10 Weird Times TV Shows Had Wrestling Storylines

"The whole thing's fake, but it's really awesome." - Dennis Reynolds.

Immediately, The Gang Wrestles For The Troops depicts its f*ck-brained cast as significantly dumber than the pro wrestling racket. This isn’t a mean-spirited, “Let’s do a wrestling episode” farce, but rather an incredible platform on which to present the titular Gang in their element: They revisit the cheesy symbology of their youth, think they are capable of using it to positively impact their lives without really doing anything, and fail spectacularly in a pointed satire of the fast-food American psyche.

The Gang, for the uninitiated, are the worst people on the planet, and because they are so darkly funny in their psychopathy, the planet, in turn, is framed as an abject sh*thole that almost smells nice. The show is a work of nasty, improbably endearing genius, and in this episode, Dennis, Mac and Charlie are driven to wrestle under the dual remit of patriotism and trademark, failed hubris.

They wrestle as the Birds of War—three massive dorks in bird outfits, basically. Aspirational eagles, real-life chickens. They make their way to the ring singing a gloriously lame theme song to no response whatsoever, making bird noises, and it’s phenomenally bad-on-purpose. They are undone by catholic priest-turned-degenerate Rickety Cricket in his hilariously problematic ‘Taliban’ gimmick. His throat is subsequently slashed by Danny DeVito’s Frank with the help of a garbage can lid. The episode is a punch-down masterclass of physical comedy that draws on demented nostalgia to put into focus the chronic arrested development of its awful characters.

Resisting the urge to stunt cast Hulk Hogan, it is Roddy Piper who instead plays the grizzled racist ‘80s wrestler.