In 1996, Public Enemy were an awesome fit in ECW. They were cutting-edge, crazy over, and made putting someone through a table popular before The Dudley Boyz. In the WWF in 1999, they were a terrible signing. There's no way around it, the duo were lousy wrestlers. Like Paul Heyman has said many times "Accentuate the positives, hide the negatives." For example, their jerseys hid their physiques. And in ECW, their like of technical wrestling skills were hidden by wild brawls. In WCW and especially in WWE, those negatives were on full display. They were also greeted with quite a bit of hostility from the rest of the locker room due to their attitudes, which led to their forgettable and brief run. When you take away Public Enemy's crazy hardcore brawls, you have two chubby dudes that look better suited for an indie show than on the national stage. Given that their matches in WCW were so completely mediocre, you're left to assume that McMahon signed them because Disorderly Conduct and High Voltage weren't available.
As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at."
Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week.
Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com
