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Tex Slazenger and Shanghai Pierce / The Godwinns / Southern Justice


C.S.

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I almost feel like this needs two separate topics in a way, because Tex Slazenger and Shanghai Pierce in WCW were so different from The Godwinns in the WWF (and later Southern Justice, but they weren't really around long enough in that role).

 

I realize this team pre-dates their debut in WCW, but I'm going to start with their time there because that's where I first saw them.

 

Nostalgia may be fueling my opinions, but I remember Tex Slazenger and Shanghai Pierce being a really fun midcard heel team during the era of WCW Saturday Night. Particularly memorable, for me, was their "crazy" (at the time) match against The Vegas Connection - DDP and Vinnie Vegas (Kevin Nash).

 

Shanghai Pierce was masked at first, then lost the mask in an angle, but I can't recall the particulars. I always found it strange that one of the members of the team had a mask and the other didn't, but it was cool too. As a kid, Tex Slazenger seemed like the "leader" of the team to me. This is a point I'm bringing up for a reason and will come back to again in a minute. For whatever reason, Tex and Shanghai never won gold in WCW despite being one of the more "over" teams on the roster.

 

I wasn't nearly as enamored with The Godwinns in the WWF, even though they were the same wrestlers. Chalk it up to the gimmick, I guess. Of course, Henry O. Godwinn (Shanghai Pierce) was a WWF singles wrestler at first. His most (in)famous feud was with Triple H in a "Hog Pen Match" at one of the In Your House PPVs. At some point, Tex Slazenger appeared as a jobber for at least one match on Superstars or one of those shows (maybe under his real name Dennis Knight, but I can't remember). Eventually, Tex debuted as the dim-witted Phineas I. Godwinn and reformed his team with the former Shanghai, Henry O. Godwinn. With Tex and Shanghai, Tex was the clear "leader" IMO. The opposite was true with the Godwinns. By virtue of having more WWF experience, Henry (Shanghai) seemed to "take the lead" this time around. Maybe because of that, or the gimmick itself, this incarnation of the team never really worked for me the way Tex and Shanghai did.

 

Later on, they became Southern Justice under their real names, Mark Canterbury and Dennis Knight. That version of the team seemed cool as hell, but it didn't last long enough for anyone to really be able to judge it. If I recall correctly, Knight suffered a career-ending injury after taking a botched Doomsday Device from the LOD. Not sure if that is how the injury really happened or if that was just the storyline explanation. Either way, that spelled the end for Mark Canterbury's career. (Or did Canterbury come back for at least a short spelll to feud with LOD? I seem to recall that, but I may be confusing it with some other angle.)

 

Knight continued for a few more years as a lower card singles wrestler - Mideon, Naked Mideon, etc.

 

Overall, I'd call this team a mixed bag, but I blame it more on the silliness of their WWF gimmick than anything the wrestlers themselves did. Dennis Knight and Mark Canterbury were pretty solid and effective together in the ring, I thought. What did everyone else here think of their various teams and gimmicks?

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I loved the Godwinns when the Attitude stuff was just starting and they turned heel. They dropped the red and yellow t shirts and slop bucket stuff and just wore overalls. They were being pushed as just two huge dirty rednecks that were tough as fuck. I seem to recall them fueding with the Road Warriors and being portrayed as equals.

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Later on, they became Southern Justice under their real names, Mark Canterbury and Dennis Knight. That version of the team seemed cool as hell, but it didn't last long enough for anyone to really be able to judge it. If I recall correctly, Knight suffered a career-ending injury after taking a botched Doomsday Device from the LOD. Not sure if that is how the injury really happened or if that was just the storyline explanation. Either way, that spelled the end for Mark Canterbury's career. (Or did Canterbury come back for at least a short spelll to feud with LOD? I seem to recall that, but I may be confusing it with some other angle.)

 

Your timelime here is off. Knight's neck was broken (real injury, he landed on his head taking the move) when they were the Godwinns. When he came back from that injury, they were still the Godwinns and feuded with the LOD. I don't actually remember if they were heels already when the injury occured or if they came back as heels for that fued. The Southern Justice repackaging was after all of that.

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Canterbury was decent as best working in single. Knight was awful. I can't get over the fact *they*, of all people, said that working against Furnas & LaFon was like pulling teeth. Yeah. The fucking Godwinns.

Well, it probably was. From their perspective it was probably hard to work with them as they had two completely different styles.
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Canterbury was decent as best working in single. Knight was awful. I can't get over the fact *they*, of all people, said that working against Furnas & LaFon was like pulling teeth. Yeah. The fucking Godwinns.

Well, it probably was. From their perspective it was probably hard to work with them as they had two completely different styles.

 

 

What was the Godwinns style already ? Being shitty workers ?

 

Yeah, it had to be like pulling teeth for Furnas & LaFon who had spent years in AJ then worked their first program in WWF against Owen & Bulldog.

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The Godwinns style was the WWF house style, hitting their spots without messing them up, not taking any risks and finishing on time. Furnas hated working in that company because he felt that they cared more about matches finishing on time than matches being any good. At the time, that was sort of the mindset.

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Later on, they became Southern Justice under their real names, Mark Canterbury and Dennis Knight. That version of the team seemed cool as hell, but it didn't last long enough for anyone to really be able to judge it. If I recall correctly, Knight suffered a career-ending injury after taking a botched Doomsday Device from the LOD. Not sure if that is how the injury really happened or if that was just the storyline explanation. Either way, that spelled the end for Mark Canterbury's career. (Or did Canterbury come back for at least a short spelll to feud with LOD? I seem to recall that, but I may be confusing it with some other angle.)

 

Your timelime here is off. Knight's neck was broken (real injury, he landed on his head taking the move) when they were the Godwinns. When he came back from that injury, they were still the Godwinns and feuded with the LOD. I don't actually remember if they were heels already when the injury occured or if they came back as heels for that fued. The Southern Justice repackaging was after all of that.

 

 

 

Wait, no not Knight, it was Canterbury (Henry Godwinn) who had the neck injury. He was also the one who was in the Brawl 4 All, which I think was his first WWF appearance with his real name, and after that came Southern Justice.

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I love the whole idea of PWO - discussing wrestling in more depth than is the norm and giving buried workers (Lex Luger) and obscure workers their due.

 

But when we get to a thread about the Godwinns I wonder if we haven't jumped the shark.

 

I never saw them doing anything more than be serviceable. And Henry Godwinn always struck me as a total jerk. At a small house show in 96 everyone was being cool. Bret, Taker, Nash, Ahmed, Razor and HHH. I heard him actually storm off from a group of kids asking autographs and his well, for lack of a better word, minion telling them "The man doesn't have time for you".

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But when we get to a thread about the Godwinns I wonder if we haven't jumped the shark.

 

There goes my next planned threads for the Beverly Brothers, the Natural Disasters, and the Quebecers. I'm kidding...I think. B)

 

Dennis Knight and Mark Canterbury had three very different gimmicks in two federations and were around for the majority of the '90s. I think it's a worthwhile discussion. Not everyone can be "the best ever," and I think The Microscope would get boring if that's all we discussed. With that said, I thought Tex and Shanghai were a fun midcard heel team and Southern Justice at least had potential, but I'll admit I was never a fan of the pig farmer Godwinns gimmick.

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I love the Quebecers, enjoy the Natural Disasters more often than not and the Beverly Brothers are okay, though they are my dad's least favorite wrestlers of all time (A botched Shaker Heights Spike extended a TV taping we attended when I was 12 by nearly an hour. Show went from 7:30 to 1am. Nuts)

 

What's the story there? Why would one botched movie derail a taping for an hour? Was there a bad injury?

 

Anyway, I feel the same way you do about those teams, except I think I liked the Bevs more than most. I wonder why they never got a huge push. When they first came in, I remember Gorilla Monsoon really hyping them up in commentary.

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  • 4 weeks later...

When he came back from that injury, they were still the Godwinns and feuded with the LOD. I don't actually remember if they were heels already when the injury occured or if they came back as heels for that fued. The Southern Justice repackaging was after all of that.

 

They were still fun-loving babyfaces when Canterbury got the broken neck. They came back as babyfaces at first, with Knight still the happy go lucky idiot, but with Henry completely surly and pissed off and repeatedly telling Phineas to knock off the stupid stuff. Then they attacked LOD to go heel and brought in Tony Anthony as Uncle Cletus.

 

They pretty much vanished after Mania 14 and appeared just before King of the Ring as Southern Justice.

 

I don't think anybody is going to say the Godwinns were really much good, because they weren't. I dreaded their matches every time they came out. I think they exceeded their ceiling for a while just due to lack of depth as much as anything.

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  • 3 years later...

Just watched Goddwinns vs Mankind & Vader from a January 97 RAW. It was mostly as backdrop to show that Mankind & Vader were not getting along as Bearer just took Vader under his wing, but Mankind does not play well with others. Phineas Godwinn is just as terrible and shitty as I remember, but Henry Godwinn was not half bad in fact I thought he quite good. HOG and Vader had two really good slugfest exchanges. Are there any good HOG matches I need to check out? I think I have a new favorite wrestler.

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