At 6’6’’ and 290lbs, Bryan Clark seemed to be the perfect size to have a lengthy, successful run in professional wrestling. Sure, he wrestled from 1989 to 2003, but along way Clark had many of missed opportunities.
After short stints in WCW and Smoky Mountain Wrestling as ‘The Night Stalker’, Clark got his first real major exposure with the World Wrestling Federation in 1993 under the gimmick name ‘Adam Bomb’. The character was supposed to be a guy who had survived the Three Mile Island nuclear meltdown and thus had multi-colored eyes, and for some reason an overly red tongue. For most of 1993, initially managed by Johnny Polo and later Harvey Wippleman, Bomb would compete in singles matches and didn’t have any major storylines going for him. He had the look, but wasn’t really being utilized.
I remember watching Bomb’s squash matches and being impressed with his agility. He had power moves but he had no problem landing a slingshot clothesline from the apron, or coming off the top rope like the Undertaker, and later Kane, would do. He had a lot of talent and it was never executed correctly.
By 1994, Bomb was losing to Earthquake in under a minute at WrestleMania X. By the summer, Bomb would turn into a baby face after miscommunication with stable mate Kwang, which saw Kwang spray Bomb with a green mist and cause Adam to lose a King of the Ring Qualifying match. Clark then had a summer program with former partner Kwang. In a short period of time, the fans had gotten behind Bomb in a big way, so much so that his fans were renamed “The Bomb Squad”.
According to Clark himself, he was to get a WWF Intercontinental Championship run in 1995, but that never happened and he would leave the company in August, but not before putting over Mabel in short fashion, again in a King of the Ring Qualifying match held at the May In Your House PPV.
Bomb would have been a refreshing face to have in the WWF upper mid-card scene for the company. For the most part, the company only had Bret Hart, the Undertaker, Diesel and to a lesser extent Lex Luger as baby face talent that was over with the crowd.
I have been thinking of a time when Bomb could have won the WWF IC Championship, and I recall Shawn Michaels winning the belt from Jeff Jarrett in the summer of 1995. Michaels didn’t really need the championship at the time, he was above the strap at that point. Adam Bomb pinning a hated heel like Jeff Jarrett would have been a good start to push Bomb up the card. Instead, the Kliq continued to dominate in politics and subsequently the upper card scene, while a talented guy like Adam Bomb left the company.
Clark would resurface as Wrath in World Championship Wrestling teaming with Mortis, better known as Chris Kanyon. From the spring of 1997 through early 1998 they were one of the most underrated tag teams in the company. They worked extremely well together and their double team moves were quite impressive. However, considering the amount of “star power” the company had (and more politicking by some of the same guys that were in WWF), it was never likely Mortis & Wrath would win the WCW World Tag Team Championships.
After an injury sidelined Wrath, he would return in late 1998 under the same name, but he ditched the Mortal Kombat gimmick. He was much more muscular and dominated WCW television for a couple of months. It’s not ridiculous to say it was looking like he was getting a Goldberg type of push, a noticeable undefeated streak had started for Clark.
The fans were eating up everything he was offering and his finishing move ‘The Meltdown’ was completely over with the fans. As WCW was getting closer to Starrcade ’98, Wrath’s momentum was stopped dead in it’s tracks when Kliq member Kevin Nash pinned him on Nitro to put a feather in his cap. The idea was that Nash could beat undefeated wrestlers and Wrath was the only other undefeated guy on the roster. This was done to give Nash a boost heading into his match with Goldberg at Starrcade.
In my opinion, Wrath could have been a huge name for the company. At that point, WCW really needed some fresh main event guys. Sure, they had Goldberg in that role, but the old-timers still outweighed the young guys. And, I suppose Clark wasn’t exactly “young” in age, but he was young in terms of exposure and feuding with top talent.
Clark would get some success by teaming with Brian Adams in 2000 as they would form the team of ‘Kronik’. The team was rather similar to the popular APA tag team that was competing in the WWF at the same time, they even acted as hired hit men of sorts.
There are countless examples of poorly handled talent, but Bryan Clark has got to be up there near the top. WCW had the opportunity to make some money with Wrath being undefeated and a match with an undefeated monster in Goldberg would have likely made the company some money if handled correctly.
Did you see Bryan Clark as a money maker or did he achieve as much as he could?
Thanks for reading.
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Yes certainly Bryan Clark and Brian Adams had the potential to be TOP money makers, Kronik was like a Bigger, Badder and better version of Apa. People point out their match vs Kane and Undertaker as a reason for them not doing good. But both had ring rust and Clark had a neck injury, I know one of the Brian/Bryan’s had be in an auto accident not long before their Kane Taker match.
They should have been pushed better in WCW and the WWF’s poltics did them no favors upon their return.
If both of their bodies where a 100% they could have did some huge runs in Japan.
On a side note I’d rather the name “Kronik” reference the chronic pain to their enemies, or the chronic domination of their matches.
I loved Brian Clark. I personally thought the Adam Bomb character in WWF was not pushed properly & could have been a HUGE top talent there. I also thought as Wrath he should have received a monster push as he went undefeated like Goldberg for several months, but his push was nothing close to the one Goldberg got all the way up to when they put Bill over on him on Nitro for free with no build up at all, man what a waste! Brian’s work in Japan was decent as well after the death of WCW before he decided to retire.
I was 7 or 8 during his time in WWF, and thought he was a bad ass. And I was exactly the kid WWF was marketing to: I love Bret Hart and Lex Luger, hated Yokozuna and Ted DiBiase, and actually believed the Undertaker was some kind of supernatural being. If they’d have pushed Adam Bomb harder I’d have been in 100% on it.