Remember Tatanka's return in the mid 2000s?

[autisticgeordie]

I remember that I had been a fan of wrestling for only a year at that point, and, at the time, I had no idea who Tatanka was or that he had been a big deal before hand in the WWE with a 2 year undefeated streak or something ridiculous like that.

But, I don't know why, but when Tatanka actually turned heel on, I believe, Bobby Lashley and then I remember him having this vignette where he showed off his new, warpainted look and I just remember thinking that Tatanka looked pretty badass, honestly, considering his age at the time, he didn't look too bad and I remember that he actually had a decent match with Chris Benoit on Smackdown.

Considering Benoit was the US Champ at the time, Tatanka could've actually had a feud with him over the belt, maybe even won it, considering he's a legitimate Native-American and could've made the argument that he's just taking back what rightfully belonged to him and the other Native Americans? 

[jivesoulbrah]

Was hoping for a nostalgia Tatanka run myself where he finally won a mid card title.

[chronocross]

I wouldn't have minded a short U.S title run or even a tag team title run. I know he was tagging with Matt Hardy in early 06 and feuding with MNM, but it didn't go much further than that till his heel turn on Lashley later that year.

[Wieners=$$$]

One of my boys from the 90's. Loved the look and gimmick. Not a great wrestler, but passable. Then his heel turn ruined him.

Fast-forward to '00s, and I was shocked to hear he came back, and then immediately, disappointed that they turned him heel again.

Not saying he wasn't a good heel, but the handling of his turn(s), were tasteless and continued the perpetuating racism that came with turning heritage-gimmicks, such as his, heel.

[dangerousdanpotato]

The initial return wasn't very well explained or touted, and he felt out of place, and directionless. Then team with Matt Hardy was so thrown-together; again it made Tatanka look like a guy without a clear role on the roster. I actually felt the heel turn and new look refreshed him significantly and if they'd parlayed it into a significant feud and storyline he could have had a cool run in the mid-card, but it just kind of petered out, like a lot of characters did at the time.

[warden]

All I remember from his return was that he had gotten kind of tubby. His name meant buffalo thanks cole, he became scorned indian villain and some chick in the audience doing a very loud indian war cry during one match of his that got more pop than anything that was going on in the ring

[Johnny D]

Wasn't Russo responsible for his Summerslam '94 heel turn? (because SWERVE bro!) But yeah I was really marking for the guy as a kid before that as were many others. His mid 2000s-run was very forgettable though.

[I'm Team Bayley and Indi]

at a convention a couple of years back, he wanted a friend of mine to go back to his hotel room with him. She was interested in training to be a wrestler and (probably) naively) give him some of her social media details, within 10 minutes, he was liking her photos on Instragram, and getting DMs too (she showed me them)

this adds nothing to the conversation, it's just what I think of when I think of Tatanka now,

[James Fabiano]

Dec 5, 2019 12:29:14 GMT -5 Johnny D said:

Wasn't Russo responsible for his Summerslam '94 heel turn? (because SWERVE bro!) But yeah I was really marking for the guy as a kid before that as were many others. His mid 2000s-run was very forgettable though.

Okay. I understand miscrediting Russo for Mae Young's hand. But something from 1994?

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

It was nowhere near as bad as it could’ve been, and the heel turn was actually kinda interesting but went nowhere.

[Andee9001]

Didn't he turn heel on Lashley because of how Americans oppressed Native Americans? Pretty tone deaf when you think about it.

[thegame415]

Dec 5, 2019 12:29:14 GMT -5 Johnny D said:

Wasn't Russo responsible for his Summerslam '94 heel turn? (because SWERVE bro!) But yeah I was really marking for the guy as a kid before that as were many others. His mid 2000s-run was very forgettable though.

Russo wasn't writing yet.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Dec 5, 2019 12:29:14 GMT -5 Johnny D said:

Wasn't Russo responsible for his Summerslam '94 heel turn? (because SWERVE bro!) But yeah I was really marking for the guy as a kid before that as were many others. His mid 2000s-run was very forgettable though.

Absolutely not. He was editing the magazine then until 1996.

[Starshine]

I remember he tag teamed with Matt Hardy for a bit. Then they "repackaged" him with a bunch of video promos, but he was exactly the same apart from different facepaint and a new finisher, or something. Then there was the weird heel turn, where IIRC I believe he was angry about white man taking his ancestral land, and then naturally attacked Bobby Lashley.

All up, it was certainly a thing that happened.

[hassanchop]

All I remember was he said "Thanks for nothin"

[Deleted]

I mostly remember him turning heel due to hating the deeds of white people and for some reason expressing this by attacking Lashley.

[fw91]

he smoked the peace pipe with RVD.

[carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army)]

I actually liked it, because he wrestled like a big power guy, which fit him better.

[Perfect Timing]

Nice seeing him at the Rumble but not so much during his 06 run where all he did was knife edge chops.

[jivesoulbrah]

Dec 5, 2019 12:35:38 GMT -5 I'm Team Bayley and Indi said:

at a convention a couple of years back, he wanted a friend of mine to go back to his hotel room with him. She was interested in training to be a wrestler and (probably) naively) give him some of her social media details, within 10 minutes, he was liking her photos on Instragram, and getting DMs too (she showed me them)

this adds nothing to the conversation, it's just what I think of when I think of Tatanka now,

Now he’s going return and attack Bobby Lashley again because your friend turned him down, but seriously that’s definitely creepy.