Welcome to r/WWE A SubReddit to discuss WWE, ECW, and WCW. Join us to discuss WWE, AEW, NJPW, Impact, Stardom, ChocoPro, GCW, and every other promotion, big or small, past and present. The Plight of the Mentally Disabled. Dinsworth even made OVW became WWE's farm territory and, during his time there, Dinsmore became the OVW Heavyweight Champion a record . I also think having him there supposedly portraying people with. Entirely at his expense. Which makes the debut of longtime developmental talent Nick Dinsmore as the mentally retarded Eugene something of a head-scratcher. copying the signature moves of popular WWE superstars. DX's costumes involved using makeup to darken their faces, and while most of them weren't quite as noticeable back in the days of Standard Definition, X-Pac who parodied Mark Henry as "Mizark" hit the ring in full-on Minstrel Show blackface. The problems with this particular incident went beyond the viewing audience and actually hurt WWE in the international market. I really disliked him This thread is archived New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast 0 He left WWE in 2008 and wrestled for a time in Japan before retiring. Theres a real argument to be made that the character was a caricature of someone with a disability, played for laughs, as opposed to a positive representation. He's the author of the wrestling book, The Long Way Home. Although WWE believed the gimmick would be a positive role model for mentally disabled people. Nicholas Disworth (born December 17, 1975), also known by his But my favorite quality was his heart and desire. In the late '90s and early 2000s, the World Wrestling Federation kicked off a period that fans remember today as the Attitude Era. The team split up on the November 6 Raw. It was just weird. The result? This time around, it was Val Venis, a wrestling adult film star. [15], Eugene returned to wrestling on the July 25, 2005 episode of Raw, taking part in Kurt Angle's regular "Kurt Angle Invitational" challenge. He's also a writer that's covered many topics that not only include professional wrestling but other forms of sports. The former Tough Enough contestant survived the brutal first cut of that reality competition, but was dismissed because he lied about his age. He was a fan favourite during his run in the promotion. learning disabilites is an insult to our . Glaciers are big, slow, and don't really do anything exciting most of the time. So you have a massive man, with a chiselled physique, and bonafide wrestling credentials AND he's a former soldier? However, despite his WWE career coming to an end, Eugene continued his wrestling career on the independents while using the same gimmick. One of the women involved did in fact take her top off, but it wasn't the Kat, whose bikini was literally made of packing tape and bubble wrap. Also, there was a South African militia called the Truth Commission, but that one wasn't really racially motivated. Dinsmore married his longtime girlfriend, actress-model Stephanie Fischer, in Las Vegas in November 2015. Taylor and Dinsmore are not in that group. WWEs usage of Eugene was not entirely offensive. Each bruise a story to tell, each wound a song of struggle, his greatest desire is to be there to witness it all. The next month, they attempted to push the envelope even further. The WWE acknowledged the incident and announced that he was being sent to rehab. On paper, that all sounds great, but there was also the dimension of the Eugene gimmick that included him having a mental disability. Crime Time gotta be up there right? Kevin Matthew Fertig had one of the luckiest breaks into the business imaginable. He didn't win due to broken ribs and illness, but he did impress officials enough that he made it to the final ten contestants. Sometimes, though, that spectacle goes a little too far. While the crowd at the show seemed pretty into it, the same could not be said of everyone. Unfortunately, Dinsmore's portrayal of Eugene was at best a thoughtless caricature. Eugene WWE: What happened to the former WWE Superstar and where is he now? From the early going, he was the butt of jokes from heels, including the premise of his first storyline being that Eric Bischoff and Evolution sought to manipulate and take advantage of the young star. In the past, World Wrestling Entertainment has had to deal with accusations of creating content that's racist, sexist, demeaning, or otherwise offensive, and looking back at WWE's history, it's easy to see those accusations aren't exactly unfounded it's been a colorful and eventful run, to say the least. Hidalgo, Mexico, October 1999. WWE's modern, TV-PG attempts at being kid-friendly might have its problems, but at least we don't have to worry about this kind of thing anymore. On September 1, 2007, Nick Dinsmore was released from his WWE contract.[26][27]. Many re-packaged wrestlers have gone on to superstar status with the promotion. The infamous Katie Vick storyline isn't just tasteless, it's probably the single most tasteless thing that's ever been aired on WWE television. Taylor would sign with the WWE in 1988, over 15 years before Dinsmore's arrival in the 2000s. Dinsmore made his Ring of Honor debut on December 9, 2010, at ROH Wrestling tapings, losing to Mike Bennett. In October 2007, Dinsmore became the head official in charge of Derby City Wrestling, the intermediate-level group affiliated with Ohio Valley Wrestling, after Joey Matthews left the position. Although they won the match, he suffered a ruptured left patellar ligament, which required surgery and sidelined him for six months. When that came out in 2015, WWE quickly moved to get some distance from Hogan, eliminating him from the most recent version of their Tough Enough reality show competition and removing him from the WWE Hall of Fame. What are your thoughts on Eugene? WWE.com has posted a reponse on their website in which they responded to a negative blog written by Colin McEnroe of the Hartford Courant who slammed the company for the mentally challenged character Eugene, who appeared for the company from 2004 to 2007, and once in 2009. Continue with Recommended Cookies, if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,600],'democraticunderground_com-medrectangle-1','ezslot_2',177,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-democraticunderground_com-medrectangle-1-0');report this ad The gimmick ended up After healing, he was permitted to join WWE's developmental territory OVW. He left the hotel naked, got into his car, then veered off the side of a highway in Richmond, Va. A police officer, Michael Nyantakyi, who had seen the vehicle crash, saw Peters climb out, and . [25] On the June 29 episode of SmackDown!, Eugene debuted for the brand, losing to The Great Khali. Fans, of course, reacted with great enthusiasm, because it seemed a sure bet that the shadow they were seeing belonged to the Ultimate Warrior. When his football career ended, Snitsky was out of work. Im proud to have been a part of the WWE, an organization that has the commitment to individuals with special needs. He would eventually be released from the company in 2007 before resigning with them in 2009. The Ruthless Aggression Era from 2002 to 2008 paved the way for many compelling characters to get introduced on Raw or SmackDown, including some of the most comedic characters that ever stepped foot into the company. While the character attempted to stir up controversy (such as by ex-communicating an entire Smackdown audience and condemning them to 'hell.') Nicholas Dinsmore, better known by pro wrestling audiences as "Eugene", spent his years in WWE portraying a kindhearted, intellectually disabled character. Usually, this takes the form of a 'crazy man' gimmick like the Missing Link or Roddy Piper, but sometimes a wrestler is portrayed as being somewhat slow intellectually. Could there be a more perfect recipe for a pro wrestler in WWE? Calling pretty much everything WWE did with their Women's Division from the mid-'90s to about 2010 "controversial" is the most polite way to put it, but December 12, 1999, marked a definite low point. Eugene started off with a high profile feud with Evolution, but then drifted down the card until he was considered by and large a comedy act. On the March 19, 2007 episode of Raw, Eugene was forced into a match with Umaga, as a punishment for accidentally spilling a drink on Vince McMahon. Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. He also had moments in which his kayfabe disability was played for mean-spirited laughsand not always by the heel characters alone. Why he wasn't a bigger star: Hennig was a pure wrestler when over the top gimmicks were the rage. The young man got an immediate push because he was billed as Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff's nephew Eugene, and as a result was assigned William Regal as his kayfabe mentor. Skip was actually pretty over with the fans, who loved his good old boy "corn-fed meathead' character. What does Terry Taylor know? While the fans mostly responded to Eugene in a positive fashion, they were also clearly made uncomfortable by the crux of his character. Also read: Tegan Nox discusses reactions to her coming out as gay He worked as an enhancement talent for the WCW in 1998/99. Best known for his time in WWE working under the ring name Ezekiel Jackson. Eugene defeated Angle, winning his cherished Olympic gold medal (per match stipulation), and starting a feud between the two. Ryan Allen Reaves managed to get his foot in the door of the business by participating in one of WWE's Tough Enough reality shows. Somehow, because she is associated with so many hundreds of dehumanizing videos, Linda McMahon is inoculated against the shame of any one of them. [1], Dinsmore also appeared in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from August 1998 to January 1999, mainly used as a jobber on WCW Saturday Night he also worked on two episodes of Thunder (losing to Ernest Miller and Kanyon), and on two episodes of Nitro (first teaming with Lenny Lane to lose a handicap match to Scott Steiner, then losing a singles match to Wrath). In 2015, he opened his own promotion, Midwest All Pro Wrestling. Tragically, he would take his own life after being fired from WCW. Im proud that I got to portray a true hero. In the end, it was probably not in the best taste to cast a performer with a dimension of difference he did not actually representjust as the general consensus in pop culture has moved against casting an actor to perform a race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation they do not actually embody. The character Eugene was unique in the fact that he was a person with special needs. On the same day they also announced that that they were starting a new drug testing program as part of a larger plan that also included heart exams. Introduced in 2005 yes, 2005, this century Eugene was played by Nick Dinsmore, an extremely talented but largely unknown journeyman wrestler. He would be saved by returning Hulk Hogan, after he attacked the villainous duo. 6 Raw section below there was a person with special needs 2007 before resigning with them in 2009 condemning... 1988, over 15 years before Dinsmore 's arrival in the promotion an... 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