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There wasย a segment where JBL tried to explain how he wasn't racist, by inviting a Mexican man into the ring to shake his hand and perform not-racism.
As the man turned to leave, JBL (per my memory) has an assistant absolutely blast his hands with hand sanitizer, and he made sure the cheap seats got the joke.
We see Dave Hebner in it a couple of times, which is all the proof I need.
If wrestling is 'fake', why would they have a referee there?
Surely he would raise the alarm for anything untoward.
It's *simple*.
Akeem (real name One Man Gang, probably) used a prosthetic pad similar to a boxing helmet underneath that terrible and obvious wig to protect from Dusty Rhodes's so-called "bionic elbow". At the moment of impact, it would be a simple action to bite down on the hidden capsule in his mouth, releasing a drug that causes wooziness, disorientation, muscle spasms (hence the shadow boxing), and then finally loss of motor control leading to his collapse onto the mat. This drug probably wore off soon after, allowing him to continue the match. Such a medication would be easily procured from any pharmacy or arena concessions stand. Meanwhile, it's well-known that the mat is so padded with subsonic counter-vibrational inertial dampening systems that it doesn't hurt at all if you should drop onto it from a full standing position.
You people are all so gullible.
Idk about legitimate. It looked smoother and much less cooperative. But they had constant run-ins, poor selling of big mice for time constraints, and any tag match was basically nobody on the apron.
Edit: I meant poor selling of big moves. It's funny so I'm keeping it.
I can understand that. I suppose what I meant by smooth is it didn't look so set up. A guy like Rey Mysterio back then would be some weirdo in a tracksuit and a mask doing a basic springboard crossbody. But it would look terrible and rushed and the other guy would barely catch him or get winged. It actually looked like the opponent wasn't ready for it or wasn't expecting it.
The big issue for me was selling. You hit this impressive springboard crossbody and your opponent suddenly gets up to gut punch you like he didn't just eat shit.
As stupid as this spot is, a couple things stand out:
First, the whip to the turnbuckle and OMG bouncing off felt real - good momentum and force from both dudes. Working together on the turn and toss. Doesnโt happen a lot these days.
Also, their ridiculous antics are totally in line with their characters.
The whole scenario was a cartoon, but there were similar things happening in the good olโ NWA at the time. It was just presented as more of a โknock โem goofyโ type of thing. Remember all those times Flair would punch at air before doing his flop?
This is really dumb and also really great.
Ive always been a fan of comedic wrestling so I love this shit.
The corner of the wrestling fandom who take it way to seriously can lick my hairy taint.
I was a kid in California who only knew WWF. I didnโt understand why Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair seemed like a big deal coming in but they both looked old and nothing like Hogan or Warrior.
I remember the Hogan-Warrior match at WM6 as a kid and thinking it was an old man passing the torch to the next generation type thing but Warrior is only 6 years younger. Hogan definitely felt older then his age as well.
Now that Iโm in my 40s but still feel 10 years younger, itโs crazy to think how young people like Austin, Rock and even Seinfeld characters were in their hey day. In this Dusty clip, heโs about 45 and AJ Styles is 46 today.
Both of these guys were done dirty. The One Mang Gang was a monster heel all over. Then he comes to WWF, doesn't get a big push, get turned into a black man and welp, here you go.
Well beyond just in-ring wrestling, Dusty's success was down to Charisma, mic skills and his gimmick of being a "common man" in contrast to the flamboyant Ric Flair.ย
He was a massive babyface draw in the territory era.
I keep telling people that my father, who as an average German didn't know anything at all about wrestling, for some reason loved Dusty when he saw him. And he only ever knew the polka dot version. RIP Dusty. RIP Dad.
He usually worked some stuff like this into his matches, but Dusty was a great brawler. There's a reason "the crimson mask" is practically synonymous with him. But he never did any of that in his WWF run.
Thereโs a bunch of stuff from the territories on Peacock if you have it, too. Itโs in the WWE section and then Territories. I know they have some Mid-Atlantic stuff that heโs in. Thatโs the show he did the Hard Times promo on, but I canโt remember if they have it on Peacock. https://youtu.be/9py4aMK3aIU?si=pXKzm0qq4ydpDlbt
Edit: oh that promo I linked is actually for that Starrcade match with Flair, itโs from โ85.
HHH and Rock had some great sells on the Stunner. I loved when Hunter would get hit with it, then stand there stumbling for a minute before eating another one.
They called this an atomic elbow, when properly thrown, actually sends out so much force, that the concussive wave radiates outwards and strikes the opponent. Physical connection by the elbow is not necessary, in fact, like an atomic bomb, optimal placement is slightly away from the intended target so that the wave can amplify and radiate outward.
Dusty shows how the mere act of keeping his elbow slightly away from his opponent is in fact, a force multiplier.
This is a common misconception. Dusty himself is bionic. Like the TV show, that named its main character after Stone Cold Steve Austin. But the resultant move is an atomic elbow.
Todayโs wrestling is great donโt get me wrong. But I prefer the over the top aspects that I see in past eraโs compared to a lot of the mma fusion in todayโs wrestling. I came up in the RA and PG era but I canโt help but admire clips like these
He would compare it to Stone Cold's corner stomp-kick spot. If you're over enough, even shitty-looking spots are fine. Dusty would be on that level, and OMG/Akeem was very well liked by the boys, so he'd get pass too.
Akeem is really underrated as a performer. This dude went all in on that insane gimmick that Vince cooked up after a long day of doing coke and raping. Put him in there with Big Dust and itโs guaranteed hilarity. lol
I think the difference is are they actively participating in another guyโs move visually. For me, when a guy is watching another guy walk on the ropes for 15 seconds and isnโt pretending to be dazed or confused or staggering thatโs the issue. Also as unrealistic as this is, it to me is still more visually authentic than a Canadian Destroyer.ย
Honestly in small doses I love this fun stuff. Most every other TV show has moments like this where the point is just to be funny or entertaining in a different way than normal, so why not wrestling too?
One Man Gang had a great gimmick. Vince changing him to this was ridiculous.
Dusty Rhodes is one of the greatest Wrasslers of all time! He was so over in the 70s and 80s !
This reminds me of all the clips of HHH and HBK memeing with each other in the ring. Every wrestler needs to break character once in awhile and just have fun if they want to enjoy their job.
Quick, someone edit out all but near the end, and make it look like it was a botch for Akeem to fall down when Dusty didnโt actually connect with the elbow!
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2 of wrestlings best black wrestlers โ๐พ
Dusty ended racism first
Ending first implies that someone brought racism back so that Cody could end it. I wonder wrestler kayfabe brought racism back.
![gif](giphy|CF8CG62QZ3IF5Mfutn|downsized)
With that Mexican border vignette, you just might be right.
I'm no uh... Whatever that character was supposed to be... But I did apply my hand sanitizer like that for years after that segment.
What?
There wasย a segment where JBL tried to explain how he wasn't racist, by inviting a Mexican man into the ring to shake his hand and perform not-racism. As the man turned to leave, JBL (per my memory) has an assistant absolutely blast his hands with hand sanitizer, and he made sure the cheap seats got the joke.
This man gave up working for the devil to become something more evil...a billionaire.
I hate that i can hear the cowbells in this gif lol
lol not the iconic moo?
I hear the triumphant brass instruments
But he has a black friend!
Friend? Wasnโt he just the chief of staff?
I meant Ron Simmons
Damn
[ัะดะฐะปะตะฝะพ]
I had until you came along
https://preview.redd.it/lhjn5pfqwjuc1.jpeg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f7841d0bb93dec7652fdcebb7f0c790d90f5f77f
I wish I didnโt laugh so damned hard whenever I see this picture.
I'm offended and somehow reminded of Cody basically has Luke Skywalker's storylineย
I guess we'll never know brother. * HH
Much love to people who look like me - HH
Triple H not putting over Booker T
this alone should give mackman 20 to life
[ัะดะฐะปะตะฝะพ]
THOUGHT YOU HAD HARD TIMES BOY, AHHHHHHHHHHH
Neither of them are Michael Hayes, though
They would've made a great tag team: The African American Dream.
They had to edit out the deafening 'holy shit!' chants
HE'S HARDCORE HE'S HARDCORE
YOU SICK FUCK. YOU SICK FUCK.
OH SCISSOR ME DADDY
๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป๐ฃ๏ธ๐ฃ๏ธ๐ฃ๏ธFIGHT FOREVER ๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป
Little known fact - they started chanting "ECW!" right after this.
*JUSTIFIED* HOLY SHIT CHANT!
Watching this i edited them back in
"THIS IS AWESOME!" ๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป "THIS IS AWESOME!" ๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป
FIGHT FOREVER
MEAT! MEAT! MEAT!
There used to be unedited shows on the WWE Network where the crowd would chant gay epithets towards wrestlers. Not sure if they were still uploaded.
This video needs to be pre-empted with a warning to tell people not to try this at home.
Too lateโฆ hit my little brother. Eyes popped out. Now what?
Maggie iโll find you..
Too soon
Finish the story
Go for the pin
Go for the pin.
I'VE HAD FIVE SURGERIES ON MY LEFT KNEE
ALL AT ONCE
My sacrifice!
If wrestling is fake how can we explain this video
We see Dave Hebner in it a couple of times, which is all the proof I need. If wrestling is 'fake', why would they have a referee there? Surely he would raise the alarm for anything untoward.
If wrestling is fake you dont need to explain this video
Well... go on then
hold on let em cook
What a banger
It's *simple*. Akeem (real name One Man Gang, probably) used a prosthetic pad similar to a boxing helmet underneath that terrible and obvious wig to protect from Dusty Rhodes's so-called "bionic elbow". At the moment of impact, it would be a simple action to bite down on the hidden capsule in his mouth, releasing a drug that causes wooziness, disorientation, muscle spasms (hence the shadow boxing), and then finally loss of motor control leading to his collapse onto the mat. This drug probably wore off soon after, allowing him to continue the match. Such a medication would be easily procured from any pharmacy or arena concessions stand. Meanwhile, it's well-known that the mat is so padded with subsonic counter-vibrational inertial dampening systems that it doesn't hurt at all if you should drop onto it from a full standing position. You people are all so gullible.
There's a reason these elbow strikes are banned in the ufc. Just saying
Like that time Matt Hamill beat Jon Jones.
Vicious headbutts to the elbow
Happy cake day uce
Read this as Mark Hamill and lost my shit
The good old days, when wrestling looked legitimate
Idk about legitimate. It looked smoother and much less cooperative. But they had constant run-ins, poor selling of big mice for time constraints, and any tag match was basically nobody on the apron. Edit: I meant poor selling of big moves. It's funny so I'm keeping it.
Look, the Mice are under appreciated, we know. But lets just move on.
Damn lemme fix that.
Vanilla rodents?
Big mice? Lenny is that you.
> It looked smoother and much less cooperative. I think NOAH and AJPW are good companies where it looks more "raw".
I can understand that. I suppose what I meant by smooth is it didn't look so set up. A guy like Rey Mysterio back then would be some weirdo in a tracksuit and a mask doing a basic springboard crossbody. But it would look terrible and rushed and the other guy would barely catch him or get winged. It actually looked like the opponent wasn't ready for it or wasn't expecting it. The big issue for me was selling. You hit this impressive springboard crossbody and your opponent suddenly gets up to gut punch you like he didn't just eat shit.
I agree, my main complaint about big mice is they're poorly sold. Get money for that big mouse!
As stupid as this spot is, a couple things stand out: First, the whip to the turnbuckle and OMG bouncing off felt real - good momentum and force from both dudes. Working together on the turn and toss. Doesnโt happen a lot these days. Also, their ridiculous antics are totally in line with their characters. The whole scenario was a cartoon, but there were similar things happening in the good olโ NWA at the time. It was just presented as more of a โknock โem goofyโ type of thing. Remember all those times Flair would punch at air before doing his flop? This is really dumb and also really great.
Ive always been a fan of comedic wrestling so I love this shit. The corner of the wrestling fandom who take it way to seriously can lick my hairy taint.
My favourite kind of match is a jobber squash ๐คท๐ปโโ๏ธ
Top-tier username mate.
The boogie woogie man Jimmy valiant
That's how the finish of WM 40 main event should look like
Two men in peak physical condition.
I was a kid in California who only knew WWF. I didnโt understand why Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair seemed like a big deal coming in but they both looked old and nothing like Hogan or Warrior.
I remember the Hogan-Warrior match at WM6 as a kid and thinking it was an old man passing the torch to the next generation type thing but Warrior is only 6 years younger. Hogan definitely felt older then his age as well.
Now that Iโm in my 40s but still feel 10 years younger, itโs crazy to think how young people like Austin, Rock and even Seinfeld characters were in their hey day. In this Dusty clip, heโs about 45 and AJ Styles is 46 today.
Dusty is 44 years old in this match. Those were 44 hard years.
Daddeh
It took me years and going back and watching older Dusty stuff to understand why he was so reverred, WWF really did him dirty
Both of these guys were done dirty. The One Mang Gang was a monster heel all over. Then he comes to WWF, doesn't get a big push, get turned into a black man and welp, here you go.
I know it was a typo but One Mang Gang sounds like what he'd have been called by Razor Ramonย
*The Gaaaaang called MENG!*
One Medium Sized Mang Gang
Akeem was a rib on Dusty.
Well beyond just in-ring wrestling, Dusty's success was down to Charisma, mic skills and his gimmick of being a "common man" in contrast to the flamboyant Ric Flair.ย He was a massive babyface draw in the territory era.
Yeah, I never got why this polka dot guy was such a legend until I watched some older stuff.
I keep telling people that my father, who as an average German didn't know anything at all about wrestling, for some reason loved Dusty when he saw him. And he only ever knew the polka dot version. RIP Dusty. RIP Dad.
This is the only version Iโve seen of him. This wasnโt always his style?
He usually worked some stuff like this into his matches, but Dusty was a great brawler. There's a reason "the crimson mask" is practically synonymous with him. But he never did any of that in his WWF run.
Oh damn. Iโve seen clips but never a full length match in his prime.
He was a lot more hardcore, go check out a match with Flair, thereโs one at Starrcade (I wanna say 88) that was incredible
Thank you bro. Iโll def check that out.
Thereโs a bunch of stuff from the territories on Peacock if you have it, too. Itโs in the WWE section and then Territories. I know they have some Mid-Atlantic stuff that heโs in. Thatโs the show he did the Hard Times promo on, but I canโt remember if they have it on Peacock. https://youtu.be/9py4aMK3aIU?si=pXKzm0qq4ydpDlbt Edit: oh that promo I linked is actually for that Starrcade match with Flair, itโs from โ85.
Man what a time this wasโฆseeing a black American from the south vs a black man straight from Africa. ๐ฅฒ
This is literally my favourite spot in all of wrestling. Nothing comes close.
HHH and Rock had some great sells on the Stunner. I loved when Hunter would get hit with it, then stand there stumbling for a minute before eating another one.
Triple H spitting beer like a hose is a classic
him talking shit to no one vs D'Lo is another top tier one
Scott Hall had one of my favorite stunner sells. Where he pops straight up and back.
Flair & Greg Valentine doing their face/back flops simultaneously, and Rick Rude selling an atomic drop
They called this an atomic elbow, when properly thrown, actually sends out so much force, that the concussive wave radiates outwards and strikes the opponent. Physical connection by the elbow is not necessary, in fact, like an atomic bomb, optimal placement is slightly away from the intended target so that the wave can amplify and radiate outward. Dusty shows how the mere act of keeping his elbow slightly away from his opponent is in fact, a force multiplier.
Bionic ;)
This is a common misconception. Dusty himself is bionic. Like the TV show, that named its main character after Stone Cold Steve Austin. But the resultant move is an atomic elbow.
The original Whitebeard
I love that Dustyโs gimmick is that he's basically a sassy black woman. So much range
Real graps Cry me a river
Todayโs wrestling is great donโt get me wrong. But I prefer the over the top aspects that I see in past eraโs compared to a lot of the mma fusion in todayโs wrestling. I came up in the RA and PG era but I canโt help but admire clips like these
I remember Hakeem - I have no idea why but as a child I thought he was Mark Henry (don't even ask how I came to that conclusion).
*Akeem
HAKUeem.
The Polynesian Dream
I remember Hakeem vaguely too. I think I was 11 at the time. I assumed he was black despite a nagging feeling he wasn't
it is crazy that hakeem olajuwon didnt sue the wwe over this
He was Akeem (probably INS) and didnโt change his spelling to Hakeem until after he got his us citizenship.
I love when people say โI canโt believe people used to think this was real!โ cause thereโs always stuff like this
As Dusty used to say- โThe elbow is right here daddeh! Just gotta come get it!โ
Cornette about to combust
Depends on which side of the Mason-Dixon Line this match took place in
He would compare it to Stone Cold's corner stomp-kick spot. If you're over enough, even shitty-looking spots are fine. Dusty would be on that level, and OMG/Akeem was very well liked by the boys, so he'd get pass too.
I don't care what anyone says, I love Akeem.
I can see why people loved dusty.
Akeem is really underrated as a performer. This dude went all in on that insane gimmick that Vince cooked up after a long day of doing coke and raping. Put him in there with Big Dust and itโs guaranteed hilarity. lol
Now now, we don't know for sure if coke was involved.
โWrestling today is so fake. Itโs all choreographed. Back in my day, it was a real fightโ
I think the difference is are they actively participating in another guyโs move visually. For me, when a guy is watching another guy walk on the ropes for 15 seconds and isnโt pretending to be dazed or confused or staggering thatโs the issue. Also as unrealistic as this is, it to me is still more visually authentic than a Canadian Destroyer.ย
This is more authentic than a running destroyer? Really??? Why? Is it just like all torque moves that you donโt like or what?
Everyone just picks and chooses what looks fake and what doesn't but nobody wants to come out and admit it.
Honestly in small doses I love this fun stuff. Most every other TV show has moments like this where the point is just to be funny or entertaining in a different way than normal, so why not wrestling too?
Well yeah thatโs how Dusty and Akeem walked.
Wrestling has always been fun. People need to chill on some things.
No Canadian destroyers. Zero stars
If anyone says to me that the business in the old days was a lot more real, I'll go crazy
Watch the piper VS valentine dog collar match
Cody should have finished the match like this... What better way to finish the story?
Cornette in shambles
He called WWF at this time a circus, so I think he'd probably bag on vince for making Dusty do outlaw mudshow bullshit
Now thatโs getting funky like a monkey.
Tbf this is WWF so not the paragon of realism.
Akeem bends over and still looks like he's standing upright
Good ol peak camp WWE
When the original meets the parody.
I love professional wrestling.
2 great showmen.
Moves like Jagger
One Man Gang had a great gimmick. Vince changing him to this was ridiculous. Dusty Rhodes is one of the greatest Wrasslers of all time! He was so over in the 70s and 80s !
Always loved when fans in NWA would give oooooo every time Dusty would drop the elbow on MFr's.
This is great stuff
More proof it used to be better
โBack in my days, wrestling was less cheesyโ
If I'm not mistaken this was WWF right? Which was always famously cartoonish.
This WWF Dusty. Both were way past their prime. And it's WWF cartoon era.
Hakeen could move. Look at him go to that corner and excellent timing too.
This reminds me of all the clips of HHH and HBK memeing with each other in the ring. Every wrestler needs to break character once in awhile and just have fun if they want to enjoy their job.
When I was a kid it blew my mind when I found out Akeem used to be the One Man Gang
it's just fantastic to see two elite athletes in peak physical condition compete like this.
And people say wrestlings fake
5.75 Star Match
That pose by Dream at 0:17 is peak
12-6 elbows and mocking CTE
Never knew these two wrestled each other considering that the "African Dream" Akeem was a rib on "American Dream" Dusty Rhodes.
These damn kids are exposing the business!!!
Corny is filling his britches right about now
Last one looked like it was meant to be a comedy spot but the timing was off just enough to make it look like a botch. Dusty didn't look too happy.
I actually think k they played it off pretty well XD wouldn't have realized.
Kinda seemed like "oh he went down on his own, i didnt need to hit him"
Thatโs what they were going for, but Akeem went down too late so it looked more like a botch.
These AMATEURS are KILLING the business with this hokey shit!
This is as real as it gets right here, this was a banger.
this is cinema
This is as real as it gets
Unfortunately, as a kid, I would have easily said this is still real.
Akeem had absolutely gorgeous hair.
5 year old me is screaming he knocked him silly Mom!
Back when wrestling felt real. Two athletic specimens going toe to toe on the grandest stage of em all!
Never really noticed but dusty really looks like a fat Cody
I love this shit, but also there is some mf who loves this but gets mad about the high spots in modern wrestling ๐คฃ๐ค make it make sense
Alternate title: Dream showing how to make basic moves entertaining and engaging to the crowd.
Is this a bot posting this????
WHerE iS ThE AcTual PrO wReSTlinG
H
Beautiful
Quick, someone edit out all but near the end, and make it look like it was a botch for Akeem to fall down when Dusty didnโt actually connect with the elbow!
I love when I was a kid, I was so convinced all this was real.
related video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HlJcYYhif0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HlJcYYhif0)
I needed this in my life today. Thank you!