Typhoon Fred Ottman ( August 10 , 1956 ) is a retired American professional wrestler best known as Tugboat or Typhoon and teaming with Earthquake as The Natural Disasters in the World Wrestling Federation . Ottman is also well known for his infamous " Shockmaster " character in World Championship Wrestling . Career . World Wrestling Federation . Ottman made his first appearance in the WWF in June 1989 in a dark match under the name Big Man Steel with Slick as his manager . He debuted on television in January 1990 as a face under the name Tugboat Thomas ( later just " Tugboat " ) , his costume consisted of a red striped shirt , white pants , and a sailor ' s hat . Part of his gimmick included raising his fist into the air and then pulling it down ( similar to the way one would signal a trucker ) and make a " Toot - toot " noise , like a foghorn on a ship . Tugboat aided Hulk Hogan in his feud with Earthquake and " Canada ' s Strongest Man " Dino Bravo . This coincided with a substantial push that saw Tugboat emerging victorious on television against numerous opponents . In May 1991 Ottman foreshadowed a heel turn when he fought Hulk Hogan in a battle royal on the final NBC Saturday Night ' s Main Event . Shortly afterwards he turned heel , changing his character ' s name to Typhoon and aligning himself with Earthquake as the The Natural Disasters , managed by Jimmy Hart . The Natural Disasters turned face early in 1992 , feuding with and eventually winning the WWF World Tag Team Championship from Hart ' s Money Inc . ( " Million - Dollar Man " Ted DiBiase and Irwin R . Schyster ) in July , before losing the titles back to Money Inc . three months later . When Earthquake took a leave of absence from the WWF early in 1993 , Ottman wrestled in low - profile singles matches before leaving the company that spring . World Championship Wrestling . The Shockmaster incident . After departing from the WWF , Ottman would find himself the center of the most embarrassing moment in wrestling history . World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ) had recently signed Ottman , and he was to make his debut in a match alongside Sting , Dustin Rhodes , and Davey Boy Smith . He would be their mystery partner in the upcoming eight - man tag match against the heel team composed of Sid Vicious , Big Van Vader , and Harlem Heat at Fall Brawl . On " A Flair for the Gold " , ( an interview segment hosted by Ric Flair ) in front of a live audience at Clash of the Champions XXIV , Sting and Smith were confronted by Sid and Harlem Heat , demanding to know the identity of their new partner . Sting exclaimed , " All I can say is , he is going to " shock " the world , because he is none other than . . . " The Shockmaster " ! ! " The camera zoomed in on a particular section of the set where two torches set off a small pyrotechnics explosion in front of a sheetrock wall . Ottman was supposed to make a dramatic entrance by crashing through the wall . His new costume consisted of a Star Wars Stormtrooper helmet painted silver and covered in glitter , a pair of jeans , and a long black vest . Instead , in perhaps the most humiliating moment in wrestling history , Ottman tripped over a piece of lumber that was framing the set , causing his helmet to fall off and slide across the floor . As he scrambled to put the helmet back on and get to his feet , Flair audibly exclaimed " Oh , God ! " . Ottman stood menacingly for a moment in an attempt to salvage the disaster , during which Smith could be heard saying that he " fell flat on his fucking arse ! " . Dusty Rhodes later revealed on an episode of WWE 24 / 7 ' s Legends of Wrestling that the piece of lumber previously wasn ' t there during a successful practice run and it was later put there by David Crockett without informing Ottman . Ottman walked up to Sid and Harlem Heat , all of whom were visibly struggling to contain their laughter . The interview , which was actually voiced by Ole Anderson , only got worse as Anderson started giggling at the beginning and mistakenly called Sid ' Stid ' at one stage . Despite zero crowd reaction and leaving the announcers speechless , WCW decided to continue with the feud . World Wrestling Entertainment , which now owns all rights to WCW and its video library , has described The Shockmaster ' s debut as " one of the most unintentionally funny moments in sports - entertainment history , " and " a debacle many still consider one of the worst gaffs in the history of sports - entertainment . " While Ottman was displeased with the turn of events , he now finds humor in the incident . Post - Shockmaster . WCW attempted to salvage the incident by introducing a new character called the " Super Shockmaster . " Also portrayed by Ottman , this was intended to be the Shockmaster ' s nephew , who would then refer to the Shockmaster as " Uncle Fred . " Subsequently entering the ring to a distorted version of the Beatles song " Day Tripper , " the Shockmaster was then portrayed as a klutz until the character was eventually abandoned . Ottman returned to the WWF as Typhoon in May 1994 , primarily being used to put over other talent , before departing in August . On the August 31 , 2009 edition of Monday Night RAW , D - Generation X and Dusty Rhodes had a segment regarding The Shockmaster while advertising " The Rise and Fall of WCW . " After commenting that the DVD didn ' t contain his favorite WCW moment , Triple H began explaining the incident to Michaels , while Rhodes tried to stop him . A robotic voice then said HHH ' s name and then Shawn ' s . Triple H stopped and said the voice was coming from the a yellow wall set piece decorated exactly like the wall from " A Flair For The Gold " . Pyrotechnics hit and the Shockmaster came out similar to the original WCW segment and Santino Marella revealed himself to be the Shockmaster after DX left . Arn Anderson ( replacing his kayfabe cousin Ole ) was caught on screen doing the Shockmaster voice - over . Personal life . Ottman retired from wrestling after WCW folded in 2001 . Ottman was one of the participants of the 20 Man Gimmick Battle Royal match at WrestleMania X - Seven as Tugboat . He now lives in Lakeland , Florida and works as a safety manager for Gaffin Industrial Services , a building cleaning service . He also coaches the little league team of his two sons and daughter , Berkley , Beau , and Bailey .