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RIP Kamala


The Reverend

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One of my earliest memories of wrestling involves Kamala. I had Survivor Series 92 taped On VHS for years and other than Bret celebrating with Santa at the end, the main think I remember is the Kamala Vs Undertaker casket match in which the whole build was about how scared Kamala was of the casket. The emotion he portrays as he walks up to the casket at the side of the ring, shitting himself and trying to run away before Kim Chee stops him and calms him down is brilliant.

As has been said, he wasn't a top guy, but he WAS a good working with a believable gimmick.

Ā 

Edited by Nick James
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22 hours ago, CavemanLynn said:

This is a lost art. There's no reason for wrestlers to wrestle the same as each other, beyond inter-school bullshit about the "right way" to work. My favourite example is the wristlock as done by Steve Austin vs Ricky Steamboat. One technically proficient, high on the chest with tight clean grip, the other just grabbing the wrist with both hands and yanking it. I bet you know who did which.

Something that I've started saying to people a lot, and would say at training all the time if we were allowed to train at the moment - if you're creating a wrestler on one of the WWE games, when you preview the moves it's just two generic green and red guys you watch go through the animation. But if you watch "Foot Stomp 4" and then "Foot Stomp 5", you'd be able to say that 4 was The Rock, and 5 was Steve Austin, for example. If you can take even the simplest of moves, and ensure that I know that it's you doing it even in silhouette, that's when I know you've got it nailed.

There is a real shortage of people who wrestle to their gimmick now - and I'm not being a crotchety old-timer complaining about big guys doing flips or anything like that, just that it's rare I see someone, and from their look, their entrance, and how they carry themselves, predictĀ exactlyĀ how they should wrestle to get that gimmick over, whereas Kamala had exactly that. A few people come to mind on the indies - Session Moth Martina, especially - but very few in WWE, though that's largely because there are so few actual gimmicks there in the first place at the moment, and what gimmicksĀ doĀ exist don't seem to have as much impact on the style of wrestling as they perhaps should. The Fiend, and that's about it.

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This talk of different stomps reminds me of the first time I watched Harry Smith wrestle, it was uncanny how he stomped the same way as his dad. Both feet off the ground, a slight scissor and snap in the motion. True reincarnation.

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1 hour ago, Michael_3165 said:

Care to discuss with me rather than personally attacking?Ā 

Feel free to msg me.Ā 

Mate, if you think someone asking if youā€™ve had a good take on anything is a ā€œpersonal attackā€ then IĀ fearĀ for whenĀ you step out into the real worldā€¦

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I disagree with Michael's assessment, but yes, going from "that's a crap take about the topic in hand" to "all your takes on everything are crap" is an escalation of a more personal nature.

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9 minutes ago, Uncle Zeb said:

I disagree with Michael's assessment, but yes, going from "that's a crap take about the topic in hand" to "all your takes on everything are crap" is an escalation of a more personal nature.

Not really though.

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Was it UK Rampage the week after Mania 9 where he wrestled Doink? He was a babyface at the time, and I remember a bit where Doink would keep laying on his front for the pin, and both the ref, and Kim Chee would explain why they can't count by miming that he has to roll Doink over onto hisĀ back, and every time he does this Doink immediately rolls back onto hi front, the way he portrays his frustration at the ref for not making the count, and then his confusion as they try to explain why, the realisation, it was believable. He knew what his gimmick entailed, and he played it to a t.

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9 hours ago, jazzygeofferz said:

Was it UK Rampage the week after Mania 9 where he wrestled Doink? He was a babyface at the time, and I remember a bit where Doink would keep laying on his front for the pin, and both the ref, and Kim Chee would explain why they can't count by miming that he has to roll Doink over onto hisĀ back, and every time he does this Doink immediately rolls back onto hi front, the way he portrays his frustration at the ref for not making the count, and then his confusion as they try to explain why, the realisation, it was believable. He knew what his gimmick entailed, and he played it to a t.

Basically, except no Kimchee. Kamala turning face involved leaving Harvey and his abusive handler. The ref basically started rolling over to try and explain what Kamala didnā€™t know, so Kamala started rolling too. The tension was palpable in Sheffield, like that time Spurs got dragged to extra time at Bramall Lane.

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