Kizarny was a Dizasaster

In pro wrestling 'kayfabe' is the portrayal of events as legitimate. Kayfabe has its roots in carnivals. While on the road, Carnies would call collect to their homes, stating 'Kay Fabian' as their name. The call recipient would deny the call, but know that the loved one was safe and sound at the new destination.
Vince McMahon (of the WWE) likes to create interesting characters. I am surprised it took him so long to create a character based on a carny.
Nick Cvjetkovich was Kizarny, a carny-talking wrestler for the WWE. As Kizarny, he actually had more promo-vignettes than televised matches. After 2 televised matches, the Kizarny character was dropped and Cvjetkovich was released by the WWE.
Cvjetkovich was a decent worker, but he was given an albatross of a character. A carny-talking wrestler just had nothing going for him. I doubt anyone under 25 could even relate at all to the concept. This was a case of McMahon getting a bit too cute.
I stumbled upon Kizarny while in Novi for the Motor City Comic Con. There just happened to be a sports collectors show in another area of the building. I went there to meet Ted Lindsay and I saw Kizarny and fellow ex-WWE wrestler Robbie McAllister.
We talked for a bit and we all agreed that the WWE dropped the ball with Cvjetkovich (and with McAllister's Highlanders, but more on that in a future post). As an added piece of trivia, the picture below was taken by McAllister (and McAllister's picture with me was taken by Cvjetkovich.  Both men were extremely cool!

Kizarny and me in Novi, MI-May 2009.