Pro wrestling veteran Marc Mero appeared on The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast, where he discussed various topics, including how Dusty Rhodes came up with his Johnny B Badd gimmick.
Mero said, “I remember Dusty Rhodes said to me, ‘Did anybody ever tell you, you look like Little Richard?’ And I’m thinking, I thought he was talking about a wrestler. So I said, ‘I don’t know who a Little Richard is.’ He goes, ‘You don’t know Little Richard? A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop, A-lop-bam-boom?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, the singer?’ And he goes, ‘Yeah.’ And I said I never heard that before.”
On Terri Runnels giving him the look:
“He goes, ‘Oh, I think I got a gimmick for you…Next thing I know, Terri Runnels…the makeup artist for WCW…I remember she put me in this chair and next thing you know, with the makeup and the eyeliner and everything, all of a sudden, she spins me around the chair, I’m going ‘Oh my gosh, I look like Little Richard.’ And that’s how it took off.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to Fightful for transcribing the above quotes)
