Early career (1986–1989) Steve Blackman began as a competitive bodybuilder and weightlifter before entering professional wrestling in 1986 in
Connecticut, training at
Tony Altamore's wrestling school and working for
Stu Hart's
Stampede Wrestling in
Calgary until early 1989. Also around that time, in January 1988, Blackman once toured with
New Japan Pro-Wrestling wrestling as Steve R. Blackman during their
New Year Golden Series. He wrestled singles matches against the likes of
Tatsumi Fujinami,
Riki Choshu,
Hiroshi Hase,
Nobuhiko Takada,
Kengo Kimura, and a few others. He also wrestled
tag team matches in that tour teaming with the likes of
Tony St. Clair,
Buzz Sawyer,
"Dr. Death" Steve Williams and
Johnny K-9. Blackman made his first appearance for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on March 9, 1988, at a house show in
Watertown, New York. Wrestling
David Sammartino, Blackman gained a victory in his first match. He then appeared on the May 8, 1988, episode of
WWF Superstars where he teamed with
Outback Jack and
Brady Boone against
The Islanders and
Sivi Afi. Blackman appeared again on a WWF house show in
Auburn Hills, Michigan on June 24, 1989, when he defeated
Iron Mike Sharpe. Blackman was being considered for a full-time contract with the WWF when he contracted
malaria and
dysentery while wrestling in
South Africa in 1989 and was essentially bedridden for two years. After his rest, during which he lost much of his muscle mass, Blackman spent another four years in physical therapy to recover his condition, and incorporated martial arts training, specifically
escrima and
tae kwon do. Once back in working shape, he contacted his friends
Brian Pillman and
Owen Hart for a new WWF try-out. Blackman also reached out to
Jim Cornette who brought him in for a tryout and presented Blackman to
Vince McMahon.
World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment (1997–2002) Early storylines (1997–2000) Blackman made his second WWF debut on the November 3, 1997, episode of
Raw is War when he jumped the guardrail, to help
Vader fend off an attack from
The Hart Foundation. His first pay-per view appearance was at
Survivor Series 1997, as a replacement for the injured
Patriot as the fourth member of Team USA (Vader,
Goldust, and
Marc Mero). Blackman was the first elimination of the match when he was counted out of the ring. Team USA lost to Team Canada (
British Bulldog,
Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart,
Phillip Lafon, and
Doug Furnas) when the British Bulldog pinned Vader. His next pay-per view appearance was at
Royal Rumble 1998 in the 30-man
Royal Rumble match. He was the tenth entrant into the Rumble, but was eliminated by
Kurrgan. Blackman was undefeated for close to a year after his debut, during this time Blackman established his trademark entrance involving swinging glow-in-the-dark
escrima sticks. His first loss finally came at the hands of
Jeff Jarrett thanks to interference from Jarrett's manager, at the time,
Tennessee Lee. In early-1998, Blackman started feuding with the
Nation of Domination and achieved great success by defeating the likes of
The Rock and
Faarooq. In his attempts to combat the Nation of Domination he teamed up with
Ken Shamrock. Blackman and Shamrock teamed with former Nation member Faarooq at
Unforgiven: In Your House to defeat The Rock,
D-Lo Brown and
Mark Henry. Eventually, Blackman and Shamrock split to pursue singles success, both men entered the
King of the Ring in 1998 but would never get to face each other because Blackman lost to
Marc Mero, Shamrock won the tournament. During this time he would develop a reputation for doing run-ins during matches where one of the participants would cheat by having a run-in done in his favor, thus earning him the nickname "The Peacemaker" from the announce team. Blackman competed in the
WWF Brawl for All tournament and once again came up against Marc Mero, this time however Blackman defeated him but would have to withdraw due to injury, allowing Mero to advance by default. On the August 17, 1998 episode of
Raw, Blackman came to the aid of Shamrock when he was being beat down by
Owen Hart and
Dan Severn. For his efforts Shamrock suplexed Blackman and in retaliation Blackman suplexed Shamrock back. This would lead to Blackman and Shamrock facing each other in the first round of the
WWF Intercontinental Championship tournament which was won by Shamrock. At
WWF Capital Carnage, Blackman took on Shamrock for the WWF Intercontinental Championship and lost. Blackman would eventually
turn heel after siding with then-heel
Shane McMahon. During his run as a heel, he brought a gym bag full of martial arts weapons with him to the ring, including
kendo shinai. Blackman would attempt to use the weapons in the bag during or after the match. After a short hiatus, Blackman returned as the hired hitman of
Vince McMahon to take out Ken Shamrock and cost Shamrock the
King of the Ring in 1999. This led to an iron circle match at
Fully Loaded 1999 and a lion's den match at
SummerSlam 1999, both of which Shamrock won. On the
Smackdown after SummerSlam, Blackman interfered in Shamrock's match against
Val Venis and afterwards Shamrock knocked Blackman out. Once Blackman regained consciousness, he destroyed Venis with his signature Nunchucks. Blackman was set to face Venis and D-Lo Brown with Mark Henry, however, Henry failed to show making it a handicap match. Annoyed by Henry, he challenged him for the
WWF European Championship and during the match Val Venis would attack Blackman with a kendo stick, costing him the match. During a match on SmackDown while Blackman was in the ring, Venis came to the ring switched Blackman's weapon bag with an identical bag. When Blackman went into what he thought was his bag for a weapon, he instead pulled out a
sex toy. Their feud culminated in a match at
Unforgiven 1999 where Venis defeated Blackman. At
Survivor Series in November 1999, Blackmam teamed with
Gangrel, Mark Henry, and Val Venis to defeat
British Bulldog and the
Mean Street Posse in a
Survivor Series match. Later that month, he formed a short-lived tag team with
Kurt Angle. After Blackman and Angle lost a tag team match to the
Dudley Boyz, Angle attached Blackman, leading to a bout at
Armageddon in December 1999 where Angle defeated Blackman. In January 2000, Blackman and
Al Snow then formed a tag team that was known unofficially as Head Cheese, as Snow made Blackman wear a
cheesehead hat to complement the
mannequin head that Snow carried to the ring, turning
face. Blackman had a reputation for being very serious and not displaying emotion, so the two put on
comedy duo skits with Blackman as the
straight man. Many of the skits involved Snow's attempts to come up with a gimmick for their team. In one backstage scene, Snow proposed that the duo develop a TV show wherein they travel through time and solve mysteries. In that same skit Snow proposed Blackman dress up like Dracula as he already "Had the personality of a dead guy". Another memorable sketch involved Snow scheduling an unsuspecting Blackman to perform stand-up comedy at a
nursing home, with humorously disastrous results. Head Cheese had one opportunity to become the
WWF World Tag Team Champions when they took on the
New Age Outlaws, however, the match ended in a no contest due to the interference from the debuting
Radicalz. Head Cheese also appeared on WrestleMania 2000 losing to
T & A (
Test and
Albert).
Hardcore Champion (2000) After the Head Cheese team went their separate ways, Blackman entered competition for the
WWF Hardcore Championship. At the time, the title was defended 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as established by
Crash Holly. Because of this, WWF often ran matches wherein the champion was attacked and defeated in locations not typically associated with wrestling matches, such as backstage or in a hotel. With Blackman as champion, however, surprise attacks no longer resulted in title changes: within the matches, Blackman was so dangerous in hand-to-hand combat that surprise attacks were not effective enough to defeat him. During his stint as Hardcore Champion, Blackman's full martial arts talent was utilized. The first time he lost the title for a significant amount of time was against Shane McMahon, largely due to interference from
Test,
Albert,
Edge, and
Christian, with
Mick Foley suspending the 24/7 rule to make sure McMahon didn't try to get out of facing Blackman in a rematch. At
SummerSlam, Blackman fought McMahon for the title. During that match, they both climbed the
TitanTron with Blackman able to knock Shane off with a Singapore cane, then performed a diving elbow drop for the pinfall. Blackman would go on to defend the title on several occasions, but he would ultimately lose the title on a more permanent basis to
Raven in late 2000. At
Unforgiven, he retained the WWF Hardcore Championship against
Test,
Funaki,
Al Snow,
Crash Holly, and
Perry Saturn. Later, he was ordered by Shane McMahon to come out and speak after he accused Blackman of running over
Stone Cold Steve Austin at
Survivor Series the previous year. Before he could speak, Austin came down to the ring and stunned both Blackman and McMahon.
Final appearances (2001–2002) Early in 2001, Blackman formed another tag team, this time with
Grandmaster Sexay. Blackman again played the straight-faced man: a recurring element was that Grandmaster would always try to convince Blackman to dance with him after their matches. In the summer of 2001, Grandmaster was released from his WWF contract. Blackman was then sidelined due to an injury. He made his last TV appearance on the June 25, 2001, episode of
Raw with the
APA and other mid-card superstars planning a fight against The
WCW Invasion. In the fall of 2001, Blackman worked for
Heartland Wrestling Association a developmental territory of the WWF. Blackman left WWE in October 2002.
Late career (2002–present) On September 4, 2004, Blackman made one night appearance for
Afa Anoa'i's
World Xtreme Wrestling defeating Sugaa in Bushkill, Pennsylvania. Blackman returned to WWE for a single night on the
Raw 15th Anniversary Special on December 10, 2007, taking part in a
battle royal. He was eliminated by
Flash Funk. In August 2010, Blackman was interviewed for regular WWE.com feature "Where Are They Now?", which features former superstars discussing their careers and current situations. Blackman recalled how he "loved doing hardcore matches" and that he had a "lot of good matches with
Hardcore Holly,
Kane, a bunch of those guys." On the subject of a return to the ring Blackman said: "Some days when I feel really good I get tempted" and "I miss being out there". In November 2024, Blackman appeared on
From the WWE Vault on WWE's YouTube channel in which he introduced and discussed his
SummerSlam 2000 match against Shane McMahon. ==Martial arts career==