#127 – Cactus Jack and Chainshaw Charlie v New Age Outlaws, March 29, 1998
Dre and the Black Cat review one of the classic Attitude Era moments as Cactus Jack and his old friend Chainsaw Charlie, aka Terry Funk, seek revenge against the fan favorite New Age Outlaws in a dumpster match at WrestleMania. They also take a look at the match the following night on RAW when the new DX was formed in a great steel cage rematch between the two teams. Please support the Old School Wrestling Podcast by visiting flairchop.com to purchase our book “The OSWP 500,” the collected volumes of the first 75 episodes, an OSWP t-shirt, or one of our beautiful posters.
Huzzah! Someone FINALLY got Dre’s name right!
Little known side effect of too many chair shots is the inability to pronounce the word “Dre”
Not sure if I have my timelines messed up, but Dre mentioned Cactus Jack getting thrown off a ramp into a dumpster. The angle I remember is Foley and Funk being put in a dumpster, and the Outlaws pushed the dumpster off the ramp. Sunny was crying, so I guess it was supposed to be a shoot, because who knew Sunny was friends with either Foley or Funk?!
Also, kudos for getting THE AFRICAN DREAM AKEEM to do a bumper for the show. One of my all time favorite “fatties”.
Oh, crap, I COMPLETELY FORGOT about Sunny.
Great episode as always gents, but I feel Dre gave the short shrift to just how far down Billy Gunn was when the New Age Outlaws formed, and what a career renaissance it was.
Billy Gunn after the Smoking Guns disbanded was made a protege of Honky Tonk Man called Rockabilly and put into a feud with the Roadie. This caused some “shoot-y” type promos from Roadie saying how stupid this feud was and they should become a tag team. Gunn then gave Honky Tonky Man a guitar shot and the rest is history, but both guys were close to being future endeavored before the team caught fire.
As for the quick 1-2-3 (and thank you for using my suggestion), I will go with ones not used, as Big Bubba is a must for any list.
1) Nicola Roberts/Baby Doll- first brought in as a bodyguard in WCCW for Gino Hernandez, then as an integral part of Jim Crockett being both valet and body guard for the other half of the Awesome Twosome, Tully Blanchard, Baby Doll was Chyna before Chyna.
2) 911. Yeah, I know look didn’t match talent for Hughes, but 911 has to be put on the list for hype to “one trick pony” ratio. Hailed by the internet at the time as the next big monster, 911 had one move…a chokeslam. That’s it, that’s the list. Part bodyguard for Paul E, part “Sandman Sims” used as “the hook” for lame gimmicks that weren’t getting over with the crowd. Bodyguard gimmicks supposedly get over big guys quick, and this did, and when asked “okay what else” 911 disappeared into the ether.
3) “Secret Service” Jack Victory. The man of a million bad jobber gimmicks. I have a soft spot in my heart for Jack Victory, so he makes the list over Hughes. Plus, as a suitable replacement for Bubba when he went to be the Big Boss Man in the WWF nothing was funnier than Jack Victory pretending to communicate through an earpiece.
2)
I can’t believe I didn’t even THINK of Jack Victory. No one could carry a flag like that guy. I had 911 on my short list. Yeah, he had one move, but he had a bad ass choke slam and a killer mullet. I’m not sure about Baby Doll….
I do recall Sunny chewing the scenery making this more legit. I also recall one of my friends calling the dumpster dump an “outrage” and saying this could lead to suspensions. God I love wrestling.
I believe the dumpster toss is a 5 RAW ban, minimum
Great show guys, but I can’t believe that neither of you picked Ralphus as one of your top 3 bodyguards. I know I wouldn’t mess with Jericho if he were around
I always HATED Ralphus!
My favorite line from this episode: “I love Jerry Flynn!”
Who doesn’t love Jerry Flynn?
I have a couple of stories about how the New Age Outlaws influenced me during that era. I was in my early 20’s around this time and making the rounds at the local karaoke circuit under the stage name of “Big Daddy Long Stroke”. My usual opener on karaoke night was the 1992 classic “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-A-Lot (how he got knighted before Mick Jagger is a mystery for the ages, but I digress). The only problem with performing the song on karaoke night was the intro to the song with the two valley girls talking about some girl with a badonkadonk. This leads to karaoke amateurs either trying to read the text in a valley girl accent or standing on stage with a microphone in hand awkwardly for about a minute. My solution? After the initial “Oh. My. God.” from the valley girls I would go into the Road Dogg’s introduction from after the NAO hits the ring:
“Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages [insert club name here] Proudly brings to you, all the way from Las Vegas, your undisputed KAAAAAAARAOKE CHAMPION OF THE WOOOOOOOORRRRLLLLD! Big Daddy Long Stroke!”
I had it timed so that I had a few seconds to hype the crowd before the lyrics actually started, and it never failed to get the crowd whipped up. Especially if I went on a little late and they had had ample time to get their swerve on.
It was always a crowd pleaser. At least it was until my karaoke crew, The Beerphonics, and I decided that I should break away and turn heel, but that, much like the time a friend and I had a “Loser Leaves Town Backyard Brawl” and managed to give each other a concussion (me) and 3 cracked ribs (him) using you guessed it, a cookie sheet, a story for another day.
I should probably clean up all these run on sentences, but I’m not gonna. Still a heel, after all.
Your Pal,
Dave
Everyone loves the New Age Outlaws schtick, even non-wrestling fans. Perfect for karaoke.
WrestleMania XIV has to be one of my favorite Manias in my opinion. The Dumpster Tag title match helped the card and helped build the Outlaws as a legit tag team and future legends.
I think that Mick Foley, in one of his books, claimed that the Chainsaw Charlie character was the idea of Terry Funk, himself, and not the WWE’s creation, as you assumed. I seem to recall Mick describing that he was perplexed by Terry’s odd gimmick, especially with his renown.
Chainsaw Charlie was a takeoff on Corporal Kirchner’s (Michael Penzel) Leatherface/Super Leather gimmick in Japan, whom Terry Funk worked with over there. Funk reportedly tried to get Leatherface to come to the WWF but his money was in Japan and Corporal Kirchner didn’t leave on the best of terms. So Funk decided to do his own version of the gimmick.
Anything with Funk involved is gold, hoss.