Recycling Wrestlers Trivia Quiz

Answer: Farooq

Remember Papa Shango? The voodoo witch doctor with the skull facepaint who made his opponents' faces drip green goo? He disappeared in late 1992 and later on we were introduced to Kama, aka "The Fighting Machine". Over the years, the hard-nosed Kama was recycled into the Godfather, wrestling's first pimp, who used to come to the ring surrounded by women, and whose finisher was colorfully dubbed "The Ho Train".

Answer: The Headshrinkers

The Headshrinkers, Fatu and Samu, used to be one of the premier tag teams in the WWF during the early to mid 90's. They were said to be from Samoa, and were always accompanied by their manager Afa. Fatu's signature move was a big splash from the top turnbuckle. Nowadays we know him as Rikishi (although Fatu is his real first name) and his new signature move is the Stinkface (where he uses his ample backside to smother his opponent).

Answer: Smash

Barry Darsow was first known as the face-painted, hollering bad guy with the studded black leather outfit, one half of the multiple-time tag champions Demolition. At one point, Demolition disappeared from the WWF, and in 1991 a new wrestler surfaced. He was known as The Repo Man, and his gimmick was that he was a cat burglar (his signature submission hold was called "The Crowbar"). Those who payed close attention (including my 11-year old former self) could tell rather easily from his voice and physique that this was the former Demolition member.

By the way, some players may look at my choice of answers and think Flash is a made-up fourth choice. Actually, when Ax left the WWF, he kept the Ax gimmick and kept wrestling in independent federations. He briefly formed the New Demolition, and his new partner was named Flash (since Smash and Crush were still in the WWF).

Answer: Jerry "The King" Lawler

In 1995, Jerry "The King" Lawler was in the midst of an ongoing fued with Bret "The Hitman" Hart over who was the real king of wrestling (Hart had won the first ever King Of The Ring tournament in 1993, a title which Lawler arbitrarily claimed for himself).

The two of them had had a special "Kiss My Foot" Match in which the loser would have to kiss the winner's bare feet. In the weeks leading up to the match, both Lawler and Hart went to extremes to get their feet as nasty and disgusting as possible, and by the time the match was over and done with, Hart was forcibly shoving his rotten toes down Lawler's throat. For weeks following the embarassment, Lawler was forced to get oral care from his deranged dentist, who was always shown taking great pleasure in ripping out his patients' teeth (why Lawler would want him working on his own teeth is beyond me). Lawler was so outraged at the loss that he had Yankem square off against Hart a few weeks later at Summerslam. That was pretty much all we saw of Isaac Yankem, DDS. This wrestler (Glen Jacobs) also appeared as the "Million Dollar Undertaker" in 1994, when the real Undertaker faced off against an imposter under Ted DiBiase's control.

Answer: Smash

Doink was played first by Matt Osborne, then briefly by Steve Keirn, then Steve Lombardi, and finally by Ray Licachelli.
Steve Keirn made somewhat of a name for himself as Skinner, the dude from the Florida Everglades who collected alligator hides and carried an alligator claw (which of course was his foreign object of choice during a match).
Steve Lombardi started out as the Brooklyn Brawler. The Brawler was a kind of a tweener as a wrestler, because he was kind of a jobber, but not quite. A jobber is a no-name wrestler with no gimmick who would take on superstars during weekly house shows and always lose (the point being to showcase the star's skills). The Brawler never won a match to my knowledge, but he was a reoccurring character nonetheless, and unlike the other jobbers he had some name recognition.

Answer: Golddust

Yes, the eccentric, slightly homo-erotic Goldust was once known as Dustin Rhodes. Despite the gold facepaint and ring attire, anyone who had seen Rhodes in the ring probably recognized his distinctive move set, not to mention his platinum blond buzz cut when he took off his long wig.

Answer: The Blue Blazer

His first major match as the Blazer was against Mr. Perfect at 'Wrestlemania V' in 1989. Back then, the Blazer's mid-air tactics were ahead of their time, and these same aerial skills were on display when we were officially introduced to Bret's little brother. Later on, the Blue Blazer gimmick was revived just prior to Owen's death in 1999 (Owen would run to the ring in the Blazer's mask and attire, then violently deny it when questioned, only to eventually suffer the embarrassment of being unmasked on 'RAW').

Answer: Irwin R Schyster

The IRS gimmick might have failed miserably (a wrestling tax man?) had he not been teamed with the Million Dollar Man (Ted DiBiase) to form Money Inc., which won its share of tag team titles. There was no mask or facepaint involved in his new angle, so anyone with eyes could tell that Schyster was just Mike Rotundo in suspenders and a tie.

He would usually take a moment before each match to grab a microphone and accuse everyone in attendance of being tax cheats.

Answer: Viscera

Mabel was "kidnapped" by the Acolytes (Farooq and Bradshaw) and forced to join the Ministry and serve the Undertaker. His new name was Viscera (as in guts). Hog farmer Henry O Godwin's brother Phineas was also kidnapped and became Mideon. Gangrel was the vampire dude, and was also part of the Ministry for a time, although his name didn't change. Plague is a name I just made up.

Answer: Chainsaw Charlie

Terry Funk was an old school wrestler who spent decades in the ring, and had taken more than his share of punishment. By the late 90's he was too old and his body far too beaten up to compete in real matches, however he did show up every now and then as Chainsaw Charlie, wearing a stocking over his face and carrying- you guessed it- a chainsaw.

He often "teamed" with Mankind, or at least the two liked to wreak their own brand of havoc at ringside. The gimmick didn't last long, presumably due to the safety implications of carrying a working chainsaw while nowhere near a forest.