Just looking at the history of WWE will reveal a murderer’s row of incredible managers, from “old school” characters like Captain Lou Albano, Classy Freddie Blassie, and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan to more modern ones like Paul Heyman and Vickie Guerrero. But there are also forgotten performers over the years, like pro wrestling lawyer Clarence Mason.
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With a ridiculously brief run lasting from 1995 to 1997 in WWE, Clarence Mason never really got the chance to grow into the performer he could have been, given his shocking lack of experience in the business. Fans will find out all about that below, as well as other things they should know about him, including his even-more-forgotten WCW run and the murky origins of his ring name.
10 Determined To Work In Wrestling
Born Herman Stevens Jr. in 1965, the future Clarence Mason grew up as a fan of pro wrestling and had his sights set on being a part of the business — even as he was pursuing other lofty forms of work. During his undergrad days, he tried to become an intern for WCW, but while attending law school, he ended up forging a relationship with the legend “Big Cat” Ernie Ladd, who pulled some strings to get him a meeting with Vince McMahon himself. It proved successful, and Stevens was signed to the company.
9 Worked In WWE While A Lawyer In Real Life
While Clarence Mason’s signing to WWE was a major accomplishment, he wasn’t necessarily able to shed all responsibilities and live his dream. At the time, he was already a practicing lawyer, working for the prosecutor’s office, and kept that job as he was starting with the company. For a while, he did double-duty, taking sick days at the office when he needed to attend TV tapings. Once Mason realized the charade was up, he decided to leave his lawyer job and focus on his WWE work.
8 Inspired By A Number Of Lawyers
The ring name Clarence Mason is certainly an evocative one, especially for a kayfabe lawyer. If one looks around the internet, they’ll find claims that “Clarence” references either early 20th century lawyer Clarence Darrow or Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, while “Mason” is a reference to civil rights lawyer C. Vernon Mason or fictional lawyer Perry Mason. Hilariously, Clarence Mason doesn’t know himself, revealing in an interview that he was simply handed the name by WWE management, assuming it was a play off of Clarence Thomas.
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However, it seems like everyone can agree on the inspiration for the character itself: Johnnie Cochran, OJ Simpson’s lawyer in the murder trial that dominated the news in the mid 1990s.
7 Started As Jim Cornette’s Lawyer
While Clarence Mason is remembered as a manager, he actually started as a lawyer to another manager. When his clients Yokozuna and British Bulldog lost the Tag Team Championship to Shawn Michaels and Diesel, Cornette enlisted Mason to attempt to get WWE management to overturn the result to get the belts back on Yoko and Bulldog. That wasn’t Mason’s only bit of legal maneuvering on behalf of Camp Cornette — he also helped get Vader reinstated in WWE after he was suspended for beating up Gorilla Monsoon.
6 Got Pranked For His Lack of Experience
While many managers are former wrestlers or started working in the business early in life like Harvey Wippleman, Clarence Mason was notable for being someone who had exactly zero experience working in pro wrestling in any capacity. That kind of naivete ended up making him a target backstage, where practical jokes — referred to in the wrestling world as “ribs” — were common. At least one prank was perpetrated upon Mason, albeit a pretty mild one wherein someone put a padlock through a button hole on his jacket, requiring him to call a locksmith to get him off.
5 Represented Crush
It was in the summer of 1996 that Clarence Mason moved on from being a lawyer for Jim Cornette to being a manager himself when he was paired with Crush. At this point, Crush had already been a member of Demolition as well as the Hawaiian-themed Kona Crush, and was due for yet another repackaging. Playing off his recent run-ins with the law, Crush was presented as a villainous biker and got Clarence Mason as his lawyer to further underscore his legal troubles.
4 Joined The Nation of Domination
While managing Crush, Clarence Mason gained another client in Faarooq (a.k.a. Ron Simmons), who had recently cut ties with his previous manager, Sunny. Faarooq was feuding with Ahmed Johnson and sought to take Johnson to court, so Mason was an obvious choice of character to link up with.
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Soon enough, Faarooq, Crush, and Clarence Mason would be joined by Mason’s other client Owen Hart and D’Lo Brown to form the Nation of Domination, a militant heel stable inspired by groups like the Black Panther Party and the Nation of Islam.
3 Had Reservations About The Nation Of Domination
Needless to say, the Nation of Domination was a group that played off of racial themes, which became stronger when Faarooq fired the entire group with the exception of D’Lo Brown, replacing the lost members with black wrestlers like Mark Henry and The Rock. Clarence Mason was among those fired, with Mason getting released from the company in real life as well. In discussing the change, Mason expressed some regrets with how some of the racial aspects of the Nation storyline were presented and chalked up his dismissal to his inexperience in navigating WWE backstage politics.
2 Moved On To WCW
Following his WWE release, Clarence Mason found himself in rival WCW, working under the name J. Biggs as the manager to Kanyon. However, that association would be short-lived, and Biggs would find new clients in Harlem Heat 2000, the heel tag team of Stevie Ray and Big T (formerly Ahmed Johnson). Once again playing a lawyer role, J. Biggs was able to legally prevent Booker T from having a T in his name after losing a match to Big T at SuperBrawl 2000.
1 Resumed His Legal Practice After Wrestling
A regime change at WCW with Vince Russo taking over creative resulted in J. Biggs being released from the company. That would prove the end of the pro wrestling career of Clarence Mason/J. Biggs, as Herman Stevens opted to return to being an attorney. From there, he moved to South Florida and opened up a legal practice in Delray Beach. The Law Office of Herman Stevens Jr. focuses on a variety of criminal defense law, from misdemeanors and traffic violations all the way to felonies.
