Stan Stansky

I meant to post something about this earlier, but did not. Personal favorite Stoney Hooker and Kirby Mack appeared on WWE RAW last week, a show taped in Greenville, South Carolina. Dubbed "Stan Stansky" and "Arthur Rosenberg," the duo were basically sacrificial victims for Ryback, 6'3", 291#, whom WWE is putting over by having him defeat local talents at each stop of the current tour. Ryback finished Stansky and Rosenberg in under two minutes (unfortunately, not atypical of WWE matches, which tend to be teasingly brief), hoisting both men on his shoulders in a fireman's carry and then dropping them backwards for the pin.

Before Ryback's entrance, Stansky and Rosenberg delivered a poem in unison, which, reportedly, was meant as a jibe at Leaping Lanny Poffo, the brother of Randy Savage, who died just over a year ago. A WWF wrestler in the late '80s whose gimmick was to recite an original poem before every match, Poffo recently pissed off WWE because he claimed that Savage had refused a place in the WWE Hall of Fame unless the whole Poffo wrestling family, including himself and father Angelo, was also inducted. Though both Stoney and Kirby live in Greenville, Stan and Arthur were announced as hailing from Downers Grove, Illinois, where Poffo and Savage (born Randy Mario Poffo) grew up.

Normally not a fan of WWE, I enjoyed the YouTube clip of Stoney living his dream. He looked good ... and doomed from the beginning. I'm ready to sign a petition demanding a lot more of Stan Stansky at WWE. Frankly, he made a bigger impression than Ryback. (But leave Poffo alone! I crushed on him in the '70s during his infrequent but rhyming appearances on Florida and Georgia cable TV wrestling.)