Most hardcore fans remember the Dungeon of Doom, which was led by Kevin Sullivan. Legendary WWE wrestler, the Big Show, was part of the Dungeon of Doom. Big Show is now known as Paul Wight. Paul won the WCW Title in 1995, after defeating Hulk Hogan.
Kevin Sullivan Shares Why He Formed Dungeon Of Doom
The title was vacated, after it was confirmed that Paul won the title via disqualification. In WCW, Paul was called The Giant. During that time, WCW wanted Paul to be their top star.
On Taskmaster, Kevin spoke about WCW’s decision to make Paul win the title. As many people know already, Hulk Hogan has a lot of creative control in the WCW. So it may surprise people that Paul defeated Hulk to win the title.
"Well, somebody has creative control — Hulk," Sullivan said, implying that it was Hogan's decision to put over the debuting Wight. "If you look at what Hulk was doing, he was going back to guys that he drew money with.
So, Paul [Wight] became André, The Renegade became The Ultimate Warrior, and he surrounded himself with guys he had drawn money with — Kamala, [Jim] Duggan, Brutus [Beefcake]. He brought all his friends in, and the thing is, his friends had drawn money, but the business was rapidly changing.
So, my idea about the Dungeon of Doom was, 'Let me put them all in one segment and kind of encapsulated them there' so I wouldn't have to put them all through the show." Sullivan also wished to create a stable full of WWE stars.
He wanted that stable to start a feud with Hulk Hogan. During that time, the luchadors bought new in-ring styles that forced WCW to move away from their ‘cartoonish’ characters, and have more serious looking characters.
It was hard for him to see that the business was changing — because he had been so successful," Sullivan said of Hogan. Sullivan spoke about a night in Chicago. That night, Hogan was booed while he was being interviewed with Mene Gene.
After Hogan returned backstage, Sullivan asked Hogan to consider turning heel as that was the right thing at the time. Hogan did turn heel, but after a year, as many heel wrestlers at the time were relying on Hogan to get their TV time. And heels “were always in his ear” according to Sullivan.