WWE Calgary: Round 1 Match 8: #24 The Honky Tonk Man vs. #41 Barry Darsow

[Shocky]

The following matchup takesp lace in the WWE REgion under WWE Rules in Calgary, Alberta.

#24. The Honky Tonk Man

vs.

#41
Barry Darsow/Smash/Repo Man

 

[klunderbunker]

Repo Man. He was big, he was strong, and he wasn't that bad really. His gimmick was absurd but that doesn't mean he's bad. HTM was even more ridiculous. His style never was that great and he was dominated most of the time. This is heel vs. heel, but I can't picture HTM winning over a power guy like Darsow.

 

[The Todd]

Barry Darsow was best as a tag team wrestler, and whilst Honky was the original Santino, he would win matches a lot. Even if he can't put him away in the ring, a timely ref distraction would lead to the guitar shot. Honky wins.

 

[48.7 is Approximately 49 Times Better Than You]

Honky Tonk Man, while the longest reigning IC champion ever, was not a good wrestler. He spent most of his career being dominated by others. I think it was Pebble that said that a quick ref distraction would lead to a guitar shot. Question! Who's going to distract the ref? Repo Man was bigger, faster, and stronger. Honky Tonk Man was a life long jobber. This one goes to the big man.

 

[The Todd]

Honky Tonk Man, while the longest reigning IC champion ever, was not a good wrestler. He spent most of his career being dominated by others. I think it was Pebble that said that a quick ref distraction would lead to a guitar shot. Question! Who's going to distract the ref? Repo Man was bigger, faster, and stronger. Honky Tonk Man was a life long jobber. This one goes to the big man.

Anything can distract a ref, a loose turnbuckle, him being on his arse etc. Honky Tonk Man made a living of cheating to pick up victories in the WWE. Whilst many of his IC defences were DQ finishes, he did pick up some big wins, including picking Steamboat himself. In his tag-team Darsow had big wins, as a singles competitor, where were his major wins?

 

[jmt225]

Yeah, I have to agree with The Pebble here. The fact that The Honky Tonk Man is the longest running IC champion in the history of World Wrestling Entertainment is all the proof one needs to figure out that the guy was very hard to defeat and was very sneaky in ways to escape a match as the victor, especially against guys who weren't in the main event, ala someone like Barry Darsow. Like mentioned, Darsow doesn't have any major wins as a singles competitor, and he sure as hell doesn't have any singles title reigns under his belt, either... at least not in WWE.

Simple logic says that if these two were ever to meet in a WWE ring, The Honky Tonk Man would've undoubtedly found a way to win.

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

Hmmm...this is a tough one. I'm actually going to go with Darsow, but only because Demolition was epic. Kayfabe wise, yes, The Honky TonK Man kept the Intercontinental Belt for quite sometime, but his match with The Ultimate Warrior showed that he was vulnerable to opponents with a smashmouth approach to wrestling. While the members of Demolition were much more refined (and slower) than The Ultimate Warrior, they were still just as brutal. So, even by himself, I say Darsow takes The Honkey Tonk Man out.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

To quote (I believe) Jim Ross, this one is bowling-shoe ugly. It's a shame they both can't lose. First you have a guy from Demolition - the tag team wrestling equivalent of the band KISS (all show, no substance) - and on the other hand, the original sneaky heel with the over the top gimmick.

I'll go with Darsow, because Honky's guitar is neutralized by Repo Man's hook (I still remember his hanging Davey Boy Smith over the top rope...) and while Honky may have Greg Valentine to distract the ref, Ax would neutralize him.

Darsow. Sadly.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

As the longest reigining Incontiental Champion in history, Honky Tonk Man had to find numerous ways to escape with the victory. Darsow was big and agile but HTM will find some way to beat Darsow and his guitar may come into play.

 

[Harthan]

Smash never had any success outside of the tag team division, because really, Demolition couldn't work outside of the tag division, the gimmick wouldn't work solo, and Repo Man wasn't much better. The most notable thing he ever did solo was steal Savage's hat and then get his ass kicked the next week. Then, Honky Tonk Man, well, in pure wrestling ability, he didn't have much, but he had a great heel gimmick and was hugely notable for sneaky wins. Honky definitely outranks Smash in terms of singles success, and would certainly find a way to win this match.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

bleh. what an unpalatable match here.

*flips coin*

Honky it is. Sure he had that long IC reighn, but that may just speak to lack of a good division, rather than Honky being y'know, good. Same for the tag title reighn of demolition. Id rank this almost dead even, although Honky sold better.

So uh yea, Honky. all scientific and analytical and shit.

 

[NSL]

I'm going to go with Honky Tonk Man, and be thankful that no matter who wins, they'll lose to Owen in the next round. I know it's been debated, but I'm going to stick with HTM winning due to the ref distraction. Sure, Ax could neutralize Valentine. But, what about Jimmy Hart and the Hart Foundation? They were ringside on more than one occasion. Jimmy was great at getting the ref's attention.

Like NorCal, this is one that won't be overly exciting to watch, but it'll be decent filler for 4 minutes. HTM only loses if he tries to "Shake, Rattle, and Roll" too much.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

People underrate the Honky Tonk Man. He's like Kurt Angle. He might act the fool, but he dominated the IC division and he was a very successful tag wrestler.

The WWE mid card was stacked at the time. Yet time and time again Honky outsmarted everybody. He beat the internet favorite, Ricky Steamboat, who had recently beat future world champion Randy Savage.

He got beaten for the IC title quickly. But he got beaten by a guy who was steamrolling everybody at that time. If people hold that against Honky, I'll hold it against everybody Goldberg beat.

And, to be fair, he's been preparing for the huge task of defending his title against Brutus ''The Barber'' Beefcake. With some preparation, he would have beet The Warrior as well.

 

[Tastycles]

Honky Tonk Man all of the way here. People seem to think that Honky won all of his matches using the guitar, but it simply isn't the case. The vast majority of his matches ended with the Shake Rattle and Roll, and people should remember that.

Honky Tonk Man had feuds with Steamboat, where he came out on top, Savage, that ended in a DQ, Beefcake, where he ended out on top before being obliterated by the Ultimate Warrior. The Ultimate Warrior was in his prime at this point, and years later, when he was past it, he destroyed HHH in a similar fashion. Warrior beating people isn't a yard stick, because he beat everyone.

On the other hand, Smash was a reasonable tag team wrestler in a hugely overrated team. As a singles wresteler, he acheived very little. Davey Boy beat him practically every time they fought, and he was embarrassed by Savage after he stole Savage's hat. He lost to his former Demolition team mate Crush too. If he fought as Smash, then he would be dominated by a proper singles wrestler, if he fought as Repo Man, he'd probably steal Honky's guitar, but still lose. Honky wins.

 

[Father:_Polley]

Give me Darsow. Name a memorable Honky Tonk Man match right now where Honky won and was dominant. There aren't any.
As has been said, Honky was a guy who got by on trying to be sneaky, but he was pretty bad in the ring.

Smash/Repo man... not great, but he has the power to overcome the Elvis impersonator with ease and advance, where he will happily fall.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Give me Darsow. Name a memorable Honky Tonk Man match right now where Honky won and was dominant. There aren't any.

Name me a singles match where Smash/Repo Man was dominant.

There are some, but the same can be said about the Honky Tonk Man.

As has been said, Honky was a guy who got by on trying to be sneaky, but he was pretty bad in the ring.

The point of participating in a wrestling match is to win. It's not relevant how sneaky somebody can be.

If you can cheat and get away with it, you're obviously smarter than your opponent.

Smash/Repo man... not great, but he has the power to overcome the Elvis impersonator with ease and advance, where he will happily fall.

Smash was poweful, there's no denying it. But the only problem is that he's an 80's wrestler. Almost everybody in WWE at that time was a power wrestler. And as a singles wrestler his power didn't help him out one bit. Honky used what he had, and it worked for him. Smash used what he had, and had moderate success at best.

 

[Spunky]

Before I had done my research I read everyone's opinion's, And I came away thinking "He's a lite version of Flair". After completing my research I came to realise that Honky Tonk man deserve's to go over Darsow, As The Honky Tonk Man was the longest reining IC champion of all time, He may have won ALOT by cheating , But he won.

Darsow on the other hand never really did anything outside of the Tag divisionl, And because it's a single's match you have to think HTM would hit the guitar shit, Or the Shake, Rattle, And roll. If it was a tag match then yeah i'd give it to Darsow. But



The Honky Tonk Man win's.

 

[Shocky]

Fuck, I hate voting against Demolition, but I'm going with the Honky Tonk Man. People like to take a dump on HTM, but he was a little better then what he was made out to be. Honky Tonk can be beaten by pure power, as evident by the Ultimate Warrior, but kayfabe wise that was chalked up more to the Honky Tonk Man being extremely over confident and not wanting to know who his mystery opponent was going to be. The rematch was actually much better then the original summerslam affair.

 

[Mr. TM]

Honky Tonk Man. Not only does he have a victory of Santino, something Smash never had, but his title reign was maybe the only one better than Santino's. Not much to say, Smash was good in a tag team, Repo Man was only decent, but Honky Tonk man was impressive as a solo wrestler for being able to win.

 

[RVDgurl]

When I hear the name Barry Darsow I think tag team wrestler. The Repo Man sucked and paled in comparison to the Smash gimmick. Honky had a much more successful single's career, as he was one of the most noted IC champions in WWE history. Honky would easily steal a win in the match.

 

[Theo Mays]

Darsow was IMO a tag team specialist, and Honky like some have stated is the longest reigning IC champ in WWE history. Both have goofy gimmicks, but in the end being the longest reigning champ means more than being a successful tag superstar with an average singles career. Give me the Honky Tonk Man.

 

[Shadowmancer]

Honky wins this one, when I saw the name Barry Darsow the first thing that came to mind for me was Who? then I saw inside and went oh yeah now I know who he is. Honky got over and is remembered because he is memorable and didn't wrestle under too many different names. He also did win the IC title, and he held it. The most important part about that is that he won it. The defenses came from other means than just winning cleanly. some wise man once said 'Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat" Honky is a good example of the this philosophy therefore Honky wins.

 

[Slyfox696]

What's the deal with all these bad matchups in the first round? This is like the second or third time I don't really want to give a vote to anyone.

Umm...I'll say Smash. He was a World Champion (even if it was Tag Team), he was incredibly over, and I at least found him interesting on occasion. The Repo Man sucked as a gimmick, but I think he did the best he could with it.

For Honkey Tonk Man? If he wasn't the "longest reigning Intercontinental Champion", would anybody even remember him?

 

[gd]

I think Honky picks up a BS win here, but whoever wins won't go far.