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.

Poll: Harlem Heat vs. Dudley Boyz

This is a bit of an experiment I'm trying, mostly for the hell of it. If it works, I'll do this on a regular basis. If not, I'll give it up. I apologize in advance that I don't have a poll embedded on the page itself. I haven't figured out how to do that on a free polling site, as of yet. Please be patient with me on this.

Anyway, I wanted to see what everyone thought of a fantasy match between Harlem Heat & the Dudley Boyz. Harlem Heat was easily the most successful tag team in WCW. The Dudley Boyz dominated ECW's tag team division during their tenure.

Who would win in a match like this? Voting takes place HERE for those interested in participating. Polling ends on Saturday at Midnight.

Feel free to comment below.

Thanks for your patience and participation.

Fantasy match: RVD vs. Arn Anderson

Rob Van Dam. "Enforcer" Arn Anderson. Depending on your viewpoint, it could argued that they were two of the greatest Television Champions to hold their respective titles. I realize that RVD never held the NWA/WCW version. Yes, I realize that Arn Anderson never held the ECW version.

When talking about either man, the Television Title was a big part of their careers. Arn held his first TV title for roughly 9 months. I believe his second reign as TV champion was a year long, if I'm not mistaken. His other two reigns were on the shorter side.

RVD's lone reign with the ECW TV Title was 23 months, interrupted due to injury. No telling how long he could've been champion if he didn't need time off.

Both men, in their own ways, made their respective versions of the title highly sought after titles. Who was more impressive as TV champion? If they were to actually face off, assuming both men were in their prime, who would win?

Give your comments below. 

Hulk Hogan (opinions)

I realize Hogan has many flaws, including a racist comment several years ago about his daughter dating black dudes. I know there are plenty of reasons for knocking the guy. I can’t disagree with the reasons for hating the man. I truly can’t.

Yet, he still manages to be a favorite of mine. Probably will be one of my all-time favorites, no matter how old I am. No matter how flawed certain people are, all of us still manage to have fond memories of certain people. Hogan is one of those guys that I have a hard time hating on too much.

Perhaps it’s all those memories I’ve built up, over the years. Maybe I realize that we all screw up hard and try my damnedest to judge him too harshly.

As far as entertainers are concerned, he was huge at a time when wrestling didn’t have nearly the TV time that it has now. Since the internet wasn’t exactly available, we didn’t exactly get to see guys like Hogan on TV on a never-ending cycle. Made it a lot easier to hide his in-ring flaws.

Personally, I feel WWE officials were a lot smarter back then. They used people as agents, bookers, and whatnot to help develop their talent in such a way that they could look good on television.

Hogan was no different. He was pushed in such a away where his strong points were emphasized. Quite simply, Hogan had a certain charisma. Kids seemed to love him. When kids love certain performers, promotions are foolish to not take advantage of that. WWE was no different. You need younger fans, those less jaded, to help sell tickets. When younger fans want to go to a show, the parents buy tickets for the kids, themselves, maybe bring along a few friends. It could be a parent and the interested child. Maybe it’s the whole family.

Either way, you’ve got several people going to the event. Merchandise is bought at the event. A buddy of mine from Middle School used to get all the Pay-Per-Views, back in the day. This was when the major companies only had 4-5 major shows a year. Didn’t matter if we were talking WWE or NWA/WCW. Dude use to get them all.

Stuff like this was huge. Took guys like Hogan to keep drawing in the revenue.

Somehow, he managed to do it. Even as a kid, we knew it was the same, worn out, tired shtick. Said the same thing when he was on TV. His matches followed the same format. I suppose it was forgivable, considering the generation. Hogan had so many talented opponents, all of whom seemed more then capable of working an entertaining feud, nobody seemed to care all that much.

Wasn’t until a few years into the 90’s when anyone gave a damn. Wrestling was gaining more exposure on TV. We had a fresh crop of talent available to us. Tastes were changing. While the business was slowly changing, beginning with the New Generation, guys like Hogan were still operating under the old ways of doing business.

Took the formation of the New World Order to give Hogan a fresh image, something that allowed fans to look at him in a new light. If you didn’t grow up in this generation, you can’t completely understand how big of a deal this was. Personally, I feel this kept Hogan’s career alive. There’s a strong possibility that Hogan’s career would’ve ended in the mid-90’s if he failed to change with the business.

Hogan’s ability to change with the business was probably his biggest asset. Playing politics, no matter your line of work, is always a high priority. I don’t care if you clean toilets for a living. If you have the ability to play ball convincingly, you’ll always be poised to get the best returns for your investment, in a manner of speaking. That’s what kept Hogan going for so many years.

Sure, he had the look. He had the gift to gab. He could keep your attention when you’d otherwise stop caring. Hogan had the ability to make you believe he was in deep crap, during his matches. Each match could be the match where some monster heel, such as King Kong Bundy or Andre the Giant, would take him down. When he face a technically sound opponent, he had a way of making them look strong as well, despite the size advantage he had over them.

We don’t get that like we used to. Perhaps one day, we’ll go back to the basics. Perhaps we’ll return to the days where you had to convince the fans that shit has gotten real.

Spotlight: Hulk Hogan

NOTE: This won't be a full biography. This is merely intended as a partial look at Hogan's career.

Alias:

Hollywood Hulk Hogan

Hulk Hogan

Mr. America

Sterling Golden

Terry Boulder

The Super Destroyer

Thunder Lips (Rocky III)

Nicknames:
Hollywood
The Fabulous
The Incredible
The Immortal
The Hulkster
The Unstoppable Force

Billed Height: 6' 8"

Billed Weight: 303 lbs.

Billed from: Hollywood, CA (as Hollywood Hogan), Venice Beach, CA (as Hulk Hogan), Washington DC (as Mr. America)

Trained by: Hiro Matsuda

Debut: 1977

Promotions worked for:
AWA
WWF
WCW
TNA
NJPW

Finishing Move:
Atomic Legdrop

Managers:
Lou Albano
Freddie Blassie
Miss Elizabeth
Jimmy Hart
Johnny Valiant

Championships/Awards:
WWE World Heavyweight Champion (x6)
WWE Tag Team Championship (x1) (w/Edge)
WCW World Heavyweight Champion (x6)
Royal Rumble Winner (1990, 1991)

Notable Feuds:
Roddy Piper
Bobby Heenan
King Kong Bundy
Paul Orndorff
Andre the Giant
Big Boss Man
Ted DiBiase
Slick
Randy Savage
Earthquake
Sid Vicious
Zeus
Mr. Delete repeated word
Sgt. Slaughter
Yokozuna
Ric Flair
Dungeon of Doom
The Giant
Arn Anderson
Lex Luger
Sting
Ultimate Warrior
Goldberg
Diamond Dallas Page
Kevin Sullivan