Category: Tribute Of Sorts

So around the same time that news of Mean Gene’s passing broke, there was also news that Bob Einstein, old Super Dave Osbourne himself, has also passed away due to his battle with cancer and that’s a childhood passed away. Back when I was a kid and even a teen growing up, I’d be watching the family-friendly iterations of the Super Dave show where they bleep out all the swearing with funny duck quacks and things of that nature, which actually made it funny, but watching this alleged stuntman with this seemingly endless Super Dave Compound showing off all these gimmicks going wrong and performing all these stunts that turned out badly… man, you couldn’t help but feel for the poor guy, but first let me laugh at the compressor turning him into a little head with two feet.

I recently found a Youtube channel that had most of the old Super Dave clips uploaded, all uncensored with all the colorful metaphors intact and just the fact that I remember most of these like they happened yesterday just shows how much of an impact and an affect that Super Dave had on my cumulative years. And those clips still hold up. When I got news of his passing, I loaded that page and binged on all those clips. And it was all due to SD, his deadpan, straight-faced reaction to all the stupid going on around him.

Bob Einstein did other stuff; he did Officer Judy in the old Smothers Brothers show, he was a recurring character on Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, and a few other things… but to me, he’ll always be Super Dave. And his being gone makes the world a less appealing place.

Godspeed, Super Dave Osbourne. May your stay in the ol’ Super Dave Compound in the sky be free of accident… or anything made from genuine Saskatchewan Seal Skin Bindings.

Only a day or two in and we’ve already have our first deaths… legendary wrestling announcer and WWE Hall of Famer Mean Gene Okerlund passed away on January 2nd.

Mean Gene… everyone has said their words on the influence and the aura that this man projected with his segments better than I could properly put into words. Mean Gene, in his best days, whether it’d be in the seventies where his best stuff resided, or during his WWF and WCW stints, would conduct the best interviews because regardless of whether he was interviewing Hulk Hogan or any of the big stars, or if he was interviewing some lower tier guy, he was able to make those interviews seem important and made you pay attention. Hell, if you weren’t sold on a show, those Mean Gene segments would sell you those shows.

Gene Okerlund brought an air of legitimacy to his segments… not quite legitimacy, but rather importance. His presence, his quick wit, his tone, his timing, his deep voice, his professionalism made those interview segments that would be skippable fare if they were done by anyone else seem important and worth watching. Whether it was cutting interviews, hosting television segments such as WWE Confidential or the various retrospective specials… or whether it was being a character on something like the short-lived Legends House, Mean Gene brought the goods and that’s what made him great.

There will never be another Mean Gene Okerlund.

Godspeed, Mr. Okerlund. And thanks for the memories. You’ll be sorely missed.

Verne Gagne, famed promoter of the American Wrestling Association, passed away last night.

The storied career of Verne Gagne, both as a wrestler and a promoter of the AWA, was of an era before my time. My only exposure to the man and the promotion he ran continually for thirty years were through archival programming released years later; either through re-airing of old AWA episodes on ESPN Classics or through the WWE-produced DVD, The Spectacular Legacy Of The AWA.

I’m not entirely ignorant of the contributions of Mr. Gagne and know that he essentially launched the careers of many of professional wrestling’s greatest names through his rigorous training camps held at his farm in Chanhassen, Minnesota, and discovered some of the shining talents that would go on to join that list of big stars. And I would be remiss not to mention his accomplishments as both an amateur wrestler – laying claim to  four Big Ten Wrestling Championships, two NCAA Wrestling Championships, the 1949 AAU Wrestling Championship and a slot on the 1948 United States Olympic team on his resume – and a professional wrestler, having been a ten-time AWA World Heavyweight Champion and the distinction of having the third longest single World Title reign for seven years and three months, from 1968 to 1975.

Mr. Gagne would later be inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall Of Fame in 2004, as well as the WWE Hall Of Fame in 2006 and the short-lived WCW Hall of Fame in 1993. His contributions to professional wrestling as a whole will long remembered.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family, friends, and colleagues of Mr. Gagne.

A pioneer for his time and the man who planted the seeds to an entertainment medium and hobby that we enjoy to this day. Whether you play a modern video game or a classic one, this is the man you thank for paving the way.

Thoughts and prayers to his family and friends.

Godspeed, Mr. Baer.

And thanks for paving the way.