Glacier

Glacier first joined World Championship Wrestling for their 1989 Great American Bash tour, in which his debut match was a loss to Butch Reed in Albany, Georgia.

Beginning in April 1996, **Glacier** was introduced via a series of vignettes during WCW programming that featured the tagline *Blood Runs Cold*.

Glacier was also given one of the most extravagant entrances in wrestling at the time, which consisted of blue laser lights streaming across the arena and synthetic snow falling from the ceiling, while the ring was enveloped in blue lighting. After slowly walking to the ring, he then engaged in a ritual of standing on a center turnbuckle in order to remove his armor and mask, then somersaulting off the buckle and into the center of the ring to perform a kata routine; this process sometimes lasted as long as two minutes. Moreover, since he was a face character, he would bow to the referee and his opponent.

Glacier was originally intended to debut in July, but due to the coinciding appearance and immediate impact of the New World Order at the Bash at the Beach pay-per-view that month, his debut was delayed indefinitely; WCW worked this into a feud with Big Bubba Rogers, who criticized Glacier's hype and the overlong wait for his arrival during interviews on *Nitro* with the Dungeon of Doom. His debut finally occurred on September 9, 1996 episode of *Pro*, when he pinned The Gambler in a match, which was also one of only two matches in which he executed his *Cryonic Kick* finisher off the top rope before it was changed to a spinning reverse roundhouse kick, and subsequently to standard side kick. Glacier then defeated Bubba on his *Nitro* debut on September 16, ending the brief feud. The original costume and blue lighting were scrapped, however, after only his fourth match, a pinfall victory on *Nitro* over Mike Wenner on September 30. Following a subsequent ten-week hiatus off WCW television, he reappeared on *Nitro* on December 2, in which he debuted a new ring outfit and entrance music, then pinned Hardbody Harrison in a 60-second squash.

After spending the beginning of his WCW career in the midcard, it was not until March 1997 that Glacier was put into his first long-term feud, with Mortis, who was one of eccentric manager James Vandenberg's collection of *"rare oddities"* and who had shared a history with Glacier. The angle was titled "Blood Runs Cold"; the slogan had not been used since the vignettes from the previous year had stopped airing.

Glacier defeated Mortis in the pay-per-view debut for both, at Uncensored on March 16, but after the match, Wrath made his first appearance as Vandenberg's then-unnamed newest charge, and both men double-teamed Glacier. Post-match assaults by Mortis and Wrath became commonplace after Glacier's *Nitro* matches and on the April 21 episode, his helmet was also stolen by the pair after he defeated Ciclope in less than one minute. His rematch with Mortis at Slamboree on May 18 ended in a disqualification after less than two minutes when Wrath attacked him from behind. Mortis and Wrath then had their way with Glacier for several minutes before he was rescued by Ernest "The Cat" Miller, who had entered the ring from the crowd.

On June 15, Glacier pinned Wrath at The Great American Bash, after which another beating commenced, this time after he was handcuffed to the top rope by Mortis, who himself had been cuffed to the turnbuckle prior to the match in order to prevent outside interference. The very next night on *Nitro*, Glacier again defeated Mortis and then was attacked for the last time by Mortis and Wrath after Miller again came to his rescue. From then until Bash at the Beach, Glacier wrestled as a tag unit with Miller, mainly in the lower card against luchadors. After Mortis and Wrath finally won their first encounter in the feud at Bash at the Beach on July 13 and ended Glacier's undefeated streak, WCW promptly shut down the angle.

On September 1, nearly a year after he had made his official debut, Glacier was handed his first singles loss by Buff Bagwell. He and Miller lost their second consecutive pay-per-view affair in November, to the Faces of Fear at World War 3, and Glacier capped off the year with a squash at the hands of Bill Goldberg on December 27.

Despite an undefeated twelve-month singles period from September 1996 to August 1997, Glacier remained entrenched in the midcard ranks. He was booked as a heel for 1998, starting with an edition of *WCW Saturday Night* on January 24 in a rematch alongside Miller against Mortis and Wrath. Glacier and Miller were to fight each other two weeks earlier on the program, but it was called off after Glacier was attacked by Mortis and Wrath offscreen beforehand. However, during the tag match, Glacier turned on Miller, allowing Mortis and Wrath to get the win. This brought the "Blood Runs Cold" angle to an official close as Mortis and Wrath were split up from Vandenberg and moved into the singles ranks.

Glacier spent the next three months on a losing streak, losing matches to the likes of Steve McMichael, Prince Iaukea, and Lex Luger on *Nitro* and *Thunder*, while feuding on the side with Chris Adams on *WCW Saturday Night* in a battle of superkick finishers.

Glacier then entered a feud with Perry Saturn, starting with an angle in which he cut a promo on the May 11 *Nitro* declaring that his Cryonic Kick finisher was his own move and threatened to take out anyone who used it. This prompted a response from Saturn on *Thunder* later in the week, in which he lambasted Glacier for his in-ring appearance and his claiming ownership of the superkick. Starting with a win over Sick Boy on May 18 after Saturn's outside interference was unsuccessful, Glacier then fought a series of matches against several other members of Raven's Flock. He and Saturn then alternated wins on *WCW Thunder,* but the most notable aspect of the angle was that Kanyon, who had recently shed the Mortis gimmick, was regularly conducting sneak attacks on Raven and the Flock in various disguises. On the June 4 edition of *Thunder,* Kanyon (disguised as referee Nick Patrick) entered the ring and took out Saturn with a Russian legsweep, allowing Glacier to get the win, and flashed the Mortis mask to Glacier before leaving the ring. The feud died down shortly thereafter when Saturn was moved to a new angle involving Raven and the breakup of the Flock. A Glacier-Saturn matchup (won by Saturn) that aired on *WCW WorldWide* on September 26 was the last match broadcast on the program before its format was changed to a recap show.

Glacier suffered a severe knee injury during the main event on *Nitro* on June 29, in which he lost to then-United States Champion Goldberg for the fourth time in what would be his only title challenge in WCW. He was out until the November 5 *Thunder*, where he offered his support to Miller, who himself had undergone a heel turn. One week later, he returned to ring action for the first time in over four months, and debuted his new finisher, a thumb spike (dubbed the "Ice Pick"), for a submission victory over Adams.

On November 16, Glacier, Kanyon, and Wrath reunited for the first and only time since the demise of *Blood Runs Cold*, when Glacier and Kanyon were scheduled to face each other on *Nitro* after Wrath fought Raven in the previous match, but Raven's refusal to wrestle, despite goading by Kanyon, saw it called off. Wrath then took out his frustration by pummeling both Glacier and Kanyon inside the ring before their opening bell, but the match commenced nonetheless with Kanyon ultimately scoring the pin. Glacier made his final WCW pay-per-view appearance with a loss to Wrath at World War 3 on November 22, and closed out the year with another series of matches against Saturn on *Thunder* and *Saturday Night*, in which Miller's manager, Sonny Onoo, repeatedly interfered.

By early 1999, Glacier was again booked to lose to lower-card opponents. This came to a head on February 6, when he was pinned on *Saturday Night* by Al Green. Five days later, a series of skits aired on *Thunder* in which Glacier, tired of his gimmick, sold his armor, mask, and helmet to Kaz Hayashi and Miller; Onoo convinced the gullible Hayashi to buy the gear for ten times Glacier's asking price. For a short time, Miller came out to Glacier's music and entrance, while Hayashi wore his armor and mask to the ring.

On August 19, 1999, Glacier made his first televised appearance in six months, this time on *Thunder* in the first of several promos as **Coach Buzz Stern**. The clips served to introduce the storyline of Stern choosing the clumsy Luther Biggs as his protege, and aired until the end of September, when Biggs was pinned by Bobby Eaton in his in-ring debut on *Thunder;* Stern put Biggs in a postmatch full nelson as punishment. Over the following month, Stern served as Biggs' manager for only three additional matches: a squash loss to Meng on *Thunder*, a pinfall victory over Dave Burkhead on *Saturday Night,* and a match against Blacktop Bully on *WorldWide*, which Biggs won only after Stern's outside interference. He wrestled his only match as Stern in a November 4 *Thunder* loss to Eddie Guerrero. The angle was afterwards shelved and both Stern and Biggs were removed from television. Glacier was one of many wrestlers released by the company on November 21, 1999.

During WCW's Mayhem pay-per-view on November 26, 2000, a Glacier promo from 1996 was re-broadcast, this time with the tagline "Blood Runs Colder," after which he was openly buried by the announce team. The promos were aired infrequently on *Nitro* and *Thunder*, and during Starrcade. The night after Starrcade, Norman Smiley was seen on *Nitro* watching a promo on a backstage monitor, then happily reacting to having "a real hero" in WCW.

He returned to WCW in January 2001, and Glacier was now played out in the angle as a superhero parody, with him pledging to watch Smiley's back during matches. In separate contests against Mike Awesome and Bam Bam Bigelow on *Thunder*, an overpowered Smiley lost decisively both times because Glacier took his time coming to the ring in order to interact with fans. He then entered the ring after the fact to pose for the fans before pushing Smiley out of the way to perform his old kata routine. The angle abruptly ended and Glacier was not seen again following a skit on the February 7 edition of *Thunder* in which he was pummeled offscreen by Sean O'Haire inside his dressing room.