Help Wanted! Job Opportunities: Gangrel

Brian Damage

Back in the 80’s and 90’s, it was very common to see some no name wrestler go up against a proven star of a promotion. Whether that be from the WWF, NWA/WCW, AWA or elsewhere, these nomads of professional wrestling were there to make the stars look great. They were known as enhancement talent, preliminary wrestlers or as many fans have come to know them…”jobbers.” While fans were clamoring to see big time match ups, these “squash matches” served a very important purpose. While perhaps not appreciated at the time, they were just as important as the stars themselves.

While watching old wrestling shows, you just never know who is going to pop up as enhancement talent. Men and women who were once or maybe a handful of times used on shows to help “get over” bigger named stars at that particular time. Such was the case with our latest “jobber” on an episode of Wrestling Challenge. It was December of 1988 and the Big Bossman took on an enhancement talent named David Heath. David Heath was destroyed by the Bossman in a little less than 2 1/2 minutes. After the match ended, Bossman handcuffed the youngster on the ring post and brutalized him with his trusty night stick.

Heath would do several other jobs on both WWF and WCW television usually under his real name. Of course, David Heath would develop a much darker persona wrestling as a member of the masked ‘Blackhearts’ managed by Luna Vachon, also as the Black Phantom, The Vampire Warrior and his most famous gimmick in the WWF as ‘Gangrel.’

Heath wrestled all over the world and helped train stars of the future including Miroslav Barnyashev formerly known as Rusev in WWE and currently Miro in AEW.