Huffy Flounce

The Undertaker also strikes me as being a pretty substandard wrestler. He's just one of a whole bunch. This is not to say that there was no athleticism. There was a lot of jumping from ropes and taking punishing hits and clotheslining, but actual wrestling skill appeared to fall by the wayside.

There didn't seem to be that big a shift back to acrobatics being a key element to wrestling until folks like Rey Mysterio started trickling in, and there didn't seem to be that big a shift back to wrestling fundamentals being a key element until MMA started making a splash.

Hulk Hogan had 'No Holds Barred' and played 'Thunderlips' !

I already mentioned Rocky III.

Bollea was also in Suburban Commando and Mr. Nanny, but these were both sad lights shone by a dimmed star, and they would both feed into Hogan poking a little fun at himself as "Hollywood Hulk Hogan" in the mid-nineties.

Speaking of "Hollywood Hulk Hogan," I guess maybe something should be said about how Bollea was a headliner for WCW during the time when WCW was the dominant force in wrestling. (Was it already the dominant force when he signed on, or did it only become that after he signed on? If it's the latter, maybe a case could be made for his presence being instrumental to the rise of WCW's popularity.) Sure, maybe he skated by as a legacy character even then, but going from one company to another and being (arguably) just a beloved a heel as he had been a face is nothing to sneeze at.

Of course, some of the majesty and mystery has been diminished by the reality show. Also, the world has seen a grainy, pixelated version of his ding-dong. We've never seen Steve Austin's ding-dong. That's one point for Steve Austin.

Your ability to seamlessly transition between calling him "Hogan" and calling him "Bollea" is legitimately impressive to me, Goiter. I'll be honest, I read your posts earlier today and am replying off memory, so let me respond with what I can recall.

1) The Undertaker is a great wrestler for a big man. He's got (or at least had, he's pretty banged up and very VERY part time at this point) a skill set, speed and versatility that, to my knowledge, was unseen in guys that tall before or since.

2) I honestly don't know if WCW was the dominant force in pro wrestling before he got there, but the nWo absolutely put them over the top. WWF in the mid-90s was pretty awful and I can't imagine the ratings were great. Once WCW started signing away all of the early 90s WWF guys (Hogan, Hart, Piper, Savage, etc.) they became the power in wrestling fairly quickly. WWF responded with the TV-14 Attitude Era, led of course by....

3) Stone Cold Steve Austin also isn't a great wrestler. But he's got more moves than Hogan. By a mile. Austin is much more of a brawler by nature, but he's definitely an average/slightly above average technical worker.

This ends today's edition of "Adam's Been Single For Way Too Long."

"Bollea" is fun to write. I guess I was distinguishing between the man and the character when I was doing it, but I don't think I was policing my choices very closely.

I never really thought of the Undertaker as being that agile, but it could be that I wasn't paying much attention. I was already tuned out by the time he began to be a big deal.

I always thought they wrote in that whole he's-the-reanimated-dead gimmick to account for his stiffness. Maybe I'll go back and give some of his stuff a watch. Most of my memories of his wrestling are of him no-selling hits, jumping from ropes, and bolting upright/"rising" when his opponents were just so damned sure that he was out.

I think the Undertaker's in Suburban Commander. I remember him playing an alien bounty hunter sent to bring in Bollea's character. He's pretty stiff in it. I can't remember whether or not he has any lines.

When I think of massive guys who are also pretty agile, I guess my first thoughts are of The Giant/Big Show and Kevin Nash. Like the Undertaker, they weren't big names until after I stopped keeping up with wrestling, but I do remember seeing them moving featly and being surprisingly fleet of foot.

I guess Bam Bam Bigelow is the most famously agile of the big guys who were wrestling when I was still watching. He's my height, though, so it's hard for me to think of him as a big guy.

I don't ever remember a point at which Kevin Nash was anything that could be described as agile. Maybe when he was Diesel? Big Show is pretty quick for a huge fella though, I'll definitely give you that.

When I say "big guy" in this context, I'm thinking of the ~7 foot tall set, like Undertaker, Nash, Big Show, etc.

I really only remember him as Diesel, though I know he made the switch to his actual name, so I decided to call him that. I remember him being somewhat agile in the mid-nineties. Not sure if he kept that up.

I guess there's also a chance my brain has merged The Giant and and Nash into a single wrestler. They were both giant dudes with long, dark locks and facial hair.

Looks like Nash has gone grey, and it looks like The Giant/Big Show became a cue ball. This is not the way I remember them.

I don't know if this will make Dalty think more of professional wrestling or less of it, but it's a worthwhile read:

Money in the Bank: The story of pro wrestling in the twentieth century is the story of American capitalism.

It features pictures by Stanley Kubrick.

The mid-twentieth century wrestling organization was NWA? Who would have guessed!

Clearly, we were lied to when we were told they were straight outta Compton.

There was a Crazy Motherfucker who thought he was an ice-cube, but this was due to the unique cocktail of steroids.

Back in the late 90s, I used to mix up Steve Austin and Bill Goldberg all the time. They don't look all that much alike, but they're big, bald white guys with goatees - that was enough of a resemblance for me.

One reason I was annoyed by Steve Austin is the 3:16 meme he started. It wasn't even that clever, but I just kept seeing it everywhere.

The late nineties and early aughts were fat with unclever memes and catchphrases. There was also "Git-R-Done."

There was also "Here's your sign!" That was Bill Engvall's pretty unimaginative reworking of Jeff Foxworthy's "You Might Be a Redneck If... " bit. You'd think Foxworthy would be sore about it, but they're apparently best friends. They did those generally awful Blue Collar Comedy Tours together.

Larry the Cable Guy and his "Git-R-Done" were also featured in those Blue Collar Comedy Tours. I guess Ron White's the only comedian from the early tours who isn't associated with a lame-as-shit catchphrase.

Wait, Larry The Cable Guy is like a real thing? I thought it was a movie with Jim Carey. All these years.....

I feel like Goldberg was probably WCW's answer to Stone Cold.

Or vice versa? Which came first?

Bananarama's Bouncy Bits wrote:Wait, Larry The Cable Guy is like a real thing? I thought it was a movie with Jim Carey. All these years.....

To the "Teach Dalty American" thread with you!

Adam54 wrote:I feel like Goldberg was probably WCW's answer to Stone Cold.

Or vice versa? Which came first?

Stone Cold came first, I'm pretty sure.

I remember seeing the first Goldberg match. He didn't even get an entrance. They came out of commercial and the guy he faced got his entrance. Goldberg was "that guy" that was already in the ring, which back in those days implied that he was a wrestler of zero consequence that sucked. He speared his opponent and pinned the guy within 15 seconds or so, and thus his star was born.

WWF later came back with a spoof character called "Gilberg" and they pumped in the famous "GILLLLLLLL-BERG, GILLLLLLL-BERG" chant through the speakers (it was said that WCW always embellished the positive crowd reaction to Goldberg.)

Saw this image in the comment section of the article on the moving rocks in Death Valley that Goiter posted in the science thread.

That's a good meme for people who fudge on the use of "infer."

What are you implying?

Same thing as the Rock, Dalty.

Dalty's cooking?

Maybe. What does your nose tell you?

I smell what the Dimple's cookin'.

Smells like porridge and tea.