Where Was The Waylon Mercy Character Going?

[sungod2020]

For those of you who may not know, Waylon Mercy was the persona of Dan Spivey who's character was based on Robert De Niro's portrayal of Max Cady in the 1991 remake of Cape Fear. Like Cady, he had jet black hair, wore white attire with a Hawaiian shirt, and sported several strange tattoos, including one of a dagger on his forehead (Spivey's were temporary). The character was introduced through a series of vignettes that always had Spivey speaking in a calm yet sinister manner, finishing with the phrase "Lives are gonna be in Waylon Mercy's hands. You know what I mean?"



Spivey portrayed a heel despite his character acting as a peaceful southern gentleman outside the ring. Waylon would shake the hands of the fans and thank them for coming to see him wrestle, his opponent, and even the referee before his matches. However, once the bell rang, he became vicious, insincerely apologizing for actions such as kicking or choking a downed opponent. Mercy's finishing move saw him apply a sleeper hold as he revealed a wide-eyed, insane expression. Once the bell rang, he would return to his "peaceful southern gentleman" act.



The character was around from June to October 1995. While his tenure was short, he competed in matches with the top faces of the WWF at the time, such as Bret Hart, Razor Ramon,and WWF World Heavyweight Champion Diesel. Spivey's only pay-per-view appearance as Waylon Mercy came at In Your House 3, where he lost to Savio Vega. Spivey defeated Diesel by countout in his last televised match.



Due to nagging injuries, Spivey retired from in-ring action, thus nixing any future plans they might've had for him. Such a shame too as his character had unlimited potential. In a time where the undercard was flooded with cartoony characters, the Waylon Mercy persona was a nice change of pace. It even inspired the Bray Wyatt character some 20 years later.



So lets say Spivey didn't get hurt and was able to continue going, where would the character be headed? I can picture his character getting darker as time went by, possibly starting a cult-like stable in the process. Possibly a feud with The Undertaker and maybe even another name for the WrestleMania streak. Maybe an IC title run. Who knows?



How would you book him if he didn't get injured?

[carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army)]

I think it's the same as for a lot of people in this era: "A feud with Undertaker and then ? ? ? ? ?"

[bog]

If he made it to 96-97 he would most definitely have a stable

[James Fabiano]

To the Firefly Funhouse. Where he became a very hungry buzzard.

[Deleted]

Ministry of Darkness if he hadn't got those injuries.

[madness50]

I actually think the Waylon Mercy character had legs, but Spivey’s injuries just piled up.

[wildojinx]

Dec 10, 2020 21:30:27 GMT -5 James Fabiano said:

To the Firefly Funhouse. Where he became a very hungry buzzard.

I still wish they got Spivey to play Mercy the Buzzard.

[The Thread Barbi]

To the Hall of Fame was Waylon Mercy's aim as his entrance theme said.

[msc]

Genuinely without being too injured? The upper midcard in 1996. There was a vaccuum, he could at least be passable in ring, and the gimmick was brilliant.

But on thinking about it, I think his loss was Dustin Rhodes's gain...

[CeilingFan]

Dec 10, 2020 21:30:27 GMT -5 James Fabiano said:

To the Firefly Funhouse. Where he became a very hungry buzzard.

I remember hearing that he would show up as "Uncle Waylon", a member of the Wyatt Family.

[Deleted]

As well as being an Undertaker feud victim his interactions with circa 96 Austin, Goldust and Mankind would have been interesting to see and a programme with any of the three either as rivals or partners would have been his swansong as he was in his late 40s during the end of the AE.

[sungod2020]

Dec 11, 2020 6:41:28 GMT -5 @selhurst said:

As well as being an Undertaker feud victim his interactions with circa 96 Austin, Goldust and Mankind would have been interesting to see and a programme with any of the three either as rivals or partners would have been his swansong as he was in his late 40s during the end of the AE.

They could even form a derange group of weirdos who mess with The Undertaker.

[jason1980s]

Maybe it was only meant to be a short lived gimmick rather than a long term one where he would be overshadowed by the likes of Goldust and Mankind as the creepy characters and other guys coming in with more of a promo ability. It's pretty great we talk so fondly about the character even though it only lasted a few months. It does suck how short it was but good it's held up so long.

[James Fabiano]

Dec 11, 2020 6:23:05 GMT -5 CeilingFan said:

Dec 10, 2020 21:30:27 GMT -5 James Fabiano said:

To the Firefly Funhouse. Where he became a very hungry buzzard.

I remember hearing that he would show up as "Uncle Waylon", a member of the Wyatt Family.

See, when the FFH started and we eventually saw the Fiend at SummerSlam, my original idea was the puppets were people done away with by him, and all of them had personal ties to The Fiend...

Abby = obvious.
Huskus = also obvious when you see the head lantern. (my idea was Fiend/Bray was a bodyjumping ancient spirit who used Husky Harris for a time, forming Family Leader Bray. When he was done, the spirit left and well, murdered him.)
Rabbit = dunno. One point I considered Luke Harper WWE dead, so I thought he was Ramblin' Rabbit.
Mercy = literally WAS Waylon Mercy. He was either another vessel for the spirit to use, or a mentor at least. See: Harris' fate.

Now, what makes more sense is the puppets = elements of the Family Leader version of the character. Since Bray wanted to leave his past behind (the FFH/Fiend arc is all about wanting to destroy the past and past enemies), he sees his old self as a group of puppets he has control over.

[BorneAgain]

Him reuniting with Sid as a crazy tag team would been interesting.

[Triangle Lancer]

Dec 11, 2020 12:12:49 GMT -5 BorneAgain said:

Him reuniting with Sid as a crazy tag team would been interesting.

Run with this.

Sid was in the Million Dollar Corporation at the time, so why not Waylon having a loose alliance with them? Waylon takes no money because he's not for sale.
The goal: tear them down from within. He's not taking money from Ted because, deep down, he's a decent guy and would feel shame taking cash payments from a guy he's out to remove from the WWF.
(Think about it: 1-2-3 Kid left because of a RL neck injury. Sid as well later. Steve Austin comes in around this time. It lines up. A "Who done it" series on who could be the guy attacking these men?)

But he won't mess with Austin. He sees a lot of himself in Steve. When Steve loses the strap match to cause Ted to leave the WWF, Waylon is satisfied.

Maybe after KOTR, Waylon & Steve work some sort of program in the summer, maybe a tag team into a match at Mind Games- Steve wasn't doing much until he started calling out Bret. (Plus, Steve's match against Helmsley at Mind Games seemed so...random. Maybe Waylon setting Steve up and becomes Hunter's bodyguard?)

Maybe revisit the Sid thing in 1997, have Waylon inadvertently cost Sid the belt at Royal Rumble. They wrestle on RAW, Sid decimates him. (Or just have Sid destroy his knee, ending Waylon's run.)

There's gaps you can fill, just throwing out ideas.

[Crappler El 0 M]

Even if he doesn't get injured, I'd figure Vince would get tired of him and it would just go away and he might become a someone like Damien Demento or Goon or Duke Droese who mostly loses to the stars.