The 4th Annual Wrestling Shame Hall of Shame
Hi everyone!
Neither Rick nor I have been posting much lately. And there are a lot of reasons for that: I'm working on my own book project and teaching a lot; Rick has had to deal with his tax evasion suit and the unfortunate accusations lobbed at him.
And let me say once again, we here at the Wrestling Shame Hall of Shame do not condone his unfortunate remarks at the United Nations.
That out of the way, we are also aware that the past few months have been -- well, challenging to put it mildly. So -- as a distraction, I decided this year's Hall of Shame would focus on my expertise -- namely, World Championship Wrestling.
And folks, let the shame begin!
Shameful Booking: Hogan and Warrior, 1998
As Wrestling Shame's resident scholar in WCW / ECW Studies, I try and resist the urge to say the downfall of WCW began with the infamous ending to Starcade 1997. I've argued for awhile that what really put the company on the downward spiral was the idiotic angle between "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan and the Warrior in the fall of 1998. There's a LOT to go over here: we have a dumb entrance of the Warrior on a Monday Nitro, the strange "Hogan sees Warrior in a two-way mirror that also people at home can see but nobody can see the Warrior" moment a few weeks later, and their incompetent match at that year's Halloween Havoc. I've included a podcast with Tony Schiavone here as the clip because A) I really like Tony Schiavone and B) he summarizes it best by simply saying "Who booked this shit?"
And folks, let the shame begin!
Shameful Booking: Hogan and Warrior, 1998
As Wrestling Shame's resident scholar in WCW / ECW Studies, I try and resist the urge to say the downfall of WCW began with the infamous ending to Starcade 1997. I've argued for awhile that what really put the company on the downward spiral was the idiotic angle between "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan and the Warrior in the fall of 1998. There's a LOT to go over here: we have a dumb entrance of the Warrior on a Monday Nitro, the strange "Hogan sees Warrior in a two-way mirror that also people at home can see but nobody can see the Warrior" moment a few weeks later, and their incompetent match at that year's Halloween Havoc. I've included a podcast with Tony Schiavone here as the clip because A) I really like Tony Schiavone and B) he summarizes it best by simply saying "Who booked this shit?"
Shameful Wrestler (s): The Ding Dongs
Holy shit. I've been working on this site for four years and never mentioned the Ding Dongs. Or Ding and Dong. Or -- god, whatever.
Holy shit. I've been working on this site for four years and never mentioned the Ding Dongs. Or Ding and Dong. Or -- god, whatever.
So Greg Evans and Richard Sartain -- once they had signed with WCW -- were saddled with one of the most ridiculous gimmicks ever given professional wrestlers. In an attempt to mimic some of the more kid-friendly elements of the WWF, WCW President Jim Herd came up with the idea of this tag team from...
Look, just watch the clip. And see how long you last into said clip before giving up altogether. I'm good for about six minutes.
Shameful Promo: Sting and Robocop
A few years ago, I justified some pop culture / wrestling crossovers here. Needless to say, I did not have Sting and Robocop in mind.
That's right folks: as part of the promotional campaign for Robocop II, Robocop appeared in a program with Sting taking on The Four Horsemen. And here is part of a WCW Saturday Night clip featuring Sting and Robocop delivering a promo on the Horsemen.
This promo is bad for the monotone delivery, the cheesiness, and the bad writing. And then Robocop begins talking. Thankfully Arn Anderson shows up.
Shameful Music: Jericho's First WCW Theme
Is this as bad as his next WCW theme, which was a rip-off of "Evenflow?" Debatable. Listen to this song and if it doesn't want you to drink a "little bit of the bubbly" to take the edge off, well I'm not sure I can help you.
Shameful Match: Van Hammer vs Doug Somers, Halloween Havoc 1991
Until recently, I had completely forgotten this match existed; when I was watching a recent Wrestling With Wregret video on Halloween Havoc '91, I had these flashbacks to the horror that is Van Hammer vs Doug Somers (who is from my adopted hometown of Milwaukee). In essence, this match -- which you can see clips of at around the 19:00 mark of the video above is a textbook case of a too-green wrestler (Van Hammer) facing off with a veteran (Somers) who isn't quite sure how to salvage the match. Also there are at least three bumps that Somers takes that you swear killed him. It's awful and beyond shameful.
Shameful Pop Culture Crossover Event: The WCW Episode of Baywatch Jet-Ski Scene
I've been promising to write about this episode for 4 years now -- and I swear, I swear I will in detail at some point -- but much like Degeneration X and the NWO have multiple-inductions into the completely legitimate WWE Hall of Fame, I'm going to invoke curatorial-power and begin to induct segments of this episode one at a time until I get bored with the joke.
And Rick and I never get tired of jokes......*stares off into the distance*
Anyway, there's so much to love here: the bad over-dubbing, the reckless jet-skiing, Hogan's "acting." C'est bonne!
Shameful Debut: Oz in WCW
Yes, I've written about this before. No, I don't care that I'm repeating myself. The fact that WCW debuted a wrestler with a Wizard of Oz theme still bothers me on so many levels. Now before you write me nasty comments or emails -- don't email me because I don't remember our password for the account -- I know the clip above isn't from Oz's WCW debut (that footage isn't available on YouTube). But still it's beyond bizzare -- especially the initial debut which had Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Lion cowering in "fear" from Neon Kevin Nash.
Anyway, that's the Fourth Wrestling Shame Hall of Shame! Please do not exit through the gift shop, and also please don't shake our hands! Do follow us on Twitter!
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