S02:E08 Corpus Christi

[AgentRXS]

Quote

Texas, 1996: Dwayne's first match will be for the WWF. After meeting legends and future legends backstage, he soon discovers there's more to the match than just the moves -- he needs to get a hostile audience to care.

Original Air Date: May 3, 2022

[AnimeMania]

Guest Stars
Mana Tatafu as Uncle "King" Tongs
Luke Hawx as Steve Austin
Miles Burris as Hunter Hearst Helmsley
Brock Dunstan as "Mankind" Mick Foley
Josh Rawiri as Undertaker
Gawain Johnstone as Mantaur
Brad Burroughs as Michael PS Hayes
Brett Azar as Iron Sheik
Adam Ray as Vince McMahon

[Traveller519]

That was a lot of fun. I felt Dwayne's butterflies leading up to his match. They did a great job of building it, even if we went a little hard on the "Future Superstars" angle (they can't all be the GOAT, Dwayne)

The family, and The Shiel were great comedic relief in this one, as was Randall as usual.

I can't believe how much I'm enjoying this silly show.

[nilyank]

6 hours ago, Traveller519 said:

 

That was a lot of fun. I felt Dwayne's butterflies leading up to his match. They did a great job of building it, even if we went a little hard on the "Future Superstars" angle (they can't all be the GOAT, Dwayne)

 

Well in the case of Steve Austin, Triple H, Mick Foley and the Undertaker, they are.

my favorite part was watching become the Rock as he and Triple H throw down with like a real promo shoot when they first meet.
 

Second favorite when Randall starts reminiscing about his old UCLA says and Dwayne asks him what is he doing. 

[fishcakes]

My favorite part was Randall kissing Dwayne on the forehead, thinking he was asleep.

[Raja]

9 hours ago, Traveller519 said:

That was a lot of fun. I felt Dwayne's butterflies leading up to his match. They did a great job of building it, even if we went a little hard on the "Future Superstars" angle (they can't all be the GOAT, Dwayne)

The family, and The Shiel were great comedic relief in this one, as was Randall as usual.

I can't believe how much I'm enjoying this silly show.

 

3 hours ago, nilyank said:

Well in the case of Steve Austin, Triple H, Mick Foley and the Undertaker, they are.

my favorite part was watching become the Rock as he and Triple H throw down with like a real promo shoot when they first meet.
 

Second favorite when Randall starts reminiscing about his old UCLA says and Dwayne asks him what is he doing. 

Well for the sports world there is a difference between a Hall of Famer and THE Greatest Of All Time. We argue about which Hall of Famer is the G.O.A.T. As I have notice from the beginning, except for a mention a couple of episodes ago which makes me think he won't allow his image in the show for those outside of the fanatic's fanbase the GOAT would be Hulk Hogan, or maybe The Rock for their success outside of the ring and WW(F)E products

[Court]

3 hours ago, fishcakes said:

My favorite part was Randall kissing Dwayne on the forehead, thinking he was asleep.

I could not stop laughing at that part. It was hysterical. 

[cardigirl]

This show is so unassuming and yet, each week I am amazed at all the different actors playing Young Rock. What a crew!  I hope this gets another season, as it's a highlight of my week's TV watching. It doesn't hurt that I adore Dwayne, who apparently co-wrote this episode.  

Also, having Randall Park in the mix is gold. So funny! 

 

 

[rmontro]

3 hours ago, Raja said:

for those outside of the fanatic's fanbase the GOAT would be Hulk Hogan, or maybe The Rock for their success outside of the ring and WW(F)E products

Maybe, but for pro wrestling fans it isn't that simple, there are many with a claim to the GOAT.  Ric Flair could wrestle circles around the above, and he had the charisma, gravitas, and mic skills to boot, plus has the record for most world titles.  He's the perfect all around pro wrestler.  Stone Cold Steve Austin I believe drew better numbers, got better ratings, and sold more merch than Hogan, plus brought the WWE back on top during its war with WCW, so many see him as the GOAT.  The Undertaker had an extremely long career spanning several eras performing at a peak level, so he gets a lot of respect too.  Bruno Sammartino had the longest title reign.  Then you get into people's individual favorites.

6 hours ago, fishcakes said:

My favorite part was Randall kissing Dwayne on the forehead, thinking he was asleep.

The look on Rock's face when he opened his eyes was what got me.

[ratgirlagogo]

13 hours ago, Raja said:

Well for the sports world there is a difference between a Hall of Famer and THE Greatest Of All Time

The pro-wrestling world only APPEARS to be a part of the sports world.  That's the theatrical magic of it.

[thuganomics85]

Loved this episode since this was the beginning of the era when I watched pro wrestling, so it was great seeing the likes of Steve Austin (before he became "Stone Cold"), "Hunter Hearst Helmsley", Mick Foley a.k.a. Mankind, and, naturally, The Undertaker for this one!  I'm not sure how closely this is following real life, but I like how Dwayne and Steve seemed to automatically form a budding, supportive friendship that clearly followed them throughout their careers, while there seemed to be more of a rivalry aspect with him and Hunter, although a somewhat friendly one more or less. 

Loved the GOAT gag too.  Definitely something that will always be debated.  Taking The Rock out of the equation (since I'll always be bias towards him), I do think Steve was "the face" of the company in ways that no one else quite matched except possibly Hulk Hogan (John Cena maybe came close, but I don't think he quite got there.)  But from a longevity and all around standpoint, no one seems to have matched The Undertaker in a lot of ways: not just in the ring, but how much the rest of the wrestlers respected him in the locker room.  And that's not even diving into the "old-school" wrestlers as well (I'm partial to Ric Flair myself!)  Safe to say there have been a lot of legends in pro wrestling!

It looked like Uli Latukefu did a good portion of the wrestling himself, which was kind of cool.

I see NBC is planting the seeds for its next spinoff: Young Randall!  Hey, I would so be down to watch his exploits.  Really want to see more of that all Asian cast performance of The Hudsucker Proxy!

Randall kissing Dwayne's forehead made me laugh way more than I expected.

[Raja]

5 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

The pro-wrestling world only APPEARS to be a part of the sports world.  That's the theatrical magic of it.

Or candidate Johnson is your normal politician and doesn't want to offend anyone so has a problem with telling us the whole truth.

[ratgirlagogo]

16 hours ago, Raja said:

Or candidate Johnson is your normal politician and doesn't want to offend anyone so has a problem with telling us the whole truth.

Well, of course, there's that.  But I don't think the information boxes the show puts up next to the football people or the wrestling people are meant to be facts related by Candidate Johnson.  They're for the benefit of the members of the audience who don't already know who these people are.

Also, calling yourself the G.O.A.T. has been a bit of a joke in pro wrestling for a few years now.  A lot of wrestlers make of a point of claiming it all the time (most famously Chris Jericho, who had it written on his tights for years, and CM Punk, who still has it on his merchandise) and it's meant to be annoying.  In other words I think it was kind of a wrestling in-joke that every single one of these famous wrestlers was, supposedly, the Greatest Of All Time.

[Kel Varnsen]

That was a pretty good episode. I liked how even though it was a story about the oldest Young Rock it tied back to the other two storylines with Bruno and the Sheik showing up. 

Plus their was some kind of funny inside wrestling stuff. Like when Rocky was talking to "The Ultimate Warrior", my understanding was that in real life the Warrior might have been a bit crazy and believed his own gimmick about him being a warrior and crap like that. So him saying that kind of stuff to Rocky might have made sense.

It was also interesting to hear HHH talk about how he was going to be intercontinental champion. Rumours in the wrestling world have said that Triple H was supposed to get a big push in 1996 and was supposed to win the king of the ring tournament. But he broke character at an event in Madison Square Garden to say good by to his friends (Diesel and Razor Ramon). Since they weren't his friends in the storyline he got punished and Stone Cold Steve Austin was the King of the Ring winner. After Stone Cold won that event he went on the mic and for the first time used the phrase "Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass" which totally launched his career and led to millions of t-shirt sales. So now I am curious if that will be mentioned at all.

Also the guy playing Steve Austin nailed the way he spoke and the sound of his voice.