Ryan's Dive into '95 - Part 22 (5/28 - 6/3)
We get our first glimpse of Waylon Mercy, Randy Savage and Ric Flair go at it, I talk about Franz Liszt for some reason, and not a whole heck of a lot else.
If you haven’t read it already, please check out my introductory article that explains what this series is all about. As a reminder, footage is sourced from the Goodhelmet 1995 Yearbook, unless otherwise stated.
How ya now?
We have a slim and trim, but not ripped, buff, cut, chiseled, hammered, OR JAAAAAAACKED week at The Dive. It'll probably be a nice break from the absolute tomes that these articles can be. Something that can likely be read in one or two toilet sittings and not the typical 15-20.
We’ll get our first look at an interesting character for mid-90s WWF, plus we get Flair and Savage having a scrap, some vignettes and promos, and not really much else.
Well…
MAY 29th
WWF Monday Night RAW - We kick things off with footage of WWF Champion Diesel suffering an elbow injury at In Your House against Sycho Sid. The injury stemmed from a chokeslam, then was exacerbated by a powerbomb later that match. Diesel landed awkwardly on his arm taking both those moves. This is someone who's definitely not used to bumping for these kinds of big moves.
This resulted in legit surgery to remove bone spurs. Diesel's just chilling in his hospital room.
Dr. James Andrews, orthopedic surgeon to the stars, walks us through the injury and surgery. He says Diesel is a model patient, stemming from his extensive experience with getting injured.
We now cut to paid promotion for potential presidential prospect Mr. Bob Backlund, who addresses the problematic music that today's youth is listening to. He pledges to make America's youth listen to CLASSICAL music!
He then blames today's escalated crime rates on this ROCK ‘N ROLL GARBAGE. I mean, classical music didn’t always lend itself to obedience and civility. Was Backlund not aware of Lisztomania? That shit was UNHINGED.
Female fans of Franz Liszt would beat the shit out of each other like frenzied Deathclaws to get a handkerchief or a broken piano string. Dude was basically 19th century Europe’s Elvis Presley. I’m willing to bet that Liszt stan-dom caused a spike in unlawful conduct back in the day. It certainly caused its shares of fainting spells, not that I blame anyone. He wasn’t a bad-looking guy (considering the absolute goddamn yetis that were around back then), and Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 was fucking GAS.
Backlund’s anti-rock rhetoric would set up a rather putrid feud with resident loud music merchant Man Mountain Rock. This would result in some of the stinkiest house show matches known to man.
MAY 30th
ECW Hardcore TV TV - We catch up with Raven backstage, who calls in Stevie Richards to show off a huge scar on his back, then tells him to bugger off shortly after.
Raven says that Stevie's scar is NOTHING compared to the mental anguish Raven lives with every day. He warns Tommy Dreamer that their destinies will forever be intertwined, and flexes the fact that Beulah McGillicutty worships HIM now, and Dreamer is stuck with Luna Vachon. QUOTH THE RAVEN, NEVERMORE.
The ending of The Sandman (c) vs. Cactus Jack for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship is now shown. Jack props a table up against the ropes, leans Sandman against it, then lifts the table up to dump Sandy to the outside in a NASTY bump! Holy crap!
Jack then wraps his arm with barbed wire and uses that to lacerate Sandman. Many elbowdrops follow, then a double-arm DDT, but Shane Douglas puts Sandman's foot on the ropes to stop the pin count as HE wants to be the one to dethrone Sandman. Sandy canes a distracted Jack in the dick and covers to retain.
JUNE 3rd
WWF Superstars - We see a tall fella clad in a Hawaiian shirt and white pants looking into the distance. With a disarmingly soft Southern drawl, he introduces himself as Waylon Mercy and explains that he is a peaceful individual that simply wants no trouble.
This serenity will not change when he gets to the WWF, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN?
So, yes, this is our first look at Waylon Mercy, played by one-time Skyscraper Danny Spivey. If you are not familiar with Dangerous Danny, just know that he was fucking killer in his heyday. Seriously, watch his match with Lex Luger at WrestleWar ‘91. That is top-shelf BIG BOY graps. I mean it; go ahead and watch it. Hell, watch the War Games match from that show while you’re at it. I’ll wait.
…Alright, welcome back! Wasn’t that AWESOME?
After a run in All-Japan, Spivey joined the World Wrestling Federation, dyed his blonde hair black, and dove into this character. The Waylon Mercy persona is a rarity in mid-90’s North American wrestling in that we are presented not with an occupational gimmick or goofy caricature, but with an interesting character that was actually thought out and well-executed. Spivey drew heavy inspiration from Sideshow Bob Max Cady from Cape Fear (the 1991 Robert DeNiro iteration), particularly the calm, polite exterior that belies malevolence, crude tattoos, and impeccable fashion sense. Compared to the utter drek we were getting, Mercy was a breath of fresh air.
In his matches, he'd stroll to the ring, shaking hands with the fans, the ref, and his opponent. When the bell rang, he'd go apeshit, kinda like ROH’s Delirious, or Festus in late-2000's WWE. He'd polish off jobbers with a sleeperhold while having the most deranged goddamned look on his face.
When he bell rang, he'd go back to being all gentlemanly and shit.
Unfortunately, at this stage in his career, Spivey’s body was shot to hell. He was so cooked that during AJPW’s Champion Carnival tournament, he faced off with Toshiaki Kawada in a match so bad that it earned NEGATIVE stars from Dave Meltzer. A KAWADA match getting minus snowflakes during peak AJPW!
As his body could no longer hold up its end of the deal, he lasted a few months in the WWF before retiring from in-ring competition. He had some wins over enhancement talent and midcarders like Doink and Bob Holly, and had a couple of TV matches with top babyfaces like Bret Hart and Diesel. Spivey managed one PPV match (at In Your House 3 against Savio Vega) before hanging them up. Kind of a shame because Spivey's characterization and mannerisms gave Mercy a level of menace and discomfort that made for a fascinating watch.
At the very least, this character served as the basis of the initial Bray Wyatt character. Hell, Spivey even worked with Windham Rotunda to help craft the character.
Even after the Bray Wyatt character completely went off the goddamn rails, the Waylon Mercy influence was still there. Mercy the Buzzard from the insipid Firefly Funhouse segments was named and modeled after Spivey’s character.
Another fun fact: if, for whatever reason, you're watching the DX Nation parody, check out Billy Gunn's fake tattoos. Yes, they are all the tattoos Waylon Mercy had.
We'll see more vignettes over the next few weeks because, well, they were awesome.
WCW Saturday Night - In a rare occurrence, we have nothing from USWA or Smoky Mountain this week, but we still board The Mothership. Tony Schiavone is with Arn “The Glock” Anderson at the interview area. Arn addresses the Randy Savage/Ric Flair situation. Flair isn't at the arena yet because Arn left him with a couple of 6-foot-tall redheads, so Flair is FINE.
We get a split-screen with Randy Savage, who is losing his absolute rag backstage. Arn keeps taunting Savage, whipping him into an angry lather, then Savage leaves the room. I like that we're getting more Arn segments. He’s always been a stellar promo, and he was entertaining as a shit-stirrer.
Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage - Oh, shit is gonna hit the fan here. On top of the animosity between these two, this is also a semi-final match in the WCW US Title tournament. Just a reminder that this upcoming attempt on Ric Flair's life is brought to you by SLIM JIM!
Savage grabs a mic and tells Flair to come to daddy and get his beating! Not in those words, but a similar sentiment. “Also Sprach Zarathustra” plays and the sliding doors open up, but no Flair! Savage goes berserk, running backstage and clobbering the Nature Boy! Arn Anderson pulls him off, but not for long. Flair and Anderson overwhelm Savage, but Sting and Renegade come to his aid. We continue with the brawl in the backstage area as Flair gets ramed into a locker.
Flair leaves the building, but Savage goes after him! Flair and Arn get into a limousine, and Savage tries to get in through the window!
The limousine pulls away. Savage briefly gives chase but gives up. Obviously, the match never starts, and both guys are out of the tournament. The other semi-final match, Sting vs. Meng, will determine the new US Champion at The Great American Bash.
Yes, the one listed match this week didn't actually happen, but this was an awesomely fun, crazy brawl. Savage came off as a completely unhinged force of nature in his pursuit of revenge against Flair. Savage nutty? Strange, I know. It definitely did a good job selling the upcoming match at The Bash.
So, yeah, this was a rather breezy week. The Flair/Savage brawl was great stuff as that feud is doing a lot of the heavy lifting for WCW at the moment. The Backlund presidential campaign is goofy, but still quite funny, and the Waylon Mercy segment was a good teaser for what we would see from the character in the future.
NEXT TIME: We get MUCH busier next week as we have what many people consider THE greatest tag team match of all time. No, it does not involve Tekno Team 2000. We'll also have a King of the Ring qualifying match that was actually taped at In Your House, a contest from the first of three AAA Triplemania shows, and so much more!
Smell ya later!