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“Gorgeous Grampa”
Season 24, Episode 14
3/3/2013
If there’s one thing I’ve learned thanks to Maffew’s Botchamania, is that wrestling nerds love them some Simpsons references. Especially, when you can tie them into a joke about wrestling. So here’s a Simpsons episode full of wrestling references and jokes about wrestling.
“Heart of a Champion – July 23, 1955”
Season 3 Episode 20
5/8/1991
Watching the opening title credits for Quantum Leap made me nostalgic for 80’s and 90’s cheesy TV opening credit sequences. I’m sure I’m not the only one who pines for the days of edited footage from previous episodes with terrible music and actors turning at the right time just as their name is displayed across the screen. Why else would WWE.com decide to reimagine Raw as a 90’s sitcom? Other than that bit of nostalgia, I don’t know much about Quantum Leap other than it used to be on after Monday Night Raw back in the day. Having watched this particular episode I kind of want to binge on the entire series courtesy of Hulu Plus. Then again, I’m sure the other episodes cannot compete with Scott Bakula time traveling to 1950s professional wrestling as a kayfabe Russian heel.
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.
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