10 Things You Didn't Know About The Honky Tonk Man

6. He Started In The WWF As A Babyface, Flopped Badly

The Honky Tonk Man was signed to the WWF in 1986 after working the cocky heel gimmick all around Canada as part of Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion. Upon entering the WWF, however, he was originally packaged as a babyface, apparently for merchandising reasons. According to Farris, "Vince had a vision of hundreds of kids all dressed in jumpsuits and wigs." However, fans in the US were lukewarm to his Southern Elvis persona and whenever he wrestled up north in Canada, he was booed out of the building, because of course he'd been playing a heel version of that exact character for over two years in that territory. After 6 weeks, and facing a total failure to get over, the Honky Tonk Man was repackaged as a heel, via a series of videos, the brainchild of Jesse 'The Body' Ventura, known collectively as 'The Vote of Confidence'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0BGiSRagvs HTM would complain that the fans hated him, despite shaking their greasy hands and kissing their ugly babies. Ventura suggested that he needed a 'vote of confidence', inviting the viewers at home to vote in whether or not they liked the Honky Tonk Man's style or they didn't. They didn't. In overwhelming numbers. The WWF then used this rejection to propel HTM into a heel persona, the part he was born to play. Anyone who can say "I'm gonna go out there and slap some babies" with a straight face, is a beautiful heel.