Kamala

[ohtani's jacket]

Incidentally, when the middle portion of this match slows down and there's not a lot going on, there's an awkward bit on commentary when he assumes that the viewer at home wont be able to tell the difference between Harris and Zimba if we can't see the height difference. He points out who is wearing which attire and then says "on the closer shots, The Mauler's hairstyle will come into view". Nice bit of genuine, inadvertent and "innocent" early 80s racism there.

I've heard Walton make some uncomfortable comments about race before, like the Johnny Kwango joke he loved to repeat every single time about Kwango eating an ice cream in the dark, but I think you're barking up the wrong tree here, professor. Walton always made a point to identify each wrestler for the people at home without a colour set. He doesn't say anything he wouldn't say about a pair of white guys. It just so happens that Harris has an outstanding hair style as opposed to tattoos or any other distinctive feature.

[JerryvonKramer]

Incidentally, when the middle portion of this match slows down and there's not a lot going on, there's an awkward bit on commentary when he assumes that the viewer at home wont be able to tell the difference between Harris and Zimba if we can't see the height difference. He points out who is wearing which attire and then says "on the closer shots, The Mauler's hairstyle will come into view". Nice bit of genuine, inadvertent and "innocent" early 80s racism there.

I've heard Walton make some uncomfortable comments about race before, like the Johnny Kwango joke he loved to repeat every single time about Kwango eating an ice cream in the dark, but I think you're barking up the wrong tree here, professor. Walton always made a point to identify each wrestler for the people at home without a colour set. He doesn't say anything he wouldn't say about a pair of white guys. It just so happens that Harris has an outstanding hair style as opposed to tattoos or any other distinctive feature.

 

Oh right. Ok that makes sense then. They actually used to do that for snooker matches right up until the late 90s at least. I haven't watched a lot of World of Sport. It seemed to me that there was an implicit assumption on his part that we couldn't tell them apart. I am actually glad that isn't the case.

[Stuttsy]

I have always looked at it like this: A gimmick is not necessarily a worker. Kamala is a gimmick.

 

His matches may not hold up when his workrate or whatever is analyzed but it wasn't his purpose to have "great matches." Kamala was designed to beat up jobbers on TV so you would pay to see him fight JYD, Von Erichs, Hogan or the Undertaker. He drew fairly well, I don't know of him breaking any records or anything but he did okay, I'd say he served his purpose. Plus he looked fucking scary and awesome. He's always been on of my guilty pleasure favorites.

[Al]

Much of the praise I've read of Kamala was his ability to work "safe," for what it's worth.

 

Kamala was a terribly racist gimmick. But it was also a brilliant gimmick for being one of the greatest examples of a gimmick hiding a worker's weaknesses and emphasizing his strengths.

[JerryvonKramer]

Al - does that mean you disagree with my take on that Hogan match further up the page in which I draw the oppositie conclusion? I think the gimmick actually extentuates his flaws.

[Cross Face Chicken Wing]

I don't know how I missed this thread since I mark out like a 10 year old whenever I see Kamala.

 

To me, Kamala is pro wrestling. One of the reasons I love pro wrestling is something I refer to as the "WTF Element." The WTF Element is when somebody walks into the room and you're watching wrestling, they might be intrigued initially, but then they sit down, watch for a bit, say "What the fuck is this shit?!" and leave.

 

That's Kamala in a nutshell.

 

Just like pro wrestling as a whole, Kamala is fat, goofy, scary, funny, mean, violent, soft, racist, over-the-top, fun to watch, terrible to watch, nostaligic, etc., etc. Sometimes he has a good match, sometimes he's embarassing to watch. Sometimes the African savage schtick is offensive, sometimes it's hillarious. Sometimes I remember how Kamala scared me as a kid. Sometimes I wonder why someone so silly scared me as a kid. I could go on and on.....

 

These are the same general feelings I get whenever I watch wrestling and I feel like all of these emotions come out at once whenever I watch Kamala. That's why I love the guy.

 

As far as the stereotypical element of his gimmick: I've softened a lot over the years. A lot of my more conservative friends now think I'm a weak-assed, PC liberal. Even so, the Kamala gimmick doesn't bother me at all. It's pro wrestling. What do you expect?

[JerryvonKramer]

Forgot to mention it at the time Crossface, but that post is beautiful, poetic almost. I enjoyed reading it then and again just now.

 

(still hate Kamala though )

[goc]

Forgot to mention it at the time Crossface, but that post is beautiful, poetic almost. I enjoyed reading it then and again just now.

 

(still hate Kamala though )

Jerry did you watch the Lawler match from 82? It looks like probably the very first run he did with the gimmick and he plays it a lot more intimidating without any of the "scared animal" schtick you don't like.

[Superstar Sleeze]

I would be really interested to hear Matt D's opinion on the following match. From a psychological/narrative perspective, it is flawless. It is boring as fuck though.

Andre The French Giant vs Kamala The Ugandan Giant w/Friday - MLG 10/21/84 Steel Cage Match

 

Andre and Kamala were in the midst of a blood feud at the Maple Leaf Gardens dating back to September. Andre won the first match by DQ, but lost the second by countout, but, but, but, Vince told me Andre was undefeated for 20 years in 1987. Skipping right the blowoff because I was oddly intrigued by the matchup even though my brain knew it would be very, very, very wicked sloooooooowwwwwww. The announcers loved calling Andre The French Giant maybe because it contrasted well with Ugandan Giant. I have only seen two Kamala matches in my life. You can say what you want about to the gimmick, but he was committed to all the facets of the gimmick. He was vicious, confused and scared all throughout the match. He clearly had no understanding of the concept of a cage match and established his apprehension of the cage early. Andre took advantage of this early and sat on him. After Kamala sort of chopped him off him, he realized he was trapped in a cage with this big fuckin' giant and freaked out. Now Andre was able to ram Kamala head into the cage. From a psychology perspective, the only lame part of the match was the transition as Andre set to early and Kamala knocked him down with the chop. Why would Andre go for a back body drop? Kamala splashes Andre twice and gets the visual pin, but you silly Ugandan Giant you cant win that way! Friday did not do a very good preparing his charge. Kamala rams Andre's head and busts him open. He is choking and biting Andre. It is vicious, but still pretty slow. In a brilliant move, pretty much always keeps his massive body between Kamala and the door. Even when Kamala had an open lane, Andre is so big, he can always grab a foot. Friday and the ref actually get into a lot about the door. Andre eventually starts chopping Kamala and a headbutt and then the big bodyslam. Andre sits on Kamala awkwardly. The French Giant goes way up top and does a seated senton on the Ugandan Giant. Kamala does his seizure-like selling and the bloodied and battered Andre walks out the door for the victory.

 

From a layout perspective, this is pretty much flawless. Kamala is actually pretty multi-faceted for what looks like a really one-dimensional gimmick. He is apprehensive at first, which gets him beaten up. So he gets violent and bloodies Andre, but then is confused about winning. Andre plays excellent defense and outlasts him to make a big comeback. This looks great on paper, but they wrestle in ultra-slow-motion. It is a hard match to rate or recommend, but I think it is worth a look for novelty of the match.

[Matt D]

I might have written that thing up, but I've no idea where it'd be. I'll watch the thing in the next week though.

[Matt D]

Alright. first of all, you did a really good job summing up the match, and frankly, so did the announcers.

 

I do think it's better than you indicate, and not necessarily just for the fact it had a clear narrative. It's in the performances and character work. Kamala, as you said was great, not just in his portrayal but also with his selling. He made everything Andre do look huge and powerful and meaningful, which anyone can do, really, but when you have a guy Kamala's size and agility doing it, it means all the more. Andre's timing was spot on and I think, save for the transition spot yes, he was so expert at knowing how long to sell for and when to come back. He was a wrestler who could use a portrayal like Kamala's to the fullest. The fans ate up everything with a spoon too. Earlier in the night was David Sammartino vs Moondog Rex. If they had worked this same exact match, it would be logical, sure, maybe, but it also wouldn't have been any good because they would have brought different attributes and tools to the table. Here it worked because of who was in the ring. It was, in a lot of ways, the right match for these two wrestlers. That it was also a logical and well performed match only helped matters. I know you weren't as into this, but every time that Andre seemed to head across the ring to hit Kamala I was excited to see what the shot would look like and how Kamala would sell it and how the crowd would react. Slow motion is fine when almost every physical touch has that level of payoff. No, it wasn't blood and violence and big giant bumps (though there were bumps and it was, at times, violent), but it used the steel cage as an actual cage, in interesting ways, and I think it's well worth watching for that aspect of it alone, even if it does have a lot more to offer.

[C.S.]

Been meaning to find time to tackle this topic ever since I first found it.

 

Full disclosure: Kamala is one of my all-time childhood favorites. I guess I liked the way he patted his belly. In all seriousness, it was refreshing to see a "real" physique closer to my own and not the super-muscled bodybuilders that dominated the landscape back then.

 

I recently discovered that Andre/Kamala cage match and was blown away by it. It's actually good. Was especially shocked to see Andre walk the ropes, a la "Spoiler" Don Jardine or Undertaker. Didn't know he ever had that kind of agility in him.

 

But this is about Kamala. Yeah, I really loved him. A few years ago, a friend bought me an autographed Kamala figure for my birthday, and it's still one of my favorite gifts ever.

 

We can dissect his "racist" gimmick (even Kamala has gone on record saying it was "bad for the blacks"), created by the Southern white Jerry "The King" Lawler. We can dissect his ring work. But do those things really matter? Kamala was a pure gimmick character, and he played that character up to the hilt.

 

The real-life Jim Harris has lamented the disparity of his payoff vs. Undertaker's for their SummerSlam match. Unfortunately, the WWF had all but neutralized Kamala's aura as any kind of "threat" by that point. Not even the littlest kids thought Kamala had a chance. The face turn further eroded that, of course, but at least it was fun and funny - something new for the character after many years, so I didn't mind it too much. Reverend Slick's "you are a man!" proclamation about Kamala was also pretty cool. Too bad the WWF was never sophisticated enough to really go anywhere with what could have been an interesting, complex theme - a "savage" discovering his own humanity - but that's really too much to ask of wrestling, especially at that time.

 

No matter what you may think of Kamala's ring work and gimmick, the man behind the character gave it his all. He embraced it wholeheartedly. That kind of commitment seems so rare today. For as much as we all liked Drew McIntyre, did you ever get the sense that he was truly into his 3MB gimmick? Yeah, he tried hard and did his best, but it was never him the way Kamala seemed to be for Harris.

[theconstipatedsmark]

LOVED Kamala. Also, glad to see his Mississippi Mauler getting brought up in this thread. It will blow your mind a little if you've never seen it before.

[Mando]

I personally rate highly guys that get into their character/persona. Sometimes watching a mid-'90's WCW Saturday Night the most "fun" I get is determining which guys stay most consistently in character i.e. "man, that Executioner looked fearsome entering, had a real solemn walk, but then he started picking his pants up fixing a wedgie after every bump and resembled a truck driver in a silly mask". But Kamala was just great at it. A great early memory is seeing a local show at a junior high school gymnasium and Kamala getting eliminated from a battle royal by being tricked to exit the ring via a trail of fresh buttered popcorn. Classic.

[claw64]

I don't know how I missed this thread since I mark out like a 10 year old whenever I see Kamala.

 

To me, Kamala is pro wrestling. One of the reasons I love pro wrestling is something I refer to as the "WTF Element." The WTF Element is when somebody walks into the room and you're watching wrestling, they might be intrigued initially, but then they sit down, watch for a bit, say "What the fuck is this shit?!" and leave.

 

That's Kamala in a nutshell.

 

Just like pro wrestling as a whole, Kamala is fat, goofy, scary, funny, mean, violent, soft, racist, over-the-top, fun to watch, terrible to watch, nostaligic, etc., etc. Sometimes he has a good match, sometimes he's embarassing to watch. Sometimes the African savage schtick is offensive, sometimes it's hillarious. Sometimes I remember how Kamala scared me as a kid. Sometimes I wonder why someone so silly scared me as a kid. I could go on and on.....

 

These are the same general feelings I get whenever I watch wrestling and I feel like all of these emotions come out at once whenever I watch Kamala. That's why I love the guy.

 

As far as the stereotypical element of his gimmick: I've softened a lot over the years. A lot of my more conservative friends now think I'm a weak-assed, PC liberal. Even so, the Kamala gimmick doesn't bother me at all. It's pro wrestling. What do you expect?

 

Totally agree. Kamala is comedy gold.

[PhilTLL]

I have nothing substantial to add that hasn't been said here--I can't really endorse the gimmick, even if it's amusing in that "accept the inherent awfulness of the form" way, and I think he was a frightfully limited and boring worker.

 

But damned if I haven't done that belly pat just about every time I have my shirt off since I was 9, when my wrestling start coincided with his (terrible) late 1992 face turn.

[W2BTD]

I don't understand how anybody who finds something as cartoonish as Kamala overtly and uncomfortably racist can enjoy any American wrestling. How do you deal with Slick or Mr Fuji or Shelton Benjamin's momma, or the bevy of Nazi Germans, or decades of WWE race baiting, or New Jack in SMW, or Cryme Tyme, or JYD in chains or a million other blatantly racist gimmicks? I'm not telling you what you should find offensive or not, it just feels like a very odd tipping point.

[Memphis Mark]

Jerry Jarrett has stated that Kamala was the worst wrestler he had ever seen in his life. That really covers a lot of territory . He only allowed Kamala to use chops , a running splash and just raw power..

 

I an sure most of you know the history , but I will recount it anyway . The back story of Kamala was that he had been working and England and his gear was lost in transit . Harris/ Kamala had worked with Troy Graham a.k.a The Dream Machine in the outlaw Jackson , Mississippi promotion . Dream made gear , so Harris came to the MSC looking for hin one Monday nite. Kamala lived in Holly Springs, MS , about 50 miles south of Memphis.

 

Jarrett and Lawler saw him and they had him drive up to Jarrett's place in Nashville. Lawler had already created the Kamala gimmick , he just needed a human host. They shot the famous Kamala intro video in Jarrett's backyard.

 

Kamala was a savage from Uganda , who could not wrestle . He used super human brute force to over power foes. Kamala was bought in as part of the Memphis vs. Florida storyline. James J. Dillion was the King of Florida wrestling . He had decided to expand his empire in the Memphis territory. Kamala was the center of J.J. Florida army . It shold be noted that Jarrett had a close relationship with Eddie Graham and actually owned part of CWF for a short time.

 

Kamala did big business at the box office. The savage started in the main event . He destroyed Lawler in his first title match . James J. Dillion and his Florida army had control othe the AWA Southern Heavyweight Chamionship..

 

In the early eighties , Jarrett had developed a locker room that rivaled MACW or CWF . This was a first for the territory , Jarrett is really never give credit for upgrading the overall. talent level . Anyway Kamala was presented witha new challenger every week .. Talent like Bill Dundee, Stan Lane , Steve Keirn and more went after Kamala belt. All defeated by the savage.

 

During the course of events, Dillion 's Florida army had started a war with Jimmy Hart and the First Family . Lawler and Hart joined forces to defeat Kamala and sent J.J. and company back to Florida. Of course Hart turned on Lawler after J.J. was sent packing to the swamps.

 

Hart bought Kamala contract and the savage joined the First Family .Soon Kamala had a partner named Kamala 2 a.k.a. as Plowboy Frazier . This comedy act destroyed Kamala drawing power in Memphis . Kamala gave notice and hit the road. The rest is history .

[Cross Face Chicken Wing]

Kamala talking about the first time he smoked weed is hilarious.

 

Edit: The story starts at about the 1-hour mark.

 

http://www.podcastone.com/pg/jsp/program/episode.jsp?programID=642&pid=436665#.VA4HP_GTAW0.twitter