Worst of Wrestling.....part 2

Looks like I've been slacking quite a bit around here, as of late. I've been meaning to update this with a more bad wrestling ideas, much like mentioned in Part 1. Without furth ado.....

The Berzerker

At 6' 8" & 323 lbs., John Nord should've been a shoe-in, especially in WWE. Considering Vince's obsession with big men up to this time. Previously working in the AWA under the names Nord the Barbarian and Yukon John, he'd eventually land in WWE as The Berzerker.

More on the Yukon John character at a later time.

He was briefly known as The Viking before the company would settle with The Berzerker. Berzerker, as you can imagine, was a Viking character...which would include carrying a sword with him. He'd dress up like a lame version of the Minnesota Vikings mascot.

If you expect any kind of great finishing move, you'd be seriously unimpressed as simply preferred to throw opponents over the top rope for a count out. He'd hold his wrist, lick his hand, shout "Huss! Huss", eventually falling on his back. Berzerker acted in a fashion similar to Bruiser Brody, whom he had teamed with during his first stint in the AWA.

With Mr Fuji as his manager, John Nord would see a decent push. At one point or another, he'd take on the likes of Davey Boy Smith, Jimmy Snuka, and The Undertaker.

His feud with Undertaker involved Berzerker attempting to stab Taker with his sword, at one point. Their feud culminated at the 1991 Survivor Series.

Berzerker would eventually win a 40-Man Battle Royal on an episode of Prime Time Wrestling, gaining a title shot against WWF Champion Bret Hart.

His final match appearance was the February 1, 1993 edition of Monday Night Raw in a battle royal.

The Goon

The Goon is a short lived character in the WWF. Debuting somewhere in 1996....episode of Superstars, I believe.....The Goon was supposed to be a former hockey player that was kicked out of every league that he ever played in.

Played by Bill Irwin....brother to the late Scott Irwin....The Goon saw some success in the old territories and/or the Independent scene.

The only thing I remember him doing is wrestling in a hockey outfit, skates and all.



Due to laziness, I'll just publish what I've done already.

the worst of wrestling.....part 1

KERWIN WHITE

Poor Chavo. For the life of me, I'll never understand why he got saddled with a character like this.

As a well established wrestler, as well as a member of the legendary Guerrero Family, WWE decided to repackage Chavo. Not like he needed a new gimmick, but WWE was hell bent on making it happen anyway.

What did they give Chavo? He was repackaged as a middle class yuppy who loved golf. He'd drive to the ring in a golf cart. Dolph Ziggler was his caddy before he became a male cheerleader, but that's for latter.

Take a few seconds to notice how Chavo had to dress. Yeah.....that's embarrassing.

And we were supposed to forget that his name was Chavo Guerrero. We were expected to call him Kerwin White. His catchphrase was "If it's note White, it's not Right."

If memory serves me right, his entrance theme was played by Frank Sinatra.

Kerwin was a completely stereotypical middle class, conservative character. This might've worked if it weren't for the fact that Chavo was already well established. He's talented. Chavo just didn't need a character like this.

MAN MOUNTAIN ROCK

Previously working in WCW as Maxx Payne, he would debut in the WWF somewhere in February 1995. All I recall of his time in the company was him :"playing" the guitar (shown in the above photo). 

According to his Wikipedia page, MMR was released in October of the same year. 

P.N. NEWS

Yo baby, yo baby, yo baby, yo!

That was the catchphrase to the current craptastic blunder known as P.N. News. A lowcard rapper in WCW, PN News debut on the May 11, 1991 episode of World Wide Wrestling. According to his Wikipedia page, he was modeled after P.M. Dawn. Don't ask.....I probably know less about P.M. Dawn then you do.

He had a brief feud with then WCW Television Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin. Unfortunately, he managed to injure Dave Sheldon (AKA Angel of Death) during a house show on June 21, 1992 after a botched Broken Record (top rope splash) on Sheldon's legs. This injury would put Sheldon out of action for the better part of a year.

P.N. News made sporadic appearances on TV after this before finally being released.

I've heard he currently wrestles in Europe under the name Cannonball Grizzly.

He's also the cousin to Mike Halac, who's better remembered as Mantaur in WWE. I'll go into detail about that later.

ABE "KNUCKLEBALL" SCHWARTZ

Steve Lombardi will be known for playing a wide variety of characters during his time in wrestling. His most well known being the Brooklyn Brawler, which I hope to get to eventually.

In this case, he briefly played the part of Abe "Knuckleball" Schwartz during 1994. At this time, Major League Baseball would eventually have a player strike, which would inspire the character. Abe would be a revamped version of a character known as MVP......not to be confused for Montel Vontavious Porter.

His theme would be a variation of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".

ARACHNAMAN

I don't recall if this started in late 1991 or early 1992. What I recall is that Arachnaman was WCW's version of Spider-Man. The differences between the characters were minimal, such as the color of the costumes.

The character didn't last long as Marvel Comics threatened legal action against WCW.

Played by Brad Armstrong, Arachnaman wouldn't be the first bad gimmick he'd be saddled with. Even worse, this was far from the last (or worst) gimmick he'd be stuck with. For whatever reasons I'll never understand, Brad Armstrong was constantly stuck with lousy gimmick after lousy gimmick. He really should've been given more money for being saddled with so much crap.


More to come in later posts.

Demolition and Jim Duggan