Tired of getting the same mainstream, high quality, detailed little plastic wrestling men Mattel keeps putting out? Do you prefer five points of articulation as opposed to twenty-something? If you answered yes, no, or the more realistic, don’t care, you should still check out these infamous lines of bootleg wrestling action figures only most hardcore collectors are familiar with. They might even make the perfect gift this holiday season.
Tag: wrestling
Fictional Comic Book Wrestlers
With the new wrestling-themed comic book Ringside coming out this month, and every other wrestling and comic book blog having already conducted an interview with Ringside creative team: Joe Keatinge and Nick Barber, I figured I would take a different approach to celebrate its debut. Instead, I’ll take a look at past notable comic book wrestlers. Here’s hoping Ringside’s new top draw is just as memorable or, at the very least, searchable on Google.
Wanna Be the Strongest in the World
While I’m sure there’s quite a bit of manga and anime based on wrestling, or puroresu, they’re not all easy to come by. Luckily, thanks to my Hulu Plus subscription, I stumbled across the oddly sexually-charged, hard-hitting, competitive world of joshi wrestling that is Wanna be the Strongest in the World. And it was a lot better than I expected.
The Mountain Goats “The Legend of Chavo Guerrero”
The Mountain Goats channel Korn’s Twisted Transistor video, and do a much better job of getting other people to mouth their lyrics, as they pay homage to Chavo Classic.
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World Wide Wrestling Web: Iron Sheik – Very Animated People
The Bundy 5: Vince McMahon’s Love Affairs
The level of commitment Vince McMahon has for his company has never been questioned. He’s gone above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to entertaining his fans. But he’s also rewarded himself with some onscreen romances and trysts with some of the most beautiful women to have ever worked for the WWE. All in the name of doing what’s best for business.
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Stereotypically Black Wrestling Characters
Even after a year rife with bad press regarding their racial politics and lack of a black world champion, the WWE has decided to make good through their WWE Network by honoring Black History Month. Only problem is, it’s a pretty half-assed job. As someone that’s not familiar with the PYT Express I was hoping for something more than some random promo of them at an airport where you can barely make out what’s being said, or what the damn point is. And I appreciate the callback to Booker T.’s Ebony Experience days, but I could’ve come up with at least 50 other videos showcasing Booker T.’s accomplishments. And then there’s the backstage bit involving Cryme Tyme, probably the least offensive one that exists of them. Which bring me to this list. While WWE likes to pat themselves on the back for how far along they think they’ve come in portraying African-American wrestling characters, I’d like to provide 10 reminders of how far they set them back as well.
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Paid for by the Following: Foot Locker
Here’s another WWE attempt at shoehorning itself into some place where it doesn’t belong. For Foot Locker’s “Week of Greatness” promotion they released a bunch of commercials with different athletes. The funniest being the Manny Pacquiao promo. Granted, the commercial does poke fun at the very tired fact that wrestling isn’t real. And it does feature the WWE’s official sneaker spokesperson, John Cena. Unless this was another sponsor CM Punk had gotten all on his own and was then taken away from him. In any case, it puts the WWE in a mainstream commercial and makes it somewhat relevant again to the casual viewer.
Sting: Moment of Truth (2004)
Hopefully, the recently released WWE DVD The Best of Sting gives Steve Borden the career retrospective he deserves because this movie certainly didn’t. At least they didn’t accidentally use footage of nWo Sting thinking it was the real Sting. C’mon WWE, get your shit together. Although I’m sure the new DVD doesn’t beat you over the head with strong Christian overtones like you were Mankind at the 1999 Royal Rumble. Surprisingly, under the list of producers Pat Robertson isn’t mentioned at all. Makes sense though. If this film had some of that sweet 700 Club money it wouldn’t have looked like some film school kid’s thesis project.
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.
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