Movies that influenced wrestling

[Guest The Maverick]

One of the draws of Wrestling, is that it’s so different from any other form of entertainment. A bit of brawling, a bit of ballerina, a bit of burlesque and buffoonery and an abundance of brilliance. Even though many attest to wrestling being a real competition (notably Mick Foley, who ironically often did much to de-prove its value of the term ‘sport’ by playing with thumb tacks and barb wire), the WWF and hence wrestling as a whole created its own niche; sports entertainment.

 

Half of that niche is comprised of entertainment. And entertainment is best described (in my flick obsessed opinion) as the movies. So today, in the pursuit of betterment and at helm of a recreational rhapsody I’m here to discuss the influences certain films have had on wrestlers, wrestling, and the industry as a whole. Got that? You better had. Enjoy…

 

Undertaker – 1990

Matt Spease starred in this 1990 short (running around the forty-minute mark) in a bizarre mix of comedy and horror, in a surreal story about a mysterious Undertaker. The film is as obscure as its main star, and was made famous only by Vince McMahon’s copying of the stranger in the trenchcoat. The character more than provided inspiration for its WWF namesake, as Vince ensured Mark Callaway mimicked everything from the gloves, the cold walk, to wearing the ominous hat. The non-talking ‘deadman’ gimmick suited the shy 6’10 inexperienced Mark Callaway. In an era of outlandish fictional larger than life personas, Callaway was given one of the best, and one that proved to be one of the more timeless. Though it should be said the Undertaker you see today is not The Undertaker as seen in the little known 1990 film, as the character has vastly evolved (‘changed’ may be a better word, since many fans favour the initial carnation).

Without it, they’d be no: Former multiple time WWF Champion ‘The Undertaker’

 

Pulp Fiction - 1994

Perhaps the loosest of all connections. Or perhaps not. Pulp Fiction was Tarantino’s attempt to surpass notoriety as a one hit wonder, since Reservoir Dogs was much a fleeced homage to Ringo Lam’s ‘City on Fire’ that many critics didn’t bye, and those that did wanted further proof of the canoe-jawed geek’s talents. Though now Quentin would rather bitch slap his critics than silence the Don Murphy’s of this world, he did have a shrewd, sharp, submerged noir in him. Pulp Fiction was a gutless, ultra violent, ratatat cussing bad boy flick, that has yet to be replicated by the millions of lesser copies. Pulp Fiction was so critically acclaimed because it had action, excitement and most importantly, attitude, and that is where the link resides.

 

WWF ‘Attitude’ began in 1997, while Pulp Fiction was released in 1994 where it premiered at the Cannes film festival, winning the coveted 'Palme D'Or' which is the virtual equal of the Best Picture at the Academy Awards. WWF ‘Attitude’ wasn’t DeGeneration X, or Stone Cold, or the emerging Rocky Mavia. More like, attitude was encompassed by everything, from the edgier outfits, shorter matches, and ALL of the wrestlers above and more. But did Pulp Fiction really influence the WWF in any other way than the obvious Acolytes Protection Agency? I have little proof, but I tend to think the Russo way of booking is in part to do with the attitude 90s hard hitting movies displayed, namely Pulp Fiction.

Without it, they’d be no: APA, and WWF ‘Attitude’. Perhaps.

 

Star Wars – 1977

Hollywood had hinted at it before, but Star Wars was the first film that sent the film business and all that surrounds it into a money grabbing frenzy. Star Wars was an economic commercial dream, as millions were made on the merchandise alone. To think 20th Century Fox mocked a certain George Lucas when he fought to retain the rights to all Star Wars merchandise. This was the movie that really overlapped into the worlds of Happy Meals and Toys “R” Us. Twelve years later, Batman revolutionised marketing campaign’s, as the film centred around a superhero that children could buy for $10 apiece. Like Star Wars, it turned into a global franchise.

 

These days, wrestling makes a large percentage of its profits from merchandise. Promoters are inclined to push the wrestler who sells more T-Shirts, more ‘Best Of’ videos or more miniature action figures. Or in some instances, characters are built with merchandise in mind, just like Batman was made with Bat related goods in mind. Gimmicks were born to sell a wrestler to an audience, and in turn sell products specific to that definable character. Hogan’s red and yellow, Hart’s pink, Foley’s sock, Austin’s 3:16 are all idiosyncrasies which purpose is to not only set a wrestler apart, but also to sell products. Speaking of Austin, a worthwhile statistic to keep in mind is Austin at his peak sold a T-Shirt every 40 seconds around the world. Merchandise sales is also an integral part why the nWo are so useful to the WWF, and why Hulk has resorted back to the red and yellow.

Without it, they’d be no: Gimmicks which sole purpose is to sell merchandise. Maybe gimmicks altogether.

 

Rebel Without a Cause – 1955

Nicholas Rays depiction of a bad boy from a good family turned heads in its day, and even though in an age where revolting against the system is a pop culture passé, a troubled, noncompliant, sexed-up James Deam predated the very term ‘teenager’. “Rebel” was the first ever Hollywood movie that hinted maybe the teens in America weren’t so lovey dovey as society would have you believe. Wrestling is often considered the pastime of the renegade youth; the ass kicking, beer swelling, and the crotch chopping. However, there’s one group in particular that were best personified as ‘rebels without a cause’…

 

Degeneration X were the prototype babyfaces of youth, circa 1998. They may not have been teenagers themselves, but the collection of Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and then later Billy Gunn and Jesse James conjured the attention of every 13-19 year old. Though they initially played second fiddle (and heel) to Steve Austin’s rebellion of his own, the reborn DX minus Shawn Michaels and plus push against the evil Nation of Domination, DX would go onto become as popular stable in WWF history. DX and maybe even the ‘nWo’ owed a lot to films such as ‘The Outsiders’, ‘The Breakfast Club’ and the original bad boy flick; ‘Rebel Without a Cause’.

Without it, they’d be no: DeGeneration X, possibly ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and the New World Order

 

Terminator 2: Judgement Day – 1991

Maybe I’m clutching at straws, but I happen to think I’m right on the money, pun intended. Making movies has never been a profession for the cheap, but with Terminator 2 came the sign that lavish and lush sets and scenery (and CGI) were the way to go in Hollywood. Though movies had had overgrown budgets in the past, Terminator 2: Judgement Day was the first to hit and surpass the $100 million mark, and proved that it was possible to rekindle profits, and more than break even.

 

I don’t just think wrestling followed suit. Business, sport, entertainment did as well. The boom of Hollywood watered down to ensure television and big corporations such as Time Warner were more inclined to take cash risks. Ted Turner funded WCW with <b>a lot</b> of money, partly down to such risky ventures in recent history as with Cameron’s success. Another worthwhile point is that the WWF have copied, echoed and reechoed such names as ‘Judgement Day’ (and similar ones such as Vengeance, Armageddon) as titles for Pay-Per View spectaculars. And lastly, though many of the WWF’s sets and stage designs may not have been directly influenced by Terminator 2, they come from the same modern futuristic school of thought.

Without it, they’d be no: Big money in entertainment, expansive set designs and corny (but catchy) names, which took over the corny but unforgettable ‘In Your House’.

 

The Ultimate Warrior – 1975

Little known 1975 film directed and written by Robert Clouse. From what I understand the movie is about an atomic holocaust which has devastated the world in our future. In New York City in 2012 A.D., organised gangs find a reason to fight one another. The Ultimate Warrior the wrestler was obviously a premise borrowed from the movie, and 12 years later when The Warrior debuted in the WWF he became more successful than the movie. As an aside, a small anecdote that James Hellwig officially changed his name to ‘The Warrior’ so he was legally allowed to use the name in any promotion he wanted. I believe, that also stopped any chance of Brian Hellwig and/or the WWF being sued by the writer of the Robert Clouse cheap movie by the same name.

Without it, they’d be no: Ultimate Warrior

 

Mad Max – 1979 & Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior - 1981

The second film in the ‘Mad Max’ trilogy, ‘The Road Warrior’ continues the adventures of a charismatic young Max (Mel Gibson). The former policeman, who has already lost his family, is now a lone wander, travelling through an abandoned and devastated Australia after a nuclear war. Max somehow finds himself the leader of a small group of sincere decent people, having to protect them against evil bike gangs. So how did this influence wrestling?

 

Well, maybe the lonesome cop card had been pulled before by a certain ‘Dirty Harry’. So Mad Max didn’t initiate the ‘breaking the law’ and ‘defying his superiors’ characters as the original John McClane did, but as some of you may have spotted from the title of the sequel, the phrase ‘Legion of Doom’ was much brandished in wrestling during the early 90s. LOD, known singularly, as Animal and Hawk were at one stage the hottest tag-team around and their gimmick derived from attire worn by villains in the second Mad Max, and directly from the films name.

Without it they’d be no: Legion of Doom Tag Team

 

‘The Incredible Hulk’

The cartoon-esq character that’s seemingly been around forever, otherwise known as Hulk Hogan, has a lot in common with the cartoon-esq character that’s seemingly been around forever, otherwise known as ‘The Incredible Hulk’. In fact the only difference may be, one is green, the other is orange. In all seriousness, if you’re never bought the unbeatable hulk’ster of the late 80s, you have Marvel Comics to blame. Indeed the comics had been around for decades, but it wasn’t until Kenneth Johnson’s television series and subsequent made-for-tv movies that Dr. Banner’s antics became household knowledge.

 

‘Hulking up’ is Hogan’s version of Banner’s surge of adrenaline and consequentially strength in moments of extreme emotions. Of course, Hogan doesn’t suddenly become a giant green dude, but he does become impervious to pain and unbeatable to the bad guys which is much inline with the original Hulk’s bizarre metamorphosis. The similarity between characters is thought to be so extreme that Hogan (or the company he works for) is forced to pay royalties to Marvel.

Without it, they’d be no: Hulk Hogan (and in his place? An Irish villain, no more, no less)

 

Natural Born Killers

Natural Born Killers may have been a near on carbon copy of ‘Bonnie and Clyde’, since both plots centred around the fact that both main characters were “young, in love and they kill people”. But the original natural born killers didn’t influence wrestling the way Wood Harrelson and Juliette Lewis did. More specifically, it was Woody Harrelson’s Mickey Knox (loosely based on real life psycho Charles Starkweather) which the WWF paralleled, with you know who.

 

‘The Ringmaster’ was a dull, pedestrian character for a man who had everything in his amour but a worthwhile gimmick. Then came along the era of ‘3:16’, the era of a single wrestler who outgrew the boundaries set by his sport (entertainment). Austin may be best described as a ‘WHAT’ obsessed lunatic nowadays, but his character was once one with more substance and charisma. The WWF ‘Stone Cold’ was built on the foundation of Mickey Knox. After years of being a Hollywood Blonde, Austin shaved his head, grew an attitude, and much like Knox in ‘Natural Born Killers’, occasionally used the bible as reference to kicking peoples ass.

Without it, they’d be no: ‘Stone Cold’

 

Apocalypse Now… aka The Conclusion

So that’s it, not to out stay my welcome I’ll finish this cool cat of a column up as succinctly as possible. I guess all that’s left to do now, is to do a themed wrestling orientated film titles list column (‘Gone with the Hurricane’, anyone?), but as it stands, after the Seven Deadly Sins column, Pulp Fiction, and Wrestling Compared to Film starring Vince McMahon, for now at least, movie season is over. So with this, sparks the end of wrestling columns with the theorem of the movies, as produced, directed and written by myself. I’ll be back soon enough with something different, until then:

 

Take it Easy

- Rich.

[Guest]

I don't have anything to add but this was really cool rant.

[Guest Mystery Eskimo]

I think you're being *very* tenuos with a lot of these, especially Pulp Fiction.

[Guest muzanisa]

Just to be a pedant. It was Mad Max 2 the Road Warrior not the Legion of Doom. It's an interesting article. I never heard of the Undertaker or the Ultimate Warrior films before.

Stuff like Pulp Fiction ,Terminator 2 and Star Wars influenced popular culture which wrestling happens to be a part of rather than wrestling per se. IMO of course.

The Mickey Knox idea is a nice one did you come up with that yourself?

[Guest Jericholic82]

Well to be more exact, Austin came up with the idea after watching an HBO special about a real-life kiler called "the Ice Man"  His wife (not debra, Jeannie aka lady blossom) came up with the name "stone cold"

[Guest The Maverick]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback thus far, the good, the bad and the ugly.

 

Wayzing, your kind words are appreciated. I wrote the rant as I believed it to be a cool idea when it came to me, which hopefully translated it into being a good worthwhile column.

 

Mystery Eskimo, I think you mean tenuous, not *tenuos* . Anyway, the premise of the column means that by nature people are going to disagree. If you don’t agree with my opinion that’s fine, but how you judge a column should derive from how well its written, and how entertaining it is to read. In saying that, often during the column I make a point to say that the links between certain films and wrestling are flimsy, but still attempt to do my best to showcase the connection.

 

Muzanisa, you’re right to be pedantic about the Second Mad Max.. I stand corrected, hope you can see how the mistake was made. I do agree with you that certain films influenced pop culture, which wrestling just happens to be apart of, and one didn’t directly (at least) influence the other. But with a trickling down affect, movies did influence wrestling. And no, the Mickey Knox idea is not my own theory, rather it’s much an accepted fact along the same lines as the actions and name of his character deriving from the HBO special Jericholic82 touched upon.

 

Jericholic82, you’re correct, Austin was heavily influenced by the TV special the ‘Ice Man’, or so the story goes. In fact I heard before the WWF settled on the nickname ‘Stone Cold’, they toyed with many different names (including the ‘Ice Man’) revolving around the ‘cold’ theme. However Jericholic, my links were more to do with ‘the look’ and demeanour, rather than the name.

[Guest Mystery Eskimo]

Mystery Eskimo, I think you mean tenuous, not *tenuos* .

Never had a typo? Pedant.

[Guest]

When Kane first came to the WWF, he was a silent and vengeful person that stalked his brother.  He also wore a plain mask which was vrey important to his life, just like the person in this pic:

 

[Guest Some Guy]

Warrioe's real name is Jim Hellwig, not Brian Hellwig.

 

good rant though.