10 Wrestling Moments You Felt Totally Guilty For Laughing At
4. The Genesis Of McGillicutty
The very name 'Michael McGillicutty' inspires laughter.
It translates more as a caricature of a boy scout than a pro wrestler, which is likely why Vince McMahon was so enamoured with it. Doomed from the start - this was the least-intimidating wrestler name of all time - McGillicutty also doomed himself when he announced the genesis of the dawning of his moment, from this moment on. Stumbling over and repeating his words, McGillicutty could not hack the most hack verbiage, signing off, brilliantly, with just his last name: "...McGillicutty," as if it was threatening enough to warrant the iconic shorthand.
What really heightens the comedy element is the deep contrast between the actual delivery of the promo and the way in which it was pitched. With shakeable conviction, McGillicutty pitched this as his Austin 3:16 moment when, in reality, this was his...well. The promo is so iconically awful as to be incomparable. This, simply, was Michael McGillicutty's Michael McGillicutty moment. We laughed because we're awful, of course, but also because McGillicutty possessed a searing level of delusion that made our daftest aspirations somewhat feasible. He was doing us a service.
It was a gaping chasm into which Curtis Axel is still falling to this day. At least WWE actually books him to the best of his abilities, unlike so many of its roster: as a complete dork.