[1990-11-22-WWF-Survivor Series] The Gobbledygooker

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Yes, this happened. Um ... Gene Okerlund was a pro.

[PeteF3]

Looks absolutely highbrow compared to some of the stuff being passed off as wrestling at the Clash. Piper and Monsoon seem like they should get some credit here, too.

[Matt D]

This might be mean gene's finest moment. By the end of the segment, the fans were acutally really into it.

[soup23]

I don't know I would say the fans were really into it but gene did minimize the damage. The most offensive thing about this segment though was Genes brown socks.

[Zenjo]

And the winner of the Gooker award 1990 goes to...

[Kevin Ridge]

The crowd boos when Gooker breaks through the egg. Gene gets in some one liners. Agreed that Okerlund helped with the live audience. Too bad Heenan wasn’t on commentary.

[BackToBionic]

Sue me, I don't think it was THAT BAD. Yes it was overhyped but I think the fan reaction is what killed it dead. All they were gonna use it for was a Wild Cat Willie type thing, supposedly not as an actual wrestler.

 

Definitely not worse than magic shows the Black Scorpion was doing at the same time.

[garretta]

I'd take this segment over the Scorpion garbage seven days a week and twice on Thanksgiving. The Gooker was never meant to be more than a mascot for the WWF, probably to be used the most around Survivor Series time. The Scorpion was actually supposed to be the top contender for Sting's World title and actively crippled his reign, if not outright killed it. I think what "saves" the Scorpion stuff from being pilloried more is that Flair put the body suit on at Starrcade, then took the title back soon after to restore what most fans saw as the natural order of things in WCW. The Gooker, if anything, was shelved too soon; it might have caught on if given more than one chance under the right circumstances.

 

I enjoyed Mean Gene trying to copy the Gooker's agility. He failed miserably, of course, but as Loss said above, he was a total pro through the whole thing. So were Gino and Piper, although Piper still took a few gentle shots here and there. I liked how he said that he could take it home and add it to his family without anyone knowing the difference. I also liked the line "This is one turkey who SURVIVED!", which was apropos for the occasion.

 

I think most of the fans expected a wrestler, perhaps even DiBiase's mystery partner, to hatch out of the egg, which might be one reason they booed at the start. Thank heaven Vince picked an athletic guy like Hector Guerrero to play the Gooker, as I think it was his tumbling and rope-running which saved the segment. By the way, did Taker's match happen before or after this? I want to say after, but I'm not sure.

 

Was this segment weird? Definitely. Wrestlecrap? Possibly. Wrestlecrappiest (to coin a word) segment of all time? Not by a longshot. That award should be renamed the Magic Leopard Award Immediately.