"Who Watches The Watchers"

What’s in a name?

Being such a fan of sports, and wrestling as well, I find that initial popularity and acceptance is determined largely by a name. It also has a lot to do with music as well.

Part 1: Wrestling

I will give you two sets of names here. One is of wrestlers who at one point (most likely an extended time) in their careers were widely popular, and were even known to pseudo-fans and non followers. The other is a list of flops, that were either dropped quickly or were pushed down the fans throats by “creative” i.e. Vincent Kennedy McMahon.

HHH, The Rock, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Cactus Jack, Mankind, Dude Love (yes the last four were all one person), Undertaker, Kane, Rob Van Dam, Hulk Hogan, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Big Van Vader, John Cena, Andre The Giant, Sting, Shawn Michaels, Bret “The Hitman”Hart, “The Million Dollar Man” Ted Diabase, Diesel

List 2: Mideon, Viscera, Bastion Booger, Kamala, Garrison Cade, Leif Cassidy, Steve Blackman, “The Blue Chipper” Rocky Miavia, “The American Blueblood” Hunter Hurst Helmsley, “The Ringmaster” Steve Austin, Prototype, Oz, Flex, ...

In certain instance, bad names only needed retooling, along with the wrestlers gimmick. Take HHH for example. It is much easier to say and remember “HHH” rather than “The American Blue Blood” Hunter Hurst Helmsley. And which sounds more suited for a wrestler; “Ringmaster” or “Stone Cold”. The Rock, who is probably the best known wrestler ever (outside of Hulk Hogan or Andre The Giant) originally was rejected completely by the fans. He was shoved down are throats as a blue chip 3rd generation superstar who should be a given fan favorite. The man sucked. His gimmick was terrible, and his shtick was worse. So the WWF decided to take him off the roster for a few months, and when they brought him back he was “The Rock”. He was now a heel (bad guy), and cut the best promos in the business, coming up with 5 t-shirt slogans in every interview he gave.

Part 2 to follow.

~Oz