William Charles DeMott II (born November 10, 1966), most famously known as Bill DeMott, is an American retired professional wrestler, road agent, and trainer. He has wrestled under various ring names, including Hugh Morrus. Generally used as a jobber to the stars in WCW, he attained championship success during the promotion's dying days in late 2000 and early 2001, holding the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship twice. After an unsuccessful stint as a performer in WWE, DeMott retired from in-ring competition and transitioned into the role of a trainer for the company's Tough Enough program, on which he became known for using a rough, controversial style in handling trainees, as well as WWE's developmental territories Deep South Wrestling, Florida Championship Wrestling, and NXT; after working for WWE a total of 14 years between 2001 and 2015.
Let's delve into the life and career of this multifaceted personality in the world of professional wrestling.
Why Bill DeMott Was the Most Hated Man in Wrestling
Early Career (1990-1994)
DeMott was trained by Johnny Rodz in Rodz's New York City wrestling school beginning in 1988. From there he began working at small independent promotions using the name Big Sweet Williams. In 1992 DeMott began wrestling for the Americas Wrestling Federation and started using the name Crash the Terminator. Under this name he found partial success, first capturing the AWF World Heavyweight Title from Steve Strong in Puerto Rico, before moving on to the Japanese promotion W*ING and winning the World Tag Team Championship with Mr. Pogo.
On February 21, 1994 DeMott received a tryout match with the World Wrestling Federation at a Monday Night Raw taping at Poughkeepsie, NY. He wrestled for Eastern Championship Wrestling for a short time under his "Crash the Terminator" name. At Ultimate Jeopardy in March 1994 he defeated the Pitbull.
In 1995, DeMott was signed to a World Championship Wrestling (WCW) contract at the behest of Kevin Sullivan who had been impressed by him. He debuted in dark matches as The Man of Question and The Laughing Man, a strange gimmick that saw him wearing a singlet covered in question marks and laughing frequently.
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World Championship Wrestling
The Dungeon of Doom and The First Family (1995-2000)
He made his television debut as a member of the Dungeon of Doom as "The Laughing Man" Hugh Morrus on the November 18, 1995 episode of WCW Saturday Night in a vignette inside the Dungeon, where Kevin Sullivan told his (kayfabe) father, The Master, that he was giving him something he never had: laughter, and that he was giving him "the man from the Isle of Nowhere."
Upon the dissolution of the Dungeon of Doom in mid-1997, Morrus was relegated to the undercard. He gained the distinction of being the first wrestler to lose a televised match to Bill Goldberg during the September 22, 1997 episode of Nitro.
As a part of the growing hardcore wrestling style in WCW, Morrus joined Jimmy Hart's First Family stable in 1998. Although the Family found success and received a push following a victory over their rivals The Revolution, the stable was suddenly disbanded in 1999.
The Misfits In Action (2000-2001)
DeMott returned in early 2000, utilizing the same name and ring attire, but squashing a number of wrestlers as an angrier version of himself. After getting on Russo's bad side (in kayfabe), Morrus was fired from his New Blood stable along with a number of other wrestlers. These ex-New Blood members (including Chavo Guerrero Jr. and Booker T) formed the comedic Misfits in Action stable, which saw its members adopt both military-themed names and attires.
As the stable's leader, Morrus re-christened himself General Hugh G. Rection. The group's comedic nature and the workrate of some of the wrestlers made the group immediate favorites with fans. Upon the introduction of the heel Team Canada, the Misfits In Action immediately began feuding with Team Canada, based over the patriotism both stables had for their respective countries. As the leader of the Misfits, Rection feuded with Team Canada's leader and United States Heavyweight Champion Lance Storm, with the two trading wins until Rection defeated both Storm and a turncoat "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan in a handicap match on October 29 at Halloween Havoc to win the title.
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After his feud with Storm, the next night on Nitro, DeMott stood in the ring and spoke to the fans. At Sin on January 14, 2001, Rection lost the United States Heavyweight Title to Shane Douglas. Following the title loss, the Misfits disbanded when Rection announced that they were honorably discharged, which led to Rection reverting to his Hugh Morrus name while the now former Misfits briefly feuded amongst each other.
World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment
The Alliance (2001-2002)
When WCW was purchased by the WWF, DeMott signed a deal with the WWF and became part of The Invasion angle under his Hugh Morrus ring name as a member of The Alliance. Morrus made his WWF debut on the June 4, 2001 episode of Raw by attacking Edge. Aside from a pay-per-view match at Invasion on July 22 where he, Shawn Stasiak and Chris Kanyon defeated Big Show, Billy Gunn and Albert and an Intercontinental Championship match on the August 27 episode of Raw which he lost to Edge via disqualification, Morrus was relegated to wrestling on the company's secondary shows Heat and Jakked much like his fellow WCW alumni. In the September 29 episode of WWE Metal, Morrus made his first appearance at the show, where he took on Billy Gunn, in a losing effort.
When The Invasion ended at Survivor Series following Team Alliance's loss to Team WWF, Morrus was kayfabe fired by Vince McMahon. While off television, Morrus performed at house shows and worked in company's developmental territory Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA).
SmackDown! (2002-2004)
In April 2002, Morrus was drafted to the SmackDown! brand. He made his television return on the April 6 episode of Jakked alongside fellow WCW alumnus Chavo Guerrero Jr. and defeated The Hurricane and Funaki. Morrus was soon relegated to being a mainstay on Jakked and later Velocity until late July 2002, when he was legitimately injured in a motorcycle accident and had to take a leave of absence.
When he had sufficiently healed, Morrus made his return on the November 23 episode of Velocity under his real name. DeMott made his SmackDown! debut on December 5 as a heel, where he defeated Funaki in a squash match. The victory saw DeMott immediately receive a push that saw him squash several established wrestlers, including Funaki, Shannon Moore, Chuck Palumbo, Crash Holly, and Rikishi weekly on SmackDown!. However, this came to an end soon and saw DeMott relegated back to Velocity beginning in February 2003. In May, DeMott made a face turn that also saw him tell knock-knock jokes as part of the turn. As the gimmick failed to get over, he remained on Velocity while continuing to win several squash matches.
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DeMott wrestled his last televised match on the June 14 episode of Velocity, where he defeated fellow WCW alumnus Chris Kanyon. Later that month, DeMott retired from in-ring action, citing years of knee injuries.
Training Career
Deep South Wrestling (2004-2007)
When Tough Enough 4 wrapped production, DeMott did not make a return to Velocity. Instead, he became a full-time trainer for WWE and began working in the company's Deep South Wrestling developmental territory. DeMott also worked as a booker for DSW, although his direction in the promotion received criticism, most notably by former WWE developmental wrestler Kenny Omega, who soon requested to be released from his developmental contract due to poor treatment. DeMott was released from his WWE contract on January 19, 2007, with Tom Prichard taking his place as DSW's head trainer.
Return to WWE (2011-2015)
In 2011, WWE announced that DeMott would return to the company to perform as the head trainer on the revived Tough Enough series. Following the conclusion of Tough Enough, DeMott replaced Tom Prichard as the head trainer for the Florida Championship Wrestling developmental territory on June 2, 2012. After FCW was rebranded into NXT, DeMott retained his position as the head trainer, and continued in that role when the WWE Performance Center was opened in 2013. DeMott voiced himself in the video game WWE 2K15.
Allegations of Misconduct
Several former FCW, DSW, and NXT employees previously working within or with the WWE developmental system made public allegations of misconduct by DeMott during his time as trainer, including accusing DeMott of making trainees perform dangerous drills, physically assaulting and bullying trainees, using homophobic and racial slurs amongst other derogatory terms, letting trainees train while naked, and condoning sexual harassment. WWE released statements regarding some of the claims that came to light in 2013 and 2015, claiming that investigations were done and no wrongdoing was found.
DeMott resigned from the company on March 6, 2015 following widespread accusations of misconduct and abuse by a number of ex-trainees, allegations which DeMott denied.
Championships and Accomplishments
Throughout his career, Bill DeMott achieved the following:
- Americas Wrestling Federation
- AWF World Heavyweight Title (1 time)
- W*ING
- W*ING World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Mr. Pogo
- WCW
- WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
Here's a table summarizing DeMott's championship reigns in WCW:
| Championship | Reigns |
|---|---|
| WCW United States Heavyweight Championship | 2 |
