Black History Month DAY 25

Rocky King v. Barbarian (WCW 1985?)
by Lee Benaka



The Barbarian is accompanied in the ring by a poor man's Village People including Paul Jones sporting his fascist-lite tan jumpsuit and riding crop, and Shaska Whatley with a top hat and tuxedo jacket smartly complimenting his trunks. Rocky King nods his disapproval as Whatley struts while holding up some locks of Jimmy Valiant's hair. I don't know a whole lot about Rocky King, but according to youtube comments on this match, he was hired off the street by Jim Crockett and was honored to be able to get beat up by so many wrestling stars. In addition, Rocky King apparently still books shows in the Atlanta area and has great abs. According to Tony Schiavone on commentary, Rocky was also Pistol Pez Whatley's friend and protege, until Pez fell under the spell of Paul Jones and betrayed Jimmy Valiant.

As one might expect, Rocky gets in little offense, eating a kneelift, press slam, and two shoulderblocks before trying unsuccessfully to knock the big man down with two drop kicks that don't seem to quite connect. Rocky then goes for something in the corner but ends up with a reverse atomic drop for his troubles. Poor Rocky then gets dropped across the top rope and is the recipient of an elbow drop and a leg drop. Rocky's inherently hard head is no match for a Barbarian headbutt off the second rope. After standing on King briefly, the Barbarian tosses him out of the ring, where Shaska hits King across the back while Jones distracts the ref. The Barbarian heads out for a kick to the prone King and then drops Rocky across the railing near the audience, following up with a nice little headbutt to the floor. Jones then kicks King as well.

King makes it back to the ring to receive an elbow off the ropes, a big boot, a powerslam, and finally a headbutt off the top rope across the ring for the pin. During this final sequence, Whatley and Jones call for the Boogie Woogie Man, but he does not take the bait, apparently. Whatley and the Barbarian stomp King quite a bit after the match while Jones distracts the referee. Jones gets a kick in as well.

That was a lot of abuse to Rocky King in approximately three minutes. So let us not forget, as we dwell on the sacrifices that have led us to commemorate Black History Month, the sacrifices of Rocky King, who gamely sacrificed his body so that the Barbarian could look monstrous and so that Pez Whatley and Paul Jones could get some cheap heat.