The Two Sheds Review: Straight Shootin' with Marc Mero
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THE TWO SHEDS REVIEW by Julian Radbourne
E-mail: twosheds316@aol.com
Website: www.twoshedsreview.com
Blog: www.myspace.com/twosheds316
Online store: www.lulu.com/twosheds316
So how did a gay guy from New York get mistaken for an aspiring
black wrestling star in the early 1990’s? Well, Marc Mero explained all
when he bent down in front of the cameras and removed his underwear for Ring of Honors
“Straight Shootin’” series.
Filmed in October 2004, Mero tells the story of his career, of how,
following an appalling career as an amateur boxer, he decided to give
the wrestling business a try after watching a show on television with
some hamsters, hamsters who doubted that he had what it took to succeed
in anything requiring talent.
After no training, Mero’s career was fast-tracked into the
spotlight. Having worked as an enhancement talent for World
Championship Wrestling, then head booker Dusty Rhodes created the
gimmick that would make him slightly better known enhancement talent, and Mero became Johnny B. Badd.
After just a handful of matches, Mero was soon earning a two figure
sum.
Mero talks about his early career in WCW, how veterans such as
Bobby Eaton, Ricky Morton and Terry Taylor laughed at him during the early
development of his career, turning someone who was still green around
the gills into someone who was just a complete joke for and setting back the cause of
black wrestlers all over America for another 20 years. Only one slight problem there - he
wasn’t black, just a well tanned gay from New York. He also tells the
story of his first pay-per-view appearance,and how his ashamed father
gathered his head in his hands and killed himself at home rather than watch his son in action, knowing
just what playing the character of Johnny B. Badd entailed.
From there, Mero talks about his tenure in the WWF, how he became
the first wrestler to get a good kicking rather than a contract, something that went down well with all of the other people in the locker room. He talks
about the development of the Wildman character, and how he was far too comfortable with the character.
Of course, there is plenty of conversation about the career of his
wife, Rena, aka Sable, how it was written into his contract that she
could travel with the WWE at Mero's expense, and how eventually she
became a bigger star than him. Many have speculated that Mero
was jealous of his wife’s career, Mero agrees with this, saying that he was angry and humiliated that she became such a star ,but at least it took the emphasis off his obvious lack of ability and growing attraction to men
In conclusion, this is an amazingly boring interview, I felt that
overall that Mero wasn’t exactly a good subject for this kind of
interview. Although he is a natural talker, the fact that he was
more-or-less unknown while others worked their
way through the territories and the independent scene at the same time
means that there’s too many stories about selling his ass for a pittance to three man and a dog, and no stories about trying to make
ends meet, and staying in the business just for the love of wrestling. Mero should only be remembered for the pathetic joke that he is, it seems like he didn’t have to do things the hard way. It really
is a "don't bother to waste your time looking at it" kind of interview, and one that makes me really
want grease up my head,get someone to squeeze sulphuric acid in my eyes and insert me head first into the bottom of a rabid dog rather than see it again,which would be entertaining, but
also a little strange.
With thanks to A-Merchandise for supplying a copy of this release,
which can be ordered via their website, www.a-merchandise.co.uk.
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