Underneath that tangled hair and behind the otherworldly stare is Midian, who
actually is (or perhaps just used to be) a guy named Dennis Knight. T
Tracking Dennis' passage through the World Wide Wrestling Federation
requires you to follow a twisted path. He started out as Phineus (sic)
I. Godwinn, part of the tag team "The Godwinns" with his coustin Henry
O. Godwinn. The guys were pig farmers from some small and smelly town
down south, and their claim to fame was 'rassling in overalls and
throwing swing slop on whoever got in their way.
Time passed and the boys matured, until they finally shucked off their
overalls for some black suits and became Southern Justice, a sort of
of Dixie-styled SWAT team. And all was going along well, until the night
that the Undertaker's Acolytes came and got Dennis.
Those of us who refuse to make any plans on Monday night and spend the
evening parked in front of our TVs watching RAW will remember the evening
that Dennis Knight was sacrificed by The Undertaker's Ministry of
Darkness (MOD). IT seems that 'Taker was dismayed by the direction that
the World Wide Wrestling Federation had adopted (and hey, perhaps he was
a bit bummed at being buried alive on national TV as well) and had
decided to gather up the troops, stage a coup and rid the world of Vince
McMahon and his corporate "suit and tie" team.
Plus MOD members would get to raise the dead, conjure spirits from the
deepest pits of hell, stalk McMahon's daughter, and tie people onto a
gigantic Undertaker symbol and hoist them high into the air. Great fun
for all - so The Undertaker didn't have many problems recruiting members
for MOD. In fact the WWF's strangest wrestlers just naturally migrated
to the Ministry like birds who were heading south in the summer - and
soon MOD included vampires, zombies, the living dead - and Dennis.
But Dennis didn't just wake up one morning and decide to abandon life as
he knew it for a walk into the darkside - no, he had to be ... umm ...
encouraged ... so he was held in a dungeon for a few weeks, and then
sacrificed one fine Monday evening in a televised ritural that included a
little blood draining and drinking, along with scarification. After
slurping down his tasty treat (some blood from The Undertaker's wrist)
and having 'Taker's symbol carved into his chest with a shiny blade,
Dennis was good to go as (ta-dah!) the all-seeing Midian.
"Being sacrificed was the most enlightening experience of my life."
smiles Midian, who is now obviously devoted to MODs plan for taking over
the WWF. Midian got his name from the movie "Nightbreed" - an adaptation
of Clive Barker's novel "Cabal", where "Midian" is the place that
monsters and other creepy critters dwell. Dennis chose the name himself,
to commemorate his new and interesting post-sacrifice life.
Selected as one of the first inductees into MOD, because the Undertaker
wanted a tattooed man at his side, Midian now serves as the eyes of the
Ministry. To symbolize that he carries an eyeball in a jar (which he
sometimes parks with the nonplused announcers when he's in the ring).
"The eyeball is Midian's vision, he sees everything through it," explains
Dennis. "Midian is the eys of the Undertaker. Whatever is going on, he
sees. They eyeball is the vision outside of his body."
Dennis/Midian started getting inked because "My grandfather had one and I
wanted one because he had one and it just ballooned from there." His
first piece was done in 1992, a flash design of the state of Texas with a
cow skull. "It was done in Atlanta, Georgia, by the designer Monkey
Man." (It's interesting to note that Midina always refers to his
tattooists as "my designers.") Midian has "worked with only two
designers, Monkey Man and John Himmelstein - who is now in London." His
favorite piece is on his arm, a tribute to his cousin "He committed
suicide. I was the one who found him."
When he's not gazing into the future or conjuring up imps from hell,
Midian's favorite way to pass the time is by "Getting tattoos or reading
Tattoo magazine." Despite that politically correct avowal, he
says he doesn't have any plans to get new ink, but that doesn't mean that
his collection is complete - "My designer is now in England and my
tattoos are never planned anyway, they just happen."
Midian does have big plans for the future though, and on top of his to-do
list is "Total World Domination." We wouldn't expect anything less from
Midian and MOD - and long may their rule.
Special thanks to Tattoo magazine & Titan Sports
