Mike Shaw, who performed under a variety of names including Makhan Singh, Norman the Lunatic and in World Wrestling Entertainment as Bastion Booger, died of a heart attack on Saturday, confirms SLAM! Wrestling. He was 53.
After working the ranks of Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion in Calgary, Alberta for numerous years, Shaw gained national recognition in the early nineties with World Championship Wrestling as the lovable, child-like character Norman the Lunatic. However, he is best known for his WWE role as Bastion Booger, which saw him portray a repugnantly obese man who wrestled in dingy grey singlets tailored to give him the appearance of a hunchback.
As the Booger character, Shaw felt his career ended on a negative, especially considering that the bulk of his greatest work was never seen on a national scale. He revealed his unhappiness with the gimmick in a 1998 interview with Scott Teal of the Whatever Happened To... newsletter.
"I think the Booger character would have worked if it got over as a heel, but my heart wasn't into it," Shaw disclosed to Teal. "I didn't like the character. I didn't like the outfit. Don't get me wrong. I was happy to be in the WWF. It was something I wanted to do my whole career. I made a good living there."
Shaw resided in Michigan after retiring from professional wrestling but still made occasional appearances at independent shows and conventions.