Early career (1987–1993) Peterson worked for the
World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in March 1986, and put together the
steel cage used in the main event of
WrestleMania 2. With his training complete, he debuted in June 1987 and soon after traveled to Japan to work for
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he trained in the New Japan
Dojo alongside fellow
gaijin Chris Benoit for five months. Pain left the CWA after a year before returning to
Utah, where he opened his own
promotion, featuring wrestlers such as
Louie Spicolli. He also made an appearance under his real name as a
jobber on a February 1989 episode of
WWF Prime Time Wrestling, losing to
Bret Hart. After his employees began to leave the territory, Peterson applied for a job with WordPerfect. Soon after, he received a phone call from Benoit, who invited him to join an upcoming tour of Germany. Peterson received his plane ticket to Germany half an hour before he received a job offer from WordPerfect, so decided to join the tour. He spent six months in the German
Catch Wrestling Association as
Heavy Metal Buffalo and won the vacant
CWA Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship on October 25, 1992, defeating
Giant Haystacks. He then successfully defended the title against
The Warlord at
Euro Catch Festival on December 19. He vacated the title the following year when he returned to the
United States.
World Championship Wrestling (1993–1994) World Championship Wrestling (WCW)
booker Bill Watts was impressed by Peterson's amateur credentials, and hired him in 1993, with Peterson relocating to
Marietta, Georgia. Peterson made his televised debut in WCW as the
villain Maxx Payne on the January 30, 1993 episode of
Worldwide by defeating
local competitor Scott Allen. Peterson's first
pay-per-view match was at
SuperBrawl III, where he played Taps on his guitar before challenging
Dustin Rhodes for the
WCW United States Heavyweight Championship, substituting for the injured
Ron Simmons. After Rhodes locked him in an
abdominal stretch from which he was unable to escape, Payne pushed the referee over rather than submit and was subsequently disqualified. At the June 17
Clash of the Champions XXIII, Payne shot
Johnny B. Badd in the face with a
confetti gun, (
kayfabe) scarring him so badly that he had to wear a mask and forcing him to forfeit their scheduled match. This led to a match at
Beach Blast on July 18, which Payne lost. They faced one another again at the August 18
Clash of the Champions XXIV in a
mask versus guitar match, with Payne putting his guitar on the line in order to unmask and therefore humiliate the mutilated Badd. Badd won once more and took Payne's guitar. Badd unmasked willingly to reveal he was fully healed. Payne took part in WCW's
Jesse "The Body" Ventura Strong-Arm Tournament in late 1993, but was eliminated in the first round by
Sid Vicious. On November 20, Payne entered the
Battlebowl, a tournament which saw randomly assigned tag team partners work together in order to progress to a
battle royal. He was partnered with
2 Cold Scorpio, with whom he lost in the first round to
Stunning Steve Austin and
Ric Flair. Payne later turned
face and formed a
tag team with
Cactus Jack towards the end of the year. At
Starrcade 1993 they defeated
Tex Slazenger and
Shanghai Pierce, and at the January 27, 1994
Clash of the Champions XXVI, they defeated
The Nasty Boys. They faced the Nasty Boys once more, this time for the
WCW World Tag Team Championships, in a Chicago
Street Fight at
Spring Stampede 1994, but were defeated. The case was settled out of court.
Retirement On April 17, 2004, Peterson addressed an audience in the Schubert Theater at the Western States College for the Performing Arts in
Gooding, Idaho, talking about professional wrestling. ==Film and television appearances==