Line #94 Wrestling/HonkyTonkMan


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1532532279_honky_tonk_man.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:The greatest Intercontinental champion there ever was!]]
3	->"''I got long sideburns and my hair slicked back\
4	I'm coming to your town in my pink Cadillac\
5	I'm just a Honky Tonk Man (He's just a Honky Tonk Man)\
6	I'm just a Honky Tonk Man (He's just a Honky Tonk Man)\
7	I'm just a Honky Tonk Man, I'm cool, I'm cocky, I'm bad"''
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9	Roy Wayne Farris (born January 25, 1953), better known by his stage name '''The Honky Tonk Man''', is an American professional wrestler, best known for his run in the then-WWF playing the character of a cocky Music/ElvisPresley's impersonator.
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11	Having wrestled in various independent leagues since 1978, The Honky Tonk Man made his debut in the WWF in 1986. Originally planned to be a fan-favorite face, the initial negative reaction to the character caused its reinvention as a smarmy heel, managed by Jimmy "Mouth of the South" Hart [[note]]Who was then billed as "Colonel Jimmy Hart"[[/note]]. His first major feud would be against [[Wrestling/JakeRoberts Jake "The Snake" Roberts]].
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13	In 1987, Honky Tonk Man would defeat [[Wrestling/RickySteamboat Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat]] for the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/ic.html WWF Intercontinental title]]. He would remain Intercontinental Champ for the next year and three months, fending off challenges from wrestlers such as [[Wrestling/RandySavage "Macho Man" Randy Savage]], [[Wrestling/GeorgeSteele George "The Animal" Steele]], and [[Wrestling/BrutusBeefcake Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake]] (By cheating... ''quite'' often).
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15	Honky Tonk Man was originally scheduled to take on Beefcake at the 1988 ''Wrestling/SummerSlam'' Pay-Per-View event. However, right before the event, Beefcake was written into a feud against Wrestling/OutlawRonBass, and was to be replaced in the match by a mystery opponent. That mystery opponent would end up being the then-red-hot Wrestling/UltimateWarrior, who defeated Honky Tonk Man for the belt in a SquashMatch that only lasted 31 seconds.
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17	Throughout 1989 and 1990, Honky Tonk Man would make appearances as a mid-card wrestler and teaming up with Wrestling/GregValentine as the "Rhythm & Blues" tag team. He would also on occasion serve as a heel color-commentator, until leaving the company in January 1991. Farris would bounce around various other promotions, including a short stint in WCW, before returning to WWF as a color commentator and manager in 1997. From that point on, Farris would make sporadic appearance on WWF programmings, including at the 1998 and 2001 Royal Rumble as a JokeCharacter entry, as well as numerous appearances at independent promotions . He was inducted into the Wrestling/WWEHallOfFame in 2019.
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19	And do not confuse him with that Creator/ClintEastwood's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honkytonk_Man flick]], Johnny Horton's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honky-Tonk_Man tune]] or the Steve Young's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honky_Tonk_Man_(album) album]]... the [[SimilarlyNamedWorks names are similar]], though.
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21	----
22	!! "These tropes here... ♫♪"they're cool, they're cocky, they're b-b-b-b-b-b-baaaaad!♪♫"
23	* ArchEnemy:
24	** in Memphis: [[Wrestling/JerryLawler Jerry "The King" Lawler]] and Bill Dundee.
25	** in Stampede: [[Wrestling/AllenCoage Bad News Allen]].
26	** In WWF: Jake Roberts, Ricky Steamboat, Randy Savage, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake.
27	** in IWCCW: [[Wrestling/RickRude "Ravishing" Rick Rude]].
28	* BerserkButton: He did '''NOT''' like people messing with his hair. This apparently applies to ''other'' peoples hair as well, as he freaked out after Brutus Beefcake snipped off a few locks from Jimmy Hart after their Wrestlemania 4 match, and Honky spent the post-match interview desperatly trying to hide his manager underneath his jacket.
29	* BrushOffWalkOff: He was once interviewing Wrestling/HulkHogan. HTM made the mistake of asking the Hulkster if he'd ever turn his back on someone he was afraid of. Hulk said he would never turn his back on someone he was afraid of...and then immediately turned his back on HTM and immediately walked off the set, never once looking at HTM.
30	* TheCameo: He made a brief but startling cameo appearance in the opener for the 3rd season of Wrestling/LuchaUnderground as the prison officer who returned Dario Cueto's possessions to him when he was released.
31	* CaptainErsatz: [[Music/ElvisPresley ...can you guess of whom, b-b-b-b-baby?]]
32	* CatchPhrase: "Thank you very much. You've been a lovely audience!" Right after a match.
33	* ContrivedCoincidence: Like Elvis, Wayne's natural hair is blond.
34	* CrowdChant: "Here we go, Honky!"
35	* CurbStompBattle: His record-breaking 64 weeks IC reign was ended in 31 seconds by [[Wrestling/UltimateWarrior The Ultimate Warrior]], Honky didn't even have time to finish getting out of his leisure suit.
36	* DanceBattler: Honky used to perform "The Pelvis" that came with the gimmick to taunt his opponents, [[CheapHeat enraging the audience]] in the process. This turned out to be on his own benefit as he showed in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZKdSu0QQ6I ''Cyber Sunday '08'']] to the then IC Champ Wrestling/SantinoMarella just [[FollowTheLeader how it should be done]].
37	* DefeatMeansFriendship: With Lord Zoltan, after he declared his manager, Mayor Mystery, a failure for costing him a victory to Honky Tonk Man at KSWA's 2014 Fan fest/Toy drive.
38	* DirtyCoward: This man made a whole career out of of being a cowardly, smuggy and cheating heel.
39	* DoItYourselfThemeTune: ''"Cool, cocky and bad."'' It is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUAmfJlgh9s catchy as hell!]]
40	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: His run as a member of the Blonde Bombers in Memphis, since he had blond hair and looked nothing like he did later. He also had a thin handlebar mustache at this time, which was really bizarre looking on him.
41	** His early days in the WWE, when he was originally being pitched as a Face, including a completely different theme song: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJdxMwgab0A "That's Alright"]]. This theme can be heard in some of his earliest matches as a Heel too, most notably in his Wrestlemania 3 fight against Jake Roberts, though it's difficult to make out over the noise from the crowd.
42	* ElvisImpersonator: [[SarcasmMode Noooo!!!! Really???]]
43	* ExtremityExtremist: He tended to use his fists more than anything, trading as less locks, holds and throws as possible. Incidentally, his more well known {{Signature Mov\|e}}es were a series of ''Jabs'', a Running ''Straight'', multiples punches to his opponent's face from a ''Side Headlock'' and a Top-rope ''Fist Drop''.
44	* FaceHeelTurn: One of the more interesting turns of the 80s. Despite no less than Wrestling/HulkHogan endorsing Honky, fans just didn't buy NiceGuy Honky one bit. Eventually, this led to a promo where Honky, being interviewed by Wrestling/JesseVentura, thought he'd ask the fans for a "vote of confidence." Fans responded by mail with an [[BigNo overwhelming "nay,"]] ...Jesse (being Jesse), rubbed it in. Honky later responded with a [[StartOfDarkness bitter promo]] promising ''"...no more kissing babies and shaking hands."'', adopting Wrestling/JimmyHart, the Mouth Of The South himself, as his new manager. And the rest is history.
45	* {{Fingore}}: In a "Ultimate Champion Wrestling" event, an accident at a photo-op nearly severed Farris' right index finger.
46	* FinishingMove:
47	** "Shake, Rattle, & Roll", a ''Swinging Neckbreaker'' (after doing a little dance).
48	** "El Kabong", after the famous WesternAnimation/QuickDrawMcGraw's attack.
49	* GenreSavvy: He kept the IC strap for so long by losing some matches, either by disqualification or count-out, whereupon the belt would not switch hands.
50	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Don't you '''''EVER''''' say, "''I DON'T CARE WHO IT IS!''" when shouting for someone to fight you for the championship title [[TemptingFate like Honky did]], otherwise you'll be on the receiving end of a ''31 second CurbStompBattle''.
51	* {{Irony}}:
52	** It is not him, but his also-famous cousin who bears "The King" moniker due the fact the latter has been the only performer who outsold Elvis himself at the Mid-South Colliseum... ''[[CrossTheLineTwice IN MEMPHIS, TN]]''!!!
53	** He's [[AlwaysSecondBest second]] to the most famous ElvisImpersonator... and his name is also ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Newton Wayne]]''.
54	* LegacyCharacter: Tried to mold Wrestling/BillyGunn into this as "Rockabilly", which ended up bombing, and Billy turned against his mentor at the same time that [[Wrestling/RoadDogg The Roadie]] did the same to Wrestling/JeffJarrett. Together, they instead formed the New Age Outlaws, completely abandoning their mentors' gimmicks.
55	* LethalJokeCharacter: Became this after he smashed Jake over the head with a ''real'' guitar (although by accident), and then won the IC Title later.
56	* LongRunner: Held the IC title for '''454 days''' (June 2, 1987 - August 29, 1988), [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WWE_Intercontinental_Champions which]] '''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WWE_Intercontinental_Champions was]]''' [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WWE_Intercontinental_Champions up to September 4, 2023 the longest IC title reign in WWE history.]] His record was finally broken by [[Wrestling/{{Walter}} Gunther]], but it took over 35 years, an impressive length of time for any record to stand, even in professional wrestling.
57	* MerchandiseDriven: His original WWE Face debut was intended for this, according to the man himself. The Honkey Tonk Man had already been a successfull Heel character in Memphis and Stampede when Hulk Hogan got him in contact with Vince Mcmahon, who thought he'd be able to make Honky Tonk Man a hero and sell toy guitars or t-shirt leisure suits the same way they'd monetized Hogan. This flopped ''badly'', as the character did not lend itself to Face work, and the wrestler himself was a natural Heel.
58	* MotorMouth:
59	** Both as the Honky Tonk Man as well as out of character doing shoot interviews for RF or Kayfabe Commentaries. When he does shoot interviews, he hardly stops talking to take a breath.
60	** In his one man stage show, which is different from a shoot interview and more like a standup comedy set, he usually goes well beyond the one hour limit that most clubs set for their acts.
61	* NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught: He won the IC championship in his match against "The Dragon" by shadily using the bottom ropes for extra leverage on his pin, and that was just one of his many... ''MANY'' tricks.
62	* NotSoHarmlessVillain: People tended to forget that Honky was a well seasoned GarbageWrestler due to his most famous gimmick's comical nature and tendency to be outmatched by the top Faces. This guy can put up ''a hell of a fight'' if he wants to.
63	* OhCrap: Upon hearing the Ultimate Warrior's music at the infamous ''Summerslam 88'' match, his cheery demeanor immediately ceases as Honky Tonk realizes how ''screwed'' he was.
64	* OverlyLongGag: To the point all commentators began to call his manager "Colonel".
65	* PerkyFemaleMinion: [[Wrestling/SherriMartel "Peggy Sue"]]. [[Wrestling/RandySavage "The Mach"]] would be having a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute of [[{{Kayfabe}} her]] later [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OfW6PV2e2E on]].
66	* PowerStable:
67	** (in Memphis): [[Wrestling/JimmyHart The First Family]].
68	** (in Stampede): Foley's[[note]]JR Foley, real name John Foley, no relation to those [[Wrestling/JimRoss other]] [[Wrestling/MickFoley guys]][[/note]] Army and Sonny King's Army.
69	** (in WWF):
70	*** The Hart Foundation.
71	*** ''[[Wrestling/SurvivorSeries Survivor Series '87]]'': w/Wrestling/HarleyRace, Wrestling/HerculesHernandez, Wrestling/OutlawRonBass and "Dangerous" Danny Davis. Managed by Jimmy Hart and Wrestling/BobbyHeenan.
72	*** ''Survivor Series '88'': w/Bass, Davis, [[Wrestling/AllenCoage Bad News Brown]] and [[Wrestling/GregValentine Greg "The Hammer" Valentine]]. Managed again by Hart.
73	*** ''Survivor Series '89'': "The Enforcers" w/Brown,[[Wrestling/RickMartel "The Model" Rick Martel]] and Wrestling/BigBossMan. Managed by Hart and Wrestling/{{Slick}}.
74	*** ''Survivor Series '90'': "The Million Dollar Team" w/Valentine,[[Wrestling/TedDiBiase "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Di Biase]] and Wrestling/TheUndertaker. Managed by Hart, [[Wrestling/BrucePrichard Brother Love]] and Wrestling/{{Virgil}}.
75	* RingOldies: You can see him popping out here and there at times for a match, counting on the man's pushing 70.
76	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: His usual means of retaining his title, he'd get himself counted out.
77	** A non-kayfabe version was at his ''Halloween Havoc'' match with [[Wrestling/MarcMero Johnny B. Badd]] where after the match ended in a draw, he walked out of the ring and never appeared in WCW again. He was scheduled to appear at the next pay-per-view, but he refused to lose to Johnny B. Badd without a contract. When he was denied a contract, he left and never came back.
78	* SmallNameBigEgo: The concept behind Honky's character, being an ElvisImpersonator who is not only convinced that he's a far better musician than Elvis himself was (and often pretended Elvis ripped ''him'' off), he also sees himself as a world-class fighter, while in reality he was a bullying DirtyCoward who ran from any fight he couldn't breeze through.
79	* SomethingPerson: "The Honky Tonk '''Man'''."
80	* SquashMatch: On the receiving end of one by [[Wrestling/UltimateWarrior The Ultimate Warrior]] lasting 30 seconds. This is what happens when you carelessly shout "''[[TooDumbToLive I DON'T CARE WHO IT IS!]]''" when demanding someone to fight you ''[[HoistByHisOwnPetard for the championship that you currently have]]'', so he kinda [[LaserGuidedKarma had it coming to him]].
81	* TagTeam:
82	** (in Memphis and Nashville, as "Dynamyte" Wayne):
83	*** w/ Wrestling/KokoBWare.
84	** (In Florida):
85	*** "The Blonde Bombers" w/[[Wrestling/TheMoondogs Larry Latham]].
86	** (in Stampede, as The Honky Tonk Man):
87	*** "The Memphis Mafia" w/Kerry Brown.
88	*** w/The Cuban Assasin here and in indies.
89	** (in Mid-South):
90	*** [[Wrestling/GeneralSkandorAkbar Devastation Inc.]] w/Ron Starr.
91	** (in WWF):
92	*** "Rhythm & Blues" w/Valentine.
93	* TakeThatAudience: His arrogance and cockiness tended to [[CheapHeat sour many wrestling fans' day]].
94	* TemptingFate: At ''[=SummerSlam=] 1988'', Honky Tonk Man was scheduled to face off against Wrestling/BrutusBeefcake for Honky's Intercontinental Championship. When Beefcake was taken out of action, Honky, with no clear replacement challenger, hollered out for ''anybody'' to come out, saying he didn't care who it was. Moments passed by, and then [[Wrestling/UltimateWarrior "Unstable"]] began playing...
95	* TheatricsOfPain: He'd sell '''anything''', to outright comical degrees at times.
96	* TooDumbToLive: The aforementioned ''[=SummerSlam '88=]'' incident. ''"GIMME SOMEBODY OUT HERE TO WRESTLE; [[TemptingFate I DON'T CARE]] [[Wrestling/UltimateWarrior WHO IT IS!]]"'' Yeah, uh..... that was a very bad idea, Honky!
97	* UnlimitedWardrobe: His leisure suits, he had one for each occasion.
98	* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Accidentally hitting Wrestling/JakeRoberts with a ''real'' guitar instead of a fake one and injuring him would later lead to Roberts abusing painkillers and kick-starting his drug problem. Jake Roberts has said in interviews however that he doesn't blame Honky Tonk for the botch and that both are on good terms.
99	* WouldHitAGirl: Pushed '''[[Wrestling/MissElizabeth Elizabeth]]''' down right before he smashed Randy over the head with a guitar, at a time when WWE guys NEVER hit women, and ESPECIALLY not Liz.
100	* WrestlingFamily: He's Jerry Lawler's cousin.
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Context Wrestling / HonkyTonkMan