RIP Lanny Poffo

[Ricky Jackson]

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/wwe/former-wwe-star-lanny-poffo-passes-away-at-68-years-old

Too bad he didn't get to work the New Gorgeous George gimmick in mid 90s WCW. At least he was paid 6 figures for like 5 years to do nothing 

[El-P]

Sucks. He seemed like he was in good health, at least a few years ago.

Back in the days of shoot interview craze, he always came off really smart and a better person than most pro-wrestlers of the era. He had some great ones with KC. 

The Genius gimmick was really embarrassing, even more in retrospect, but Lanny himself was quite a good worker, especially earlier on in Memphis and was a super fun jobber in the 80's.

It's the end of the Poffo legacy I guess. 

[C.S.]

This one hurts.  

50 minutes ago, El-P said:

The Genius gimmick was really embarrassing, even more in retrospect

What?! Why? How?

No more "embarrassing" than being a plumber, race car driver, etc., and I'd say significantly less so.

Childhood me always thought it was a cool gimmick having a wrestler who was a good writer (something I enjoyed doing too), was intelligent and articulate, and didn't sound like a good ol' boy whose mouth was filled with marbles or grits. 

[The Thread Killer]

That is sad news. Seeing Lanny Poffo team up with an enhancement talent, read a poem and then get his ass kicked on a weekly basis every Saturday morning was a big part of my younger years as a Pro Wrestling fan. Plus I must have seen him wrestle in dozens of preliminaries at Maple Leaf Gardens over the years. RIP

[PeteF3]

22 minutes ago, C.S. said:

This one hurts.  

What?! Why? How?

No more "embarrassing" than being a plumber, race car driver, etc., and I'd say significantly less so.

That was my reaction at first, but he may have meant the gay stuff which...okay, that doesn't age well. Or really at all. But the actual genius-centric stuff was great.

[El-P]

25 minutes ago, C.S. said:

What?! Why? How?

Seriously ? The comical "effeminate" guy who did gymnastics spots... Pretty implicitly homophobic. I'm guessing the stories of Lanny being able to serve himself got around.

But yeah, despite this, I always enjoyed the Genius whenever he worked (by the time I started to watch, it was pretty seldom), because I liked moves (yeah, even back then) and Lanny was just such a cool worker. I always wished he was actually pushed a little bit, as opposed to be the manager of the Beverly Brothers and having to sell for Jameson.

The WCW contract story was classic shoot interview era hilarity. It's just too bad he never made TV, so many cool random matches he could have had, including against luchadors or Marty Jannetty and such.

[C.S.]

Then Jim Cornette was and is an even bigger embarrassment, if we're going by that metric.

Edit: I still can't get over what utter hogwash @El-P posted, probably influenced by Meltzer's backwash.

This is WWE we're talking about. What you're describing would be very subtle. WWE has never done subtle, especially back then. If a wrestler was effeminate and/or a homosexual, WWE made that pretty clear. There was never any secret about it. Goldust, anyone? 

By your metric, Shawn Michaels was way more "effeminate." 

[Strummer]

This bums me out. He was just recently on Renee Dupree's podcast. He was always super entertaining in interviews. RIP

also, Lanny was let go around sometime in 91 or so. When they needed Savage to return to the ring because of firings and injuries one of the demands Randy made was that Lanny be brought back. That's when he started managing the Beverlys.

[Strummer]

Just looking online and he did a virtual signing on Monday so wondering if this was sudden.

[KawadaSmile]

I think he's a fairly overlooked wrestler in regards to how ahead of the curve he was. Doing springboard sentons, splashes and what not? At his frame? In the US? 

He rocked, bubbas. Gone way too soon, even if his role in 80s and 90s Fed was a great one.

[El-P]

3 hours ago, C.S. said:

Edit: I still can't get over what utter hogwash @El-P posted, probably influenced by Meltzer's backwash.

What the fuck are you even talking about ? What does Meltz has anything to do with it ? 

The Genius gimmick was clearly homophobic stuff (some part of it at least). I knew it was homophobic when I was 15 years old. One of the first embarrassing memory of watching wrestling I have, actually (alongside the Iraki angle). 

3 hours ago, C.S. said:

This is WWE we're talking about. What you're describing would be very subtle. WWE has never done subtle, especially back then. If a wrestler was effeminate and/or a homosexual, WWE made that pretty clear.

Homophobic tropes did not need a "gay" gimmick. There was plenty of them, like heels hugging a bit too much (including one crawling on his knees to end up near his partner's crotch) to be "real men" or the way some moved around or were dressed up (mind you, I'm sure no one realized how much Demolition looked like stereotypes straight out of William Friedkin's Cruising. Seriously, they should have been announced "from the backrooms"). The Freebirds in WCW in 91 or so got "f****ts" chants from the crowd because they had garish makeups. On that matter among others, thankfully pro-wrestling fans have changed *a lot*. 

3 hours ago, C.S. said:

By your metric, Shawn Michaels was way more "effeminate." 

First, stop talking about "my metric" like it's a thing. You talked about Jim Cornette. Well, Jim Cornette's first gimmick was 100% homophobic shit since it was making fun of Jim Barnett. 

As far as Shawn Micheals go, he absolutely wasn't doing any "gay" (what passed for "gay" stereotype then) maneurisms. He was dressed like a fucking hair metal singer and moved around like your typical white meat tag team babyface guy. 

Anywoo. Too bad Lanny was saddled with this, although he did as good a job you could do with it I guess.

[ohtani's jacket]

I checked Meltzer's Twitter and he was discussing Roller Derby...

Many of the elements of the Genius gimmick predated the WWF and were Lanny's doing. The Genius gimmick was Lanny's idea, so he was hardly saddled with it. Personally, I preferred his more ambitious medieval knight gimmick, Sir Lanny Poffo. 

 

[El-P]

5 minutes ago, ohtani's jacket said:

The Genius gimmick was Lanny's idea, so he was hardly saddled with it.

Yeah, I had forgotten about that. Actually, there's a thread on this very board about that very topic, and FLIK (I feel old) actually refers to a shoot interview where Lanny explains how it absolutely was the gimmick. So there. *sigh* 

[Ricky Jackson]

The Genius gimmick was inspired by his father Angelo's similar "Graduate" gimmick from the 70s, down to the gown and mortarboard 

[C.S.]

1 hour ago, El-P said:

The Genius gimmick was clearly homophobic stuff (some part of it at least). I knew it was homophobic when I was 15 years old.

What was homophobic about it? That he was intelligent, a good writer, and did flashy high-flying moves long before it was the norm in WWE? You've completely lost me here.

1 hour ago, El-P said:

Homophobic tropes did not need a "gay" gimmick. There was plenty of them, like heels hugging a bit too much (including one crawling on his knees to end up near his partner's crotch) to be "real men" or the way some moved around or were dressed up (mind you, I'm sure no one realized how much Demolition looked like stereotypes straight out of William Friedkin's Cruising. Seriously, they should have been announced "from the backrooms"). The Freebirds in WCW in 91 or so got "f****ts" chants from the crowd because they had garish makeups. On that matter among others, thankfully pro-wrestling fans have changed *a lot*. 

Which heel teams are you referring to?

As for Demolition, okay, but we all thought it was a "tough guy" Mad Max deal. Sometimes shit like that doesn't age well and appears to be something else decades later.

1 hour ago, El-P said:

First, stop talking about "my metric" like it's a thing. You talked about Jim Cornette. Well, Jim Cornette's first gimmick was 100% homophobic shit since it was making fun of Jim Barnett. 

As far as Shawn Micheals go, he absolutely wasn't doing any "gay" (what passed for "gay" stereotype then) maneurisms. He was dressed like a fucking hair metal singer and moved around like your typical white meat tag team babyface guy. 

Anywoo. Too bad Lanny was saddled with this, although he did as good a job you could do with it I guess.

Your metric is THE thing.

Seriously though, Shawn Michaels wore assless chaps, cried, lost his smile. In no way was that the rugged wrestling definition of "masculine." 

ASSLESS

CHAPS

But, sure, okay, Lanny Poffo was the one saddled with a gay stereotype - even though, as @ohtani's jacket helpfully pointed out, most of this was Lanny's own doing.

I'm not arguing that Shawn was a gay stereotype, BTW, but if you're making that argument for Lanny Poffo, you better make it for Shawn.

[El-P]

23 minutes ago, C.S. said:

What was homophobic about it?

You can't be serious. If you can't see what's homophobic about it, I really can't help you. Or you're being dense on purpose.

23 minutes ago, C.S. said:

I'm not arguing that Shawn was a gay stereotype, BTW, but if you're making that argument for Lanny Poffo, you better make it for Shawn.

I am not making an argument for it. It's a fact. Anyone with a functional brain can see it. Plus, Lanny said it himself, as referred in this old thread :

 

 

On a KC shoot he talks about Hulk Hogan asking him to sell the back scratch "like Jim Barnett"

https://411mania.com/wrestling/kayfabe-breaking-kayfabe-w-lanny-poffo/

There's nothing to argue. It's just a fact, and it was really obvious. If it flew over your head at the time, well, whatever, but really, in retrospect. Jeez.

[Dav'oh]

At least we're talking about him?

RIP Lanny. They broke the mould when he was born.

[ohtani's jacket]

There's something to be said for Lanny trolling Texan fans, and Ole Anderson. 

I'm not sure if it's true or not, but apparently Lanny did something similar when he tagged with Chris Colt in Detroit. 

[El-P]

Actually my favorite Lanny memories are the shoot interviews. Such a great storyteller, and always came off like a real decent human being overall (yeah, despite the gimmick). 

No one has mentioned his legendary flexibility yet. How times have changed. I wonder if Coach TK dropped that anecdote in the sleaze thread himself back in the days...

[William Bologna]

All chaps are assless. It’s like saying “sockless pants.”

[C.S.]

3 hours ago, El-P said:

You can't be serious. If you can't see what's homophobic about it, I really can't help you. Or you're being dense on purpose.

The Funk anecdote doesn't apply to anything I said though, because that was in Texas. I wasn't commenting on anything he did there, because I didn't see it. If you were a 15-year-old watching Texas wrestling, fine, you win - I can't argue with your perception in that case because you saw it and I didn't. Just to be clear, I was referring strictly to his WWE gimmick(s).

The Hulk bit is more damning, I'll admit, but that's still one faint example. Lanny wasn't in a position to turn down the #1 wrestler and draw in the entire industry at that time. If Hulk Hogan in that era tells you to do something, you're going to do it. Lanny got a tremendous rub being in the same ring, which is something he admitted and was repeatedly thankful and grateful for his entire life.

I personally think Lanny underrated himself, but that's neither here nor there.

I still wish we had gotten to him do the Gorgeous George shtick in WCW. That company really deserved to go out of business, paying him for five years to sit at home. Nice work if you can get it, but I'm sure he was frustrated from a professional standpoint.

Still waiting for you to list all the tag teams that did "homophobic" gestures like putting their head near a partner's crotch - I'm genuinely curious, because if Hogan can tell Lanny to "f-slur it up like Jim Barnett," I'm willing to concede tag teams might have done the same.  

1 hour ago, William Bologna said:

All chaps are assless. It’s like saying “sockless pants.”

I mean, okay, I'll defer to your expertise on this one, I guess.  I won't sit here and claim I'm an expert when it comes to *cough* cowboy gear. 

[El-P]

7 hours ago, C.S. said:

Just to be clear, I was referring strictly to his WWE gimmick(s).

Me too. Because the 15 years old me saw The Genius and understood straight away that it was gay baiting stuff. I dunno, maybe I'm the genius (nope).

And then Dan reminded me that he was actually doing the same stuff elsewhere, which I had forgotten.

7 hours ago, C.S. said:

The Hulk bit is more damning, I'll admit, but that's still one faint example. Lanny wasn't in a position to turn down the #1 wrestler and draw in the entire industry at that time. If Hulk Hogan in that era tells you to do something, you're going to do it.

Lanny was doing gimmick *before* WWE. Hulk just went with it. 

Plus, it's not a matter of "who's to blame here". Just what the gimmick was.

7 hours ago, C.S. said:

Still waiting for you to list all the tag teams that did "homophobic" gestures like putting their head near a partner's crotch

I haven't watched old-school wrestling in eons so I don't have any precise instances in mind. I've seen that spot many many times (maybe the late version of the Freebirds actually, not sure). The Rougeaus did the extra hugging thing (yeah, they were brothers, but the "wimpy" thing about it absolutely can be red in that light, again I'm talking about isolated spots, not entire gimmicks). I think the MX were doing it too at points. There's also the most recent spot of a team falling into a 69 position (Beer Money did it in TNA). But this is really not the place to discus this, it has taken the focus away for far too long from the actual topic.

You don't think The Genius had homophobic traits to it, mighty fine. But don't call what I said "utter hogwash influenced by Meltzer backwash" (still have no fucking idea why you referenced Meltz btw) when everybody knows it for ever, we made a thread on this board more than 10 years ago about it and it's a topic that's always been addressed in his shoot interviews. 

[C.S.]

7 hours ago, El-P said:

Me too. Because the 15 years old me saw The Genius and understood straight away that it was gay baiting stuff. I dunno, maybe I'm the genius (nope).

Okay, okay, I'll concede this round. You're the genius (I'm being sincere). Can you recite a poem for me? 

Since you brought up the Rougeaus, I will admit I always wondered if The Mountie and Jimmy Hart were supposed to be more than just friends. "I'm handsome. I'm brave. I'm strong. The Mountie always gets his man!"

Anyway, getting this back to Poffo, anyone remember an six-man tag in the early-'90s with The Genius and The Bevs against...I don't remember, but probably jobbers? Poffo busted out some amazing acrobatics for the era, especially for WWE at the time, and got highlighted in all of the replays instead of his team. That always stuck with me. It made me realize, hey, Poffo was damn good, and why aren't they using him as a wrestler?

[El-P]

13 minutes ago, C.S. said:

Okay, okay, I'll concede this round. You're the genius (I'm being sincere). Can you recite a poem for me? 

There was this one Lanny recited during a KC shoot interview... "There once was a man from Nantucket...". Sean Oliver's reaction was priceless.

14 minutes ago, C.S. said:

Since you brought up the Rougeaus, I will admit I always wondered if The Mountie and Jimmy Hart were supposed to be more than just friends. "I'm handsome. I'm brave. I'm strong. The Mountie always gets his man!"

 I admit this never crossed my mind. On the other hand, Steven Regal's Man's Man gimmick had a strong Monty Python's "I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok" vibes.

15 minutes ago, C.S. said:

Anyway, getting this back to Poffo, anyone remember an six-man tag in the early-'90s with The Genius and The Bevs against...I don't remember, but probably jobbers? Poffo busted out some amazing acrobatics for the era, especially for WWE at the time, and got highlighted in all of the replays instead of his team. That always stuck with me. It made me realize, hey, Poffo was damn good, and why aren't they using him as a wrestler?

I think I remember a match they had against the LOD & Paul Ellering. Lanny was wearing the infamous full bodysuit then. 

[C.S.]

1 hour ago, El-P said:

I think I remember a match they had against the LOD & Paul Ellering. Lanny was wearing the infamous full bodysuit then. 

I don't think that's the match I saw, because I'm assuming there's no way in hell LOD and Ellering would lose to Bevs and Genius, and I clearly remember the latter winning the match and Genius being highlighted in every replay. I always thought putting Bevs and Genius together as a team was strange to run on TV, so maybe the purpose was to heat them up for the LOD/Ellering match you mentioned?