You mean The Harlem Heat were based on a stereotype?

 

First thing I thought about when I saw the title of the thread.

I have one name for you: Coco B. Ware.

 

I'm not sure if I ever saw him win a match. The JYD was the only WWF black guy from that era allowed to win matches, it seemed.

I think since it is a business they will do what is to their best interest, wonder what the wrestling fan demographics are? Does that have any correlation to top stars?

World's Strongest Man.

Bobby Lashley had a lot that he walked away from to pursue MMA.

 

Big E is young but has received a pretty fair push so far and it's now up to him to do something with it and get over with the fans.

 

Darren Young is a guy who does lots of promotional work for the company (i.e., appearing on the today show, doing the "Be a Star" and anti-bullying campaigns).

 

Johnathon Coachman started as an announcer and is now with ESPN.

 

Mark Henry has been in the business since the mid 90's and is still going.

 

Kofi Kingston is a solid mid card guy who is good in the ring and is great at high spots, but just isn't a good enough talker to be a champion.

 

 

This is going to sound awful because the guy could have his own thread where we use highlights of him to illustrate every point that's probably already been made in the here, but in terms of his early in-ring work and the kind of hard, edgy demeanor that made his character what it was, New Jack is one of my all-time favorite wrestlers, regardless of category.

 

 

Dude's character was involved in the kind of controversies you might expect from the homages that his ring and tag team's names (appropriately dubbed "The Gangstas"), would be expected to imply coming up in Jim Cornette's Smoky Mountain Wrestling and later Paul Heyman's ECW.

 

His entrance theme was "Natural Born Killaz", he came to the ring with a trash can full of weapons and wearing an actual staple gun with a chain attached to either end around his neck like a piece of jewelry, and generally, raised hell. Didn't really know about all of the stuff until later, but even before he'd gotten to ECW, he'd already been involved in angles so controversial that the NAACP had protested outside some of his shows in SMW.

 

 

He was very popular (despite being very antagonistic to fans) though, and if you haven't seen him, you'll understand why when I say that as a wrestler, he reminds me of Jeff Hardy-- the guy that's willing to jump off of any and everything, as well as take bumps off it.

 

I bring up Jeff Hardy because both aren't very clean cut, have each had their share of legal problems, and neither fits the stereotypical mold of a cookie cutter McMahon guy like Batista. But, if you ask any ECW fan to name some of their favorite (or at least most memorable) wrestlers, he's on that list.

 

You ask anyone who watched wrestling then about some of the best "high spots" in his era and his name comes up just like Hardy, Mick Foley, Sabu, Edge, etc. People appreciate the work and performance he does and the kind of risks he takes in the name of entertainment, but that also ending up taking a huge toll on his livelihood. The fact that he is on a list with guys like Edge (neck), Hardy (injuries, painkillers), and others shows how dangerous that type of performance really was.

 

 

When he was at his best, he, unlike Hardy, was much stiffer in the ring and at some points (especially those later in his career that occurred after he'd suffered permanent brain damage, had brain fluid leaking from his nose, and completely lost vision in one eye when another wrestler botched a spot and injured him), really blurred the lines of a 'scripted' fight.

 

As a kid watching, he had what, at least to me at the time, seemed to be a very convincing "this dude is a little off and might get mad and really snap" factor. Being the guy who lets an opponent take a staple to his orbital area in the name of his work builds quite a reputation, and as a kid, it was one that I won't lie and say I didn't watch and think "this is awesome... it's actually real and way better than the fake stuff".

 

 

Just like people loved Walter White, Jesse Pinkman, Omar, Tony Soprano, Dexter... that antihero appeal is what makes or breaks many professional wrestlers (who aren't as charismatic as The Rock, Flair, and the like). The good guy versus bad guy storyline is the oldest one in the industry and the easiest to pull off. You need bad guys, and during the Attitude Era, it became cooler to like the bad guys. Stone Cold Steve Austin was an unapologetic, foul-mouthed beer drinker. The Undertaker was demonic, talked about hell and stealing souls, and played up the occult. Brian Pillman tried to top that by being a "loose cannon" and having a gun on national TV. Gun aside, most of what the WWF was doing compared to ECW was child's play. New Jack was a bad guy who was so legitimately 'bad', that you respected his toughness even if you didn't like him.

 

 

The point I'm trying to make here is that in the "attitude era", characters' popularity, and in turn, their value to a promoter, probably wasn't going to be based on them being a choir boy or skilled technical wrestler. Given the era he wrestled in, had New Jack not been seen as a liability*, McMahon probably would have loved to have had him in his company and I'm guessing that the fans probably would have as well.

 

 

*Brain injury is a serious thing and undoubtedly effected him. Post-injury, for some reason, a promoter thought it'd be a good idea to have him fight the wrestler who injured him in a scaffold match and New Jack tried to throw him from it so that he hit the ring post or outside and was either seriously injured or died. He also later took 'blading' a little too far and ended up facing aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault to commit murder charges.

Edited July 12, 201412 yr by JokersWild24

I have one name for you: Coco B. Ware.

What about Pistol Pez Whatley?

I'm not sure if I ever saw him win a match. The JYD was the only WWF black guy from that era allowed to win matches, it seemed.

 

 

But Bad News Brown got to turn on Bret Hart and smash his Wrestlemania trophy over his head when he turned on him.

But Bad News Brown got to turn on Bret Hart and smash his Wrestlemania trophy over his head when he turned on him.

 

Forgot about him. :ohbrother:

Forgot about him. :ohbrother:

 

We share a last name, so I think I'm probably a distant cousin of ole' Bad News. In all seriousness, I think Bad News Brown was a fairly popular wrestler in the early 80's. He and Piper had a race thing going and Piper came down the ramp painted half black. This is at one of the Wrestlemanias before I was born that I only watched later on.

 

Jim, from your comments and posts in general, and especially these, I think your a guy who needs to check out the WWE Network's Free Trial Week if nothing else. I promise you'll love it. If you get obscure references like Bad News Brown.

 

All the Pay per views (even the current ones when they originally air, a tape library with all of the past WCW, ECW, Memphis, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, whomever's tape library they could buy out, it's all on there. Then they have original content, one is an awesome show that I loved watching but fell out of it because I had to start Bar Prep, but it's called "Legend's House" and is a Real World style show where they do challenges for charity, tell war stories, get drunk and fight, wake up and make up, rinse and repeat if your Duggan and you are around Tony Atlas. Really unique cast of characters there for the initial season... Piper, Pat Patterson, Tony Atlas, Mene Gene, Hillbilly Jim, Jimmy Hart, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Howard Finkel. Nice concept, most of the things they do aren't really challenges, they just have them do things and take them to events and things. Still really fun to watch though.

I know I will get lambasted for this but I can't believe anyone watches wrestling. Or Big Brother. Or The Bachelor. The Voice, American Idol, etc. I just do not see the appeal.

I know I will get lambasted for this but I can't believe anyone watches wrestling. Or Big Brother. Or The Bachelor. The Voice' date=' American Idol, etc. I just do not see the appeal.[/quote']

 

The Voice is really, really good. But I don't watch any of the others now that I have my own TV!

We share a last name, so I think I'm probably a distant cousin of ole' Bad News. In all seriousness, I think Bad News Brown was a fairly popular wrestler in the early 80's. He and Piper had a race thing going and Piper came down the ramp painted half black. This is at one of the Wrestlemanias before I was born that I only watched later on.

 

Jim, from your comments and posts in general, and especially these, I think your a guy who needs to check out the WWE Network's Free Trial Week if nothing else. I promise you'll love it. If you get obscure references like Bad News Brown.

 

All the Pay per views (even the current ones when they originally air, a tape library with all of the past WCW, ECW, Memphis, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, whomever's tape library they could buy out, it's all on there. Then they have original content, one is an awesome show that I loved watching but fell out of it because I had to start Bar Prep, but it's called "Legend's House" and is a Real World style show where they do challenges for charity, tell war stories, get drunk and fight, wake up and make up, rinse and repeat if your Duggan and you are around Tony Atlas. Really unique cast of characters there for the initial season... Piper, Pat Patterson, Tony Atlas, Mene Gene, Hillbilly Jim, Jimmy Hart, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Howard Finkel. Nice concept, most of the things they do aren't really challenges, they just have them do things and take them to events and things. Still really fun to watch though.

 

I had heard that site was a gold mine. Might have to check it out. I don't keep up with 'rasslin much nowadays, but I loved all the old-school stuff.

Totally not a story about the topic, but it IS about wrestling.

 

When I was at The Brown, Derby was MY deal. Once I got everyone pre-checked in on Thursday, I loved to go down to the front door and spend most of the next 3 days helping our bellmen, and meeting all these people I'd worked with for sometimes over a year to plan their perfect Derby trip. One year, Vince McMahon was our guest. My bell staff was predominantly Hungarian, and Tivadar was a huge guy, very smooth, good looking and always so "cool" in his attitude....until the day the limo for Mr. McMahon rolled up. Tivadar literally jumped over the luggage of a group of some of Big Brown's owners, grabbed a bell cart and had the McMahon's hustled up to the Front Desk to check in and to their room in record time. I had NEVER seen Tiv move so fast! He really had no "starry eyes" for any of the other celebrities we had staying there (which included Carson Palmer that year), but his hero was Vince McMahon and Tivadar was literally was a blur in the photo we tried to take of his service. :lol:

 

Deuce, were you there that year?

I had heard that site was a gold mine. Might have to check it out. I don't keep up with 'rasslin much nowadays, but I loved all the old-school stuff.

 

You'd love the site then. I have it and have only watched bits of Wrestlemania and maybe 1 other pay per view or other current show. Most of what I watch is the old stuff, Legend's House, their roundtable discussions, all that.

Here's one of the Roundtables that's relevant to our topic.

 

[video=youtube;KOs8C-Ar6vE]