WRESTLERS OF THE DAY: PUBLIC ENEMY

[RIPPA]

I don't dislike PE per se but there are very few matches of theirs I would watch again. Of course, if you ask me to name one of those matches... I have no idea.

 

This one I guess because... Terry Funk

 

http://youtu.be/KBt0-0Iknuk

 

And there is the fact that Sting/Luger teamed on freaking Pro

 

[cool arrow]

Gotta post this one.

 

[Matt D]

Neither here nor there but I love the WCW Ads in and around 96 where they were hawking shirts and stuff for the WCW Catalog. 

 

That's pretty much all I have to say about Public Enemy.

[DEAN]

W*ING!  MOTHERFUCKING W*ING!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYDVMjg-Mc0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5gICPn2naw

[Jenalysis]

PE were the perfect garbage guys for WCW- they had a little bit of goofy charisma and ability behind the garbage.  Not a whole lot, but enough.

[Curt McGirt]

I was a mark for PE in WCW just because they were from ECW and broke tables. Ah the naivete of youth. 

 

These matches are all probably awful but they probably have Dusty babbling about plundah and clubberin' so it might be worth it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT: Somebody tell me whether the Harlem Heat match is where Stevie takes a faceplant and Dusty loses it and yells "HE JUST KNOCKED HIS TIRED OL' ASS OUT!"

 

DOUBLE EDIT: I think it is, but it's in the minutes earlier they took out of this. You still get Dusty yelling THAT'S A WIMMEN'S HANDBAG" 

[Curt McGirt]

Oh god... I guess this is from an MTV Spring Break. "Representing Will Smith, this is High Voltage"

 

 

And just for DEAN, more MOTHERFUCKING W*ING!

 

 

[Cristobal]

I couldn't find a clip on youtube, but Public Enemy's most notable memory in my mind was Otto Heuer on RSPW saying he'd pay $20 just to watch a dumb spot from Road Wild 1998 where one of them did an elbow drop through three tables onto Disco Inferno.

[Greggulator]

I do not think the PE were really all that good, especially after their first ECW run. But please do not underestimate their importance to the history of US professional wrestling.

I think maybe the first ECW match I saw was them against Cactus and MIkey. That match was absolutely nuts -- fighting in the crowd, baseball bats, dives through tables, etc. It also really got the Mikey Underdog stuff over huge.

ECW doesn't become what it does without them. When ECW started to become something, it was called "The House That PE Built." And it was that for a reason. They were arguably the biggest attraction when it started to blow up. Part of ECW's charm was that the fans were just as big a part of the show as the wrestling itself. The PE and their entrance were the first in the promotion to really connect on that level, with the crowd doing The Hotstepper entrance with them. Other people were over -- The Franchise, Sabu, Cactus, etc. -- but they were OVER.

They were also possibly the first Heyman Creations as we came to know them. Heyman put them in a place where they could do well (chaotic brawling and goofball promos) and steered them far away from what they weren't good at (actual wrestling matches). They set the template for Sandman and Dreamer and the other ECW dudes who didn't work outside of ECW.

They also had a huge feud with Sabu and Taz. It was built around the PE jumping through tables and "stealing Sabu's gimmick." That, and the Dreamer/Sandman blinding angle and The Franchise shooting constantly, really set the template for ECW incorporating the growing smark mentality into the promotion's storylines.

That feud culminated in a Double Tables match. That was the first time a table spot became the end point of a wrestling match -- like the entire show was built around the climax of someone being put through a table.Think about how many climactic spots in matches revolve around a huge table spot. This year alone there was a huge one in Wyatts vs. Shield 1 (how Seth got taken out of the match, which ended the second act) and Bryan's big comeback in the main event at WrestleMania. Sabu may have been the first "table guy" but it took a feud to really make tables beyond some crazy Sabu spot and into something a match could get built around.

That feud also brought Benoit and Malenko into the mix -- Benoit powerbombed Rocco through a table off the top rope when PE was celebrating their win (and also broke Sabu's neck during the same time period). That feud had some awesome stuff, like Benoit and Malenko jumping PE and taking one of them in a wheelchair and ramming them into the railing. That looked SO friggin' nasty at the time.

Do Benoit and Malenko become BENOIT AND MALENKO without that feud? Probably. But they were able to jump right into the mix in a scorching hot feud. That counts for a lot. I don't think Taz becomes what he eventually became without that feud, though.

It was supposed to blow off with The Three Way Dance, which was the first ECW show that felt like it could have been a PPV in its build. Sabu ended up taking a Japan booking instead.

They were also natural foils for Da Gangstas when they came in and did the great "Tag, you're it!" sneak attack stuff. That was how New Jack blossomed from just the race-baiting SMW stuff (which I loved) into the more well-rounded street thug act.

The PE showed after they left they weren't really all that good. And even their return completely sucked.

But don't undersell what they did and how important it all was. ECW doesn't become ECW without PE. And wrestling as we know it doesn't become what it is without ECW.

[Curt McGirt]

I so wish I could find the promo where PE were "training" Mikey to fight the Sandman by hanging a six-pack in a tree and making him climb a ladder over and over to get the beers, which Johnny would chug and then drunkenly exhort "Mikey, go!" to make him grab another.

[NikoBaltimore]

All I can say right now, is that I never gave two shits for them until I watched Hardcore TV on the Network.  Haven't gotten to their best stuff, but them being established as the goofy guys who brawl around the arena was greatness.  Very much enjoyed them so far, need to see the rest of the Hardcore TV shows and see what else they did.

[Pete]

Gregg nailed it. By themselves before ECW they weren't any real great shakes (though Rocco was fun as the Cheetah Kid), but once Paul put them together they took off like a rocket- he was a true wrestling Svengali. It still amazes me that Ted Petty was already 40 (yes, FORTY) when he took on the Rocco gimmick.

[Web Conn]

vs The Road Warriors

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU89q9wvujk

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Fun fact of the day: these two worked a dark match on the first Raw.

[Dewar]

Watching PE matches with Dusty on commentary was a high point of my WCW viewing. Also a big fan of the ECW entrance, the fans ate that up. Mark them down as a guilty pleasure for me.

[cool arrow]

I got excited when I heard that PE signed with WCW because I knew that sooner or later Dusty would be calling a match with "da Puhlic Enemy!"

[HumanChessgame]

Public Enemy were my favorite tag team when I was 15 or so.  As mentioned above, they were one of the best examples of Heyman's accentuating the positives.  Even though their matches don't hold up all that well their influence was undeniable and they were a lot of fun.  I'm still bummed they didn't work out long term in the WWF.  A Public Enemy/NAO feud would have been fun.