Boo: They're a Bit Odd

The Oddities

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

The end of the 90's saw a big boom in the world of professional wrestling, due to the Monday Night Wars.  WCW and WWF were pulling out all the stops to get the leg up.  Part of the competition included bringing in talent outside of wrestling to attract crossover appeal.  The WWF (and eventually WCW) went after the Insane Clown Posse.

The rapping clowns become the cornermen for a group of wrestlers known as the Oddities.  Golga (who was played by the late, great John "Earthquake" Tenta), Giant Silva, the late, great Luna Vachon, and Kurrgan were all a part of the group.  It was kinda weird seeing these former monsters embrace the fans and work as faces. ICP performed the entrance tune for the group and even wrestled a few times.

The Oddities, originally booked as heels, were over with the fans and became faces.  They would dance before and after matches, and even though I'm not a big face of the ICP, I must admit the entrance theme is quite catchy.  I still play it in my iPod from time to time.

The Oddities with Sable
Photo courtesy: WWE

Even though the fans did love them, the Oddities weren't much more than a flash in the pan gimmick and mostly used to help get others over.  At one point Sable was involved with the group before feuding with Luna over the women's title.  ICP would eventually turn on the group too and join forces with the Headbangers.  But the clowns didn't stay in the WWF long and headed south to Atlanta and WCW.  Even George "the Animal" Steele briefly worked with the Oddities, proclaiming himself as an original.

The Oddities were odd and scary, but in a good way.  They were like the circus freaks, just as their song implies, but they meant no one any real harm.  I always found them fun to watch and entertaining as well.

Boo: Mystery Solved

Mystery Man strikes

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger on Twitter

Sticking with the Halloween-type costume theme and not so much the scary Halloween posts, I'm digging back 20 years for the WWF Superstar with no name.  However in the WWE Encyclopedia, he's listed as Mystery Man.  Does anyone remember him?  He wasn't around very long and back then he was quite the mystery.  Kinda.

I actually assumed Mystery Man was in fact Brutus Beefcake.  It was about a year after Beefcake's horrible para sailing accident.  He'd been on the shelf ever since.  Then in spring 1991, Earthquake had just beaten a jobber on Superstars.  He was about to do another post match Earthquake splash, when a guy in a mask and a crazy get up hit the ring.  This mysterious figure beat the hell out of Quake, and chased manager Jimmy Hart from the ring like a scalded dog (as Jim Ross would say)

Nice mask

The same thing happened after squash matches involving "The Model" Rick Martel and Dino Bravo.  I like mentioned before, back then Mystery Man had no name, the announcers had no idea who he was or what to call him.  And he never actually wrestled, so I'm not sure what the point was of having him come out.

Like I said, years later it was revealed to be Brutus Beefcake under the mask.  I had assumed it was him back then, just based on the build and the mannerisms of the man.  I remembered hoping this was actually going to develop into something, but it never did.  Yeah, I was a mark back then.  Probably still am.

Another version of the outfit

Legend has it that Beefcake wasn't fully recovered from the accident and wasn't yet ready to get back into the ring to wrestle.  Shortly after they pulled the plug on the Mystery Man, the Barber Shop talk show started up.  He changed up the costumes too.  In one attack he wore fur arm bands and mask.

So if you remember this gimmick for the few weeks it ran in 1991, and didn't realize it was Beefcake behind the character, consider the mystery solved.  Thanks for reading.  And don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Wrestling with Disasters

Photo from WWE

By Kevin Hunsperger

Let me start off by saying this post is in no way intended to be disrespectful to anyone who has lost their life or home or loved ones in the recent string of tornadoes or any other natural disaster for that matter.  Regular readers know that I work in the news business, and we've been covering a lot of weather related stories lately.  It got me to thinking there's a connection to the world of wrestling.  It's just the way my brain works...

The Natural Disasters: Earthquake and Typhoon formed a team appropriately known as the Natural Disasters.  Before these two joined forces The late John Tenta was Earthquake when he first arrived in the WWF back in the late 1980's.  Typhoon was Tugboat, but changed his moniker after he became a heel.

This may have been the biggest team in wrestling.   At least they were as far as I can remember.  If I'm wrong, please let me know.  When the Quake left WWE for WCW, the brain trust there tweaked his name and he became Avalanche.  He would later change his name to the Shark.  Typhoon became known as the Shockmaster in a brief WCW run.  I think the Shockmaster was a play on earthquake and aftershocks, but I don't know that for sure.  I think really more people were shocked by his debut.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, click here.

From WWE

The Texas Tornado: Kerry Von Erich came spinning into the WWF in the summer of 1990 under the name "The Texas Tornado".  This was a time when Vince McMahon was tagging most of his superstars with a trademarked nickname.  Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat simply became "The Dragon", Davey Boy Smith was known as only "The British Bulldog".  You get the picture.

As the Texas Tornado, Kerry had a fairly quick rise to the upper mid-card in the WWF after winning the Intercontinental title at SummerSlam 90.  Even after he lost the title, he was still one of the companies top faces.  He had always been one of my favorites, so seeing him on the national stage made me happy.  I just questioned the name change and the fact that they almost completely ignored his heritage in the business.  Times were different back then.  Sadly, Kerry died in 1993 of a self inflicted gunshot wound. He was only 33 years old.  I often wonder where his career would have taken him, had he not died.

From WWE

The Hurricane: Shane Helms or Gregory Helms became the crime fighting Hurricane Helms and eventually was simply known as the Hurricane.  He held a handful of titles in WWE, including the tag team titles with Kane and Rosey.

If my memory serves me correctly, the WWE dropped the Hurricane name and gimmick in 2005 around the time of Hurricane Katrina, a disaster that killed nearly 2,000 people.  He went back to just being Gregory Helms.  It wasn't until 2009 the gimmick reemerged.  He was eventually released from the WWE in 2010.

These are the most memorable weather related wrestling gimmicks.  At least the ones I can think of.  Although I did meet a female indy wrestler named Rain.  And TNA now has Winter, formerly known as Katie Lee Burchill and Madison Rayne.  While we're on the subject of cold stuff, I guess you can throw Glacier in there too, right?  Don't forget about Al Snow, although that was more of his last name and not an actual gimmick.  And I think back in the day there was a tag team known as Thunder and Lightning, wasn't there?

Matt Thunder

Another independent wrestler on the southern Illinois scene is "The Wrestling Meteorologist" Matt Thunder.  I wonder how he would have held up against Earthquake and Typhoon.  You'll hear more from Thunder in the coming weeks.  Chad and I are soon starting a new feature with wrestlers around the country, so stay tuned for the details.

It seems like most wrestlers today have more conventional names.  We're no longer in the era of silly, fun, or goofy gimmicks and names.  Just something I've noticed and finally took some time to write about.

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