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When it comes to pro wrestling, I’ve always been a fan of the little guy. Not in size necessarily, but in stature. You know the ones I’m talking about…the ones who everyone else’s favorite was beating up on every Saturday afternoon on television. The guys that later became known as job guys, or “jobbers”.
My granddaddy was always a fan of the good guy losers. He would cheer just as hard for them to give it to the likes of Ric Flair or The Midnight Express just as much as he would when Dusty Rhodes or The Rock and Roll Express were in the ring. And on the flip side, he would laugh at the bad guy losers as his favorite heroes were controlling the action.
Maybe that’s where I got it from. As I would sit alongside him watching wrestling on television, I usually cheered for who he cheered for and booed who he booed. Regardless of where my love for the losers came from, in the mid-’80s there was no denying that the wimpiest of the wimps were the brother duo of Bill and Randy Mulkey.
Every weekend on one of the several pro wrestling shows aired by Jim Crockett Promotions and Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, you would see Randy, Bill, or both, take some of the worst beatings imaginable. For several minutes at a time, their opponents would throw everything at them but the kitchen sink and really make you feel sorry for the poor guys.
It wasn’t just the beatings that they would take that made you sympathetic towards them either…their pale thin bodies with no muscles just made you feel sorry for them on top of everything else. While I certainly miss fat pro wrestlers, I also miss the paper-thin guys with no chance. There was just never any chance that either of these guys was ever going to win a match. Except for the one time they did.
Back in 1987, the promotion was gearing up for the second annual Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament. The field was set with 23 of the best tag teams the area had to offer, and one team from the west coast known as “The Gladiators”, who were billed as the “West Coast” Tag Team Champions. They were hyped up on television for a couple of weeks before making their debut in what was supposed to have been a “showcase” match. Their opponents for that tune-up match were scheduled to be the lowly Mulkey Brothers.
When the Gladiators hit the ring, they went right to work on Randy and Bill, just having their way with them. In a very surprising twist of fate, one of the Gladiators lifted one of the Mulkeys for a body slam, but fell backwards over the other Mulkey brother, and was pinned in the most shocking upset I or anyone else had ever seen in pro wrestling!
The little studio crowd went wild, and the Muleky Brothers were more shocked than anyone that they had pulled off a win…their first ever! It was the birth of Mulkey Mania…a wave that would sweep the pro wrestling world for a couple of weeks.
The following day on the next program, the elated brother duo were informed that due to their win, the Gladiators had been pulled from the tournament, and Bill and Randy were going to get their spot, and their shot at tag-team glory.
It wasn’t to be however as they were quickly and soundly defeated in the first round of the tournament, sliding back down to the lowest of ranks with the other wimpy losers. But for one shining weekend, Mulkey Mania was running wild and the Mulkey Brothers were the hottest thing in pro wrestling. It left such a mark on me that here I am 37 years later writing about the memory of that weekend. I guess as long as someone is still telling the story, Mulkey Mania will never die.
If you’ve never seen any of this before, watch the short video below to get swept up in the magic of it all.
