From Vader to Rob Van Dam, The Rock to Billy Gunn, wrestlers have made some amazing guest appearances on sitcoms over the years – here are some of our favorites, along with the valuable life lessons you should take away from each one.
Here to wallow in nostalgia with you are site regulars @typicalROHfan and @TomBlackett. Apologies for some of the video links being crappy quality or hosted on weird streaming sites, but YouTube has been ruthless in removing a lot of these historic moments from public consumption.
Vader on Boy Meets World
typicalROHfan:
The loveable Cory Matthews joins the school wrestling team in hopes of creating a legacy. He defeats high Frankie Stecchino’s partner-in-bullying Joey ‘The Rat’ Epstein in a regulated match. This leads to an UN-sanctioned rematch after school hours as Griff (now known in 2013 as Ben Wyatt on Parks and Rec) books a show and promotes it.
Griff gets celebrities Robert Goulet and Yasmine Bleeth to appear. Frankie and his dad, Vader, join Joey the Rat making it 3 vs. 1. As it looks bleak for Cory, Mr. Feeny appears and shuts down Vader to save Mr. Matthews. It’s revealed that Vader’s kayfabe real name was Leslie.
Adam Scott/Ben Wyatt/School Hooligan Griff is such a joy in this episode. He represents every shady wrestling promoter except more savvy. The match itself was better worked than the main event of Wrestlemania 27.
Tom:
WE LOVE VADER. He’s honestly pretty incredible in all his Boy Meets World appearances and it’s amazing that they made him a recurring character. Between this and his appearance in ‘Fist of the North Star‘, the mid-90s truly was Vader time.
Lesson learned: Cory vs. The Vader Family drew more fans than the average indie show. Continue reading