Meet Todd Menderchuk, the 48-year-old Canadian trucker who portrays WWE’s Danhausen
Fans of professional wrestling worldwide are enchanted by the curse-casting antics of the mysterious Danhausen, but very few know about the man behind the facepaint — Todd Menderchuk, a middle-aged trucker and former sandwich artist from Winnipeg.
Menderchuk says he came up with the idea for the Danhausen character during a long overnight drive from Saskatoon to Regina, where he was delivering a truckload of milk.
“I was sleep-deprived and it seemed funny at the time,” recalls Menderchuk, 48, who never had any wrestling experience until he burst onto the scene as Danhausen several years ago.
Prior to WWE, Menderchuck was thrice named employee of the month at an East Winnipeg Subway sandwich shop; he enjoys brief walks on the beach and strongly dislikes children, dogs, and ketchup.
Unbeknownst to most wrestling fans, Menderchuk is still a trucker as his primary career, and he supplements his wrestling income by driving a 18-wheeler production truck from one live WWE event to another.