WWFs King Of The Ring pay-per-view in 1996 has gone down in history as the birthplace of Stone Cold Steve Austin: hed win the tournament that had been earmarked for Triple Hs aborted huge push, use the legendary stone cold stunner for the first time, and improvise the infamous, starmaking Austin 3:16 promo at the event that propelled him towards main event status. Sadly, two decades later the other major groundbreaking moment from the pay-per-view is all but forgotten. When Tony Ahmed Johnson Norris defeated Goldust to win the Intercontinental championship, he was the first African-American to win a major singles championship in the WWF. Other promotions got there first: most notably WCW, but given WWF/WWEs status as the biggest and most prominent professional wrestling organisation in the world, Johnsons victory still has historical significance. Scuttlebutt (like gossip with a main event push) says that Vince McMahon saw big things in Ahmed Johnsons future. At the time, the Intercontinental title was a stepping stone to the main event. Sadly Norris wouldnt ever deliver on that promise - beset by poorly timed injuries, he would be replaced at the last minute in two separate WWF title challenges, and would later go to work in WCW. All of which means that the vast majority of professional wrestling fans in 2015 have never been treated to the utter majesty of an Ahmed Johnson promo: you poor, poor lambs. Here, let us help you out a little. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTN3ntW-WHA As a rule Ahmed had one gear, and that gear was WARRRRGH. Johnson's promos essentially involve him barking unintelligibly at the camera, usually while pointing and snarling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfPuV3bT9EU Occasionally he'd mix it up, someone obviously having told him to try a little light and shade, add some personality. The problem was that every time Norris came to cut a promo, he found himself with a mouth full of mashed potato. Almost completely unintelligible on television with a volume control and decent speakers, how live audiences were expected to understand anything he said on the mic in his three years in the WWF upper midcard will forever remain a mystery.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
