Great-ing Gimmicks of the Past: Naked Mideon – WWF, 2000
History
After the Corporate Ministry had collapsed, Dennis Knight (AKA Mideon) found himself floating with no storylines to be part of. He’d had a quick run with the European title, but then he found himself directionless again.
On the August 29, 2000 Raw, Perry Saturn and Terri (Runnels) were taking on the Kat (Stacy Carter) and Al Snow. Suddenly there was a breach of security as a naked man streaked around the ring. The cameras got a good look at his face, and it was revealed to be Mideon, wearing only a strategically-placed fanny pack.
The following week, Commissioner Mick Foley had Mideon in his office, where he got Mideon to promise that he wouldn’t streak any more matches.
Later in the night, Jerry Lawler and Chris Jericho were set to tag team against Tazz and Mideon. Tazz was flabbergasted when Mideon came out to the ring wearing Speedos and a fanny pack. He was so shocked that Lawler rolled him up for an immediate three count.
A week later, Ivory was challenging Lita for the Women’s title. Mideon ran out and streaked the ring, which caused Ivory to be distracted and pinned.
The next week, Mideon wasn’t at the arena, but he was entertaining fans at WWF New York.
Mideon disappeared for a few weeks after that. He reappeared on the October 16th Raw, where he tried to help Road Dogg defeat Right to Censor member Val Venis by attacking RTC leader Steven Richards.
He didn’t reappear until the No Mercy pay-per-view, where he took on William Regal for the European title. Also, due to Regal’s protests, Mideon would be clothed that night. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t last. Mideon soon stripped down to the ever-popular fanny pack and followed up by kissing Regal. Regal dropped Mideon onto the top turnbuckle, but thought better of the Regal Stretch when he considered Mideon’s state of undress. Instead, he dropped Mideon with a neckbreaker and covered him for the win.
And that was it.
Analysis
Dennis Knight, the man who was Mideon, is reputed to have a great sense of humor. He’d have to in order to do this. After all, Mideon was – shall we say – not exactly swimsuit model material. He was definitely a heavyweight, and not a handsome-looking man. Still, he went through with the angle.
Of course, someone has to wonder if this entire gimmick was a backstage joke. After all, people have wondered this about Dusty Rhodes’s WWF run for years. Regardless of whether it was a “Will he do this?” scenario or not, Knight seemed to take it in stride. Here is a quote from an interview Knight did with Alan Wojcik in 2004, where Knight discusses the goofier direction Mideon went after the end of the Corporate Ministry:
“Actually I thought the Mideon character was bringing some of my personality out. I looked at it as I am doing all of this in the WWF, it’s not real. Some of it was done as a joke to see if I would do it and then they realized they needed to stop because I was doing it anyways.”
At least he had a sense of humor about it.
Where are they now?
Dennis Knight left the WWF at the end of 2000 after his contract ran out. In March of 2005, Knight (under a mask) made one appearance for TNA and then returned to the independent scene. In March of 2006, Knight wrestled some dark matches for the WWE, and it is being rumored that he is being considered to be part of a vampire stable in ECW.
Next week
By reader request, Steven Richards decides to take a stand.
