I always dug the big and scary wrestlers. The modern Dave Meltzer AEW fans don't seem to like them because the matches are slow (not bad, slow), but I love the build up of the hero trying to overcome the immovable object. Don't get me wrong. Some did this better than others. There's a reason Vader is a legend and Giant Gonzalez is a laughing stock, but this archetype of human in wrestling in my eyes is very underrated.
When you think about it, it's very odd just how little Bundy was presented this way. I know he came back to TV in 1994, but he wasn't presented as a threat, meaning his time as a big scary menace was what? Five years maybe? Even WALTER had the big scary menace gimmick longer than this, and he was never even 300 pounds. Much like a lot of the subjects you write about on here, I feel like there was more milk in this cow that could've been extracted somehow had anybody wanted it.
Maybe if this wasn't the era of WWF ubiquity (because they really didn't like non-Vader big scary menaces in WCW) more could've been milked out of this, because it's hard to be a secondary guy with this presentation. It's main event or nothing, because losses hurt this style of wrestler more than any other in my opinion, but of course I've never spoken to Bundy. Maybe he was going to get fed up with wrestling rather quickly no matter the circumstances.
When I look back at the peak runs for a lot of those '80s era WWF wrestlers, the period they were at their high levels there is relatively short compared to the modern stars/careers. I think King Kong Bundy's run near the top was shorter than most, but I don't know the reasons he left in the late '80s beyond the interest in pursuing acting roles and didn't think back then to probe further with him (would now).
From my direct interactions with him, I can say he was a generally jovial and very friendly guy who liked to talk about wrestling, and I sensed no bitterness about anything related to the business. His time in WWF on top, specifically the 85 to 86 era, made him a legendary name. He seemed to have fond memories of it, and he made some serious money, and it allowed him to parlay that into other work for many years after.
All that said, I agree there was a lot more that could have been done with him and he is underrated in historical context for the most part, but I guess like life in general for many of us a high level of success in our endeavors is often dictated (or constrained) by the precise time and place me find ourselves in, or do not.
I always feel bad when I see wasted potential in wrestling, because it's so much more prevalent than in other sports. For instance, I'm not sure if you watch baseball, but hitters who can hit the ball hard get chance after chance after chance after chance on a million different teams, each one thinking they'll be the one to turn that great swing into an actual good player.
Wrestling is the total opposite. Take for example the Big Boss Man (who is on my mind because of the Ryan Mac stuff). He main evented with Dusty Rhodes and Hulk Hogan and was one of Hulk's biggest opponents, but was never really given a chance to main event anywhere ever again. Why? If this were baseball he would've been given chances by seven different teams to see if he could get that main event form back, but not in this sport.
Even in other combat sports, Colby Covington has parlayed the nice little main event run he had into years and years and years of chances to be at the top in the UFC.
For whatever reason, this sport tends towards 'what have you done for me lately' so much more than every other one I've ever seen.. The NFL is nicknamed 'Not For Long,' but top level pro wrestling careers tend to be even shorter in terms of number of chances. This is even still going today. Ricky Starks was given a nice little chance to main event some AEW shows last year because CM Punk wanted to wrestle him, and I thought he did really well, but ever since then he's been in witness protection. Will he ever be given a main event chance again? Who knows?
What do you think? Why is this so common in pro wrestling specifically?
Some of the issue with pro wrestling and wrestlers getting opportunities they deserve from my direct experience can be linked to the very nature of pro wrestling itself. By that, I mean it’s “scripted”, so someone (the booker or promoter in the old days/the “executive producer” today), to put a twist on EC3’s catchphrase, “controls the narrative.”
It’s a lot like the real-world corporate work in that way. If that point person doesn’t see you on the level you believe and know you’re on, or in some cases doesn’t particularly like you, then you will not get elevated.
Sure, there are cases of organic elevation in modern wrestling where the audience played a prime role in dictating a rise. Steve Austin is a good example, and I followed his career from day one. Unfortunately, there’s case after case of deserving wrestlers over the last few decades who should have been elevated to a higher level and were not.
As a wrestling fan, it can be very frustrating to see but part of being a passionate wrestling fan seems to also entail being critical of the stuff that outright doesn’t work. For most of us, the great stuff outweighs the weak and disappointing stuff, so we’re still here.
This is going to take a couple reads to get through. Holy cow. But this is awesome. Love the first piece, I like how you were writing about wrestling for people who didn't know wrestling. It was so easy to piece the match together as you described it.
Thanks for the compliment. You know, when I first started writing it, I wasn’t sure if I had enough material for a detailed or lengthy enough story to do him justice, but then the writing process started flowing. Once I went back and started editing the first draft, I was quite surprised at all the information I had to convey about King Kong Bundy from my recollections.
I always dug the big and scary wrestlers. The modern Dave Meltzer AEW fans don't seem to like them because the matches are slow (not bad, slow), but I love the build up of the hero trying to overcome the immovable object. Don't get me wrong. Some did this better than others. There's a reason Vader is a legend and Giant Gonzalez is a laughing stock, but this archetype of human in wrestling in my eyes is very underrated.
When you think about it, it's very odd just how little Bundy was presented this way. I know he came back to TV in 1994, but he wasn't presented as a threat, meaning his time as a big scary menace was what? Five years maybe? Even WALTER had the big scary menace gimmick longer than this, and he was never even 300 pounds. Much like a lot of the subjects you write about on here, I feel like there was more milk in this cow that could've been extracted somehow had anybody wanted it.
Maybe if this wasn't the era of WWF ubiquity (because they really didn't like non-Vader big scary menaces in WCW) more could've been milked out of this, because it's hard to be a secondary guy with this presentation. It's main event or nothing, because losses hurt this style of wrestler more than any other in my opinion, but of course I've never spoken to Bundy. Maybe he was going to get fed up with wrestling rather quickly no matter the circumstances.
When I look back at the peak runs for a lot of those '80s era WWF wrestlers, the period they were at their high levels there is relatively short compared to the modern stars/careers. I think King Kong Bundy's run near the top was shorter than most, but I don't know the reasons he left in the late '80s beyond the interest in pursuing acting roles and didn't think back then to probe further with him (would now).
From my direct interactions with him, I can say he was a generally jovial and very friendly guy who liked to talk about wrestling, and I sensed no bitterness about anything related to the business. His time in WWF on top, specifically the 85 to 86 era, made him a legendary name. He seemed to have fond memories of it, and he made some serious money, and it allowed him to parlay that into other work for many years after.
All that said, I agree there was a lot more that could have been done with him and he is underrated in historical context for the most part, but I guess like life in general for many of us a high level of success in our endeavors is often dictated (or constrained) by the precise time and place me find ourselves in, or do not.
I always feel bad when I see wasted potential in wrestling, because it's so much more prevalent than in other sports. For instance, I'm not sure if you watch baseball, but hitters who can hit the ball hard get chance after chance after chance after chance on a million different teams, each one thinking they'll be the one to turn that great swing into an actual good player.
Wrestling is the total opposite. Take for example the Big Boss Man (who is on my mind because of the Ryan Mac stuff). He main evented with Dusty Rhodes and Hulk Hogan and was one of Hulk's biggest opponents, but was never really given a chance to main event anywhere ever again. Why? If this were baseball he would've been given chances by seven different teams to see if he could get that main event form back, but not in this sport.
Even in other combat sports, Colby Covington has parlayed the nice little main event run he had into years and years and years of chances to be at the top in the UFC.
For whatever reason, this sport tends towards 'what have you done for me lately' so much more than every other one I've ever seen.. The NFL is nicknamed 'Not For Long,' but top level pro wrestling careers tend to be even shorter in terms of number of chances. This is even still going today. Ricky Starks was given a nice little chance to main event some AEW shows last year because CM Punk wanted to wrestle him, and I thought he did really well, but ever since then he's been in witness protection. Will he ever be given a main event chance again? Who knows?
What do you think? Why is this so common in pro wrestling specifically?
Some of the issue with pro wrestling and wrestlers getting opportunities they deserve from my direct experience can be linked to the very nature of pro wrestling itself. By that, I mean it’s “scripted”, so someone (the booker or promoter in the old days/the “executive producer” today), to put a twist on EC3’s catchphrase, “controls the narrative.”
It’s a lot like the real-world corporate work in that way. If that point person doesn’t see you on the level you believe and know you’re on, or in some cases doesn’t particularly like you, then you will not get elevated.
Sure, there are cases of organic elevation in modern wrestling where the audience played a prime role in dictating a rise. Steve Austin is a good example, and I followed his career from day one. Unfortunately, there’s case after case of deserving wrestlers over the last few decades who should have been elevated to a higher level and were not.
As a wrestling fan, it can be very frustrating to see but part of being a passionate wrestling fan seems to also entail being critical of the stuff that outright doesn’t work. For most of us, the great stuff outweighs the weak and disappointing stuff, so we’re still here.
This is going to take a couple reads to get through. Holy cow. But this is awesome. Love the first piece, I like how you were writing about wrestling for people who didn't know wrestling. It was so easy to piece the match together as you described it.
Thanks for the compliment. You know, when I first started writing it, I wasn’t sure if I had enough material for a detailed or lengthy enough story to do him justice, but then the writing process started flowing. Once I went back and started editing the first draft, I was quite surprised at all the information I had to convey about King Kong Bundy from my recollections.