"You've got to keep your finger on the pulse of what your audience is thinking, and know what they'll accept from you." - Dwayne Johnson
“Hoody Hoo!” – Master P
Recently we took a look at WCW’s efforts to crossover with the music industry by bringing in KISS for a concert that failed spectacularly. he KISS Demon was terrible, but was mostly confined to a couple of minor matches on PPV and TV and then disappeared for good.
However, before they hit rock bottom with that experiment, we had to endure months of an even more painful crossover: a southern-based wrestling company attempting to win over rap fans.
MORE: Getting a grip — Recap this week in wrestling
In mid-1999, WCW made a deal with rapper and music mogul Master P, in what was supposed to be a dramatic win-win score for both sides. WCW would entice millions of hip hop devotees to watch their terrible wrestling shows, and P would get his cousin “Swoll” a job as a wrestler. It literally couldn’t fail.
Now, without getting too in depth into the history of wrestling in the Carolinas, suffice it to say that the fanbase was slightly more into country music than anything Master P had ever produced. Konnan, for example, was a popular member of the roster doing a Latino-based “gangsta” act, but he was the kind of non-threatening family-friendly gangsta that was perfect for wrestling fans. With Konnan, they were in on the joke.
Master P was an outsider from a different business, immediately coming into WCW and pushed as a bigger star than anyone on the roster, and clearly only there to promote himself and his music label. Fans didn’t take very kindly to it, especially when guys like Konnan and Rey Mysterio were associated with him as his “No Limit Soldiers” in a case of ridiculously crass self-promotion.
P’s association with the company was notably brief, only lasting two appearances and really only there to launch the career of his cousin before the No Limit Soldiers were spun off on their own. However, their first angle was a horribly confusing mess where the supposed babyface group assaulted supposed heel Curt Hennig in a four-on-one attack and humiliated him over a cowboy hat.
In record time for WCW, they had completely botched the storyline and suddenly Hennig was getting sympathy for being on the receiving end of bullying, while the wannabe gangsta stable (featuring members like Brad Armstrong, the whitest person in America) were getting booed by the crowds.
MORE: Vince McMahon fumbles the XFL
And then it got worse for them.
While the Soldiers suffered through lame storylines and mostly yelled “Hoody Hoo” in a sad attempt to get over, Curt Hennig struck back with an epic revenge. Joining up with cowboy friends Barry Windham, Kendall Windham and Bobby Duncam Jr, they made a silly music video expressing their feelings for the entire rap scene, shot for what appeared to be about $200. It was called “Rap is Crap” and made the newly-created West Texas Rednecks into grassroots babyface stars, even though people were supposed to be booing them.
FOLLOW: Sporting News Wrestling on Twitter for more
Sadly, WCW wasn’t even able to capitalize on stumbling backwards into success, as the Soldiers completely destroyed the Rednecks in their one PPV match, which shouldn’t have been a surprise because they greatly outnumbered the supposed heel team.
The entire thing was put out to pasture immediately afterwards, with the Rednecks split up and moved onto other feuds, while the No Limit Soldiers drifted aimlessly and then split off into the stable that became the Filthy Animals.
And of course, because it was WCW, no one learned anything.
