So that picture there is apparently a thing that happened. Maybe Cody wanted his WrestleMania moment to be the same as Bret Hart’s at the end of Mania IX, who knows. To the mailbag!
Zane P kicks us off with…”Who is your favorite “parody” character like Gillberg or Buzzkill Brad Armstrong?”
Jillian Hall and no one else even comes close. I might induct her soon just because it would give me a chance to go back and relive all those moments that had me laughing and smiling from ear to ear. If it’s solely inside of wrestling, I’d go with the bWo; I loves me some Stevie Richards, and Meanie et al. killed it in their roles.
Joseph does the Curly Shuffle with…”Were/are you a Three Stooges fan, and what did you think of their NES game? I loved it, especially with the sound clips.”
Believe it or not, I was never a Stooges fan. My guess it was more due to lack of exposure to it than anything else. Now if you’re talking games, I will always fall back on the arcade game. I remember playing it back at Chuck E. Cheese when it first released and being mostly baffled by the whole thing. Those are not easy to find these days and they are rather pricey. I’ll probably hunt it down again next time I go to Galloping Ghost just based on this reminder.
Robert R questions lineages with…”Worst world champion: WWECW Champion Vince McMahon, WWF Champion Vince McMahon or WCW Champion Vince Russo?”
I’m ruling out Russo because I laugh every time when he says, “Bro, can you refer to me as former WCW Champion Vince Russo?” He knows how much that infuriates folks. With those three choices, I’ll go ECW champ Vince McMahon though I did love his ‘do rag. These days though I’m not sure how much I should say I like anything about the guy.
Thomas M asks…”Considering how his style of comedy involved manipulating the crowd, do you think anyone had to smarten up Andy Kaufman or could he have figured it out for himself? Could he have realized on his own how far laudable really went?”
I think he knew and he played everything to the hilt know what would get the most heat. I’ve never been an “Andy Kaufman was a genius” guy, but I think he could just read the room in most situations and know what would get the best reaction. There are folks like that. In a weird way I think Peyton Manning is the same, which is why he could go on SNL and kill it and make the Manningcast a hit. I have to be the first person in history to compare those two people, right?
Andy G ponders…”I was discussing with a friend back in August when Terry Funk and Bray Wyatt passed away on consecutive days that were both in their prime, Funk vs Fiend would’ve been an amazing feud. What other cross-generational feuds do you think would have been incredible between people with very different styles?”
How about Nick Bockwinkel against Bryan Danielson? Having Bobby Heenan doing promos with Danielson would have been amazing as well.
Sean B wants to know…”When will you induct Brad Amstrong’s brother Steve’s run in WWE as Lance Cassidy?”
I am sure I did that one years ago. It was probably like three sentences as there wasn’t much there.
Dustin N asks…”Who’s your favorite tag team to never win a World Tag Team Championship?”
Would have been worth it for Hulk Hogan and Gene Okerlund to get the straps just so we could get more training sessions with Hulk forcing Gene to drink raw eggs as Okerlund just wanted to smoke cigars instead.
Chad A tells me I’ve avoided it long enough so yes, we finish up with…”So thoughts on the Vince scandal? Are you shocked even the slightest about the latest allegations?”
I hate to say it, but not really. When you are the kingpin in a business whose foundation is built on quite literally a lie, we can’t all be completely shocked can we? I mean, the allegations are heinous to say the very least so I guess yes, I was taken back by the seediness of it all. And it’s really awful because it tarnishes at some level all those people who worked with him for so long. Everyone will be asking “did this person know and why didn’t they do anything to stop it?” At some level that’s a valid question, at another, really, he was untouchable in his little kingdom. Now he’s not and I think it may get a lot worse when it’s all said and done.
Well, that’s a bummer of a way to end this column. Feel free to lighten things up next week by sending those questions rightchere!