I have a favorite wrestling YouTube show and I’m not sure anything else is even close. It’s called Hey! (EW) and it’s basically a one on one interview where you get to learn more about the personalities in AEW. Sounds kinda plain, right? That’s what I thought before I dove into it…and holy smokes is it great. Hosted by RJ City, it’s less a personality profile than a near mockumentary. I absolutely love stuff like this – if you’ve ever watched Between Two Ferns, it’s somewhat similar to that. And it’s very, VERY funny, way funnier than anything I’ve seen in ages.
I posted something on my old man social media the other day about how folks often ask me if I would ever want to book or write for a wrestling company. I remember when my buddy Casey and I would do that, and it was ridiculous. I noted that no one would really want that and if they did, they should just hire RJ as his most recent show where he gave Red Velvet new catchphrases (my favorite or which was “I’m going to give you a yeast infection!”) would be exactly what I would do. I thought nothing more about it but then RJ let me know he was, in fact, a “WrestleCrap kid.” He told me about how he would come to the site and check out the inductions and all that jazz and I thought that was really cool. Reminded me of years ago when Chris Jericho told me he busted on the Hardys for being the Jynx Bros. and pointed out the induction as what he used to mock them.
TL;DR: if you’ve not watched Hey! (EW), you need to. Starting with this:
That out of the way, let’s hit the mailbag!
Christopher H kicks us off with…”I wanted to hear your opinion on Herb Abrams and UWF. It’s funny that Herb actually did everything that Cody Rhodes would do with much more success twenty seven years later. Why didn’t it work? The name of UWF’s weekly show was UWF Fury Hour. If they dropped 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘳 from it, UWF Fury would sound like a cool name. It sounds like AEW Rampage, Dynamite and Collision were all inspired by that. Funny.”
I mean, there have been lots of folks over the years who have attempted what really only AEW has been able to accomplish successfully (albeit on a bit of a downturn currently). Herb was fascinating though to so many people as he was just completely insane by all accounts and would spend money on wrestling, drugs, and women. There’s a pretty good book out there about it called Tortured Ambition that goes into ridiculous detail on his ventures in wrestling. With so many places looking for content, a Netflix GLOW style reenactment of the UWF would be tremendous and easily get my money.
Craig B stumbles in with…”Favorite Sandman memory?”
Oh man, that’s a toughie. I know we’re not supposed to mention him these days, but his on-screen interactions with Vince were legendary to me. I loved when they were doing the Vince illegitimate son reveal and Sandman (SANDMAN!!!) was out there and Vince just looked at him in the most appalled manner. That and any time he did a senton. Take your pick.
Arya W wants to know…”When are you going to induct the angle where Bradshaw was convinced Shelton Benjamin and Shaniqua were the same person? It culminated in a skit where Charlie Haas convinced Shelton to put on a wig and lipstick to prove he wasn’t Shaniqua.”
I think I blocked that completely out of my memory. That’s something I tend/try to do with anything Bradshaw related though. As always, if you folks have something you want me to induct, feel free to message me directly and please include either links or general timelines on when it happened. I’ll keep inducting away, believe me!
Robert R asks the eternal question…”Did you know that Rellik spelled backwards is killer?”
I’ve heard rumors of that, but never bothered to check legitimacy of such a claim.
Dave M wants to know…”Were you interviewed for the upcoming “Dark Side Of the Ring” John Tenta episode?”
They reached out to me, yes. I also pointed them to the WrestleCrap Radios he appeared on so hopefully folks can see what a great man Quake was. Man I miss him.
Romeo N gets jacked dude with…”How are you celebrating 40 years of Hulkamania, brother?!!?”
Only way I know how – firing up the Thunder Mixer and looking up his latest tall tales. I really need more of those in my life, as I’ve said many times he’s this generation’s Paul Bunyon. As he gets older, his stories become even more absurd and I am there for all of them.
Cameron A ponders…”Which promotion was the most consistent at producing sloppy and/or unintentionally funny television?”
For my money, nothing will ever top WCW Thunder in its dying days. That stuff with DDP and Nash…you know what, let’s just refer to Death of WCW, shall we?
The Scott Hall story of the week was that he was arrested for kicking in the door of a taxi cab after the driver told him he wouldn’t accept payment via credit card. Even though he’d been fired, Kevin Nash and Dallas Page had been dropping his name regularly on TV. Following this arrest, head of WCW Legal, Diana Meyers, outright banned his name from all company telecasts. This led to another legendary segment on the December 6 Thunder. The show featured an interview with Dallas Page and Nash conducted by the retired Stevie Ray that, if there was a real wrestling record book of some sort, should have been listed in it. Nash and Page claimed nobody told them Hall’s name was banned, so they talked about him the entire time. During this interview, there was a major lighting problem, and the overhead lamps were swinging back and forth as if they were in the middle of a windstorm. There was also a loud clanging noise, as if someone was pounding on a garbage can lid. This wasn’t expected to be an issue, because the plan was to edit in footage of Hall to cover up these technical glitches. Unfortunately, when Meyers heard about it she blew a gasket and refused to allow the footage or verbal references of Hall to air. Instead of pulling the segment, they aired it on TV anyway, which meant fans nationwide saw Nash and Page eyeballing this wandering overhead lamp while several dozen words were bleeped, making it totally incomprehensible. Thunder had become the wrestling equivalent of the Ed Wood cult flick Plan 9 From Outer Space.
And really, nothing is topping that. Keep those questions coming in and I’ll keep answering them!