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“Mad Dog Höek”
Season 2 Episode 5
11/21/1992
Like most of the episodes of Ren & Stimpy, there’s no context given or any kind of a backstory that sets up Ren and Stimpy finding themselves inside a wrestling ring opposite two large, roid-raging freaks. So let’s get right into it.
What better way to honor Memorial Day than to spotlight the brave men who made the seamless transition of protecting our freedom overseas to protecting it in our hometown within the confines of the squared circle? And while Memorial Day honors those who served our country and are no longer with us, I didn’t want to wait until Veterans Day to showcase this particular gimmick. Now, seeing as this is in honor of Memorial Day, there’s no room here for your Gen. Skandor Akbars or Col. DeBeers. This is a look at American militaristic wrestlers. A gimmick that has seemed to fizzle out for the time being. Sure, Cena’s done a good job of trading in his rapping gimmick for the pseudo military thing he adopted after filming The Marine. Like, occasionally switching it up from wearing jorts to camouflage cargo shorts, pushing John Cena dog tags on WWE Shop Zone and, of course, incorporating the military salute into his entrance.
“Mama Mania”
Season 4, Episode 9
11/21/1987
While Mama’s Family will never make any top ten sitcom lists, or be revered for breaking any ground as a sitcom or, hell, for being an entertaining sitcom for that matter, it was still a sitcom I regularly watched as a kid. Which will tell you that I spent most of my childhood without cable TV. Upholding the long-standing tradition of working class/white trash family sitcoms, Mama’s Family also happened to have a wrestling episode that involved Harper matriarch, Thelma, and daughter-in-law Naomi competing inside the ring. The show also decided to go the much more realistic route of having their TV characters, that have never wrestled before, win their matches against seasoned pros. And yet, we still wonder why the WWE books celebrities the way they do.
The Entire Series
1/23/2011 – 7/31/2011
An animated send-up of all things pro wrestling. Mongo Wrestling Alliance enhances the stereotypes made famous by professional wrestling and inserts the tropes we’ve all come to know and love into the everyday personal lives of their characters. It’s wrestling nerds’ wet dream. Not so much for fans of comedy. Although far from a nightmare, it’s definitely along the lines of one of those abrupt jerking movements that startle you awake just as you’re knocking out.
“Herman the Great”
Season 1, Episode 9
11/12/1964
I haven’t seen a full episode of The Munsters since TBS used to air the reruns when I’d get home from kindergarten. Immediately the first thing that came to my mind as I was watching the intro was, why does Grandpa try to bite Lily in the opening credits? It’s his own daughter. And she’s a vampire too. I don’t know how this all works in the mythology of vampires, but that just seemed weird. And a bit on the creepy side. Even for a show about a family of monsters. Anyway, in this episode Herman Munster enters the wrestling ring to earn some extra cash and instead of cashing in on his Frankenstein gimmick, they decide to put a mask on him.
“Roseanne-Feld”
Season 9, Episode 20
3/4/1997
At first, I didn’t get the title to this episode and wondered if it had to do with the wrestling storyline. It didn’t. Having watched it, I realized this episode was pretty much about nothing and then it hit me. This was basically a throwaway episode and apparently a dig at Seinfeld. Only problem is that as good as Roseanne was, their later seasons sucked and even with Seinfeld being a show about “nothing” there were way more great episodes than there were bad ones. I guess, what I’m really trying to say is, I wish there was more wrestling to this episode.
Thanks to his Oscar win for writing and starring in Rocky, an untouchable Sylvester Stallone decided to become an auteur of sorts with regards to films about prize fighters and grapplers. Despite going all-out and not only writing, starring, but also directing, and signing the song in the opening credits, Paradise Alley was definitely no Rocky. This film pretty much explains why Stallone milked the hell out of Rocky. He was a one-trick pony. Nonetheless, not many Hollywood studios were lining up to make movies about pro wrestling. So, we can thank Sylvester Stallone for that. Also, thanks to Stallone, it’d be a long time before Hollywood warmed up to making another one. But I don’t want to rag on him too much seeing as he’s sensitive and all.
“Flight of the Bumblebee”
Season 10, Episode 7
10/29/1995
Ah, The Bundys. They changed the landscape of prime-time sitcoms, with their uncouth, unabashed, unapologetic style and made an everlasting joke out of shoe salesmen the world over. And they put the Fox network on the map. So, there’s that. In this particular episode, a Bundy once again finds himself forced to wrestle. Only instead of a big lady wrestler, it’s a fat male wrestler.
With Alexander Rusev making his second WWE wrestling debut, only this time on Raw, it only seemed fitting to take a look back at wrestlers who paved the way for him with their bare feet. Wrestlers who also just happened to be ethnic, and from some wild uncivilized place where shoes, and more importantly wrestling boots, are a luxury.
Having recently learned that Troma Entertainment picked up Pro Wrestlers vs. Zombies for distribution, this month’s Ringside Cinema focuses on a forgotten gem of a wrestling movie that can be seen as a Troma-lite attempt at kitsch and camp: The Naked Man. Co-written by Ethan Coen. Yes, as in one-half of the brother team that’s co-written and directed The Big Lebowski, Fargo, No Country for Old Men, etc. Proving that Joel Coen is the more talented one of the two, and that Michael Rapaport is a strange choice to play a wrestler on film, but still not as strange a choice as Oliver Platt.
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