Guest Bruiser Chong Posted April 18, 2005 Report Share Posted April 18, 2005 Vince had a habit of changing something about anyone who came from a competitor. I'm sure he wanted WWF fans to look at LOD and not think, "Hey, there's the Road Warriors!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted April 18, 2005 Report Share Posted April 18, 2005 They were always the Leigon of Doom as well. The LOD was Paul Ellering's stable from Georgia that included the Roadies, Jake Roberts, and I think even King Kong Bundy. I know in JCP they were always billed as "The Legion of Doom.....The Road Warriors!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted April 18, 2005 Report Share Posted April 18, 2005 WWE has always been really weird about that sort of thing. They couldn't copyright the name "Vader", for example, since Leon White owned the gimmick, so instead, they copyrighted "The Man They Call Vader", which if you notice, Vince McMahon said almost every time he said his name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted April 18, 2005 Report Share Posted April 18, 2005 Vince likes to give out names he can copyright, which is why I thought it was odd he picked a name for the Road Warriors that he didn't own either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted April 18, 2005 Report Share Posted April 18, 2005 WWE has always been really weird about that sort of thing. They couldn't copyright the name "Vader", for example, since Leon White owned the gimmick, so instead, they copyrighted "The Man They Call Vader", which if you notice, Vince McMahon said almost every time he said his name. I never knew this. It is also the dumbest thing I ever heard. I just recieved a big chunk of WWF tv from the time Vader was in the company so I'll have to keep my ear open when Vader is on the screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Metal Maniac Posted April 18, 2005 Report Share Posted April 18, 2005 I know in JCP they were always billed as "The Legion of Doom.....The Road Warriors!" Oddly enough, if I'm not mistaken, they billed them in the fed as "Road Warrior Hawk, Road Warrior Animal, the Legion of Doom!" for at least a little bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Some Guy Posted April 18, 2005 Report Share Posted April 18, 2005 You'll notice it, it gets annoying. During one match Shawn is on commentary and asks Vince who "they" are? Vince, after a second says somthing like, "Well, the fans of course." Vader would get announced that way fairly regularly as well. "Now coming down to the ring from Boulder, CO, weighing in at 458lbs. The Man They Call....VADER!" Vince also refers to him as a "Mastodon" way too often, I'm still not sure what one is/was so I imagine it went over most of WWF's fans from that era as well. Quick check in the dictionary defines "Mastodon" as any of an extinct family of proboscidean mammals that differed from the elephants and mamouths by being larger an having different structure of the molars. I wonder what Vader's teeth looked like compared to Yokozuna? I knew he had a problem with New Japan or All Japan owning "Big Van Vader" and assumed that "Vader" was owned by George Lucas. I figured "The Man They Call" crap was just Vince being Vince. My god - does that say "wrestling" on the bottom line?! WWF/E = Sports Entertainment. WCW/AWA/ECW/SMW = Professional Wrestling. At least that's how I assume Vince looks at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted April 18, 2005 Report Share Posted April 18, 2005 I always thought the "they" referred to New Japan, since they owned the Big Van Vader gimmick. Wasn't that the reason he stopped wearing that big mask that shot steam in WCW, something about how that was part of the gimmick NJPW owned? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Some Guy Posted April 18, 2005 Report Share Posted April 18, 2005 I made those comps for GH, even though much of 96/97 is a blur to me (making 22 hours of Raw comps in 3 weeks will do that), I do remember HBK asking him and Vince answering. But from the way Vince answered I think he had to make it up on the spot and probably had no intention of ever assigning anyone to being "they." I assume it was just SHawn being a dick. Which, he was quite often in that time. I was pretty much a mark then so I didn't realize all the shit he said on TV was anything more than him trying to be funny. Vader said he had to stop wearing the helmit in his shoot, but he used the helmit for the Hogan feud in 95. Hogan put it on and gave a couple of shitty looking headbutts with it at BatB 95. Vader left the company in September or October of that year so unless they were violating NJPW's copyright or the issue was raised in between July and his firing, he was able to use it in WCW, but not WWF. I doubt Vince would have wanted him to wear it anyway. Although the thing was just goofy enough for Vince to like it. Vince's ability to turn a guy who was pushed as a monster heel into a cartoon character who calls himself a fat piece of shit on TV never ceases to amaze me. According to Vader it was between he and Warrior as to who would get that gimmick. I think Anoki chose wisely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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