Professional wrestling has an interesting history outside of the actual wrestling shows. With the exception of the occasional sitcom (anyone remember Learning The Ropes?) wrestling is treated as real in fiction as it is in actual wrestling events, like kayfabe was bleeding into the world of stuntmen. This does make for interesting drama and action at least. Real professional wrestlers may have set results and do improv based on how the match is going, but those bruises and injuries are real. People have died in the ring from injuries not involving a lame stunt hanging over the ring. The matches may not be legit the but wrestling is quite real.
One of the lost Saturday Night Theater/Showcase entries over the years was Bodyslam, where Roddy Piper played one half of a tag team whose manager was having issues with villainous wrestlers and crooked businessmen while being played by Dirk Benedict. You know, the original Starbuck and second Templeton “Face” Peck. His character was in line with those two. Piper of course gained fame in acting from They Live and some stuff he probably didn’t want to add to his resume. I liked him on RoboCop: The Series personally. You may also know the name Jessie “The Body” Ventura. He was a WWF wrestler and commentator before doing movies like Predator, then leaving entertainment altogether to go into politics. So what if we put those two together for a failed TV pilot?
Tagteam is a 1991 pilot for a series that would have starred Ventura but Piper was considered a good fit. Billy The Body Youngblood and Tricky Rick McDonald (guess who played which role) are a good wrestling tag team. Unfortunately the wife of the owner of apparently the only wrestling promotion in this universe wants their opponents to win (never says why), so when they don’t throw the match, she comes up with a lie to end their careers. Looking for work, events will turn them into cops. I would have gone with private investigators but what do I know?
As a bonus the person who uploaded this one-time aired TV special left some old commercials on there. Enjoy.
BW Media Spotlight 