NORMAN THE LUNATIC

You can never get enough Mike Shaw love. Let's play fantasy booker for a moment. Let's say you have an awesome big guy who can work a great match and bump who just joined your promotion hot off a great feud with Owen Hart in Stampede Wrestling. The rare big man who was just as good working with other big guys as he was with smaller wrestlers. Let's say this guy falls from the heavens and lands in your lap. How would you book him? If your idea would be to book him as a retarded guy who escaped from a mental institution chances are you were running WCW in the late 80's and should be curb stomped because you laid the ground work for what would one day become the blueprint for the Eugene character. The gimmick was that Norman had busted out of the looney bin and that Teddy Long had the ability to send him back, thus making him subservient to Teddy. He wrestled in hospital garb with one wrestling boot and one tennis shoe. Get it? Mentally deficient people do wacky things like not dressing properly! So basically Teddy mistreated Norman, Norman finally turned on Teddy and no one really gave a damn. It's a shame that such an awesome monster sized dude had such a garbage gimmick, and even worse, this was just the tip of the iceberg of crappy gimmicks for poor Mike. When you think about it, Norman may have been the peak of his post-Stampede career. As bad as the Norman gimmick was it looks like Stone Cold Steve Austin compared to Friar Ferguson and the previously mentioned Bastian Booger. I guess the moral of the story is that shit does indeed happen and for some unfortunate souls it happens repeatedly. Here's a quick little brawl between Norman and Kevin Sullivan, a great match with him and Cactus Jack and also a funny little thing where Norman paints a picture for Woman and then gets jumped by Nitron. Enjoy.