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Special K and Lacey's Angels
| Anubis | Posted on 03/10/06 at 00:10:22 Ever since seeing a lot of "Special K members" in TEW, I've been trying to find information on these groups. I've read and heard a lot about the controversy surrounding Special K (especially with the uber-hot Dana Dameson) and also noticed that many former members became Lacey's Angels later on down the line. Then Lacey's Angels was just BJ Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs. I feel that these groups and such are connected and such, and would like someone to explain the history behind this group, which almost seems comparable (in terms of impact) to the Four Horsemen and the nWo. |
| Captain Tagon | Posted on 03/10/06 at 00:30:12 They are/were two primarily comic relief jobber stables. A couple of decent workers came out of them (Azrael/Jay Lethal/Joey Matthews) but for the most part it's a bunch of guys Rey Rey's size diving around the ring. |
| Crpls | Posted on 03/10/06 at 00:50:04 Special K had raves in the ring. Therefore, Special K are awesome. Plus, Deranged ruled. |
| TheImpalerTMX | Posted on 03/10/06 at 01:30:04 It should be noted that Special K basically started as a bunch of JAPW wrestlers and pretty much every spotfest heel with nothing to do in ROH was a member. As noted, a couple of good workers came out of the stable and other more established guys (Abyss, Mikey Whipwreck, etc.) were involved. Their raves were almost always interrupted by a beatdown. |
| Anubis | Posted on 03/10/06 at 01:36:52 So how did it turn into Lacey's Angels? Then what happened later to split Lacey's Angels and have Whitmer & Jacobs join her instead? Details please. I'm not sure whether to like them or not lol. |
| Captain Tagon | Posted on 03/10/06 at 02:17:42 Special K split up as several of the characters began to want to be taken seriously. Jay Lethal had already "cleaned himself up" and was wrestling serious matches away from Special K at this point. He encouraged others, notably Angeldust (Azrael) and I think Dixie to do the same. There was a big feud over the Special K name. Azrael and whoever he was teaming with won it, then buried the Special K name, saying they were serious wrestlers now. The losers, managed by Lacey, became Lacey's Angels. Sometime after Hillybilly JeHUSS won the tag titles, they were the mystery members of Lacey's Angels. I'm not sure exactly when Izzy and the rest were removed from the group. |
| HugeRockStar760 | Posted on 03/10/06 at 02:33:48 You really need to go back and actually watch the Four Horsemen (the original from 85-88) before saying a jobber group made the same kind of impact they did. Let's not even get started on comparing Special K to the nWo. Really, just because Special K has a bunch of current TNA wrestlers as past members, how does that equate to making the same impact the nWo did? The nWo took WCW and made them number one (along with many other factors). It also changed wrestling. The nWo was a totally new concept (at least in the United States). From obsessedwithwrestling.com: Special K Members: Abyss, Angel Dust, Becky Bayless, Brian XL, Cheech, Cloudy, Dana Dameson, Deranged, Dixie, Elax, Fred the Elephant Boy, Hydro, Hijinx, Izzy, Jody Fleisch, Joey Matthews, Krazy K, Lacey, Lit, Mellow, Mikey Whipwreck, Slim J, Slugger, Yeyo.. Yes, this is quite the impressive list. (Sarcasm). Now if you're referring to impact as in ROH, perhaps but not really. I'd be interested to hear how these names compare to the lasting impact The Four Horsemen and the nWo made to professional wrestling. Maybe I'm misinformed here. |
| Crpls | Posted on 03/10/06 at 02:37:19 Just to clear up one thing in case someone reads this and is confused: Angel Dust Azrael is Azrieal, not the Wildside Azrael who was in the Lost Boyz. |
| Anubis | Posted on 03/10/06 at 05:31:40On 03/10/06 at 02:33:48, HugeRockStar760 wrote:You really need to go back and actually watch the Four Horsemen (the original from 85-88) before saying a jobber group made the same kind of impact they did.Whoa now. As one of the biggest fans of the Four Horsemen, trust me when I say I know how big they were. I just didn't know Special K was a jobber group. On 03/10/06 at 02:33:48, HugeRockStar760 wrote:Let's not even get started on comparing Special K to the nWo. Really, just because Special K has a bunch of current TNA wrestlers as past members, how does that equate to making the same impact the nWo did? The nWo took WCW and made them number one (along with many other factors). It also changed wrestling. The nWo was a totally new concept (at least in the United States).I was under the impression that Special K was pretty big in ROH given how many members were in it. That's actually what made me think "nWo", the two dozen or more members. On 03/10/06 at 02:33:48, HugeRockStar760 wrote:From obsessedwithwrestling.com:Need I remind you that Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard were midcarders and pretty overlooked when the Four Horsemen first started? How about the fact that half of members of the nWo were always useless and never really got big anyway. Special K seems about par for the course, really. Abyss, Dana Dameson, Hydro (a.k.a. Jay Lethal), Jody Fleisch, Joey Matthews (Joey Mercury?), Lacey, and Mikey Whipwreck are all some of the most talked about indy (and above in some cases) wrestlers around from what I've been reading. That's another thing that made me think they were more influential. On 03/10/06 at 02:33:48, HugeRockStar760 wrote:Now if you're referring to impact as in ROH, perhaps but not really. I'd be interested to hear how these names compare to the lasting impact The Four Horsemen and the nWo made to professional wrestling. Maybe I'm misinformed here.You're only misinformed about my thinking. I came here asking for the scoop on Special K. From what I've read, Special K and its members seemed to be a pretty big part of ROH, but having never seen them, I wouldn't know, hence why I asked. If they were a jobber stable, then okay, I came here to find all that out. I wasn't actually putting them up there with the Four Horsemen or the nWo (although Special K has several members who are better than some members of either group, especially when talking about crappers like Paul Roma and Vincent), but I was thinking it was possible that they were to ROH what those groups were to NWA and WCW because of all the stuff I've read. Unfortunately, none of the reading actually explained their place on the card, so I didn't know if they were jobbers or midcarders or what. Seeing TEW, I thought low on the card at first, but then I go see names like Abyss, Mikey Whipwreck, and Jody Fleish and that made me think twice about it all. So yeah, no misconceptions, I'm on a hunt for information, nothing more. Still, why do I have a hard time picturing Abyss as a jobber raver? That said, what's the full deal with Dana Dameson? I hear her being called the "Queen of Controversy", and it seems to go back to stuff in ROH along with an incident involving Homicide and Valentina. Whats' the deal with her? She looks like she'd be fun and she's hot as Hell, but she also strikes me as a troublemaker and slut. |
| Captain Tagon | Posted on 03/10/06 at 05:49:51 I'm not sure if Abyss ever wrestled in RoH as part of Special K. I know he had a few matches recently as part of the Embassy, but as part of Special K he'd show up, beat the hell out of their opponents, and then Izzy and Dixie would still get beat by the Briscoes or whatever. Abyss was kind of their hired muscle guy. As was some other huge black guy whose name I can't remember. And yeah, Joey Matthews is Joey Mercury. |
| HugeRockStar760 | Posted on 03/10/06 at 06:32:42 No one will ever argue with you that Paul Roma was the worst Horseman of all time. Yes, even Mongo McMichael was a better Horseman. The time frame I was referncing was their glory days. And I'd put Arn and Tully up there as upper midcarders. If Tully hadn't gone through his drug problems, I have no doubt he'd feud with Flair and been right up there in WCW. Arn was a solid midcarder to upper midcarder. The thing about Arn was that you could actually suspend belief when he wrestled a match. It puts the WWE style of supposed psychology to shame. |
| Anubis | Posted on 03/10/06 at 06:56:15 Damn straight. Arn Anderson was one of the best wrestlers ever. He even made Ric Flair's talent pale in comparison, primarily because the matches weren't quite as predictable, that and because Double A used what might even be considered Strong Style work in the ring. He was awesome to watch wrestle. The few times I saw him wrestle in WCW before he retired got me wanting more, which is why I rented as many old videos as I could that listed Arn Anderson in a match. He's a true "wrestling god". I haven't even seen many Japanese wrestlers who had the level of psychology that Double A had. His career was cut far too short, right as he was exploding into the main event after his big wins over Hulk Hogan. I heard that Lex Luger and a botched surgery are the primary reasons he was put out of commission, but I couldn't verify it. |
| HugeRockStar760 | Posted on 03/10/06 at 07:00:49On 03/10/06 at 06:56:15, Anubis wrote:Damn straight. Arn Anderson was one of the best wrestlers ever. He even made Ric Flair's talent pale in comparison, primarily because the matches weren't quite as predictable, that and because Double A used what might even be considered Strong Style work in the ring. He was awesome to watch wrestle. The few times I saw him wrestle in WCW before he retired got me wanting more, which is why I rented as many old videos as I could that listed Arn Anderson in a match. He's a true "wrestling god". I haven't even seen many Japanese wrestlers who had the level of psychology that Double A had. His career was cut far too short, right as he was exploding into the main event after his big wins over Hulk Hogan.Sid Vicious and a pair of scissors are what you're referring to. However, I think his retirement is due to a neck injury and the fact he was losing control of/or sensation in one of his hands. Lex Luger gets a bad rap a lot of times. Go rent or buy some 80s NWA wrestling featuring Lex Luger. From 87-91 he was on his game and was actually motivated. His series with Ric Flair are probably his zenith, along with his match against Ricky Steamboat at Bash '89. He was probably their most over face and yet he was being booked as a heel, unsuccessfully. Quite similar to WWE continuing to ignore their fans booing Cena, and cheering Angle (well not anymore on the Angle front thankfully). |
| Anubis | Posted on 03/10/06 at 09:49:54 Oh, I knew about the scissors incident, but that's not what I was talking about. I had heard somewhere that Lex Luger botched a move in a match against Arn Anderson, leading to Arn's injury, and then the doctors who operated on Arn botched the surgery, leading to the retirement. Again, not sure if that's the truth or not, but it's what I heard. Well, wait, I do know the botched surgery on Arn's neck is what forced him to retire (he couldn't feel his arm anymore after the surgery to fuse his vertebrae), but what I'm not certain of is whether or not Luger is the one who caused the initial injury. Someone had to have injured him, as his wrestling style doesn't really come with any real risk for the most part, and he's one of the most solid workers on the planet, so I doubt he would have just gotten hurt for no reason. Not sure if Luger was the one or not, but I'd heard that somewhere. Can't remember where for the life of me. |
| Murphy42782 | Posted on 03/10/06 at 14:21:38 the 80s had a lot of technically sound workers, Arn Anderson has long been a favorite of mine, for his ring work and his attitude. He never needed to be the attraction, he didnt mind watchin the attractions back so to speak. Dynamite Kid was another solid worker who's matches are great, especially if he was placed in a ring with another decent worker. Dynamite and Arn definitely couldve pursued main event status based on in ring work. |
| Rick Garrard | Posted on 03/11/06 at 01:32:08 Scott Steiner was the one that injured Arn Anderson. It was well before Scott cut his hair and joined the nWo too, before anyone suggests that. Scott did one of his then patented Steiner suplexes and Arn fell wrong. Simple as that. Arn then continued to wrestle well after said incident for at least a year or two. His neck injury was onset by Steiner hurting his neck, but compounded by bump after bump. In a similar vein, it's like when Davey Boy Smith kept blaming the Warrior's trap door for his back injury, but if you watch the match in question, Davey legit hurts his back when being slammed into a ringpost well before even taking a bump on the trap door. |
| Critic of the Dawn | Posted on 03/13/06 at 05:53:15 Special K was a lower midcard heel group in Ring of Honor with dozens of members over its lifespan. The group's gimmick was that of a bunch of punk rich kid ravers with a lot of potential but who were too high to realize it. Because they were so high, they apparently didn't notice that they usually ended up on the losing end of the contests they were invovled in. Aside from a few core members, the group existed to fill spots in tag team matches and scrambles without necessitating ROH to guarantee that well known names would be available for most of their shows. Basically, ROH would bring in more or less any spotty high fliers they could find from the area, give the lot of them glowsticks, and send a half dozen or so of them out to do crazy flippy moves and get beaten down by their more serious opponents. There were, however, a few regular members, including Izzy (Insane Dragon), Dixie, Angel Dust (Azriael), etc. These regulars did manage to capture the Tag Team Titles a couple times, but for the most part the group hung around the lower midcard and were only a touch higher than the Ring Crew Express in ROH's heirarchy. As for Lacey's Angels, after being together for around two and a half years, the Special K had pretty much exhausted the limits of their gimmick. The group thus began to suffer an extended losing streak. Special K decided that the only way to start winning again was to get serious. The group thus started entering without music, dropped the glowsticks, dancing, etc. This went on unsuccessfully for a while, until Izzy got a new girlfriend named Lacey. Lacey encouraged Izzy to continue Special K's traditional methods, and about half of the group resumed the raver lifestyle. Angel Dust, Dixie and Becky Bayless (Special K's longtime babe-a-licious manager) however resisted this return. This led to a civil war inside of Special K, with Lacey playing the Yoko figure causing the split. Izzy, Deranged and Lacey faced off against Angel Dust, Dixie and Becky Bayless. Things started with simple matches to try to prove the other group was going astray, but things rapidly escalated out of control as Becky and Lacey clashed over what Becky saw as Lacey tearing down the stable she had been a part of for a long time. Eventually, the two groups agreed to a match to determine who had the right to call themselves Special K. Becky's faction won, and declared that Special K was dead. Izzy and Deranged were quickly re-packaged as Lacey's Angels, but their tag team run wasn't very successful. Eventually Lacey fired both of them and instead hired former Tag Team Champions Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer as her new Angels. Jacobs quickly developed a crush on Lacey, which led to Whitmer leaving the group to focus on singles competition again. Meanwhile, Azriael and Dixie had a moderately successful tag team run before sort of fading away themselves after Becky was seriously injured in a car accident. Presently, with the recent departure of Jay Lethal and Azriael, I don't believe any members of Special K remain except for Lacey. Fun Fact: WWE Tag Team Champion Joey Mercury is a former member of Special K. Eric "Critic of the Dawn" |