Trish Stratus pays tribute to Viscera
The wrestling community was saddened to learn of the passing on Tuesday of Nelson Frazier Jr., best known as Viscera.
Earlier today, Trish Stratus, who worked with Frazier during his time in WWE, reflected on the man behind the persona.
"While Nelson was one of the most intimidating men in the ring, he was one of the sweetest and most caring backstage," she said. "Looking back, I'm just thankful we got to work together. It gave me a chance to get to know him and boy, did we have fun! We always said our angle was one of the funnest ones we both had been involved in. Originally our involvement wasn't supposed to go much further than me by his side while I was dealing with my herniated disk, but after Vince saw our chemistry, our roles expanded and we had the opportunity to film some memorable scenes together. We created some great WWE moments but also a great friendship. I'm going to miss him greatly."
Frazier first burst onto the WWE scene in the mid 1990s as a member of Men on a Mission. Then known as Mabel, he was surprisingly agile for a man of his size, and became a fan favourite. He and teammate Mo would briefly hold the World Tag Team Championships during this time, but quickly burst out on his own, winning King of the Ring in 1995.
Later, as Viscera, Frazier joined the Ministry of Darkness and later broke out again on his own. It was during this run that he and Trish worked together, as the two joined forces to combat Lita and Kane. Viscera later adopted the persona of "The World's Largest Love Machine", after a series of vignettes with Trish showed a different side of the big man. The famous 'date in England' which was weaved through the UK-based episode showed the comedic side of both performers, while enhancing Trish's heel persona and highlighting Viscera's 'love machine' persona. Viscera later turned on Trish after her constant belittling.
Trish spoke about one of their key moments in this past August's Fan Forum Five, where Viscera gave Trish a big splash at Backlash 2005. "Nelson aka Viscera was awesome to work with – he's a total gentleman and sweetheart!" Trish had stated. "During our angle I had been diagnosed with the herniated disk, so he was super supportive knowing I was facing the possibility of surgery. He was also very cautious with everything we did knowing I was still working with the pain."
Frazier also worked as Big Daddy V towards the end of his WWE career and also competed in Japan, as well as in TNA and various other U.S. promotions.
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