The Forgotten Heel Of His Era

[The Brain]

When I think of the top heels that I hated most as a kid in the late 80s there are four names that always come to mind. Three of them are Ted Dibiase, Rick Rude, and Mr. Perfect. These three are constantly praised around here for their talents. Whenever a thread comes up discussing great heels or wrestlers who should have won a world title in the WWF their names always come up. There is one man who was as hot as any heel from 1987-1989 but doesn’t get nearly the recognition as the others. That man is The Honky Tonk Man.

Now I don’t mean to suggest Honky is completely forgotten by people here. Maybe underappreciated is a better word. I just think comparatively speaking he doesn’t get the credit he deserves. If you aren’t old enough to remember him in his prime trust me when I tell you The Honky Tonk Man was way over as a heel. He was the first wrestler that I remember really hating. Every time I saw him on tv and wanted him to get his ass kicked and every time he snuck out of a match with his IC title I hated him even more. Honky Tonk really knew how to work a crowd. He definitely had a way of getting under your skin. The singing, the dancing, the shaking of the hips, guitar shots, Colonel Jimmy Hart, Peggy Sue, his insistence that the fans actually loved him all made Honky the target for the fans’ jeers. Most of us are aware of his record 15 month IC title reign. I remember every single time I saw him wrestle I hoped he would finally lose the belt. I’m convinced The Ultimate Warrior wouldn’t have become as popular as he did if he wasn’t the one to finally end the hated Honky Tonk Man’s reign.

Why is it that HTM is rarely mentioned when discussing the top heels of his era? What are your general thoughts on him? Did you watch him in his prime or do you only know about him from watching old tapes and dvds? I look forward to your responses.

Thank you very much. You’ve been a beautiful audience.

 

[RicoLen]

Honky couldn't wrestle, that's why. He was a true blue 5 move wonder woman. Best IC champ ever, my ass! Savage, & Roberts both should have won the title from Honky. I get why Savage didn't, he went on to get the world title, but Jake the Snake deserved that IC title WAAAAY more than Honky ever did. He never fought a clean match with anyone that wasn't a jabroni. OMG I hated Honky Tonk Man. He's a great character, he knew how to work the crowd, and he was good on the mic relatively speaking at least, but he couldn't wrestle his way out of a wet paper bag. All of that made for one of the most hatable heels ever.

Yes, I watched him on Prime Time Wrestling, and I watched that infamous Saturday Night's Main Event when he and the Hart Foundation screwed Savage out of the title he was going to win, and then attacked Elizabeth, and she left crying and brought back the Hulkster and thus started the formation of The Mega Powers.

The difference between Honky, and DiBiase, Perfect & Rude is that Honky couldn't wrestle, and never garnered the respect that the other 3 earned.

Every time I see someone talk about how Honky Tonk Man was the best Intercontinental Champion ever I want to slap their lips clean off their face and yell at them: "You idiot! That's a soundbyte!"

I'll give him that he's one of the very best heels of all time, he sure as hell knew how to make people hate him, but without any worth while wrestling ability, he never garnered much in the way of lasting respect either.

 

[klunderbunker]

In short, it's because he was a wrestling Elvis impersonator. Even in wrestling terms, that's over the top.

In long, the problem with Honky is that he was based entirely on one idea: He had to lose EVENTUALLY. Now don't get me wrong: this was BRILLIANT and drew millions, even main eventing the C level house shows (yes, there were 3 house shows a night at times). Honky was a guy that was nothing and got the IC Title out of nowhere by cheating to beat a guy who was arguably the second biggest face in the company. People saw it as a matter of time before he lost his title, and that's where Vince had the fans: what if he just didn't lose it?

Honky would go out there and fight Duggan, Roberts, Beefcake, Savage and any other better face guy on the roster with the idea that someone, ANYONE, would be able to beat him. Then for almost a year and a half Honky cheated and cheated and cheated and somehow kept the title. Then he could say how great he was because he could still hold up the belt and say here it is because I'm still the champion.

By late 88, people were begging for someone to get the title off him because they built it up perfectly. The idea was that everyone knew one day his luck would run out and they would put their money down because they knew he was going to get caught one night. It was all about who would be able to figure it out and beat Honky to get the title they deserved (the fact that Warrior pulled it off is great because he's got to be the last person on the planet you would expect to do something clever).

As for the main question, why is he not grouped among the top heels ever, it's pretty simple: Honky is viewed as someone that got everything he got by dumb luck and cheating. DiBiase was someone that actually got the title off Hogan in one of the biggest and most in depth stories ever. Rude was Heenan's crown jewel. Perfect was a guy that just didn't lose. Honky was the total opposite of them and is looked at as a comedy character. Once that reign ended, he was done and considering he pretty much faded into obscurity after that, it more or less proves that.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I don't remember HTM ever being a credible threat to the Hogan's and Savage's (yes, I know he topped Savage but come on) of the world. He had a long reign as IC but that always felt like it was his ceiling. His appearance and especially ring attire were nothing that made me think that he was someone that would get the biggest prize in wrestling. The other guys had a look and persona that made them far more threatening. No matter what his accolades, it's hard to look back on HTM anf think of him as much more than a silly gimmick.

 

[Jackal960]

The problem with IWC is, if there is a popular belief, people tend to go with the bandwagon.

I know, Honky Tonk Man wasn't the most technical IC champion, maybe even the least. But in all honesty, when you were 8, who cares? I was 8 years old and I never cared about his wrestling techniques, ever! When you are 20 and look back, it's easy to say "he wasn't a good wrestler, what is the big deal about him?" But when you are a child who is watching WWF at that time, he was on top of my hate list. I was afraid of Bundy, I was terrified by Funk, but with HTM I just wanted to get old enough to beat the hell out of him! He was pretty good at what he was there for. If you look at any program back in the day, most of the matches were boring as hell. Wrestlers could do a headlock and stay there locked for the next 2 minutes. If you think that is a short time, just count till 120 and see how long it actually is. If you include the exceptional comments from Lord Alfred Hayes, you wouldn't watch any wrestling match for the next 20 years... The enjoyment of WWF was not the wrestling but the characters. I was a Hulkamaniac, Liked Savage, Hated Dibiase, Loved Killer Bees and British Bulldogs. One of my favorite moments was when JYD throw Adonis on top of Jimmy Hart, making him silent, finally. And none of these wrestlers were my favorites because of their wrestling ability. They were larger than life characters, good guys were cool and bad guys were good at being bad. You should consider Honky Tonk Man in it's own merit. Just because he wasn't a great wrestler doesn't mean he wasn't a good heel.

 

[mr.nobody]

Honky as a heel is great but as in the same breath as the other 3 absolutely not. What did he do without the IC belt during his career and look at the rest of them and their careers. Only reason he had the belt long was because of him refusing to job to Savage at the Main Event in February in 1988. He doesn't belong on the list.

 

[Beastmode 24]

In short, it's because he was a wrestling Elvis impersonator. Even in wrestling terms, that's over the top

But a walking zombie (the undertaker) is a sure fire hall of famer...only in wrestling, folks!

But seriously, HHM's greatest asset was the fact that he was the cowardly heel, he wasn't someone like Kane who could tear through anyone on the card, he was a chickenshit who fans paid to see get the absolute hell beat out of him. In my opinion he is greatly underrated in terms of his heel status.

 

[Skinsley]

I agree with you. I am only 21 years old myself so my old school WWF memories are more from DVD's, downloads, youtube and WWE classics that are sometimes shown on SkySports.

But I see alot of Honky Tonk Mans Heel tactics in the way Christian is trying to portray right now.
I thought he was a fantastic Heel and if I was old enough to know what was going on back in those days then im sure I would have hated him too.

 

[GameOver]

But a walking zombie (the undertaker) is a sure fire hall of famer...only in wrestling, folks!

But seriously, HHM's greatest asset was the fact that he was the cowardly heel, he wasn't someone like Kane who could tear through anyone on the card, he was a chickenshit who fans paid to see get the absolute hell beat out of him. In my opinion he is greatly underrated in terms of his heel status.

Taker was more then a zombie past those first 3 yrs LOL
Papa Shango was a zombie, Boogyman was a zombie.
obviously Taker entertained enough people to garner the respect he gets, enough said.

anyway Taker was versatile he wasn't just the "dead man" his whole career he has changed to the styles of the times, Honky Tonk Man never changed.

HTM i'd say was a great heel during the leadup to and during his IC run he was booked as "A Lucky Wrestler" but looking back now i'd say the only reason he became IC champ and the main heel for the midcard was Macho Man was gaining popularity and there was noone else worthy to replace him on the heel side. Dibiase was already being a thorn in the World Title scene along with Andre

but i would say that beyond his run as IC champ that was it, there was nothing more marketable in him and WWF didn't even bother trying.

little off the subject, How man remember the vote to ask if we wanted HTM to be a face or a heel? When's that ever happened again?

anyway to quote Jessie Ventura, It's better to be lucky then good, HTM was a lucky wrestler and wasn't awfull in ring, he could certainly hold his own on the promo's even if it was cheesy, but as someone else said, least in our case we were kids at the time, he was a jerk and easily hateable and that meant great heel.

He is easily forgotten however when you had Macho Man, Ted Dibiase, Bobby Heenan, Jimmy Hart all in the same generation

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

I don't remember HTM ever being a credible threat to the Hogan's and Savage's (yes, I know he topped Savage but come on) of the world. He had a long reign as IC but that always felt like it was his ceiling. His appearance and especially ring attire were nothing that made me think that he was someone that would get the biggest prize in wrestling. The other guys had a look and persona that made them far more threatening. No matter what his accolades, it's hard to look back on HTM anf think of him as much more than a silly gimmick.

George has popped the nail on the head and drove it straight home. Honky was a great midcard title holder but that was were it stopped. We never expected to see him going IC vs World Champ at WrestleMania and outside of his (admittedly gloriously built) record reign, the reminder of his career is pretty nondescript. DiBiase, Rude, Hennig and (for me) Piper may never have held the top title but along with the top line feuds these guys had, they also had other memorable storylines (eg: DiBiase with Money Inc and the Million Dollar Belt, Rude leading the Dangerous Alliance in WCW, Hennig's work with Flair, Piper's feuds with Hart, Golddust and reigniting the old Hogan feud in WCW).

Also, I agree that the character just didn't help maintain sustained interest once the belt was removed. Meeks makes a fair point about the Undertaker but the difference is that we had no problem in suspending disbelief for an unstoppable zombie being a threat to Hogan and the Warrior, a cowardly Elvis impersonator... not so much

This might sound like a stretch but I'd actually compare the HTM with Goldberg's term in WCW. Once the IC reign / streak ended, what happened of note afterwards to progress their legacies?

 

[Mustang Sally]

Elvis impersonators existed while the man was still alive; I wonder what he thought of them. Even more than that, though, I wonder what he would have thought of the notion that impersonators after his death would come to be viewed as an obnoxious joke. Yes, they've always garnered a lot of attention, but the notion of a fat Elvis dressed like the Drum Major of a marching band.....and with his belly hanging over his belt, has long since come to be seen as a joke, often a cruel one.

So, exactly at the right time to capture the animosity of the viewing audience, came The Honky Tonk Man. Figure this: I loved watching him, but hated looking at him. Does that make sense? It may not, but apparently it was exactly what WWE wanted people to feel.

As far as I remember, Wayne Ferris was the guy who came up with the term "The Greatest Intercontinental Champion of All Time," and he used it so much you had no choice but to root against him. The man was a consummate villain......yet, he impersonated one of America's greatest heroes. What a contradiction!

As another poster said, Ferris wasn't a good technical wrestler. But he was a terrific performer with a well defined role to play. His style was rough and tumble, and he worked his ring repertoire as well as anyone.

But, as I said: Can you imagine what Elvis Presley would have thought of The Honky Tonk Man? It boggles the mind.

 

[legendkiller1979]

HTM is forgotten because his career went in the toilet once he lost the IC belt. He was as big a heel as there was during his title run. Not so much because was a good heel, but because people resented him wearing the belt. Once he lost the belt, there was no reason to hate him once he didn't have the belt. What did he do after his title reign? Nothing! He is forgetting because he had his 15 months of fame (which was way too long) then never did anything of consequence again.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

In short, it's because he was a wrestling Elvis impersonator. Even in wrestling terms, that's over the top.

In long, the problem with Honky is that he was based entirely on one idea: He had to lose EVENTUALLY. Now don't get me wrong: this was BRILLIANT and drew millions, even main eventing the C level house shows (yes, there were 3 house shows a night at times). Honky was a guy that was nothing and got the IC Title out of nowhere by cheating to beat a guy who was arguably the second biggest face in the company. People saw it as a matter of time before he lost his title, and that's where Vince had the fans: what if he just didn't lose it?

Honky would go out there and fight Duggan, Roberts, Beefcake, Savage and any other better face guy on the roster with the idea that someone, ANYONE, would be able to beat him. Then for almost a year and a half Honky cheated and cheated and cheated and somehow kept the title. Then he could say how great he was because he could still hold up the belt and say here it is because I'm still the champion.

By late 88, people were begging for someone to get the title off him because they built it up perfectly. The idea was that everyone knew one day his luck would run out and they would put their money down because they knew he was going to get caught one night. It was all about who would be able to figure it out and beat Honky to get the title they deserved (the fact that Warrior pulled it off is great because he's got to be the last person on the planet you would expect to do something clever).

As for the main question, why is he not grouped among the top heels ever, it's pretty simple: Honky is viewed as someone that got everything he got by dumb luck and cheating. DiBiase was someone that actually got the title off Hogan in one of the biggest and most in depth stories ever. Rude was Heenan's crown jewel. Perfect was a guy that just didn't lose. Honky was the total opposite of them and is looked at as a comedy character. Once that reign ended, he was done and considering he pretty much faded into obscurity after that, it more or less proves that.

Perfect analysis.

It was masterful the way they built HTM up back then. He came out of nowhere and when he beat Steamboat, it seemed like such a fluke even with the cheating. You just knew that this guy would never last as champ... but no matter who challenged him, they could never find a way to beat him.

Honky was a great chickenshit heel, and while his offense looked terrible, he could bump and he was great at making his opponent look good. No one came out of a failed challenge against HTM looking weak, even though they couldn't beat this guy who seemingly they should have beat easily. That takes skill.

HTM isn't remembered like the Dibiase's, Perfect's or Rude's because the one problem with his gimmick while he was IC champ, was that once he finally did lose the belt, he never had anywhere to go. None of his challengers could beat him, but he couldn't beat them either. People had been waiting to see him finally lose the belt for so long, that it would have turned them off for him to actually get it back again, and without the belt, he was nothing. He was basically a one trick pony... although his one trick was a great one.

It's actually a shame he couldn't have reinvented himself a little and added some more depth to his character, because he did have a talent for getting people over.