Professional wrestling, brought to you by pop culture and the make believe world of mass media.
Host: The Rock
“WWE Promo Shoot”
Season 40, Episode 16
3/29/2015
It only took him four tries, but finally… The Rock did an actual wrestling-related sketch on Saturday Night Live. And it was pretty damn good. Hell, the entire episode was pretty damn good and hilarious. It also didn’t hurt that the promo had WWE logos all over and was pretty much an ad for WrestleMania 31 “Press Play”.
Having never had much of an interest in actual sports, most of my exposure to “real” sports usually came from being forced to watch with a group of friends, or by way of pro wrestling. Yes, as much as Vince McMahon hates the NFL for continually losing to them in a certain Monday Night War that occurs every football season, the WWE and other promotions have never shied away from the publicity that comes with piggybacking on the NFL’s popularity. So, I figured I’d share just how much the NFL has influenced professional wrestling over the years. Which would’ve made more sense if I had posted this the day of Super Bowl XLIX, but oh well.
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.
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.
“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.
Cheap Pop Culture 