What Happened To Former WWE ECW Star Kevin Thorn?

For a brief moment, it seemed that WWE's attempt for a new Undertaker like character was going to revolve around Kevin Fertig, better known to wrestling fans as Mordecai or Kevin Thorn. Alas, despite heavy promotion for Thorn under the Mordecai gimmick in 2004, the character quickly nosedived, and Thorn was sent back to developmental and later released. By 2006 however, WWE decided to give him another try, bringing him to the relaunched ECW, with Thorn portraying his most famous persona, with a vampire twist. That run worked out somewhat better, as Thorn remained on ECW TV for a year, before he was again sent back to developmental, and later released.

Most people probably thought that was the end of Thorn in wrestling. In fact, it was nowhere near; other than a three year hiatus from 2012 through 2014, Thorn has continued to wrestle on the independent circuit, albeit only a handful of dates in wrestling years as he focuses on outside ventures. Appearing on the "Talk'N Shop" podcast, Thorn talked to Karl Anderson about his schedule and his philosophy behind taking dates.

"I'm getting out there, wrestling here and there," Thorn said. "I kind of pick and choose dates now. I've got a really successful...real-estate career going here in Indianapolis. So it's hard for me to get out on the weekends a lot, chasing kids like you. My son plays lacrosse, my daughter plays lacrosse, so a lot of lacrosse weekends. But really just kind of picking and choosing. I always ask who's on the card, and if I see it's somebody I want to go hang out with and go see, I'm like 'Yup, sign me up.' Cause it's just...getting out and hanging out with the boys, and guys I really admire and like. It just makes for a fun weekend. It's basically a paid vacation in a way."

For his part, Anderson put over Thorn's work ethic and especially his look at 48 years old. But when Anderson asked Thorn what he was doing to keep in such great shape, the former WWE star revealed that it would've been a different story just a few months ago. Stopping short of saying he had a full fledged problem, Thorn admitted he had dealt with some level of alcohol issues, and that it was through WWE sponsored rehab that he was able to clean himself up, and get back to a healthier mindset.

"I was going down the rabbit hole of full fledged alcoholism and stuff," Thorn said. "And I was able to make that call, and within six hours, they had me on a plane to Tampa, down where Shannon Moore is, and he's running a great program down there for a lot of the boys that are having this issue. And through that...I totally redid myself. I got back into the gym, I got back to figuring out who I pray to daily, stuff like that. [My] mindset has totally changed for me. Like, now it's just not being disgruntled all the time, of 'Oh man, I'm not underneath the lights, I'm just a has been,' all that stuff. For me, now it's...man, I'm just happy to be a part, and get to go out there and entertain and just have fun. And I think I lost that."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Talk'N Shop" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription