Bill Dannenhauser
Encyclopedia
Bill Dannenhauer is a retired American
professional wrestler
better known as Dave Sullivan or The Equalizer.
as the Offensive Coordinator at Washburn University
. He met Harley Race
and decided to become a professional wrestler
.
He started wrestling in 1990 as The Equalizer in the National Wrestling Alliance
's (NWA) Pacific Northwest Wrestling
territory. He teamed with The Grappler
as "The Wrecking Crew" and feuded with John Nord
and Scott Norton
. They then won the Pacific Northwest Tag Team title twice before he and Grappler split and feuded, with Equalizer assuming the babyface role as PNW fans rooted for him against Grappler.
In 1991, he briefly wrestled in New Japan Pro Wrestling
, most notably losing a match to Scott Norton
on March 21 at the Tokyo Dome
.
He left PNW for the Global Wrestling Federation
where he wrestled as Captain Ron in 1992.
In 1993 he joined World Championship Wrestling
, and teamed briefly with Rick Rude as his tag team partner/bodyguard. They feuded with Dustin Rhodes and Road Warrior Hawk
. He also teamed with Paul Orndorff
.
His biggest push started in the summer of 1994 when he became Dave "Evad" Sullivan the dyslexic
brother of Kevin Sullivan
. He was being picked on by The Nasty Boys
and brought Kevin in to help him against them. He was injured by them, so Sullivan brought in Cactus Jack
to help them out. After Kevin and Jack took care of The Nasty Boys, they split up, and Jack left. Hulk Hogan
made his WCW debut that summer, and Dave became his biggest fan. Kevin hated Hogan, and problems started brewing.
Dave started teaming with Hogan and Sting against Ric Flair
and his henchmen, and Kevin soon turned on Dave, which started a feud that went into 1995. After his feud with Kevin ended, Dave fell in love with Kimberly
, the valet for Diamond Dallas Page
(This was before it was known that DDP & Kimberly were married in real life.). DDP took offense to this and started a feud with Dave that lasted all summer. During this feud, Dave gave Kimberly presents, which infuriated DDP even more. Dave eventually lost the feud and moved on.
His next feud was with Big Bubba Rogers
. Dave had a pet rabbit
that he brought to ringside with him, and Bubba was allergic to rabbits. Bubba started wearing a surgical mask to keep from inhaling the germs, but Dave would always pull it off and get the victory. Danenhauer left WCW in early 1996 after participating in the first WCW World War 3
event.
He wrestled in the independents under his original ring name The Equalizer until retiring in 2003 to become a football coach at Dana College
in Blair, Nebraska
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
professional wrestler
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
better known as Dave Sullivan or The Equalizer.
Career
Bill Danenhauer started out in college footballCollege football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
as the Offensive Coordinator at Washburn University
Washburn University
Washburn University is a co-educational, public institution of higher learning in Topeka, Kansas, USA. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and business. Washburn has 550 faculty members, who teach more than 6,400 undergraduate students and...
. He met Harley Race
Harley Race
Harley Leland Race is a retired American professional wrestler and current promoter and trainer. During his career as a wrestler, he held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship 7 times...
and decided to become a professional wrestler
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
.
He started wrestling in 1990 as The Equalizer in the National Wrestling Alliance
National Wrestling Alliance
The National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...
's (NWA) Pacific Northwest Wrestling
Pacific Northwest Wrestling
Pacific Northwest Wrestling is the common name used to refer to several different professional wrestling companies, both past and present, based in Portland, Oregon, United States. The first such company was founded by Herb Owen in 1925...
territory. He teamed with The Grappler
Len Denton
Len Denton is a semi-retired professional wrestler, best known by his ring name The Grappler.While wrestling as The Grappler in Pacific Northwest Wrestling , his gimmick was a loaded boot, and later a loaded mask, which he had started wearing earlier in his career after losing a hair match and...
as "The Wrecking Crew" and feuded with John Nord
John Nord
John Nord is a retired American professional wrestler. He lives in Bozeman, Montana.-Career:John Nord started wrestling in late 1984 as "The Barbarian" for Mid-South Wrestling under manager Skandor Akbar...
and Scott Norton
Scott Norton
Scott Michael Norton is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenures in World Championship Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling.-Before wrestling:...
. They then won the Pacific Northwest Tag Team title twice before he and Grappler split and feuded, with Equalizer assuming the babyface role as PNW fans rooted for him against Grappler.
In 1991, he briefly wrestled in New Japan Pro Wrestling
New Japan Pro Wrestling
is a major professional wrestling promotion in Japan, founded by Antonio Inoki in June 1972 and owned by Yuke's since 2005, when Inoki sold the promotion. Naoki Sugabayashi is the current President of the promotion and has held that position from 2007. Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, it...
, most notably losing a match to Scott Norton
Scott Norton
Scott Michael Norton is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenures in World Championship Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling.-Before wrestling:...
on March 21 at the Tokyo Dome
Tokyo Dome
Tokyo Dome is a 55,000-seat baseball stadium located in Bunkyo Ward of Tokyo, Japan.The stadium opened for business on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of the Velodrome which was next door to the site of the predecessor ballpark, Kōrakuen Stadium...
.
He left PNW for the Global Wrestling Federation
Global Wrestling Federation
Global Wrestling Federation was a professional wrestling promotion based in Dallas, Texas. It started in June 1991 and folded in September 1994. At one time its shows were presented on the ESPN television network. On many weeks, the promotion provided programming five days a week airing at 4 p.m...
where he wrestled as Captain Ron in 1992.
In 1993 he joined World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
, and teamed briefly with Rick Rude as his tag team partner/bodyguard. They feuded with Dustin Rhodes and Road Warrior Hawk
Road Warrior Hawk
Michael James Hegstrand was an American professional wrestler. He is best remembered as Road Warrior Hawk, one half of the tag team known as the Road Warriors or The Legion of Doom , with Road Warrior Animal.-Early life:While living in Chicago, Hegstrand met Joe Lauranaitis, who would be later...
. He also teamed with Paul Orndorff
Paul Orndorff
Paul Parlette Orndorff, Jr. is a retired American professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling as "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff...
.
His biggest push started in the summer of 1994 when he became Dave "Evad" Sullivan the dyslexic
Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a very broad term defining a learning disability that impairs a person's fluency or comprehension accuracy in being able to read, and which can manifest itself as a difficulty with phonological awareness, phonological decoding, orthographic coding, auditory short-term memory, or rapid...
brother of Kevin Sullivan
Kevin Sullivan (wrestler)
Kevin Francis Sullivan is an American professional wrestler and booker, perhaps best known for his role in WCW as "The Taskmaster" and his leading of the "Dungeon of Doom".-Early career:...
. He was being picked on by The Nasty Boys
The Nasty Boys
The Nasty Boys are a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags, active from the mid to late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. Their gimmick was that of anti-social punks who specialized in hardcore wrestling and brawling...
and brought Kevin in to help him against them. He was injured by them, so Sullivan brought in Cactus Jack
Mick Foley
Michael Francis "Mick" Foley, Sr. is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, author, comedian, actor, voice actor and former color commentator. He has worked for many wrestling promotions, including WWE, WCW, ECW and TNA. He is often referred to as "The Hardcore Legend", a nickname he...
to help them out. After Kevin and Jack took care of The Nasty Boys, they split up, and Jack left. Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan
Terrance Gene "Terry" Bollea , better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American Semi-retired professional wrestler, actor, television personality, and musician currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ....
made his WCW debut that summer, and Dave became his biggest fan. Kevin hated Hogan, and problems started brewing.
Dave started teaming with Hogan and Sting against Ric Flair
Ric Flair
Richard Morgan Fliehr is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Ric Flair. Also known as "The Nature Boy", Flair is one of the most well-known professional wrestlers in the world....
and his henchmen, and Kevin soon turned on Dave, which started a feud that went into 1995. After his feud with Kevin ended, Dave fell in love with Kimberly
Kimberly Page
Kimberly Lynn Bacon is an American former actress and valet for ex-husband Diamond Dallas Page, during which she was known by the ring name Kimberly Page...
, the valet for Diamond Dallas Page
Diamond Dallas Page
Dallas Page , better known by his ring name "Diamond" Dallas Page , is an American retired professional wrestler, fitness instructor and actor...
(This was before it was known that DDP & Kimberly were married in real life.). DDP took offense to this and started a feud with Dave that lasted all summer. During this feud, Dave gave Kimberly presents, which infuriated DDP even more. Dave eventually lost the feud and moved on.
His next feud was with Big Bubba Rogers
Ray Traylor
Ray Walter Traylor, Jr. was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment under the ring name Big Boss Man and World Championship Wrestling under various ring names, most notably Big Bubba Rogers.-Early years:Traylor, a prison guard in...
. Dave had a pet rabbit
Rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
that he brought to ringside with him, and Bubba was allergic to rabbits. Bubba started wearing a surgical mask to keep from inhaling the germs, but Dave would always pull it off and get the victory. Danenhauer left WCW in early 1996 after participating in the first WCW World War 3
WCW World War 3
World War 3 was an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Championship Wrestling. The pay-per-view's title also was the name of its signature match, a three-ring, sixty-man battle royal which was their answer to the World Wrestling Federation's Royal Rumble. The event...
event.
He wrestled in the independents under his original ring name The Equalizer until retiring in 2003 to become a football coach at Dana College
Dana College
Dana College is a now defunct baccalaureate college located in Blair, Nebraska. Its rural 150-acre campus is approximately 25 miles northwest of Omaha, and overlooks a portion of the Missouri River Valley....
in Blair, Nebraska
Blair, Nebraska
Blair is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 7,990 at the 2000 census. Blair is a part of the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Statistical Area.- History :...
.
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Bunny Hop (Inverted bearhug)
- Leg dropLeg dropA leg drop or legdrop refers to an attack used in professional wrestling in which an attacking wrestler will jump and land his leg across a fallen opponent's chest, throat, face or head or in some cases, the groin/lower-abdominal area...
– adopted from Hulk HoganHulk HoganTerrance Gene "Terry" Bollea , better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American Semi-retired professional wrestler, actor, television personality, and musician currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ....
- ManagersManager (professional wrestling)In professional wrestling, a manager is a secondary character paired with a wrestler for a variety of reasons. The manager is often either a non-wrestler, an occasional wrestler, an older wrestler who has retired or is nearing retirement or, in some cases, a new wrestler who is breaking into the...
- Lance Wright
- Joe Don Smith
- Rip Oliver
- Madd Maxine
- Kevin Casey
- Evan Steigerwalt
Championships and accomplishments
- Empire Wrestling Association
- EWA North American Championship (1 time)
- Pacific Northwest WrestlingPacific Northwest WrestlingPacific Northwest Wrestling is the common name used to refer to several different professional wrestling companies, both past and present, based in Portland, Oregon, United States. The first such company was founded by Herb Owen in 1925...
- NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team ChampionNWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team ChampionshipThe NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling championship sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance and defended in its member promotion Pacific Northwest Wrestling, which promoted shows in the U.S...
(2 times) – with The GrapplerLen DentonLen Denton is a semi-retired professional wrestler, best known by his ring name The Grappler.While wrestling as The Grappler in Pacific Northwest Wrestling , his gimmick was a loaded boot, and later a loaded mask, which he had started wearing earlier in his career after losing a hair match and...
- Professional Wrestling Federation
- PWF Eastern States Championship (1 time)
- PWF Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Baby Huey (1) and George SouthGeorge SouthGeorge South is a professional wrestler who has appeared as a preliminary wrestler in World Championship Wrestling, Jim Crockett Promotions and the World Wrestling Federation.-Professional wrestling career:...
(1)
- Southern States WrestlingSouthern States WrestlingSouthern States Wrestling is an American independent professional wrestling promotion based in eastern Tennessee. Founded by wrestler Beau James in early 1991, SSW succeeded Smoky Mountain Wrestling as the top promotion in eastern Tennessee following its close...
- SSW Heavyweight ChampionshipSSW Heavyweight ChampionshipThe Southern States Wrestling Heavyweight Championship is the primary professional wrestling championship in Southern States Wrestling. It was first won by The Tennessee Equalizer when he defeated George Hiatt in Elizabethton, Tennessee on February 16, 1991...
(1 time)
- United States Wrestling Federation
- USWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with John BradshawJohn LayfieldJohn Charles Layfield is a former American professional wrestler, a former commentator/host for mixed martial arts promotion Vyper Fight League and financial analyst for Fox News...
- USWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with John Bradshaw
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
- Worst Gimmick (1994)
- Worst Wrestler (1993, 1994)