For Christmas this past year, my brother gave me a stack of old MAD Magazines. At first glance, none of them were particularly notable, but when I brought them home, I noticed the back cover of Super Sized MAD 129 from July 1998. It was an installment of Al Jaffee’s classic “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions,” and this time, it was “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions at a Wrestling Match.” If you’re not familiar, the premise of this long-recurring MAD feature is someone asks a “stupid question” of some type, and Jaffee provides an illustrated series of humorous and “snappy” answers. For example, in the first panel, a woman entering a wrestling event asks, “Are these matches phony?” and a man off to the side provides the following snappy answers: “No, the pre-planned outcomes occur entirely by accident!” “Phony? Do you call the ballet phony just because it’s well choreographed??” and “No, the matches are legit. It’s the audiences reaction that’s phony!”
I might actually use that last one in real life.
I’ve written about wrestling references in MAD Magazine a number of times before, usually for their classic cover art. It’s clearly a subject they love, or love to make fun of, and I think it’s been far too long since MAD last turned their humorous lens on professional wrestling.
It wasn’t long after this when fellow comic book and wrestling fan, and TrumpMania author, Lavie Margolin tagged me on X. He had shared a page from Marvel Age110 (1992), Marvel’s defunct monthly promotional magazine, which was hyping up Marvel’s WCW comic book, simply titled WCW World Championship Wrestling. But more than that, this was a short editorial discussing some of the various wrestling plots present in earlier Marvel comics. Some of the stories mentioned, like Spider-Man’s origin and the Thing’s pro wrestling career, I’ve written about in previous articles, but I was excited to learn of some new (or old?) pro wrestling comic book stories that I had otherwise missed.
Marvel Comics Presents issue 45, published in March 1990, doesn’t initially look like it’s related to professional wrestling. The cover features Wolverine and the Avengers, but inside this comic book hides a brief story featuring the Incredible Hulk wrestling the man who usurped his name. This comic is notable because it features a comic book appearance by Hulk Hogan, although “Hogan” is never used, just Hulk, which should make this book a little more collectible for (some) wrestling fans, but since he’s not featured on the cover, is a bit of a sleeper, and can be purchased for a couple dollars, while online sales for this comic that advertise Hogan in the listing attempt to sell it for more, so if this book interests you for that reason, and you want to see the Incredible Hulk beat up the other Hulk, shop smartly and you can buy it cheap.
Connected to the Thing’s previously mentioned wrestling career is an issue of Marvel Super-Heroes 7, the 1991 Fall Special. In a story titled “The Gator Show,” Marvel Boy of the New Warriors, who previously appeared in the Thing’s wrestling story, goes to a wrestling show with his dad to see the in-ring return of Gator Grant, who’s retained his human form, and is no longer a literal alligator. Gator is in a match against the Cossack when Gator’s manager slips him a cup of “Gator Aid” that turns him back to his green, scaly self, and begins biting the Cossack. Well, Marvel Boy intervenes, saving the Cossask and knocking out Gator with the ring bell before Gator turns back to his human form. Overall, it’s a pretty silly but entertaining little story, and worth reading if you can find the issue for a dollar or two.
Clearly, the legacy of the Thing’s wrestling career has served as a minor but not insignificant touchstone for multiple Marvel stories over the years, but the Thing, himself, finally made his triumphant return to the squared circle not long ago.
In Deadpool Team-Up issue 888, the Thing is working commentary for Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation (UCWF) while Deadpool is introduced as the valet for a spiked shoulder pad wearing tag team called the Armageddonists. Deadpool is carrying a tennis racquet and wearing a kilt, so the wrestling references in this comic come fast and furious.
Several wrestling matches take place until the event is interrupted by an intergalactic wrestler named Max Intensity, who issues a challenge to the UCWF universe, but none of the wrestlers can defeat him, so the Thing jumps into action. The Thing is winning until Max Intensity splits himself in two, becoming a tag team, so Deadpool joins the Thing, and then it’s clobbering time! The Thing and Deadpool defeat Max Intensity, but UCWF management like what they see, and attempt to strike a deal with the aliens, in the hope of expanding their talent and ratings.
It turns out that Gator Grant also quite recently made a return to Marvel Comics. In the premier issue of Venom War, which was released in October 2024, Gator and other wrestling characters from previous Marvel comics play a significant role in this major crossover event.
The first issue of Venom War begins in Grand Garden Arena, in a wrestling ring, with wrestler Symbiote Smith issuing a challenge to the UCWF, which had its origins in the Thing’s 1980s solo run. Smith’s challenge is answered by Gator Grant (back in proper Gator form), but the match doesn’t last long before a run-in by Eddie Brock (the first character to become Venom) and his Symbiote crew, who quickly dispatch of Symbiote Smith and Gator.
On commentary for this war is Doc Sawbones, another (minor) former UCWF wrestler, and the one and only Crusher Hogan, the character Spider-Man wrestled in his origin story in Amazing Fantasy #15, so the wrestling references in Venom War are plentiful.
I had only planned on reading the first issue of Venom War, after I learned of an appearance by Gator Grant, but once I saw how wrestling plays a pivotal role throughout the five issue story, it’s something I now plan to collect and read in-full.
I appreciate that pro wrestling characters, and specifically the UCWF, have remained a presence in Marvel Comics since UCWF’s introduction in 1985, nearly 40 years ago. Since its inception, the UCWF has typically served as a minor point of reference in Marvel comics, but now that it played a pivotal role in Venom War, I hope to one day see a new, full comic book focusing exclusively on Marvel’s official pro wrestling organization, featuring Marvel UCWF wrestlers from the past and future, but until that fateful day, I’ll continue to hunt for more examples of when pro wrestling inspires non-wrestling comic books.
RELATED LINKS
- When pro wrestling inspires non-wrestling comic books, part 5
- When pro wrestling inspires non-wrestling comic books, part 4
- When pro wrestling inspires non-wrestling comic books, part 3
- When pro wrestling inspires non-wrestling comic books, part 2
- When pro wrestling inspires non-wrestling comic books
- Not Another Collectible! Archive
