Van Hammer

For the Canadian actor, see Mark Hildreth (actor).

Van Hammer
Van Hammer in 1993
Ring name(s)	(The) Hammer[1] Major Stash[1] Van Hammer[1]
Billed height	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)[1]
Billed weight	280 lb (130 kg)[1][2]
Born	November 11[1] Hebron, Maryland[1]
Trained by	Boris Malenko[2] Dan Spivey[2] WCW Power Plant[1]
Debut	July 19, 1991[1]
Retired	2003[3]

Mark Hildreth (born November 11)^[1] is an American former professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenures in World Championship Wrestling under the ring name Van Hammer.

Professional wrestling career

Global Wrestling Federation (1991)

After being trained by Boris Malenko and Dan Spivey, Hildreth made his debut on July 19, 1991 as The Hammer, where he teamed with "Iceman" King Parsons to defeat Billy Travis and Khris Germany in a tag team match for the Global Wrestling Federation.^[4] Two months later, he signed with World Championship Wrestling.

World Championship Wrestling (1991–1995)

Debut (1991)

In September 1991, Hildreth joined World Championship Wrestling as "Heavy Metal" Van Hammer, a rock guitarist character. He made his debut for the promotion at Clash of the Champions XVI, in which he easily defeated veteran wrestler Terrance Taylor in 39 seconds.^[4] Van Hammer made his WCW television debut on the October 15 episode of Saturday Night, where he defeated Paul Lee.^[4] Twelve days later, he made his pay-per-view debut at Halloween Havoc, where he defeated Doug Somers.^[4] After being undefeated on both television and house shows, Hammer's streak ended after he lost a match to Cactus Jack at Clash of the Champions XVII.^[4] At Starrcade, Hammer teamed with Big Josh in a losing effort to Steve Austin and Rick Rude.^[4]

Singles competition (1992–1993)

After briefly continuing his tag team with Big Josh, Hammer returned to singles competition and faced Steve Austin for the World Television Championship on the January 12 episode of Main Event, but was unable to win the title.^[5] After the loss, Hammer competed sporadically throughout the rest of the year, including a brief feud with JT Southern, before making his second Starrcade appearance, where he and his trainer Dan Spivey defeated Cactus Jack and Johnny B. Badd to qualify for the Battlebowl.^[5] In the main event, The Great Muta defeated both Hammer, Spivey and five other wrestlers to win the Battlebowl.^[5]

In the beginning of 1993, Van Hammer lost to Tony Atlas in the quarterfinals of a tournament for the vacant United States Heavyweight Championship on the January 2 episode of Saturday Night.^[5] After the loss, Hammer continued to be a mainstay on Saturday Night, winning the majority of his matches.^[5] At the first ever Slamboree pay-per-view, Van Hammer lost his final match for the promotion to Sid Vicious in only 35 seconds.^[5]

Brief return (1994–1995)

In late 1994, Hammer returned to WCW, where he took part in Diamond Dallas Page's arm wrestling challenges, where the man who could defeat Page earned a date with The Diamond Doll. In their first confrontation, Page injured himself, canceling the match. Weeks later, Hammer took another contestant's place and arm wrestled Page. Hammer was close to victory when Max Muscle kicked Hammer's legs from behind, giving Page the win. Between 1995 and 1997, Van Hammer stayed out of the spotlight, dealing with personal issues.

Return to WCW (1997–2000)

The Flock (1997–1998)

Main article: The Flock

Hildreth returned to WCW in November 1997 under the shortened ring name Hammer, joining Raven's villain faction The Flock.^[1] He pursued the U.S. Title and faced champion Diamond Dallas Page on the February 23, 1998 episode of Monday Nitro, but lost the match.^[5] On the March 2, 1998 episode of Nitro, Hammer lost to Page via disqualification in a title rematch.^[5]

Singles competition (1998–1999)

Hammer began losing frequently to several top stars before winning a Loser Leaves The Flock match against fellow Flock member Perry Saturn on a special Friday episode of Nitro on May 4.^[5] Despite the win, The Flock attacked Hammer after the match and was thrown out of the group. He faced U.S. Champion Goldberg for the title the following night on Saturday Night, but again lost.^[5] Hammer then abandoned the grunge character he had while with The Flock and became a fan favorite while adopting a hippie-based persona. After spending the rest of 1998 and January 1999 losing consistently to bigger stars, he became a villain, changed his character to an anti-pacifist and returned to using his full Van Hammer name. Van Hammer soon began a short winning streak over the next few weeks before losing to Bam Bam Bigelow on the February 22, 1999 episode of Nitro.^[6] Hammer then began another winning streak over the following weeks on Nitro, Thunder and Saturday Night.^[6] On June 13, 1999 Van Hammer wrestled his first pay-per-view match in over six years as he defeated Mikey Whipwreck at The Great American Bash.^[6] Hammer kept his new winning streak alive for the next weeks before losing to Rick Steiner in a match for Steiner's World Television Championship on July 11 at Bash at the Beach.^[6] On the October 11, 1999 episode of Nitro, Hammer lost to Sid Vicious in a match for the United States Heavyweight Championship.^[6]

Misfits In Action and departure (2000)

Main article: Misfits In Action

On the May 2, 2000 episode of Thunder, Hammer participated in a 41-man battle royal to determine the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship, which Ric Flair won.^[6] Soon afterward, Hammer joined the Misfits In Action and was renamed Major Stash. Although he was originally to be named "Private Stash" as a coy reference to marijuana, he balked at being given the lowest ranking in the group, and WCW producers renamed him Major Stash.^[1] After only a few tag team matches with his fellow Misfits, Stash wrestled his last match, a loss to The Demon, on the July 12, 2000 episode of Thunder before being released from his contract.^[6]

Maryland Championship Wrestling and retirement (2001–2003, 2009)

After leaving WCW, Hildreth took a brief hiatus before returning to wrestling on March 16, 2001 under his Van Hammer ring name and rock star character, where he lost to Thrasher in a match for Maryland Championship Wrestling.^[6] He returned to MCW on June 9 and defeated Dino Devine.^[6] On December 16, Van Hammer and Cowboy defeated Devine and Chad Bowman before taking a brief hiatus.^[2] On February 16, 2002, Hammer teamed with Cowboy in a rematch against Devine and Bowman, but lost.^[2] After a year long hiatus, Van Hammer returned to MCW on July 16, 2003 at MCW's annual Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup, where he won an eight-man tag team match with Gillberg, Thrasher and Kelly Bell against Brock Singleton, Genesis and The Holy Rollers (Earl the Pearl and Rich Meyes).^[6]

After his eight-man tag team match, Hildreth retired from professional wrestling. Since retiring, Hildreth has been the owner of a sex shop.^[3] In 2009, Hildreth attended an MCW show where wrestler Champ Champagne performed a promo in which he (in storyline) said that Hildreth was washed up before comparing him to Mickey Rourke's character Randy "The Ram" Robinson from the film The Wrestler. In response, Hildreth entered the ring, but Champagne fled before a fight could break out. It was then announced that Hildreth, as Van Hammer, would return to wrestling on April 11. On April 11 at MCW's event Xtreme Measures, Van Hammer defeated Champagne in a singles match, then retired once again shortly later.^[6]

Personal life

Before becoming a wrestler, Hildreth joined the United States Navy after graduating from college and traveled around the world while on tour.^[2][3]

Hildreth was previously married to Georgia Mason from January 24, 1992 until they divorced on March 1, 1996.^[7]

He is also good friends with fellow WCW alumnus Diamond Dallas Page.^[8]

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Cobra clutch slam^[1][2][9]
  • Flashback (Double leg slam)^[1][10]

• Signature moves
  • Airplane spin^[11]
  • Body avalanche^[12]
  • Inverted atomic drop^[13]
  • Hammer Rocks (Slingshot suplex)^[1][2]
  • Lariat^[11]
  • Powerslam^[14][15]
  • Sidewalk slam^[15]
  • Spinebuster^[9][14][16]
  • Superplex^[17][18]

• Managers
  • Major Gunns^[19]

• Nicknames
  • "Heavy Metal"^[2][3]

Championships and accomplishments

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him #112 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 1993^[2][20]

• World Championship Wrestling
  • Jesse Ventura Strongest Arms Arm Wrestling Tournament (1992)^[21]

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • Most Embarrassing Wrestler (1991)

References

Professional wrestling portal

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o} "OWOW profile". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/v/van-hammer.html. Retrieved 2009-08-13. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} "Accelerator's profile". http://www.accelerator3359.com/Wrestling/bios/hammer.html. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d} "Cagematch profile". http://www.cagematch.de/?id=2&nr=98. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "Cagematch matches, page 1". http://www.cagematch.de/?id=2&nr=98&view=matches&gimmick=&jahr=&liga=&region=&art=&artmatches=&suchbegriff=Suchbegriff&Start=101#matches. 
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} "Cagematch matches, page 2". http://www.cagematch.de/?id=2&nr=98&view=matches&gimmick=&jahr=&liga=&region=&art=&artmatches=&suchbegriff=Suchbegriff&Start=51#matches. 
6. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} "Cagematch matches, page 3". http://www.cagematch.de/?id=2&nr=98&view=matches#matches. 
7. ^ "IMDb profile". http://imdb.com/name/nm0383927/bio. 
8. ^ "WCW Monday Nitro report on February 23, 1998". http://www.ddtdigest.com/updates/1998024m.htm. 
9. ^ ^{a b} "Saturday night report on April 18, 1998". http://www.ddtdigest.com/updates/1998043s.htm. 
10. ^ "Saturday Night report on September 26, 1998". http://www.ddtdigest.com/updates/1998094s.htm. 
11. ^ ^{a b} "Nitro report on April 13, 1998". http://www.ddtdigest.com/updates/1998042m.htm. 
12. ^ "WCW Saturday Night report on November 14, 1998". http://www.ddtdigest.com/updates/1998112s.htm. 
13. ^ "WCW Saturday Night report on July 31, 1999". http://www.ddtdigest.com/updates/1999081s.htm. 
14. ^ ^{a b} "Nitro report on March 2, 1998". http://www.ddtdigest.com/updates/1998031m.htm. 
15. ^ ^{a b} "Nitro report on April 20, 1998". http://www.ddtdigest.com/updates/1998043m.htm. 
16. ^ "Saturday Night report on March 21, 1998". http://www.ddtdigest.com/updates/1998034s.htm. 
17. ^ "Nitro report on December 29, 1997". http://www.ddtdigest.com/updates/1997125m.htm. 
18. ^ "Nitro report on May 4, 1998". http://www.ddtdigest.com/updates/1998051m.htm. 
19. ^ "Managers". http://www.cagematch.de/?id=2&nr=98&view=manager#manager. 
20. ^ "Awards". http://www.cagematch.de/?id=2&nr=98&view=awards#awards. 
21. ^ "Jesse Ventura Strongest Arms Arm Wrestling Tournament results". http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wcw/misctny.html#arm. 

Persondata
Name	Hammer, Van
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	November 11
Place of birth	Hebron, Maryland
Date of death
Place of death