Wrestling, in particular the WWE, is full of cringe-worthy goodness when it comes to the entertainment aspect of sports entertainment. Christmas-themed segments on Monday Night Raws or pay-per-views are quick to reassure you, the fan over 18, that you are clearly watching a program aimed at children. Sometimes there’s a gem amongst all that coal, but usually they’re bad. They’re so bad, I decided to watch Christmas with the Kranks last night on Netflix, rather than stream another holiday episode of Raw and watch guys like Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt go from killing themselves in TLC matches to tumbling over empty, novelty-sized, Christmas presents. Still, I was able to put together this list of other memorable Santa-filled moments.
Author: James Martinez
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Paid for by the Following: Foot Locker
Here’s another WWE attempt at shoehorning itself into some place where it doesn’t belong. For Foot Locker’s “Week of Greatness” promotion they released a bunch of commercials with different athletes. The funniest being the Manny Pacquiao promo. Granted, the commercial does poke fun at the very tired fact that wrestling isn’t real. And it does feature the WWE’s official sneaker spokesperson, John Cena. Unless this was another sponsor CM Punk had gotten all on his own and was then taken away from him. In any case, it puts the WWE in a mainstream commercial and makes it somewhat relevant again to the casual viewer.
Delta Farce (2007)
Many might think Larry the Cable Guy’s foray into the world of wrestling was something new that only happened a couple of Raw’s ago in order to promote his movie, Jingle All the Way 2, which “co-stars” Santino Marella. But before he started unnecessarily making sequels to movies that shouldn’t have been made in the first place, Larry starred in the “comedy” Delta Farce which, unlike Jingle All the Way 2, was actually released in movie theaters. But more importantly, Delta Farce had a wrestling scene. Or, more specifically, a lucha libre scene. Unfortunately, it doesn’t involve Larry bumping all over the ring or working a cable guy gimmick.
WWE Mini-Me’s
Not long ago on NXT, the Vaudevillains introduced the Full Sail University crowd to the mini Lucha Dragons. Unfortunately, they left a lot to be desired of as far as lucha libre minis go. They were pretty much small guys in Nacho Libre masks and Lucha Dragons t-shirts. And even though Hornswoggle has done an okay job portraying smaller versions of Heath Slater and The Miz (although defeating the purpose of Damien Mizdow), he has a lot to learn when it comes to mimicking his much larger counterparts. Here’s a few WWE mini wrestlers who got it right.
The Native American Wrestler
In keeping with the theme of having themed Art of Gimmickry posts, today’s post will feature the Native American gimmick in honor of this past Thanksgiving Day. While few actually achieved national prominence, the reason why the Native American wrestler has been a staple in the media’s representation of stereotypical wrestling gimmicks is because back in the day it seems every damn territory had someone working a Native American gimmick. Whether they actually belonged to a tribe or not.
Pro Wrestlers vs. Zombies (2014)
In keeping with the theme of Halloween, this was originally going to be posted in October, but I found it difficult to sit through an entire viewing of this movie despite its best efforts to move forward the zombie wrestler movie sub-genre movement. So themed-posts be damned, any month is a good month to watch zombie wrestler movies. Here’s a look at Pro Wrestlers vs. Zombies from the man who brought you Lucifer’s Unholy Desire and Breeding Farm.
The A-Team
“Body Slam”
Season 4, Episode 7
11/12/1985
80’s Television. It was nonsensical, over the top, cheesy, and most of all, terribly awesome. So it would make sense that a show like The A-Team would have wrestling’s Hulk Hogan guest star as wrestling’s Hulk Hogan. This episode alone could serve as the sole time capsule that epitomizes everything 80’s about 80’s TV shows.
Paid for by the Following: Lotto 6/49
After watching John Oliver’s scathing and much-deserved take down of the government-run U.S. lottery on the first season finale of Last Week Tonight, I figured it’d be the perfect intro to this month’s Paid for by the Following. Although the inclusion of this commercial for the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s Lotto 6/49 is in no way associating it with the same questionable ethical practices of the lotteries in the United States. Those Canadian questionable ethical practices are apparently tied to their “freemium” Terrance and Phillip mobile game.
Other Times Bret Hart was Screwed
We all know about the Montreal Screwjob. The most controversial moment in pro wrestling history. In honor of this game-changing incident (which I’m still bitter about) taking place at the Survivor Series and this year’s Survivor Series being just around the corner and free (because screw those of us who already pay $9.99 for it), I figured we’d look at 10 other instances in which Bret Hart was also screwed out of winning a match (even though he was well aware of it happening).Code Monkeys
“Wrassle Mania”Season 1, Episode 11
9/19/2007
Code Monkeys is an old G4 network show from the same guy who brought us other short-lived shows like Adult Swim’s Minoriteam and Comedy Central’s I’m with Busey. Having watched all three shows, I can honestly say I miss Minoriteam the most. But hey, at least Code Monkeys had a wrestling episode.
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