The come up of hip-hop and professional wrestling is like the upbringing of two extremely distant cousins. Both started gaining attention in the '80s and reached their peak during the '90s. It's also important to note that part of what made both such a mainstay with the national audience is just how charismatic the personas involved are. Rap is filled with talented lyricists, but the true legends in the game were the ones who could fully grasp your attention with their on-the-mic personality and captivate you, whether they exaggerated their stories or not. This is why The Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, Eminem, and Nas are so untouchable in hip-hop.
It's the same deal in professional wrestling. The wrestlers who stand out most are the ones whose characters test the boundaries of ridiculousness to add to their in the ring greatness. Stone Cold was the most badass, Ted DiBiase was the most obnoxious, and Ric Flair was the wildest.
The strange connection is made stronger by the sheer amount of wrestling references in rap. To get you more hyped for SummerSlam this coming Sunday, we compiled The 50 Greatest Wrestling Rap References of All Time. We'd end this intro with a wrestling catchphrase, but we have the feeling you're going to get more than enough in the upcoming slides.
Written by Brian Josephs (@Bklyn_Rock)