Great Hulk of a name!
QUESTION What are the wackiest names in WWE wrestling?
When one thinks of ‘wacky’ WWe wrestler names, undoubtedly the heyday for such silliness was the 1980s, which played host to choreographed combat between characters boasting alliterative aliases, including sculpted Adonises Brutus Beefcake and Ravishing Rick Rude, or fasttalking agitators such as Macho Man Randy Savage and Rowdy Roddy Piper.
Alongside hulk hogan, company figurehead and arguably the most recognisable wrestler in history, they played to packed arenas and drew massive TV ratings.
After riding a huge wave of popularity, the first WWe boom came to an end.
By the early 1990s a new crop of ‘Superstars’ had been introduced in an effort to boost dwindling audience numbers.
Gone were the likes of The Berzerker, Yokozuna, Mr Perfect and The Ultimate Warrior, and wrestlers were instead billed with marketable nicknames underneath their actual monikers like ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, ‘The heartbreak Kid’ Shawn Michaels and ‘The World’s Most Dangerous Man’ Ken Shamrock.
The second WWe boom period began in 1998 and introduced the world to Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. During this period some of the most absurd wrestler names appeared, many conceived around profession/career-based characters.
One such name which still strikes terror into the minds of many fans, albeit for all the wrong reasons, is Doink The Clown. You can also throw refuse collector Duke ‘The Dumpster’ Droese into the waste bin of history, and write off the evil wrestling taxman Irwin R. Schyster (IRS).
however, from among this truly abysmal cast of characters came WWe’s greatest ever creation, The Undertaker. Introduced in 1990 and portrayed by 6ft 10in former college basketball prospect Mark Callaway, The Undertaker began life as ‘the wrestling mortician’. By rights the concept should have (pardon the pun) died before it even got past the costume
design stage. Finally retiring from the ring last year after three decades, it speaks volumes about the professionalism, dedication to the act and respect for the art form of pro wrestling that Mr Callaway had, that he was able to continually evolve the Undertaker gimmick beyond its original concept and make him the most successful WWe character.
In contrast, most high-profile wrestlers on today’s more family-friendly circuit either compete under their real names or some variation thereof, albeit with the performance aspect ramped right up.
There isn’t anything particularly ‘wacky’ about the pseudonyms of real- life husband and wife Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch . . . until you see their outlandish costumes and arrogant swagger.
Meanwhile, Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey are already established names from the legitimate fighting world of the UFC, so for them to perform in WWe under an assumed name would be counterproductive from a business and marketing standpoint.
One exception to today’s norm, however, is current ‘Intercontinental Champion’ Gunther, a brutish Austrian villain backed up by his storyline advocate, the German national Ludwig Kaiser.
While WWe has removed many cultural stereotypes from its shows over time, one thing still guaranteed to anger a patriotic American audience is a snarling eurobaddy. Some things will never change.
David Green, Wigan, Lancs.
QUESTION Which theatrical production requires the largest cast?
ThIS is tricky to answer because many musicals rely on a group of principals combined with an ensemble cast, which can swell numbers dramatically. For instance, during the Masquerade Ball in The Phantom Of The Opera there may be as many as 100 people on stage, though only 15 named characters.
The staging of this show is a monumental effort, with more than 130 cast, crew and orchestra members. There are also 230 costumes, 14 dressers, 120 automated cues, 22 scene changes and 281 candles, and each show uses 250 kg of dry ice and ten fog and smoke machines.
Stage musicals such as Annie (32 named characters), Les Miserables (30), South Pacific (30) and Cats (27) can have large numbers of people on stage. Shakespeare’s henry VI part 2 is famously castheavy, with 60 named characters.
Clive Dennis, Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
QUESTION What was that weird head disc device doctors wore in old movies?
ThIS is the head mirror, a basic piece of optical equipment used by doctors since the 18th century to study the ear, nose and throat (enT). Its invention in 1743 is credited to a French physician named Levert, who designed it to help him investigate the intricacies of the larynx.
It consists of a simple, circular concave mirror, made of glass, plastic or metal, with a small aperture in the centre, mounted on an articulating joint to a head strap made of leather or fabric.
The mirror is positioned over the doctor’s eye with the concave mirror surface facing outwards and the hole directly over the physician’s eye. The use of head mirrors has largely been supplanted by head and pen torches.
Dr Ian Smith, Cambridge.
QUESTION Which counties are best and least represented in the football league?
The earlier answer failed to include Sutton United. Promoted to the football league in the 2021/22 season, the team is technically within the County of Surrey, although also part of Greater London.
Rob Chandler, Sutton, Surrey.