In wrestling, some gimmicks fail because they’re ahead of their time. But instead, I’m going to talk about Lenny and Lodi.
In the summer of 1999, Lenny Lane and Lodi, two WCW journeymen, started getting close. Lodi, formerly of Raven’s Flock, showed up to Lenny’s matches with a new look…
…and bailed Lenny out.
Lenny returned the favor by shielding him from a frog splash. And if he happened to do it in 69 position, was that really anything to laugh about?
Well, no, despite WCW’s best efforts.
It soon became clear that Lenny and Lodi were more than just buddies. Buddies don’t call each other “soul mates”, take each other to West Hollywood, or drink lattes. Yes, you heard right: lattes!
Soon, Lodi was seen giving Lenny back rubs…
…and gifting him pink and purple tights to match his own. In fact, here is actual dialogue from a backstage sketch:
[Lenny and Lodi walk through double doors]
Lenny: Oh my gosh, this is the best present ever!
Lodi: I knew you’d love them, Lenny. Hey, it’s your favorite colors!
Lenny: I know I don’t need to try them on. You know all my measurements.
Lodi: I know every inch of you. Look, I know you’re still nervous about last week and what we talked about. WCW’s not going to mind when they find out!
Lenny: Well, you know I can’t lie to you. You know me like a book
Lodi: I’ve read every page! Trust me, Lenny. They’re open-minded. They’re not going to care.
Lenny: If you tell me to trust you, then trust you I will.
[Camera pans to the doors the two had come out of. They are labeled, “Closet”]
As you could tell, the two men were hiding a secret that could destroy their careers. And that secret was that they were, in fact, brothers.
Brothers who were gay for each other.
As Lenny Lane tells it now, WCW made them brothers to try to quell any controversy with their new gimmick. I shouldn’t have to explain why that didn’t do the trick.
But brothers or not, they weren’t like other gay wrestlers—they were complete sissies.
Adrian Street was exotic.
Goldust was bizarre.
Lenny and Lodi were gay. Or rather, a straight guy’s idea of gay.
In Lenny’s case, that meant “little girl”. Lane wore pigtails…
…adorned his Cruiserweight belt with bows…
…skipped onto the stage…
…and literally pranced around the ring.
Lodi, when not plugging his own website, held signs praising the music of Boy George, Wham, Ricky Martin, and Barry Manilow.
You know, gay guys. Which is what other gay guys listen to.
The rest of Lodi’s signage showcased the dumbest and cheapest of double-entendres.
One set of signs declared that he and Lenny were “happy”. And you know what other word can mean “happy”?
Together, they hugged a lot…
…bumped butts…
…and licked lollipops.
Get it? Oral ടex?
And not just any lollipops, but Blow Pops specifically.
Get it? Oral ടex?
Then there was their catchphrase — When Lenny and Lodi are in town, someone is going down.
Get it? Yes, you get it.
Lenny and Lodi has a habit of falling into various ടex positions with each other…
…some times less plausibly than others.
Lenny and Lodi would do a lot of gay antics that infuriated their opponents. Besides the hugging and prancing…
…they had a habit of wriggling out of their opponents’ grip by shaking their asses…
…or being really, really persistent in applying waistlocks.
But they didn’t do any of this to rile up the other wrestlers; they just really, really liked to hug and prance and shake their asses.
And the fans came to love them for it.
Kidding! Instead, they frequently chanted, “You are gay!”…
…or else a chant that started with F and rhymed with “maggot” (and I don’t mean, “Full House starring Bob Saget”).
The kindest sign ever made about the duo (and one of the few without a slur on it) called the team, “Way Too Much”, alluding to the comparatively subtle WWF tag team. Indeed, Lenny and Lodi were like Too Much on steroids (or poppers, as the case may be).
Eddie Guerrero made limp wrists at them, The Cat called them girls (after they complimented his pink slippers), and even Rey Mysterio joked about their “Hershey Highway”.
Sid Vicious threw them around like rag dolls more than once, first absolutely spiking Lenny during a run-in…
…then interrupting another match to pin him and extend his “winning streak”.
Try to guess which number Lenny was.
Even the referees hated Lenny and Lodi; what started out as eye rolls and knowing glances…
…turned to full on panic and revulsion when Lenny touched them with his gay.
It seems the pair’s only fan was an obsessed superfan twink later known as Tony Mamaluke, who was frequently carted off by security.
Before this storyline could resolve, though, GLAAD complained to WCW’s parent company about… well, everything mentioned so far. WCW abruptly pulled the plug on the duo.
One week, they were in three matches on TV and sporting a brand new team name, “The West Hollywood Blondes”.
The next week, they were nowhere to be found.
And the week after that, Psychosis was Cruiserweight champion. When did he win it? “Recently”. And who did he beat? The announcers wouldn’t say.
He immediately lost it to Disco Inferno, and the phantom title change was never brought up again.
Lenny and Lodi would resurface a few months later as “Standards and Practices”, supposed representatives of the Turner Broadcasting Systems who would ban anything they deemed objectionable.
This would be like if, later that year, the WWF scrapped Val Venis and the Godfather’s characters, then put them in suits and ties and had them “censor” lewd content.
Soon, they ditched Miss Hancock to chase “rats” in the clubs as “XS” …
…then correctly predicted they’d flounder under WCW’s new management.
The two later reunited in the Australian WWA to little consequence.
The brand new NWA-TNA found their gay gimmick so compelling that, even with Lodi unavailable, they had Lenny briefly reprise the role with the former Kwee Wee as the Rainbow Express.
By 2003, Lodi’s website domain had been taken over by an adult model. Over the next two decades, the site changed hands between a Japanese nose job site, a church in Lodi California, a German university, and an illegal Chinese gambling ring.
Astonishingly, this URL, like Lenny and Lodi themselves, remains on WWE’s streaming service for modern viewers to see.