Have you ever been annoyed by “Mean Gene” Okerlund’s shilling tactics? Who hasn’t wanted to punch him right in the mouth as he told you to “Call the Hotline!” and teased that The Rock was coming to WCW?
Well, go rent Survivor Series 1990. You’ll get to gleefully laugh along as Gene faces the ultimate in humiliations, The Gobbeldy Gooker.
Ok, so there was this giant egg that was carted around to WWF events for MONTHS. It was a huge egg, and everyone was guessing what was inside. Was it a new wrestler? Was it Ted DiBiase’s mystery partner (no, that would be the debuting Undertaker)? Was it a bodybuilder to signify the launch of the WBF? No one knew for sure, but the WWF announce crew made sure to let fans know they would find out if they ordered Survivor Series on PPV.
Now if you bought the PPV just to find out what was inside a GIANT EGG then you should probably be in Wrestlecrap.
Anyway, the day finally arrived, and Mean Gene was dispatched to commentate the hatching of the egg. As he built the crowd to a fever pitch, the egg hatched!
And out popped this weird chicken looking thing, a poor man’s version of the San Diego Chicken.
The crowd got ugly – listen to the boos! You could tell the thing was just completely bombing. But the guy inside the suit (reportedly Hector Guerrero) dragged Gene to the ring to complete the skit. The sound man fired up a really awful version of “Turkey and the Straw”.
The complete obliteration of Mean Gene’s credibility had begun!
They Danced!
“Mean Gene” Got Funky!
Gene fell down in a vain attempt at comedy!
The Gooker did some acrobatic rolls and convinced Gene to do the same!
Gene did the worst cartwheel this side of Nikolai Volkoff!
Keep in mind this went on for about THREE HOURS (ok, it was only about 10 minutes, but it felt like three hours).
Okerlund wasn’t the only one scarred by this event. As the crowd live booed and looked generally confused, Roddy Piper and Gorilla Monsoon shilled as best they could, trying to convince the folks at home that their eyes were deceiving them. People loved the Gooker!
Thankfully, against Piper’s suggestion that the Gooker be named the official mascot of Survivor Series, the outfit was put away and the Gooker was never seen again.