The Gimmick

Once upon a time....

....in the southeastern US, there were these two guys that had a tag team called the Serial Thrillaz.  Hailed as one of the top two tag teams on the independent circuit (along with Matt and Jeff Hardy), they went everywhere, did everything, and took NO prisoners.  Mike Maverick and Shane Helms were nearly unstoppable, even besting the Hardys in a match in Zebulon, NC that is hailed to this day as one of the best tag team matches not involving blood, ladders, tables, or anything BUT wrestling to have ever taken place, and certainly the best on the indies.

Time went on, and Shane Helms started working with Shannon Moore, Joey Matthews, and Christian York in a stable in Memphis called the 'Badstreet Boys.'  Shane and Mike continued working as a team as well, but gradually, they began to drift apart...a drift that became permanent when Shane and Shannon were signed to World Championship Wrestling.

Mike and two other OmegaPowers, Otto Schwanz and Cham Pain, were out together one night, doing who knows what, when they ran off the road in a small South Carolina town called 'Lizard Lick.' The car was totaled, all three men were badly injured, and it probably would have been the end of all three careers, and maybe even all three lives.

Would have.

Except for the fortunate circumstance of a family of South Carolina backwoodsmen (and women) that came across the three fallen grapplers, dragged them from the wreckage of their vehicle, brought them to the combination moonshine still-tarpaper shack that passed for the family estate, and nursed them back to health.

Unfortunately, all three men had sustained serious head injuries, and as they healed, they became engrossed in this....delusion.  An amnesiac fantasy that they were a part of this Lizard Lick genetic wading pool.  A sick, wrong, twisted psychosis that led them to believe that they were a part of

the Dupp Family.

Now, I'm not sure what it was that Ma and Pa Dupp fed these guys.  Or perhaps it was the enchanting assets of their daughter, Mae.  Whatever it was, Mike, Otto, and Cham Pain became Jack Dupp, Bo Dupp, and Puck Dupp.  And the world has never been the same.  Gone was 'Thug Life,' replaced by 'Y'all better watch yer ass.'  Where once was street cool and city tough, now there was redneck swagger and corn-fed, down home hog-wrangling muscle.

The scary part?

The fans ate it up.  Jack, Bo, and Puck quickly left the indy scene and headed to ECW, where they became icons of fingersniffing, chew-slobbering, redneck culture, and now, Jack and Bo are working for the WWF, often against their former friend (who they no longer remember) Joey Abs and his Mean Street Posse.

Puck Dupp regained his memory, and his name, and is working again as Cham Pain.

Jack Dupp, along with 'Brother' Bo can be found working dark matches for the WWF, and are expected to make their TV debut sometime in late summer of 2000.

The Shoot

Mike Maverick is a great guy, quiet until you get to know him, but with a keen sense of humor and an incredible tolerance for pain...while he was still teaming with Shane Helms, he made several appearances with both arms in casts after breaking them in a fall.  And interesting note to this is that Otto and Mike have worked together, doing a german gimmick like Otto's (I won't tell you what Mike was called, he'll pummel me for it), before the Serial Thrillaz started working as a team in SCW.  Devoted son, dedicated father, and actually (surprisingly) a true family man when he's at home, Mike is an unstoppable opponent in the ring.  From his days as Ludwig through his 'Thug Life' in the Serial Thrillaz, and now with Otto/'Bo' Dupp in the WWF, Mike has remained a solid, entertaining performer with a great grasp of ring psychology ans storytelling and an absolutely terrifying 6'8" physical presence that surely makes any opponent he faces question their sanity.  Look for 'Jack Dupp' and 'brother Bo' at a WWF show near you.

The Pics

	Mike Maverick, back in the day's of 'Thug Life' with the Serial Thrillaz.
	Mike runs into a powerslam from Chilly Willy
	Some hapless masked jobber gets his neck crushed by a Maverick Top Rope Legdrop
	Jack Dupp (trailed by Puck and Bo) photo courtesy ECW Wrestling, ©1999
	Jack Dupp preparing to beat the hell out of Kid Cash
	Jeff Hardy with a slingshot ropeflip moonsault onto a helpless Maverick
	Mike, feeling much less helpless, provides the quid pro quo for the shot above
	This was one of the Serial Thrillaz' finishers.  Pretty self-explanatory looking at the pictures.  Tremendously exciting to watch...unless you're the poor bastard that Shane was landing on....
	Shane Helms launches himself onto an opponent off Mike's back
	Twin powerbombs from the Thrillaz
	You'll still see Shane hit this pose on TV once in a while....
	Shane and Mike prepare to go over on Matt and Jeff in one of the greatest matches ever
	I honestly haven't the slightest idea what was happening here, but it looks very painful.  Interesting photo because everything BUT Mike and Jeff seems to be moving....
	Another Serial Thrilla finisher that you will see Matt and Jeff Hardy use occasionally now - leaping off opposite turnbuckles, with Mike dropping the leg across the chest, and Shane dropping one across the groin of the opponent
	Chillin backstage in Durham, NC
	The Future Thrillaz - Mike Maverick, Joey 'The Future" Matthews, and Shane Helms
	Matt Hardy, John Henry, and Mike Maverick after an SCW show at the Berkeley Cafe