8 Greatest Karate Dudes in pro wrestling history

#7 Glacier

Glacier

In 1996, during the height of the nWo angle, World Championship Wrestling suddenly remembered that everything on Monday Nitro didn't, technically, have to revolve around the heel faction. That's when these vignettes began to appear on WCW programming.

Blood Runs Cold, WCW announced, and soon the man known as Glacier would arrive.

Now, if you're thinking "huh, that gentleman reminds me quite a bit of the character Sub Zero from the Mortal Kombat franchise of video games", you would not be out of line.

"Glacier" was the name given to Ray Lloyd by the instructors of the fighting style he travelled to Japan to learn - a fighting style that combined various forms of martial arts as well as wrestling moves. At least, this was according to WCW Magazine at the time. Apparently, mastering this also gave him control of the elements somehow, thus the name.

That all sounds dumb - but only in the context you look at it in. Pro Wrestling has always been kind of stupid abd ridiculous - that's part of its charm - but WCW in 1996 was taking a more realistic "what's real/what's storyline?" approach to booking, and Glacier (and eventually his arch-enemies Wrath and Mortis) just sort of clashed with that aesthetic.

But, just look at that ring gear. Look at the falling snows coming from the rafters. And Ray Lloyd is legitimately good at these martial arts moves. Is this any goofier than anything else done in pro wrestling over the years?

Speaking of over the years, it seems Lloyd has had plenty of fun with the character. Most recently, he appeared in Ring of Honor's Honor Rumble in 2017, as well as part of the Casino Battle Royal for AEW's Double or Nothing PPV earlier this year.