Basher Malone
Basher Malone (Steve DiSalvo) is a professional wrestler with a heart of gold. While constantly accompanied by his affectionate mother (Marie Denn), Basher easily mops the floor with every rival he goes up against, hoping to use his incredible skills to rid the wrestling world of fighters who play dirty, while also giving all the "impressionable young children" watching him a good role model to look up to. Incensed with Basher's popularity, Tippy Ryan (Vic Tayback), a crooked manager whose unscrupulous wrestlers used to rule the circuit, challenges Basher to a one-on-one fight after hours at his gym, Basher's opponent being his newest client, a demonic wrestler known as Trog (Magic Schwarz). If Basher wins, Tippy must close his gym and lay off all of his fighters, but if Basher loses, he must leave the world of professional wrestling forever, leaving his young fans to have their souls corrupted.
Tropes:
- Added Alliterative Appeal: The announcer at the opening match, as part of the post-match interview, reminds Tippy that Basher has "degraded, debased, de-maimed, and dismantled" every one of his fighters.
- All-Loving Hero: Basher and his mother, which is eagerly reciprocated by his fans young and old.
- Blue Is Heroic: Basher wears blue trunks when he's in the ring, going against the red and black that his wicked opponents always wear.
- Bookends: Vic Tayback, who played the protagonist of the first episode, returns to this, the final episode, as the antagonist.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Tippy makes no attempt to hide what a villainous man he is, especially through his demonic connections and powerful standing as a representative for the "Fire and Brimstone League", as well as the fact that his gym is given the name "the Devil's Workshop". He also blatantly gives his wrestlers advantages and their opponents handicaps, regardless of what the rules say.
- Cheaters Never Prosper: After an entire episode of blatantly giving his fighters the upper hand, Tippy ends up being banished to the Underworld alongside Trog.
- Children Are Innocent: Tippy has this view of young wrestling fans, calling them easy pickings for his dirty and demonic fighters to corrupt.
- Cigar Chomper: Tippy, as is customary to a man of his villainous nature.
- Cool Old Lady: Ma Malone, who loves her son unconditionally, gives cookies and beverages to everyone (even the villains) at his matches, and comes to his aid by dousing Trog with lemonade and disintegrating Ursula with milk.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Basher easily makes mincemeat of all his competitors in the ring, but he ends up on the receiving end during the first act, thanks to Trog.
- Denser and Wackier: This episode operates on a formula specifically tailored to children, with goofy characters, an energetic score, and juvenile humor. It's even lampshaded In-Universe by the fact that "impressionable young children" really enjoy watching wrestling on TV, giving Tippy's demonic fighters plenty of young souls to corrupt.
- Dragged Off to Hell: Trog and Tippy are banished to the Underworld thanks to the combined efforts of Basher and his Ma.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Noted above, the Malones win the climactic match against Trog and Tippy through their own talents, and are last seen heading out to enjoy a celebratory steak dinner.
- Establishing Character Moment: Ma Malone offering her son cookies while he's in the ring against Lockjaw, and Basher using his victory interview to teach kids to do the right thing.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Basher's mother is only ever referred to as "Ma."
- Evil Is Hammy: All the bad guys, given how shamelessly demonic they are.
- Five-Aces Cheater: Tippy is seen giving Lockjaw a pair of brass knuckles in the opening match, and later outfits Trog with an electronic counter that absorbs Basher's pride and purity to make himself stronger and heavier, both acts being blatantly paraded in spite of regulations. As Tippy himself says, "Only wimps fight fair!"
- Good Samaritan: Basher and his mother, the former trying his damndest to clean the dirty competitors out of the wrestling world while being a good role model to his young fans, and the latter for endlessly supporting her son and giving cookies to everyone at his matches.
- Grand Finale: Of the whole series. And what a finale it is.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Basher's hair and mustache are blonde and shiny to emphasize his status as an all-around good guy.
- Hate Sink / Hated by All: As part of the episode's goofy tone, Tippy is a flagrant villain who blatantly helps his fighters cheat and abuses them when he lets them down, to the point where every single person in the episode despises him.
- Heroic Second Wind: Basher gets his at the climax of the episode, thanks to his Ma taking Ursula out of the picture.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Trog accidentally pounces on Tippy as he tries one last time to get the drop on Basher. Making contact with Tippy results in Trog's sin counter skyrocketing to 99999, leaving the pair unable to escape as the portal to the Underworld drags them inside.
- Honey Trap: Ursula uses her sex appeal to distract Basher throughout the climactic match, allowing Trog to get the drop on him.
- "I Can't Look!" Gesture: Ma does this as Trog goes to work on her son.
- I'm Melting!: Ursula melts away after Ma inadvertently splashes her with milk.
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Basher doesn't fall for any of the sinful tricks that Tippy, Ursula, and Trog, who is said to get heavier and stronger by absorbing the sinfulness of his opponents, tempt him with, though he does come close at least once.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The fact that Tippy tries to get "good guy" Basher out of the wrestling world so he can stop giving sound advice to "impressionable young children" is lampshaded in the subtle fact that the episode itself panders entirely to kids.
- Momma's Boy: Basher is accompanied by his Ma for the whole episode, and she flagrantly helps him cheat just as Tippy does to his fighters.
- Ms. Fanservice: Ursula, the demonic hussy who serves as Trog's arm candy and tries to seduce Basher so Trog can absorb his purity and get even heavier.
- Only Friend: Ursula's death prompts Tippy to comment how she was the only friend Trog ever had, prompting the demon to go on the warpath.
- Pride: Basher's only sin is his hubris, as he prides himself as a moral and upstanding good guy for the sake of his fans while parading that no one can even touch him. Trog is given an electronic belt to wear that absorbs Basher's pride, making himself stronger and heavier in their climactic match.
- Power-Up Food: Ma's cookies have this effect on Basher, as one of them is able to help him overpower Lockjaw when he eats it.
- Product Placement: Trog and Ursula enter the gym by way of a Pepsi machine that acts as an interdimensional portal to the Underworld. When they and Tippy are vanquished, the portal disappears and the machine functions as a vending machine should, as Basher treats his mother to a couple of bottles and takes her out for a steak dinner.
- Protagonist-Centered Morality: Basher's mother storming the ring and dousing Trog with lemonade to hinder him, and accidentally killing Ursula through the same trick, can be seen as a blatant case of her stooping to Tippy's level, but the viewers are meant to sympathize with this act because her son is the "good guy".
- Pro Wrestling Episode: A zany and childish episode where two wrestlers, one human and the other a demon, engage in a one-on-one match for the fate of kids' souls everywhere.
- Rage Breaking Point: Ursula's death sends Trog over the edge, as she was said to be his only friend. Fortunately for the Malones, Trog gets so caught up in his rage that he doesn't actually pin Basher for the full three seconds, allowing the good-hearted wrestler to trick him into pouncing on his manager, taking himself and Tippy down in one fell swoop.
- Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: During the opening match, Basher grabs Lockjaw in a headlock and punches him in the face over a dozen times in the span of minutes.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Tippy gives Basher a huge one from his villainous point of view, about how his dirty fighters were looked up to as heroes before he came along, and about how everyone wants to root for him, "the good guy", taking away all of his business.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Ursula and Trog, as befitting their natures as hellspawn.
- Satan: Tippy takes a phone call from him early in the episode, where he complains about the "wimps" he sent up after Basher whupped them all, and insisting that he needs a real heavy hitter if he's gonna take him down.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: Trog does this once his counter goes totally to zero,
- Second-Face Smoke: Tippy spitefully blows cigar smoke in Ma Malone's face after she gives Trog a flagrant handicap so her son can pin him. In response, she merely sprays air freshener at his face, driving him to a coughing fit.
- Shout-Out: Tippy cracks "Good night, Irene!" when Trog piledrives Basher, after the finishing move of fellow wrestler Adrian Adonis.
- Smoking Hot Sex: Ursula showers Trog with kisses near the start of the second act, prompting him to smolder with delight and get ready to take Basher down for good.
- Stock Sound Effects:
- A Star Wars laser blast is heard whenever the portal to the Underworld activates and closes. It also plays as Ursula scans Trog with some kind of laser weapon to help acclimate to the "less-than-warm" climate of the gym.
- Cartoonish "boings" are also heard when Basher is launched into the ropes during his and Trog's fight.
- Swirly Energy Thingy: The portal to the Underworld takes the form of a blue void hidden behind a Pepsi machine.
- The Voiceless: Trog only utters animalistic growls and demented laughter throughout the episode.
- Weaksauce Weakness: For whatever reason, demons appear to be easily harmed by cold beverages.
- During the first act, Ma douses Trog with lemonade before Ursula can warm him up with her laser gun, giving him his own handicap.
- During the second act, Ursula is completely dissolved when Ma accidentally splashes her with milk, depriving Trog of his chief helper.
- When the Clock Strikes Twelve: Tippy sets up the climactic match at midnight, in his gym, with no audience or referee.
- World of Ham: Everyone here goes crazy, in keeping with the spirit of pro wrestling.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: Tippy uses the fighters that "his client" sends to him to take the souls of their child fans, to which the "client" "takes it from there".
