Steve Lombardi

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This article is about the professional wrestler sometimes known as Kim Chee. For the traditional Korean dish, see Kimchi

Steve Lombardi


Statistics
Ring name(s)	Steve Lombardi Brooklyn Brawler Boston Brawler Kim Chee Abe "Knuckleball" Schwartz MVP Kangaroo Doink the Clown The Red Knight
Billed height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Billed weight	240 lb (109 kg)
Born	April 18, 1961 (1961-04-18) (age 47) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Billed from	Brooklyn, New York
Debut	1983

Steve Lombardi (born April 18, 1961 in Brooklyn, New York) is a professional wrestler, of Italian origins, and road agent, more commonly known by his ring name The Brooklyn Brawler. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

1 Career
- 1.1 World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment
2 Sexual assault
3 References
4 Wrestling facts
5 Championships and accomplishments
6 External links

Career

Lombardi is often recognized as the most famous "jobber" in the history of World Wrestling Entertainment. For the majority of his career, whenever Lombardi was seen on television, it was almost a guarantee that he was going to lose.

World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment

1980s

Steve Lombardi began his WWF career in 1983, competing under his real name and being used primarily as an enhancement talent until early 1989, when he was repackaged as The Brooklyn Brawler and, under the tutelage of Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, entered a feud with The Red Rooster. When The Rooster left Heenan's heel stable and turned face, Heenan stated that he had made The Rooster a star and could do the same with anyone in the company. However, neither wrestler got over with the fans, and the Brawler's alliance with Heenan was phased out and he returned to his former jobber status, a role he would remain in throughout the 1990s.

1990s

Lombardi was used in a number of gimmicks, often masked. He has portrayed Kim Chee (Kamala's handler) and Abe "Knuckleball" Schwartz (a short-lived heel baseball player gimmick used during the 1994 Major League Baseball strike), also known as MVP (Most Violent Player). In late 1993, he briefly replaced Matt Borne as Doink the Clown.

Since the late 1990s, he has been semi-retired from the ring, working mostly as a road agent for WWE and only occasionally appearing in the ring, usually for comic skits and matches.

Lombardi faced Dwayne Johnson, who would later become The Rock, in Johnson's first ever match. Brawler lost.

Despite his status as a jobber, Lombardi had some big wins and title shots. In 1997, he won a battle royal in Madison Square Garden, and went on to face then-WWF champion Shawn Michaels, but he lost. On the September 20, 1999 episode of Raw is War, Lombardi was one of the replacement referees while the original referees were on strike. In 2000, he scored a pinfall against then-World Champion Triple H in a non-title handicap match and a rare singles victory over Just Joe on an episode of WWE Jakked.

2000s

Although he didn't have a speaking line, it's interesting to note that on a now famous segment of Raw is War when Stephanie McMahon said to an aging Freddie Blassie "Fred- you and the WWF have one thing in common... you're both about to die!" It was Lombardi who wheeled Blassie out the arena where they saw Stephanie and Shane McMahon.

As part of an angle on SmackDown!, he adopted the moniker of the "Boston Brawler," shedding his customary New York Yankees apparel in favor of Boston Red Sox clothing. This was done in response to the Red Sox' defeat of the Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series, which propelled the Sox to their World Series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. Lombardi did this in a segment on SmackDown! (in New York City) with Heidenreich. Heidenreich was looking to make more friends, but Lombardi decided he'd rather be the Boston Brawler. Heidenreich stopped wanting to be Lombardi's friend, which aided Heidenreich's ongoing face turn.

In early 2006, he still worked behind the scenes of WWE, including behind the camera with John Cena on his WWE.com show "5 Questions." Cena often makes references to Lombardi, even jokingly calling him the greatest technical wrestler of all time. Also, his face popped up in front of Cena's mouth to censor curse words, usually saying "Nu-Uh!" or "Brawler!". On the June 2, 2006 episode of Five Questions, Brawler showed his face. He even censored himself, saying "YOU are a piece of Brawler." In another episode of "5 Questions," Cena acknowledged that Lombardi was actually born in Detroit, and not in Brooklyn.

On May 8, 2006, WWE.com announced that, as a part of their "Classics" series, Jakks Pacific would be releasing a Brooklyn Brawler figure. ^[1]

At Vengeance 2006 (RAW produced PPV), Brawler appeared as Doink the Clown when he came out to the ring with Eugene during Eugene's match with Umaga (source: http://www.answers.com/topic/doink-the-clown). On August 1, 2006, Lombardi went to the ECW brand for a match against former ECW Extremist, Kurt Angle. Lombardi quickly lost when Angle applied an ankle lock on him. That same week, he appeared on SmackDown! against Vito, losing by submission. On the December 18 edition of RAW, Lombardi appeared in the 30-Man Battle Royal as the Brooklyn Brawler.

On the May 5, 2007 edition of SmackDown!, Lombardi made an appearance back stage in his Brooklyn Brawler persona, waiting in line for interviews to become the SmackDown! General Manager's assistant, for Theodore Long.

On December 10, 2007, on Raw, Lombardi appeared as Abe "Knuckleball" Schwartz in the ring with Triple H exclaiming "I guess the Brooklyn Brawler was busy tonight".