So people feel Roman Reigns doesn’t deserve his championship match at WrestleMania against Brock Lesnar, despite the legally binding contract that is winning the Royal Rumble. But this isn’t the first time the WWE has accelerated a wrestler’s path to the main event, or even thrown a bone to a long-time mid-carder that had no business being in a match that had the title graphic “WWE Championship” before the bell rang. To be fair though this list will only concentrate on those undeserved number one contenders that were given pay-per-view title shots, or else it’d be filled with every wrestler Bret Hart faced in 1992, or almost every other superstar Hulk Hogan defeated on Saturday Night’s Main Event.
Tag: Bret Hart
Decembers to Remember
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.
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.
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).The Munsters
“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.
Lucas Bros. Moving Co.
The Entire Series
November 23, 2013 – Present
The Lucas Bros. Moving Co. is an animated show on Fox’s answer to Adult Swim: the ADHD programming block. And it’s pretty damn awesome. To sum up the show in three words: Twins. Stoners. Wrestling.
Wrestler Day Jobs
Apparently the economic climate of the early to mid 90’s, was worse off than the one we’re currently in now. So much so, certain lower-tier to mid-card wrestlers had to supplement their income by taking up day jobs, or supplement their day jobs by moonlighting as wrestlers if you prefer to see it from that perspective. You can’t blame wrestling for trying this out. Comic books have always done it. Peter Parker is a photographer by day, Superman is a journalist, and Bruce Wayne is a billionaire. Yet, the guys dress the part when it comes to playing hero. You won’t catch Superman beating the crap out of Lex Luthor in a suit and glasses. Many of the wrestlers on this list decided to not only take up wrestling as a second job, but not bother masking their identity, and instead celebrate their first career choice by refusing to wrestle in professional wrestling garb. You figured after the first time he got yanked around by his necktie IRS would’ve learned his lesson. But nope, without his tie and suspenders the fans wouldn’t know what he did for a living. So, in celebration of Labor Day, let’s take a look at the top wrestlers with day jobs.
Raging Against the Machine
This month’s 10 Count will feature the top moments in which wrestlers took matters into their own hands and unleashed their frustrations on upper level management. With this past week’s revelation of The Corporation 2.0, us wrestling fans will witness another boss vs. employee storyline that made the Attitude Era and Steve Austin famous. Despite how many times it’s been rehashed over and over again, from taking on the actual CEO of the company to the assistant to the regional general manager of Raw; anytime a popular wrestler goes up against any figure of authority it’s going to generate instant heat. Granted, I really wish this storyline had been dropped out of the pro wrestling storyline rotation, considering that it spawned the never-ending turnover rate of meaningless General Managers. But this time it’s a fresh of breath air, considering the involvement of head honcho himself, Vince McMahon, and the fact that Daniel Bryan is a superstar on the rise and not an already established one. At least not in the eyes of the WWE Universe. Hopefully we’ll get a few moments in which Daniel Bryan will make the figureheads of the WWE look foolish and get a few Busaiku Knee Kicks in for good measure. I really hope he gets in a few Busaiku Knee Kicks.
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