Looking over the WrestleCrap archives, I have come to the conclusion that Vince McMahon likes guys in turbans almost as much as he likes Hillbillies. No, you won’t find QUITE as many evil foreigners with swirly toe boots as moonshine swillers, but there have been an inordinate amount of camel riding baddies in the WWF over the years.
Of course, we all know that in wrestling, you don’t actually have to be of the origin of the gimmick you might portray. Remember Yokozuna? It was always insinuated that he was of Japanese descent, even though he was Samoan. Or the more famous example of Minnesota’s Scott Hall, who picked up a bad accent and became Cuban bad guy Razor Ramon.
The most comical casting job ever from the WWF might have been the team of Lo-Down. First up, we have D-Lo Brown, who had been previously billed as being from the bad streets of Chicago. Then there was his partner, Chaz Warrington, whom long time fans will remember not only as one half of the Headbangers, but also as WrestleCrap alumni
Beaver Cleavage!
Come to think of it, this guy got stuck with all kinds of horrible gimmicks. He was first half of the wrestling nuns, a.k.a. the Sisters of Love. Then he was part of the Headbangers. Then he was Beaver Cleavage. Then he was in an angle where he was no longer Beaver Cleavage, but “just a kid from New Jersey who wanted to have some fun”, which he did in storyline terms by having a girlfriend who claimed that Chaz beat her.
He should just wear a T-shirt to the ring that reads, “Addicted to WrestleCrap!”
As if being stuck as one half of a stereotypical middle eastern tag team wasn’t bad enough, they also gave him Tiger Ali-Singh as a manager.
Tiger was famous for…well, nothing really. He was the son of Tiger Jeet-Singh, who was famous for….well, nothing really. No, that’s not true. He was famous for waving a big sword in crowded Japanese arenas and scaring the locals. Oh yeah, and for being completely worthless in the ring, according to Mick Foley.
As for Tiger, he almost deserves a spot in WrestleCrap all by himself. His gimmick was that he was rich, and would pay people to do demeaning things in public. Sound familiar? It’s the exact same shtick Ted DiBiase perfected in the 1980’s. The only problem was that while DiBiase was awesome in the role, due in large part to his great wrestling ability, Tiger just plain sucked in the ring, which crippled the gimmick. So they made him a manager instead.
The WWF does that from time to time. They will sign someone to a deal, then try gimmick after gimmick in an attempt to get them over, instead of just admitting that they made a mistake signing the guy in the first place.
Lo-Down showed up on Heat every now and again, but rarely on the WWF’s A-shows, Raw and Smackdown. They were granted a PPV shot at the 2000 Royal Rumble, but were replaced at the last minute by a most unlikely entrant, as Vince McMahon explains in this clip.
The WWF split the team shortly after the Rumble. Mosh was released shortly after the Lo-Down experiment failed.
Vince McMahon: “Neither one of you will be in the Rumble. You’ve been replaced.”
Mosh: “Replaced?! By who?!”
Vince: “Drew Carrey.”