SPOTLIGHT ON...

Time for another "Spotlight on..." feature. I promised last time out either something on Otaku, or the character only one or two people so far know anything about at all. One I was going to take to UCW before it closed (and we'd started introing him in a roundabout way), and had thought once upon a time of taking him to A1E before things got a bit busy for me.

His name: Der Metzgermeister.

The Master Butcher.

I don't think you need much in the way of a physical description of him, since his character isn't based upon any distinguishing features. He is abnormally strong for his size, but he's not a particularly large man. In fact, looking back at most of his history, you wouldn't expect much of him - he wasn't in the army, he wasn't bullied, he wasn't even in a college American Football team. But, his history, or one part of it, is crucial in understanding him as a character, and it's also the reason I've tended to veer away from using him unless it was going to be in a place where it wouldn't be questioned as just a gimmick.

His early child-hood is pretty standard. His parents, both Americans, moved out to Germany with him when he was fairly young. He achieved high marks in his Abitur exams (equivalent I guess would be SATs or A-levels), and had a wrestling background, doing well at school. He entered the business world after school, where he rose at a decent pace.

Then, when he was 25, he posted a message onto an early internet board. It was in German, so not many members could read it, but someone did reply.

The message?

"Suche gut gebauten 18-30 jährigen zum Schlachten - Der Metzgermeister"

He found a willing victim, killed, and over the course of several months, ate him. His act was only discovered when someone accidentally opened the wrong freezer, and called the police. Der Metzgermeister was arrested and tried, but they couldn't get a murder charge to stick, as he had the victim's signed consent to the act, whilst the victim was perfectly normal. As such, all they could do was charge him with manslaughter, and imprisoned him for eight years. Upon release, since his case had been kept quiet in Germany, he was allowed to leave the country - going into exile. He returned to the US, where his story wasn't known too well, but his demeanor, which had always been described as socially atyptical, meant he didn't keep a job down for long. So, using the muscle-mass he'd gained in prison, he entered professional wrestling.

He was subsequently arrested and interviewed by American police, but, since he made it clear he would not be eating anyone else, nor would he be committing any crimes, he was allowed to live free, effectively 'on bail' - should he break a law, he will be kicked out of the country.

That's the basic history of the actual character. I got the idea for him actually from the real-life Metzgermeister, Armin Meiwes, the man who posted the advert and found a victim to eat. His entrance theme, "Mein Teil" by Rammstein, is based similarly around the events.

You can see why, in the current climate where so many people go on and on about gimmicks, I haven't used him. Above all others, he's the one character who needs to have kayfabe alive and well to work.

Stylistically, he's also currently got something against him. I created him with the intention of being a darker, much more philosophical character than what people are used to - I often imagine him sitting in a dark room, filled perhaps with Alchemy Gothic imagery, detailing his own philosophies on life and society. His mind is his greatest weapon - for instance, one of his most firmly held beliefs is that cannibalism is only wrong because society, the majority, deem it so, and that society is all too quick to remember that there have been times when almost all cultures have engaged in the act to survive through seemingly perpetual bad harvests.

The problem I have there, is one of my other characters, "The Dragon", has started down a similar path of late - whereas before, I'd intended Brown to stick more to competition and let Metzgermeister go down the darker path of humanity, Brown's talking about sociological perceptions vs. individual perceptions.

What does this all mean for the character, Der Metzgermeister?

I may still use him some day. He has a lot of potential quirks - one idea I've had was for him to detail what sauces or extras go with which parts of the human body. I actually think he's more of an angle-fed guy. Another mid-carder, as all my characters are, his place on the card would be coming into an established fed, and scaring people. I don't think he ever needs to go after a title in the same way Mr Entertainment or Blitz do, and I've had lots of ideas where he steps into a feud on behalf of one party, then turns on them after the end of the feud - stabbing them in the leg or something. I've also got the option with him of turning him completely psychotic.

Whatever I end up doing with him, I know he'll be a heel. He's too dark, his sense of humour too twisted, and he's too scary to make a decent face. You wouldn't exactly find the kiddies going to mum and dad "I wanna be like Metzgermeister when I grow up" in the same way they did for Hogan, would ya?

Well, that about wraps it up for this Spotlight. Next time, I'm thinking of going into another character I haven't used yet, but am working on if I can find somewhere to take him which has just the right combination of factors. What those are, you'll have to wait and see :-p