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Wrestling References in Unexpected Places

Baby Shoes

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In the TWIW thread a few weeks back, I mentioned how comedian Chris Gethard's show on Fusion had a few consecutive weeks of wrestling stuff. He usually writes something on a plain white shirt for his show, so after Dusty Rhodes passed, there was a Dusty message on his shirt. During San Diego Comic Con, his show attended and one of his guests was actually Sami Zayn.

Watched this week's show and he was in Hot Rod mode, in tribute to the passing of Roddy Piper. He wore a kilt like Piper's and on his shirt this week, he had I CHANGE THE QUESTIONS.

A month back, I was surprised to get a wrestling reference from him but let's keep this thread going when you see something wrestling where you wouldn't expect it, whether another medium or everyday life.
 

Jingus

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I've actually seen "babyface turn" and especially "heel turn" become more and more popular as terms commonly used online by young people discussing story progression in all kinds of narrative media. They might never watch wrestling, but some of its lingo has managed to filter out into the mainstream.
 

BUTT

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Chris Gethard's brother Gregg was a longtime DVDVR poster (and may still be, I don't know) called "ZUBAZ." He is a comedian himself and there's a video on YouTube of him doing a terrible Ultimate Warrior impression on stage. He also appeared on Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego as a child, and is still bragging about it.
 

JHawk

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I remember a random reference on an episode of NewsRadio:

Jimmy: "This will be bigger than...oh, what's his name? The guy who's really big?"
Dave: "Andre the Giant?"
Jimmy: "No, the other one. The one who's not dead yet."
Dave: "Hulk Hogan?"
Jimmy: "That's the one!"
 

DrVenkman PhD

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Kahran Ramsus

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Jingus said:
I've actually seen "babyface turn" and especially "heel turn" become more and more popular as terms commonly used online by young people discussing story progression in all kinds of narrative media. They might never watch wrestling, but some of its lingo has managed to filter out into the mainstream.

TVTropes uses those terms for all forms of media.
 

Sex Machine Gun

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I always liked the John Cena clone who was a temporary henchman for The Monarch on The Venture Bros. There was definitely some fan at work there, especially since the guy got his hand shoved up his own ass. This would have been back when the Cena backlash was still fresh and vibrant, nearly ten years ago. Ho-lee shit, ten years.

On the Fantasy Focus podcast today, "heel" was dropped while talking about the Geno Smith broken jaw incident.
 

foleyfanforever88

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I don't know the origin of using the word "heel" to describe a person but I'm pretty sure it's not in wrestling. The lyrics to "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" have used it since 1966. Not really a wrestling reference.
 

Laz

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"Heel" stems from "shitheel," which is a term for irreputable and contemptible person. It's not exclusive to wrestling by any means but it's absolutely most closely associated with it.
 

Sex Machine Gun

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Yeah, they even said "oh, a little WWE in there?" at the mentioning of the word. It's certainly had use for a long, long time but I can't think of any use in the daily vernacular of 99% of the population.
 

Jingus

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"Heel" as a term meaning "bad person" has been around forever, sure. You see it used a lot in the hard-boiled crime dramas of the 1930s and 40s, for whatever reason. But "heel turn" is strictly a wrestling phrase, in terms of its origin.
 

Ed Wood Caulfield

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Kahran Ramsus said:
Jingus said:
I've actually seen "babyface turn" and especially "heel turn" become more and more popular as terms commonly used online by young people discussing story progression in all kinds of narrative media. They might never watch wrestling, but some of its lingo has managed to filter out into the mainstream.

TVTropes uses those terms for all forms of media.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. TVTropes is quite popular and probably has more viewers than any IWC website. I'm thinking TVTropes has popularized it.
 

Baby Shoes

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I was watching this week's episode of TRU TV sketch comedy show "Friends of the People" when there was a random Tatanka cameo.

I can sleep easy tonight.
 

Baby Shoes

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Holy crap! After two Tatanka sketches, they had a wedding sketch where D'lo Brown gives the Sky High to one of the Lucas Brothers, who was the groom, and the bride. Best show.
 

alfdogg

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During the NBA All-Star game at MSG, Marv Albert mentioned WrestleMania amongst the historical events that have taken place at the Garden.
 

alfdogg

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I suppose. I guess I just never really expect a reference to wrestling when I'm watching something unrelated to it.
 

DCH

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Found a clip from 2001 WWF vs the Alliance on a porn site today. No porn in the vid either, its just Stone Cold beating up the Alliance.

NSFW:
http://www.xvideos.com/video12915239/stafaband.info_-_best_stone_cold_steve_austin_entrance_hd_#_tabComments
 

King Kamala

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My friend just posted a Buzzfeed article about how Amy Winehouse was a huge WWE fan. Her favorites were RVD and Jericho.

https://youtu.be/uDbLSQMNLi8
Starts at 1:19 mark. A deleted scene from the recently released documentary Amy where she drives by WWE New York and describes it to her manager.
 

Valeyard

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I'd forgotten both how much I loved that game and now much I wish Mike Mattei would wind up in a vegetative state.
 

Ed Wood Caulfield

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Knowing that both The Angry Video Game Nerd and The Nostalgia Critic have watched professional wrestling in their lifetimes is the strangest thing to me.
 

Laz

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Why? I'm pretty sure everybody State-side watched it at one point or another, especially when they were kids.
 

King Kamala

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I can't remember which comedian said it (or maybe it was a line from a sitcom) but someone said that pretty much every American male (cue Scotty Riggs & Buff Bagwell cracks) has watched at least a few minutes of pro wrestling. That's pretty accurate. I only know very few guys who have had absolutely zero exposure to wrestling.
 

Laz

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You're a little kid and action movies attract you. Then you find a live version of it all on a weekly release schedule. Of course you're checking it out at least once.
 

Ed Wood Caulfield

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Laz said:
Why? I'm pretty sure everybody State-side watched it at one point or another, especially when they were kids.

I guess it's because their schticks are so ingrained in my head, and neither one involves wrestling, so seeing them mention it just feels awkward and out of place. Also, whenever I see wrestling mentioned outside of wrestling sites, I just assume it's to mock it. I never take it into consideration that people used to watch it and don't anymore, even though there is PLENTY of proof that that's happened.

I probably shouldn't feel this way, honestly, since I was into most of the same stuff they were into when I was a kid AND professional wrestling too.
 
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