You should do a video about the "Top 10 Wrestlers Who Are The Direct Opposite of Their Characters." George "The Animal" Steele would be at the top of the list. He played a neanderthal who spoke in single words ("Hey!" "You!"). But in real life, William James Myers had a Master's Degree in Physical Education from Central Michigan University, and was one of the most articulate people in the wrestling business.
I never saw the Missing Link wrestle in WWF but remember him from WCCW. His entrance music was "Bang Your Head" by Quiet Riot back then, which was very fitting for him.
The Missing Link was honoured in my town with a Lifetime Achievement award. I sat with him and talked four about an hour as we watched the matches together with my son. He was a very large man but very soft spoken. I asked him where he learned to fight and he said it was his father's fault for giving him the name Dewey Robinson. With a name like Dewey you better learn to fight he said. Back in the day he could brawl with the best of them.
Yeah because being gay back then meant you were a wimp. Really funny since Adrian Street's whole deal was while being effeminate, he could beat the poop out of most people.
Adrian Adonis didn't decide to change his gimmick. Vince gave him that "Adorable" gimmick as punishment for gaining a lot of weight. One Man Gang was given the "Akeem the African Dream" gimmick by Vince as yet another dig at Dusty Rhodes aka the American Dream.
The Sheepherders were already over 40 and had destroyed their bodies after years of grueling deathmatches by the time they reached the WWF. I'm sure they were okay with being the Bushwhackers if it meant more exposure, more pay, and easier matches.
My thoughts exactly. I’m sure I saw one of them say somewhere that they were glad of the change, as they were pretty much physically knackered by the time they got to the WWF.
They've both said in interviews they were completely happy with the gimmick, as they got popular with kids and were making more money than they ever had before while not having to bleed every night.
Warriors gimmick was amazing. Matches were okay but the energy he brought to the ring was out of this world good. I can still hear that entrance music in my head with him bursting to the ring in a flash.
As a kid I was a real mark for the Missing Link when he was in the UWF. Him, Sting, Dr. Death Steve Williams, and the gritty version of Hacksaw Jim Duggan was some of the best wrestling I remember from the 80s. I always wished Link got a chance with a real promotion in a solid program.
Always thought the Red Rooster gimmick was a rib on Ric Flair. Terry Taylor basically thought of himself as a Ric Flair protégé. So Vince gave him Red tights with a robe, his Rooster strut was Flair's strut and the Red streak a nod to Flair's always blading.
Couple if Things: (even though Bruce Prichard says it wasn't) The Red Rooster was actually a rib on Terry Taylor,cause Bruce and Vince wanted to take Taylor down a Peg, cause he came off as arrogant. Bill Watts got the Junkyard Dog name from Jim Croce's "Bad Bad Leroy Brown) and the line "Meaner than a Junkyard Dog " the barking stuff was a WWF invention. Missing Link was actually a very Good Technical worker named Dewey Robertson, but technical marvel wrestling didn't pay the bills,so he went all Mark Lewin and created The Missing Link and HTM was brilliant because he was an Elvis Impersonator who DIDN'T KNOW WHO ELVIS WAS initially . Which looking back it's pretty hilarious.
Terry Taylor was the Hulk Hogan of Mid South Wrestling. Everyone loved him. I was so disappointed that he was made into a joke of a character when he went to the WWF.
I agree with you 💯%!!! Terry Taylor could kick some serious ass in the ring in other promotions, but we couldn't see it then, probably, Vince McMahon's hatred and jealousy of other Wrestling Organizations like we understood it when the WWE turned out the lights on both ECW and WCW some years ago! Just think of all those wrestlers Vince "created gimmicks for" which made them into fools?!!? WWE sits at the Top of The Mountain while others just struggled and died. Now, wrestling is, for me, just boring!!! No more n.W.o. Vs WCW!!! No more ECW Invasion!!! It used to be "fun," but now....I don't even own a television anymore!
That blew me away because I'd never heard anyone else say that. I remember telling my cousin he looked like a Shopsys Weiner on those rotating grills when they get sweaty and brown so we have always called him Shopsys Man.
JYD wasn't a WWF gimmick but was WWF'd up and made cartoony like everyone who came to the WWF was. An interview from JYD in Mid South or Houston in the early 80s is totally different from how he'd talk in the WWF and later WCW. Honkytonk Man was also a gimmick in Stampede before he went to the WWF. Honky talks about Vince thinking the gimmick would work as a face when he saw clips of his stampede work. Also happy for the Sheepherders shout out. I'd suggest to anyone to watch their matches against The Fantastics
I never understood why Vince signed the Sheepherders. Don't get me wrong; it worked. But if you didn't want blood and guts, why sign the most violent tag team of the time?
@@samclark379 I heard a rumor that Butch and Luke wanted a gimmick change because they were getting older and their brutal wrestling style was starting to take a toll on them physically, I think they even mentioned it in an old interview. Then again, you can't believe anything old wrestlers say. Carnies to the core, the whole lot of them! Sup from New Zealand 🇳🇿
I usually explain the logic behind the Irish Whip in wrestling being the same as the use of sound in space battles for movies / TV shows; we all know it's bollocks, but for dramatic effect we can easily look past it.
The irish whip is dumb but understandable as a transitional move. I have a way bigger problem with the russian leg sweep. It's 2 guys literally taking the exact same bump but 1 person sells it.
@@hagridsdisappointingson769 One is controlling their fall, the other isn't AND is having the back of their head smacked into the mat. Internal wrestling logic (much like in-universe logic in the comics - i.e. The Flash should literally be able to defeat everyone, but that wouldn't make an interesting story) needs to be applied. I mean taking a Rock Bottom is essentially the same as giving a Flatliner, but wrestling logic allows you to bypass that.
@@hagridsdisappointingson769 I was more triggered by the failed drop kick. If you nail the guy, you get up and carry on, but if you miss, you lie there all hurt. Really used to confuse me as a kid
I don’t find these the weirdest gimmicks, to me it signified Vince trying to get back at the wrestlers who didn’t immediately jump ship and work for him from the territories. Trying to destroy their reputation. That’s what I’ve always taken from it. Terry Taylor was one of the top guys throughout the territories and especially in Texas. Adrian Adonis, One Man Gang, Chris Adams, etc.. Vince brings them up and gives them gimmicks that nobody could make work and they are never heard from again. Truly disgusting.
Vince went way too far when he created Right To Censor in 2000. That was the get back at the PTC for hounding his ass for all the sex and violence that made the attitude era as popular as it was during the late 90s.
Akeem is one of my all time favs! And at a house show, Bret Hart stopped so that my mom could take a great photo of him. Lots of good house show memories! Oh and Shawn's butt getting exposed in a match was a highlight to my mom...
Mentions of The Honky Tonk Man being (rightfully) an Elvis ripoff reminds me that, even though it wasn't during this era, TNA had a group of wrestlers in their very first ever match called The Flying Elvises.
Uh, I don't remember my circle of fellow fans "just accepting" Akeem "because it was the 1980s. " We were wondering who the heck had come up with such a stupid gimmick and who it was meant to appeal to.
All of these are still 100 times more entertaining than generic mean mugger with zero charisma and mic skills, named ''David Davidson'' or ''Robert Robertson'' that we have in excess these days...
I know. I hate this era of wrestlers. "John Stevens".....who's gimmick is....wrestler....who's personality is.....wrestler. Uhh....why I tune in to see him for? I know we can't go backwards to some of these from the 70s/80s but we need SOME type of gimmick to make it interesting. Not everyone has to, but at least enough where the "normal" guy isn't just 1 of 100 normal guys.
@@etxkevin7452 spot on, not to mention the promos - zero intensity, it doesn't look like the wrestling show when they do promos, it really looks like some guy in speedos saying stuff, lol
Always loved the buschwackers, George the animal Steele, and JYD. Can't help it. The red rooster was soooooo corny! Adrian Adonis was a more "flamboyant"(gay looking) gorgeous george. The honky tonk man was one of the best "I HATE that guy!!" bad guys ever!
Man, to have been a student at Madison High School in Madison Heights, Michigan, when William Myers, aka George The Animal Steele, was a teacher there. Must have been fun.
December Twelfth (2023) Update: Gunther (referenced in the last few seconds of the video here) is the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion in WWE history, with a reign of 550 days (as of today and counting). He began his reign on June 10, 2022, when he defeated Ricochet. Gunther's reign broke the previous record of 454 days set by The Honky Tonk Man. The Honky Tonk Man's record stood for over 35 years, including 34 title defenses. He won the title from Ricky Steamboat in June 1987 and lost it to the Ultimate Warrior at the inaugural SummerSlam in 1988.
Switching from the One Man Gang to Akeem was one of the worst decisions ever. As a kid One Man Gang was believable. A big hulking guy like that with his haircut and attire to match. Once they switched him to Akeem I just thought he was a huge clown who teamed up with the Big Boss Man because he was large in size and nothing else.
The Honky Tonk Man gimmick was pretty silly, but it worked... The guy was a heat magnet and apparently house shows with him defending the title in the main event were sellouts around the loop... So not a bad gimmick at all in the end.
@@chozin1976 Where in the video did it state they had to be created by WWF? It’s just wrestlers who wrestled under those gimmicks in WWF in the 80’s. It even states on some of the entries in the video that they had those gimmicks before joining the promotion
No no no.... not an Elvis impersonator, he was the HONKY TONK MAN!! His finisher was the Shake, Rattle, and Roll...ok,ok make he was an Elvis impersonator but he was one of the all time greatest HEELS. Think about that, they SUCCEEDED in making an Elvis impersonator a GREAT heel!!
To The Honky Tonk Man. Was There Any Legal Matters with the Character The Honky Tonk Man that was played by Wrestler "Roy Farris" and The WWE/Vince McMahon And The ELVIS Presley Estate.? With the ELVIS Look and The ELVIS Jumpsutes that would be a "COPYRIGHT" Issue with ELVIS Presley Enterprises. ? And Lisa Marie Presley My Not want her Fathers Image involved in a story line fictional Wrestling story line because Lisa Marie Presley's Father "ELVIS" is the Worlds Greates Singer and Entertainer to ever walk on stage and this could make her Fathers "MASSIVE IMAGE" Look bad.!
I'm sorry, but I liked all these wrestlers except for one.... The Missing Link. I never even heard of him. JYD, George "The Animal" Steele, The Ultimate Warrior and more were staples of my childhood
IIRC, wasn’t the logic behind Zeus coming to the WWF “he was angry that he lost in the movie, and wanted to show ‘in reality’ he could beat Hogan if there wasn’t a movie script”?
Reality my ass, the script still called for Hogan to win so the joke was on Zeus. So Tiny Lister Jr. Went to Hollywood and became Debo in the first 2 Friday movies.
@@PYLrulz1984 I was only being funny with you dude. You are the one taking this shit too seriously so you need to lighten up. You are obviously too stupid to get the script joke that I was trying to point out so you go so far to insult my name. Even if my name was Mark it's still a common male name so the joke is on you asshole.
i hated the akeem the american dream gimmick as a kid. but as an adult i loved it, which you think might be the opposite with today's sensitivities. the logic how he was akeem, purported by Slick was hilarious, loved his funky walk and hand movements, and George Gray was a great big man.
The Red Rooster was going to be given a push when Terry Taylor hurt his knee in a match against Mr. Perfect. And how could you have forgotten Outback Jack? He was weirder than JYD who was pushed to the moon until he actually had to wrestle and he was terrible.
As a huge warrior fan growing up I always kinda thought of him as a wrestling Conan the barbarian....in the movie Conan talked alot about the gods...so as a 8 yo I kinda thought that's were they were getting the character from
How about Killer Khan a supposed descendant of Genghis Khan ? He didn't do much in the ring except poke his tongue in and out a lot kick , punch , clothesline choke .
The Ultimate Warrior and Papa Shango were two of my favorites gimmicks, although Shango wasn't mentioned here. But the other gimmicks were just downright stupid! Terry Taylor was an excellent wrestler in another Wrestling Promotion, but upon arriving to the WWF, ( now WWE), he was made to look & act like a fool in front of those of us who knew better! The Red Rooster gimmick, like The Honky Tonk Man was absolute garbage! And really, George "The Animal" Steele?!!? Yeah, he was loved by many, including myself as a Wrestling Fan from that era, but living in Detroit, I sometimes wondered what some of the people in Hazel Park, Michigan thought about his gimmick in the WWF? Still, he was definitely admired and cheered for by many of us who wished that The Animal had been The Heavyweight Champion for a few years!!!
@@jakekaufman8302 Jake, I've forgotten about so many things in the WWF history! Thank you for bringing that up. Still, I may have to Google that incident. But yeah, I remember a few things about certain wrestlers like Papa Shango was once called The Soultaker or Kama, The Supreme Fighting Machine or even Kama Mustafa when he was a part of The Nation of Domination! But when he wore that White Shirt and Tie, his title doesn't come to mind. And I'm not sure if he wore a mask in his early career like The Undertaker did when he started out before his NWA/WCW Days.
@@derricklogan2058 His real name is Charles Wright. Papa Shango was his first gimmick from 1992-1993. He wore skull face paint as a Hatian voodoo priest. Never wore a mask. In 1995 his next gimmick was Kama the supreme fighting machine as he played a nasty heel who feuded with undertaker and stole the urn from Paul Bearer and melted it down into a gold necklace. Then in 1997 as the attitude era began he was Kama Mustafa as he was recruited by Farooq and the Nation Of Domination. The next year he was The Godfather as a pimp who offered his his opponents the opportunity to sleep with his hoes instead of facing him in a match. That gimmick was ruined in 2000 when him and Val Venis joined Right To Censor. That was the suit and tie thing that you mentioned.
@@jakekaufman8302 Yeah, Right To Censor! I can't believe that I didn't think 🤔 of "The Godfather" gimmick with his "Hoe Train!" Even though it was a popular and comical parody of the Pimp and Prostitute reality of the seedy part of life, I just can't believe I didn't think of it!!! I can recall now, just how much my mother, brother and I laughed so hard about his silly "Cake Walk" Dance he performed while "The Train of Ladies" strutted towards the ring!!! Funny as hell!!! You mentioning that made me smile 😊 for a moment since both my mother and brother are no longer among the living! She passed in 2018 at 93 years of age and my older brother passed away in 2012 at the age of 57. Memories..... Thank you my friend!✌️🙏
You should do a video about the "Top 10 Wrestlers Who Are The Direct Opposite of Their Characters." George "The Animal" Steele would be at the top of the list. He played a neanderthal who spoke in single words ("Hey!" "You!"). But in real life, William James Myers had a Master's Degree in Physical Education from Central Michigan University, and was one of the most articulate people in the wrestling business.
George Steele's gimmick is even weirder when you realize he was a High School teacher during the day.
And yet he would be cast in the role of Tor Johnson in "Ed Wood".
He also had quite a cocaine habit which makes the story even more interesting
@@timbow1356 you’d be amazed at how many teachers do
@@danielmiller3596 the Barron was a teacher also. If those kids got out of line....CLAW time.
and brutally intelligent... much like Bully Ray, who literally has a 145 iq
Junkyard was hugely over in the 80s and really not THAT crazy of a gimmick.
Junkyard dog was the most popular wrestler in midsouth wrestling history
@@r0ckstar666 him ,Hacksaw and Magnum TA
@@r0ckstar666 JYD ruled mid south in the mid 80s and also became an alter ego, masked, who i forget.
I never saw the Missing Link wrestle in WWF but remember him from WCCW. His entrance music was "Bang Your Head" by Quiet Riot back then, which was very fitting for him.
Link spent a fair amount of time in Mid South too
Bang your head by quiet riot is an awesome song, one of my favorites!
The Missing Link is one of the strangest characters I've ever seen but he was popular in Mid-South/UWF as a face when I watched him.
THAT was the first thing that came to mind when I saw his face... he was actually a hell of a nice guy and rather sensitive
The Missing Link was honoured in my town with a Lifetime Achievement award. I sat with him and talked four about an hour as we watched the matches together with my son. He was a very large man but very soft spoken. I asked him where he learned to fight and he said it was his father's fault for giving him the name Dewey Robinson. With a name like Dewey you better learn to fight he said. Back in the day he could brawl with the best of them.
JYD was an awesome character. I never found him “weird”. How do you not have Koko B Ware on the list?
Probably because he was just a guy with a pet bird.
Adrian Adonis didn't "decide" to change his gimmick; he put on a lot of weight, so Vince punished him with the Adorable gimmick.
Stealing everything from Adrian Street, in the process
I believe that he is a prick
Yeah because being gay back then meant you were a wimp. Really funny since Adrian Street's whole deal was while being effeminate, he could beat the poop out of most people.
@@jackforster7783and being a foolish person
Adrian Adonis didn't decide to change his gimmick. Vince gave him that "Adorable" gimmick as punishment for gaining a lot of weight. One Man Gang was given the "Akeem the African Dream" gimmick by Vince as yet another dig at Dusty Rhodes aka the American Dream.
The Sheepherders were already over 40 and had destroyed their bodies after years of grueling deathmatches by the time they reached the WWF. I'm sure they were okay with being the Bushwhackers if it meant more exposure, more pay, and easier matches.
My thoughts exactly. I’m sure I saw one of them say somewhere that they were glad of the change, as they were pretty much physically knackered by the time they got to the WWF.
This guy gets it.
Hell yeah! I thought they were hilarious!
Exactly. After all the crueling matches they had done as the Sheepherders, the WWF run was more like a long vaccation with good paychecks.
They've both said in interviews they were completely happy with the gimmick, as they got popular with kids and were making more money than they ever had before while not having to bleed every night.
Warriors gimmick was amazing. Matches were okay but the energy he brought to the ring was out of this world good. I can still hear that entrance music in my head with him bursting to the ring in a flash.
Akeem and Bad News Brown would have been a hilarious pairing
Now I have to go watch the original Akeem promo...shit is absolutely ridiculous and hilarious
I thought the honky tonk man was alright. He was at his best with Jimmy Hart.
I can't think of honky tonk man without thinking of Santino Marella and his honky tonky meter after he won the intercontinental title
I think that George Steele, the Bushwackers and Akeem were happier doing the comedy spots after years of bloody, hardcore matches.
Gang really was a funny SOB in person and was pretty friendly... and like BamBam could not pass up a chance to spend time with kids
Junk yard dog was a legend
As a kid I was a real mark for the Missing Link when he was in the UWF. Him, Sting, Dr. Death Steve Williams, and the gritty version of Hacksaw Jim Duggan was some of the best wrestling I remember from the 80s. I always wished Link got a chance with a real promotion in a solid program.
Always thought the Red Rooster gimmick was a rib on Ric Flair.
Terry Taylor basically thought of himself as a Ric Flair protégé.
So Vince gave him Red tights with a robe, his Rooster strut was Flair's strut and the Red streak a nod to Flair's always blading.
Couple if Things: (even though Bruce Prichard says it wasn't) The Red Rooster was actually a rib on Terry Taylor,cause Bruce and Vince wanted to take Taylor down a Peg, cause he came off as arrogant.
Bill Watts got the Junkyard Dog name from Jim Croce's "Bad Bad Leroy Brown) and the line "Meaner than a Junkyard Dog " the barking stuff was a WWF invention.
Missing Link was actually a very Good Technical worker named Dewey Robertson, but technical marvel wrestling didn't pay the bills,so he went all Mark Lewin and created The Missing Link and HTM was brilliant because he was an Elvis Impersonator who DIDN'T KNOW WHO ELVIS WAS initially . Which looking back it's pretty hilarious.
Terry Taylor was the Hulk Hogan of Mid South Wrestling. Everyone loved him. I was so disappointed that he was made into a joke of a character when he went to the WWF.
I agree with you 💯%!!! Terry Taylor could kick some serious ass in the ring in other promotions, but we couldn't see it then, probably, Vince McMahon's hatred and jealousy of other Wrestling Organizations like we understood it when the WWE turned out the lights on both ECW and WCW some years ago! Just think of all those wrestlers Vince "created gimmicks for" which made them into fools?!!? WWE sits at the Top of The Mountain while others just struggled and died. Now, wrestling is, for me, just boring!!!
No more n.W.o. Vs WCW!!!
No more ECW Invasion!!!
It used to be "fun," but now....I don't even own a television anymore!
No wonder the warrior comic made no sense, the warrior himself made no sense
I got one for you Adam Outback Jack WWE 's weird attempt to cash in on the popularity of Crocodile Dundee
Honky Tonk man apparently pulled in tons of money in house shows with the IC title. He is a fun character, I don't find him to be all that weird.
The greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time!
@@kushclarkkent6669 Doubt
Just like Undertaker, if you separate the gimmick from its success it’s pretty ridiculous.
@@MrRyan-wu4jx Undertaker would have bombed if not for Mark Calloway
@@kushclarkkent6669 shake rattle and roll baby ✌️👍
I love the description of Hogan as a “giant orange hot dog man!” :-p
That blew me away because I'd never heard anyone else say that. I remember telling my cousin he looked like a Shopsys Weiner on those rotating grills when they get sweaty and brown so we have always called him Shopsys Man.
Goldust to me is still the biggest wtf in my opinion.
JYD wasn't a WWF gimmick but was WWF'd up and made cartoony like everyone who came to the WWF was. An interview from JYD in Mid South or Houston in the early 80s is totally different from how he'd talk in the WWF and later WCW.
Honkytonk Man was also a gimmick in Stampede before he went to the WWF. Honky talks about Vince thinking the gimmick would work as a face when he saw clips of his stampede work.
Also happy for the Sheepherders shout out. I'd suggest to anyone to watch their matches against The Fantastics
I never understood why Vince signed the Sheepherders. Don't get me wrong; it worked. But if you didn't want blood and guts, why sign the most violent tag team of the time?
@@samclark379 because Vince just wanted to sign everybody up at that point
@@oqoahfl Sort of "if I can't have it, you can't either"? Yeah, I can see that.
He was "Honky Tonk Wayne" at Stampede
@@samclark379 I heard a rumor that Butch and Luke wanted a gimmick change because they were getting older and their brutal wrestling style was starting to take a toll on them physically, I think they even mentioned it in an old interview. Then again, you can't believe anything old wrestlers say. Carnies to the core, the whole lot of them!
Sup from New Zealand 🇳🇿
"Poultry in Motion" 🐔
Vince Mcmahon on commentary during Red Rooster match.
Thank you for the laughs, Adam.
I usually explain the logic behind the Irish Whip in wrestling being the same as the use of sound in space battles for movies / TV shows; we all know it's bollocks, but for dramatic effect we can easily look past it.
The irish whip is dumb but understandable as a transitional move. I have a way bigger problem with the russian leg sweep. It's 2 guys literally taking the exact same bump but 1 person sells it.
@@hagridsdisappointingson769 One is controlling their fall, the other isn't AND is having the back of their head smacked into the mat.
Internal wrestling logic (much like in-universe logic in the comics - i.e. The Flash should literally be able to defeat everyone, but that wouldn't make an interesting story) needs to be applied.
I mean taking a Rock Bottom is essentially the same as giving a Flatliner, but wrestling logic allows you to bypass that.
@@hagridsdisappointingson769 I was more triggered by the failed drop kick. If you nail the guy, you get up and carry on, but if you miss, you lie there all hurt. Really used to confuse me as a kid
Before "Adorable" Adrian Adonis in the WWF, there was "Golden Boy" Adrian Adonis in the World Wide Wrestling Federation in the late 1970s.
I don’t find these the weirdest gimmicks, to me it signified Vince trying to get back at the wrestlers who didn’t immediately jump ship and work for him from the territories. Trying to destroy their reputation. That’s what I’ve always taken from it. Terry Taylor was one of the top guys throughout the territories and especially in Texas. Adrian Adonis, One Man Gang, Chris Adams, etc.. Vince brings them up and gives them gimmicks that nobody could make work and they are never heard from again. Truly disgusting.
Terry Taylor was never going to be anything special. He lacked charisma.
The key thing is are they entertaining? It is entertainment first a sport second
@@monkeykidd420 Not a sport at all.
@@dibslin2.081 ever seen it live some of it you can't fake
Vince went way too far when he created Right To Censor in 2000. That was the get back at the PTC for hounding his ass for all the sex and violence that made the attitude era as popular as it was during the late 90s.
Akeem is one of my all time favs!
And at a house show, Bret Hart stopped so that my mom could take a great photo of him. Lots of good house show memories! Oh and Shawn's butt getting exposed in a match was a highlight to my mom...
Was that the show at cne in Toronto in 96?
@@alexanderplouffe4531 Nope. This was in Pennsylvania in the Wilkes-Barre area.
Lol Shawn's ass was exposed like a hundred times during his career
@@christophersuswal9544 Minimum, hahaha
Mentions of The Honky Tonk Man being (rightfully) an Elvis ripoff reminds me that, even though it wasn't during this era, TNA had a group of wrestlers in their very first ever match called The Flying Elvises.
That was probably a nod to TNA being based in Tennessee
George was a awesome human being. Then. You had warrior....
The Sheepherders/Bushwackers were from New Zealand. The Outback is in Australia (the location of Humpty Doo, and the homeland of Outback Jack)
The Bushwhackers was Like and Butch's idea they wanted to wind down their careers with less violent matches.
One man gang was an awesome gimmick. He should’ve been a tag team with bad news brown.
Most of the people on this list included wrestlers I grew watching in Mid South and WCCW. Pre WWE JYD is my favorite wrestler of all time.
Yeah ultimate warrior may have been weird but he was certainly popular and it worked! One of my favorite wrestlers growing up!
Uh, I don't remember my circle of fellow fans "just accepting" Akeem "because it was the 1980s. " We were wondering who the heck had come up with such a stupid gimmick and who it was meant to appeal to.
I'm surprised the gimmick didn't get backlash from the African American community. Very racist indeed.
All of these are still 100 times more entertaining than generic mean mugger with zero charisma and mic skills, named ''David Davidson'' or ''Robert Robertson'' that we have in excess these days...
I know. I hate this era of wrestlers. "John Stevens".....who's gimmick is....wrestler....who's personality is.....wrestler. Uhh....why I tune in to see him for? I know we can't go backwards to some of these from the 70s/80s but we need SOME type of gimmick to make it interesting. Not everyone has to, but at least enough where the "normal" guy isn't just 1 of 100 normal guys.
Serious wrestlers are boring. Give me wild characters all day.
@@etxkevin7452 spot on, not to mention the promos - zero intensity, it doesn't look like the wrestling show when they do promos, it really looks like some guy in speedos saying stuff, lol
Always loved the buschwackers, George the animal Steele, and JYD. Can't help it.
The red rooster was soooooo corny!
Adrian Adonis was a more "flamboyant"(gay looking) gorgeous george.
The honky tonk man was one of the best "I HATE that guy!!" bad guys ever!
My cousin got licked by one of the Bushwhackers at a house show.
Your cousin probably either got a rash or a contact high from that encounter. Hope they're doing okay.
The Bushwhackers probably drank from the toilet too as they think they are dogs licking their fans faces
Now we need a weirdest WCW 80s Gimmicks
….and 90’s gimmicks
@@420Horseman 90s? Oz, just OZ - enough said lol
Now that we have TicTok, Wrestling characters seem damn near normal.
Great video upload enjoyed watching it cheers
The picture on the right of the thumbnail looks a little like Adam.
Man, to have been a student at Madison High School in Madison Heights, Michigan, when William Myers, aka George The Animal Steele, was a teacher there. Must have been fun.
December Twelfth (2023) Update:
Gunther (referenced in the last few seconds of the video here) is the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion in WWE history, with a reign of 550 days (as of today and counting). He began his reign on June 10, 2022, when he defeated Ricochet.
Gunther's reign broke the previous record of 454 days set by The Honky Tonk Man. The Honky Tonk Man's record stood for over 35 years, including 34 title defenses. He won the title from Ricky Steamboat in June 1987 and lost it to the Ultimate Warrior at the inaugural SummerSlam in 1988.
I loved the sheepherders, and I loved the bushwhackers, either way I was entertained
I love em all
Oh man. I remember that Warrior bit when he couldn’t spell ‘respect..’
“R S E P C E.” (realizes he messed up / notices camera on him)
Snarls.
When I was a kid I remember watching all these with my grandpa every single week we loved junkyard dog man the memories ❤️
I remember Missing Link in World Class. But I evidently completely missed his stint in WWF.
Was watching this vid at 1 in the morning wasn't looking at the screen and @7:29 the thunder sounds scared the shit out of me 😭
Switching from the One Man Gang to Akeem was one of the worst decisions ever. As a kid One Man Gang was believable. A big hulking guy like that with his haircut and attire to match. Once they switched him to Akeem I just thought he was a huge clown who teamed up with the Big Boss Man because he was large in size and nothing else.
The Irish Whip is a cool finisher
The Honky Tonk Man gimmick was pretty silly, but it worked... The guy was a heat magnet and apparently house shows with him defending the title in the main event were sellouts around the loop... So not a bad gimmick at all in the end.
2:14 "a million miles away from his leather-clad biker look". More like "three stalls away at Pride". Wight Pride's really good these days, too.
I really liked Missing Link.
Red ROASTER
I guess I am alone in liking the Red Rooster as a kid. It is just a colorful bit of fun weirdness, but everyone shits on it.
EHHHYOOOOO!!!!
you finna call DEBO lousy!?!?
Just watch out manaña my B!!!
Its FRIDAY!! LMADO🤣🤘🎸🍻😎
2nd reference to Adrian Street I've seen you guys make. 👍
The Missing Link wasn’t a WWF gimmick
He was in the WWF for a short time in 1983-84 IIRC. He's even in the Land of 1,000 Dances video the WWF produced.
@@Rockhound6165 I know he was in WWF, DUH, but they didn’t create his gimmick
@@chozin1976 they didn't create JYD either but here we are talking about both.
@@chozin1976 Where in the video did it state they had to be created by WWF? It’s just wrestlers who wrestled under those gimmicks in WWF in the 80’s. It even states on some of the entries in the video that they had those gimmicks before joining the promotion
Akeem the African Dream was awesome! Loved his gimmick!
Terrible gimmick.... one man gang so much better
2:43 Don't forget: Brutus Beefcake's initial Hogan-era WWF gimmick is "male stripper". It's not even implied - a vignette has him listlessly dancing.
Hence the "beefcake". He didn't really get going until the "barber" aspect came in.
This has got to be a golden one not just good but gold hear we go
I kinda want to sign some of these to 2k career mode and make my wrestling show of complete misfits
Love this type of content!
No no no.... not an Elvis impersonator, he was the HONKY TONK MAN!! His finisher was the Shake, Rattle, and Roll...ok,ok make he was an Elvis impersonator but he was one of the all time greatest HEELS. Think about that, they SUCCEEDED in making an Elvis impersonator a GREAT heel!!
good video
That's fcuk up bc I was thinking of joining the wwe under the animal gimmick
My own little revamp
And you just ruined that 🤣🤣
I loved the bushwackers lol
I was a 12yo Kiwi when the BUSHWHACKERS debued . I think I had my first out-of-body experience that day.
To The Honky Tonk Man.
Was There Any Legal Matters with the Character The Honky Tonk Man that was played by Wrestler "Roy Farris" and The WWE/Vince McMahon And The ELVIS Presley Estate.?
With the ELVIS Look and The ELVIS Jumpsutes that would be a "COPYRIGHT" Issue with ELVIS Presley Enterprises. ?
And Lisa Marie Presley My Not want her Fathers Image involved in a story line fictional Wrestling story line because Lisa Marie Presley's Father "ELVIS" is the Worlds Greates Singer and Entertainer to ever walk on stage and this could make her Fathers "MASSIVE IMAGE" Look bad.!
The Red Rooster's diet was Bourbon which is Corn and Grain.
Man they did Terry Taylor wrong. He was actually a decent worker and had some good matches with Buddy Landell
I'm sorry, but I liked all these wrestlers except for one.... The Missing Link. I never even heard of him. JYD, George "The Animal" Steele, The Ultimate Warrior and more were staples of my childhood
The red rooster was terrible 😫
As if Big Boss Man a wrestling prison guard wasn't a weird character .
I forget who the wrestler is with Honky Tonk Man and Jimmy Hart. He's HOF but I can't think of it
That's Greg "the Hammer" Valentine in the tag-team Rythm and Blues. He's not in the HoF though.
4:16 wow dong sock undies on the wall, that would be interesting for val venis`s ring gear
The Missing Link lived his gimmick. Didn’t talk for 8 years
OMG I LOVED The Bushwhackers lmao
I was a 12yo New Zealander when the BUSHWHACKERS were introduced. I lost my goddamned mind...
Am I the only one who used to run to the TV when the Red Rooster was announced?
10:05: Yes I can see that since they did made Chavo Guerrero into Kerwin White, a stereotypical rich white guy.
How did Goldust not make this list? He's literally called The Bizarre One!
Goldust wasn't a character until the mid-90's...
@@mrmoose6619 lol nice I literally didn't see the "80's" part
@@Godzilla1982 You are right in that Dustin did wrestle in the late 80's, just never in that character then. All good.
IIRC, wasn’t the logic behind Zeus coming to the WWF “he was angry that he lost in the movie, and wanted to show ‘in reality’ he could beat Hogan if there wasn’t a movie script”?
Reality my ass, the script still called for Hogan to win so the joke was on Zeus.
So Tiny Lister Jr. Went to Hollywood and became Debo in the first 2 Friday movies.
@@jakekaufman8302 I think your name should be Mark, not Jake.
Read my post again. I’m taking in Kayfabe terms.
@@PYLrulz1984 I was only being funny with you dude. You are the one taking this shit too seriously so you need to lighten up. You are obviously too stupid to get the script joke that I was trying to point out so you go so far to insult my name. Even if my name was Mark it's still a common male name so the joke is on you asshole.
i hated the akeem the american dream gimmick as a kid. but as an adult i loved it, which you think might be the opposite with today's sensitivities.
the logic how he was akeem, purported by Slick was hilarious, loved his funky walk and hand movements, and George Gray was a great big man.
Sensitivity and offensive r 2 different things as long as it isn't meant to b hurtful
The Red Rooster was going to be given a push when Terry Taylor hurt his knee in a match against Mr. Perfect. And how could you have forgotten Outback Jack? He was weirder than JYD who was pushed to the moon until he actually had to wrestle and he was terrible.
You should be ashamed of yourself saying the Honky Tonk Man couldn't sing 🤣
We all know Elvis ripped him off.
Don’t doubt that there are still millions...AND MILLIONS...of Rooster Boosters out there pining for one more match.
As a huge warrior fan growing up I always kinda thought of him as a wrestling Conan the barbarian....in the movie Conan talked alot about the gods...so as a 8 yo I kinda thought that's were they were getting the character from
How about Killer Khan a supposed descendant of Genghis Khan ? He didn't do much in the ring except poke his tongue in and out a lot kick , punch , clothesline choke .
You have to remember it was the 80s. This stuff just worked back then.
My dad got ringside seats to a San Diego house show and the Bushwhackers licked my brothers head.
Your brother probably got either a rash or a contact high from that encounter. Hope he's doing okay.
Papa shango, bad news brown, corporal kurshner, and the moon dogs were all certainly “interesting”
Hey hey hey don't mess with George talk about warm fuzzy feelings inspiring
The Ultimate Warrior and Papa Shango were two of my favorites gimmicks, although Shango wasn't mentioned here. But the other gimmicks were just downright stupid! Terry Taylor was an excellent wrestler in another Wrestling Promotion, but upon arriving to the WWF, ( now WWE), he was made to look & act like a fool in front of those of us who knew better! The Red Rooster gimmick, like The Honky Tonk Man was absolute garbage! And really, George "The Animal" Steele?!!? Yeah, he was loved by many, including myself as a Wrestling Fan from that era, but living in Detroit, I sometimes wondered what some of the people in Hazel Park, Michigan thought about his gimmick in the WWF? Still, he was definitely admired and cheered for by many of us who wished that The Animal had been The Heavyweight Champion for a few years!!!
Remember when Warrior and Shango feuded in 1992? Who can forget when Shango made that black goo run down Warrior's face. Very creepy indeed
@@jakekaufman8302 Jake, I've forgotten about so many things in the WWF history! Thank you for bringing that up. Still, I may have to Google that incident. But yeah, I remember a few things about certain wrestlers like Papa Shango was once called The Soultaker or Kama, The Supreme Fighting Machine or even Kama Mustafa when he was a part of The Nation of Domination! But when he wore that White Shirt and Tie, his title doesn't come to mind. And I'm not sure if he wore a mask in his early career like The Undertaker did when he started out before his NWA/WCW Days.
@@derricklogan2058 His real name is Charles Wright. Papa Shango was his first gimmick from 1992-1993. He wore skull face paint as a Hatian voodoo priest. Never wore a mask.
In 1995 his next gimmick was Kama the supreme fighting machine as he played a nasty heel who feuded with undertaker and stole the urn from Paul Bearer and melted it down into a gold necklace.
Then in 1997 as the attitude era began he was Kama Mustafa as he was recruited by Farooq and the Nation Of Domination.
The next year he was The Godfather as a pimp who offered his his opponents the opportunity to sleep with his hoes instead of facing him in a match.
That gimmick was ruined in 2000 when him and Val Venis joined Right To Censor. That was the suit and tie thing that you mentioned.
@@jakekaufman8302 Yeah, Right To Censor!
I can't believe that I didn't think 🤔 of "The Godfather" gimmick with his "Hoe Train!"
Even though it was a popular and comical parody of the Pimp and Prostitute reality of the seedy part of life, I just can't believe I didn't think of it!!!
I can recall now, just how much my mother, brother and I laughed so hard about his silly "Cake Walk" Dance he performed while "The Train of Ladies" strutted towards the ring!!!
Funny as hell!!!
You mentioning that made me smile 😊 for a moment since both my mother and brother are no longer among the living! She passed in 2018 at 93 years of age and my older brother passed away in 2012 at the age of 57. Memories.....
Thank you my friend!✌️🙏
I think the manic look in JYD's eyes might have something to do with his cocaine use...
The Missing Link was Not a WWE gimmick period
Lol great list.