The Sunday Read: How Danhausen Became Professional Wrestlings Strangest Star

Published: March 26, 2023, 10 a.m.

Like a lot of people who get into professional wrestling, Donovan Danhausen had a vision of a different version of himself. Ten years ago, at age 21, he was living in Detroit, working as a nursing assistant at a hospital, watching a lot of \u201cAdult Swim\u201d and accumulating a collection of horror- and comedy-themed tattoos.\n\nAt the suggestion of a friend, he took a 12-week training course at the House of Truth wrestling school in Center Line, Mich., and then entered the indie circuit as a hand: an unknown, unpaid wrestler who shows up at events and does what\u2019s asked of him, typically setting up the ring or pretending to be a lawyer or another type of extra. When he ran out of momentum five years later, he developed the character of Danhausen. Originally supposed to be an evil demon, Danhausen found that the more elements of humor he incorporated into his performance, the more audiences responded.\n\n\u201cI was just a bearded guy with the tattoos, trying to be a tough guy, and I\u2019m not a tough guy naturally,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I can be weird and charismatic, goofy. That\u2019s easy. That\u2019s also a role that most people don\u2019t want to fill.\u201d\n\nOver the next couple of years, the Danhausen gimmick became more funny than evil, eventually settling on the character he plays today \u2014 one that is bizarre even by the standards of 21st-century wrestling.