One Man Gang talks change to Akeem, if it was a rib on Dusty

[héad.casé]

"It was just an idea of Vince McMahon and basically he wanted another character and he invented this character and that's what we tried to go with. He just told me that One Man Gang was too black and white and just wasn't a good character anymore and he wanted a good, colorful character he could trademark and market. So he came up with Akeem and that was basically it and there really was not too much to it. He came up with the idea and he had his artists come up with the drawings and came up with the costume and sent me to New York and had me sized up with the materials with whatever needed to be done. They had the drawings and the artist renditions and that was it basically. When I showed up to TV, next thing you know they did the video where they bring us up to New York / Connecticut and do the little video and the change that we had talked about with the dancers and the this and that and they changed me to Akeem. Next thing you know I am on TV and now that's what I am."

"He didn't give me any instructions on how to be Akeem. He just said go out there and whatever you think you should do, but you'll be Akeem. That was basically my orders. After that it was anything I could come up with that I could add to the character, I'd add it myself. The little hand movements and stuff just came with the music playing and going out there and I was moving my hands around and now everyone calls it the Akeem dance. I just tell them that I was being stupid out there and didn't know what I was doing half the time. With the character at first I was terrified. I've been doing One Man Gang my whole career and now I've got to switch over and be this whole new character. I know people in professional wrestling that will tell you that it's wrestling and it's just a new character but it is like a whole different person. You've been the One Man Gang your whole life, a big bully and basically a big bad guy that would beat people up and now I had a totally new character that was just a goofy and I hate to say "white guy" trying to be cool and dance and people say it was making fun of Dusty Rhodes. Well, I tell people if that was the case, why did he bring Dusty into the company? Dusty came in shortly thereafter. So how was that a joke on him? They hired him into the company but I guess it caught on because people still talk about it thirty years later."

"At the time I didn't realize it. I'm just doing the character and I don't realize that it is really getting over. I am just doing this because if I don't do this I don't have a job. I didn't realize at the time the people really started to take to it. Thirty years later now they want to talk about it and everybody loves it.

www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2020/01/the-one-man-gang-on-his-transition-to-akeem-665386/

[Squirrel Master]

"I AM AKEEM! I HAVE BEEN REBORN!"

[Terry McConkey]

From what I remember, thought his character was totally stupid. I mean, a huge white guy that's now supposed to be from Africa and dresses like someone from there? It didn't make sense and if what OMG said about Vince was true, that just adds to the claims of racism against Vince.

[Deleted]

I keep forgetting he’s still alive. So many big men from that era are gone.

[Hit Girl]

Akeem was a great fun gimmick. He was a riot in that role.

[arrogantmodel]

Jan 25, 2020 13:27:10 GMT -5 @uppitynerd said:

I keep forgetting he’s still alive. So many big men from that era are gone.

Me too. Probably because of what you said, and he doesn't show up a whole lot. He never does old school WWE shows, he isn't still wrestling, right? Does he do conventions or anything?

Glad that he's still around though.

*Edit*

I see he was in the lawsuit against WWE for the head trauma stuff, so I guess we won't see him anytime soon.

[chazraps]

He's an amazing shoot interview. Super positive, and probably the biggest wrestling fan who has ever been in the business.

Check out his shoot with Steve Corino if you haven't.

[petef3]

Jan 25, 2020 14:28:45 GMT -5 chazraps said:

He's an amazing shoot interview. Super positive, and probably the biggest wrestling fan who has ever been in the business.

This. He apparently used to post on Facebook about how great Kenny Omega was and what cool things Lucha Underground was doing. It wouldn't have surprised me at all for OMG to turn into a "These damn kidz these days with their moonsaults and whatnot need to slow it down!" type, so it's cool to see him take the exact opposite approach. I say this as someone who is very much a "Kids these days..." type myself.

[jason1980s]

Like his WWF career, I can see George Gray as guy who can last a few years but the life of the character One Man Gang and Akeem didn't have a long life. Akeem lasted two years but after about one it was clear he was just kind of there and Bossman was the breakout star. With One Man Gang, like many other big guys, it seems once his big feuds were over (one with Hogan and one with Bigelow) there wasn't much else for him. He is a good guy who should be employed as long as he can be so they needed to come up with something new. In WCW he didn't last long either time and I guess once you lose to El Gigante who really wasn't good, you just need to move on. If he had stayed in WCW he would have been much worse of a character than Akeem.

[Milkman Norm]

Jan 25, 2020 12:05:55 GMT -5 Squirrel Master said:

"I AM AKEEM! I HAVE BEEN REBORN!"

THE GREATEST NIGHT IN HIS TOR EEE!!!

[Hit Girl]

If he had stayed he could have been part of a three man Natural Disasters.

[ThankGodForSidJustice]

Jan 25, 2020 17:08:42 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

Like his WWF career, I can see George Gray as guy who can last a few years but the life of the character One Man Gang and Akeem didn't have a long life. Akeem lasted two years but after about one it was clear he was just kind of there and Bossman was the breakout star. With One Man Gang, like many other big guys, it seems once his big feuds were over (one with Hogan and one with Bigelow) there wasn't much else for him. He is a good guy who should be employed as long as he can be so they needed to come up with something new. In WCW he didn't last long either time and I guess once you lose to El Gigante who really wasn't good, you just need to move on. If he had stayed in WCW he would have been much worse of a character than Akeem.

I've noticed in his shoot interviews that Gang, while a really nice guy, wasn't a "happy to be there" kind of guy either in that if he wasn't happy about his situation he wasn't afraid to dig his heels in or just outright leave. He walked out on WWF due to burnout and being disgruntled with his position and was fired from WCW because he refused to do a job for PN News. According to him he was originally supposed to be in the Abdullah Butcher spot at Halloween Havoc 1991 in that he was going to be the guy who going to get fried in the electric chair in the Chamber of Horrors match and it was going to lead to him losing his mind and becoming a Preacher where he would be yelling about how he "saw the light". Sounds terrible but with how he threw himself into the Akeem gimmick, which also sounded ridiculous on paper, maybe he could've made it work.

Count me in as another who really enjoys his shoot interviews. Great storyteller, good memory, funny, and comes off as really humble and down to earth at the same time. I also find it cool that he's probably one of the few old timers that talks positively and has an open mind to present wrestling instead of the usual "no psychology, all high spots, blah blah blah" response that they pretty much all have when asked even if they say previously that they haven't watched it in years.

[johnnyk9]

It was good I thought

[Mozenrath]

Honestly, I just always figured it was a take on the setup to The Jerk.

[Rumble McSkirmish]

He should also be glad that his "son" Conrad is doing well for himself with his mortgage business and string of successful podcasts.

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

"One Man Gang was too black and white, so we just took out the white and went with it!"

[Ultimo Gallos]

Jan 25, 2020 13:59:57 GMT -5 arrogantmodel said:

Jan 25, 2020 13:27:10 GMT -5 @uppitynerd said:

I keep forgetting he’s still alive. So many big men from that era are gone.

Me too. Probably because of what you said, and he doesn't show up a whole lot. He never does old school WWE shows, he isn't still wrestling, right? Does he do conventions or anything?

Glad that he's still around though.

*Edit*

I see he was in the lawsuit against WWE for the head trauma stuff, so I guess we won't see him anytime soon.

OMGcan't wrestle anymore. Years ago he took a bad bump and messed his back up pretty badly. Last I heard,been at least 18 months ago,he can pnly walk using a walker and needs back surgery he can't afford.Plus that big bit of flooding in LA last year,IIRC it was last year might have been 2018,flooded his home.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Jan 25, 2020 14:28:45 GMT -5 chazraps said:

He's an amazing shoot interview. Super positive, and probably the biggest wrestling fan who has ever been in the business.

Check out his shoot with Steve Corino if you haven't.

Bret said in his book that he was a quiet guy who liked to read.

[jimmyjackezekiel]

Jan 25, 2020 18:48:48 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

If he had stayed he could have been part of a three man Natural Disasters.

I was also thinking that at one point. Maybe with the name 'Avalanche' to fit in.

[Toilet Paper Roll]

One Man Gang and Bossman looked like a legitimate dangerous pairing but once he became a comedy act it just seemed like two guys destined to not be in the league of guys like Savage and Hogan