Louis Martin Freeman

Louis Freeman, better known as Duke "Core" Baron, is the reigning champion of nova shootfighting (as of 2008, anyway) and the master of the Core Meltdown&trade;.

A native of Brooklyn, he enlisted briefly in the US Navy as a teenager, but walked away from his enlistment soon after with a new distrust of Uncle Sam's generosity. Then came the Galatea explosion.

He erupted almost at once &mdash; maybe a little behind the Fireman, maybe a little ahead of the "first nova". The storm of plasma prevented anyone from approaching him for the two hours it lasted; when it faded, the police and the National Guard moved in, and Freeman started running.

We next hear of him two years later, in Japan, where Thai entrepreneur Yai Lokampang had organized the first underground nova-on-nova brawls, and Freeman was king of the fight-pits. When the WWF folded around the same time and B.B. Bartlett bought up its assets, Lokampang would provide a stable of new fighters. When Bartlett's Xtreme Warfare Federation debuted four years later, Freeman would become Core, one of its biggest stars.

Core usually sits on top of the Black Circle chain of contenders, despite challenges from the likes of Superbeast and "Upset Queen" Melinda Guzman. Less of a challenge are jobbers like "Butcher" Moretti and El Diablo.