A Rough Start
“Upon my debut, I was sick. That whole match with Stevie Richards that people ask me about a lot, I got food poisoning the night before.”
Imagine starting your dream job, that, by the way, involves performing on live television in front of millions of viewers as well as thousands in attendance. This was the scenario that Chris Mordetzky AKA Chris Masters found himself in on February 21st 2005.
“I went to a gas station while travelling the road,” Chris detailed to me in a 2007 episode of the PWB Podcast. “I was debuting on Raw the next day and I eat this turkey wrap from a gas station.”
“Against my better judgement I eat it because I was starving.”
Thirty minutes later, gargling sounds from his abdomen were the prelude to a rough 24 hours that followed. The timing could not have been worse.
“You’re fulfilling your dream and about to debut on Raw, live on television, and two hours before that I’m sleeping.”
His match on that episode of Raw was against likeable veteran, Stevie Richards. He unfortunately broke Stevie’s nose from a blow to the face that he admitted was “a mistake.”
A debut to forget. One that might break a budding wrestler’s spirit. But not Mordetzky’s. He was made of sterner stuff. Working non-televised events had assisted him greatly. Four months of working house shows had somewhat prepared him for the big time, but TV was a different animal.
The Masterpiece
It was TV where he was able to showcase his uniquely elaborate entrance entailing a slow build and a multitude of bodybuilding poses. Chris credited Triple H and Shawn Michaels for helping with it.
“The whole theme for WWE at that point was (going) back,” he said. “They wanted to take stuff back, almost a little old school. They (had) spent so much time putting people through tables and hitting them with chairs.”
The old school theme continued as he was chosen to build his character around a simple full nelson manoeuvre. His size and build was perfect despite his skepticism at being able to make the basic move seem devastating.
“They put the machine behind it and gave it TV exposure.”
The Masterlock Challenge was his version of the retro Bodyslam Challenge. It got him over and slowly pushed him towards the top of the card.
“Shawn (Michaels) was the greatest in-ring performer in the business and I grew up watching him; borderline idolising him,” he told me. “Getting to go into a pay-per-view match with Shawn Michaels and work a programme with him was definitely a highlight.”
That marquee pay-per-view match with HBK as well as a spot in the WWE Championship match at New Year’s Revolution in 2006 ranked as his biggest matches. Mordetzky also mentioned working Wrestlemania 22 with Carlito against Big Show and Kane in a tag team title match as a personal highlight, plus being able to entertain the troops in Afghanistan.
Darker Days
Staying relevant but without challenging the main event again, Mordetzky was drawn to Smackdown in June’s 2007 Draft.
“It was a chance for opportunity,” he reflected. “I felt like my career was going stale. I had made a couple of mistakes and felt that I was being underutilised or not utilised to my full potential.”
Sadly, within just two months, he would be suspended for 30 days due to a wellness policy violation. On the same day, a whole host of talent, including Booker T, Edge, William Regal and Mr Kennedy suffered the same fate, as part of the Signature Pharmacy scandal.
He returned and fortune was not on his side when he injured himself tagging with Fit Finlay against Undertaker and Kane during the UK tour of autumn 2007. Mordetzky returned home to recover, hopeful of the opportunity to get his career back on track in a month or two.
“I get home and figuring I’m injured, I’ll have a check coming in and I’ll come back in a couple of months when my elbow’s recovered.”
He was tested three times in a week within his return and one submission violated the wellness policy, triggering another suspension in November. This time it was 60 days.
“I get a phone call and the result of the test. It was that day Dr. Black called me and told me I was suspended for 60 days.”
“I was caught by surprise by the result,” he continued.
Chris referred to this as “when shit hit the fan, after Chris Benoit and everything that happened with him.”
The next day, just shy of three years after his debut, Chris was released.
“When you’re in WWE, practically your world is WWE,” Mordetzky pondered, illustrating how all-consuming the sports entertainment behemoth is, when you’re working within its bubble.
“Who knows, maybe that door will open again?” he told me in 2007. Two years later, that very door opened and he was welcomed back for another two-year stint.
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