I demand we talk about Bodydonna Kloudi

[Jacy Derangement Syndrome]

Cause who the hell else is gonna?? Seriously I feel like I might be introducing this to literally anyone else here that started watching after 1996 cause this is so forgotten. 

(preface: i'm trans)


So this is Kloudi. Sometimes Cloudy. The absolutely jacked dude playing her is an indy guy named Jimmy Shoulders that was friends with Chris Candido. Kinda can't believe Vince didn't instantly love a dude named Jimmy Shoulders. So Bodydonnas lost Sunny so at KOTR 96 they were like we found someone 1000x hotter and here she is. I always assumed it was a heel thing and commentary would be all like WHO IS *THAT GUY* THAT'S NOT A WOMAN (especially cause this is literally OG Goldust era) but instead it's way weirder?? Vince is respecting her pronouns so damn hard I'm sitting there with my whole mouth open and f***ing cackling when he says "well...she's happy!" like a damn supportive grandparent that doesn't get it but is trying. Lawler says she's ugly like every 2 seconds but that's the thing; he says She is ugly. Dude. Anyway, The Bodydonnas win their match against The New Rockers ( 😭😭) when Kloudi kisses Leif Cassidy (😭😭😭) and he's stuck in a vortex of transgender trickery. Literally name a more iconic moment at King of The Ring 1996. You can't.

It gets even wilder tho, cause on the RAW after KOTR 96, The Bodydonnas and Kloudi are full on babyfaces. Sunny is on commentary like f*** this ugly bitch f***ing replace me f*** you I'm Sunny and she's the heel wondering why everyone suddenly loves The Bodydonnas now. She literally says "how can you even call that a she -- look at it!" at one point and I'm like dying trying to figure out what the hell I'm watching. The end segment of the match is Kloudi sensually shimmying over to Jerry Lawler and Jerry Lawler running away through the crowd to escape the vortex while everyone laughs in delight. I can't get over the fact that this was happening while Goldust was still around. Genuinely wonder if some absolute goofballs in the company thought of Kloudi as something more positive to shut gay rights people up about Goldust, cause it almost feels that way. Very positive representation, can't believe it ended so soon.

Tldr; There's an alternate timeline where one of the biggest WWF gimmicks of the 90s is a proud transgender babyface scaring dudes with her RAW SEXUALITY and I'm never gonna shut up about this.
  

[Spider2024]

It's actually surprising how little this gets talked about in the zeitgeist of terrible wrestling gimmicks. For such a horrible and semi-offensive gimmick, it seems like only a few even remember it. Phantasio gets talked about way more and he only had 1 WWF match.

[rnrk supports BLM]

...I consider New Generation WWF the peak of my wrestling fandom and I had absolutely no memory of this. Like, now that you've brought it up I remember Cloudy's existence as this brief thing, but I'd completely blocked it from my mind. And I remember Savio Vega cosplaying as Muta.

Santina Marella was the same dynamic, wasn't it? Heroic drag queen where only the heels ever try to dispute their apparent gender. I guess this is one of those things bouncing around in the back of Vince's grey matter.

[Jacy Derangement Syndrome]

Mar 19, 2022 23:23:39 GMT -5 rnrk supports BLM said:

...I consider New Generation WWF the peak of my wrestling fandom and I had absolutely no memory of this. Like, now that you've brought it up I remember Cloudy's existence as this brief thing, but I'd completely blocked it from my mind. And I remember Savio Vega cosplaying as Muta.

Santina Marella was the same dynamic, wasn't it? Heroic drag queen where only the heels ever try to dispute their apparent gender. I guess this is one of those things bouncing around in the back of Vince's grey matter.

Genuinely has to be in the top 5 for most forgotten characters in WWE history. You could learn everything and anything with the snap of a finger if you became a fan post-internet when Wrestling Bios sites were the absolute shit(like me) and I had no concept of this ever happening until a couple of years ago. I wish there was a non-painful way to find out if Kloudi ever popped up on a WhatCulture video or something like that literally ever. 

[agent817]

I think I might have to get deeper into the New Generation Era to see this character in action. I have only read about it.

Given how in the last decade that the trans community is a little more accepted, not sure what they were going for with this. I might was it considered "less offensive" to have a man in drag rather than hire a female bodybuilder who has a "man-ish" vibe, a la Nicole Bass (RIP)? No disrespect to Nicole Bass, but I remember first seeing her in ECW and thinking she looked like a man. But knowing that Cloudy is a man in drag, I wonder if the creative team thought that would be funnier.

[SirLucas]

I remember Sunny dumped Skip and Zip. Then, on tv they hyped the Body Donnas introducing a new manager at King of the Ring. My guess was Mr. Fuji, since Yoko was gone and Fuji hadn't done anything on tv in a while. Could you imagine an alternate timeline where Fuji managed Skip and Zip?

[rnrk supports BLM]

I remember Sunny splitting from the Bodydonnas because they did a big thing about her teasing what team she'd manage instead that involved her coming out with the Gunns and the Godwinns and probably others in a thin excuse to show Sunny in different fetish outfits every week.

And I had Cloudy filed away in the back of my mind as "the third Bodydonna" like the third Demolition member, as one of those obscure trivia answers that has no other relevance, only a hell of a lot less important since the Bodydonnas themselves are barely more than a trivia answer about guys who Shawn Michaels f***ed over during his peak junkie years.

[jason1980s]

Kloudy didn't last long at all. I'm not even sure Jimmy made it to the In Your House in July. A bikini match or something like it was slated in the WWF magazine between Kloudy and Sunny but by that time Jimmy was gone.

[This Player Hating Mothman]

Jimmy Shoulders is a money name

[GuyOfOwnage]

Mar 20, 2022 7:13:09 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

Kloudy didn't last long at all. I'm not even sure Jimmy made it to the In Your House in July. A bikini match or something like it was slated in the WWF magazine between Kloudy and Sunny but by that time Jimmy was gone.

I specifically remember the bikini contest between the two being advertised in an issue of WWF Magazine. I wanna say it was featured in a SummerSlam 96 preview, but I could be wrong. This is the sort of thing I'm shocked Vince didn't follow through on.

[fg]

Mar 20, 2022 9:04:16 GMT -5 GuyOfOwnage said:

Mar 20, 2022 7:13:09 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

Kloudy didn't last long at all. I'm not even sure Jimmy made it to the In Your House in July. A bikini match or something like it was slated in the WWF magazine between Kloudy and Sunny but by that time Jimmy was gone.

I specifically remember the bikini contest between the two being advertised in an issue of WWF Magazine. I wanna say it was featured in a SummerSlam 96 preview, but I could be wrong. This is the sort of thing I'm shocked Vince didn't follow through on.

Well, Kloudi by that time had already left. With no explanation, the bikini contest was changed to all three WWE Ladies parading around in swimsuits in the backstage area and they had to pretend they were at the beach. It also got bumped to the pre show.

Now, if the original advertised match took place, I am pretty sure it would be one of those many lame comedy segments that only Vince would laugh at.

["Sweet & Sour" ImSoFudginGreat]

Didn’t Zip and Skip ask for applications to be their manager and peoples applications were looked at on Raw or in the WWF magazine? Or, was that something else similar?

[Stone Coke Miami Watson 🥃]

“The Kloudi Kommunity?!?”

[fg]

Mar 20, 2022 11:07:23 GMT -5 "Sweet & Sour" ImSoFudginGreat said:

Didn’t Zip and Skip ask for applications to be their manager and peoples applications were looked at on Raw or in the WWF magazine? Or, was that something else similar?

Yes. It was on Raw. They probably did that to beef up their mailing lists.

[Deleted]

Mar 20, 2022 8:55:23 GMT -5 This Player Hating Mothman said:

Jimmy Shoulders is a money name

Sounds like an associate of Tony D'Angelo.

[Jacy Derangement Syndrome]

Mar 20, 2022 11:07:23 GMT -5 "Sweet & Sour" ImSoFudginGreat said:

Didn’t Zip and Skip ask for applications to be their manager and peoples applications were looked at on Raw or in the WWF magazine? Or, was that something else similar?

They sure did. They aired a whole bunch of the video applications while Jerry Lawler was like haha look at these freaks and I was like damn this is kinda f***ed up lmao

[James Fabiano]

Here is a Cloudy fact you might not have known...

The character appeared in ECW once. It was the six man with the Triple Threat vs. Dreamer and the Pitbulls

[Jacy Derangement Syndrome]

Mar 20, 2022 12:58:05 GMT -5 James Fabiano said:

Here is a Cloudy fact you might not have known...

The character appeared in ECW once. It was the six man with the Triple Threat vs. Dreamer and the Pitbulls

Chris Candido has gotta be in the best friends hall of fame.

[Jacy Derangement Syndrome]

Me: I'm sure ECW will treat Kloudi with grace and respect, especially Joey Styles.

Reality setting in: 

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}

[bob]

I have no recollection of Kloudi at all