Anyone who watched the end of Raw Monday night saw The Miz come out dressed up like The Rock and viciously attack his Wrestlemania 27 opponent, John Cena. Even though it was quite obvious who it was from the get go, the comedy of the gag stretched far past the impersonation, adding another depth to the growing persona of The Miz.
That got me thinking about some of the best pro wrestling mockeries and impersonations wrestlers have pulled on each other. While DX is clearly the king of these shenanigans (and The Rock being the butt end as well), some other worthy acts popped back up on my radar. When used sparingly and written sharply, the mock segment can be one of the most effective tools in advancing mic skills, collecting audience approval, and adding substance and variety to the brute and brawn of most pro wrestling feuds. Please, relive some of my personal favorites.
2. Degeneration X as The Corporation – In what felt kind of like sequel, this wasn’t nearly as funny as the NOD skit, but Jason Sensation returned, this time as Shawn Michaels, and really stole the show. Surprisingly, X-Pac’s Ken Shamrock was funny for different reasons…he channeled the psychotic rage of a large, hulking Shamrock and did it with conviction. Road Dogg’s Vince McMahon was decent, but once again Bad Ass brought up the rear with his half-assed version of Shane-O-Mac. Even though the skit as a whole was exaggerated and cartoonish, DX did a serviceable job dressing down the vilified Corporation.
3. The Undertaker as Kane – I loved this one…Undertaker carbon copied some of Kane’s signature moves from back in the day, with everything from his stiff uppercut to his flying right hand to his rope mechanics. While not a comedic element, masked Kane was always one of the more convincingly scary characters in the company, so the ruse makes this all the more powerful to an audience seeing Triple H getting beat like a rag doll. It’s just too bad Kane can’t get back his old school look. Equally impressive was the makeup work in this role reversal, Kane as Undertaker.
4. nWo as The Four Horsemen – The impressions aren’t all that accurate but the extreme caricatures of Ric Flair (Syxx; man, Sean Waltman is all over these parodies) and Arn Anderson (Kevin Nash) make this so bad that’s it’s good. The one liners are just as ridiculous: Flair’s jab of “You know, I’m out here screamin’ at the top of my lungs and I don’t even know why! WOOO!” and Anderson on being approached by a heavyset groupie, “Same fat broads that’ve been followin’ the Horsemen for 20 years!” Unfortunately, this predates the original DX run of parodies, so I’m thinking when Waltman left for the WWF to join DX he brought this idea with him. Even if it’s considered the rough draft, taking down the Horsemen’s credibility with those screen printed t-shirts at the end would have been worth the price of admission. Part 2 here.
Joe Leininger lives in Gainesville, FL and writes for The Playing Field and Destigeddon.
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