here's today's sample:
i think this one speaks for itself. this gimmick came about in the late 80s and managed to last into 1990, while basically ending the career of the guy who did it. a lot of the really embarrassing gimmicks at least involve wearing a mask, but that's obviously not the case here; when he tried working under his real name after this, fans would chant "ROOSTER!" at him.
rasslin is like comic books in a number of ways, but way funnier to me since it's real human beings who have to do crap like this. i vastly prefer that analogy to the "male soap opera" line you usually hear, particularly because there's a huuuuuuuuge overlap between adults who still watch pro wrestling and adults who still read superhero comics.
also, adrianhealey is v. correct. steroids/growth hormone are the most obvious health issue people hear about, but painkiller abuse is the other half of that cocktail; those mats are not exactly soft, and guys work 200-300 nights a year or more. if anyone here remembers the chris benoit story (the wrestler who killed his family & himself), that also made people realize that brain injuries are a big part of the business. when guys would get hit on the head with steel chairs, that was often completely real. chair shots are impossible to fake well, so you end up with guys who'd take hundreds of them and are now dealing with memory loss and all sorts of other things. and that's far from the only culprit.
anyway, this is meant to be a lighthearted thread so i'll end that here. i'll try to stick to shorter videos like these, but may link a full match once in a while if it's an especially weird one!