that he had more matches against Rikishi (formerly Fatu of the Headshrinkers) than against anyone else, and suggested they have a dance contest instead.
“Back then we didn’t have trainers and people bringing us stuff, and taping us up, and sewing us up.
You had what you had in your bag, and that’s it. We had to take care of ourselves. It was really a man’s sport back then. And if you got hurt, you didn’t get paid. So, you had to fight for the top.”
– Mabel on the differences between the Attitude era and the modern era.
Viscera won his only singles champion in the WWF at WrestleMania 2000. He was one of thirteen participants in the Hardcore Battle Royal.
The rules stipulated that whoever pinned the Hardcore Champion would win the title, but must defend it for the remainder of the time limit.
Viscera pinned Tazz within the first minute and retained the title for over half of the match time. He was the first African-American to win the title.
He then got beaten down by the Acolytes and pinned by Funaki. Viscera suffered a dislocated shoulder. He and other stars were sent to MCW until they figured out what they wanted to do with him next. He was released in the Summer.
He began touring indie promotions and military bases using his various past ring names. Even though he was always a heel, he sometimes got babyface reactions from crowds.
He was the second and final World Champion for the short-lived Xcitement Wrestling Federation. He was a bodyguard to NWA World Heavyweight Champion The Truth (R-Truth) for two weeks in NWA: Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.
After a tour of the UK, he returned to MCW. He would be the first Southern Heavyweight Champion of their Memphis Wrestling era. He also had a boxing match against Rocky Johnson.
In 2004, the WWE had split into two brands. Bradshaw had been repackaged as John Bradshaw Layfield, a self-made billionaire. He was representing the SmackDown brand as the WWE Champion.
Layfield had entered into a feud with Undertaker. One angle saw him hire “The Ministry” to attack their former leader.
This new incarnation of the group featured Viscera, Gangrel, and Mideon. Mideon was released before they returned to television. Viscera and Gangrel lost a handicap match to Undertaker.
Gangrel was released, while Viscera was drafted to Raw to linger in the mid-card. In February, a member of the creative team learned something about Frazier and wanted to work it into his character. McMahon insisted on holding off until after WrestleMania 21.
One of the biggest plans for WrestleMania was the conclusion of the year-long feud between Trish Stratus and Lita. Lita was unable to work the event as she was recovering from knee surgery.
They replaced her with an under-trained Christy Hemme, and the match bombed. They still need a satisfactory conclusion to the feud. Lita was represented by her onscreen husband, Kane. Stratus enlisted the services of Viscera.
The alliance was formed in a series of skits set in a restaurant. Viscera had received a personality transplant. He was well-dressed, kept a seductive look on his face, and even made jokes.
He was clearly treating the meeting as a date. The entertaining segments were hurt by Stratus making an unnecessary rape suggestion.
Kane and Viscera faced off at Backlash. Fans did not pay attention to the match. They were too busy giving Lita a backlash of their own.
Her ex-partner Matt Hardy had been released a few weeks earlier, and news of her real-life affair became public. The fans aimed derogatory chants towards her throughout.
Viscera would briefly get their attention with sexual gestures to Stratus. The only high spot in the match was Lita using her crutch to knock a steel chair back into Trish’s face and the crowd erupted in “ECW” chants.
Kane won the match. Stratus yelled at Viscera and then slapped him. Viscera responded by knocking her down and hitting her with a running splash. Viscera had just turned babyface after ten years as a heel.
Viscera was introduced on the next Raw as “The World’s Largest Love Machine”. A member of creative learned that Frazier’s birthday was February 14th, also known as St. Valentine’s Day.
They worked this into his character. The twist on this version of the often-used character was that Viscera was equally aroused by food and women.
He began wearing a smoking jacket and baggy pyjamas as his gear. He had pitched the suggestion to Stephanie McMahon, and she insisted he do it.
He was meant to sing a love song about cheeseburgers on his first night in the new persona, an incredibly subtle reference to the Christian children’s animation VeggieTales (which once featured a love song about cheeseburgers).
Instead, he improvised and sang about ring announcer Lilian Garcia. Fans responded well to the segment. The creative team decided to keep this angle going. He continued to harass Garcia for weeks until she eventually fell for his charms.
As much as fans liked the storyline, it was directionless. The creative team never intended for Viscera’s new character to be monogamous.
They waited until the Vengeance PPV to hit the reset switch. Garcia proposed to Viscera. They were interrupted by local Las Vegas resident The Godfather.
He said Viscera was too much of a ladies’ man to be tied down to just one woman. Viscera then abandoned Garcia to hang out with Godfather and his hoes.
The plan was always for Viscera to be similar to Godfather. He was meant to be escorted to the ring by different women every week.
This skit was supposed to be the start of Viscera taking “hoes” to the ring. They told Godfather about this at the PPV, and he pointed out it was a bad idea.
He knew fans would reject the gimmick if anyone but him did it. This is something that had been proven with D’Lo Brown, Dean Malenko, Lance Storm, and Chavo Classic in the past. They paid attention and decided not to go down this route.
“It’s a funny thing because when I told her they were going to stop the angle and we were going to go our separate ways, and she was really upset about it.
And when we did the pay-per-view and the world saw her cry, they knew she was really upset about the angle being stopped.”
– Mabel speculates on how Lilian Garcia felt about their storyline ending.
They placed Viscera into a tag team with Val Venis named “V2”. Viscera had often joked with Venis that this was inevitable due to their similar named and characters.
They genuinely enjoyed teaming up together, and racked up a lot of victories. However, they never become serious challengers for any titles.
Viscera won the battle royal on the WrestleMania 22 pre-show. Venis had suffered an elbow injury. While the battle royal did signal Viscera returning to singles competition, it was not the start of a new push.
His next story line saw him trying to reconcile with Garcia, but he was attacked by the debuting Umaga. Before this story line could gain any traction, Garcia was legitimately injured live on air.
Garcia was exiting the ring after having finished introducing the participants for a match. Charlie Haas did his usual “run off the ropes” bit when he entered the ring.
He inadvertently knocked Garcia off the apron and she landed awkwardly on the arena floor. She can be heard crying out in pain on the broadcast. Garcia had sprained her wrist.
The next week, Viscera demanded Haas apologise to her. Haas instead made vulgar allegations about her. After a few weeks of the men going back and forth verbally, Garcia made it clear that she was not interested in dating either of them.
In one of their clashes, Haas raked Viscera’s eyes, and he “accidentally” hit Garcia with a Samoan drop. After a few moments of feigning regret, he then deliberately hit her with a running splash.
Viscera and Haas then united to become a heel tag team. They enjoyed teaming together, but they had very little success.
His personal highlight was wrestling Ric Flair. The team silently ended when Haas reformed the “World’s Greatest Tag Team” with Shelton Benjamin. Viscera remained an enhancement talent.
Viscera was assigned to the ECW brand in the 2007 Draft. He was off television for a few weeks before returning with a new look and name.
He has stopped shaving his head and allowed the bleach to grow out. For the first time in his career, he started wrestling shirtless.
Fans could now she the many tattoos that adorned his arms and torso. Matt Striker became his manager and did most of his talking for him. He was now going by “Big Daddy V”.
His near gear and mannerisms reminded fans of Vader. The WWE denied they were copying Vader’s character, even though they re-used the same “Mastodon” nickname.
Big Daddy V was booked as an unstoppable monster. He crushed The Boogeyman for weeks on end, even removing his mask at one point.
Tommy Dreamer survived all three rounds of the Elimination Chase. He was then informed that Big Daddy V was part of the competition, and was quickly squashed. Big Daddy V then challenged for the ECW Championship at No Mercy.
He had been an enhancement talent for so long that fans refused to buy into him as a monster heel. The WWE created a plot device that allowed Smackdown and ECW brand stars to appear on both shows (as they were both taped on the same night).
Big Daddy V started appearing on SmackDown more often until he stopped appearing on ECW altogether. He formed a tag team with Mark Henry. Despite winning nearly all of their matches, they never gained any momentum.
His final PPV appearance was in an Elimination Chamber match at No Way Out 2008. His appearance was tainted when the random light stopped on the wrong pod. The commentators began describing the highlighted wrestler, then the spotlight bounced over to Big Daddy V.
Frazier went for a routine medical examination. He had contracted pneumonia, and the doctor had other concerns about his overall health.
The WWE were not legally allowed to let Frazier continue working matches after receiving his medical report. He was subsequently let go.
Frazier has maintained that nobody in WWE ever spoke to him about his weight or asked him to lose any. However, agents that worked with him insist that his refusal to get his weight under control did play a major factor in all three of his releases.
“It could have been that his weight got so out of control that he couldn’t pass physicals. People forget about sh*t like that. He was morbidly obese. He was like Yokozuna.
Our goal to get Yokozuna to lose some weight was to get him licenced. So, he could continue to work and earn.
I think Viscera may have fell into that same category because he was a massive human being. A really nice guy. A sweetheart of a guy.”
– Jim Ross makes an educated guess on why Viscera was released by WWE for the last time.
He returned to touring indie promotions, he alternated his past ring names, adding “King V” and “Big Daddy Voodoo” to the list (the latter references his first ring name).
He toured the US, Mexico, Germany, and Japan. He won the All Asia Tag Team Championship with TARU in All-Japan Pro Wrestling in 2011. It would be the final title of his career. His final ever match was a win over Rene Dupree in Qatar.
On February 18, 2014, Frazier died of a heart attack while he was in the shower. He had suffered problems relating to his diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity his entire adult life.
He finally started losing weight when a doctor advised he was at high risk of heart failure. He was exercising daily and had removed salt and sugar from his diet.
He had lost 100lbs and got his blood pressure to an acceptable level. His goal was to get under 300lbs. One major media outlet received criticism for reporting on his death in an insensitive way. Frazier had turned 43 a few days earlier.
“It was crazy, man, because I had talked to him the night before. We had just had a conversation about there was a lot of stuff we still needed to do.
That we still need to prove to people that we were one of the best tag teams in the business. That’s why I try to keep his name alive right now.”
– Mo on Mabel’s passing.
His widow, Cassandra Frazier, had his body cremated. His ashes were put into five hundred pendants. They were distributed among friends and family.
On the first anniversary of his passing, she filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the WWE. Her lawyer Konstantine Kyros has brought more lawsuits against the promotion than anyone else.
Many of them accused the company of withholding information about the physical risks of wrestling. This suit claimed that Frazier’s injuries had caused memory loss, migraines, and depression. It also alleged that these things contributed to his death.
The WWE’s attorney Jerry McDevitt took particular exception to the lawsuit. It was public knowledge that Frazier had died of a heart attack stemming from his long-term health problems.
He questioned the logic of linking his conditions to any injuries he occurred in wrestling. The lawsuit was dismissed by a US District Judge.
The judge had determined that the plaintiffs failed to prove Frazier’s death was related to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
King Mabel may not have had a Hall of Fame worthy career. The fact still stands that it took less than five years for an under-trained rookie to reach the top.
It is not his fault the industry favoured size over ability. Mabel worked with what he had and tried to be better. You can debate whether or not he deserved his success, but there is no denying that he achieved it.
