Cook’s Top 5: Garbage Moments in Wrestling

Thanks to Mickie James, Mark Carrano, and WWE’s apparent use of garbage bags, Steve Cook is here with a look at wrestling’s Top 5 Garbage Moments!

The hottest topic in wrestling over the past couple of days?

Garbage!

Well, garbage bags, to be specific. Mickie James tweeted out a photo of a garbage bag that WWE sent her containing her belongings, which led to some heads being chopped in the Talent Relations department. Bad enough to be fired, even worse when the company sends your goods to you in an item that represents how they feel about you.

Not that WWE is out of the norm here. Corporations generally hate their workers and treat them as poorly as they can get away with. As long as enough people accept being treated like garbage, and think their being treated like garbage means everybody else should be, we all have to deal with it.

All this talk about garbage got me thinking, of course. What are the best garbage-related moments in wrestling history? Oh, come on, don’t act like you’ve never asked yourself that question.

Today we’re answering it. Top 5 garbage-related moments in wrestling history, go!

5. WCW’s Junkyard Invitational

#OnThisDay in 1999: WCW Bash at the Beach PPV: Fit Finlay won a Junkyard Invitational. Numerous injuries occurred during the match. pic.twitter.com/mxCmWezXxJ

— Allan (@allan_cheapshot) July 11, 2017

If ever a wrestling product could be compared to hot garbage, 1999 WCW would be near the top of that list. There were some good moments, but it was mostly junk. Speaking of junk, WCW went straight to the junkyard when it was time to crown a Hardcore Champion. The show was Bash at the Beach, but it was anything but a day at the beach for Fit Finlay, Ciclope, Jerry Flynn, Rocco Rock, Johnny Grunge, Hak, Horace Hogan, Brian Knobs, Hugh Morrus, La Parka, Lord Steven Regal, Silver King, David Taylor and Mikey Whipwreck.

There was plenty of junk & garbage to utilize in the match, but none of it was properly gimmicked and a good share of the wrestlers involved left with some type of injury. Complete garbage from WCW management.

4. Dr. Baker is not Garbage!

Dr. Britt Baker DMD is a lot of things. I think we can all agree that “garbage” is not one of them. Big Swole, however, seemed convinced that the Good Doctor was the wrestling version of Oscar the Grouch, and humiliated Britt on a number of occasions.

Completely unnecessary & uncalled for. In my opinion, this was more insulting that anything WWE has done with their Hefty bags. Big Swole should have been ashamed of herself.

3. The King Takes Out The Trash

Jerry Lawler was quite the cad back in the day. He had insulting words for everybody, including Duke “The Dumpster” Drose. Drose wrestled during his time off from trash collecting, which provided Lawler with plenty of comedy material. One day, Drose had had enough, and replied to the King with some insults of his own. Lawler’s response was to brutally beat the man with his own trash can. Seemed fair to me, as the old saying goes, “never bring something to a fight you’re afraid will be used on you”.

WWF President Jack Tunney was shocked & appalled though. He ordered Lawler to apologize for his actions, which seemed kind of silly to me. After all, it’s not like the other bad guy wrestlers were ordered to apologize for their misdeeds. Plus, Lawler had done much worse & said much more appalling things to the Hart Family, and nobody forced him to apologize for any of that. Drose came off like a soft snowflake, while Tunney was forcing his brand of cancel culture down our throats.

2. Eric Bischoff Gets Fired

Easy E had gone out of his way to embarrass & humiliate a lot of people during his long-running stint as Raw General Manager. Eventually, Bischoff faced a trial to determine whether or not he should continue in the GM role, and he wound up losing the position. He was sentenced to a firing, and was loaded in a dumpster to take him out of WWE.

Some said it was conceived as a way to humiliate Eric on his way out, as a form of revenge for the whole Monday Night War thing. These people neglected the fact that it made sense to humiliate Bischoff’s character on the way out, as he had done to many of the WWE Superstars that worked under him. Storytelling.

Now, I don’t know whether or not items might have been placed in the garbage truck to make Eric’s stay an unpleasant one. You know how wrestling people like to have fun.

1. Jack & Charlie Take a Ride

I don’t remember why there was a dumpster on the stage. I’m sure there was a perfectly good reason. What followed was one of the most memorable moments of 1998, which is saying something because it was a busy year. Both Cactus Jack & Chainsaw Charlie ended up in the dumpster because of course they did. Then, those no-good New Age Outlaws locked them in, and pushed them off the stage! The shock was palpable as the entire locker room came out to check on Jack & Charlie & Jim Ross screamed bloody murder.

“THERE’S PEOPLE IN THERE! WHAT THE HELL IS SO GREAT ABOUT THAT?”

Classic JR. You even had Sunny crying over the guys. What was a pretty silly premise came off as a serious deal, only to lead to Jack & Charlie returning in their hospital gowns to attack the Outlaws at the end of the night. WWE has re-created this moment several times afterward, but none were quite able to match the original.

Truly the best wrestling moment involving garbage.