Happy weekend to everyone! I hope you’re not bogged down at
work like I am today, and getting a chance to roll into Independence Week with
family, friends, and BBQ.
Today’s Question:
What’s your favorite
wrestling trope?
We’ll check out your answers tomorrow. If you want to skip
yesterday’s answers, please scroll right to the comments.
The IWC loves it some great wrestling. Over the years, it
has latched on to wrestling’s greatest showstoppers, but deep down inside we’re
entertainment fans at heart; and some of wrestling’s greatest slugs can win us
over. And yesterday we were talking about those awful wrestlers you loved
anyway. We had a great turnout, so let’s get to it.
brocore: Mike Shaw, specifically Norman the Lunatic.
Norm was just such a fun character, and Shaw nailed it and was clearly having
fun with the role.
The first time I saw Norman the Lunatic was at Clash of the
Champions VII, and I was completely enamored with it. The idea that the man was
so dangerous they needed doctors nearby with cattle prods to keep the man in
check before they hauled him back to the asylum was a great twist on the normal
“monster” character – and exactly the kind of thing that could be recycled
today on a new wrestler, or someone like Kane.
Garth Holmberg, C.C.:
Andre The Giant, the later years. This is
more nostalgia from me, because as a kid renting Coliseum Video's, seeing an
Andre match was always a big deal to me. It didn't matter that all he could do
was hang on the ropes and choke people: He was an intimidating giant who made
even the largest superstars look like midgets. His presence alone was enough to
make me want to watch his matches, and even now, I could look past his physical
limitations because of the aura surrounding him that I don't think anyone else
has ever been able to capture.
Starscreamlive: I'm a big mark for Kamala. Terrible ring
skills and a cheesey gimmick, but I bought it as a kid. He's still one of my
all time favorites.
I saw him at an independent show about 7 or 8 years ago, and
I told him how much I loved his match with the Undertaker at SummerSlam. He
looked up at me, and through that facepaint, and wild eyes, he informed me
autographed photos were $10 each.
Biscuit!: The Mean Street Posse really sticks out for
me. Just hot garbage in the ring but the gimmick was a riot. To be really fair
almost every Memphis wrestler was kinda bad in the ring but all of them were so
good at getting heat.
Magoonie NOT Teddy
Belmont: I know he's not considered
"terrible" but everybody seems to hate on him, Kevin Nash. And I'm
not even talking about where he was trying to put on good matches as Diesel.
I'm talking about when he kinda stopped caring in WCW. I was still a big fan of
his.
You’re preaching to the choir; I once ran Kevin Nash
Appreciation Month on my ShootingStarPress webpage, concluding with a poll to
determine once and for all who the greatest wrestler of all time was. Choices
included Kevin Nash, Oz, Vinnie Vegas, Diesel, and Master Blaster Steel. And of
course, his announcing was top of the line.
Jared Bellow: Everybody has this big thing about Sid only
being "carried" to good matches. Fuck no. The dude had the look, the
charisma, and a good amount of ability in the ring. He only really had bad
matches with guys he had no chemistry with. So Sid, Vader, Shawn Michaels, Bret
Hart allll just carried him, right on their backs? No. Sid is awesome. However,
he is usually put on these lists.
Jared, you win – you were the first of over a dozen folks
who named the Master and Ruler of the world as the greatest slug of all time. I
tend to agree, Sid worked with good workers, and struggled against the useless
lumps, despite having half the brain of Kevin Nash. There was a Montreal
promotion that aired a pay-per-view in Canada in 2003 I believe, and one match
was a battle royale which featured Sid just powerbombing everyone for 10
minutes. The fans ate it up. I also got to witness him crush Johnny Devine at
an indy show, and after nearly blowing out my lungs in the front row chanting “SID”
– he made a beeline for my friend and I, gave us each two giant sweaty fist
bumps, and demanded to know “WHO’S THE MAN?” Sid, of course.
Mike_N: Mikey Whipwreck. Decent worker and hilarious
when teaming with Foley as the perpetual deer in headlights. That gimmick could
only work in ECW, but it was fun for what it was.
Beardmoney: I've heard some knuckleheads claim Hillbilly
Jim was actually a "terrible" wrestler. I'm sorry, just because he
didn't do the 450 Corkscrew Shooting Star Phoenix Splash off the top of a 20
foot ladder to put his opponent through a stack of flaming barbwire wrapped
tables 7 nights a week, doesn't mean the guy was a bad worker. He just employed
a less is more style. It was as much about the moves he didn't do, rather than
just executing random Avalanche Burning Hammer Psycho Powerbomb Destroyer
Drivers 365 nights a year. His ring-work actually meant something,
accomplishing just as much with a simple Bearhug and a couple of well placed
dance steps as your modern "extreme" grappler accomplishes by hitting
12 No Hands Flying Super Dragon Sliced Bread DDT Deathdrops.
It’s more of a revisionist history that’s been less kind to
Hillbilly Jim, I don’t think anyone from the era would disagree the man was a
good ring general. He was perfect for the over the top 80’s era, and could put
on a show when needed to.
Stranger In The Alps:
As a young Stranger, I was a huge mark
for Hercules Hernandez, both as a heel and face. Looking back on his matches
today, he was horrible. Especially in his bloated physique toward the end of
his run after the Power & Glory split.
Petrock: At the time I really enjoyed JBL's title
run. From day one he just completely owned that character.
He definitely owned the character, but I won’t lie – 2004 Smackdown
was simply death with him at the top of the card. It seemed the more the fans
revolted, the harder McMahon pushed him just to prove us wrong.
Piperfan01: Jimmy "The Boogie Woogie Man"
Valiant, NWA, early-mid eighties, Charisma with a capital C, but when I look
back now, simply horrible in the ring. I still mark out for his matches though,
don't care.
Jobber123: So sid is my official answer but goddamnit I
loved Mongo too. I can't get enough of his promos or him on commentary. I don't
know if he's brain damaged, or just really stupid or what but that dude made me
laugh every time he came on TV. The first time I remember seeing him was with
LT during the Bam Bam angle and omg was he hysterical. His backstage promo is
the best part of wm11. My all time favorite mongo moment was when he slapped a
coffee out of goldbergs hand and yelled in his face "YOU DON'T DRINK COFFEE
IN FRONT OF A MAN"
When I reviewed all the 1996 WCW shows, Mongo was a pretty
standard whipping boy. One night he promised Mean Gene he’d whoop all the
pretty boys, starting with Randy Savage (the hell??). He carried around that
Haliburton like he’d never heard of a chequing account. And please don’t get me
started on the stupid ferret. Still, nothing can top the coffee segment with
the British Bulldog on Thunder in 98. We all learned a valuable lesson about
when it’s appropriate to drink coffee.
dirtyearsbilly: I can't really say why, but I've always
loved Balls Mahoney. We didn't get ecw here on the west coast until the tnn
days, but my best friend had an illegal cable box and we used to watch all of
their ppvs. As a 12/13 year old, there was something great about him. The
airbrushed chairs, the tattered jean shorts, the fact that everyone yelled
balls whenever he punched someone. I still love the guy.
Bones: Buff Bagwell...If any man wears a top hat
with a likeness of himself and is an asshole about everything is alright by me.
A personal favorite Bagwell moment came during one of his
entrances. Pointing proudly to his perfectly groomed facial hair, with all the
class he could muster, Bagwell turned to the camera and belted out “BUFF HAS A
NEW MOUSTACHE! HAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Andy PG: Let's be honest: Tommy Dreamer has mediocre
mic skills, very basic offense, and his back was messed up for so long he can't
sell correctly to save his life. But WOW were his matches fun to watch.
Rusty Shackleford:
Scott Steiner is a huge favourite due to
being an awesome worker in the first half of his career and an absolute
psychopath in the second half.
I saw one of his Nitro matches with Chris Jericho from early
99 not long ago, and the thing that really stood out to me was the fact that
Steiner genuinely looked like he might kill someone. He kept stalling to go
beef with the fans in the front row, and there was more than one occasion that
night he got into a face to face screaming match with a fan just daring him to
step over the line … and you really thought he just might. Whether it was a
brilliant, calculated make-over, or roid rage, Steiner’s White Thunder was
great.
Tom Dawkings: Surprised no mention of Warrior yet. The guy
was getting the rocket push at the time I first started watching wrestling so
Warrior was my 'Hulk Hogan'. Plus Warrior was a cooler version of Hogan as he
was younger, more energetic and had a better look.
Basscase: Nathan Jones, only because he could refresh
himself with a tall glass mid-match.
I legit laughed out loud at this.
catfishhedberg: I really enjoyed Kronik in the dying days of
WCW. I've always been a mark for the invincible power teams. I also liked the
KISS Demon for some reason.
Dirty_Dave_Delaney:
The most awful wrestler that I found
bizarrely entertaining has to be Heidenreich. His pre-match disaster-piece poetry
promos, his over the top facial expressions, his Naziesque theme music combined
with shitty in-ring work always guaranteed me being not far off from hysterical
laughter. Plus he gets extra points for trying to rape Michael Cole! Also have
to give a little bit of love to Snitsky for the whole 'IT WASN'T MY FAULT'
baby-killing storyline over on Raw around the same time which of course lead to
Snitsky and Heidenreich's epic gruntling and snarling confrontation at I think
Survivor Series 2004.
I was writing weekly articles at that point – and I could
not damn either of these guys with enough praise. Between their meeting at the
2004 Survivor Series (“I LIKE YOUR POETRY!” “AND I LIKE WHAT YOU DO TO BABIES!”),
and the 2005 Royal Rumble (“I LIKE YOU JON!” “I LIKE YOU TOO GENE! BUT I STILL
HATE CASKETS!”), this was truly a bromance that not only needed more segments,
but quite frankly, their own spinoff.
YankeesHoganTripleHFan:
Earthquake....I didn't love him, but when
he was a heel between injuring Hogan, Tugboat, Andre, squashing the snake and
sending all those jobbers out on stretchers the mark in me feared him, thus his
matches were always fascinating because you knew he could leave someone laying
in a heartbeat.
Jonathan Meisner:
Beefcake. Loved him as a kid. The
outfits, the synth heavy entrance music. And, the greatest thing to ever be
thankful for, from the original Coliseum release of Survivor Series '89. "I'm
thankful for wresting, cuttin' and struttin'!!"
Jabber2: David BOWTUNGA. My phone autocorrected that
to all caps, which should tell you something. The swank jacket. The
ridiculously jacked up physique. Rubbing the baby oil on himself. The sweater
vests. The obnoxious slurping.
Daniel Swinney: ERNEST. MILLER. Very few men in wrestling
have provided me as many laughs on the mic as him. The time he was basically
asked to go out and kill seemingly ten minutes on Nitro and started just
ripping on fans. "I'ma whoop everybody in this arena one by one! Sit down
fat boah I can't fight you you ain't in my weight class. I'll whoop... entire
NWO all by myself!" "Scott Steiner you big dumb stupid bitch! You
know I HATE yo dumb ass!" Or the time he escaped a Bigelow beatdown by
proclaiming, "I LOVE you. You my hee-ro!"
I could not agree more Daniel; Ernest Miller also happens to
be my choice. There was something positively hysterical every single time they
sent Miller out to rip on the entire crowd. You’d sit there for upwards of ten
minutes, wondering what in the bloody hell was the point – and all he’d do is
keep going. I can remember him being on the Bottom Ten Wrestlers list week
after week in 1999 on WrestleLine, but that’s only because the masses hadn’t
caught on to the greatness of the Cat.
Some of my personal favorite memories include him beating up
Scott and Steve Armstrong one night, and demanding they send out the Bullet so
he can whoop him too. On a random Thunder, he once entered the ring wearing a
cowboy hat, and demanding Sonny Onoo sing “Purple Rain” in honor of the fact he
was fighting Prince, then complaining that Prince Iaukea wasn’t the Prince he
wanted to whoop at all. And finally, Catbo.
The Easter egg in the video above, was that the 1-800 number
led directly to Eric Bischoff’s office – which had to be immediately changed
following the airing of this. Late 90’s WCW simply cannot be topped for sheer
incompetence and hilarity, no matter how hard TNA tries.
See you tomorrow!