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TI0 
Posts: 9
(11/5/02 4:54)
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Religion in Wrestling.
It's just never worked as a gimmick, has it?
I shudder to look at what the WWF's done to one of their best Tag-Teams. Bubba adds some form of rap-dancing to his gimmick to get himself over as a single's wrestle, while Devon goes the evangelical Priest route.
The problem, as I've seen it, is that any time any Company tries a religious gimmick, they get all preachy, and people just don't want to hear it. People watch Sports-Entertainment to be entertained (purportedly).
I think if you're going to go for any sort of religious schtick, it has to be dark. Not satanic, but mysterious - like Clint Eastwood's character in " Pale Rider", or the preacher-character in " Poltergeist II".
But a deacon's collar on them - fine. That's enough. You don't have to have the wrestler spouting religious episodes, we can take the hint from the outfit. And don't hit us over the head with him, as they're doing with Devon. Just move slowly, quietly, and let it build.
Well, WWF never was known for its subtlety.
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Hugemon 
Posts: 127
(12/5/02 20:40)
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Re: Religion in Wrestling.
I think the problem with religious wrestling gimmicks is because there's a BIG difference between what a religious man is supposed to be like, & the General public's opinion/conception of them.
Quote:
Rage At The Machine - "Spreading The Disease"
Religion & Sex are power plays. Manipulate the people for the money they pay. Selling skin; selling God; the numbers look the same on the credit cards.
Jim & Tammy Faye Baker
Jimmy Swaggert
Jesse Jackson
...and the impropriety list goes on & on.
On the whole, Religous Media Stars are seen as nothing but scam artists, yet, up until now, any religious wrestling character HAS been exactly the type of annoying "I preach-down-to-you heathens from my lofty mountain top", holier-than-thou character that you described!
I think the WWE might be onto something this time around, however, by making Devon's religious character a blatant heel.
We'll have to see how it all eventually works out, but things seem to be off to a good start, & with the newest addition of The ex-Leviathan of OHV's DEACON to Devon's angle, things look very interesting, indeed.
| Behold, a pale horse, and the man that sat on him was Death | |
| ...and HELL followed with him. |
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Dominar Montoya
Registered User
Posts: 1
(13/5/02 2:11)
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Lyrics in quotes!
Quote:
Religion & Sex are power plays. Manipulate the people for the money they pay. Selling skin; selling God; the numbers look the same on the credit cards.
That's Queensryche, Spreading the Disease, Track 6 off of "Operation: Mindcrime". What's Rage at the Machine?
I'm not sure I see the distinction between the current D-Von character and the majority of religious characters that have come before. Brother Love was a painted parody of your typical christian evangelist, right down to the drawn out phrases and phony smile. Dustin Rhodes was very much the condescending ass for the ten seconds his religious character lasted. The Undertaker's psuedo-satanic cult was quite the dark and nasty goat sacrificing stereotype, though that may not be what you meant by religious.
The only really positive religious figure I can think of is Jake "The Snake" Roberts, and any memory of his trying to portray a positive religious role model has been wiped from my mind by his total off-camera (though not always) self destruction. Hell, the strongest influence it ever had was to serve as the wrestling gimmick version of a gas log andfeed the fire of Austin's early rise.
I can go for the mysterious religious figure bit, but only if that wrestlers faith serves as a justification for the character instead of BEING the character. A renegade priest who holds confessions and blesses the holy water bottle, however mysterious about his past and motives, isn't going to work. A sparsely speaking black-clad figure with zealotous eyes who tosses out hints that maybe someone up above might have mentioned creasing Austin's head with a mallet... that MIGHT.
The real problem with religious characters is that there aren't any. They're always gimmicks, that are held to the nth degree and then abandoned totally. They're never fully developed CHARACTERS, of which the religious aspect would be only one facet. Cartoony characters are supposed to have gone out with the Attitude campaign, but the general nature of every religous character they've ever done is a very nice example of how little that's really true.
Oh, and hi! How come this damned board won't let me copy and paste without keyboard shortcuts?
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Hugemon
Posts: 129
(13/5/02 3:00)
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 Montoya arrives, wielding a 2-sided sword...
I'm very happy to see you again old friend, but you have slightly embarrassed me, which on the whole, can only be good for our discussions & the board itself.
You are, as usual, %100 correct. I still had Rage At The Machine on the brain from my brief talk with "free ash" in the General Discussion forum. It was definitely Queensryche that I was quoting. RATM is another great group, with several hits like BULLS ON PARADE, which featured the memorable chorus:
Quote:
We rally 'round the family - with a pocketfull of shells!
Looking back, now that you mentioned the names, I *do* remember the Brother Love character being exactly as you described him. Was Dustin's religious character the SEVEN that I've heard about, but never got to see?
As for Jake the Snake... I can only shake my head at the man's life. I can't believe what I saw about him on BEYOND THE MAT. He must have needed a *fix* pretty BAD to allow that $HIT to be put on film.
I definitely agree with your analysis, too. There's no DEVELOPMENT anymore. Everything is done hurriedly, in an effort to put images on T-shirts, & get the fans shouting catchphrases. I'd really like to shoot the happy b@st@rd that thought up Austin's WHAT?! Nobody can say a word anymore without hearing that as a response, & several times a minute, at that.
There's no way we have lost cartoony gimmicks! One only has to look as far as The Hurricane to see that.
I disabled right-clicking to avoid a few problems that I know of, so maybe that's why you can't cut'n'paste, although I don't have any problems doing it, since I left-click to cut'n'paste.
Are you left-handed, perhaps?
Let me count the fingers of your right-hand... 
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From Parts Unknown1
Posts: 9
(13/5/02 14:41)
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Re: Montoya arrives, wielding a 2-sided sword...
Ah, the "old" guy arrives. Montoya, thought maybe you'd just quit posting in general, but nice to see you haven't. I've really never been a big fan of the religious gimmick, because as has been said, you're just bludgeoned over the head with the over the top self-serving gimmick itself. The more mysterious character would go alot farther with me, something akin to Sting's Crow character. It's always been a Christian oriented gimmick also, so I would interject something new to this gimmick, say,.....a bushido warrior or Taoist monk type, with his religion carrying him to victory, not preaching at us with useless rhetoric. Or, after reading about Big Show's slur toward India recently, have someone be guided by Vishnu to kick the large arse of Show. But honestly, as much as religion and politics don't tend to mix, neither does religion and wrestling, at least in my book.
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Dominar Montoya
Posts: 2
(5/6/02 4:48)
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A double bladex axe, thank you. Swords. Pah.
think Big Show has let his many merry evenings bouncing cruiserweights around the ring go to his head. Having beaten up twenty luchadores at once, his mind is unsullied by doubts about the wisdom of insulting a billion people.
Bomb? No one can powerbomb the Giant!
I copy and paste with BOTH mouse buttons. On your board, I have to use keyboard shortcuts for the second step. I suppose that's ok.
Rage Against the Machine is familiar to me, but incredibly not my thing.
I'm typing things like Roger Zelazny.
Unrelated paragraphs.
Thrown out in standalone sentences.
Like this.
For no reason.
Maybe the WeeWee could use a Preacher type gimmick. A man who has gone in search of god. So he can give him a piece of his mind.
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