10 Things WWE Fans Should Know About Shawn Stasiak

The history of pro wrestling is full of second-generation (and beyond) performers who have followed in their parents’ footsteps, particularly in WWE. While fans may know legacy stars like Randy Orton, Paige, Cody Rhodes, and Ted DiBiase, there are also loads that fans might also be unaware of, like Shawn Stasiak.

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With two runs in WWE, Stasiak is one of those forgotten performers who could never quite find a gimmick that stuck, save for a run in WCW where he ended up becoming a successful tag team specialist. Let’s take a look at the life and career of Shawn Stasiak, including his impressive pro wrestling pedigree.

10 The Son Of Stan Stasiak

Shawn Stasiak’s father is none other than Stan Stasiak, who in 1973 managed to dethrone Pedro Morales to become the fifth ever WWE Champion. While the elder Stasiak’s reign at the top only lasted 9 days as a transitional champion, his career certainly had an effect on his son. In his youth, Shawn Stasiak would travel around the territories with his father, meeting some of the big stars of the day and sometimes playing with their kids, including fellow legacy talent The Rock.

9 Trained By Dory Funk Jr.

Stan Stasiak died in 1997, but Shawn was already following in his father’s footsteps by entering the business himself. Making his debut in 1996, Stasiak learned the ropes from a major legend in former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Dory Funk Jr. After sending an audition tape to WWE and scoring a tryout match, Stasiak signed to WWE in 1998 and performed for the company’s first developmental territory, Power Pro Wrestling in Memphis, where he took on opponents like Bill Dundee, Tom Prichard, and even Jerry “The King” Lawler.

8 Debuted In WWE As Meat

Despite being the son of a former WWE Champion — even a transitional one — Shawn Stasiak was forced to endure one of the more demeaning gimmicks of the Attitude Era. Upon arriving on the main roster, Stasiak was cast in the role of Meat, the resident sex slave of the all-female heel faction Pretty Mean Sisters.

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As Meat, Stasiak would prove to be a destabilizing force in the Pretty Mean Sisters, as Terri’s infatuation with him would result in the group breaking up.

7 Fired From WWE Over A Prank

Shawn Stasiak’s initial run in WWE would only last a couple of years, but the end of this stint would not be the result of budget cuts or Stasiak not getting over. The apparent reason for Meat’s dismissal from WWE in 2000 would be due to a backstage incident where he recorded a conversation between British Bulldog and Steve Blackman without them knowing. According to Stasiak, it was a backstage prank, but he was still fired from the company for it.

6 Part Of WCW’s New Blood Faction

Following his WWE departure, Shawn Stasiak ended up with the competition in World Championship Wrestling. As a younger talent in the roster, he was slotted into Vince Russo’s New Blood faction, which was feuding with the veteran-based Millionaire’s Club stable. Nicknamed “The Perfect One,” one of Stasiak’s first feuds in WCW was with the former Mr. Perfect, Curt Hennig. On top of that, he was also a part of a subgroup within the New Blood called the Natural Born Thrillers, which included Sean O’Haire, Mark Jindrak, and Mike Sanders.

5 Tagged With Chuck Palumbo As The Perfect Event

As alluded to earlier, Shawn Stasiak’s time in WCW would be his most successful in terms of in-ring accomplishments. Teaming with fellow Natural Born Thriller Chuck Palumbo as the tag team known as The Perfect Event, Stasiak was a staple of WCW’s tag team division, and managed to capture three runs with the WCW World Tag Team Championship. As tag team champions, Stasiak and Palumbo took on some impressive veteran teams, including The Insiders (Kevin Nash and Diamond Dallas Page) and KroniK (Bryan Clarke and Brian Adams).

4 Helped Conclude The Miss Hancock Pregnancy Angle In WCW

In the early 2000s, WCW was no stranger to Attitude Era antics, so Miss Hancock — better known as Stacy Keibler — found herself in a pregnancy angle where the identity of the father was a mystery. Once she became Shawn Stasiak’s valet, he was flagged as the most likely candidate for being the baby’s father.

RELATED: Why Stacy Keibler Was Better In WCW (& Why She Was Better In WWE)

However, the conclusion of this strange storyline would prove to be one of late period WCW’s more hilariously absurd moments. In a segment on one of the last Monday Nitros ever, Hancock brought a baby carriage into the ring only to reveal that it was full of Shawn Stasiak 8x10s.

3 Part Of The WCW/ECW Alliance In WWE

In 2001, WWE purchased WCW, and Shawn Stasiak once again became part of the WWE roster amid the big Invasion storyline where the old ECW and WCW rosters banded together to take over WWE. As part of the Alliance, Stasiak’s shtick involved desperately trying to impress Steve Austin only to clumsily mess up any time he had an opportunity. Otherwise, his only major contributions to the Invasion angle included taking part in a tag match in the initial Invasion pay-per-view and then competing in the Immunity Battle Royal at Survivor Series.

2 His Absurd Planet Stasiak Gimmick

After the Invasion storyline was put to bed, Shawn Stasiak found a new gimmick, and one that was incredibly different from his previous personas. Portraying a mentally unhinged character apparently inspired by Jim Carrey’s version of The Riddler, Stasiak claimed to be an alien from the Planet Stasiak. It was a comedic heel persona, but one that failed to gain him much traction. However, he did spend the latter half of 2002 racking up a whopping 15 reigns with the Hardcore Championship, though many of those wins happened at house shows.

1 Became A Chiropractor And Motivational Speaker

Following his WWE release, Shawn Stasiak decided not to go the route of his contemporaries and continue performing on the indie and international scenes. Instead, he found a completely different career, becoming a chiropractor in Texas. In addition, Stasiak has also ventured into motivational speaking, developing an Ultimate Warrior-inspired superhero character called Fobia who speaks to kids about confronting one’s fear, healthy habits in eating and fitness, and dealing with bullies. Fobia is also a bit of a “full circle” thing for Stasiak, as it was the character he portrayed in his initial audition tape to WWE.