Bill DeMott

General Rection

General Hugh G. Rection

The Laughing Man

The Man of Question

Crash the Terminator

DeMott wrestled for Extreme Championship Wrestling for a short time in 1994 under the name **Crash the Terminator**. Crash's final ECW appearance came on May 13, 1994, in a television victory against AJ Powers, which aired on June 7.

On February 21, 1994 DeMott received a tryout match with the World Wrestling Federation at a *Monday Night Raw* taping at Poughkeepsie, New York. He also had matches over the next two days at taping for *WWF Superstars* and *Wrestling Challenge*.

In 1995, DeMott was signed to a World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He debuted in dark matches as **The Man of Question** and **The Laughing Man**, a strange gimmick that saw him wearing a singlet covered in question marks and laughing frequently. He made his television debut as a member of The Dungeon of Doom as "The Laughing Man" **Hugh Morrus** on the November 18, 1995 episode of *WCW Saturday Night* in a vignette inside the Dungeon, where Kevin Sullivan told his father, The Master, that he was giving him something he never had: laughter, and that he was giving him "the man from the Isle of Nowhere."

Upon the dissolution of the Dungeon of Doom, Morrus was relegated to the undercard. He gained the distinction of being the first wrestler to lose a televised match to Bill Goldberg during the September 22, 1997 episode of *Nitro*. As a part of the growing hardcore wrestling style in WCW, Morrus joined Jimmy Hart's First Family stable. Although the Family found success and received a push following a victory over their rivals The Revolution, the stable was suddenly disbanded.

At this time, DeMott took some time off from WCW. He returned in early 2000, utilizing the same name and ring attire, but squashing a number of wrestlers as an angrier version of himself. The angry Morrus gimmick came to a halt when Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff took over and aimed to take WCW in a new direction.

After getting on Russo's bad side (in kayfabe), Morrus was fired from his New Blood stable along with a number of other wrestlers. These ex-New Blood members (including Chavo Guerrero, Jr. and Booker T) formed the comedic Misfits In Action stable, which saw its members adopt both military-themed names and attires. As the stable's leader, Morrus re-christened himself **General Hugh G. Rection**, and led the group in a feud against The Filthy Animals.

The group's comedic nature and the workrate of some of the wrestlers made the group immediate favorites with fans. Upon the introduction of the heel Team Canada, the Misfits In Action immediately began feuding with Team Canada, based over the patriotism both stables had for their respective countries. As the leader of the Misfits, Rection feuded with Team Canada's leader and United States Heavyweight Champion Lance Storm, with the two trading wins until Rection defeated both Storm and a turncoat "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan in a handicap match on October 29 at Halloween Havoc to win the title. Rection would soon lose the title back to Storm on the November 13 episode of *Nitro* before defeating Storm to regain the title on November 26 at Mayhem.

After his feud with Storm, the next night on *Nitro*, DeMott stood in the ring and spoke to the fans. During this segment, the WCW locker room emptied and many wrestlers from backstage stood on the entrance way clapping for DeMott; Bill Goldberg grabbed the microphone and, fondly recalling his first opponent in WCW, said "Hey, Goldberg's streak had to start somewhere, my friend."

At Sin on January 14, 2001, Rection lost the United States Heavyweight Title to Shane Douglas. Following the title loss, the Misfits disbanded when Rection announced that they were honorably discharged, which led to Rection reverting to his **Hugh Morrus** name while the now former Misfits briefly feuded amongst each other. DeMott would then resume his pursuit of the United States Heavyweight Title until the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) bought out WCW.

When WCW was purchased by the WWF, DeMott signed a deal with the WWF and became part of The Invasion angle under his Hugh Morrus ring name as a member of The Alliance. Morrus made his WWF debut on the June 4, 2001 episode of *Raw* by attacking Edge. Aside from a pay-per-view match at Invasion on July 22 where he, Shawn Stasiak and Chris Kanyon defeated Big Show, Billy Gunn and Albert, and an Intercontinental Championship match on the August 27 episode of *Raw* which he lost to Edge via disqualification, Morrus was relegated to wrestling on the company's secondary shows *Heat* and *Jakked* much like his fellow WCW alumni. On the September 29 episode of *WWE Metal*, Morrus made his first appearance at the show, where he took on Billy Gunn, in a losing effort. When The Invasion ended at Survivor Series following Team Alliance's loss to Team WWF, Morrus was kayfabe fired by Vince McMahon. While off television, Morrus performed at house shows.

In April 2002, Morrus was drafted to the *SmackDown!* brand. He made his television return on the April 6 episode of *Jakked* alongside fellow WCW alumnus Chavo Guerrero and defeated The Hurricane and Funaki. Morrus was soon relegated to being a mainstay on *Jakked* and later *Velocity* until late July 2002, when he was legitimately injured and had to take a leave of absence. During his time away, he became a trainer for the third season of *Tough Enough*, WWE's reality television show.

When he had sufficiently healed, Morrus made his return on the November 23 episode of *Velocity* under his real name, **Bill DeMott**. DeMott made his *SmackDown!* debut on December 5 as a heel, where he defeated Funaki in a squash match. The victory saw DeMott immediately receive a push that saw him squash several established wrestlers, including Funaki, Shannon Moore, Chuck Palumbo, Crash Holly, and Rikishi weekly on *SmackDown!*. However, this came to an end soon and saw DeMott relegated back to *Velocity* beginning in February 2003. In May, DeMott made a face turn that also saw him tell knock-knock jokes as part of the turn. As the gimmick failed to get over, he remained on *Velocity* while continuing to win several squash matches. DeMott wrestled his last televised match on the June 14 episode of *Velocity*, where he defeated fellow WCW alumnus Chris Kanyon. Later that month, DeMott retired from in-ring action, citing years of knee injuries. He then moved on to become the color commentator for *Velocity*, beginning on the November 1 episode, and remained in that position until December 11, 2004.

In 2011, WWE announced that DeMott would return to the company to perform as the head trainer on the revived *Tough Enough* series.