The Brooklyn Brawler Steve Lombardi ( April 18 , 1961 ) is an Italian - American professional wrestler and road agent . He is also known by his ring name Brooklyn Brawler . He is best known for his time with WWE as a road agent . World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment / WWE . 1980s . Lombardi began his WWF career in late 1983 , competing under his real name and being used primarily as an enhancement talent until early 1989 , when he was repackaged as The Brooklyn Brawler . The Brawler character was that of a street fighter , wearing battered jeans and torn New York Yankees T - shirts . Under the tutelage of Bobby " The Brain " Heenan , the Brawler entered a feud with The Red Rooster . When The Rooster left Heenan ' s villain group and became a fan favorite , Heenan stated that he had made The Rooster a star and could do the same with anyone in the Federation . The Rooster defeated The Brawler on Saturday Night ' s Main Event and then Heenan at WrestleMania V . The Brawler ' s alliance with Heenan was then phased out and he returned to his former enhancement talent status ( retaining the Brawler gimmick ) , a role he would remain in throughout the early 1990s . 1990s . Lombardi was used in a number of gimmicks , often masked . In late 1993 early 1994 , he briefly replaced Matt Borne as Doink the Clown until Ray Apollo was hired . He also regularly portrayed Kim Chee ( Kamala ' s handler ) during his 1986 - 87 and 1992 stints with the WWF and briefly in 1993 as a singles wrestler after Kamala left him for the newly ordained Reverend Slick . He still regularly used the Brooklyn Brawler gimmick during this period . He also played MVP ( Most Valuable Player ) ( a short - lived baseball player gimmick ) in 1993 between his stints as Kim Chee and Doink . The only match he wrestled as MVP was a Battle Royal in which the last two wrestlers in the ring would go on to compete for the WWF Intercontinental Championship , but he was eliminated half - way through the match . He would use the baseball player gimmick again , but this time as a heel , as Abe " Knuckleball " Schwartz a year later during the 1994 Major League Baseball strike ) . As MVP and Abe " Knuckleball " Schwartz , Lombardi ' s face was painted to look like a baseball and he wore a jersey with the number 00 . In addition , he was accompanied to the ring by a carnival - like version of " Take Me Out to the Ball Game . " He also briefly competed as the Red Knight as part of a jobber tag team with the Black Knight ( Barry Horowitz ) Since the late 1990s , he has been semi - retired from the ring , working mostly as a road agent for WWF and only occasionally appearing in the ring , usually for comic skits and matches . Lombardi lost to Dwayne Johnson , who would later become The Rock , in Johnson ' s WWF tryout match on March 10 , 1996 . Johnson later recalled the match in his autobiography ; praising Lombardi as a stand - up wrestler . Lombardi and Johnson faced off again on the February 28 , 2000 taping of " Raw is War " as part of a storyline where The Rock was sent " back to the bottom of the ladder " . Lombardi lost this match as well . While semi - retired , the Brooklyn Brawler appeared on the independent wrestling scene , managing the Flying Stirpe Brothers Lou and Rob . Although they achieved little success , they will always be remembered for wreaking havoc and throwing uncooked pasta at the crowd . Despite his status as enhancement talent , Lombardi had some big wins and title shots . In 1991 the Brooklyn Brawler entered into a small feud with new WWF star Big Bully Busick after the Brawler challenged Busick to match to see who the real bully of the WWF was . The Brawler defeated the Bully by countout and in a rematch one week later saw the Brawler dominate the Bully until the latter ' s manager Harvey Wippleman grabbed the Brawler ' s leg , leading to a controversial win for the Bully . On October 4 , 1993 Lombardi also competed in the WWF Intercontinental title Battle Royal ( as The M . V . P . ) . In 1997 , he won a battle royal for a WWF Championship match in Madison Square Garden ; he went on to face then - WWF champion Shawn Michaels , but was defeated . On the September 20 , 1999 episode of " Raw is War " , Lombardi was one of the replacement referees while the original referees were on story line strike . In 2000 , he scored a pinfall against then - World Champion Triple H in a non - title handicap match and a rare singles victory over Just Joe on an episode of " WWE Jakked " . 2000s . As part of an angle 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 . Lombardi 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 Heidenreich ' s ongoing face turn . He once again appeared as Kamala ’ s handler Kim Chee at WrestleMania X - Seven and competed in the gimmick battle royal . This was his first on camera Wrestlemania match . ( he competed in dark matches at Wrestlemania VI and WrestleMania VII ) In early 2006 , he still worked behind the scenes of WWE , including behind the camera with John Cena on his WWE . com show " 5 Questions " . Cena often makes references to Lombardi , even jokingly calling him the greatest technical wrestler of all time . Also , his face popped up in front of Cena ' s mouth to censor curse words , usually saying " Nu - Uh ! " or " Brawler ! " . On the June 2 , 2006 episode of Five Questions , Brawler showed his face . He even censored himself , saying " YOU are a piece of Brawler " . In another episode of " 5 Questions , " Cena acknowledged that Lombardi was actually born in Detroit , and not in Brooklyn . On May 7 , 2006 , WWE . com announced that , as part of Jakks Pacific ' s " WWE Classic Superstars " collection , they would be releasing a Brooklyn Brawler action figure . At Vengeance , Brawler appeared as Doink the Clown when he came out to the ring with Eugene during Eugene ' s match with Umaga . On August 1 , 2006 , Lombardi went to the ECW brand for a match against then ECW wrestler , Kurt Angle . Lombardi quickly lost when Angle applied an ankle lock on him . That same week , he appeared on " SmackDown ! " against Vito , losing by submission . On the December 18 edition of " Raw " , Lombardi appeared in the 30 Man Battle Royal as the Brooklyn Brawler . He reprised his role as Kim Chee , having apparently reconciled with Kamala , on the August 11 , 2005 edition of RAW accompanying the Ugandan Giant to the ring for his match with Randy Orton . He would also appear with him on the June 26 , 2006 episode for Kamala ’ s match against Umaga On the May 5 , 2007 edition of " SmackDown ! " , Lombardi made an appearance backstage in his Brooklyn Brawler persona , waiting in line for interviews to become SmackDown ! General Manager Theodore Long ' s assistant . On the 15th anniversary of " Raw " on December 10 , 2007 , Lombardi appeared as Abe " Knuckleball " Schwartz in a segment . When Triple H saw him , he exclaimed " I guess the Brooklyn Brawler was busy tonight " . Later that night he competed in the 15th anniversary Battle Royal as Doink . 2010s . Lombardi made a return appearance in the November 15 , 2010 " Raw Goes Old School " episode of " Raw " as the Brooklyn Brawler with Harvey Wippleman as his manager . He lost in a match against Ezekiel Jackson . The Brooklyn Brawler made a surprise return to pay - per - view on December 16 , 2012 at the pay - per - view ( which took place in Brooklyn ) , teaming with The Miz and Alberto Del Rio to defeat 3MB ( Heath Slater , Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal ) . Brawler won the match for his team via submission with a Boston crab on Mahal . At the July 15 , 2013 " Raw " taping from Brooklyn , in a match taped for " Superstars " , Brawler was defeated by Ryback . See also . King of the Ring 1985 - Les Thornton defeated Steve Lombardi