Great-ing Gimmicks of the Past: Miss Hancock is Pregnant!

Great-ing Gimmicks of the Past: Miss Hancock is Pregnant – WCW, 2000

History
For some time, David Flair had been enamored with Miss Hancock (Stacy Keibler) at the expense of losing his tag team partner Crowbar and manager Daffney. The night after the New Blood Rising pay-per-view, David was moping around backstage. A crying Major Gunns (who’d beaten Hancock in a mud wrestling match at that show) came up to David and apologized for kicking Miss Hancock in the stomach during the match after they made their way down to the ring. Miss Hancock came out as David prepared to attack Major Gunns and told him that she was pregnant. David let out a Whoo and did the Flair strut.

On Thunder, David Flair made his way down to the ring and called Miss Hancock down to join him. After a bit of prompting from her, he got down on one knee and then the Misfits in Action showed up. Sgt. AWOL (The Wall, or TNA’s Malice) destroyed David and they left. Afterward, Miss Hancock observed that David couldn’t even propose right, searched him, and grabbed the ring. She got mad because it wasn’t nice enough, shoved it on her finger, danced, and left.

Two weeks later it was announced that the wedding would take place on September 11th in Charlotte, North Carolina.

On the 4th’s Nitro, Arn Anderson did an interview with Pamela Paulshock immediately after Team Canada had shoved her into a swimming pool. Arn wondered why David was getting married, then mentioned he’d be giving Ric Flair a ride to the ceremony.

Thunder saw the soon-to-be-newlyweds sitting down for an interview with Mike Tenay. Miss Hancock (now going by Stacy Keibler) was excited until Tenay accused her of being nothing but a gold digger for searching David for the ring. Flair got mad and said that his father could come if he wanted to.

Nitro opened with David Flair climbing out of a limo. He was greeted by Crowbar, Daffney, and Ozzy (Daffney’s new boyfriend), who wished him well.

Later, we saw Crowbar helping David Flair with his tuxedo. At the same time, Jimmy Hart gave an envelope to Stacy in her dressing room. When she opened it, she looked shocked.

That brought us to the actual ceremony. David and Stacy came out, and then Arn came out. Arn gave David some advice – first, don’t ask her permission to go to a strip club (just go). Second, he should hide any money they got as wedding gifts. Third, if he got in late and she was waiting and told him she forgave him, then he should grab that money and clear out.

Then David called out his best man. Ric Flair came down and talked about returning after being forced to retire a few months before. As the ceremony started, police came out and handcuffed Ric, saying that Vince Russo had a restraining order that prevented him from being within 100 yards of the building. As they took him out, Stacy jumped out of the ring and ran.

Later, we got the wedding (take two). This time, the priest made it to the point where he asked if anyone had a reason that they shouldn’t be married. Stacy raised her hand, told David the baby wasn’t his, and cleared out again. She ran to the back, hopped in a waiting limo, and drove away just before David caught up with her.

On Thunder, David Flair was grabbing people backstage and asking if they were the father. Later in the night, he asked Fit Finlay if he was the father, and Finlay told David he needed to calm down.

David finally headed to the ring and called out Stacy. She came out and David demanded that she tell him who the father was. Arn then came out and (after being accused of being the father himself) told David to calm down and tried to smooth things over.

At Fall Brawl, Tenay visited David Flair at home. When Tenay asked who the father was, David simply told Tenay that he was out there. Then he ran outside, clotheslined the mailman, and locked him in a figure-four while demanding if he was the father.

The next night on Nitro, MI Smooth (Ice Train) was in the ring and called David out. He told David that he could find out who the father was for the right price because Kidman took pictures. David swapped a big wad of cash for a videotape. Then, while Smooth was counting his money, David cracked him in the back with his crowbar and left.

David now had another problem – no VCR. He tried to get a production guy to play it, but wound up blasting him with the crowbar. Jimmy Hart then told him that there was a VCR in Smooth’s limo, so David nailed him with the crowbar to thank him.

Later, we saw David finish watching the tape, smash it, and clear out.

On Thunder, Tenay had an interview with Stacy Keibler. After asking if the number of potential fathers could be counted on one hand or if it needed two, Stacy admitted there was only one. After Tenay asked how she could do this while engaged, she still refused to say who it was.

On Nitro we saw David Flair flipping out at a phone booth. He finally found an address he was looking for and cleared out.

After a wrong turn at a Chuck E. Cheese, David arrived at his destination. He threatened the homeowner, only to be told that the person he was looking for lived next door. He went next door and was told that nobody was home. He told the person who answered the door at the first house that he’d be waiting.

Nitro saw David Flair dragging a hooded and handcuffed individual into the arena. Apparently he’d found the father.

After dumping a bucket of water on the detainee, David pulled him out to the ring. He unlocked the cuffs and removed the hood to reveal Buff Bagwell. Bagwell obliterated David and left him lying.

Buff came out on Thunder to say that Stacy had gotten herself pregnant, because he’d used protection. He then called out David so David could apologize to him. David came out with a doctor, who said that they’d just need a little blood for a paternity test. Buff refused, saying he was afraid of needles. He laid out the doctor and left, telling David to figure it out himself.

On Nitro, we saw a bloodmobile pull up and David Flair hopped out.

Later in the night Mark Madden had an interview with Stacy. He asked her who the father was and she refused to tell him, saying it was none of his business. After Madden called her a slut, David came out to the ring. He asked Stacy what she’d seen in Bagwell, then went after her for a blood sample. That brought Crowbar out, who tried to calm David down. Instead, David accused Crowbar of jealousy for Daffney and dropped him. That brought out Mike Awesome, who hit David with a clothesline that sent him out of the ring.

David Flair responded by challenging Mike Awesome to a hardcore match.

Needless to say, David wound up obliterated. Afterward, Awesome was preparing to powerbomb David through a table when Ric Flair ran in and asked him not to. Awesome agreed and left as Flair helped his son to his feet. David pushed Ric away and ran out as Ric followed.

A week later, David demanded a DNA match with Buff Bagwell at Halloween Havoc from co-Commissioner Mike Sanders. Sanders told David that he had something for him instead.

What it was was a match against Goldberg with Ric Flair on commentary. David was obliterated and Ric, since he was retired, did nothing.

Mark Madden had an interview with Ric on Thunder. Flair claimed that he was there for one reason – to bring David back home. As David joined the interview, Flair tried to get him to come home. David refused and even insinuated that Ric may have been responsible for the baby. Ric left and David began trying to draw blood from Mark Madden for a paternity test.

The next week’s Thunder saw Bagwell taking on MI Smooth. Bagwell got the win and then David came out to attack. Bagwell caught him with a reverse DDT and said that we’d find out if he was the father at the PPV.

At Halloween Havoc, we had the DNA match. Or, rather, we had a first blood match which was called a DNA match. Anyway, Bagwell busted David open with a chair, only to be busted open himself by a returning Lex Luger after the match. David got his sample and headed to the doctors waiting in the back.

The next night David got the results back. They proved that Bagwell was not the father. That brought out MI Smooth, who told David that he never said it was Bagwell, which led into a match that Smooth won.

On the November 8th Thunder, David called out Rey Misterio Jr. He wanted Rey to say that he wasn’t the father. Instead, Tygress popped him in the face and we had a match that Rey won.

On the 20th’s Nitro, Jeff Jarrett came out and claimed that he was the father. Immediately after David showed up, Jarrett retracted the statement, deciding instead to blast him with a guitar.

At Mayhem, Jarrett was taking on Buff Bagwell. In the end, Jarrett was able to overcome both Bagwell and David Flair’s interference to pull out the win.

Not long after that, the angle was dropped. Stacy was gone from TV, so it appeared that was the end of the story.

Not quite yet.

On March 12th’s Nitro, Stacy returned, pushing a baby carriage. She talked about how her baby had changed her life, and then she called her baby out – Shawn Stasiak. She then reached into the carriage and pulled out 8×10’s of Stasiak, which they then threw to the crowd. Afterward, she danced. Then Bam Bam Bigelow attacked and demanded a match against Stasiak at Greed.

That was the end of the story.

Analysis
This angle had two things that rarely (if ever) work in wrestling – a wedding and a pregnancy. How many weddings are well-remembered by fans? Maybe one of the times Stephanie was getting married (to Test, or Hunter, or Undertaker, etc.)? The Dawn Marie/Al Wilson nuptials, perhaps? I would wager that the one best remembered is the Randy Savage/Elizabeth wedding.

As for pregnancy, they always seem to end the same way. The woman winds up being struck and loses the baby. Let’s do a quick rundown of a few: Terri Runnells – knocked off apron by D-Lo Brown, loses (fictional) baby. Lita – struck with chair by Gene Snitsky, loses baby. Mae Young – powerbombed by Bubba Ray Dudley through a table, gave birth to a hand.

There’s just no good ending. But at least the others didn’t make us wait nearly the full nine months for them to be resolved.

Oh, yes. Who was the father? Well, there were three possibilities. The first was Ric Flair himself. This appeared to be where they were heading with David’s suspicions, but with Vince Russo booking, who knows where it would have gone.

The second would have been Russo himself. David had been allied with Russo before, although given Russo’s rapidly-deteriorating physical condition at the time, a match would have been all but out of the question.

Years later, Russo offered up a third alternative during an interview – the father would have been newly-released Jerry Lawler. However, this is extremely doubtful, considering that Lawler was not released from the WWF until February of 2001, which was, for all intents and purposes, after the angle had been killed.

Where are they now?
David Flair left WCW late in 2000 and began competing on the independent scene. The WWF signed him in May of 2001 and he was sent to OVW for additional training. In late 2002, he was released and promptly went to TNA, where he joined Vince Russo’s Sports Entertainment Xtreme faction. In early 2003, he left TNA and went to IWA Puerto Rico. He soon left there after backstage issues with promoter Victor Quinones. Not long after, David left wrestling to work for a medical supply company, although he did still do occasional indy shows. In December of 2006, David announced his full retirement from wrestling.

Stacy Keibler was picked up by the WWF during the WCW buyout. She debuted in June of 2001 at the side of (storyline) WCW owner Shane McMahon. In 2006, she appeared on Dancing With the Stars and wound up getting third place in the competition. In July of that year she announced that her WWE contract had expired and she was working with Touchstone Television. She currently appears in a recurring role on ABC’s show “What About Brian.”

Next week
We talked about Adrian Street last week. Next week we’ll take a look at someone who tried to follow in his footsteps.