Paid Members IANdrewDiceClay Posted September 10, 2011 Paid Members Share Posted September 10, 2011 Kronik debuted in the WWF To commemorate this, I've decided to make a ... Â Crush Appreciation Thread: Crush was everything in the 90s. He kicked off his mainstream career as a member of Demolition. Crush came to the attention of the national audience by being involved in a match of the year contender at SummerSlam 90. Not that he did much in it, but he had some nice exchanges with Bret Hart. Its probably no coincidence that Crush's arrival marked the decline of the once great team. The third, shittest wheel wouldnt be to harsh criticism of the big man, but nonetheless, he got his Hawaiian foot in the door for greater things in the near future. And he got stuff to put on the gimmick table, in the form of a Hasbro with a MASK! and later a Jakks Classic Wrestlers bit of merch. And he was in the best wrestling game of all time. Look below. There's Demolition Crush, doing his patented stalling while the action goes on around him. He could do the tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on the game as well, but only if you smashed the buttons after putting about 12 quid in the machine. He then dyed the mullet, got a lovely colourful singlet and started crushing people's heads. He was fairly popular. Pete Waterman (picture below) got on the first train to Kona, Hawaii to meet with Crush to get a UK Exclusive track wrote called "Cold Crush", that was produced by Simon Cowell. Â All the big knobs seemed to be after Crush now he'd been repackaged. He always seemed to be in a decent spot, evident by getting a big payday on the SummerSlam 92 card at Wembley. Â We also got a updated figure and an appearances on a few games as well. The 'Yellow and Purple Attack' was also the last ever figure I bought as well It marked the day it was time to grow up and start supporting more realistic characters such as ... Â JAPANESE CRUSH: Didnt like this version to much. He looked boring. And spoke worse than he previously did. He's matches with Lex Luger were especially rotten. He got a figure on the shelves. Thats all that matters. And he was on the cover of WWF Magazine. He'd finally made it. Â After getting fired for gun possession, he returned to the WWF as a black man with a tattooed head and dreadlocks. Although the tattoo disappeared soon after. It wasnt to inspired. His next venture wasn't up to much either. Â Crush got together with real life pals, Brian Lee and the Harris Boys. They didnt last long. When its up to Brian Adams to carry the work load, a group is destined for self-destruction. Â Crush's run was again short, but it was still long enough for WWF to mass market him again and get these out there: Â Looking back, Crush might have been the most marketed person over several gimmicks. I dont think there's another wrestler who had more shit out on the market under several gimmicks that he did. Vince seemed to love the man, bu now that his contract was up for renewal in the WWF, thats all Eric Bischoff needed to throw a six figure contract Bri's way. A raid was in place, and WWF was surely going to suffer now Crush had dumped the singlet for the colours of the New World Order. He was the first televised opponet for Bret Hart on WCW Nitro. The match was notorious for possibly killing any value Bret Hart had to the group, due to the stardom sucking nature of the former Crush. It seemed to do Adams a world of good though. WCW werent on the ball as far as merchandise go, but he did get a little car out of it. It was believed at the time that the cars were selling well, because the fans thought Adams was going to be the man in the driving seat to take WCW to new heights. Â Aftert the nWo split, the decision was made to do a KISS wrestler, based on the legendary rock band. Gene Simmons is a big bloke with long black hair, so once Bri sent his CV in, there was only one man to pick. Adding to this, Brian had dabbled in music before, releasing a single produced by Simon Cowell and played to big arenas like Simmons, Stanley, Criss and Frehley. The KISS Demon debuted during KISS' appearance on Nitro, then just ... disappeared. What happened was, Brian Adams made a killing on the sidelines doing KISS conventions and autograph signings and when it was time for him to start wrestling on TV under the gimmick, he told them where to go. Being a fake Hawaiian, fake Jap, fake Black Man and a member of an nWo lead by Stevie Ray taught him quality control and when to spot a dead horse when he see's it. Â The former Crush and Adam Bomb were treading water for years after fairly successful solo careers. Bryan Clarke was of course, famous for his time in the WWF as Adam Bomb. He supposedly got a really big head, which put in motion Hall and Nash taking a dislike to him and burying his promising career. One funny story is, Clarke got "Adam Bomb" legit tattooed on his arm (when asked what he would do when he was no longer working for them, he naively replied "I'll be working here forever"). When Diesel took his Power Bomb finisher, Scott Hall went up to him pointed at his tattoo and suddested he added an "E" and a "D" to the words "Adam Bomb". He then debuted in WCW as Wrath. Together they formed the team called Kronik. Â 10 years ago today when they debuted in the WWF, it marked the start of people thinking Kronik were shit. When in fact, they were one of the best teams to come along in years. They looked great, and their forte was squashing people and looking dominant. In steps the WWF, and they strip them of everything which made them stand out. First off Kronik hadnt wrestled in months because they were told they werent buying their contracts. So Double Bri' both sat at home eating and getting fat. Then WWF puts them on TV as soon as they buy their contracts. They then put them with a fat injured Undertaker and a Kane who wasnt having good matches with anyone at the time. It was a disaster. Kronik were well off the pace. I think they'd have been awesome in the WWF if they have just waited until they were match fit and their in-ring timing was right. They had a shit load of wrestlers on the roster wasting time on Heat that they could have just fed to Bri and Bry before they wrestled Undertaker and Kane. Â They were proper over in WCW, during a time when nobody was over. At the time there was Steiner and Kronik and a few others, and everyone else was either disjointed (Booker T, Jeff Jarrett) or terrible (Shane Douglas, Vince Russo) or already over (Sting, Nash, DDP). They were so over, WCW put a t-shirt out of them. And they never could be arsed to do that unless you were the man (Shane Douglas used to occassionally where his yellow "F" t-shirt from ECW because WCW werent budging on the marketing side of things). Â Not forgetting the obligatory Crush figure. Its a misconception that Kronik got fired from the WWF. Adams and Clarke were asked to go to OVW to bone up on their ring rust and get used to the ring again, get in shape and get their timing right. Feeling insulted, Adams quit and Clarke did actually stay on for a few weeks before WWF got rid of him. Kronik may have came back eventually if Crush's pride never got the better on him. All Japan seemed to like them, since they won the All Japan tag titles after leaving the group. Post Kronik, Adams started training for a boxing career that never took off. Adams had a fight scheduled and everything but it fell through. He then got back in the music business, touring with his boxing promoter-turned rapper Randy Savage. Â Unfortunitaly, Brian Adams died in 2007. Whats even sadder, the wrestling community, shockingly met the news with the reaction of "pffft Crush is dead lol" and "he was shit anyway". A lifes a life in my eyes. Benoit got more sympathy for killing his wife and kid. It really was a shame his death met with little fan fare. Bret Hart currently lives next door to where Brian Adams used to live. Hart moved to Hawaii just to be close to Crush. Adams was best friends with Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, The Undertaker, Bret Hart and others. He was one of the most liked wrestlers in the business, because he was such a nice bloke. He'll always be one of my favourites. There was always something about him that I liked. I dont even know why. Â I now have an urge to start collecting Crush figures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Taylorslade Posted September 10, 2011 Paid Members Share Posted September 10, 2011 You're the man Ian. The king of trumpeting the unsung heroes. Great stuff. Â I always liked Crush myself. One of my favourite memories being the Randy Savage match at WMX. Â ....(and that Clarence Mason figure is fucking great) Crossing T's and dotting I's.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdgarTheSlouch Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 Great post Ian. And whilst I agree with you about Japanese Crush, you left out the heel turn itself against Savage which I remember (a) for being quite brutal in comparison to everything that happened in 1993 WWF and (b) being completelyout of the blue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diamond_dust Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 You missed off the best WCW figure ever made (ok maybe not but its here anyway) Â Wrath Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vito Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 Kronik were awesome, I don't care what anyone says. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted September 10, 2011 Paid Members Share Posted September 10, 2011 I have to admit to being really quite upset when he didn't win the IC title off Michaels at King Of The Ring. Â Also, his feud with Doink The Clown was GREAT, and I think I had a nightmare about when he got attacked from behind with that prosthetic arm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TotalDebacle Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 I forgot he was dead  Thanks a lot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spotlightmagnet1 Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 I own that Kronik T-Shirt. I liked Crush when I saw him, mostly as Japanese or Biker Crush, but when Kronik came into existence, I've always like Bryan Clark and the two of them looked the shit. Easily my fav tag team of 2000, and yes I include Edge and Christian into the runner up place, cause Kronik were freaking cool. Â Good stuff Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted September 10, 2011 Paid Members Share Posted September 10, 2011 We need more of these Ian. Maybe Buff Bagwell or Rick Steiner next. Â Like most kids, I did think Crush was excellent in every possible way and his Coconut Crush finish was the most devastating hold in all of Sports Entertainment. Looking back Vince fooled me again. Â I too was a massive fan of KroniK in WCW. They were like a mix between the Road Warriors and the APA. These guys were all business and you knew somebody was going to get their wig split when you heard "KRONIK!" echoing out of your TV screen. I also thought that the Full Nelson Bomb/Slam was the coolest move ever (another cool/devastating hold from your man). Their Double Chokeslam was also a thing of beauty, they proper went for it unlike the Brothers of Destruction who always appeared to cushion the fall. Looking back at their WWF match, I really didn't think it was that bad at the time. I can't really remember it, but that's because I have a terrible memory. Â Any other time during his career, bar the two gimmicks I mentioned, I found him dull. I think KroniK was the best thing he did though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra1000 Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 Love this thread! Its weird to think that he has so many action figures. Â I quite liked Crush, but when he went all heel my youngerself disowned him and thought he was a dick. Kronik were however one of the most entertaining things in late WCW and it is def the highlight of both big Bri and Bryan Clarks careers. Â also i had no idea he was the KISS Demon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dashing Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 Top quality thread Ian. Â Crush was a big part of the 90's now I've read all that back, people tend to forget that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GPW Kristian Zane Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 While its true Kronik did appear on RAW on the 10th, they actually debuted on Smackdown on the 6th. Other then that a great article though, a very good read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunder Lips Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 Great thread again mate, more of these please, they are always brilliant reads I'd like to see you do threads on Shane Douglas, Brian Pilman, and Mr Perfect! Â Edit on topic: I loved crush as a kid I always thought vince used to hype him up brilliantly during his kona crush days and that heel turn on savage was brilliant! Shame he went abit poo after coming back as jailbird crush but I did enjoy his kronik run, but I'd of rather of seen kronik in shape as already stated in a fued with the APA, that would of had more legs I feel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted September 10, 2011 Paid Members Share Posted September 10, 2011 Love these threads, good stuff Ian. Love a Steiners one, they've been everywhere and done tons as a team and singles. A Dynamite one would be class, but it would have to include the famous pic of Dyno watching the Sky test card. Â Loved Crush. I forgot just how many looks and gimmicks he had. The Doink feud id what i'll remember most. I recall being quite terrified seeing the 2 evil Doink's march down the aisle during Crush/HBK at KOTR 93. I'd not long seen IT (thanks to my older sister) for the first time and I was shit scared of clowns after that. Â Great thread again mate, more of these please, they are always brilliant reads I'd like to see you do threads on Shane Douglas, Brian Pilman, and Mr Perfect! Â Off topic but I once shagged a rather plump lass a few years ago and her nickname was Thunder Lips (she didnt know), for different reasons as I would find out. Sausage roll and chanel tunnel spring to mind. Not a proud moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pain-giver Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 Fantastic post Ian, I think you should make this a weekly saturday thing so I have something to read whilst munching on a lunchtime pie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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