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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.
“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.
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.
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