What’s the story?
Recent reports suggest that he may be heading for the WWE Hall of Fame this year, but former WWE and WCW Superstar Fred Ottman was hospitalised earlier this week, according to a message posted by his wife on Facebook.
It isn’t entirely clear what the former Tugboat and Typhoon has been hospitalised with, but his wife has noted that it is an infection of some form. Despite being sick and weak, Ottman has since posted a picture of the view from his hospital bed, hinting that he may well be on the mend.
It has been rumoured that Ottman will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame alongside tag team partner Earthquake as The Natural Disasters, the iconic early 90s tag team who manage to win WWF Tag Team Championship gold on just one occasion.
In case you didn’t know...
Fred Ottman’s career was a whole lot more than his run as a member of The Natural Disasters, however. Ottman is probably best known for his brief run in WCW as The Shockmaster, responsible for the most iconic botched entrance in the history of professional wrestling.
Ottman actually arrived in the then-WWF in 1991 as Big Steel Man, before reverting to the Tugboat persona soon after. The big man received a solid push in 1990, before turning heel in 1991 and joining forces with Earthquake.
Ottman’s career never really recovered from the 1993 Shockmaster incident, returning to WWE in 1994 for a second brief run as Typhoon before heading to Japan later that year. He retired from active competition in 2001.
The heart of the matter
Ottman is widely considered to be one of the nicest men in the professional wrestling business. You have to dig pretty deep to find a negative story about the former WWF Tag Team Champion, and even then you may well come up short.
Ottman is the brother-in-law of the iconic Dusty Rhodes, and as such is the uncle of Goldust and Cody Rhodes. The news that Ottman has been hospitalised will be upsetting for many in the industry, who will be hoping he makes a quick recovery.
What’s next?
Whilst no green light message has been posted as of yet, Ottman’s Facebook page has since posted the aforementioned hospital view as well as a Facebook memory of The Shockmaster. Should the Hall of Fame phone call come, Ottman would more than likely be able to take his place on the podium over WrestleMania weekend.
Sportskeeda’s take
It is never pleasant to hear of health struggles for any individual, not least a Superstar from our youth. We would like to wish Ottman a speedy recovery.
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