School District Investigates Pennsylvania Teacher for His Wrestling Alter Ego
Kevin Bean plays a cartoonish villain called "Blitzkrieg" in the ring. No, that doesn't mean he's a Nazi in real life.
A Philadelphia-area teacher is being investigated for his after-hours wrestling persona.
By day, Kevin Bean teaches fifth and sixth grade in the Spring-Ford Area School District. At night he enters the ring as Blitzkrieg the German Juggernaut, a character who sports red, white, and black tights and delights in throwing out Nazi salutes and waving an Imperial German tri-color flag replete with a large iron cross.
Bean has been wrestling under this moniker for years, and he has made no attempt to disguise his activities. In fact, he's gained a strong local following among fans of the World Wide Wrestling Alliance (WWWA), a decades-old Eastern Pennsylvania league. A picture of Bean dressed as Blitzkrieg is featured on the league's "Superstars" page. He is the organization's 2017 World Tag Team Champion, along with his cartoonishly British partner, Wyndham James Winthorpe III.
Trouble for Bean began last week, when Pro Wrestling Sheet editor Ryan Satin tweeted out a video of Bean performing. In a comment with the clip, Satin registered his disgust at the gag:
A wrestler named Blitzkrieg "The German Juggernaut" using a nazi gimmick at a recent local show in Pennsylvania.
This video makes me sick.
Watching the guy do nazi salutes on his way to the ring while children in the crowd cheer him on like a good guy is terrifying. pic.twitter.com/wheTXDyAah
— Ryan Satin (@ryansatin) July 18, 2018
This triggered an investigation from the school district, which also sent parents a vague letter informing them that Bean's actions "do not represent the core values of the school district." Parents, in turn, seem split on the matter. One told a local CBS affiliate that he thinks the issue is being "blown out of proportion" and that Bean's afterhours activities were well-known. Others have expressed shock and disapproval.
WWWA President Dino Sanna has explained to the press that Bean's Blitzkrieg persona as a "gimmick," a character he adopts to play the villain in the ring. They do not make him an actual Nazi, any more than Marlon Brando was an actual mobster. Such over-the-top characters are a familiar part of pro wrestling—indeed, Bean's alter ego appears to be modeled pretty closely on the 1990s wrestler Fabulous Blitzkrieg, who sported a similar lightning-blot-themed outfit.
I've seen no indication that Bean's off-the-clock activities have diminished his effectiveness as a teacher. Nor does he have a record of piledriving his students. Unless something comes out that radically changes this story, let the man conduct his macho moonlighting in peace.