A Summary of Comedy Wrestling

[Lynas]

Written by Michael Weyer for 411mania.com

A look at some of the best guys at working comedy in wrestling and those who go a bit too far.

Wrestling incites a lot of passions among fans. That's to be expected and even commended as the whole point of the business is to work folks up. But there can be divisions among those fans as well. Most fans are able to enjoy the matches as they flow about and appreciate wrestling as the show it is. But then there are a lot of guys (especially in the IWC) who go a bit too far with wrestling, analyzing matches like they're the Zapruder film. Enjoying the matches is less important to them than nitpicking every single move, which I think robs you of some pleasure.

The light side of wrestling has been around for a while. Most fans will complain about the "comedy" aspects and that can be true for when it goes too far. Most of WCW in its last few years proves that and WWE has more than its fair share of idiotic moments as well. But when it can be done right, wrestling can provide some guys who can truly entertain with the mix of comedy and wrestling to make the business worth watching.

I'm not just talking about the guys who can do nice comedic touches in promos or such like Cena, Rock, Edge or Angle. Although they can mix those in pretty well, Cena in particular having nice humor and enjoys working the crowds for his lines. Ditto for Shawn and HHH when they go face, they really enjoy getting laughs while still backing up with fantastic matches.

But there are guys who utilize comedy as the main part of their act and do it in a good way. Yes, it doesn't always work as some guys aren't right for it. Take WCW saddling Mike Awesome with that lame ‘70's lounge lizard act. But some guys are able to work it, although it may go too far. A good example would be Doink. The original idea was an evil clown, an act that actually worked pretty well with sinister music and some nice ring work. But then they transformed it into a truly comedy act, a face doing goofy stuff with midget sidekick Dink and puling guys like Bam Bam Bigelow into crazy feuds. It was nice in small doses but got a bit over the top before long.

WWF was filled with such guys in the early ‘90's. I'm always amazed by how the Bushwhackers had been the brutal Sheepherders, a team known for bloody battles but were neutered into goofball idiots in WWF. However, they seemed to truly have fun with the whole thing, making their matches light and easy for fans to get behind and were pretty good merchandise sellers. Another example would be Repo Man, one of the more foolish heel ideas. I mean, an evil repossession agent who dressed like a bad guy in a 1930's cartoon, complete with mask? But it worked because Darsow threw himself into the part completely, sneaking and scurrying around the ring so fans couldn't help but back it a bit.

The late ‘90's and 2000's brought a few more comic acts to WWF like DX's famous parody of the Nation of Domination. Big Show was doing fun stuff like his famous impression of Hogan for a match with Kurt Angle. Kaentai got over with their fun gimmick of introducing themselves like a badly dubbed Japanese movie that fans loved. I remember when Al Snow won the European title in 2000 and spent the next few weeks honoring the various countries of "Europa": One week, he'd honor Greece by coming out to music from the Grease movie, leather pants and jacket and a picture of Olivia-Newton John. The next, it'd be Spain with a sombrero, mariachi music and a picture of Ricardo Montalban; German in lederhosen, polka music, sauerkraut and a photo of David Hasselhoff; Transylvania in Dracula outfit, Count Chocola cereal and a photo of Eddie Munster; and Hong Kong (apparently thinking it was still a British colony) in coolie hat, fireworks and Honk Kong Phooey. It was a great bit, made better with William Regal complaining about how Snow was besmirching Europe with his antics.

Tag teams had fun stuff like Eddie and Chavo Guerrero with their "Lie, Cheat, Steal" vignettes and their great cheating that won folks over. I also always enjoyed the Goldust/Booker T antics as these two made an absolute perfect odd couple pairing with Booker being driven crazy every week by his partner's bizarre antics.

There's also the case of Eugene, a rare time when WWE seemed to have a true grasp of how to handle a character. At first, we all rolled our eyes at Bischoff's "retarded nephew" but having him be a wrestling savant was a genius move. He could be good but then they went a bit far with him as the total moron just for laughs, a shame as there was some good potential in the character still.

TNA had a few guys like this here and there like the Shark Boy/D-Ray 3000 pairing. Better was Eric Young in 2006, turning himself into a goofball so paranoid about getting fired that he'd have himself introduced as "currently residing in an undisclosed location." And I rather enjoyed the Boogeyman and his wild stuff. What made that work was that there was never a moment when you felt that he wasn't the Boogeyman. Marty Wright was just so at home playing this absolute nutjob that you couldn't help but get sucked in and enjoy his work.

Today, the man who best balances the mix of comedy and a good worker has to be Santino Marella. It's amazing how he's taken a seemingly one-note character of a foreign moron and turned it into something that has the crowd in the palm of his hand whenever he shows up on screen. The broken English, the wild talk, the boasting of his greatness and the absolute lack of any shame whatsoever ensures that a Santino segment is funny as hell.

While those are fun, they also push the envelope of comedy a bit too much. It's one thing for a guy like Santino to have goofy fun as that fits his act. But when you have the wrestlers, the ref and the audience all doing slow-motion stuff, it does cross the line of breaking the illusion that wrestling needs in order to succeed. That was the trouble with so many of the comedy acts put on by WWF and WCW in the ‘90's, they just went for pure laughs, not backing it up with real character or action. Santino is a good wrestler, that's what makes his antics more fun to watch. Delirious is much the same, a whack job but can back it up with fantastic work in the ring.

But you go for just plain comedy can be a bit much. Yes, fans love the humor but also enjoy it backed up by some real action or character. Going so far like slow-motion stuff does wreck a bit of the fantasy that even we smarks enjoy that pulls us into wrestling. I get that the smaller independents are used to catering to smaller crowds so naturally that stuff plays much better there. Still, it adds to the misconception that wrestling caters to the less intelligent, something that makes it harder to win respect from the mainstream.

Summation
The old cliché is true: Dying is easy, comedy is hard and wrestling certainly proves that. Going too far with it can annoy a lot of the fans and weaken both the shows and the performers. Eugene and Doink had decent gimmicks but relying too much on the comedy parts ruined them. However, some guys are able to make it work like Santino, who's become quite popular with his amazing comedy style. I'm not saying wrestling should become a variety hour but the fact is, a lot of fans enjoy a good laugh now and then and some guys are able to provide that in spades. As long as they can back it up with the real action that's the point of the business, nothing wrong with making folks laugh as well as be thrilled, a mix that makes the business so watchable.

[Big Red Machine]

This guy is totally missing an absolutely essential form of comedy wrestling. Comedy wrestling. I'm talking about things like the EY thinking that his & OJ's tag team match (against Ink Inc., I think) was a everyone man for himself battle royal. Three stooges spots. The inherent comedy in some of the in0ring character work in CHIKARA (SSB, Dasher Hatfield, and of course, Dragon Dragon). Danielson vs. Kenny Omega. Any of Colt Cabana's various antics (especially PWG). A match where the body part that Cabana chose to work over was Brian Kendrick's ass (atomic drops!). Santino is funny, but he rarely has the comedy come from his actual wrestling.

[badnewzxl]

This guy is totally missing an absolutely essential form of comedy wrestling. Comedy wrestling. I'm talking about things like the EY thinking that his & OJ's tag team match (against Ink Inc., I think) was a everyone man for himself battle royal. Three stooges spots. The inherent comedy in some of the in0ring character work in CHIKARA (SSB, Dasher Hatfield, and of course, Dragon Dragon). Danielson vs. Kenny Omega. Any of Colt Cabana's various antics (especially PWG). A match where the body part that Cabana chose to work over was Brian Kendrick's a** (atomic drops!). Santino is funny, but he rarely has the comedy come from his actual wrestling.

This.

I couldn't believe he didn't mention Cabana; or even Delirious for that matter. Did he even mention Norman Smiley?.....

[yourcrapsweak]

Not one mention of Colt Cabana...

I don't like this guy.

[Lynas]

I do have to mention that in the original article there was a video with Delirious in it... but no Colt or Smiley.