"Unofficial" stuff you just knew

[Carbomb]

The mention of Kona Crush in another thread has me wondering about some things I remember hearing and thinking "wait a second - I don't remember that at all".

The particular reason why I wonder that about Crush is that that's a very specific word, and I'm wondering where it came from. I don't ever remember him being billed as that when I was watching in the early 90s. Did it come along later?

Another one that comes to mind is Kerry von Erich - this mystified me, because, as a kid who'd grown up with British wrestling, I knew nothing at all about the von Erichs, and whenever the Texas Tornado was announced, I remember thinking "what the fuck is the announcer saying after his name?" Because you couldn't really hear, and, unless you knew beforehand, you couldn't really make it out over the crowd noise. I don't think I ever heard the commentators call him that - not on UK TV, anyway. But almost everyone else seemed to know.

This thread probably has no legs, because there most likely aren't that many examples, but I'm wondering if there are. Like how did everyone know about the Kliq, which reads and sounds like an actual stable name, when it was just an unofficial nickname for that group of guys?

[BomberPat]

There's a bunch of tag team names that people seemed to decide existed without ever being used on TV - Paul London and Brian Kendrick were never The Hooliganz.

[Carbomb]

Just now, BomberPat said:

There's a bunch of tag team names that people seemed to decide existed without ever being used on TV - Paul London and Brian Kendrick were never The Hooliganz.

I never saw that - I saw "Londrick" a lot, although that was fairly informal.

Would not be surprised if that was a videogame thing, like "Show-Gunn/Gunn Show", "Canadian Violence", and "Vitamin C".

[SuperBacon]

22 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

Like how did everyone know about the Kliq, which reads and sounds like an actual stable name, when it was just an unofficial nickname for that group of guys?

I think it was referenced more than we think. Watching the IYH shows, Shawn makes mention of it a fair few times.

[Carbomb]

1 minute ago, SuperBacon said:

I think it was referenced more than we think. Watching the IYH shows, Shawn makes mention of it a fair few times.

Ah, I wasn't watching during that period - I missed all the IYH shows. Stopped watching roughly around the time Owen turned on Bret (or just after), and re-started around 1999.

[JLM]

I’ve always thought Kona Crush was like Surfer Sting, a nickname fans used to differentiate  Big Bri in his Hawaiian gimmick from his Demolition one. He was billed from (and was legit born in) Kona but I don’t think it was ever the character’s name. What fries my brain is when I see the vignettes about how he liked to crush things versus the ones on the island where he’s hamming up the accent massively. In my head he had the accent the whole time. 

Edited October 30, 2025 by JLM

[Chico Torres]

If I recall there was The Clique which was how Shawn referred to his fans as opposed to the Kliq who were the mischievous backstage scallywags.

As far as Kerry von Erich goes, at the time WWF newcomers who were well known would be referred to by the well known names and nicknames before their actual name would get phased out.

[Chico Torres]

As far as Crush goes, I can’t recall, was he a new big colourful smiley Hawaiian guy who showed up as a new guy or was he acknowledged as being Demolition Crush?

[Carbomb]

1 minute ago, JLM said:

I’ve always thought Kona Crush was like Surfer Sting, a nickname fans used to differentiate  Big Bri in his Hawaiian gimmick from his Demolition one. He was billed from (and was legit born) in Kona but I don’t think it was ever the character’s name. What fried my brain is when I see the vignettes about how he liked to crush things versus the ones on the island where he’s hamming up the accent massively. In my head he had the accent the whole time. 

Ah, I never heard that bit! I did wonder why specifically "Kona Crush" and not "Hawaiian Crush".

Actually, that's another thing, and maybe for another thread: given that he kept the name, was it ever acknowledged, even in a small way, that he was part of Demolition? Did the crowd know?

I started watching after Demolition disappeared from TV - I only knew what my friends at school told me, so I didn't know if that was meant to be the thing.

[JLM]

God it’s so funny that he has to say “Doink” in the middle of this promo. It almost sounds like a Tourette’s tick. 

[RedTwoster]

2 hours ago, Carbomb said:

I never saw that - I saw "Londrick" a lot, although that was fairly informal.

That’s what I thought they were called, funnily enough. I had no idea that it was an informal thing. 

[gmoney]

2 hours ago, JLM said:

I’ve always thought Kona Crush was like Surfer Sting, a nickname fans used to differentiate  Big Bri in his Hawaiian gimmick from his Demolition one. He was billed from (and was legit born in) Kona but I don’t think it was ever the character’s name. What fries my brain is when I see the vignettes about how he liked to crush things versus the ones on the island where he’s hamming up the accent massively. In my head he had the accent the whole time. 

Surfer Sting was going to be mine. I'm not sure what even makes him a surfer, other than being blonde. Never saw him with a surf board to my knowledge. 

Edited October 30, 2025 by gmoney

[Chili]

I believe Demolition Crush was never referenced as being Kona Crush (maybe later after his heel turn in the WWF magazine it was probably), but I think it's just one of those things where if you'd seen Demo Crush prior, you'd just know wouldn't you. You'd wonder why it wasn't said, but it was very obvious.

I always found the whittling down a nickname and the wrestlers 'real name' see Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig as example an interesting thing in how fans or writers referenced it. A lot is made about WWF not calling Kerry Von Erich just that, but calling him The Texas Tornado. But it was BOTH, and Tornado was really if anything just the marketable nickname, like The British Bulldog. It wasn't like Mr. Perfect or The Red Rooster, where the 'real name' just got phased out after a short time.

Anyway another would be Val Venis & The Godfather being called 'Supply & Demand'. Never uttered on TV as a name and if it ever was, probably off hand in just a sentence, not an actual name. 

And the Shane McMahon, Big Show, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Edge & Christian summer 2000 short-lived stable that gets called 'The Conspiracy' but never got an on-screen christening. Just that phrase got thrown around in a promo and commentary once or twice.

Edited October 30, 2025 by Chili

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

4 hours ago, JLM said:

God it’s so funny that he has to say “Doink” in the middle of this promo. It almost sounds like a Tourette’s tick. 

That's Turbo Floyd in his younger days isn't it? 

[TheScarlettChad]

Were Trips and Austin ever called The Two Man Power Trip on TV?