TSM Profile: Marc Mero

[King Kamala 0]

From one half of a famous wrestling couple to another half of another wrestling profile. Today, we'll be talking about a man some consider to be a poor man's version of last week's subject, Randy Savage..."Wild Man" Marc Mero.

 

 

 

Name: Marc Mero

Also Known as: Johnny B. Badd (WCW)

Height: 5'11

Weight: 215 pounds

Age: 48

Debut: 1991

Retired: 2005

 

Accomplishments: Former WWF Intercontinental Champion, 3 Time Former WCW World Television Champion, PWI and Wrestling Observer Rookie of The Year (1991)

 

Career Summary: Mero began his athletic career as an amateur boxer in his home state of New York. He would go onto win four New York State titles, including The New York Golden Gloves tournament. In 1990, after a brief career in bodybuilding, he moved to Florida where he was trained by the legendary Malenko Family. Shortly after debuting, he attended a WCW television taping where he was given a tryout. After several months of occassional appearances as a jobber, then WCW booker signed Mero to a contract and repackaged him as Johnny B. Badd, a Little Richard look alike who shot off his Badd Blaster confetti gun before his matches.

 

Surprisingly, Mero was able to get over with this gimmick, which was toned down considerably over the years. He became a fixture of WCW's mid-card in the early to mid '90s, winning the WCW Television title three times. He would go on to leave the company in early '96 in the midst of The Monday Night Wars to sign with the rival WWF alongside other disgruntled former WCWers Steve Austin and Mick Foley. There he debuted as "Wild Man" Marc Mero managed by his real life wife, Sable. In September of '96, he defeated Farooq Assad to win the vacant WWF Intercontinental title. He held the title for only a month before losing it to Hunter Hearst Helmsley.

 

In February of '97, Mero tore a ligament and was put on the sidelines for the next six months. He returned six months later as "Marvelous" Marc Mero, as an arrogant heel playing up his boxing past and his jealousy over his wife/manager's increasing popularity with the fans. He would feud with his wife alongside new manager, Jacqueline in what was perhaps the most memorable feud of his career. Mero would go onto leave the WWF alongside Sable in early '99.

 

Mero seemingly disappeared from the world of professional wrestling for several years, save for a random run-in during an episode of WCW Thunder in April 2000. He would make his in-ring return as Johnny B. Badd in the short lived XWF in late 2001, remaining with the company until its closure. He would appear sporadically for TNA in late '04 and early '05 as Johnny B. Badd before retiring to open up a gym in Central Florida.

 

Mero would return to prominence- not in the squared circle but in the world of cable news talk shows as a guest following the tragic Chris Benoit murder/suicide in June 2007. His appearances calling for greater regulation of the wrestling industry would garner much controversy.

 

Questions

1. In the long run, do you think Sable and his ensuing feud with her (the in-ring one) helped or hurt his career?

2. Let's play the "What if" card. What if Marc Mero wasn't plagued with consistant injury problems through out his WWF stint? Would he have reached similar heights as the men he had joined WWF alongside; Mankind and Steve Austin(remember Mero was perhaps the most hyped and certainly the most well paid of the three when they entered the company in the first part of '96)? Would he have maintained the mid-card position he had in late '96/early '97?

3. What was best; the WCW run as Johnny B. Badd or the WWF run as Wild Man/Marvelous Marc Mero? I'm assuming no one will consider his XWF or TNA runs the highlight of his career.

4. In twenty years, what will he be best remembered for? His in-ring career or his role as a straight shooting media gadfly (and the list of guys he wrestled who died) after the Benoit murders-suicide?

5. Now the obligatory final question; Favorite matches, moments, etc.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

1. In the long run, do you think Sable and his ensuing feud with her (the in-ring one) helped or hurt his career?

Surely it was a bit of both? His WCW Career was ok, if nothing major, without her. I enjoyed, though thought he was a bit camp with his ticker tape streamer things. Even then though, he had Kimberly near the end of his time. In the WWF having Sable was probably the only real reason he was kept around as other wise people didn't seem to give a shit whenever he was around. His feud against was her was the end of his time with the WWF and the major start of Sable's, Marc Mero probably should have known this at the time.

 

2. Let's play the "What if" card. What if Marc Mero wasn't plagued with consistant injury problems through out his WWF stint? Would he have reached similar heights as the men he had joined WWF alongside; Mankind and Mick Foley (remember Mero was perhaps the most hyped of the three when they entered the company in the first part of '96)? Would he have maintained the mid-card position he had in late '96/early '97?

If he had stayed healthly he probably would have still remained as mid card for life. He was half interesting in the ring, but there were generally more interesting people around him who would have deserved the push they got. I think he would have been an entertaining feud with Owen Hart at some point in the 'What if' world.

 

3. What was best; the WCW run as Johnny B. Badd or the WWF run as Wild Man/Marvelous Marc Mero? I'm assuming no one will consider his XWF or TNA runs the highlight of his career.

More people will remember his WWF run, I remember his Boxer gimmick more fondly then his Wild Man one, though really there wasn't much difference apart from the fact he was a Boxer. His Johnny B. Badd run was a decade too late, and as I said earlier seemed pretty camp. His feud with DDP was decent though, and helped launch DDP's career.

 

4. In twenty years, what will he be best remembered for? His in-ring career or his role as a straight shooting media gadfly (and the list of guys he wrestled who died) after the Benoit murders-suicide?

That bloke that Sable was married to.

 

5. Now the obligatory final question; Favorite matches, moments, etc.

His program with DDP

[Timmy8271 0]

Questions

1. In the long run, do you think Sable and his ensuing feud with her (the in-ring one) helped or hurt his career?

- It was the final nail in the coffin for him with the Sable feud. Especially when Goldust got involved. So I say yeah it hurt his career.

 

2. Let's play the "What if" card. What if Marc Mero wasn't plagued with consistant injury problems through out his WWF stint? Would he have reached similar heights as the men he had joined WWF alongside; Mankind and Mick Foley (remember Mero was perhaps the most hyped of the three when they entered the company in the first part of '96)? Would he have maintained the mid-card position he had in late '96/early '97?

- He would have stayed the same or JTTS and gone back to WCW.

 

3. What was best; the WCW run as Johnny B. Badd or the WWF run as Wild Man/Marvelous Marc Mero? I'm assuming no one will consider his XWF or TNA runs the highlight of his career.

- WCW run without a doubt. When I first started watching WCW in 95, he was my favorite. Loved the Badd blaster.

 

4. In twenty years, what will he be best remembered for? His in-ring career or his role as a straight shooting media gadfly (and the list of guys he wrestled who died) after the Benoit murders-suicide?

- Well to me since he's a local guy and always on the radio, He'll be known as the guy with the gym but to everyone else he'll be known as Mr. Sable.

 

5. Now the obligatory final question; Favorite matches, moments, etc.

- His feud with Maxx Payne and getting shot in the face by the Badd Blaster.

[Diamonddust 0]

1. In the long run, do you think Sable and his ensuing feud with her (the in-ring one) helped or hurt his career?

 

-Hurt his career big time.

2. Let's play the "What if" card. What if Marc Mero wasn't plagued with consistant injury problems through out his WWF stint? Would he have reached similar heights as the men he had joined WWF alongside; Mankind and Mick Foley (remember Mero was perhaps the most hyped of the three when they entered the company in the first part of '96)? Would he have maintained the mid-card position he had in late '96/early '97?

 

-I don't think he would have cracked past the upper-mid card if he had stayed healthy.

 

3. What was best; the WCW run as Johnny B. Badd or the WWF run as Wild Man/Marvelous Marc Mero? I'm assuming no one will consider his XWF or TNA runs the highlight of his career.

 

-Johnny B. Badd, without a doubt. As absurd as the initial stages of the gimmick was, Mero took the ball and ran with it.

 

4. In twenty years, what will he be best remembered for? His in-ring career or his role as a straight shooting media gadfly (and the list of guys he wrestled who died) after the Benoit murders-suicide?

 

-I'll remember him for the early days of the Johny B. Badd gimmick and nothing else.

 

5. Now the obligatory final question; Favorite matches, moments, etc.

 

-I always got a kick out of how my mother would make a crack or comment whenever she saw Johnny B. Badd on the screen.

[Papacita 0]

Damn, I never really thought of Mero as a Savage rip-off, but I can kinda see it now.

 

1. In the long run, do you think Sable and his ensuing feud with her (the in-ring one) helped or hurt his career?

It hurt in the long run. The Sable feud in 98 was one of my favorites, but Mero came off like a joke once Jacqueline got involved. Although really, I have a hard time saying he would've done anything meaningful once Sable's popularity really started to peak.

 

2. Let's play the "What if" card. What if Marc Mero wasn't plagued with consistant injury problems through out his WWF stint? Would he have reached similar heights as the men he had joined WWF alongside; Mankind and Mick Foley (remember Mero was perhaps the most hyped of the three when they entered the company in the first part of '96)? Would he have maintained the mid-card position he had in late '96/early '97?

 

I always thought it was a shame that Mero went down when he did. They had a nice little storyline with him trying to get Sable to toughen up so he wouldn't have to protect her all the time (which culminated in Sable kicking Undertaker at one point). I always marked for Mero (did you get that? I marked for...because his name's...), but I don't see WWF getting much more out of him than a couple of I-C reigns. I don't see Sable's eclipsing him like she did if he never went down, though.

 

3. What was best; the WCW run as Johnny B. Badd or the WWF run as Wild Man/Marvelous Marc Mero? I'm assuming no one will consider his XWF or TNA runs the highlight of his career.

 

I have very fond memories of the Sable feud, though I'm sure half of that is due to the fact that she ended up in her underwear every week (not to mention Jacqueline's fairly frequent nipple slips ). I prefered Mero as the Wildman, though, with him busting out planchas and SSPs right and left. I really dug the I-C win and the ensuing program with Perfect/HHH (wonder how Mero would have fared if Perfect didn't leave when he did).

 

4. In twenty years, what will he be best remembered for? His in-ring career or his role as a straight shooting media gadfly (and the list of guys he wrestled who died) after the Benoit murders-suicide?

 

The Tutti Frutti/Kiss that Don't Miss! Or as Sable's man...if he's remembered at all.

 

5. Now the obligatory final question; Favorite matches, moments, etc.

 

His winning the I-C Title and the Perfect Swerve are way up there for me. It's been a while since I watched it, but I remember going crazy when he faced Taker on Superstars in early 97. Taker goes after Sable (because she kicks him) and Mero just flips on him. They brawl on the floor, and the show ends with Taker tombstoning him on the floor (I think both guys came off real strong and it was just a bad ass segment overall).

 

I'm blanking on most of his WCW stuff, but his theme song always cracked me up. "He's a pretty as a picture...HE LOOKS JUST LIKE LITTLE RICHAAAAAARD!!!!!"

[King Kamala 0]

I hadn't thought about Mero in a while. But his name came up in a Royal Rumble roundtable that will be up shortly and I just felt like waxing nostalgiac about him. While I would never call him one of my favorites, he was consistantly entertaining. Even if he was a bit of a Randy Savage knockoff, there are worse people to emulate...and really that was only readily apparent during his later WWF heel run.

 

 

Questions

1. In the long run, do you think Sable and his ensuing feud with her (the in-ring one) helped or hurt his career? Well ya see, his feud with Sable is kind of like Dusty Rhodes' polka dot days. Yeah, he probably made a lot of money and it was over but in the long run, it was kind of the death knell of his career. Before it, he was a solid mid-carder. Probably not on his way to the main event but a solid worker who'd occasionally feud with an upper mid-carder or main eventer. After the feud with Sable, he was pretty much a comedy wrestler for the rest of his career. Fortunately, the rest of his career was only a couple months in WWF and cups of coffee with XWF and TNA.

 

2. Let's play the "What if" card. What if Marc Mero wasn't plagued with consistant injury problems through out his WWF stint? Would he have reached similar heights as the men he had joined WWF alongside; Mankind and Mick Foley (remember Mero was perhaps the most hyped of the three when they entered the company in the first part of '96)? Would he have maintained the mid-card position he had in late '96/early '97?

Papacita basically stole my answer. At the time, he went down with a torn ligament in early '97, it seemed like they had decent sized plans for Mero. Like I said, I don't think he would have had main event runs like Foley and Austin but I wouldn't be surprised if he had a couple of more Intercontinental title runs and spent some time in the upper mid-card. I think he would have a similar career trajectory to Jeff Jarrett's second runs in WWF and WCW. Like Papacita said, I think he might've eclipsed in notoriety by Sable but not to the extent that he did in real life.

 

3. What was best; the WCW run as Johnny B. Badd or the WWF run as Wild Man/Marvelous Marc Mero? I'm assuming no one will consider his XWF or TNA runs the highlight of his career.

In-ring work, I think his WCW run gets the slight edge. But in terms of overall entertainment, I think the WWF run wins out. His run as "Marvelous" Marc Mero started off great and I enjoyed his feuds with Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Steve Austin. It's funny...looking back on it, Marc Mero feuded with some of the biggest names in wrestling of the '90s if not all time; Triple H, Steve Austin, Diamond Dallas Page, Mick Foley. But he feuded with them all two or three years before they became big names (with the exception of Austin). Not sure what that says about him.

4. In twenty years, what will he be best remembered for? His in-ring career or his role as a straight shooting media gadfly (and the list of guys he wrestled who died) after the Benoit murders-suicide?

I agree with everybody else. If he's remembered at all, it'll be as Sable's husband. Which is too bad because he was a rock solid worker for the majority of his career.

 

5. Now the obligatory final question; Favorite matches, moments, etc.

My favorite moment was him beating Farooq in the Intercontinental title tournament finals. For some reason, this was a massive upset to me. I remember marking out like crazy when that happened. Close second is that wildly entertaining battle royal that was on Shotgun in September/October of '98 that was basically The Rock and a bunch of lower mid-card and job guys. I remember Mero standing outside of the ring for half of the match heeling it up and when he finally entered, the audience gave him a huge pop for some reason.

 

Oh, I hate Vince Russo worked shoot type angles but I loved it when "Marvelous" Marc Mero berated Salvatore Sincere before they were supposed to face off on RAW and kept saying that his name wasn't Salvatore Sincere, it was Tom Brandi! Shocking stuff for a mark. Of course, all of this somehow led to Salvatore Sincere pulling off the countout win. I guess that night my love for "jobber upsets name guy" angles overrode my hatred of worked shoot angles.

[ChrisMWaters 0]

I just find it funny that they played his leaving WWF by having him lose to pre-Gillberg Duane Gill.

[cabbageboy 0]

1. In the long run, do you think Sable and his ensuing feud with her (the in-ring one) helped or hurt his career?

 

Basically it killed his career. He did nothing after it and due to his marriage/association with Sable then he was released soon after her lawsuit.

 

2. Let's play the "What if" card. What if Marc Mero wasn't plagued with consistant injury problems through out his WWF stint? Would he have reached similar heights as the men he had joined WWF alongside; Mankind and Mick Foley (remember Mero was perhaps the most hyped of the three when they entered the company in the first part of '96)? Would he have maintained the mid-card position he had in late '96/early '97?

 

Mero just wasn't a main eventer. Foley was a crazy psycho even in WCW...Austin a serious wrestler turned bad ass. Mero was a Little Richard impersonator. It's tough to get past that gimmick in order to main event. He was solid, but more in a way of "This guy is pretty good" and not clear cut main eventer type good. Nowhere near as bad as Foley portrays him though.

 

3. What was best; the WCW run as Johnny B. Badd or the WWF run as Wild Man/Marvelous Marc Mero? I'm assuming no one will consider his XWF or TNA runs the highlight of his career.

 

I would say the WCW run but then I couldn't remember much he really DID aside from just being a fixture on TV. So I'll say his WWF run in 1996-98.

 

4. In twenty years, what will he be best remembered for? His in-ring career or his role as a straight shooting media gadfly (and the list of guys he wrestled who died) after the Benoit murders-suicide?

 

He'll be remembered as the guy who was once married to Sable, if people even remember her. Nobody cares about his various media appearances since nothing he said mattered in the long run.

 

5. Now the obligatory final question; Favorite matches, moments, etc.

 

Austin KOTR 96 semi was a good match. IC run in 1996 was decent. And of all things in WCW I recall a goofy boxing match he had with Scotty Flamingo on a Clash, haha.

 

 

 

[Silence 0]

And of all things in WCW I recall a goofy boxing match he had with Scotty Flamingo on a Clash, haha.

 

I remember a feud with Paul Orndorff because of Orndorff's mirror getting broken.

[The Truthiness 0]

1. In the long run, do you think Sable and his ensuing feud with her (the in-ring one) helped or hurt his career?

I think it helped his career to be honest, At the time Austin, Foley, and Triple H thought he pretty much sucked and was pissed he was getting paid more than all of them. If the Sable thing didn’t take off they probably would’ve forced him out backstage.


2. Let's play the "What if" card. What if Marc Mero wasn't plagued with consistant injury problems through out his WWF stint? Would he have reached similar heights as the men he had joined WWF alongside; Mankind and Mick Foley (remember Mero was perhaps the most hyped of the three when they entered the company in the first part of '96)? Would he have maintained the mid-card position he had in late '96/early '97?



I don’t know, I honestly think Vince’s vision with Marc was making him a better version of Randy Savage. The gimmick seemed like a very cheap rip off of Savage/Elizabeth in 1996. It didn’t exactly play out that way and Sable became the star of the group, looking back I don’t see how being healthy would have really changed that. Again, he had the locker room against him.



3: What was best; the WCW run as Johnny B. Badd or the WWF run as Wild Man/Marvelous Marc Mero? I'm assuming no one will consider his XWF or TNA runs the highlight of his career.

WWF I loved his work with Hunter and Steve Austin. Plus I loved his whole feud with Sable he was awesome in that role.





2. In twenty years, what will he be best remembered for? His in-ring career or his role as a straight shooting media gadfly (and the list of guys he wrestled who died) after the Benoit murders-suicide?

He will be remembered as a guy who got over because of his wife.





5. Now the obligatory final question; Favorite matches, moments, etc.



Austin King of the Ring 1996.

[luke-o 0]

2. Let's play the "What if" card. What if Marc Mero wasn't plagued with consistant injury problems through out his WWF stint? Would he have reached similar heights as the men he had joined WWF alongside; Mankind and Mick Foley (remember Mero was perhaps the most hyped of the three when they entered the company in the first part of '96)? Would he have maintained the mid-card position he had in late '96/early '97?

 

Am I seriously the first person that noticed this?

[Dobbs 3K 0]

I won't go into all the points since I largely agree with what's been said, but I think WWF really missed the mark when Mero came back with the "Marvelous" Marc gimmick. I thought he looked like he had strong potential to be an upper mid-card act, at least. He had a good look at that point that played off his legit fighting background, which I think most fans were aware of. I also liked the gimmick he had going with Jacqueline, kind of taunting Sable at the same time. Too bad he got injured.

[johnson316cane 0]

2. Let's play the "What if" card. What if Marc Mero wasn't plagued with consistant injury problems through out his WWF stint? Would he have reached similar heights as the men he had joined WWF alongside; Mankind and Mick Foley (remember Mero was perhaps the most hyped of the three when they entered the company in the first part of '96)? Would he have maintained the mid-card position he had in late '96/early '97?

 

Am I seriously the first person that noticed this?

 

Next thing you’re gonna try and tell me is that Cactus Jack and Dude Love are the same person. No way.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

1. In the long run, do you think Sable and his ensuing feud with her (the in-ring one) helped or hurt his career?

I don't see how it hurt. He got over pretty strong as a heel, but it seemed as though the WWF didn't know what else to do with him once the Sable feud had dried up.

 

2. Let's play the "What if" card. What if Marc Mero wasn't plagued with consistant injury problems through out his WWF stint? Would he have reached similar heights as the men he had joined WWF alongside; Mankind and Mick Foley (remember Mero was perhaps the most hyped of the three when they entered the company in the first part of '96)? Would he have maintained the mid-card position he had in late '96/early '97?

Injury status would have changed nothing. As previously stated, the company just kinda let him get lost in the shuffle, as they had bigger fish to fry at that point.

 

3. What was best; the WCW run as Johnny B. Badd or the WWF run as Wild Man/Marvelous Marc Mero? I'm assuming no one will consider his XWF or TNA runs the highlight of his career.

Tough call. I'll go with his run as Johnny B. Badd.

 

4. In twenty years, what will he be best remembered for? His in-ring career or his role as a straight shooting media gadfly (and the list of guys he wrestled who died) after the Benoit murders-suicide?

This first time I ever saw WCW it was the Clash of the Champions match where Sting was fighting Johnny B. Badd and Cactus Jack emerged from an enormous birthday present. I think that I speak for everyone when I say that WCW is synonymous with bizarre birthday-gift related gags interrupting Johnny B. Badd's high profile matches. I really think that I do.

 

5. Now the obligatory final question; Favorite matches, moments, etc.

His oft-forgotten MOTY contender with Brian Pillman at Fall Brawl '95 is well worth checking out. It is probably Pillman's last great match.

[Maztinho 0]

I won't go into all the points since I largely agree with what's been said, but I think WWF really missed the mark when Mero came back with the "Marvelous" Marc gimmick. I thought he looked like he had strong potential to be an upper mid-card act, at least. He had a good look at that point that played off his legit fighting background, which I think most fans were aware of. I also liked the gimmick he had going with Jacqueline, kind of taunting Sable at the same time. Too bad he got injured.

 

Isn't part of what killed that gimmick him getting toasted in the Brawl for it All by someone? That shoot fighting tournament killed off his push and the man it was supposed to showcase in Steve Williams'.