El-P Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 and creates the Heel Authority Figure trope that the business is still married to today. Hum… what ? Eric Bischoff was doing the heel authority figure one year and a half before Vince. Bischoff firing Randy Anderson in front of his children is an iconic moment of the "evil boss" gimmick. Vince was great at it (for a while, before it overstayed its welcome), but let's not play into WWE official revisionnism around here, please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 and creates the Heel Authority Figure trope that the business is still married to today. Hum… what ? Eric Bischoff was doing the heel authority figure one year and a half before Vince. Bischoff firing Randy Anderson in front of his children is an iconic moment of the "evil boss" gimmick. Vince was great at it (for a while, before it overstayed its welcome), but let's not play into WWE official revisionnism around here, please. Some people claim Memphis did it first with Tom Renesto but I've seen that footage and it's really not the same thing. Bischoff is definitely the first in the template that we have today of the evil authority figure looming over everything in the whole promotion. I think Vince still would have become the "evil boss" character after Montreal even if Bischoff hadn't blazed the trail first though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InYourCase Posted August 18, 2015 Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 My pick is Backlund. Young babyface on the undercard, made WWF Champion and had 6 year run. Disappears for 10 years, returns as old man babyface doing nothing. A year later turns heel, wins WWF Title again for one night. Has another year as a heel, then turns into a heel manager for a bit. Then has a run as a Presidential candidate character. Utterly bizarre. Backlund also went to BattleArts in 1998 and from the two matches I've seen (he had 5 total) he was crazy over. He wrestles Great Sasuke in one of those matches and it's actually a nifty little match. He also had a feud with Low Ki and Austin Aries in 2007 TNA. He was weirdly entertaining in that feud. Backlund wins weirdest career in wrestling history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted August 18, 2015 Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 I'm told it was a Fake Sasuke, though, in the Backlund match. He was credited as SASUKE all caps, and I vaguely recall someone else saying there was another guy doing the gimmick as a heel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InYourCase Posted August 18, 2015 Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 I'm told it was a Fake Sasuke, though, in the Backlund match. He was credited as SASUKE all caps, and I vaguely recall someone else saying there was another guy doing the gimmick as a heel. Whoever was under that mask was an excellent heel. Didn't even cross my mind that it was someone else but I guess it wouldn't shock me if it was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted August 19, 2015 Report Share Posted August 19, 2015 I'm told it was a Fake Sasuke, though, in the Backlund match. He was credited as SASUKE all caps, and I vaguely recall someone else saying there was another guy doing the gimmick as a heel.SASUKE = The Great Sasuke as a cigarette smoking heel with a different mask Sasuke the Great = Masao Orihara as The Great Sasuke's evil counterpart. If he's teaming with Orihara. Then it's Pentagon Black... I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted August 19, 2015 Report Share Posted August 19, 2015 I'm told it was a Fake Sasuke, though, in the Backlund match. He was credited as SASUKE all caps, and I vaguely recall someone else saying there was another guy doing the gimmick as a heel. SASUKE = The Great Sasuke as a cigarette smoking heel with a different mask Gotta love the CAPS ARE EVIL mentality of the Japanese. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawho5 Posted August 19, 2015 Report Share Posted August 19, 2015 The Japanese do not have capital letters. So all capital letters means it's in English, which is obviously the evil language since it is foreign. It's basically the exact same as how American wrestling works through a different mechanism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Well, Japanese don't even have letters to begin with. BTW, Hido does have a weird career. Culminating with marying Megumi MF Kudo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LariatMMBOPPO Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Johnny Ace's career is the kind you have to "get." If you can't...figure it out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chief Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Surprised the thread has gone this far without mention of possibly the most famous weird career path: Jesse Ventura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceTharpe Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Dr. Jerry Graham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm funk Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Diamond Dallas Page is a decent one. Breaks in as a nightclub owner/part time wrestling manager. Did some commentary work. Then the AWA folds. Had a tryout with WWF for an announcer role, doesn't get the gig. Drops out of wrestling and goes back to the nightclub thing for a few months. Ends up in WCW as a manager, only comes into being a wrestler relatively late getting fully trained at about 35 years old and has a big run in his 40's. Gets popular enough that he gets put over by Randy Savage, has a pretty respectable WCW run from then on given all the nonsense that went on. Goes to WWE as one of the few noteworthy signings when WCW dies, and basically becomes a jobber becasuse WCW Wrestlers Must Die. Retires from wrestling and goes into the DDP Yoga/motiativonal speaking thing which seems to have worked out pretty well. It's kind of a weird run, but it's a good one. He also had a handful of matches in Canada as "Handsome" Dallas Page in 1979, including a TV match for Geeorge Cannon's promotion, before quitting the business for years. Which makes it even weirder. I feel the need to bring attention to the close relationship that DDP and Bischoff are rumored to have had Not to turn this into a sleaze thread, but the rumors were out there about Kim Page and Marc Mero/Rena Mero being swingers.... Bischoff's name also came up in to whole "Gold Club" ATL strip club scandal where a lot of NBA players and other athletes names were dragged thru the mud..... Not that any of this bothers me. But the stories about nepotism when it came to Bischoff pushing Page and the backstage talk.......that's been out there for a long time (PS. I hope Brock doesn't read this. I don't want to die) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Not to turn this into a sleaze thread, but the rumors were out there about Kim Page and Marc Mero/Rena Mero being swingers.... Nice preterition. But that's the very first time I hear that bout the Meros. The rumours going around was Bischoff and Page swapping wives, but there really haven't been anything to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm funk Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 I really didn't want this to veer off into sleaze thread territory, but Page being brought up as having a strange career, and the rumors (stress: rumors) not being mentioned......I felt the need to bring it up where there's smoke there's probably fire. and Bischoff's involvement with the infamous Gold Club in Atlanta, and what we now know about Hogan (and the rumors about him and Linda)......these rumors about Bischoff and Page and Bischoff and Mero wouldn't surprise me in the least if they were in fact true. wrestling is a fucked up sleazy world as for the topic at hand.......John Tenta had a pretty bizarre career. From a sumo wrestler in Japan, to WWF as Earthquake and feuding with Hogan, to Natural Disasters, to WCW as The Avalanche and The Shark, to just being John Tenta and languishing in the mid card for a while while getting a fat paycheck, to going back to WWF as Golga......a very weird career arch for that dude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 I don't even see what's sleazy about it if it were true honestly. Ok, they're friends and swingers. And what ? They have nice orgies together and then make money in the same company. Ok. Good for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chief Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Yeah, if all parties consent, who gives a shit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 Didn't one of the opposing attorneys in one of the various lawsuits filed against WCW manage to get Bischoff on the stand, grill him about the Gold Club thing, and get him to admit some kind of wife-swappery? I swear I remember reading that, a long time ago. Yeah, it's nothing I really give a fuck about in the "it's a sin in the eyes of God!" area of bullshit, but it is slightly sleazy; and worse, it's yet another unique connection between the boss and this one employee. The thing about the Bisch/DDP nepotism rumors is partly resentment of how Page was treated by the company. Was anyone else in his situation so thoroughly protected? I mean, look at Bischoff's entire tenure in power from 1994-1999. How many new top stars did he push at the championship level? There were a grand total of three over that entire time period: -Paul Wight is a special case. Just LOOK at the guy, you've GOT to push him hard. He's legitimately the size of Andre, brimming with charisma, and has the agility and athleticism of a regular-sized dude. Even WCW wasn't stupid enough to ignore his potential. (They were plenty stupid enough to squander said potential, but that's another subject.) -Bill Goldberg was another special case. He was a big, strong, fast, intimidating motherfucker with It Factor to spare. He had real-world athletic credentials; and unlike your Mongo McMichaels of the world, he took to wrestling with astonishing speed and seemed to improve by leaps and bounds during his rookie days. His booking as an undefeated monster was practically a science experiment, one WCW placed on the back burner and mostly forgot about until they suddenly found entire arenas chanting Goldberg's name throughout the shows. Once at that point (and while struggling with slipping ratings and a resurgent WWF), once again they had to push this guy. -And then... Diamond Dallas Page? A scruffy-looking, injury-plagued journeyman in his mid-forties? With only average talking ability, average-by-wrestling-standards size, and good-but-nothing-special ring skills? Sure, he had a killer finisher and as much pure desire and willpower to achieve as anyone; but that describes a hundred other guys who've come and gone in WCW and never got so much as a world title shot, let alone a world title reign. What was different between The World's Oldest Rookie and everyone else who never got the same opportunity? I'd wager the answer is probably "they didn't live next door to Eric Bischoff". And I like Page, I mark for the guy. But he sticks out like the sorest of thumbs at the top of the card at a company which was infamous for never seriously pushing anyone who wasn't already a big star. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 In court Bischoff admitted he and his wife brought a stripper home and he watched them get it on. Which is quite the accomplishment, as during the seven years I worked in a strip club many, many couples tried to make that happen and always failed, sometimes in hilarious fashion. 😆 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Commander Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 -And then... Diamond Dallas Page? A scruffy-looking, injury-plagued journeyman in his mid-forties? With only average talking ability, average-by-wrestling-standards size, and good-but-nothing-special ring skills? Sure, he had a killer finisher and as much pure desire and willpower to achieve as anyone; but that describes a hundred other guys who've come and gone in WCW and never got so much as a world title shot, let alone a world title reign. What was different between The World's Oldest Rookie and everyone else who never got the same opportunity? I'd wager the answer is probably "they didn't live next door to Eric Bischoff". And I like Page, I mark for the guy. But he sticks out like the sorest of thumbs at the top of the card at a company which was infamous for never seriously pushing anyone who wasn't already a big star. you underestimate the appeal that DDP turned out to have with scruffy redneck women by 97/98. He got to that point thanks to some connections, but he did have some appeal to the target audience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkeye12 Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 I think DDP was held back because of his friendship more than he was ever pushed because of it. He had to have Nash and Hall go to bat for him when he did get over specifically because Bischoff didn't want anyone thinking he was pushed based of their history together. Thankfully timing worked out perfectly and anyone complaining about DDP by 1997 was either jealous or burying their head in the sand because he didn't "look" like a superstar deserving of the reactions he was getting. And of course, his matches were always near the best on any card with a wider variety of opponents than most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 I don't think DDP's card placement would look out of place if you were looking at it without the knowledge that he was Bischoff's friend and neighbor. He really didn't get some mega push, he got over on his own wrestling a bunch of scrubs on Nitro and winning with the Diamond Cutter in cool and unique ways. His rise was pretty organic and it's not like he was really ever at the very top echelon in WCW. He was an upper midcard dude who had a real short run with the WCW Title. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 I'm not saying he didn't earn it. Of course he worked hard, it's not like he was Brutus Beefcaking his way to a top career. I'm saying he stood out as being the only guy who was allowed to ascend through WCW's glass ceiling (without Giant-sized extenuating circumstances). The widespread contempt and resentment he's received from many other wrestlers is pretty natural, when the boss's best friend in the company just-so-happens to be the one guy who gets handed special opportunities that are denied to everyone else. Especially considering his age at the time, and how his excess of personality is infamous for rubbing lots of people the wrong way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laz Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 Weird. The boss has a favorite who consistently delivers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 I think people also discount the idea of style/size mismatches when they start looking at "but WCW should have pushed this dude!" DDP could work a nice safe match with Hogan where he doesn't make him look bad. I don't think Benoit would have or could have done the same thing. Hogan ain't taking a bunch of suplexes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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