Dancing

[WolfofWords]

When there is good music about, people like to dance. Even ardent non-dancers may tap their toes or sway a little if the spirit moves them. Dancing is just something that resonates with people. In Pro-Wrestling, dancing is often used to make a babyface character more exciting and likable. Sometimes dancing is just a way to show that a character is cocky and not taking their matches seriously. Either way, dancing can add a little spice to a character whether they need it or not. I have ordered them roughly chronologically.



Flash Funk

This one was a little bit of a head-scratcher. Charles Scaggs had already been a wrestler for eleven years. When he debuted, he adopted the stage name of 2 Cold Scorpio. He got his big break by training in New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s dojo, a path that many famous wrestlers took. Making it through the NJPW dojo was a big deal. He spent some time in World Championship Wrestling before landing in Extreme Championship Wrestling. It was here that he got the reputation of being a high flyer who also could hold his own in hardcore wrestling. So when he debuted in the WWF, he suddenly became Flash Funk, a guy who danced to the ring with a pair of “fly girls” or “funkettes”. It might seem strange to have a tough guy suddenly be a colorful dancing cartoon but the WWF was full of cartoons at that time. Did it work? Well, a lot of us still remember it. I think the kids really liked it.


Disco Inferno and “Das Wunderkind” Alex Wright

These two were often tied together in WCW. Disco Inferno was a New Yorker who still disco-danced decades after the fad was over. Alex Wright was a young German pro-wrestling genius. These two very different guys seemed to bond over their mutual love for dance. The two would team, drift apart, and team again over and over through the years. They were supposed to be a comedy heel act but I find myself loving them unironically now. Their dance moves mid-match would often lead to their defeat but Wright in particular was a great performer. They were joined for a little bit by Tokyo Magnum, a Japanese wrestler who idolized Wright and also liked to dance but that ended quickly. The dancing originally made audiences mad but you can clearly see footage of the crowd getting into it either ironically or authentically. Dancing was intertwined with their personas so it was not a superfluous part of their act. They were not complicated dances but that made them easy to join in.


Ernest “The Cat” Miller

Ernest Miller was a legitimate badass. He was a three-time world champion in karate and was apparently pretty famous in martial arts circles. He made his debut in pro-wrestling in WCW during the Blood Runs Cold storyline. WCW was doing their take on Mortal Kombat with Miller and Glacier facing off regularly with Wrath and Mortis. Miller kept evolving throughout his career with WCW, eventually becoming a fixture in the company. Dancing came into play in his career when he adopted a persona paying tribute to James Brown. His ring music was suddenly very reminiscent of James Brown and that went along with a dance. He happily bopped along with the brass-heavy music and used some Brown’s mannerisms (including having a cape draped over him after a match). This actually led to James Brown appearing and dancing with Miller at Superbrawl 2000.



Too Cool and Rikishi

This is the act that made me think of doing this post in the first place. The tag team Too Cool was originally known as Too Much and was comprised of “Too Hot” Scott Taylor and “Too Sexy” Brian Christopher. The two were a bunch of over-the-top b-boys who were meant to be annoying heels. That continued for a bit but the characters started to get popular with the fans through their energy. The duo morphed into Too Cool and were then known as Scotty 2 Hotty and Grand Master Sexay who were goofy underdogs. The team really hit their apex when they joined up with Rikishi Fatu. Rikishi was a badass Samoan ass-kicker who never smiled and never showed emotion. He just got in the ring and wrecked shop. However, Too Cool was able to get through to him. They gifted him a pair of stylish yellow sunglasses and taught him to do a simple dance. There is no understating how over this dance was. People (including myself) went crazy for it. They even did it during the 2000 Royal Rumble, actually pausing the match. This was silly but it was also strangely brilliant and incredibly popular with fans.


“The Funkasaurus” Brodus Clay

This is interesting because it feels like a merging of the gimmicks of Flash Funk and Too Cool with a little bit of Ernest Miller thrown in. Brodus Clay was a monstrous strong man who ran roughshod over people. He had been acting as a bodyguard in the WWE, a wall between his heel boss and whoever wanted to step up to them. Then he went away. He eventually returned as the Funkasaurus, a dancing man with vague dinosaur theming. He was given an old entrance theme formerly belonging to Ernest “The Cat” Miller. He got funkier music like Flash Funk and was accompanied to the ring by two ladies known as the “Funkadactyls”. He got choreography and was a dancing big man just like Rikishi. It helped that the Funkadactyls were trained dancers (who later became pro wrestlers). Clay eventually also teamed with Tensai and the two formed the tag team “Tons of Funk”. This gimmick is seen by Clay as a punishment but kids loved it and I thought it was funny.


Fandango

Johnny Curtis had just been a more average joe wrestler until he adopted the gimmick of Fandango. He made an impression by appearing as a flamboyant ballroom dancer in the style of Dancing with the Stars. Episode after episode he would appear and do his dance routine with his female partner. However, he would refuse to wrestle until somebody would respect him enough to pronounce his name correctly. He eventually gave up and wrestled anyway. His music often fed into a pro wrestling meme shortly after his debut match as people did a simple dance to it. It helped to make him more popular as he was actually a really talented performer. He later would go on to have better gimmicks as part of the Fashion Police and currently as Dirty Dango.


Shinsuke Nakamura

Shinsuke Nakamura had had a long career in New Japan Pro Wrestling before he debuted in NXT. His hyper-passionate commitment to dancing to the ring immediately got my interest when I first saw him wrestle Sami Zayn. He completely succumbs to the music and his dancing is not pretty but it is energetic and raw.


Rich Swann

I had to shout out a fellow Baltimorean. Rich Swann was a dancer in and out of the ring way back when he started in Maryland Championship Wrestling and he has continued dancing to this day. His dancing to the ring and after he wins energizes a crowd and helped get him to be as popular as he is today. He is incredibly athletic and talented but the dancing definitely helps highlight his fun personality.