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Spuckuk posted:Man it sucks that shipping to the UK costs more than the goddamn book itself, this is extremely my jam. Good news! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Queen-Ring-Wrestling-Drawings-Hernandez/dp/1683964454 Non-Amazon good news! https://www.waterstones.com/book/queen-of-the-ring/jaime-hernandez/katie-skelly/9781683964452
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Mar 17, 2021 12:28
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Hedgehog Pie posted:The Artist Formerly Known as Prince Iaukea, a shallow Prince parody cooked up by Vince Russo just because the guy's name happened to be Prince Iaukea. Didn't appeal to Prince fans, didn't appeal to wrestling fans (because Iaukea was still really bland and bad in the ring). That was bad, but I at least got what Russo was going for. He was trying to make Iaukea interesting. Reasonable goal, but it failed on multiple levels. Nobody cared about Prince by then, nobody ever cared about Iaukea, they didn't really have anywhere to go with the idea, etc.
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Mar 17, 2021 13:13
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rujasu posted:Nobody cared about Prince by then... The gently caress you say
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Mar 17, 2021 13:25
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davidbix posted:When Conrad interviewed him, he was insistent that this never happened past him maybe making a joke at one point. And...I kind of buy that? The initial AP story from March 1990 where he brings up the idea of using MGM movie characters for wrestling gimmicks is pretty clearly just a play for publicity, for starters. And while he didn't know nearly as much about wrestling as he thought he did, Herd was not an idiot. He was brought in to run the company weeks after the sale to Turner, a sale that was contingent on Flair being part of the company. Would he really pitch THAT GUY getting completely re-gimmicked as Spartacus? Huh! I never had reason to doubt WrestleCrap or various shoot interviews.
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Mar 17, 2021 13:44
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Pope Corky the IX posted:The gently caress you say In terms of popularity/relevance, it was definitely a valley for Prince, at least in the US: he was self-releasing albums (which still sold impressively but nothing like his 80s/early 90s peak) and he didn't have a hit single in the 1990s after 1995. It was several years before the Chappelle Show or his R&R Hall of Fame and Super Bowl appearances, and probably the most attention he was getting in 1999 was for writing a song called 1999, which (when re-released) was his highest charting single in five years, squeaking in at #40. Prince was in a weird liminal space after he was anywhere near the peak of his popularity, but before being discovered by younger generations and turning into a Full Blown Icon. And that was the moment Vince Russo decided it was perfect to do a parody act of him. So it wasn't a timely gimmick/parody whatsoever. Saying "nobody cared about Prince by then..." is overstating things, but it's kind of like deciding to do a Ziggy Stardust parody in 1989 or whatever. It's not new, it hasn't quite evolved into a cultural touchstone, and the person you're parodying is busy doing Tin Machine. Or deciding right now is the perfect time to do a 50 Cent themed wrestler. Edge & Christian fucked around with this message at 14:01 on Mar 17, 2021 |
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Mar 17, 2021 13:57
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sticklefifer posted:What are some gimmicks where you can't imagine what the appeal was supposed to be? Like normally you can sort of get what they were aiming for if you squint hard enough, but then there's like, the Ding Dongs where the whole thing is that they have bells on them. I can't even imagine what creative was trying to do there. Chikara had a heel tag team during its latter years whose gimmick was that they were Dickensian businessmen. Like I guess they were supposed to be like if Scrooge and Marley wrestled when they were in their 20s. The only part that worked for me was a secondary part of the gimmick where they were all sickly and gross and would regularly cough or sneeze in their opponents' faces during matches to throw them off. It wasn't great, but I can see why that would work as a heel thing.
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Mar 17, 2021 15:51
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When it comes to wrestlers that have complicated facepaint like Warrior, Animal, Jeff Hardy, etc, do they do it themselves or is there someone in the back that does it for them?
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Mar 17, 2021 16:05
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sticklefifer posted:What are some gimmicks where you can't imagine what the appeal was supposed to be? Like normally you can sort of get what they were aiming for if you squint hard enough, but then there's like, the Ding Dongs where the whole thing is that they have bells on them. I can't even imagine what creative was trying to do there. Why did WCW make Kevin Nash a wizard? And this is a well-worn meme now, but what the hell was the Shockmaster supposed to be? I don't really understand why the WWF had so many gimmicks based on jobs when they were wandering in the wilderness between the 80s boom and the Attitude Era.
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Mar 17, 2021 16:05
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Halloween Jack posted:The Machine is up there. It's not like 8mm was a PG13 action movie. WCW owned the rights to Wizard of Oz and wanted to get mileage out of it
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Mar 17, 2021 16:07
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Some of the job-based gimmicks like Abe "Knuckleball" Schwartz and the Goon were direct responses to the MLB strike and the NHL lockout, respectively. They would have vignettes where kids wandered around a baseball diamond all sad and alone, and then Macho Man would show up and declare that the WWF had no off season!
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Mar 17, 2021 16:09
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^ oh God, this. The MLB strike in particular allowed Vince to make jokes about both strikes and how WWF Superstars(TM) are REAL MEN unlike those other "athletes"! I can picture him losing his poo poo for a few minutes straight when he first came up with the Knuckleball Schwartz character.Halloween Jack posted:I don't really understand why the WWF had so many gimmicks based on jobs when they were wandering in the wilderness between the 80s boom and the Attitude Era. I think that might just come down to Vince's apparent disdain for his blue-collar audience. Like, of course our fans would boo the Repo Man because they're are a bunch of deadbeats who keep getting their stuff repossessed! They will surely cheer a plumber/a NASCAR driver/a garbage man/a pig farmer/etc as they think they are the backbone of America hahahaha! Hedgehog Pie fucked around with this message at 16:16 on Mar 17, 2021 |
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Mar 17, 2021 16:14
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Pope Corky the IX posted:When it comes to wrestlers that have complicated facepaint like Warrior, Animal, Jeff Hardy, etc, do they do it themselves or is there someone in the back that does it for them? Dustin Rhodes does his own for sure and I believe also did it as Goldust too. Might depend on the wrestler/complexity of the paint but I feel like it might be a point of pride/such an integral part of their character that many would learn to do it themselves? I’m just thinking aloud here and can’t give any definite proof of anything
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Mar 17, 2021 16:28
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Sting always did his own face paint. Makes sense, you don't want to be dependent on someone else who might leave the promotion some day, or wouldn't go with you when you leave.
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Mar 17, 2021 16:38
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a cyborg mug posted:Dustin Rhodes does his own for sure and I believe also did it as Goldust too. Might depend on the wrestler/complexity of the paint but I feel like it might be a point of pride/such an integral part of their character that many would learn to do it themselves? I’m just thinking aloud here and can’t give any definite proof of anything For the most part, I think the wrestlers do it on their own. I've seen photos of Warrior, Sting, and Jeff Hardy doing their own.
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Mar 17, 2021 16:41
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Thanks, that makes sense. And Repo Man once repossessed Macho Man's hat because he fell behind in payments. For his hat.
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Mar 17, 2021 16:50
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sticklefifer posted:What are some gimmicks where you can't imagine what the appeal was supposed to be? Like normally you can sort of get what they were aiming for if you squint hard enough, but then there's like, the Ding Dongs where the whole thing is that they have bells on them. I can't even imagine what creative was trying to do there. As others have said, a lot of the “job” gimmicks don’t have much appeal beyond the initial “huh, that’s funny/dumb.” Like, who is “Friar Ferguson” for? People that dug the Kevin Costner Robin Hood movie? What was the expected mileage for that character? Or “Thurman ‘Sparky’ Plugg?” NASCAR fans are just going to watch NASCAR, why would they give a poo poo about a dude who wears Racecar Driver outfits and maybe has moves named after racecar stuff?
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Mar 17, 2021 16:52
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Didn't Holly actually enter a race at one point to push the gimmick and he didn't even finish?
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Mar 17, 2021 16:58
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BodyMassageMachine posted:As others have said, a lot of the “job” gimmicks don’t have much appeal beyond the initial “huh, that’s funny/dumb.” I once thought that maybe it was for the people in those professions. The audience of race car drivers and friars likely to watch WWE would likely be pretty small, but there are quite a few waste management and plumbing workers. Of course, making most of the guys doing these thing a joke would likely work against that, but they've never been one not to shoot themselves in the foot. A question that I have is, did any of these gimmicks work or get over? The dudes with a pet thing seemed to work pretty well with Roberts, The Bulldogs, and Steamboat, even if sometimes they may have got over despite the pet, but I associate the occupation gimmicks with the morass of the mid 90's period where they were just throwing poo poo against the wall and failing. Speaking of which and speaking of Friar Ferguson, was there any point to Bastion Booger other than to make Vince laugh? Could they have possibly thought that anyone would enjoy seeing that character, even if to boo him? As a single digit kid, I actually liked Norman the Lunatic in WCW, even if it looks like wrestlecrap today. I was still pretty young when Bastion was a thing, but he was the first guy that I actively felt bad for, not because his character inspired emotion, but because I felt bad that the guy had to do that poo poo, a feeling that I would often have later in my time watching.
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Mar 17, 2021 17:03
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Pope Corky the IX posted:Didn't Holly actually enter a race at one point to push the gimmick and he didn't even finish?
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Mar 17, 2021 17:06
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I had no idea that was the case, so at least that one makes more sense. I mean, come on, the entire gimmick of Droz was "Has tattoos and piercings, can puke on command"
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Mar 17, 2021 17:10
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Hillbilly Jim was a pretty successful "stereotype becomes wrestler" gimmick, though being a hillbilly isn't exactly a job. I guess the most successful "job gimmicks" were for actual athletes from other sports, going back to Gus Sonnenberg. I think that a gimmick like "This guy was just the janitor, now he's a wrestler" can work, but not when you name the guy Dusty Binn and have him come to the ring in dirty coveralls.
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Mar 17, 2021 17:16
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collocation posted:I once thought that maybe it was for the people in those professions. The audience of race car drivers and friars likely to watch WWE would likely be pretty small, but there are quite a few waste management and plumbing workers. Of course, making most of the guys doing these thing a joke would likely work against that, but they've never been one not to shoot themselves in the foot. Big Boss Man is probably the best example. Doink and DiBiase would be others, if you count those as a job gimmicks (Undertake doesn't really fit there). IRS had some success, I think, but probably wouldn't have gone anywhere without DiBiase.
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Mar 17, 2021 17:18
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Val Venis is a mushbrain now but his porn star gimmick was pretty popular for a minute there. Godfather was also pretty over at one point.
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Mar 17, 2021 17:34
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CombineThresher posted:Val Venis is a mushbrain now but his porn star gimmick was pretty popular for a minute there. Godfather was also pretty over at one point. They were a popular tag team too, enough that the net coined their unofficial team name "Supply & Demand".
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Mar 17, 2021 17:39
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I think the moral of the story is if you work for WWE you need a second job to get by.
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Mar 17, 2021 18:20
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And then there's Maki Itoh, who spun an entire gimmick out of legit being drummed out of Japan's weirdo idol scene
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Mar 17, 2021 19:08
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1glitch0 posted:I think the moral of the story is if you work for WWE you need a second job to get by. One that hopefully pays well because they're going to be taking 30% of your side paychecks. DeathChicken posted:And then there's Maki Itoh, who spun an entire gimmick out of legit being drummed out of Japan's weirdo idol scene Maki Itoh's backstory is one where I can't tell which aspects are pure shoot and which parts are works because it's that ridiculous at times but so is the idol industry.
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Mar 17, 2021 19:25
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RocknRollaAyatollah posted:One that hopefully pays well because they're going to be taking 30% of your side paychecks. Vince power-strutting into the Sanitation Department to demand his pound of flesh from Duke Droese's manager.
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Mar 17, 2021 21:03
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davidbix posted:He was brought in to run the company weeks after the sale to Turner, a sale that was contingent on Flair being part of the company. Would he really pitch THAT GUY getting completely re-gimmicked as Spartacus? BodyMassageMachine posted:As others have said, a lot of the “job” gimmicks don’t have much appeal beyond the initial “huh, that’s funny/dumb.”
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Mar 18, 2021 03:30
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When they brought back Dusty Rhodes in '89, they gave him ALLLLL the jobs in his vignettes (Plumber, Gas Station Attendant, Pizza Delivery Guy)
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Mar 18, 2021 03:37
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Halloween Jack posted:Holly was actually a mechanic and auto racer before he went to WWE. The Plugg gimmick was a stupid way to do it but it was drawn from life. I seem to recall that Vince bought a race car for Holly to drive so he could live the gimmick, and just let Holly keep it once the gimmick had run its course.
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Mar 18, 2021 03:54
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Is the Thunder Rosa v Britt Baker match the first time women have bled in a major us promotion? I don't think I've seen it before much if at all.
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Mar 18, 2021 04:05
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Ivelisse got bloody in Lucha Underground and it made her look like a badass. I mean, more than usual.
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Mar 18, 2021 04:31
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LionYeti posted:Is the Thunder Rosa v Britt Baker match the first time women have bled in a major us promotion? I don't think I've seen it before much if at all. WWE only started really doing workrate matches with women after the switch to PG, so I'm assuming unless someone got busted hardway (if you're counting that then this isn't even the first time Britt has) in the last few years, the answer is no slash maybe if you count Impact as "major", and even if you do I'm not sure their women's division ever went in that direction. I Before E fucked around with this message at 04:36 on Mar 18, 2021 |
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Mar 18, 2021 04:31
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LionYeti posted:Is the Thunder Rosa v Britt Baker match the first time women have bled in a major us promotion? I don't think I've seen it before much if at all. Becky Lynch unless you're not counting that because it was an angle not a match? Or also if you're specifically meaning blading?
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Mar 18, 2021 04:33
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RocknRollaAyatollah posted:Maki Itoh's backstory is one where I can't tell which aspects are pure shoot and which parts are works because it's that ridiculous at times but so is the idol industry. Gimme deets.
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Mar 18, 2021 04:58
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Seams posted:Becky Lynch unless you're not counting that because it was an angle not a match? Or also if you're specifically meaning blading? Yeah other then the Becky Lynch situation.
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Mar 18, 2021 05:06
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Outlaw Mailman posted:I seem to recall that Vince bought a race car for Holly to drive so he could live the gimmick, and just let Holly keep it once the gimmick had run its course. One of the more fun "Vince can very occasionally be nice" stories.
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Mar 18, 2021 05:17
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davidbix posted:Vince bought him the car, equipment, etc. When the whole thing was scrapped, Vince offered to sell it all to Bob...for $100. Bob tried to insist on finding buyers that would pay market value for everything, but Vince refused. And then never took the $100 out of his payoffs, regardless. One of Foley's books (I think 'Foley is Good') talks about Foley asking Terry Funk why Vince hired someone who he thought had issues or was past their prime, and Terry just replied "Vince has a good heart", or some such. Was that in regards to Jake Roberts?
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Mar 18, 2021 05:35
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LionYeti posted:Is the Thunder Rosa v Britt Baker match the first time women have bled in a major us promotion? I don't think I've seen it before much if at all. Luna Vachon bladed in ECW. I really doubt she was first one, either. RC and Moon Pie fucked around with this message at 05:54 on Mar 18, 2021 |
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Mar 18, 2021 05:51
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