Maxx Payne

[3] Peterson earned wrestling scholarships to junior college and then to Iowa State University, competing in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

[4] Peterson worked for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in March 1986, and put together the steel cage used in the main event of WrestleMania 2.

He also made an appearance under his real name as a jobber on a February 1989 episode of WWF Prime Time Wrestling, losing to Bret Hart.

He spent six months in the German Catch Wrestling Association as Heavy Metal Buffalo and won the vacant CWA Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship on October 25, 1992, defeating Giant Haystacks.

Peterson made his televised debut in WCW as the villain Maxx Payne on the January 30, 1993 episode of Worldwide by defeating local competitor Scott Allen.

[8] Peterson's first pay-per-view match was at SuperBrawl III, where he played Taps[9] on his guitar before challenging Dustin Rhodes for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship, substituting for the injured Ron Simmons.

[3][10] At the June 17 Clash of the Champions XXIII, Payne shot Johnny B. Badd in the face with a confetti gun, (kayfabe) scarring him so badly that he had to wear a mask and forcing him to forfeit their scheduled match.

[3][13] Payne took part in WCW's Jesse "The Body" Ventura Strong-Arm Tournament in late 1993, but was eliminated in the first round by Sid Vicious.

On November 20, Payne entered the Battlebowl, a tournament which saw randomly assigned tag team partners work together in order to progress to a battle royal.

[16] They faced the Nasty Boys once more, this time for the WCW World Tag Team Championships, in a Chicago Street Fight at Spring Stampede 1994, but were defeated.

[3] The morning after he was released by WCW, Peterson was contacted by wrestler Rick Rude, who convinced WWF owner Vince McMahon to hire him.

His career in the WWF met with several disruptions, including a serious hernia, an addiction to pain pills and downers and a marijuana habit, which ultimately led to his release in October 1995.

[20] On April 17, 2004, Peterson addressed an audience in the Schubert Theater at the Western States College for the Performing Arts in Gooding, Idaho, talking about professional wrestling.