The Lo-Down: D’Lo Brown’s Biggest WWE Matches

What does professional wrestling and, more specifically, WWE have to do with the University of Maine?  The answer, quite simply, is D’Lo Brown.

Brown, born Accie Julius Connor, was a superstar in WWE (then the WWF) during the so-called “Attitude Era”, which was unquestionably the height of professional wrestling’s popularity.  Just as important to those of us at Fill The Steins, however, Brown is a graduate of the University of Maine and, believe it or not, a real-life Certified Public Accountant.

Instead of plying his trade in the boring world of accounting, Brown went down a much different career path…that of a professional wrestler.  After toiling in wrestling’s minor leagues for most of the mid ’90s, Brown was ultimately signed by the WWF in 1997, at which point he made his debut as a member of the Nation of Domination, the very same faction that produced some guy named The Rock.  Brown’s skill, his charisma, and a little bit of fortuitous timing landed him smack dab in the middle of some of the most important storylines (or angles) of wrestling’s “boom period”.

Like most mid-card level talents, D’Lo Brown’s run with the WWF/E, while successful, didn’t last forever.  Now, thanks to the brand new WWE Network, a subscription-based 24/7 streaming service (think Netflix for wrestling fans), every pay-per-view (PPV) is available to uber-fans like me, and the site’s outstanding search feature allows viewers to find every single big match from their favorite wrestler’s WWE career.

In keeping with our mission here at Fill The Steins to “celebrate the college of our hearts always”, we figured why not leverage the WWE Network to go back in time and relive some of D’Lo Brown’s most important contributions to the Attitude Era.  So, that’s exactly what we’re doing.

Beginning today, Fill The Steins will bring you recaps and reviews of every PPV match in Brown’s WWF/E career.  So join me in the way-back machine and let’s take a trip to the glory days of sports entertainment, as experienced through D’Lo Brown’s wrestling boots…

The Match: The Nation of Domination (The Rock, Kama Mustafa & D’Lo Brown) vs. The Legion of Doom – 3 on 2 handicapped match
The Event: WWF Badd Blood: In Your House
The Location: Kiel Center, St. Louis, MO
The Date: October 5, 1997

This was Brown’s very first WWF PPV match and it was also the show-opener.  Originally scheduled to be a 6-man tag, LOD’s partner, Ken Shamrock, was (storyline) injured in an angle leading up to the PPV event, so the LOD decided to go it alone because, you know, they’re tough guys from the streets of Chicago who wear spikes on their shoulderpads.

Brown actually gets to start the match against Roadwarrior Hawk and has exactly zero success.  He bumps around like crazy for the former tag team champ and soon-to-be has-been before he tags in The Rock, which elicits a MASSIVE “Rocky sucks!” chant from the St. Louis crowd.  You see, the NOD were a big-time heel faction at this point and we were still about nine months away from The Rock’s first of many face turns. 

D’Lo actually does a bit of subtle heel work here.  Clearly annoyed by the crowd’s chanting, The Rock bails to the outside, where D’Lo comforts him and clearly says (with the camera right next to him) “You don’t suck!”.  Nice.

Anyway, back to the match.  After The Rock and Kama also get, ahem, dominated by the LOD, traditional tag team formula wrestling kicks in, as the heels take control and maintain the advantage by cheating at every turn, distracting the referee whenever possible, and double- and triple-teaming Roadwarrior Animal in their corner.

At this point in the match, D’Lo finally gets to show off some of his offensive moveset, with a couple of nice leg drops and then, finally, his patented top-rope frogsplash, which is a very impressive move for a near 300-pounder to pull off.  The move, however, could only get a two-count, so the match continued.

No tag team formula is complete without a triumphant comeback by the face team, and Animal is finally able to break free of the NOD’s beating and make the tag to Hawk, who promptly cleans house.  After a  ringside distraction by Faarooq, the leader of the NOD, The Rock is able to to turn the tables on the LOD and hit his patented Rock Bottom for the victory at 12:18.

Match Rating: **1/2 (out of *****)
D’Lo Brown Rating: *** (out of *****)
Final Thoughts: Overall, this was a solid PPV debut for our hero.  He was able to show off some of his heel chops, both verbally and in the ring, and also had a minute or two to showcase his offensive repitoire.  Realistically, one couldn’t expect more than that, as The Rock was clearly being built up at the point to become a massive star and one of the top draws in the company, hence Rocky getting the pinfall victory for his team.  Still, The Rock looking strong meant the Nation of Domination looked strong, which would prove to be very good news for D’Lo Brown.

Next time, we’ll take a look at D’Lo’s match from one of the most famous and important PPVs in WWF/E history, the 1997 Survivor Series.  Until then, feel free to share your thoughts on Brown’s wrestling career and let us know if there are any non-PPV matches of his you’d like included in our series!


Photo courtesy: www.wwe.com

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About "Fill The Steins": A multimedia platform devoted to providing an informative, entertaining forum that celebrates "the college of our hearts always" and its graduates' contributions to academics, athletics, and popular culture, as created by alumni and students, for alumni and students. FTS is not affiliated with the University of Maine or UMaine System and does not represent the views or opinions of the university in any way, shape, or form.
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