Ghastly Gimmicks: Nailz

Every Tuesday, we take a look at an outlandish character from wrestling’s days gone by.  Sometimes laughable, sometimes revolting, but always preposterous, they’re part of what makes pro rasslin’ so great.  Ranging from slightly peculiar to downright ludicrous, these are the wrestlers that time has rightly forgotten.

There are bad gimmicks, and then there are bad gimmicks constructed on the foundations of other bad gimmicks.  Nailz was the latter.  As successful as The Big Bossman was, his gimmick was flimsy at best – and Nailz was a character designed solely for feuding with Cobb County’s finest.  Prior to his debut, Nailz appeared in a series of vignettes, claiming to have been mistreated by the Bossman during his time in a correctional facility.  He also denied having committed any crime in the first place, although that gripe seems like one to be taken up with America’s judicial system more than it does with WWE’s resident lawman, so I don’t know why it was even brought up.  At any rate, upon his arrival in the World Wrestling Federation, Nailz handcuffed Bossman to the ring ropes and put a beating to him with his own nightstick.  Following the attack, Nailz beat a handful of jobbers (kind of a push?) leading up to an official match with his nemesis.  When he and Bossman met again, it was the man in blue who emerged from the encounter victorious, defeating Nailz in a nightstick match at Survivor Series ’92.  In spite of the inherent awfulness of Nailz’s brief tenure with the WWF, the most bizarre thing about his stay might have been the way in which he departed the company.  After a dispute over money, Nailz cornered Vince McMahon in his office and strangled the chairman while none other than the Berzerker (Huss! Huss! Huss!) watched the door.  Needless to say, that was the end of Nailz.  He went on to brief stints in WCW and Jim Crockett’s WWN, where he competed as The Prisoner and The Convict, respectively.  Seriously.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC9EvT1n2Jc]