Whatever Happened to the WWE’s Most Famous Lackeys?

Brian Damage

It seems that when a wrestler debuts a rich man type gimmick in the WWE, they usually are accompanied by a second or valet. Someone who is willing to take abuse from their employer and often interferes in their matches. That has been the case recently with Jindr Mahal who has the Singh brothers of Samir and Sunil. It was also very prevalent back in the 1980’s when the ‘Million Dollar Man’ Ted Dibiase had Virgil. They may be called personal butlers, servants, ring announcers or bodyguards…but to us fans…they were known simply as lackey’s. Today on the blog, we ask ‘Whatever Happened to‘ some of the more obscure ones that you may or may not remember.

He was trained by several California based luchadors. He would go on to become a ring announcer to fellow WWE superstar Alberto Del Rio. We ask, ‘Whatever Happened to Ricardo Rodriguez.

Jesus Rodriguez started out his career wrestling in 2006 under a mask known as Chimaera. He wrestled for several Californian indpendents as well as Mexico. Rodriguez was signed by the WWE developmental in 2010. That same year, Rodriguez would become Alberto Del Rio’s personal ring announcer. He would also assist Del Rio in winning matches. It was a position Rodriguez would hold until 2013.

After Del Rio fired him and attacked him on TV….Rodriguez became a color commentator for WWE’s Spanish language programs. He would also continue wrestling in NXT under a mask as ‘El Local.’ He was an original member of Lucha Dragons with Kalisto. Rodriguez would be released from the WWE in 2014.

Whatever happened to Ricardo Rodriguez? Rodriguez returned to wrestling in the independents until officially retiring in May of 2017. He still makes appearances and does wrestling seminars. He is single and resides in Van Nuys, California.

He’s a Japanese born wrestler who was trained by a former WWE title holder. He would sign with the WWE and have an unremarkable tenure with the company before his release. He also had a brief tryout with TNA wrestling. Today on the blog, we ask ‘Whatever Happened to’ Kazma Sakamoto?

Kazma Sakamoto was trained in the Kaientai Dojo by former WWE light heavyweight champion Taka Michinoku. He would make his pro wrestling debut in Japan in 2003. He made up a tag team with his mentor Michinoku and the duo would find moderate success. It wasn’t until Kazma turned heel and formed a team called Kinnoutou with partner Kengo Mashimo that Kazma would find his greatest success. The team would win several tag team titles in the Japanese independents and Mexico as well.

In 2011, Kazma was signed to a WWE developmental contract and was sent down to Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) While in FCW, Kazma was simply known by his last name of Sakamoto. Sakamoto never won a match while competing in the developmental territory. Sakamoto would remain with FCW until April of 2012…the night after Wrestlemania 28. Sakamoto was booked as the personal servant to a re-debuting Matt Bloom aka ‘Lord Tensai.’

Sakamoto was always around to interfere on the part of his “master” Tensai. Unfortunately for both Kazma and Bloom, the Lord Tensai character did not get over well. The decision was made to once again repackage Bloom. In doing so, Lord Tensai was seen viciously attacking Sakamoto after a television loss. This was done was a way to “write off” Sakamoto from WWE television. After the attack, Sakamoto was sent back down to the new developmental promotion NXT.

Sakamoto returned as a jobber losing to the likes of Neville and Conor O’Brian (The future Konnor from the Ascension) Sakamoto was eventually released by the WWE in 2013 after not being able to find anything for Sakamoto to do. So the question now becomes…Whatever happened to Sakamoto? Kazma returned to Japan and continues to wrestle in the Japanese independents like Keji Mutoh’s Wrestle 1, Pro Wrestling Noah and Pro Wrestling Zero 1. Sakamoto also had one match in TNA wrestling where he lost to MVP. Kazma still wrestles full time in Japan.

He’s an Ecuadorian wrestler who competed in ECW as well as the WWF. He also wrestled in Puerto Rico for Carlos Colon’s World Wrestling Council (WWC) This time we ask, ‘Whatever Happened’ to Babu?

Pablo Marquez was trained at the famed Monster Factor by Larry Sharpe in 1992. After a stint wrestling on the independent scene….Marquez was signed by ECW. In ECW, Marquez wrestled as El Puerto Ricano and challenged for the ECW Television title on several occasions….unsuccessfully. After a few years of wrestling on and off for ECW, Marquez signed a deal with the WWF.

Initially, Marquez was brought in to bolster the WWF’s Light Heavyweight division. He was soon repackaged as Abu also known as Babu the servant to Tiger Ali Singh. Singh would often abuse his servant by making him do menial tasks. When Babu wasn’t being humiliated by his master…Babu would often interfere in Singh’s matches. Ultimately, Marquez was released by the WWF in 1999.

So whatever happened to Pablo ‘Babu’ Marquez? Marquez returned to the independents as well as compete in Puerto Rico for Carlos Colon’s WWC. Nowadays, Marquez resides in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and owns a wrestling school called The Main Event Training Center.

He went from having a tryout in OVW to becoming a character on WWE television. We ask ‘Whatever Happened’ to Lamont?

Demond Thompson was working a regular 9 to 5 type job…but felt it wasn’t for him. He decided to have a tryout with Ohio Valley Wrestling and survived the initial training. Demond would be trained by Rip Rogers and become a wrestler for that promotion starting in 2000. After a visit to OVW, John ‘Bradshaw’ Layfield took a liking to Demond and asked if he would like to play a butler on WWE television. Seeing a golden opportunity, Demond agreed and would become “Bruce the Butler.”

His gimmick was tweaked a little and was renamed “Lamont” and become the ring announcer/second to Ernest the Cat Miller on WWE television. Lamont would often been seen dancing in the middle of the ring with Miller. Demond’s biggest exposure came at the Royal Rumble in 2004. He introduced MIller and danced in the middle of the ring while Randy Orton and Chris Benoit were unconscious. When Orton and Benoit came to, they attacked both Miller and Lamont and eliminated both from the match.

Demond would be released not long after that and he returned to OVW. It was there where he changed his gimmick and became a manager named Mo Green. His stable of wrestlers were called ‘Mo Money Associates.’ Whatever happened to Demond Thompson?

Demond would quit professional wrestling and leave Louisville, Kentucky and move to Indiana. He is married with a daughter and works in sales.

---

You can read all previous ‘Whatever Happened to’ pieces here.

---