Brian Damage
Growing up a pro wrestling fan, one of the most magnetic teams/factions I ever saw were the Fabulous Freebirds. The boys from ‘Badstreet USA’were like rock stars to me. Michael Hayes was the groups voice, Buddy Roberts was the wrestler and Terry Gordy was the group’s muscle. Together, they were so big, bad and dominant….they raised hell everywhere they went. Each member had their strengths and weaknesses individually, but together…there were very few better. Continue reading
Brian Damage
Make no mistakes about it, ‘The Million Dollar Man’ Ted Dibiase was once the top heel in all of the World Wrestling Federation back in the late 1980’s. In a lot of ways, the Million Dollar Man gimmick was the precursor to the Mr. McMahon character a few years later. He was sort of a rib on media tycoon Ted Turner with a bodyguard named Virgil aka Virgil ‘Dusty Rhodes’ Runnels (the head booker of NWA/WCW at the time). The Million Dollar Man was all about power and control and he did it through his immense wealth. Continue reading
“I could take any Ham and Egger and make them a star.” – Bobby Heenan
Bobby ‘the Brain’ Heenan is widely regarded as one of the greatest managers in pro wrestling history. Heenan has managed some of the all time greats in wrestling including Nick Bockwinkel, ‘Mr. Perfect’ Curt Hennig, ‘Ravishing’ Rick Rude, Andre the Giant and ‘The Nature Boy’ Ric Flair. As impressive as that list is, Bobby was also a star himself. Bobby Heenan’s gift of gab and quick wit made him perhaps the most hated and beloved manager in the history of the WWF/WWE. Continue reading
Brian Damage
The WWE has been known to push the envelope from time to time with some of their gimmicks and storylines. While some have been crude and at times downright offensive, Vince McMahon was never fearful of taking chances. Heck, as the old saying goes, bad publicity is just as good as good publicity….or something like that. There was one particular gimmick and storyline that started in 2001 and became the talk of the wrestling world and beyond. This is the story of Billy and Chuck. Continue reading
Brian Damage
Throughout the history of pro wrestling bookers and promoters have always tried to come up with new, creative and innovative ideas to generate interest in their product. Some ideas have not only succeeded…but flourished. Others were DOA from the get go. Then there are those ideas which initially were innovative but, for various reasons, faded away. Those are the focus of this latest series of posts titled ‘Great Ideas That Didn’t Last’. The latest piece focuses on ‘The Narcissist’ Lex Luger
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Brian Damage
1991 was a very weird year for the company known as World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The company, now owned by billionaire Ted Turner, was feverishly trying to compete with its main rival the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). To do that, Turner hired an executive named Jim Herd to run the day to day operations of the promotion. ‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes was the head booker in charge of creating the matches and storylines. Together, Herd and Rhodes created what was thought to be a winning gimmick that would put the company over the top. Continue reading
We recently had the honor and privilege to chat with a former co holder of the AWA world tag team championship and former WWF, ECW and WCW star Paul Diamond. Diamond talks about his early days in pro wrestling, how he got his wrestling name, his time in the AWA, ‘Diamond’ Dallas Page, his venture into the WWF and how he got his gimmicks. He also talks about the affair that got him let go from the WWF and working with Shawn Michaels and his wrestling school. Continue reading
