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Cool, Cocky and Bad: Honky Tonk Man Coming To Seaway Mall

Posted: Mar 26th 2010 By: CMBurnham

He's got long sideburns and his hair slicked back, he's comin' to your town in his pink Cadillac - that's right, the self-proclaimed "Greatest Intercontinental Champion of All-Time", The Honky Tonk Man, is rolling into town for an appearance at the Seaway Mall.

Roy Wayne Farris, better known as The Honky Tonk Man, is coming to Welland, Ontario for a promotional event on March 28. The event, being held the same afternoon as WrestleMania XVI, will see Honky signing autographs alongside Brian Wickens, who is more commonly known as Bushwacker Luke.

"We were looking to put something together prior to WrestleMania," said Honky of the autograph session. "This gives us a chance to interact and mingle with the fans [who will] get to see a couple of legends from the old WWE days."

The Honky Tonk Man is best known for his initial run in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) from 1986 to 1991, where he portrayed an ostentatious Elvis impersonator who loved to sing, dance and wield guitars at his adversaries.

"I wish I had a dollar for every time someone's asked me how many guitars I went through - I'd be retired, living on a lake right now," he joked. "People tend to think I was breaking these things every night. In reality, if you look back at it, I think I hit five or so guys on television with a guitar [?] and that was probably it."

Beyond breaking guitars over his opponents' heads, Honky Tonk Man's claim-to-fame in the WWE was his record-breaking reign as Intercontinental Champion, which lasted for 64 weeks - a record that still stands today.

"I never thought about it when it was happening," he said. "Now when you look at it, it was a great accomplishment [?] You don't stay in the spotlight for that number of weeks unless you're doing something very positive for the company."

Honky returned to WWE limelight in the fall of 2008 when wrestler Santino Marella brought about the "Honk-A-Meter" used to gauge how many weeks Marella had left as Intercontinental Champion in a quest to beat Honky's record.

"It was a great piece of work," said Honky of the angle. "I really wish that we could have carried on with it and let me pass the torch down to him because he is a great performer."

Looking at today's wrestling product, which is vastly different from the Rock 'N Wrestling era of the 1980s, one can't help but notice how fans continually gravitate to stars from yesteryear like The Honky Tonk Man.

"There's a whole generation of people who will never forget us because we were superheroes at that time," said Honky. "We were the first group to be thrust into mainstream media.

"[Today] everyone tends to have the same body type, same tattoos and same cropped off hair. We were all different. You had Rowdy Piper wearing a skirt and blowing bagpipes, you had Jake The Snake carrying a snake, you had Honky Tonk Man banging people over the head with a guitar [?] When you look at the cast of characters we had, we were all unique, and that set us apart from the rest of the entertainment business and the rest of the wrestling world."

As for the Honky Tonk Man, he would come out to the ring accompanied by "The Colonel" Jimmy Hart, as his theme "Cool, Cocky, Bad" echoed throughout the arena, and he was simply the guy fans loved to hate. However, being a "bad guy" in the '80s wasn't something he particularly enjoyed.

"You had to be a bad guy 24-7. It's not the greatest thing in the world to act like you dislike every person on the face of the earth everyday of your life."

Nowadays, however, The Honky Tonk Man has evolved into a fan-favourite, which is a role he is happy to play.

"When people come out to the mall on March 28th, they're going to see Bushwhacker Luke and myself having fun and interacting with fans. If we have to hold babies and take pictures, we do it and we love to do that."

The Honky Tonk Man and Bushwhacker Luke will be appearing at The Seaway Mall on March 28 from 3-5 p.m.

Tags: Honky Tonk Man, Bushwacker Luke, WWE, Roddy Piper, Jake Roberts