We’re back in the Wrestling Salvage Yard! This time, we’re looking at a gimmick that was in WWE for a brief period. So brief, that you would’ve probably forgotten he was there! Battle Kat was played by two WWE enhancement talents in Brady Boone and Bob Bradley. Both were familiar with each other and also very athletic.
The Battle Kat gimmick was tailor-made for Boone but when he was released a month or two into the character’s run, his B-show/house show rival Bradley took over. Could Battle Kat have been a bigger character?
Normally, I’d go into the history of a wrestler, team, or gimmick but there’s just nothing here to run with. Looking at both Boone and Bradley’s WWE runs in 1990, Battle Kat was only around between September and November. After that, Bradley went back to jobbing duties. Meanwhile, Boone appeared in Abrams’ UWF as Lynxx and Fire Cat, a gimmick he also used in All Japan.
Yes, it was basically Battle Kat.
Salvaging Battle Kat in WWE
This is a hard one, did WWE ever need Battle Kat? In 1990, it wasn’t a particularly friendly promotion for light heavyweights. Boone ended up going to WCW where he would retire and become a referee. If anything, the gimmick would’ve probably done better pre-Cruiserweight division.
If anything, Battle Kat could’ve been revived as an ongoing masked gimmick for cruiserweights in WWE. Basically, it could’ve been Sin Cara before Sin Cara. I’d even say it could’ve been WWE’s version of Suicide. Talented wrestlers in Impact Wrestling’s history donned the Suicide/Manik mask and kept the gimmick alive.
Either the gimmick was well-received or TNA felt that “Ehh, you need a mask. You’re just not wowing us on the mic” but it’s been around for a while and even pops back up after hiatuses. Another small thing about this gimmick is that it could’ve been WWE’s Tiger Mask with little effort.
The Tiger Mask gimmick was always held by wrestlers with alliterative names: Satoru Sayama, Mitsuharu Misawa, Koji Kanemoto, and currently Yoshihiro Yamazaki. WWE already did that with Brady Boone and Bob Bradley. Then again, the next time they could’ve done that would’ve been with Marc Mero.
Plus, to warrant making a big deal about the next Battle Kat, WWE would’ve needed to invest in the gimmick or at least kept it as a regular thing on television. That would’ve been a tough task as early 90s WWE could be a mess.
So, was Battle Kat salvageable in WWE? Yes, but that’s a very soft, very quiet “yes.”
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