The DDT Digest Online Guide to Lodi and Lodi Signs - Epilogue
The DDT Digest Online Guide to Lodi and Lodi Signs - Epilogue
- Our research was well-received and we also received several excellent e-mails from readers. Here are some of the responses that add to our list:
- 05/26/98 Bullzdog: "May 21 I was in Cleveland and other signs he had were: Is this thing televised on ESPN, You are FAT and Here are all of the ugly girls. During EVERY commercial break he was in the ring with Kidman getting the crowd riled up."
- 05/27/98 Jeremy, the Penultimate Warrior: "Two comments...the 'Lodus Interruptus' sign also has a sexual connotation, as it's a play on the Latin phrase 'coitus interruptus,' which means an interruption during sex. It also may be further evidence of the Flock's homosexual undertones, as it implies that they view wrestling matches as equivalent to sexual acts (I can't believe I just wrote that). Also, Ultimate Warrior's explanation of how he derived his name is pure garbage. The name is actually a ripoff of the 1975 movie of the same name, which stars Yul Brynner and Max Von Sydow. And besides, "I am not this Warrior, I am not that Warrior...I am the Ultimate Warrior!" sounds like dialogue from one of those 60's Hercules movies.
- 05/27/98 The Rhino: "I attended the Ft. Wayne Nitro and during the commercial breaks, Lodi and Kidman would get in the ring and make fun of the fans. David Penzer pointed out a sign by a woman that read "I Love You, Lodi!" Penzer made fun of Lodi saying that 'at least somebody does.' Lodi and Kidman aggravated the woman unmercifully and Kidman put her down many a time. Lodi is truly a great entertainer."
- 05/27/98 Alfie Sumrall: "Hey guys, great job on the Lodi chronicles, but the 1/29/98 Thunder was in Memphis not Evansville. Being good ole' Tennessee boys, you should have known that. Just kidding."
- 05/27/98 Joss Ives: "I was doing some reading of your Lodi page and here's a few extras... Lodus Interuptus - This is probably a tribute to one of the greatest sign holders of all time, Wile E. Coyote. His signs appeared in most Road Runner cartoons and often were English phrases made to sound like Latin much like Lodi's sign. A Simpson's episode pays tribute to this during a Homer/Bart chase where they are both given Latin sounding names. Hug A Tree - Continuing along the Lodi's hippie trend. "Hug a tree" is a common phrase said by hippies (also known as tree huggers) when they are trying to spread their 'message' to people who could care less. You Better Call Somebody - Road Dog's use of this has lots to do with WWF's 'cutting edge' attitude. Realizing that hip hop culture is very big, they have tried to tap into it by having many of their wrestlers using hip hop tracks for their ring music. Your ass better call somebody is a variation of the 'if you got a crew, you better tell them' phrase used by Keith Murray (a hip hop artist), basically saying: word is spreading about how great I am."
- 05/27/98 Dan: "A quick correction, though. You listed Cozy Powell as a member of Sabbath. I think that the FAQ at www.black-sabbath.com hasn't been updated in a while since (unfortunately) Cozy died tragically in an automobile accident in early April (go to www.cozypowell.com for details). As things stand now, the lineup features a reunion of the first Sabbath lineup - Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward. Well, actually, Bill recently suffered a mild heart attack, so Vinny Appice (who did 'Mob Rules' and
'Dehumanizer') is in the band as a replacement for the European tour this summer. A couple of other Sab songs Lodi could relate to:
- "Never Say Die" (1978, title track)
- "Hard Life to Love" (1987, The Eternal Idol)
- "Zero the Hero" (1983, Born Again)
- 05/28/98 Dale Freeman: "I might have an idea for the 'Autumn Loves Rhino' sign you mentioned. There is a record company by the name of Rhino which releases primarily comedy albums (George Carlin was on Rhino for awhile), box sets, compilations by various artists, and re-releases of older, out-of-print albums. Maybe Lodi was referring to someone he knew who enjoyed a lot of Rhino releases? Just a thought."
- Chris Jackson followed that up with: "Picking up Dale Freeman's thought, Classy Freddie Blassie's classic 1976 novelty song 'Pencil Neck Geek' is on the Rhino record label, a possible connection? It's found on the 1991 Rhino "Dr. Demento's 20th Anniversary
Collection."
- 05/28/98 Ken: In regard to the "Lodus Interruptus" sign: "I may be on a totally different wavelength, but my questions are: 1. Doesn't this sign have a distinct correlation to the words 'coitus interruptus'? 2.. And if 'coitus interruptus' is in the dictionary, than interruptus should be a word...right? 3. Does that illegal run-in mean interference in the match, or was he actually arrested for something illegal?"
- 05/28/98 Dan: "I was thinking about it today - there are a ton of Sabbath songs that you could link with wrestling personalities...Hulk Hogan (Zero the Hero), Savage (Ancient Warrior), Juventud (Never Say Die), Nitro Girls (Dirty Women), Liz (Lady Evil), Doug Dellinger (The Lawmaker), Ed Leslie (Changes), The Undertaker (Buried Alive)...Born to Lose is fitting for Lodi, though :-)"
- 05/29/98 Lungfish@eden.rutgers.edu: "1) The 'Lodus Interruptus' sign you couldn't figure out is a play on words to 'coitus interruptus,' which is the contraceptive practice during sex of the guy pulling out right before ejaculation. (we learned that back in junior high health class). 2) 'Omega Watch and Learn'- is also a pun in this way. Omega is the name of a watch manufacturer."
- 05/29/98 Nick: "In reference to your interpretation of the 12/29/97 sign of 'Beware the Raven' by Lodi you neglected to notice that Edgar Alan Poe is from Baltimore. Poe wrote "the raven" and Baltimore's football team is even name the Ravens. I think it would have been more like likely a play on that."
- 05/29/98 Aldo: "One clarification needs to be made, though. When discussing the 'I Killed Kenny' sign that was shown on December 1, 1997, you mentioned that Kenny's murderer says the tag line. This happened only once. The Halloween episode had Kyle mutilate a zombiefied Kenny to save the town of South Park. Kyle then said, 'Oh my God, I killed Kenny! You bastards!' Under normal conditions, Stan says, "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" and Kyle replies, 'You bastards!' regardless of how Kenny's life is terminated."
- 06/02/98 Lawrence R. Jones: "You guys do great work! Except that Cozy Powell is dead. He died in car or motorcycle wreck (I believe) 2-3 months ago."
- We also contacted noted Lodi expert/friend John Henry. Here is his reply: "Unfortunately, I don't have a printer, so I can't show these to Brad, but I can tell you for certain that he was first trained by Gary (dammit, I forgot his last name), who used to wrestle as the Grappler in the WWF in the 70s and 80s. Currently residing in the Wilmington, NC area, Brad was recently harassed by a mark in a bar who spent the entire night claiming Brad wasn't Lodi. The mark followed him to his car at the end of the night, where Brad just happened to have some old signs in his trunk...the mark then asked for (and was denied;-)) an autograph. When I have a chance to show this stuff to Brad, I'll let you know if there are any corrections. AHA! Gary's last name is Simones. Toad went there too."
- From Rob Alpert, WRBB Boston Inside the Squared Circle: Lodus Interruptus- If you watch enough Roadrunner cartoons, you would see at the beginning that the cartoonist write underneath each character
the "Latin" name. These "Latin" names are totally bogus and can be changed around to their English counterpart. For example "runnus fastus birdus" would refer to the roadrunner as a bird that runs fast. So, in
the same way, if you take "Lodus Interruptus" and translate it, you get Lodi interrupts, which is exactly what he does. He interrupts the matches.
- From Rob Alpert, WRBB Boston Inside the Squared Circle: Cricket is back- This idea comes straight from your own web page. "A new competitor was unveiled El Grillo. Grillo is Spanish for Cricket. Instead of simply, labeling this competitor, Cricket, which is seven letters, Dillon made his name Spanish to incorporate six letters. For those who don't know, Grillo was the wrestler who normally portrays Ciclope. The man in the Ciclope suit was none other than Dean Malenko,
who underhandedly upended our idol. Lodi might have been foreshadowing Dean Maleko's eventual return to the ring since the sign was first seen during Malenko's match. When the sign appeared again, was it during a Dean Malenko match? If so, Lodi might be more involved in storylines then we realize and some of his signs might be evidence of this.
If you think about it, these signs were made before any of the matches occur. But, because we all now that wrestling is scripted, Lodi just might be one of those who is writing and a good reason as to why the timing is so good.
- From Rob Alpert, WRBB Boston Inside the Squared Circle: We Luv La Vela- Luv, written this way, has become the shorthand form when space is needed. Mostly done by students, who would have made up the majority in attendance at La Vela. We might refer to WCW and/or the people in attendance. The reason: Because this is the second year La Vela allowed WCW to invade it's club to put on their show.
- From Jason K.: 12/29/97 "Rings of Saturn." You said that the rings of the planet Saturn
have "perplexed astrologers." The correct word is "astronomers." Astrologers are people involved with horoscopes. Astronomers are scientists who study the planets and space.
- From Jason K.: 1/12/98 "One Flew Over The Raven's Nest." On an episode of WCW Worldwide (I don't remember the date), Saturn came out for a match. Instead of any theme music, a siren could be heard. Heenan asked why there was a siren. Schiavone said something along the lines of a truck from the loony bin had just dropped off the members of the Flock.
- From Jason K.: 2/21/98 "Saturn the Gargoyle." Go back and watch the 10/13/97 episode of Nitro. Raven had a promo where he talked about his childhood (an ongoing theme.) Schiavone, Tenay and Zybysko talked about how Raven seemed very "emotionally spent" and that he seems to be developing "some kind of a cult...some kind of a group." They wondered what kind of a person would join Raven's group. Schiavone said, "Someone like Perry Saturn or this other person [later to be known as Sick Boy.]" Schiavone said that Saturn looked like a "gargoyle" sitting where he was by the ring. This was during the Goldberg-Scotty Riggs match. Also, Saturn has used an off-the-top-rope collar-and-elbow suplex he calls the "gargoyleplex."
- From Jason K.: 2/23/98 "Toad, Clean the Pad." This is also a pun, since frogs and toads live on lily pads in ponds and swamps.
- From Jason K.: 3/07/98 "Disco Stinks." This could also be a reference to how Raven often wears T-shirts of contemporary bands such as Dinosaur Jr. and Ministry and
how his signature move the Even Flow takes its name from a Pearl Jam song. In ECW, Raven used "Come Out and Play" by The Offspring as his theme music, and Saturn used Metallica's "No Remorse" and White Zombie's "Real Solution #9" as a member of The Eliminators. It could be suggested that Raven looks down on Disco for enjoying such unhip music. Similarly, consider how Stevie Richards would come to the ring wearing T-shirts of such 80's "hair bands" as Winger, Cinderella and Poison. Obviously, Raven seems to look down on any music from before 1990.
- From Jason K.: 3/09/98 "Heels Rule the ACC." This could also be a reference to the Flock trying to get over in WCW as major heels.
- From Jason K.: 3/19/98 "Peeking Guy." This is a stretch, but it could also be a misspelled reference to Clinton's supposed connections to Chinese businessmen and politicians. Peking (now known as Beijing) is the capital of China.