It’s actually quite sad to see how much WCW flopped with him…. especially given Martin Ruane was actually a family friend. He and my dad were close outside of the “wrestling bubble”. I can remember as a kid, Martin would also come over to the house and a few times came over on Christmas to spend it with us. He brought me my first wrestling game which I still own to this very day (WCW : The Main Event for Gameboy). The man was a giant, but had a bigger heart. RIP Martin Ruane AKA Giant Haystacks.
I didn’t think they did flop with him, anymore than with other wrestlers it just came far too late in his career which is a shame as I believe in general he was underrated. At least he actually made it there which is more than you can say for Shirley!
@@HermieMunster firstly well done for needing to correct yourself in the first 3 minutes of writing your comment, very clever. Secondly, I wasn’t taking any digs at him i simply pointed out bad booking made the end run of his career not as rememberable as his overall career. Lastly, congratulations on winning the “Jackass Comment Of 2023” Clive. Well done. 🏅
Martin followed the money over to the US, following in the footsteps of Rollerball Rocco the pioneer of US wrestling who moved over before him and set the tone for the all action type of dynamic wrestling. The Brits shouldn't be overlooked for their contributions towards American wrestling.
I dont think the content provider was judging Haystacks….. but the choice to bring him in….. In truth his was just a small portion of the overall WTF that was the entire DoD storyline
He wrestled exactly like this in his prime, but he was still a huge British star. Watch the end of his and Big Daddy's feud, the match is on CZcams and the biggest British wrestling match of all time and you see exactly what both men could do.
Giant Haystacks wrestled for Stu Hart in Stampede as the Loch Ness Monster. So the name was likely carried over from that, and to avoid confusion with The Giant in WCW, or legendary super heavyweight wrestler Haystacks Calhoun. Haystacks could also work back in the day. While everyone remembers his really awful matches with Big Daddy, he actually had some good matches against guys like Drew MacDonald, Skull Murphy, Kendo Nagasaki, etc. It's unfortunate that by the time he got brought in to WCW by Kevin Sullivan, his age and his size had caught up to where he was practically imobile. Which is sadly not surprising, when he reportedly ate three pounds of bacon, a dozen eggs, a whole loaf of bread, and washed it down with two pints of milk every single morning.
@@MiamiSunrise I have to agree with Wrestle Me's assessment that he should have had gammon instead of bacon so he could have 1 Lb of pineapple with it (if nothing else he may have been a bit healthier if he'd done that).
The name was originally borrowed from Haystacks Calhoun in the early 70s. British opposition promoter Brian Dixon saw it in an imported US magazine and gave the name to Martin Ruane as a UK Haystacks Callhoun. Then it got modified to Giant Haystacks. Then he moved to the mainstream Joint Promotions and got on TV in 1975.
This was such a strange run to say the least, mostly because what was the long term goal? Hogan feud? An actual match for the tv title? Being The Giant’s real dad?!?! If this run had happened sooner he could’ve had matches with the likes of Vader and Sting, but I feel like the best way to summarize this run was he definitely was one of the wcw wrestlers of all time.
Kevin Sullivan brought him in. He had watched tapes of British wrestlers, and had a relationship with promoters over here. His idea was that because giant monsters were historically always an attraction in wrestling, was to bring in Haystacks and build him for a match with Hogan. Sullivan really liked Haystacks, but called him up way too late. The guy was 50 years old at the time and could barely move.
i always assumed it was just to bring a giant for The Giant to continue to legitimize him. but who knows it really didn't make much sense. they couldn't have really thought they could get that much out of the guy
In the book “The Wrestling” by Simon Garfield, it’s explained how even the top wrestlers in the UK were barely making enough for petrol and a fish supper…so I’m not surprised the ageing Haystacks took the opportunity to pay off his mortgage with WCW’s pay checks Still very sad how bad he was
They were making a bit more than that and a lot of them including Stax were regularly spending some of the year in Germany and still do, for the paydays there.
It does not have to be a long viedo for Ring of the Hawk. It does not have to have good matches. It even does not have to have good looking persons in it (Bastian Booger anyone?) What it does have to have is an honest review, some smack along the way and a fitting final grade Which it all - as per usual - does have again ^^ Great work hawk and keep it up man
although Loch Ness/Giant Haystacks was terrible and immobile at best in this run of his career, gonna say his elbow drop finisher coming down on you with that weight must of been terrifying. once remember reading a story a fella recounted wrestling him and getting splashed by him. i think when he said he showed people the match their reaction was "fucking hell!" lol
He used the elbowdrop quite a lot of his career. Called it the "Guillotine". Often did it a second time to defeated opponents for jollies after they'd already lost. Then an angry Big Daddy would charge down to the ring and chase him away.
Unless you want to discuss the many faces of Ron Reis, (Super Giant Ninja, Big Ron Studd, The Yeti and flock Ron Reis) this is likely one of the most bizarre and odd signings and runs in wrestling history. An old near 700 lb. giant used for the Dungeon of Doom to battle Hogan, who never did so and could barely move in any match he was in, who seemingly had a different entrance theme every time he came out, then leaves WCW after 7 matches, gets lymphoma (or had it in WCW) and dies. I mean, his moveset, his look, he is just such an odd character and hire. Truly an oddity in WCW and wrestling in general, even despite his more important history as Giant Haystacks. Thanks for addressing Loch Ness.
7:45 Lex Luger's gimmick right before the nWo was so good. He was ostensibly a babyface, but acted like a heel all the time and was constantly manipulating and gaslighting Sting. This was part of that. You can see him jumping around like he was celebrating a huge win there.
Have some respect, haystacks was a legend of British wrestling, and during his wcw run he had cancer. Please don't disrespect such a fantastic man, and human being.
Roadblock is most remembered for when Lex Luger tried to torture rack him twice and failed but then got him up on the third attempt to a huuuge pop from the crowd. One of Lex's greatest moments for sure.
Dude, that's not just horror music, that's REY MYSTERIO'S MUSIC! The music they shoved on Rey Mysterio when he came to WCW was used on Loch Ness first!
"Makes Giant Gonzalez look like Ric Flair"😂 to be fair Haystacks was limited but it is hard when you are his size, and then attempting to Wrestle when your that age in WCW we could not expect much from him. I still have fond memories seeing him on Saturday afternoon TV in the UK in his Prime (although he was limited technically). R.I.P Martin
I love that lunkhead Lex Luger just walks by completely oblivious to the two most gigantic men clobbering each other and stands in the ring gloating like he's accomplished something.
From what I have heard it was painful both ways . Theres only so much protection a guy can offer when that big . I always thought Abdullah the Butcher’s elbow drop was vicious so I was happy Loch Ness used it too
I loved some of WCW's earlier 90's short run wrestlers such as Yoshi Kwan, Steve "the Minatour" DiSalvo, Art "Juicer" Barr or the many masks of Brad Armstrong (Arachnaman, badstreet/Fantazia) to name a few
Yoshi Kwan was a horrible gimmick for a decent Wrestler . Steve DiSalvo was just a walking pharmacy of PEDs , Art Barr was running from the law . Brad Armstrong was the most frustrating flop in wrestling . He just would not pull the trigger
When the OSW Review guys saw him trying to get at Hogan in the cage while everyone else held him back, they figured it was because he was too fat to get through the cage door. Seems likely.
Haystacks & Big Daddy were oversized sacks of spuds. Anyone with a bitta size would have got over in the UK during that era. These two knuckleheads just happened to be right place, right time, right size.
Giant Haystacks was a very intelligent, kind and decent man who treated his younger fans extremely well. He was older and sick by this point but he deserves reverence, not insults for his kindness and intelligence.
@@pooddescrewch8718 Wrong, his dad was actually born in Ballyhaunis in County Mayo, Ireland. So he was part Irish as a result. Haystacks himself was born in Camberwell, but grew up in Salford.
8:34 Ok, that looked hardcore af with Big Show falling out Also I'm straight up amazed at technical prowess, charisma and in-ring chemistry of these two competitors during the bout at 7:28! Matches like this don't come around often, I'd watch them again and again.
Apparently the original plan WAS to have him feud with Hogan, but they didn't realise quite how bad his physical condition was and how limited he'd become.... Also, his real name was Martin Ruane, I used to work with someone who was related to him and apparently he wasn't a nice person and most of the family didn't like him. OH MAN!!!
He was a grumpy old 50d but in an endearing way. Generally the boys in Britain liked him. Wrester Peter "Kendo Nagasaki" Thornley has compared him to a grumpy garden gnome.
Rey Misterio means King of Mystery. What could be more mysterious than randomly having another wrestler use his music? Just goes to show you what a genius Rey is, always keep em guessing!
Giant haystacks and big daddy were awful wrestlers who ruined British wrestling for 30 years. Look at any interview from British wrestlers around that era such as Adrian street,Steve Wright (Alex's dad,)etc.
Mark Rocco himself said Daddy & Haystacks turned British wrestling into a complete circus. It attracted a lot of fans who were freak show fans rather than wrestling fans.
The man is a legend here in Scotland/britain, i used to sit in the 80's as a kid with my grandad & great gran & would be glued to the screen every time him or big daddy were on, yes America wasnt a great run but respect to a true wrestling icon 👌👍
No one in proper British wrestling today who gets close to how big a star Haystacks was. He was on national television when wrestling. On TV shows doing interviews and sold tickets at Wembley.
Wow, Giant Haystacks vsThe Giant. never knew that happened. This guy was loved in UK, not his finest display but his health and weight won't have helped. Now to find my picture
I am going through WCW right now, just started year 1998. So far the Dungeon of Doom was the worse thing for me. (I know once I hit Late 99-2001 it does get worse, i.e. Judy Bagwell on a pole match.) At least we got The Giant from DoD.
WCW Pre NWo Dungeon Of Doom Era And 2000 Were Way Way Better Than Anything AEW Has Ever Done And Way Better Than WWE Since 2009. The Dungeon Of Doom Were More Poweful Than The Ministry Of Darkness And The Dungeon Of Doom & Four Horsemen Allance Was Stronger Than The Merge Corporate Ministry. The Giant Over The Undertaker Lochness/The Shark(500/565 Pounds) Compared To Viscera Who Hardly Anyone Praise For His In-Ring Work As A Young Individual & Healthy Lex Luger & The Zodiac Over Faarooq & Christian Meng Over Gangrel Hugh Morrus Over Bradshaw The Barbarian Over Edge And The One Man Gang Over Mideon. The Four Horsemen & Dungeon Of Doom Had More Built Guys Than The Corporate Ministry. AEW Wish They Had WCW Roster During This Time. WWE Prays For WWE Ratings Around This Time & WWE Today Wrestlers Wish They Had Half The Talent WCW Wrestlers At This Time Had. Heard Tony Khan Don’t Like Big Wrestlers.
Please do Kiwi in WCW. I only remember him in one match at the end of WCW, but it stuck with me for years because of how bad it was. He was like Kizarny, but somehow worse.
@@pooddescrewch8718 They had already seen him up close in December 1991 on WCW's exploratory first UK tour. He crushed poor Steve Regal, night 2 of 3 at the Olympia in Kensington London.
As kids growing up in 80s UK we always loved a good/bad fight. Whether it was your mates scrapping at school or two fat blokes bouncing around a wrestling ring. I did see Giant Haystacks fight Big Daddy at the Spa in Bridlington on a holiday once. What I do remember are some old ladies behind me shouting very loudly and getting very worked up when watching matches. After the match Giant Haystacks was happily signing autographs (for free) for kids and having a good natter and been a complete star. Big Daddy however came across as been not very friendly and I seem to remember you had to buy his signed photos to get his autograph. This was the opposite of how I expected them to be. Thanks for the video 👍
it's unfortunate that giant haystacks ended up coming to the states in the shape he was in, idk much about british wrestling but I've heard incredible things about his time wrestling there
He did pretty much the same thing in England just under a different name. It's not as if he used to be talented and then came to The U.S. after that. Giant Haystacks/Loch Ness never had any wrestling talent. He was just a big fat guy and they needed that in England at the time to feud with their top babyface Big Daddy who was also a completely untalented blob of a man. The two of them are blamed by most people for the death of British wrestling for a while. World of Sport wrestling in England had some of the most talented wrestlers in the world back then like Rollerball Rocco and The Dynamite Kid. But the 2 stars they put on top were the 2 worst wrestlers in history and it killed the scene.
@@jamesblevins5088 That's not true, he and Big Daddy's feud was one of the hottest things in wrestling at the time and it was doing it's best business. The reason why World of Sport died is because someone new took over as head of programming and thought wrestling was too low brow (like with turner and WCW) so they moved the time slot to the middle of day so the workers couldn't see it and that took the ratings way down and that was all the reason they needed to pull the plug. I know Adrian Street discredited them in an interview last year but I think he was just being bitter that the smaller legitimate wrestling guys were being pushed out in favour of the spectacle. But the spectacle drew huge for them. I found Haystacks to be a lot more mobile in his younger days but it was basically the same move set just more mobile/agile. But most of the WOS wrestlers didn't do very many moves, it was mainly submission holds.
@@hiddensword9387 I used to watch WoS wrestling religiously in the seventies and eighties with my dad and you're dead on about Haystacks and Daddy. Could either of them wrestle? No, but if you wanted to see great wrestling, you watched Rollerball Rocco vs Johnny Saint, if you wanted to see a crowd of people in a civic center legitimately lose their minds to the point where old ladies were walloping the bad guy with handbags on the way to the ring, you watched Big Daddy vs Giant Haystacks. It's hard to explain to someone looking in from the outside on UK wrestling quite how over both of them were. A lot of the crowd were specifically there to see Daddy vs Haystacks if it was on the card. As well as the change in programme director, which had exactly the impact that you describe, the other huge issue was that there wasn't really a succession plan for when things did start to go bad in British wrestling. Wrestlers like Daddy and Haystacks always had a shelf-life as they were so limited even in their prime and WCW hired Haystacks well after his had expired, but there were no stars coming through to replace them because of the lack of TV time and a huge shift in the UK entertainment market as big multiplex cinemas etc. started to come on stream.
'He was actually born in Britain, but was of Irish descent, and he became Scottish, somehow, in WCW'. Because to Americans, all of those are from the same country - 'Britain'.
I'll always have mixed feelings about this. At that stage in his career, it's obvious Haystacks couldn't perform remotely well in the ring, especially in a major promotion. But after everything he'd meant to British wrestling, I'm happy that he got to be on the big American stage, making what would have been by far the most money he ever saw, providing for his family against the onset of terminal cancer.
Should have had Paul Wight slam Loch Ness but I get the feeling LN wouldn't be able to sell it to make it happen. Shame we didn't get Loch Ness 10 years earlier.
Hey Marky, I love your channel. I recently watched one of your worst WCW Nitro episode videos and I have a suggestion for one of your next videos. There was a WCW episode that featured Goldberg’s “funeral” tlwith the Magnificent Seven. It went for over 20 minutes with Flair, Steiner etc. talking and saying absolutely nothing. One of the most boring segments I’ve ever watched. Since you like to torture yourself with stuff like this, I thought thou may like to make a video about it😂
I mean it was bad but if we are being honest Big Show has -absolutely- had worse matches than the one he had with Loch Ness, which actually had a couple of "WHOA!" moments
lol Eric didn’t know who he was? You know say what you will about Tony Khan or Vince but there are wrestling fans who had at least a basic love for the business. Eric idc he was in AWA or his one trick in WCW he’s been riding for 25 plus years he never cared for the business or its history
Well, Andre is easier to take seriously scary, he was a jokester and a natural charmer, look at princess bride, all the swag and charisma of any champ. Stacks, not so much
It’s actually quite sad to see how much WCW flopped with him…. especially given Martin Ruane was actually a family friend. He and my dad were close outside of the “wrestling bubble”.
I can remember as a kid, Martin would also come over to the house and a few times came over on Christmas to spend it with us. He brought me my first wrestling game which I still own to this very day (WCW : The Main Event for Gameboy).
The man was a giant, but had a bigger heart. RIP Martin Ruane AKA Giant Haystacks.
Thank you for sharing! I always love the giants. Wish I knew more about him when he wrestled.
I didn’t think they did flop with him, anymore than with other wrestlers it just came far too late in his career which is a shame as I believe in general he was underrated. At least he actually made it there which is more than you can say for Shirley!
@@HermieMunster firstly well done for needing to correct yourself in the first 3 minutes of writing your comment, very clever.
Secondly, I wasn’t taking any digs at him i simply pointed out bad booking made the end run of his career not as rememberable as his overall career.
Lastly, congratulations on winning the “Jackass Comment Of 2023” Clive.
Well done. 🏅
Martin followed the money over to the US, following in the footsteps of Rollerball Rocco the pioneer of US wrestling who moved over before him and set the tone for the all action type of dynamic wrestling. The Brits shouldn't be overlooked for their contributions towards American wrestling.
Given he was ill with cancer and in his 50s, don't think you can judge him on the wcw run.
I dont think the content provider was judging Haystacks….. but the choice to bring him in…..
In truth his was just a small portion of the overall WTF that was the entire DoD storyline
Wait for real? I didn't know that. But that explains why he looks like the most unhealthy wrestler I've ever seen.
I mean cancer didn't make him gain 500 pounds.@@shawnconway6009
He was never a great talent . He was an attraction like Plowboy Frazier
He wrestled exactly like this in his prime, but he was still a huge British star. Watch the end of his and Big Daddy's feud, the match is on CZcams and the biggest British wrestling match of all time and you see exactly what both men could do.
Giant Haystacks wrestled for Stu Hart in Stampede as the Loch Ness Monster. So the name was likely carried over from that, and to avoid confusion with The Giant in WCW, or legendary super heavyweight wrestler Haystacks Calhoun.
Haystacks could also work back in the day. While everyone remembers his really awful matches with Big Daddy, he actually had some good matches against guys like Drew MacDonald, Skull Murphy, Kendo Nagasaki, etc.
It's unfortunate that by the time he got brought in to WCW by Kevin Sullivan, his age and his size had caught up to where he was practically imobile. Which is sadly not surprising, when he reportedly ate three pounds of bacon, a dozen eggs, a whole loaf of bread, and washed it down with two pints of milk every single morning.
I cant even imagine consuming food at that scale, wow what a diet.
@@MiamiSunrise I have to agree with Wrestle Me's assessment that he should have had gammon instead of bacon so he could have 1 Lb of pineapple with it (if nothing else he may have been a bit healthier if he'd done that).
The name was originally borrowed from Haystacks Calhoun in the early 70s. British opposition promoter Brian Dixon saw it in an imported US magazine and gave the name to Martin Ruane as a UK Haystacks Callhoun. Then it got modified to Giant Haystacks. Then he moved to the mainstream Joint Promotions and got on TV in 1975.
It's Confusing when you have 2 Large Wrestlers with a Similar Name.
This was such a strange run to say the least, mostly because what was the long term goal?
Hogan feud? An actual match for the tv title? Being The Giant’s real dad?!?!
If this run had happened sooner he could’ve had matches with the likes of Vader and Sting, but I feel like the best way to summarize this run was he definitely was one of the wcw wrestlers of all time.
I assume he was just brought in as a monster to feed to Hogan, like King Kong Bundy 10 years earlier.
Kevin Sullivan brought him in. He had watched tapes of British wrestlers, and had a relationship with promoters over here.
His idea was that because giant monsters were historically always an attraction in wrestling, was to bring in Haystacks and build him for a match with Hogan.
Sullivan really liked Haystacks, but called him up way too late. The guy was 50 years old at the time and could barely move.
i always assumed it was just to bring a giant for The Giant to continue to legitimize him. but who knows it really didn't make much sense. they couldn't have really thought they could get that much out of the guy
@@ShredderLivesOn He was moving better than Andre . He just was not a great worker . He never needed to be vs Big Daddy
In the book “The Wrestling” by Simon Garfield, it’s explained how even the top wrestlers in the UK were barely making enough for petrol and a fish supper…so I’m not surprised the ageing Haystacks took the opportunity to pay off his mortgage with WCW’s pay checks
Still very sad how bad he was
They were making a bit more than that and a lot of them including Stax were regularly spending some of the year in Germany and still do, for the paydays there.
Big Daddy was an exception but yea, it was a part-time circuit at best and lucky if they got on "World of Sport".
I don't think at this stage of his career and given his age that he could do any better than what he did
True,
It does not have to be a long viedo for Ring of the Hawk. It does not have to have good matches. It even does not have to have good looking persons in it (Bastian Booger anyone?)
What it does have to have is an honest review, some smack along the way and a fitting final grade
Which it all - as per usual - does have again ^^
Great work hawk and keep it up man
By the time he got his wcw run, Haystacks was literally 20yrs past his prime. The bookers just wanted a big monster heel to feed to hogan.
although Loch Ness/Giant Haystacks was terrible and immobile at best in this run of his career, gonna say his elbow drop finisher coming down on you with that weight must of been terrifying. once remember reading a story a fella recounted wrestling him and getting splashed by him. i think when he said he showed people the match their reaction was "fucking hell!" lol
Same with Big Daddy V
He used the elbowdrop quite a lot of his career. Called it the "Guillotine". Often did it a second time to defeated opponents for jollies after they'd already lost. Then an angry Big Daddy would charge down to the ring and chase him away.
@@marcohavokkhaos Big Daddy V could work a match and had an amazing spin kick....
That's my story ! 😁
Unless you want to discuss the many faces of Ron Reis, (Super Giant Ninja, Big Ron Studd, The Yeti and flock Ron Reis) this is likely one of the most bizarre and odd signings and runs in wrestling history. An old near 700 lb. giant used for the Dungeon of Doom to battle Hogan, who never did so and could barely move in any match he was in, who seemingly had a different entrance theme every time he came out, then leaves WCW after 7 matches, gets lymphoma (or had it in WCW) and dies. I mean, his moveset, his look, he is just such an odd character and hire. Truly an oddity in WCW and wrestling in general, even despite his more important history as Giant Haystacks. Thanks for addressing Loch Ness.
Ron was working out at a gym I worked at a few years ago in Cumming Georgia. Nice guy.
@@dceasedbrickfan74 thats what I've always heard about him, just a cool nice dude. Glad he is still that way now. What a crazy WCW career he had.
I just realized a couple years ago Giant Haystacks and Haystacks Calhoun were two different people Calhoun was only 6ft 4in I think
This is a company that forgot to end Iron Sheiks contract and let it roll over
@@davemugoti9484and also they kept Lanny poffo under contract for 5 years and never used him
7:45 Lex Luger's gimmick right before the nWo was so good. He was ostensibly a babyface, but acted like a heel all the time and was constantly manipulating and gaslighting Sting. This was part of that. You can see him jumping around like he was celebrating a huge win there.
Have some respect, haystacks was a legend of British wrestling, and during his wcw run he had cancer. Please don't disrespect such a fantastic man, and human being.
wait til the hawk sees Roadblock's WCW Run, he had 5 main roster matches not counting B-Shows
I remember when The Rochester Roadblock first started working he was picked to be a future star . Didn’t really come together though
Roadblock got slammed by Paul Wight with ease. About my only real memory of him.
Roadblock is most remembered for when Lex Luger tried to torture rack him twice and failed but then got him up on the third attempt to a huuuge pop from the crowd. One of Lex's greatest moments for sure.
Working as a debt collector...
Imagine that guy knocking on your door to collect
Talk about someone darkening your door!
If you can run you'll be fine.
And if you got a gun, you can't miss
Dude, that's not just horror music, that's REY MYSTERIO'S MUSIC! The music they shoved on Rey Mysterio when he came to WCW was used on Loch Ness first!
Wait they used Mysterios music on him two different times and two different songs?
@@Markyd123hey plz do PN News
OSW legend too. Legend has it, late at night you can still hear him shouting his order in the distance at your local Mr Chippy
As a British man it pains me to say this but: Andre the giant was better than Giant Haystacks
Andre the Giant in his prime was something to behold.
Andre would wrestle rings around this lump
A Brit admitting that a Frenchman is better than their local hero???!!! HERESY!!!
What about Big Daddy?
As someone with a functioning brain andre the giant was better than giant haystacks.
"Makes Giant Gonzalez look like Ric Flair"😂 to be fair Haystacks was limited but it is hard when you are his size, and then attempting to Wrestle when your that age in WCW we could not expect much from him. I still have fond memories seeing him on Saturday afternoon TV in the UK in his Prime (although he was limited technically). R.I.P Martin
I'd love to see a Craig Pittman video. His looking for a manager arc was hilarious. 2 Legit 2 Quit would also make a interesting vid.
And his feud with Cobra too
@chibiy2j775 Cobra was hilarious too, with how he hid under the ring until his matches started 🤣
I love that lunkhead Lex Luger just walks by completely oblivious to the two most gigantic men clobbering each other and stands in the ring gloating like he's accomplished something.
God, that elbow drop looked painful - for him! I wince every time he hits it.
Big Daddy V too
From what I have heard it was painful both ways . Theres only so much protection a guy can offer when that big . I always thought Abdullah the Butcher’s elbow drop was vicious so I was happy Loch Ness used it too
Interesting fact, he was actually named Loch Ness by Bret Hart when he worked in Stampede Wrestling.
I loved some of WCW's earlier 90's short run wrestlers such as Yoshi Kwan, Steve "the Minatour" DiSalvo, Art "Juicer" Barr or the many masks of Brad Armstrong (Arachnaman, badstreet/Fantazia) to name a few
Yoshi Kwan was a horrible gimmick for a decent Wrestler . Steve DiSalvo was just a walking pharmacy of PEDs , Art Barr was running from the law . Brad Armstrong was the most frustrating flop in wrestling . He just would not pull the trigger
I knew this wasn't going to be very good. Nonetheless, I do appreciate the coverage. Never looked into the full history of Loch Ness's WCW matches.
He still did more in the ring than Andre The Giant to 1986-1992
Nah
@@CeemPlay His elbow was actually really good
They both fell to bits in their different ways.
Andre was in worse shape but he understood psychology much much better than Haystacks . He was more entertaining ( abd naturally bigger )
When the OSW Review guys saw him trying to get at Hogan in the cage while everyone else held him back, they figured it was because he was too fat to get through the cage door. Seems likely.
Haystacks & Big Daddy were oversized sacks of spuds. Anyone with a bitta size would have got over in the UK during that era. These two knuckleheads just happened to be right place, right time, right size.
I watched Nitro religiously and have never seen this man in my life wtf
This was both before nWo and he was in only like 3 nitros. So the window to see him was pretty narrow.
That damn Loch Ness Wrestler again! I told him I ain't got no tree fiddy!
Giant Haystacks was a very intelligent, kind and decent man who treated his younger fans extremely well. He was older and sick by this point but he deserves reverence, not insults for his kindness and intelligence.
I heard he was well read . I know he spoke very well which was against his Kayfabe character as an “ Irish “ Wildman . ( Scottish , I believe )
@@pooddescrewch8718 Wrong, his dad was actually born in Ballyhaunis in County Mayo, Ireland. So he was part Irish as a result. Haystacks himself was born in Camberwell, but grew up in Salford.
@@satan3959 DGAS
met him shortly before he died, was like what 18stone or such, prob less.
@@aaronbuffalo7769 sounds like a great story. I hope he didn't suffer greatly before his passing.
8:34 Ok, that looked hardcore af with Big Show falling out
Also I'm straight up amazed at technical prowess, charisma and in-ring chemistry of these two competitors during the bout at 7:28! Matches like this don't come around often, I'd watch them again and again.
Apparently the original plan WAS to have him feud with Hogan, but they didn't realise quite how bad his physical condition was and how limited he'd become....
Also, his real name was Martin Ruane, I used to work with someone who was related to him and apparently he wasn't a nice person and most of the family didn't like him. OH MAN!!!
He was a grumpy old 50d but in an endearing way. Generally the boys in Britain liked him. Wrester Peter "Kendo Nagasaki" Thornley has compared him to a grumpy garden gnome.
Rey Misterio means King of Mystery. What could be more mysterious than randomly having another wrestler use his music? Just goes to show you what a genius Rey is, always keep em guessing!
Giant haystacks and big daddy were awful wrestlers who ruined British wrestling for 30 years. Look at any interview from British wrestlers around that era such as Adrian street,Steve Wright (Alex's dad,)etc.
My grandmother was a fan of Big Daddy. He was over with fans in the UK.
British wrestling was horrible in general 😂
@@djrancho2232 Dynamite and Rocco alone would suggest otherwise considering the rest of the world copied their style.
Mark Rocco himself said Daddy & Haystacks turned British wrestling into a complete circus. It attracted a lot of fans who were freak show fans rather than wrestling fans.
Scott Riggs is a NASCAR driver, that caught me off guard 😭
The man is a legend here in Scotland/britain, i used to sit in the 80's as a kid with my grandad & great gran & would be glued to the screen every time him or big daddy were on, yes America wasnt a great run but respect to a true wrestling icon 👌👍
The World of Sport. They always had an Irish guy as heels when I was there in the 80s
this guy is literally the average bloke wandering into a sam smiths pub in yorkshire
I had totally forgotten about Taskmaster's weird eye brow things.
1:03 Big Daddy looks like an obese Scott Steiner during his very early heel run
I love how Loch Ness didn't get any airtime we he dropped them elbows it's like he was just falling on them
With his size, it's believable to me that his opponents can't kick out after it.
No one in proper British wrestling today who gets close to how big a star Haystacks was. He was on national television when wrestling. On TV shows doing interviews and sold tickets at Wembley.
Wow, Giant Haystacks vsThe Giant. never knew that happened. This guy was loved in UK, not his finest display but his health and weight won't have helped. Now to find my picture
Haa! 6:24
What do you mean he has Rey Mysterio's music?
"Booyaka booyaka Giant Hay Stacks"
😆👍
My question is what was you buying in ASDA that came to £200, I know the hawk is built but still £200
The opposite of “LOCHNESS” is OPENness
I am going through WCW right now, just started year 1998. So far the Dungeon of Doom was the worse thing for me. (I know once I hit Late 99-2001 it does get worse, i.e. Judy Bagwell on a pole match.) At least we got The Giant from DoD.
It gets worse…& then it gets worse…& then it gets worse…& then it’s over.😔
It turns into AEW.. not bad just different
The Judy Bagwell on a Pole Match was actually a good match between Buff and Kanyon. And she was actually on a forklift lol
WCW Pre NWo Dungeon Of Doom Era And 2000 Were Way Way Better Than Anything AEW Has Ever Done And Way Better Than WWE Since 2009. The Dungeon Of Doom Were More Poweful Than The Ministry Of Darkness And The Dungeon Of Doom & Four Horsemen Allance Was Stronger Than The Merge Corporate Ministry.
The Giant Over The Undertaker
Lochness/The Shark(500/565 Pounds) Compared To Viscera Who Hardly Anyone Praise For His In-Ring Work As A Young Individual & Healthy
Lex Luger & The Zodiac Over Faarooq & Christian
Meng Over Gangrel
Hugh Morrus Over Bradshaw
The Barbarian Over Edge
And The One Man Gang Over Mideon.
The Four Horsemen & Dungeon Of Doom Had More Built Guys Than The Corporate Ministry. AEW Wish They Had WCW Roster During This Time. WWE Prays For WWE Ratings Around This Time & WWE Today Wrestlers Wish They Had Half The Talent WCW Wrestlers At This Time Had. Heard Tony Khan Don’t Like Big Wrestlers.
Lochness in WCW I actually enjoyed thanks for covering it
As a brit giant haystacks was a legend and known by all. He was super imobile and terrible, but fucking massive and scary
Nothing beats WWE for stupidity
But at times WCW sure got close
2:40 at least you addressed his British teeth that are on the thumbnail 😂👍
Please do Kiwi in WCW. I only remember him in one match at the end of WCW, but it stuck with me for years because of how bad it was. He was like Kizarny, but somehow worse.
Assuming I'm thinking of the right person, he did the first match on the wcw sin ppv. It was pretty good
*wcw greed
I'm sure it is. I just distinctly remember flipping WCW on and going "What the fuck" then turning it off in my 20's.@@rexcatston8412
Why they brought him in when they already had a better big giant in Paul Wight is staggering
Good for viewing figures in England. Same with Fit Finlay. People knew him and his wife/manager Princess Paula.
It's Sad when a British Legend was buried by a Younger Larger Yankee.
I think it was to boost European tour sales
@@pooddescrewch8718 They had already seen him up close in December 1991 on WCW's exploratory first UK tour. He crushed poor Steve Regal, night 2 of 3 at the Olympia in Kensington London.
@@pooddescrewch8718 The irony is there were no WCW Euro tours between the 1994 Hulkamania tour and the two grotty tours in 2000.
We never got the dream match of Loch Ness vs. Bastion Booger 😔
We first need to ask ourselves who had worse teeth
Living embodiment of the No True Scottsman fallacy. Nice!
Lochness looks like he could be father of Big Show, rather than Andre
You actually sums up the issue at 1:33 -1:46, 10 years earlier who knows?
Kinda like a modern “Skinner” gimmick minus the chew, buck knife, and hat
As kids growing up in 80s UK we always loved a good/bad fight. Whether it was your mates scrapping at school or two fat blokes bouncing around a wrestling ring. I did see Giant Haystacks fight Big Daddy at the Spa in Bridlington on a holiday once. What I do remember are some old ladies behind me shouting very loudly and getting very worked up when watching matches. After the match Giant Haystacks was happily signing autographs (for free) for kids and having a good natter and been a complete star. Big Daddy however came across as been not very friendly and I seem to remember you had to buy his signed photos to get his autograph. This was the opposite of how I expected them to be. Thanks for the video 👍
I have a challenge for the Hawk:
Is it possible Vince McMahon in the ring of the Hawk?
He’s had way too many matches I’d be here all day completing that one 😂
it's unfortunate that giant haystacks ended up coming to the states in the shape he was in, idk much about british wrestling but I've heard incredible things about his time wrestling there
He did pretty much the same thing in England just under a different name. It's not as if he used to be talented and then came to The U.S. after that. Giant Haystacks/Loch Ness never had any wrestling talent. He was just a big fat guy and they needed that in England at the time to feud with their top babyface Big Daddy who was also a completely untalented blob of a man. The two of them are blamed by most people for the death of British wrestling for a while. World of Sport wrestling in England had some of the most talented wrestlers in the world back then like Rollerball Rocco and The Dynamite Kid. But the 2 stars they put on top were the 2 worst wrestlers in history and it killed the scene.
@@jamesblevins5088interesting story, I really don't even know if people with that limited movesets even have passion for pro wrestling to get better
@@jamesblevins5088 He wasn't that bad when he was younger, a feud with Hogan would have worked fine in around 86.
@@jamesblevins5088 That's not true, he and Big Daddy's feud was one of the hottest things in wrestling at the time and it was doing it's best business. The reason why World of Sport died is because someone new took over as head of programming and thought wrestling was too low brow (like with turner and WCW) so they moved the time slot to the middle of day so the workers couldn't see it and that took the ratings way down and that was all the reason they needed to pull the plug.
I know Adrian Street discredited them in an interview last year but I think he was just being bitter that the smaller legitimate wrestling guys were being pushed out in favour of the spectacle. But the spectacle drew huge for them. I found Haystacks to be a lot more mobile in his younger days but it was basically the same move set just more mobile/agile. But most of the WOS wrestlers didn't do very many moves, it was mainly submission holds.
@@hiddensword9387 I used to watch WoS wrestling religiously in the seventies and eighties with my dad and you're dead on about Haystacks and Daddy. Could either of them wrestle? No, but if you wanted to see great wrestling, you watched Rollerball Rocco vs Johnny Saint, if you wanted to see a crowd of people in a civic center legitimately lose their minds to the point where old ladies were walloping the bad guy with handbags on the way to the ring, you watched Big Daddy vs Giant Haystacks. It's hard to explain to someone looking in from the outside on UK wrestling quite how over both of them were. A lot of the crowd were specifically there to see Daddy vs Haystacks if it was on the card. As well as the change in programme director, which had exactly the impact that you describe, the other huge issue was that there wasn't really a succession plan for when things did start to go bad in British wrestling. Wrestlers like Daddy and Haystacks always had a shelf-life as they were so limited even in their prime and WCW hired Haystacks well after his had expired, but there were no stars coming through to replace them because of the lack of TV time and a huge shift in the UK entertainment market as big multiplex cinemas etc. started to come on stream.
Loch Ness was the shit yo
Saturday afternoon with Giant Haystacks and Big Daddy great memories but this is hard to watch.
2:53 The most brutal bloodiest chairshot I've ever seen.
Conrad Thompson has been cosplaying as Giant Haystacks for years.
The Shadow was Pez Whatley for those who wonders👍🏻
Geez imagine him turning up at your house as a debt collector, he wouldn't be able to fit through the door 🙃
He would turn up to business that hadn't paid debts and repo their stock. He was a celeb, so that made it double bad for business for the victims.
Giant Haystacks was a huge deal (no pun intended) in his prime.
But his prime was like the 1970’s. By 1996 he was basically a dead man walking.
The, Brilliance of W.C.W. Booking: Put Over A 50 Year Old Morbidly Obese Man (w/ Mobility Issues ) Over The Young Rookies.
'He was actually born in Britain, but was of Irish descent, and he became Scottish, somehow, in WCW'.
Because to Americans, all of those are from the same country - 'Britain'.
I'll always have mixed feelings about this. At that stage in his career, it's obvious Haystacks couldn't perform remotely well in the ring, especially in a major promotion. But after everything he'd meant to British wrestling, I'm happy that he got to be on the big American stage, making what would have been by far the most money he ever saw, providing for his family against the onset of terminal cancer.
Should have had Paul Wight slam Loch Ness but I get the feeling LN wouldn't be able to sell it to make it happen. Shame we didn't get Loch Ness 10 years earlier.
WWE would of succeeded if they introduced more wcw guys like bagwell and riggs they were a great tag team.
"Oowah...his teeth are all rotten". Yep.
Marky, now that WWE and MMA are one company you need to review TNA using Belator guys
It would be cool to see Sheamus run between September 2022-2023 with the year of non-stop bangers
Met him when I was around 13, shortly before haystacks died of cancer.
Let’s go! I think I requested this video years ago
He was a LochMess.
Hey Marky, I love your channel. I recently watched one of your worst WCW Nitro episode videos and I have a suggestion for one of your next videos. There was a WCW episode that featured Goldberg’s “funeral” tlwith the Magnificent Seven. It went for over 20 minutes with Flair, Steiner etc. talking and saying absolutely nothing. One of the most boring segments I’ve ever watched. Since you like to torture yourself with stuff like this, I thought thou may like to make a video about it😂
Now that edge has officially left wwe, his return run only had 30 matches
my grandparents were such big fans of him and big daddy it's a shame giant haystacks didn't go out with a bang
I mean it was bad but if we are being honest Big Show has -absolutely- had worse matches than the one he had with Loch Ness, which actually had a couple of "WHOA!" moments
What inspired the Dungeon of Dunces?
Giant Haystacks 😊
Guy was not 6‘11“ . Closer 6‘7“ . But he was 600lbs .
yup never over 6ft 7
not the most limited competitor of all time just the greatest elbow drop of all time
lol Eric didn’t know who he was? You know say what you will about Tony Khan or Vince but there are wrestling fans who had at least a basic love for the business. Eric idc he was in AWA or his one trick in WCW he’s been riding for 25 plus years he never cared for the business or its history
*they
Loch Ness theme song was given to Rey Mysterio later on. lol
Well, Andre is easier to take seriously scary, he was a jokester and a natural charmer, look at princess bride, all the swag and charisma of any champ. Stacks, not so much
Even a prime Giant Haystacks was rubbish, let's face it.
3:43 "Riggs quickly climbs to the top rope" That was the middle rope. Get your eyes checked
First match against Duggan, Duggan doesn't do job. Yeah sounds about right
every Kevin Nash title regins in WCW next
Giant Haystacks in his prime was equal to Tyrus in NWA. He couldnt move in his prime.
youve got a typo in your title. Do you even take 5 minutes to check these videos?
Video idea!
Was it any good? Hollywood Rock. Was his heel turn any good?
How has nobody noticed the typo in the title yet?
Idk why they put a man with cancer into the ring
To be fair, if haystacks drops that “Elbow”, or his entire side and weight, ain’t nobody getting up.
I can't be the only person that when they see big daddy instantly thinks of fat Scott Steiner. 😂😂