200-kilogram Nelson Frazier (Mabel, Viscera, Big Daddy V) was staged by WWE as an attraction, with varying degrees of success. He then lost his life prematurely.
With a fighting weight of 225 kilograms at times, he was one of the most memorable figures in the wrestling world of the 1990s.
He reigned as “King of the Ring” in WWE, was a rival and partner of the Undertaker, headlined SummerSlam 1995, and challenged the then-champion Diesel (Kevin Nash) at the league’s second-biggest show.
At the young age of 24, Nelson Frazier, aka King Mabel – later known as Viscera and Big Daddy V – had enjoyed a meteoric rise in the then WWF, which, however, came to an equally abrupt end.
Twenty-five years ago, Mabel’s most successful year ended in humiliation, followed shortly thereafter by his dismissal. Nelson Frazier’s life ended 19 years later when the super heavyweight suffered a fatal heart attack at a young age.
Surprising coronation as “King Mabel”
Frazier, born on February 14, 1971, in the wrestling stronghold of Greensboro, North Carolina, began his WWE career in 1993 as part of the tag team Men on a Mission. Together with his partner Mo (Robert Horne), who also died this year, and his rapping manager Oscar, he initially appeared as a crowd favorite before the two turned against Oscar and began acting as evil “heels.”
In the spring of 1995, the surprising decision was made to have Mabel win the King of the Ring tournament and build him up as a challenger for Diesel—a program that earned the league a lot of criticism.
Mabel, who lived primarily off his monstrous appearance but was limited in the ring, already seemed outdated to many fans in this role at the time. A few years after the peak of Hulk Hogan’s career, elite performers such as Bret “The Hitman” Hart and Shawn Michaels had raised the bar of expectations: When Mabel’s tournament victory in Philadelphia became apparent, many fans expressed their displeasure by chanting for the underground league “ECW,” which was based there. The weak SummerSlam match between Frazier, now competing as “King Mabel,” and Diesel ultimately did none of the participants any favors.
Undertaker wore a mask because of Mabel’s failed move
Mabel’s star soon faded, with criticism from colleagues and superiors playing a greater role than that of fans: Nash later reported that Mabel had unintentionally injured several opponents in the ring.
Above all, he was accused of often not being able to control the force of his body weight – which distinguished him from Yokozuna, who had shot to fame two years before him (and also died young) and was a highly respected ring craftsman as part of the Samoan wrestling clan.
Mabel, on the other hand, caused serious ring accidents both against Nash and in his subsequent program with the Undertaker. It was a botched leg drop by Mabel that caused the Taker to suffer several broken bones in his face, forcing him to wear a mask in the ring for a while.
After the Undertaker won the rematch against Mabel at In Your House: Season’s Beatings on December 17, 1995, he was dismantled in eight seconds by Diesel the following day and terminated at the beginning of the following year.
Reinvented as Viscera and Big Daddy V
Two and a half years later, Mabel got a new chance, with a new name and the goth character Viscera (derived from visceral – deep-seated, relating to the intestines), becoming a disciple of the now evil Taker in his Ministry of Darkness group.
He did not achieve any greater success; Viscera was clearly defined as a secondary character, even after a comeback in 2004 following his temporary dismissal. After some time, his role was reinterpreted as a comedy character, and as the love-struck “World’s Largest Love Machine,” he pursued ring announcer Lillian Garcia.
A final attempt to make him bigger in 2007 with a new look and a more serious character as Big Daddy V was again not well received by fans. In 2008, he left WWE for good.
Cause of death: Heart attack in the shower
On February 18, 2014, four days after his 43rd birthday, Nelson Frazier died after collapsing from heart failure in the shower. After his death, he became part of a fruitless legal battle: his widow Cassandra sued WWE, claiming that head injuries sustained in the league had contributed to his death.
WWE lawyers dismissed this as nonsense, citing Frazier’s cause of death, and the case was dismissed—as was the head injury class action lawsuit filed by attorney Konstantine Kyros, who had also joined Cassandra Frazier.