He could have. Why would he? All he knows is this mid-carder is doing a comedy routine, and the Undertaker character at this exact moment was supposed to be more aggressive and angry. The mid-carder eats some smacks with a chair and Undertaker continues to look like the monstrous heel that the audience wants to see.
People knew that Kanyon was gay, even back then. Why else would they have a random Boy George spot like that? It had nothing to do with the storyline. Yes, Heyman and Taker were feuding but why not have Kanyon attack Taker with a chair instead?
This video on it pretty good. Hear it from Kanyon directly and you see him singing Boy George. Made me laugh when Artie Lange just tells him to “sing like a faggot.”
The whole "Radicalz coming to the WWE was the deathblow to WCW cause they were the backbone of WCW!" is one of the most overstated/overrated narratives that's been pushed in wrestling the last 20+ years.
It was big, but not because they were the backbone of WCW. It was big because of how they debuted and because Benoit was champion and just left. If I remember right, Saturn and Malenko were midcard at best, Eddie was not being pushed and Benoit was finally being pushed but before that was a midcarder. Eddie was a cruiserweight, along with Malenko, and for the most part they were midcard by default. Saturn was pushed about as hard as he was in WWE/F. Benoit was midcard until they made him champ, but it was too late then. Good for WWF for making Benoit and Eddie stand out like they did, though (obviously not counting Benoit's murders).
Kanyon was way ahead of his time. He was a phenom in the ring and very innovative. Had a good look (he was like 6'4). His promos were pretty solid, too. "Who betta than Kanyon?" "Everybody!" and then him faking being mad was pretty hilarious. The invasion MVP thing was cool, too.
You ever had your dick sucked by a skeleton?
how could you not remember him? he was the best. nobody was better than him
Probably because the Undertaker's character during this run was a building heel that was destined to get knocked down a peg. Kanyon attacked Undertaker with his back turned during this spot, so Taker retaliating was meant to be "justified", then (in keeping with his behavior during this specific year) he took things too far by getting brutal with a chair. If Kanyon initially used a chair, it wouldn't have allowed Undertaker to escalate and do overly-aggressive heel stuff. Also keep in mind this is the same year Taker lost to Vince, the biker Taker was canonically killed and he returned later with the zombie gimmick.
But why would Kanyon be singing a Boy George song with a heavy lisp? It made no sense with regards to the storyline.
Because if you believe the stories, Vince does most things based on what he learns of people, what he's heard recently, and then flies by the seat of his pants. Heyman needs wrestlers to put between himself and Undertaker, who despite being a heel is still over with the crowd. This would logically start with Heyman trying this tactic mid-carders (like Kanyon), who get wrecked by Taker, and then it builds from there. Kanyon decided to mention to the company that he was planning on coming out. Vince is Vince, so his brain puts it together that Kanyon is a faggot now, Kanyon needs to pull his weight to justify his paycheck, and other angles need mid-carder bodies to move forward. If you study "Vince logic" without strictly trying to justify it morally (because a lot of his decisions aren't moral or in good taste), it makes sense.
Right, I am saying that having him come out as Boy George made zero sense from a wrestling angle perspective. Storyline wise, it made no sense.
Oh we know the answer to that. The people who watch Wrasslin are majority homophobic and it makes watching oily roided men playfight feel less gay if homos are played for a joke. That’s why modern WWE has this Ambiguously Gay Duo.
I think we agree that Vince was morally in the wrong to do this, where we disagree(?) is that Mark had any real involvement beyond being told he was going to go hit Kanyon with a chair, the same way he hit everyone else. This "makes sense" if you take prior stories of Vince McMahon and imagine him going "Hmm... Kanyon's a faggot, eh? Well we will have to keep his gimmick true to life and dress him as Boy George. Homosexuals only behave like flamboyant fruits to my knowledge. Let's see if the audience likes it. I don't think they will, but it's important a wrestler's gimmick be tied to their true self, and Kanyon's true self is being a faggot."
Taker likely knew Kanyon was gay. Every other wrestler did. Taker could've still refused to do it since he had the say to do it. I don't think he particularly hated Kanyon for being gay, but he was happy to bury him like he did.
I am referring to it from a storyline perspective. For the viewers at home, why would Kanyon be acting as Boy George? It had nothing to do with the angle. If he had just come out of the box with a chair to attack Taker, sure, that makes sense.
Look at the audience boo at Kanyon and rejoice seeing Taker beat him up. It’s a celebration of literal “Smear The Queer.”
DDP and Taker both claim they didn't know Kanyon was gay prior to him informing everybody.
That still doesn't make sense storyline wise, though.
You know, I am starting to think that it wasn't a girly magazine. Maybe it was, in fact, a gay magazine.
Seriously no one made jokes about Bret dressing in Pink when Shawn was dressing up like he was part of the Village People.
