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Post by Tiger Millionaire on Oct 23, 2014 22:30:38 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. I really don't think so. Lanny, himself, said it was the heel turn to the Genius from Leaping Lanny that kept him employed.
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Post by RowdyRobbyPiper on Oct 23, 2014 22:55:22 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. I am glad to see Lanny Poffo get some love here. Leaping Lanny (and big brother Randy) in Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling was one of my earliest memories of pro wrestling. Obviously in AGPW, in Memphis and in their father's territory, they did wrestle together as a tag team and as opponents. Those who saw their matches say they tore the house down. Lanny suffered from the fact that he was always booked as a jobber in the WWF while Randy, of course went on to be the Legendary Macho Man.
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Post by RowdyRobbyPiper on Oct 23, 2014 22:56:47 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. I really don't think so. Lanny, himself, said it was the heel turn to the Genius from Leaping Lanny that kept him employed. It was Randy who suggested the gimmick. Their father had worked a similar gimmick in the 70's as did Randy when he started out.
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Oct 24, 2014 1:58:12 GMT -5
I really don't think so. Lanny, himself, said it was the heel turn to the Genius from Leaping Lanny that kept him employed. It was Randy who suggested the gimmick. Their father had worked a similar gimmick in the 70's as did Randy when he started out. Yeah, and while Angelo Poffo set a record for situps, Lanny had quite the talent for situps himself, or so the story goes.
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