In many ways, Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge deserve a lot of praise for managing to pull the wool over the eyes of the biggest pro wrestling companies in the world. Paul Heyman perhaps also deserves some credit, having used his age-old 'accentuate the positives, hide the negatives' mantra to great effect with The Public Enemy. Never one of the most technically-sound tag-teams around, Rock and Grunge were a pair of white dudes approaching middle age, and were about as hip and relevant as that awkward uncle who tries to dance with young girls on the weekends. Somehow, Heyman packaged them as faux-gangsters, bad to the bone guys who became very popular with the core ECW audience. This led to interest from both WCW and the WWF, something the tandem can't have been expecting. Joining WCW first, The Public Enemy were pretty much found out to be a lot of hype and little else - they were entertaining, but a lot of their appeal was bogus. The WWF didn't learn from their competitors, signing the unit in 1999 and again being burned by the 'all sizzle, no streak' styling of the team.
Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.
