10 Wrestlers Who Were Secretly Promo GODS
8. The Nasty Boys
The Nasty Boys were an underrated act, and they'll probably remain that way in the court of the pro wrestling fandom.
Very few wrestlers have anything nice to say about them - they lived the gimmick with a method approach so committed that Daniel Day-Lewis would scoff - and their TNA run, informed purely by nepotism, left behind a stench they were all too happy to make. Still, they were one of the better tag teams of the early 1990s.
Outstanding at both the dramatic smash-and-grab (Vs. the Hart Foundation, WWF WrestleMania VII) and the disgusting arena-wide brawl (Vs. Cactus Jack & Maxx Payne, WCW Spring Stampede 1994), the Nastys were vile, believable thugs in the ring, in the stands, backstage - everywhere.
They were also great - albeit in a one-dimensional way - at promos.
They were deeply, profoundly, obnoxious. In a not too dissimilar way to Ric Flair, whose own greatness seemed to excite him, Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags got off on themselves. They were giddy at the prospect of being awful and doing awful things, lending their promos a certain hyperactive snarling quality that was compelling. Knobbs in particular was great at body language, dominating the entire screen with his volatile, constant movements.
This sort of thing often tumbled into dumb cliché - pastiche of this style is in vogue at present, looking at the Outrunners and the Iron Savages - but the Nastys brought the energy that the parody acts can only imitate.