Damien Demento

Damien Demento

Let it be known that not every entry into WrestleCrap is something that is horrible. Sure, we are dedicated to the WORST of pro wrestling, but sometimes, there are things within the industry that amuse me to such point that I want to make mention of them. It makes for a difficult balance, but sometimes, there are certain characters or angles that simply miss the mark for whatever reason and are therefore shoved aside while other, more famous bad gimmicks receive all the glory. In my own bizarre little way, I like to think I am immortalizing those who history would otherwise forget.

Look at the guy above, for instance. His name is Damien Demento, and he worked for the World Wrestling Federation for a short period during the mid 1990’s. He originally worked east coast independents under the moniker of Mondo Kleen, a wild man from China with a big black fur outfit covered in sabre tooth (or is that teeth?). With his unique look, impressive physique, and interesting gimmick it seemed he was a sure-fire can’t miss prospect.

He entered the WWF with the exact same outfit, but he ditched the Mondo moniker and was dubbed Damien Demento. Hailing from “The Outer Reaches of Your Mind” (now THERE’s a hometown!), his gimmick, of course, was that he was…well…demented.

He would mutter incessantly to himself, primarily talking to his thumb. I don’t know what kind of conversations you could have with the stubbiest of hand digits, but ol’ Double D could chatter about for hours. It sounds idiotic, and it was. But to be fair, it led to one of my all time favorite wrestling moments ever.

It was during an otherwise incredibly uneventful house show in Indianapolis. Blake Beverly was announced, but sadly, his partner had missed his flight or something, so he needed a substitute. Enter Damien Demento, doing his full blown zany talk to the hand bit. Apparently Beverly had never seen it before, because he legitimately lost it, laughing his head off the entire match. I seriously don’t even know how he was able to finish the bout – I thought for sure we were about to see a big yellow spot appear in the white star of his purple tights.

Thank God, unlike in this bout against Tatanka (and thanks for the photo Killbud), he didn’t present himself to Beverly. God knows what would have happened then.

Although he didn’t get much exposure (and I think I’m glad he didn’t, given the photo above), Demento did achieve one notable accomplishment. According to TV Tome, it was he (and not Max Moon as I previously reported) that was in the main event of the first ever Monday Night Raw, taking on the Undertaker. Sadly, Demento was quickly squashed and left the company shortly thereafter, and following a very brief stint in ECW, he pretty much vanished back into the outer reaches of east coast independents.

But get this – following a bit part in Die Hard with a Vengeance, he started doing, and I cannot even believe I am typing this, a KID’S TV SHOW. Yes, a real live children’s television program.

You know, I may not have been willing to pay a dime to see Damien Demento in the ring, but you can bet your ass I would pay top dollar to see Damien Demento teach kids to tie their shoes.

I mean, seriously…how much worse could Damien Demento be for a kid than Barney or the Teletubbies?

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