The Deadman, The Phenom...The Undertaker. The greatest of all time?....Arguably. Completely unique, logic defying and influential beyond measure? Without a doubt. In celebration of a quarter century of The Lord of Darkness, Cultural Compulsive Disorder pays tribute with a look back at this legendary career, and maybe a hint of what may lie in the future...
Thinking back on all the wrestlers that have come and gone through the years, there are very few that have had the impact that Undertaker has had. Over his 25 year career he has been one of the most dominant forces in the WWF/E and people who root for good guys AND bad guys alike love the big dead bastard. With the 2015 Survivor Series on the horizon (he made his premiere at the 1990 Survivor Series), we decided to enlist some heavy hitters in the wrestling world to celebrate the career of such an icon. Jedi Rob is joined by Steve Resk, founder of the first unpredictable card game The Supershow & wrestler Eric Draven, the definition of Authority & Sexiness in the CCD Nerd Cave and make podcast magic! All hail the Dead Man...
Wrestling played a huge role in most nerds lives back in the 70s/80s/90s and is still really popular today. The WWF/WWE, WCW, NWA, ECW and other organizations all gave us some memorable characters to cheer and jeer over the years. But some of those performers were lucky enough to expand their careers beyond the squared circle and branch out into acting... well, lets just say that they were in some movies (not much ACTING really taking place in most of these roles!). Some are no brainers, like Hulk Hogan in Rocky 3 or Jesse Ventura in Predator. But what about some of the others through the years? Check out wrestling fanatics Jedi Rob, Joey Esq, and The Supershow creator Steve Resk as they go through some of the best (or worst?) roles that wrestlers filled through the years! Episode #52 is up...
No Holds Barred is one of the greatest hot messes to ever make it to the movie screen. At the height of the WWF's success in 1989, Vince McMahon put his biggest star Hulk Hogan in a movie that the WWF produced. They also introduced ole Debo himself, Zeus aka Tiny Lister. And that is where the wheels really come off.... this madcap wrestling flick is one of the late 80s greatest gems... so Jedi Rob, Steve and Joey Esq break it on down for ya. A small, short, .5 episode for that ass... What ya gonna do, when Hulk let's those 24 inch PYTHONS loose on you!!!!
So the WWE's second biggest event, Summer Slam, has just come and gone... and we here at the CCD Podcast felt it was time to touch on wrestling with a whole episode! For any kids growing up in the 80s the WWF/WWE phenomenon was a huge part of their growing up, so Jedi Rob tag teams up with Joey Esq and Steve the Big Truck (making his CCD Podcast debut) and breaks down this years Summer Slam as well as recapping many of the great moments from Summer Slam's past. All in all a fun little trip that will bring you back to the times of the Hulkster, Sean Michaels, Brett Hart, Randy Macho Man, The Ultimate Warrior, Jake the Snake, Mega Bucks, Mega Powers, and so much more.... OHHHHHHH YEAHHHHH!!!!
Hulk Hogan has crossed over from just being known as a wrestling superstar to being recognized by pretty much anyone with a pulse. Everyone knows Hulk, whether they watch wrestling or not. So this past week saw Hulk turn 61, and Vince McMahon and the WWE paid tribute to the aging vet with a classic party right in the ring on Monday Night Raw!!! Plenty of guests showed up, including: Jimmy Heart, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Ric Flair, and even a mustachioed Paul 'Mr. Wonderful' Orndorf!!! And then we even get to see the Hulster reunite with The Outsiders, NWO style! Holy shit, what a great tribute. Check out the full clip after the jump... for all the 80s babies who loved them a true American hero!
As I said in my Wrestlemania review, coming out of this weekend, I was more excited to be a wrestling fan than I have been in a very long time. Unfortunately, that excitement has been tempered by the sad and untimely passing of the Ultimate Warrior this past Tuesday. If you were a wrestling fan in the late 80's and early 90's, then the Ultimate Warrior was part of your fandom, no question. Personally, I was a Randy Savage kid. In fact, my fandom of the big three went Savage, then Hogan, and then Warrior. But even with that said, Warrior's passing is definitely another little part of my childhood that’s now been snuffed out, and too early at that, because he was only 52 years old. He'd just mended his bridges with the WWE, was inducted into the Hall of Fame and was getting ready to assume the role of some kind of goodwill ambassador with the company. And again, even though I was never the biggest Warrior fan, I was definitely looking forward to seeing what this would entail.
Well, WrestleMania 30 has come and gone and as I sit here writing this I have to say, I was definitely satisfied. In fact, I thought the show was great. Earlier in the weekend I said that I hadn't been this excited for a WrestleMania in probably 10 years. Turns out that's fitting because also haven't been this pleased with the results. Until this weekend, it's been 10 years since I've truly enjoyed being a wrestling fan. Sure there were bright spots between then and now, but for the most part I've found the WWE to be stale, boring and disappointing since WrestleMania 20 closed with two of my favorite wrestlers celebrating in the ring, both world champions, both having reached the pinnacle of their sport.
WrestleMania 20 was at Madison Square Garden. I was there, and getting to see Chris Benoit (one of the aforementioned favorite wrestlers, before he turned into a monster) beat HHH clean in the main event to become the World Champion will always be one of my fondest memories as a wrestling fan. In fact, until last night, that was probably my LAST fond memory as a wrestling fan*. It makes sense then that the end result of WrestleMania ten years later has a lot of similarities. Daniel Bryan went over not only HHH, but also Randy Orton and Batista later in the night to finally, conclusively, become WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
My boy Johnny over at Freddy In Space keeps me in the loop about all things horror, especially when it comes to cool ass horror themed merchandise. But I am most upset with myself for overlooking the fact that my man Johnny was at Wrestlemania 29 this weekend and we didn't meet up!!! I am trying to get all my pics in order to make a Wrestlemania 29 post for CCD (hopefully by next Monday), but on my most recent trip over to Freddy In Space Johnny shared some awesome WWF/E wrestling themed t-shirts and posters from Electric Zombie. Now even though most of their merch deals with horror, the guys at EZ obviously love their old school wrasslin' and dig deep to come up with some horrorific versions of familiar wrestlers and events throughout the years. I love the Royal rumble poster, and the Brett Hart shirt is super boss. All in all, a cool ass line that coincides with a great event. Get over to Electric Zombie right now and order you faves, as well as much more horror merchandise that they have to offer. Check out my faves after the jump...
When I was a child of the 80's I became enthralled with the world of the WWF. I loved wrestling so much that it even eclipsed my love for Star Wars, He Man or any of the other cartoons/movies/toys that I loved as kid. I had all of the hard platic toys, a fake belt... shit I even went to a few Wrestlemania's live in my day!!! but when I hit my late teens/early twenties and started college, I kind have faded away from the whole world of professional wrestling. It is not that the product of the WWF (and later renamed the WWE) had lost its mojo... quite the contrary. It had became more popular than ever. But it just wasn't for me. I know plenty people who stuck with it over the years (whatup Joe Esq!) and I have heard that the product itself has gone up and down over the years... but one thing I never thought would happen would be me being sucked back into the world of professional wrestling. But that is exactly what happened last night, thanks to my 9 year old son Mikey who has become even more obsessed with the sport than I ever was...
Always on the look out for inspiring art... emblazoned across the chest of humanity. Here's some of the t-shirts I have my eye on to do just the trick but, there's only one problem....they aren't for sale yet! Please click the links below to the Threadless.com voting pages for each and give these beauties '5' ratings so I can throw 'em on my charge card one day.
**Please click READ MORE below..for Mo' Tees...Mo' Tees....Mo' Tees!**
This poster is part of a project by the very talented Shahed Syed, an architect in training who specializes in 3-D images and infographics. He compiled an amazing infographic on the history of the WWF Championship between the years 1984-2002 (click here to see it) that is superimposed over a heavyweight belt. It is awesome. But here is a poster that features the icon images of each wrestler used in the infographic itself, and it is a piece of minimalist gold. Click to see the poster after the jump.
I am not the hugest follower of professional wrestling, but when I was a kid there was nothing I loved more then watching the WWF. The WCW/NWA/all other wrestling shows were cool, but they didn't have shit on the McMahon family and their crew of maniacs. My favorite? The Hulkster, Hulk Hogan. Everyone loved Hulk. My second? Had to be the Macho Man.
Macho Man & Miss Elizabeth
Randy Savage was the wildest, craziest, most high flying wrestler in the mid 80's/early 90's then anyone who laced up a wrestling boot during that era. Sure, I said Hogan was my fave... but thats cause it was hard to root against the perfection that was Hogan. But deep down inside, most REAL wrestling fans would agree that Macho Man was alot more fun to root for.
Macho Man dropping the flying elbow on Hulk Hogan
He made for some of the best moments I have ever seen happen in a ring. His costumes were always a spectacle, and he rarely started a match/interview without his trademark sunglasses. His bouts were legendary. He spent time as a good guy, a bad guy.... an Inter-continental champ, a heavyweight champ... Macho Man did it all. His match with Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat in Wrestlemania III was one of the greatest ever. See for yourself:
Everyone loved Macho Man, but his real life wife Elizabeth became quite the attraction herself. The object of George 'The Animal' Steele's (and amny teenage boys) affections, the super sexy Elizabeth's visage decorated many walls around America.
I had this poster of Elizabeth on my wall... real talk!
Sadly, she left Macho Man and fell into a life of drugs. She died a few years back, and now Mr. Savage has moved on to the other side as well. I can't believe it myself, but Mr. OOOOOOOHHHHHHH YEAHHHHHHH!!!! himself is on to greener pastures. So all we can do is celebrate his career. Here are some of the highlights from throughout the years.
Always entertaining, I will miss Macho Man with his crazy outfits, hot manager, and high flying techniques that always brought me to my feet. His roles as a Slim Jim spokesman and as Bonesaw in the Sam raimi Spiderman movie made him memorable outside of the ring as well. He will be missed. Take it easy Macho Man... your the champ now!!!
TV commercials are a part of our everyday lives as TV viewers. Even though Tivo and DVR have allowed us to "skip through" the commercials, the advertising companies a still trying to peak our interests by coming up with creative commercials. To me, great commercials are an art form and are under appreciated by a society that is always trying to speed through things. Think about it... how many times did you see a great commercial that made you laugh hysterically or want to go out and purchase the advertised product??? And how many times has the best part of the Super Bowl been the commercials during a blow out game??? Whether you want to admit it or not, commercials are cool as shit... and here are some of my favorites.
This week we got WWF wrestler John Cena posing one question to a few unsuspecting guys shaving... "Are you ready for the Proglide Challenge???". Pretty funny stuff... hope you enjoy!
