Rating the Terminators
January 18th, 2008 by Tank
Popular Mechanics analyzes the relative merits of each series of cyborg in the Terminator movies and new TV series (incidentally, the pilot episode is available as a free download from iTunes). I suspect they’re right about Cameron being a bit more human than your garden-variety cyborg, details of which will likely come to light just before her inevitable canoodling with John Connor. I was especially impressed that the writers were conversant enough in pro wrestling history to draw parallels with the Hulk Hogan/Hollywood Hogan dichotomy. Kudos, Popular Mechanics.
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Speaking of pro wrestling dichotomies, many will point to the schizophrenic Mick Foley in discussing the divergent alter egos that one wrestler can take… how do you get Cactus Jack, Mankind and… Dude Love out of *one* guy? But for my money, the most bizarre was Bob Backlund. When I started watching, he was the WWF Champ… and it seemed to be etched in stone. He held the title for like 60 years (or maybe it was only 6 years… I dunno, it was a long time). He was Mr. Nice Guy, with Mr. Super Nice Guy Arnold Skaaland in his corner. He passed the mantle to the Hulkster (via The Iron Sheik’s short-lived title reign, but I think we all knew that) - and years later, in an effort to re-insert himself into the wrestling consciousness… he came back as… Psycho Bob. It wasn’t his official name, he was still just Bob Backlund… but he was kind of a cross between BA Baracus and Murdock from “The A-Team”. He was big, strong, and muscular with limited verbal skills - and he was just plain loopy, in a way that wasn’t quite as endearing as Dwight Schultz’s Emmy-worthy performances. He wasn’t crazy in Cactus Jack/Mankind sort of way (you know, he’s nuts but its fun to see what he might do next)… he was nuts in a George “The Animal” Steele way (without the biting of the belt buckles), in that it was more like, “What’s he doing?”. And it just didn’t play well cuz… it was downright troubling.
But I digress….
January 23rd, 2008 at 4:44 pm
What ever happened to the Iron Sheik? Was he killed in the bitter Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s? Or did he simply retire in Bedouin style to a life of sybaritic excess?
January 24th, 2008 at 6:43 am
Apparently Hossein Vasiri (nee The Iron Sheik) never fully recovered from the scandal of being pulled over in a car with despised enemy “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan late in the 1980s, when both had been partying together (not exactly what wrestling fans expected when their patriotic hero and Irani despot got together):
From wikipedia: “In 1987, Duggan and the Iron Shiek (Hossein Vasiri) were pulled over by New Jersey police after a WWF event, suspecting Duggan of driving under the influence. After a search of the vehicle and the persons, police discovered that Duggan was under the influence of marijuana and alcohol, while the Sheik was high on cocaine. Small amounts of cocaine were also found in the vehicle. Duggan received a conditional release while the Sheik was placed on probation for a year. The mini-scandal that erupted after two in-ring enemies were found drinking and doing drugs together led to the end of the angle, the Sheik’s release, and Duggan’s temporary departure from WWE.”
Apparently he did wrestle for some years after that, and makes public appearances from time to time - including on the Howard Stern Show just last year.