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Post by "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay on May 12, 2015 10:55:59 GMT -5
With Damien Randow showing up on Raw this week, a lot of people have brought up that Jay Lethal did a much better Macho Man impression.
I have two questions for ya.
1. Did anybody ever get any word from Savage about what he thought of the Black Machismo gimmick, out of curiosity?
2. Did anybody hate the gimmick as much as I did?
In fairness it wasn't so much the gimmick that I hated, more how successful it was.
I've got no problem with an impersonation gimmick in theory, although in practise they tend to be dead ends. But he was beating a lot of people, including Kurt Angle during his 'I have every f***ing belt' phase, and the character just existed forever. And it really bugged me because Lethal wasn't really getting over on his own (significant) merits so much as just using someone else's entire personality, and getting cheered for that. He was, to me, the Storks headlining Coachella because the Strokes had retired.
As a midcard act or a curtain jerker to pop the crowd I had no problem with it really, but I didn't think he had any business holding the company's second biggest title, especially when they had so few of them even then.
The nadir for the gimmick for me was a Lockdown show one year, where I think it was an X-Division title match that consisted of a guy who had a paparazzi gimmick and brought a camera to the ring, Sonjay Dutt being the stereotypical guru character, Jay as Black Machismo and then Shark Boy pretending to be Stone Cold. Two impersonations and two cartoons. For a division that was largely about his wrestling quality to that point, it seemed a little bit... I dunno, wasteful of some talented guys I guess.
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Post by OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 on May 12, 2015 13:40:44 GMT -5
He was awesome on the role, the whole paparazzi series ruled, it launched a lot of careers. I think Sonjay tried to do an Ultimate Warrior impression and he even shakes the rope, the Indian Warrior would've been awesome
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Post by Hit Girl on May 12, 2015 13:50:18 GMT -5
It was a great gimmick. Had he gone to WWE with it (along with Shark Boy) each of them could have had good careers there.
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chrom
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Post by chrom on May 12, 2015 14:03:44 GMT -5
Helped turn Lethal around, before he was a good wrestler but didn't really stick out from the rest. That enabled him to show his Charisma and what he could also do.
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Post by Deleted on May 12, 2015 14:10:49 GMT -5
It was fun, but it quickly went nowhere. Why they didn't have at least one segment where he confronted Hogan is beyond me.
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Post by hurbmurphy on May 13, 2015 12:28:41 GMT -5
Jay Lethal shouting "Who invited Kamala?" when Awesome Kong showed up to the Thanksgiving meal was the greatest moment in TNA history.
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chazraps
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Post by chazraps on May 13, 2015 12:46:14 GMT -5
1) Savage approved.
2) Yes, you are the only person who hated it.
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Post by Hit Girl on May 13, 2015 12:49:07 GMT -5
I saw a clip of an indie show where he noticed a Hulkster impersonator in the crowd and said "HEEEEYYYY WHAT'S HOGAN DOIN' HERE? "
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Post by ________ has left the building on May 13, 2015 13:50:48 GMT -5
Like a lot of other comedy gimmicks, it started off great and grew out its welcome before finally ending long after its shelf life expired. Black Machismo actually harmed Jay Lethal's career in TNA. He went from someone who had potential to that whacky guy. Even when he beat Angle clean for the X title, he was still considered a midcard comedy act.
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chrom
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Post by chrom on May 13, 2015 14:33:36 GMT -5
Tenay and West did have a great moment on commentary when he pinned Angle. They echoed what many in attendance and watching were thinking when he did it.
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Post by kingoftheindies on May 13, 2015 14:34:35 GMT -5
Savage actually called lethal to tell him how much he loved the gimmick
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lionheart21
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Post by lionheart21 on May 13, 2015 14:39:30 GMT -5
Lethal also did a pretty spot-on impression of Flair.
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Post by "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay on May 14, 2015 8:46:03 GMT -5
1) Savage approved. 2) Yes, you are the only person who hated it. 1. That's really cool, actually. 2. Woohoo! I'm a special flower!
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Post by Ashy Larry on May 14, 2015 12:19:21 GMT -5
The most over Jay Lethal has ever been. Sports Entertainment at its best in TNA, he had some colorful attire which stood out in comparison to the TNA roster at the time.
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Post by evenbroddt on May 14, 2015 12:47:20 GMT -5
I distinctly remember a match he had with Delirious, I think on an ROH show. It was a direct tribute to Macho Man vs Ultimate Warrior at WM VII
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Post by Citizen Snips Has Left on May 14, 2015 20:20:07 GMT -5
"Snake Roberts ruined my wedding!" is one of my favorite wrestling quotes of the century.
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on May 14, 2015 20:34:40 GMT -5
Tenay and West did have a great moment on commentary when he pinned Angle. They echoed what many in attendance and watching were thinking when he did it. I do hate how much of the match they go on about "inexperience" and "the kid". You'd think they had framed pictures of Kurt Angle on their commentary desk, surrounded by hearts. Then again, that's always been TNA's issue, they're often even more Angle-centric than WWF was Austin-centric. "You can only beat Angle if someone emptied a machine gun clip into him, and his body rolled onto a land mine!" would have fit right into that commentary.
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2015 0:31:01 GMT -5
It was a great gimmick. Had he gone to WWE with it (along with Shark Boy) each of them could have had good careers there. I get that Shark Boy was Austin, but I never understood why TNA had a Macho Man impersonator and a Steve Austin impersonater on the roster at the same time and they didn't have a Mega Powers gimmick. They just did their own thing and barely interacted. But then, who am I to try and make sense of TNA booking?
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Post by kingoftheindies on May 15, 2015 5:11:21 GMT -5
It was a great gimmick. Had he gone to WWE with it (along with Shark Boy) each of them could have had good careers there. I get that Shark Boy was Austin, but I never understood why TNA had a Macho Man impersonator and a Steve Austin impersonater on the roster at the same time and they didn't have a Mega Powers gimmick. They just did their own thing and barely interacted. But then, who am I to try and make sense of TNA booking? Funny enough around the time before Sonjay became the Guru the rumor was he was gonna do a Razor Ramon gimmick (in the weeks leading up to the Guru Nash kept giving him his old gimmicks)
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Post by Emmet Russell on May 15, 2015 6:40:31 GMT -5
Still think that segment with Flair was one of the best TNA has ever done and all they did was have two charismatic personalities go out there and ab-lib ... I don't even know if I can compliment TNA themselves on that but they made the right move by letting these guys wing it and it was fantastic.
The subsequent match was also quite good, especially for a Flair match in 2010 ... and they followed it up by? nothing. Lethal was gone within a year I believe. What a waste.
Lethal was over, young, talented, charismatic; he'd scored a huge win over Flair and you go nowhere with it? what a stupid company. They followed up by having Lethal lose to Flair in a street fight while dressed in his multi-coloured undies as the fans laughed.
HATE THIS COMPANYYYYYY.
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