Steve Lombardi

Lombardi began his WWF career in late 1983, competing under his real name, and being a heel, primarily as an enhancement talent. His debut came on July 15, 1983 in Queens, NY where he was defeated by Swede Hanson. After facing Ivan Koloff and Sgt. Slaughter on house show matches, Lombardi made his TV debut on the October 29th episode of All American Wrestling where he was submitted by The Iron Sheik and carried out on a stretcher. He then began regular appearances on both television and house shows.

After losing numerous matches that winter, Lombardi gained his first success on March 18, 1984 when he wrestled Jerry Valiant to a draw. Another draw, this time with Terry Daniels came on April 24 in Mountaintop, PA. But apart from that he continued on as an enhancement talent, losing to much of the WWF roster including Big John Studd, Paul Orndorff, David Schultz, Iron Mike Sharpe, Rocky Johnson, and others. In the midst of another long losing streak, Lombardi then gained a second draw against Daniels on June 1 in Winston-Salem, NC. He made his Madison Square Garden debut on June 16, losing to Mad Dog Vachon in the latter's first match back in the WWF in a decade. A month later on July 6 in Long Island, NY Lombardi gained his first pinfall victory when he upset Vachon in a return match. On July 31 he became involved in a mild angle with WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan during the company's initial "Championship Wrestling" taping in Poughkeepsie, NY. During a sub-minute loss to Kamala, Hogan came out to the ring to give encouragement to Lombardi. Nothing further came from this angle, and Lombardi closed out his second year as a wrestler with numerous additional losses to wrestlers such as a Buddy Rose and young Bret Hart, as well as a defeat to manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan.

Lombardi began 1988 with several squash losses, and then a win over Scott Casey on January 23 in Lexington, KY. Two days later at Madison Square Garden he resumed his partnership with Barry Horowitz and faced The Young Stallions in a losing effort. The following day in Hershey, PA Lombardi and Horowitz gained their first victory as a team when they defeated Scott Casey and Lanny Poffo in a match that aired on Prime Time Wrestling. The same night they would fall to The Killer Bees. The pairing would continue into the summer.

Lombardi entered 1991 as probably the most prominent opening card act in the company, but the wins were not to continue. Wrestling still as the Brooklyn Brawler, he fell in defeat to almost every member of the roster and gained just six victories during the year. On the March 30th episode of WWF Superstars Lombardi faced Ricky Steamboat in "The Dragon"'s return match after a three-year absence. On March 24 he competed in the dark match of WrestleMania VII against Koko B Ware. Other notable losses saw Brawler lose to a young Scott Putski on a May 28 WWF Superstars dark match, as well as Vick Steamboat (wrestling as "Jesse Bolt") in another dark match at the July 29th WWF Superstars taping.

Lombardi opened 1992 anchoring the dark match of yet another PPV, this time the 1992 Royal Rumble. He initially defeated Chris Walker with his feet on the ropes; afterwards WWF President Jack Tunney came out and reversed the decision. Lombardi returned to heel status with his Brawler gimmick, matching up against numerous faces during the winter and spring such as Kerry Von Erich, Tatanka, and Big Bossman. Lombardi renewed his partnership with a returning Barry Horowitz on March 9 at a WWF Superstars taping, facing and losing to The Samoan Swat Team in the latters' tryout match. They would team again in December against The Bushwhackers. He spent much of the spring and summer engaged in a house show series of with Jim Powers, Jim Brunzell, Crush, and Tito Santana during which he was winless. He closed out 1992 on a lengthy losing streak to Jim Duggan.

Going into 1993 Lombardi was back where he had been prior to the Brawler gimmick – stuck as enhancement talent with no clear path upwards. And it was finally during this year, a decade into his tenure with the company that he went on his longest winning streak to date. Matched again versus Jim Powers in numerous house show matches, Lombardi put together an eight match winning streak in March and April. Later in the spring Lombardi defeated a young Scott Taylor in a tryout match in Sydney, Nova Scotia at a Wrestling Challenge taping. In the summer the Brawler was matched up against another young wrestler – The Predator (Mike Bollea), with Lombardi winning each match. He closed out the summer teaming with Blake Beverly and Little Louie against The Bushwhackers and Tiger Jackson, as well as defeating a young Tommy Dreamer at a WWF Superstars taping on August 17.

Wrestling as Doink, he was winless against Bret Hart, 1-2-3 Kid, and Bam-Bam Bigelow. Still in the clown gimmick, Lombardi made his first appearance in the United States Wrestling Association on October 26 in Louisville, KY. Teaming with Brian Christopher, the two defeated Jeff Jarrett and Tony Falk. He would continue to play Doink until Ray Apollo assumed the gimmick. Following the 1993 Survivor Series, Lombardi wrestled under his fourth gimmick of the year. Unofficially restarting his partnership with Barry Horowitz, the duo competed as The Red and Black Knights (the Knights having been a Survivor Series team under Shawn Michaels, previously portrayed by Jeff Gaylord, Greg Valentine, and Horowitz). The Knights participated in several house show matches against The Smoking Gunns. A fifth gimmick was also used at points, as Lombardi portrayed Kim Chee (Kamala's handler) during his 1986–87 and 1992 stints with the WWF and briefly in 1993 as a singles wrestler after Kamala left him for the newly ordained Reverend Slick.

In November 1993, Lombardi also returned to his Brooklyn Brawler gimmick, but was winless in encounters with Diesel, Tatanka, and Bob Backlund. He made his first PPV appearance of the year, wrestling in the dark match at the Survivor Series and losing to Billy Gunn. Still, he ended 1993 having enjoyed more success than at any point in the decade, having garnered 23 wins. Over a decade into his tenure with the company, Lombardi now found himself as the long-tenured active wrestler within the WWF. Having returned to the Brawler gimmick however he remained in his enhancement talent role. He again participated in another wrestler's debut, this time facing Bob Holly on the January 29th episode of WWF Superstars (Fayetteville, NC). Lombardi earned yet another dark match at a PPV, this time at the 1994 Royal Rumble. However unlike previous appearances, he earned his first ever PPV victory by defeating long-time foe Jim Powers. This would be his only victory for many months as he entered another long losing streak, falling to Bob Holly and Bob Backlund on numerous house show events.

Lombardi retired from full-time active competition and instead worked primarily as a road agent for the WWF. He still would make occasional appearances in ring, and the first came on January 12, 1998 when he lost a Monday Night RAW dark match to Bart Gunn, who was then billed briefly as "Black Bart". Still working in as The Brooklyn Brawler, he wrestled only one more match in 1998.

With the Monday Night War in full-swing and business soaring for the company, Lombardi's activity picked up in 1999. He wrestled several times on a European tour in April 1999, facing Christian, X-Pac, and Al Snow. Lombardi wrestled his first televised match in two years when he appeared on the July 3rd edition of Shotgun Saturday Night in a match against WWF Hardcore Championship Al Snow. The referee in the match was former heel manager Harvey Wippleman, who prevented Snow from using weapons while allowing Lombardi to use outside objects instead. Snow successfully retained his title. The following month during the WWF referee strike storyline, Lombardi worked as a ref during a Sunday Night Heat match. He concluded 1999 with a Jakked appearance, tagging with Mideon in a losing effort to Taka Michinoku and Sho Funaki.

On the February 28th, 2000 edition of Monday Night RAW The Rock came out and said that he would become WWF World Champion at WrestleMania 2000. WWF World Champion HHH then came out and said that since The Rock was no longer the #1 Contender, he would have to start at the very bottom and work his way up. HHH then booked a match between The Rock and The Brooklyn Brawler, which Rock won in under a minute. On the July 4th edition of Smackdown Lombardi gained his first victory in several years when he joined Taka Michinoku and Sho Funaki to face HHH in a 3 on 1 match. Lombardi pinned Helmsley after Chris Jericho interfered. Lombardi continued to be semi-active throughout 2000, wrestling in numerous house shows and facing Jerry Lawler for the first time at an event in New Haven, CT on August 9, 2000. He gained several more victories that year as well, defeating Joey Abs and Just Joe.

The surge of in-ring activity continued, as Lombardi began 2001 with a victory over The Goodfather on January 13, 2001 in Detroit, MI after Billy Gunn interfered. He wrestled several house show matches that winter, facing Al Snow, Crash Holly, and Rhyno. After appearing in numerous dark matches throughout his career, Lombardi finally wrestled during the live broadcast of a PPV when he once again appeared as Kamala’s handler Kim Chee at WrestleMania X-Seven and competed in the gimmick battle royal.

At this point Lombardi's in ring appearances became sporadic. After working a string of house show matches in January 2002, he would be inactive for the entire year. In 2003 he participated in the APA Invitational Battle Royal at Vengeance in Denver, Colorado on July 27.

After being inactive during 2004, Lombardi returned on the April 18th, 2005 edition of Monday Night RAW which was held at Madison Square Garden. He appeared in a segment where John Heidenreich read a poem devoted to The Brooklyn Brawler. In response Brawler dismissed the poem, disowned the city of Brooklyn, and declared himself "The Boston Brawler". They then fought backstage. As part of an angle on SmackDown!, he adopted the moniker of the "Boston Brawler", shedding his customary New York Yankees apparel in favor of Boston Red Sox clothing. This was done in response to the Red Sox' defeat of the Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series.

In early 2006, he still worked behind the scenes of WWE, including behind the camera with John Cena on his WWE.com show "Five Questions". Cena often makes references to Lombardi, even jokingly calling him the greatest technical wrestler of all time. Also, his face popped up in front of Cena's mouth to censor curse words, usually saying "nu-uh" or "brawler". On the June 2, 2006 episode of Five Questions, Brawler showed his face. He even censored himself, saying "you are a piece of Brawler". In another episode of "Five Questions," Cena made the claim that Lombardi was actually born in Detroit, and not in Brooklyn, however this was later proven false (and likely a work). On May 7, 2006, WWE.com announced that, as part of Jakks Pacific's WWE Classic Superstars collection, they would be releasing a Brooklyn Brawler action figure. At Vengeance, Brawler appeared as Doink the Clown when he came out to the ring with Eugene during Eugene's match with Umaga. On August 1, 2006, Lombardi went to the ECW brand for a match against then ECW wrestler, Kurt Angle. Lombardi quickly lost when Angle applied an ankle lock on him. That same week, he appeared on SmackDown! against Vito, losing by submission. On the December 18 edition of Raw, Lombardi appeared in the 30 man battle royal as the Brooklyn Brawler.

On the 15th anniversary of Raw on December 10, 2007, Lombardi appeared as Abe "Knuckleball" Schwartz in a segment. When Triple H saw him, he exclaimed "I guess the Brooklyn Brawler was busy tonight".

On the 10th anniversary of "Smackdown" on September 29, 2009, in Boston, Lombardi appeared as The Brooklyn Brawler in a backstage anniversary party along with numerous other wrestlers.

The Brooklyn Brawler made a surprise return to pay-per-view on December 16, 2012, at the TLC pay-per-view (which took place at the recently-opened Barclays Center in Brooklyn), teaming with the Miz and Alberto Del Rio to defeat 3MB (Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal). Brawler won the match for his team via submission with a Boston crab on Mahal.

At the July 15, 2013 Raw taping from Brooklyn, in a match taped for Superstars, Lombardi competed in a match almost thirty years after his debut. Wrestling as the Brawler, he was defeated by Ryback. In May 2016, Lombardi was released from WWE, thus ending Lombardi's 33-year career with WWE.

On January 22, 2018, Lombardi made an appearance at Raw 25 Years in a backstage segment with Curt Hawkins.