Misunderstandings you had as a kid about wrestling

[Mozenrath]

Most of us started watching as kids, and kids sometimes come to strange conclusions, sometimes for good reasons, sometimes for who the hell knows why. Here are a few I remember.

One off the top of my head is probably pretty understandable. I knew that WCW had hired Hogan's nephew, and he was around somewhere, but I didn't see Horace in anything, I guess. Still, I knew his nephew was around, and I just assumed it was Scott Steiner, since by then he had the dye job and the black mixed in with his facial hair, like Hollywood would do. I was not a big enough fan to keep up enough to know

Additionally, when I was younger still, I remember thinking that Ultimate Warrior was affiliated with the Road Warriors, since I mean, facepaint and all. I was too young to know the formulaic nature of wrestling, and that Ultimate Warrior had gotten his break with Sting as one of a, well, legion of knockoff acts. Just one of the ones with more potential than just being a bodybuilder with facepaint. Even if I had known that, it wouldn't change that I wouldn't have known who the Blade Runners were, so being removed from a tag act was at least a degree of separation, even if Ultimate Warrior still had some pretty clear vestiges of being a wannabe.

[TGM]

I misheard the commentators talking about Eddie Guerrero's brothers.

I thought his brothers were Chavo Jr, Hector Garza and Mongo (Mando) McMichael.

[Deleted]

I started watching as a 5 year old in 1995-1996. I bought a lot of toys and stuff from places like Big Lots, so I had, for example an Ultimate Warrior action figure even though I had never seen him wrestle. The action figure I had looked a lot like Shawn Michaes with face paint, so I thought Warrior was Shawn’s alter ego.

[Mozenrath]

Feb 18, 2018 17:46:05 GMT -5 @mattyphatty said:

I started watching as a 5 year old in 1995-1996. I bought a lot of toys and stuff from places like Big Lots, so I had, for example an Ultimate Warrior action figure even though I had never seen him wrestle. The action figure I had looked a lot like Shawn Michaes with face paint, so I thought Warrior was Shawn’s alter ego.

Clearly, he was the second Ultimate Warrior. That's why he was so short-lived in '96, Shawn got tired of pulling double duty.

[Deleted]

Feb 18, 2018 17:57:07 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Feb 18, 2018 17:46:05 GMT -5 @mattyphatty said:

I started watching as a 5 year old in 1995-1996. I bought a lot of toys and stuff from places like Big Lots, so I had, for example an Ultimate Warrior action figure even though I had never seen him wrestle. The action figure I had looked a lot like Shawn Michaes with face paint, so I thought Warrior was Shawn’s alter ego.

Clearly, he was the second Ultimate Warrior. That's why he was so short-lived in '96, Shawn got tired of pulling double duty.

All that burnout from pulling double duty really affected his ability to smile.

[魔界5号]

I used to think an I Quit match meant you had to quit WWE. So I was pretty confused when Cena beat JBL and he was on Smackdown like normal the same week

[Joe Neglia]

For a short time near the beginning, I was somehow (still can't figure out how) under the impression there were two aisles leading to the ring from opposite sides of the building in most promotions, with the babyfaces coming down one of them and the heels, the other.

[Push R Truth]

Back when I still thought it was quasi real... I used to think the ref determined the winner on the fly.
Like the ref was both looking out for wrestlers health AND being a boxing style judge kinda.

[MiLB Fan]

Feb 18, 2018 19:43:04 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

For a short time near the beginning, I was somehow (still can't figure out how) under the impression there were two aisles leading to the ring from opposite sides of the building in most promotions, with the babyfaces coming down one of them and the heels, the other.

WCW actually did that for a short time during the Bill Watts era. Watch Halloween Havoc ‘92 or SuperBrawl 3, for example.

When Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura said that Michael Hayes put a bounty on Erik Watts’ head, I remember thinking to myself, “what are these guys talking about? I don’t see anything on his head!” (I had never heard of a bounty match before; heck, I didn’t even know what a bounty was.)

Remember how Gorilla Monsoon would speak ill of a heel, and Bobby Heenan would always say, “I’m gonna tell him you said that”? I thought The Brain was being serious, and I always had this image of someone confronting Gorilla backstage about what he said.

[Deleted]

Feb 18, 2018 20:12:07 GMT -5 MiLB Fan said:

Feb 18, 2018 19:43:04 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

For a short time near the beginning, I was somehow (still can't figure out how) under the impression there were two aisles leading to the ring from opposite sides of the building in most promotions, with the babyfaces coming down one of them and the heels, the other.

WCW actually did that for a short time during the Bill Watts era. Watch Halloween Havoc ‘92 or SuperBrawl 3, for example.

When Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura said that Michael Hayes put a bounty on Erik Watts’ head, I remember thinking to myself, “what are these guys talking about? I don’t see anything on his head!” (I had never heard of a bounty match before; heck, I didn’t even know what a bounty was.)

Remember how Gorilla Monsoon would speak ill of a heel, and Bobby Heenan would always say, “I’m gonna tell him you said that”? I thought The Brain was being serious, and I always had this image of someone confronting Gorilla backstage about what he said.

Heenan as a stooge in that way would have been great.

[Ronny Rayguns Is All Elite]

For some reason I believed that the jobbers were actually credible competitors who would win their fair share of matches, they just weren't televised.

[DJ Maniak]

Feb 18, 2018 20:12:07 GMT -5 MiLB Fan said:

Feb 18, 2018 19:43:04 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

For a short time near the beginning, I was somehow (still can't figure out how) under the impression there were two aisles leading to the ring from opposite sides of the building in most promotions, with the babyfaces coming down one of them and the heels, the other.

WCW actually did that for a short time during the Bill Watts era. Watch Halloween Havoc ‘92 or SuperBrawl 3, for example.

When Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura said that Michael Hayes put a bounty on Erik Watts’ head, I remember thinking to myself, “what are these guys talking about? I don’t see anything on his head!” (I had never heard of a bounty match before; heck, I didn’t even know what a bounty was.)

Remember how Gorilla Monsoon would speak ill of a heel, and Bobby Heenan would always say, “I’m gonna tell him you said that”? I thought The Brain was being serious, and I always had this image of someone confronting Gorilla backstage about what he said.

After reading this, I'm just imagining Watts coming down to the ring with a roll of paper towels on his head.

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

I never knew this logo actually spelled out WCW...

[Joe Neglia]

Feb 18, 2018 20:12:07 GMT -5 MiLB Fan said:

Feb 18, 2018 19:43:04 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

For a short time near the beginning, I was somehow (still can't figure out how) under the impression there were two aisles leading to the ring from opposite sides of the building in most promotions, with the babyfaces coming down one of them and the heels, the other.

WCW actually did that for a short time during the Bill Watts era. Watch Halloween Havoc ‘92 or SuperBrawl 3, for example.

Yeah, but this was back when I first started watching circa 1985. Wondering if Watts maybe did the same for some of his Mid-South shows and that's where I got that from.

[Joe Neglia]

Feb 18, 2018 20:19:03 GMT -5 DJ Maniak said:

I'm just imagining Watts coming down to the ring with a roll of paper towels on his head.

Paper towels, white sheets, what's the difference...

[Deleted]

Feb 18, 2018 20:27:22 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

Feb 18, 2018 20:12:07 GMT -5 MiLB Fan said:

WCW actually did that for a short time during the Bill Watts era. Watch Halloween Havoc ‘92 or SuperBrawl 3, for example.

Yeah, but this was back when I first started watching circa 1985. Wondering if Watts maybe did the same for some of his Mid-South shows and that's where I got that from.

It’s definitely from somewhere because I used to think the same thing when I was a kid. 

[Mozenrath]

They also had that two lane system in stuff like Saturday Night Slam Masters, so I'm sure it had some basis in reality, even if, for practical reasons, it wasn't a universal thing.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

I thought that they legit hated each other. I thought for years that Goldust killed Brian Pillman.

[thegame415]

WWF magazine used to show upcoming tour dates, they were listed like

February 18th - Los Angeles, CA
February 19th - Anaheim, CA
February 20th - San Diego, CA

They would list RAW tapings back to back when it was live bi-weekly. So it’d look like.

February 18th - Los Angeles, CA
February 19th - Anaheim, CA (RAW IS WAR)
February 20th - San Diego, CA (RAW IS WAR)

There was a time period where I would watch on Tuesdays thinking Raw was on.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

Feb 18, 2018 19:43:04 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

For a short time near the beginning, I was somehow (still can't figure out how) under the impression there were two aisles leading to the ring from opposite sides of the building in most promotions, with the babyfaces coming down one of them and the heels, the other.

I think Mid-South used to do this. I recall Cornette talking about having to use referees to relay match plans between the two locker rooms if the wrestlers didn't have any time to plan anything backstage.