Mozenrath
FANatic
Foppery and Whim
Speedy Speed Boy
Posts: 120,896
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Post by Mozenrath on Oct 23, 2014 0:04:50 GMT -5
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Post by revolverjgw on Oct 23, 2014 1:58:59 GMT -5
The Genius, truly a man far ahead of our time Hulk Hogan's time was up! His reign, an intellectual crime Quadratic, differential and linear, an equation far beyond Hulk's scope The Genius thus plotted his victory, his opponent counted out like a dope
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Cranjis McBasketball☝🏻
Crow T. Robot
Knew what the hell that thing was supposed to be
Peace Love and Nothing But
Posts: 41,799
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Post by Cranjis McBasketball☝🏻 on Oct 23, 2014 5:16:36 GMT -5
As I recall Hogan just told him to camp it up as much as he liked. It was Hogan/Genius idea.
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Boo!
Dennis Stamp
Posts: 4,417
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Post by Boo! on Oct 23, 2014 5:22:12 GMT -5
I have a hard time watching thngs like that now.
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jmule
Don Corleone
Posts: 1,274
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Post by jmule on Oct 23, 2014 6:31:39 GMT -5
Man of course when I was kid I thought genius was a clown, now I'm amazed how much skill he had.
Also one day I came across a random vid on YouTube of a gay ballerina wrestler from the 50s or 60s I can't remember who he was but it was obviously the guy who genius got his gimmick from.
I've been trying to remember who that was.
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Post by Joe Neglia on Oct 23, 2014 6:39:42 GMT -5
Man of course when I was kid I thought genius was a clown, now I'm amazed how much skill he had. Also one day I came across a random vid on YouTube of a gay ballerina wrestler from the 50s or 60s I can't remember who he was but it was obviously the guy who genius got his gimmick from. I've been trying to remember who that was. Ricki Starr. Just passed away a couple of weeks ago. Fantastic gimmick and an extremely talented man who made it work to the hilt.
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jmule
Don Corleone
Posts: 1,274
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Post by jmule on Oct 23, 2014 7:04:56 GMT -5
Man of course when I was kid I thought genius was a clown, now I'm amazed how much skill he had. Also one day I came across a random vid on YouTube of a gay ballerina wrestler from the 50s or 60s I can't remember who he was but it was obviously the guy who genius got his gimmick from. I've been trying to remember who that was. Ricki Starr. Just passed away a couple of weeks ago. Fantastic gimmick and an extremely talented man who made it work to the hilt. Yes, that's him! Thanks I'll have to look him up again.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2014 8:23:46 GMT -5
I remember Poffo saying that he tried to act as flaming gay as was humanly possible to get heat. I believe he had also been a ballet dancer, which helped. IMO Lanny was always a great talent, but by his own admission he never got anywhere that his father or brother didn't pave the way for him.
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Post by HMARK Center on Oct 23, 2014 10:14:25 GMT -5
Yeah, while the gay-camp-being-done-by-a-straight-guy parts are kind of tough to look back on today, there's no getting around how great Lanny Poffo was. Would've loved to have seen him do even more with it, even just by managing more wrestlers. Always felt it was a crime that he never seemed to manage more than one person or team at a time.
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mizerable
Fry's dog Seymour
You're the lowest on the totem pole here, Alva. The lowest.
Posts: 23,475
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Post by mizerable on Oct 23, 2014 10:19:25 GMT -5
Heh, everytime I watch the match, I start laughing at Lanny when he punches Hogan while hulking up. After every punch, he gasps while holding his hands to his mouth. That was hilarious.
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Post by fuzzywarble, squat cobbler on Oct 23, 2014 10:26:30 GMT -5
Man, the colors on Hennig's singlet. So ridiculously late-80s. I had a Trapper Keeper that looked like that.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2014 10:39:17 GMT -5
Man, the colors on Hennig's singlet. So ridiculously late-80s. I had a Trapper Keeper that looked like that. I think Trapper Keeper got their ideas from tight designs in the late 80's and early 90's. Just Macho Man's and the Steiners' tights alone would give them a wide selection.
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Boo!
Dennis Stamp
Posts: 4,417
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Post by Boo! on Oct 23, 2014 10:43:00 GMT -5
The gimmick was very restrictive. I never rated the Genius particularly highly. I don't have much memory of him other than being replaced by Bobby Heenan as Mr Perfect's manager and then managing the Beverley Brothers, the second 'accomplishment' hardly endeared me to him. I wonder if this was a rib on Savage whereby rather than allow him to be an in-ring performer he was able to be they instead made him play this effeminite 'Genius' character and was used mainly as a side show or for comedy effect.
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Phil Parent
El Dandy
Your Favourite Teacher
Posts: 8,508
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Post by Phil Parent on Oct 23, 2014 10:45:43 GMT -5
Even though Lanny says so himself, I don't think he needed nepotism to make it in wrestling. He had the in-ring skills, he was spectacular with that proto-moonsault of his back in 80's WWF you didn't see too much of that, he had the gift of the gab, had charisma, he was good looking too. He was a clean liver to the best of my memory, so he was reliable. Not aware of any personality issues. Plus, he had that certain craziness that makes wrestlers great, it ran in his family. But his wasn't as obvious as Randy's. Lanny's crazy was more subtle and not along the lines of "I'll snap at you and shiv you and in a coke'd up hype will cut a rambling 20 minutes shouting promo at you" but more along the lines of "This guy is batshit insane, the more you speak to him, the more red flags pop up. Seems normal at first, but..."
Lanny's problem is that he was small by 80's standards. Put him in WWE today and the guy would be a solid midcarder at worse.
We never got a Randy VS Lanny program in the WWF. Shame. I bet the brothers could have done as good as the Harts did, and better than the Hardys.
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mizerable
Fry's dog Seymour
You're the lowest on the totem pole here, Alva. The lowest.
Posts: 23,475
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Post by mizerable on Oct 23, 2014 10:55:47 GMT -5
It's been mentioned before, but if WWF had a lower midcard title or personally used their light heavyweight title, then Lanny may have been given a program or two.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2014 11:13:56 GMT -5
Plus, he had that certain craziness that makes wrestlers great, it ran in his family. But his wasn't as obvious as Randy's. Lanny's crazy was more subtle and not along the lines of "I'll snap at you and shiv you and in a coke'd up hype will cut a rambling 20 minutes shouting promo at you" but more along the lines of "This guy is batshit insane, the more you speak to him, the more red flags pop up. Seems normal at first, but..." I like how Lanny described himself in a shoot. I can't remember his exact words but he said something along the lines that he was "extreme" and that he was an undiagnosed obsessive compulsive personality just like his brother was. Was just funny how he basically embraced his insanity and laughed at it, then made no effort to hide it throughout the interview.
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Post by JTG Fan on Oct 23, 2014 11:19:27 GMT -5
Man, what a great gimmick.
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tms
Don Corleone
Posts: 1,901
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Post by tms on Oct 23, 2014 17:02:04 GMT -5
I have a hard time watching thngs like that now. Getting older makes watching anything harder than it used to be.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2014 20:56:04 GMT -5
The Genius is probably the gayest wrestler of all time.
Fun match, Genius did his part perfectly and Hogan could do no wrong back then.
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tms
Don Corleone
Posts: 1,901
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Post by tms on Oct 23, 2014 22:22:14 GMT -5
The Genius is probably the gayest wrestler of all time. Fun match, Genius did his part perfectly and Hogan could do no wrong back then. There's a bit from Saturday Night's Main Event where all of the wrestlers and announcers were in Germany, and had some sort of sausage stuffing event. Mean Gene introduced the Genius as, and I quote, the "master sausage stuffer himself" as the Genius had this deliriously happy look on his face.
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