The End Game for WCW's Hunchbacks Revealed!

[chazraps]

Pardon the needlessly grandiose thread title, but after a week of just awful, brutal news I thought we could go for a Saturday night smile.

We've all heard of the "Hunchbacks/Humpbacks" named among the all time worst WCW ideas. For those who may be unfamiliar, this was a Jim Herd-era concept of a tag team with humps between their shoulders so they couldn't be pinned.

Stupid, right?

Yes, it is. However, usually the "lol, WCW" era of it ends there. Turns out there actually was a full plan.

I'm watching the Timeline: WWF 1993 shoot with Lex Luger from 2013, so given the overlap of this era WWF/WCW fans might not be that big, Lex mentioning what the end game was for the hunchbacks had seemed to have gone woefully underreported these past seven years. In the interest of lightening spirits, I'm here to help share the story.

It comes up because host Sean Oliver mentions the short-lived Friar Ferguson (wrestling monk) gimmick and asks Lex if he thought it would ever get over. Lex, trying to be nice and positive, says something to the effect of "I've heard far worse things...did you know in WCW someone pitched The Humpbacks?" Sean nods along and they talk a bit about it, state what we all know *of* it, being a character idea that never came through and allegedly eventually morphed into The Ding-Dongs (wrestlers with bells on their tights that would confuse the ref and their opponents into thinking the match was over).

Then Lex asks Sean if he knew how it was going to end? Sean, like me at home, looked at him in stunned silence as the idea of a "plan" for The Humpbacks/Hunchbacks seems far too elaborate before someone pulled the plug.

According to Lex, who implies he was there when the idea was mapped out at the time, The Humpbacks were supposed to go on a long undefeated streak as, we've established, they have humps on their backs and can't be pinned.

The longterm plan was for their streak to come to an end at an outdoor show in a falls count anywhere match. Their opponents would find a hole in the ground at some point and position one of the Humpbacks in it just right so that their shoulders would be flat on the ground and they'd be pinned, ending their streak and vanquishing them.

Amazing.

[Squirrel Master]

It was absurd on its face and I’m glad we didn’t have to suffer through it.
For contrast, l submit NWA 1989.

[Ecks Ecks Ringout Ecks Ecks]

This is so f***ing stupid, I almost wish I lived in the timeline where Herd stuck to his guns and played out the whole angle.

[Deleted]

I kind of wish this had happened just for the absurdity of the gigantic plot hole of, "... So why doesn't someone just make them tap instead?"

[Dub H]

Jun 21, 2020 1:45:42 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

I kind of wish this had happened just for the absurdity of the gigantic plot hole of, "... So why doesn't someone just make them tap instead?"

or jus pins the shoulders?there is multiple ways to pin someone without being flat on their backs

[honsou]

I unironically love this idea but I would make changes.

Just make it a one time thing. A lower card heel wrestler says he has to wear some weird back support that gives him a humpback. Everyone knows its BS but he shows a doctors note, comedy babyface attempts to pin him with a normal pin and the heel laughs knowing that he's cheated the system. Only then does the babyface figures out he could pin him by placing the hump in a hole in the ground and gets the win. This never should be an angle but it would be a hilarious opener to some secondary TV show or a house show circuit

[chazraps]

Jun 21, 2020 1:50:22 GMT -5 Dub H said:

Jun 21, 2020 1:45:42 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

I kind of wish this had happened just for the absurdity of the gigantic plot hole of, "... So why doesn't someone just make them tap instead?"

or jus pins the shoulders?there is multiple ways to pin someone without being flat on their backs

The idea was the hump would be between their shoulders in such a way both wouldn't touch the mat at the same time.

[Mozenrath]

I feel like that if this HAD gone through, they wouldn't even get that far before either the humps kept shifting mid-match or falling off, or, if they were affixed firmly, one of the wrestlers got injured from it.

[Dub H]

Jun 21, 2020 3:45:01 GMT -5 chazraps said:

Jun 21, 2020 1:50:22 GMT -5 Dub H said:

or jus pins the shoulders?there is multiple ways to pin someone without being flat on their backs

The idea was the hump would be between their shoulders in such a way both wouldn't touch the mat at the same time.

maybe it is just my anatomy is off. But would it be possible to reach the top of the shoulder?There is oins you can do using the top of shoulders no?

[EP 54 is banned from Collision]

Jun 21, 2020 3:50:35 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

I feel like that if this HAD gone through, they wouldn't even get that far before either the humps kept shifting mid-match or falling off, or, if they were affixed firmly, one of the wrestlers got injured from it.

Taking a powerbomb with something attatched between your shoulderblades seems like a stunningly bad idea. I mean it's have to be reasonably firm for the gimmick to work.

[Mozenrath]

Jun 21, 2020 6:03:24 GMT -5 EP 54 is banned from Collision said:

Jun 21, 2020 3:50:35 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

I feel like that if this HAD gone through, they wouldn't even get that far before either the humps kept shifting mid-match or falling off, or, if they were affixed firmly, one of the wrestlers got injured from it.

Taking a powerbomb with something attatched between your shoulderblades seems like a stunningly bad idea. I mean it's have to be reasonably firm for the gimmick to work.

That, plus, it being WCW, one of the refs would end up blowing the spot before long and counting a pinfall, anyway, by mistake.

[Joe Neglia]

I will give them props for this - unlike so much of today's bookings, angles and gimmicks, there was an endgame planned.

[thegatewaydrug]

Ideally their big loss would be scheduled for a Wednesday.

[Celexa Bliss 54]

This was actually mentioned in, I think, Ric Flair's book. And he attributed the idea for the hole in the ground to Kevin Sullivan, who said it sarcastically to Herd, who thought it was a fantastic idea. Nonetheless, it's hilarious and I would have actually been intrigued to see it play out lol

[Johawn]

Slightly off topic but that Timeline with Lex is one of my favourite shoots, Lex is so positive it's infectious.

[toodarkmark]

I've always wondered how early Herd pitched this idea. Like "Hi I'm your new boss. I have this great idea!" Or, did he wait a few months, and when he saw people start to disrespect him, he's like "Here is my idea."

[Vice honcho room temperature]

Jun 21, 2020 6:14:02 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Jun 21, 2020 6:03:24 GMT -5 EP 54 is banned from Collision said:

Taking a powerbomb with something attatched between your shoulderblades seems like a stunningly bad idea. I mean it's have to be reasonably firm for the gimmick to work.

That, plus, it being WCW, one of the refs would end up blowing the spot before long and counting a pinfall, anyway, by mistake.

And of course it being WCW despite it being on a taped show they would run it twice during a weekend of shows.

[bmfjules]

Jun 21, 2020 1:45:42 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

I kind of wish this had happened just for the absurdity of the gigantic plot hole of, "... So why doesn't someone just make them tap instead?"

From previous shoot interviews I've heard, I believe Ole Anderson is the one credited with shooting the idea down by saying as soon as he was in the ring with one of them he'd hook them into a shoot submission and that would be the end of their undefeated streak.