I have selected this promo only due to the fact that it needs to be seen to be believed. From Memphis, Randy Savage and David Schultz cut a promo on Jerry Lawler. Schultz's part is probably the most politically incorrect wrestling promo of all time. Take a look at the shirt he is wearing too. If the WWE ever got rights to this promotion, this promo will never be seen on the network. Ever.
I find no fault thin this.
ReplyDeleteIf they really cared about PC at the Network they wouldn't even look at Memphis. Tojo Yamamoto alone is a lawsuit.
ReplyDeleteIt's over the top, but I've heard worse (namely Doug Gilbert's 1999 promo on Lawler and Randy Hales). Political correctness be damned, it's all an act. If it offends someone, it offends someone. I'm sure Lawler got his revenge in the end.
ReplyDeleteNot even the fact that Schultz is wearing a Swastika on his shirt?
ReplyDeleteI know it was for cheap heat but still, that was pretty bad
He always did that. Because he was insane.
ReplyDelete"Intercontinental Champion of the World".
I didn't find anything offensive in it, but you are right, this will never be aired on WWE tv. Schultz was always doing stuff like this for heat. Didn't he say wrestling was a shoot to him?
ReplyDeleteI know it is just used for cheap heat but still, the swastika shirt is pretty offensive to some
ReplyDeleteMeh...not offended. I guess I'm not a progressive-minded human being. As an aside, there was nothing wrong with the 80's. So why did we "fix" it?
ReplyDeleteI thought the swastika shirt was a bit much but not personally offended or anything. Just thought this was a pretty out there promo.
ReplyDeleteFuck Randy Hales...he's never even been in the ring!
ReplyDeleteI agree that accusing Lawler of having AIDS was out there. LOL Something you don't hear anymore.
ReplyDeleteThat was just a product of the times though. The public was very ignorant about AIDS back then
ReplyDeleteNo, because it's the South and he could get away with that then. Plus I expect stuff like that out of his character.
ReplyDeleteAh, the early 80s. When men were men and political correctness wasn't really a thing yet.
ReplyDeleteIf he said, "Lawler was at some elementary school giving your daughters candy and AIDS" THEN I would have thought it was over the top.
ReplyDeleteI am not offended by it personally, but that would piss off a lot of people.
ReplyDeleteI'm here in San Francisco, and I'm lookin to get me a WOman, Gene... a real WOman!
ReplyDeleteGreatest. Promo. Ever.
ReplyDeleteThat was great
ReplyDeleteRednecks are supposed to be doing redneck things. I'd like to have Doctor D have his own talk show on current events.
ReplyDeleteBilly Graham did it too.
ReplyDelete"Florida Heavyweight Championship of the world."
I didn't see no women, I seen a lot of men who looked like women!
ReplyDeleteThat promo wouldn't get aired because it has Savage in it.
ReplyDeleteAs was often the case in Memphis, the real star of the show was the man holding the mic looking really disappointed by these crazy guys.
ReplyDelete"What's wrong with YOU, Gene?!?!"
ReplyDelete...and possibly accurate
ReplyDeleteFor those of us who are deaf, and can't understand this without captioning, can anybody recap?
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff. Not offended, but as people have noted the Swastika shirt is pushing the envelope.
ReplyDeleteSide tangent: I knew a kid in undergrad who had a T shirt that said "Real Men Drive Drunk" in big letters on the back. Who the fuck even makes a shirt like that?
Back in the 80s/early 90s, AIDS were routinely under mainstream ridicule. You ever see Eddie Murphy's "Delirious" stand-up special? If a comedian, let alone the biggest in the world, said this today, his career would be over by the time the special ended. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egoDQv43hAw.
ReplyDeleteAlso, when Magic Johnson announced he had the disease, some of the comments from other players were pretty inconsiderate by today's standards.
No Fear?
ReplyDeleteIn all fairness, Savage was half-Jewish. If he was cool with it as part of the angle, then it's probably fine. I'm 100% Jewish, and lost family in the Holocaust, and even I understand that it's all part of the show. No different than Ed Norton having a swastika on his chest in American History X
ReplyDeleteWay back then AIDS was still thought of as a gay disease. Schultz was just spreading his usual homophobia. I'm surprised he even bothered to use code words since Memphis had no problem with casual racism and homophobia.
ReplyDeleteIt was considered a gay disease back then so he was really calling Lawler gay.
ReplyDeleteAnd Eddie is the LAST person to talk about gay people and AIDS with all the rumors going on about him...even if that standup routine is insanely funny.
Let's get him on Steve Austin Unleashed.
ReplyDeleteHow about that one where Lawler calls Goldust a flaming f-word, and then insinuates everyone's had a shot at 4-year-old Dakota?
ReplyDeleteConsidering it's Lawler that one WAS really scary.
ReplyDeleteJust beat me to it.
ReplyDeleteNo Ma'am?
ReplyDeleteHe was just mad the HE didn't have a shot at 4-year old Dakota.
ReplyDeleteThe same guys who did all the Big Johnson shirts?
ReplyDeleteConsidering the nature of wrestling, I'm actually surprised there haven't been worse displays of racism in promos or anything else throughout the years
ReplyDeleteDr. Death was one of the straight up looniest dudes in the history of the business. Between mollywhopping John Stossel, his performance on Morton Downey and this promo, he forever lives in infamy.
ReplyDelete"I'm looking at these two queers Justin Beaver and Miler Cyrus...which one of these queers is supposed to be a woman?? Am I in San Francisco again?"
ReplyDeleteCome on if we can't have Swastikas and AIDS in wrestling what's left?
ReplyDelete...dancing Negroes?
ReplyDeleteAnd you forgot this beauty:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1bp3r_promo-blooper-mean-gene-david-schul_sport
I am guessing this promo is NSFW?
ReplyDeleteNecropholia!!
ReplyDeleteQuality storytelling where 2 men have a problem with one another and decide to settle in a professional fighting contest... or is that crazy talk?
ReplyDelete...can we at least get a little person playing an illegitimate kid or something?
ReplyDeleteYeah I think the closest we got was this, from the heir to the throne of the WWE no less...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4RebbQqQz4
Piper painting half of his face black to wrestle Bad News has asked to speak to you
ReplyDeleteGood call. Has he ever addressed that?
ReplyDeleteSo did Lawler ask for Brody's help or did Brody enlist the AIDs of Lawler?
ReplyDeleteIDK. It is a sign of how times have changed though... as a kid I didn't find it all that bad but when we did Wrestelmania 6 for the PPV live thread a while back I found it very jarring (I had forgotten about it). Someone would get fired for SUGGESTING that today let alone actually doing it.
ReplyDeleteI go back and forth on this...definitely comes off racsit, and I'm not gonna argue with those that think it is. However, is it really that much different from the B+ Bryan promos or other heel promos he's done?
ReplyDelete- people like "you" aernt meant to be competitors (exactly what he'd say in the B+ promos)
- you're here to entertain me (general condescending stuff)
- nappy hair (is that really that offensive. He's slammed Bryans look and beard)
- go ahead and dance for me (Booker did dance to help him get over)
Come on, he was just distinguishing the Hot Rod from the Hot Scot. Without the color markings, it would have been fairly difficult to tell the two apart.
ReplyDeleteYou say "I go back and forth on this" a lot. Just an observation.
ReplyDeleteThat always seemed more suicidal than bigoted. I wouldn't go near Bad News' grave painted like that for fear of a beating.
ReplyDeleteDr. D was the man! The promo he cuts on John Stossel is legendary, i'm surprised he never made a bigger impact in the biz. But then again he cost Vince money in that Stossel encounter and that's never a good career move.
ReplyDeleteYea. Stuff that I don't have a strong opinion on I can be swayed on by strong arguments. Say it at work ALL the time (# fake doctor)
ReplyDeleteI've heard shoots debate this promo and have changed my stance on it a few times
David Schultz said that he was going to beat up Jerry Lawler because Jerry Lawler has AIDs. Then he said that he's been with Bruiser Brody's significant other and pleasured her more greatly than Brody himself has proven capable. Then the camera pans out and you remember he's wearing a Swastika shirt and has just asserted that not only does Lawler have AIDs, but also that this is a reason for which Lawler should be beaten up.
ReplyDeleteOnly if you work around Black, Asian, Jews, Hispanics, Arabs, women, gays, non-Americans, kids under 18 and the elderly.
ReplyDeleteDoes it mean something different if the Swastika is crooked? Like maybe you just strongly dislike Jewishly faithed folks rather than out and out hate them?
ReplyDeleteThanks - that was very helpful, and appreciated! Wish my ears worked better, because that sounds wild!
ReplyDeleteThat is a little ambiguous... can you clear up for me if I should listen to it here or not?
ReplyDeleteAlso AIDs testing wasn't as thorough back then. I believe around this time, the most prominent test for AIDs was simply checking which ear you had pierced.
ReplyDeleteI'd wait until you got home.
ReplyDeleteSo basically the only job you'd be safe watching this at would be the Republican Party headquarters?
ReplyDeleteYes. and only when no women are present.
ReplyDeleteYou taking notes Jay Briscoe?
ReplyDeleteLOL @ Republicans hiring women
ReplyDeleteTheir conventions need waitresses and strippers too.
ReplyDeleteBunch of thin-skinned, no-humor pansies! You tell them an ice-breaker
ReplyDeleteor two about women's libbers, gays, environmentalists, several
minorities, the homeless, couple of religions, anorexics, obese people,
the handicapped, old farts, baldness, and people who walk real goofy
because they've just had a vasectomy, and suddenly, they get all
sensitive, like I offended one of them or something!
Hi Dr D.!!
ReplyDeleteHomophobia?
ReplyDeleteFunny story: My wife's extended family is made up of your typical midwest conservatives. Last nigh at Easter dinner, two of most conservative were arguing very liberal positions. One was arguing that college is too expensive and should be more affordable and accessible to more students. The other was arguing that the Keystone Pipeline should not be built (we live in ND by the way) because its just shit "oil" from Canada and the promised jobs aren't going to come with it and if anything spills it going to be black tar to clean up and China is just going to buy the oil anyway and our prices will go up.
ReplyDeleteOf course, neither of them knew they were arguing progressive positions, and of course come Nov. they'll still check the name with the "R" by it.
Its harmless and people are being way too oversensitive to the Piper b/w cookie thing. Was it stupid yes, but Vince has done a million things worse in the last ten years. Shit, akeem on the same card is worse
ReplyDeleteStuff like that makes me appreciate my cushy IT job more than when I was trying to change the world.
ReplyDeleteThe Akeem character offended a LOT of my Muslim friends.
ReplyDeleteHell. that "Jive Soul Bro" intro was offensive as fuck.
Slick in general was very offensive
ReplyDelete"I am the southern heavyweight champion of the world"
ReplyDeleteLOL
After he told Mr T to keep his big black nose out of it....
ReplyDelete