Adrian Adonis "Coming Out"

[willywonka666]

So I had just started watching regularly at this time, and since then I have heard this was a punishment from Vince for Adrian letting himself go, but he made it work.

I always kind of thought in the era of Boy George and such, that maybe this was a kind of shocking angle that was bound to happen.

Or was it really a punishment? If so, why did he bother keeping it after he left the WWF? He had quit bleaching his hair, but from what I remember he was still pretty flamboyant when he wrestled in the AWA.

I have also seen the Piper's Pit where he gives Roddy his leather jacket and I have read he also appeared on the Body Shop with Jesse Ventura, but I haven't seen that and I wondered Jesse's reaction.

And of course it set up a great feud with Piper as they went to war over their talk shows, but sadly not all of that footage is available on youtube .

So thoughts?

[Deleted]

Weird, I was just thinking about this yesterday. I had the Roddy Piper DVD playing in the background and it got to WM III.

Now, actually, I was thinking about the one interview I seen with Adonis after the event. It was one of those arena show plugs and Jimmy Hart had to persuade Adrian to come out on camera. He slowly came out and had a towel on his head, kinda sorta.

Then that thought led to Brutus Beefcake and his silly seemingly-never-ending angle of going to barber college to learn hair cutting from the best, some guy named Sal.

These are the things I think about when my mind goes blank and I have no responsibility.

***

As far as your Boy George thought, Memphis worked a gimmick with perennial jobber Tony Falk and turned him into Boy Tony. I know for years they would dust that gimmick off and bring him back in as that once in awhile - usually when he got on a long losing streak, probably up until the USWA shut down.

[molson5]

Adonis did start carrying around that briefcase that would later read "relax with trudi" right when he returned to the WWF in 1985, before he totally let himself go. Maybe the briefcase had a different intended purpose back then, but still, it seems odd that Vince wanted pudgy street fighter Adrian Adonis and didn't have something bigger in mind. It seems even odder that Vince would "punish" Adonis for letting himself go by giving him the biggest push of his career. Without that gimmick, Adonis is just a goofy prelim jobber by 1986 I think. Instead, he's in the third most heavily promoted match at the biggest wrestling show ever against Roddy Piper.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjCIhYRVjgU

[RowdyRobbyPiper]

Roddy's feud with Adonis ensured that Roddy would always be my favorite wrestler. I loathed Adonis as a mark during that angle. But looking back, Adrian played that gimmick and his role very, very well. Even though he did let himself go, he was still very agile and athletic in the ring. In short, Adrian was a master heel.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=kiQ5MlvGTXs

[________ has left the building]

It really wasn't a sudden change if you thought about. Adrian wore more leather than a Tom of Finland drawing.

[mizerable]

It's stupid to "punish" someone with a gimmick like this. Granted, Adonis DID let himself go, but he still moved around the ring very well and could sell with the best of them. He was also a killer promo, so to saddle him with this always made me wonder. Unless, Vince felt that Adonis' skills could get the gimmick over than someone else. If that's the case, why book him so poorly?

I always look back on Adonis' later career with some kind of remorse. I really wish that things had panned out better, possibly preventing Adonis' untimely death.

[molson5]

Feb 3, 2013 18:41:54 GMT -5 ________ has left the building said:

It really wasn't a sudden change if you thought about. Adrian wore more leather than a Tom of Finland drawing.

Gay feminine biker Adonis would have been intriguing. I mean, we had a gay S&M tag team pushed to the moon that became one of the greatest teams of all time. Hindsight is difficult when it comes to pro wrestling. But I still think crossdressing flower-shop Adonis was one of the great characters of the 80s. I'll never believe that was "punishment". The knock on Vince is that he only ever pushed huge hosses with great bodies, but here you have this big fat guy who was easily one of the top 5 pushed heels of the mid to late-80s. It was brilliant, and it represented the kind of wacky variety that's probably missing in the business today.