Fred Ottman has been admitted to hospital and will miss a convention appearance in Florida this weekend.
Ottman, 70, known to WWE fans as Typhoon, Tugboat and The Shockmaster, posted a short video letting people know he would not be at the SWFL Super Card Show in Fort Myers, which runs from Friday to Sunday. He did not say what has put him there.
“Unfortunately, due to things beyond my control, I was put into the hospital here this evening,” Ottman said. “Finally got admitted after I was taken to the emergency room. But I will not be able to be in Fort Myers.”
Most of the video was an apology.
“I want to apologise, and I’ll get together with the promoters and my friend Matthew that was bringing me in after I see what’s going on here with the doctors,” he said. “But I love you all, and keep me in your thoughts and prayers. Hopefully I’ll be seeing you soon.”
Ottman spent the week posting about the Fort Myers booking and other upcoming dates. It’s unclear whether this affects those.
It has been a difficult year. Ottman spent about a month in a St. Petersburg hospital earlier in 2026 with a serious gallbladder complication and the infection that followed, and said afterwards that doctors told him another day would have been too long. He was discharged on February 9 and had surgery later that month. He described that operation as pretty tough and said he was home with his wife Sheila and had home health care coming in. He lost a good deal of muscle mass during the hospital stay and had to get used to walking again, using a walker while he did it.
Through all of it, he kept signing. Ottman said during the recovery that he had been working through cards and autographs for fans from home to keep his mind occupied, and the convention circuit is where he has spent his retirement.
That circuit runs largely on the character he is most asked about. Ottman debuted as The Shockmaster on WCW television in 1993, came through a wall, fell over and lost the helmet on live television while the wrestlers around him broke character laughing. It became one of the most replayed moments in wrestling, and Ottman has spent the three decades since signing photographs of it and talking about it with anyone who asks.
The career underneath it was a substantial one. Trained by Boris Malenko, Ottman debuted in 1984 and arrived in the WWE in 1989 as Tugboat, a babyface positioned alongside Hulk Hogan. He turned in 1991 and became Typhoon, forming The Natural Disasters with Earthquake, and the two took the WWE Tag Team Championship from Money Inc. at a house show in Denver on February 7, 1992, dropping the belts back to them that October. He went to WCW in 1993, returned to the WWE the following year, and worked on into 2009, including the twenty-man battle royal at WrestleMania 17.
He and Earthquake, the late John Tenta, were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2025. Tenta died in 2006, so the induction was posthumous on his side, and Ottman has spoken about it in every interview since as the thing he never expected to get.
Ottman is also Dusty Rhodes’ brother-in-law, and uncle to Cody and Dustin Rhodes. He married Sheila in 1987 and they have three children. Neither of his nephews has commented publicly.
Nothing further has been announced about his condition or how long he expects to be in hospital. The SWFL Super Card Show has not said whether his booking will be rescheduled. We wish him a speedy recovery.
