By Greg Parks, PWTorch columnist

After 521 episodes, The Simpsons finally got around to lampooning professional wrestling. Last night, it was revealed that Grampa Simpson spent time as a pro wrestler in the 50's as "Glamorous Godfrey," a clear Gorgeous George knock-off, down to the pre-match primping and the long blond hair.

Eventually, the evil Mr. Burns recognized Grampa as Godfrey, one of his favorite grapplers, and wanted Grampa to have one more run. Unfortunately for the Simpson family, Bart started exhibiting signs of following in Godfrey's prima donna footsteps. Grampa realized this and ended up turning babyface by the end of the episode.

It was somewhat jarring to hear The Simpsons refer to "heels" and "babyfaces" (Bart becoming a heel, even though in some ways he already is, was the focus of the last act more so than Grampa's in-ring antics), going beyond simply making fun of pro wrestling. Oh yeah, there was that too: Mr. Burns was quoted as saying, "If professional wrestling were fake, it would make every fan in the history of the sport a complete and utter moron." To hammer the point home, he looked directly into the camera as he did this. It was as if the producers or writers were saying, "hey, we're doing a wrestling episode, but that doesn't mean WE enjoy it!" Subtlety has not been a strong suit of The Simpsons in the last several years.

The wrestling was patterned after the very old, old-school. The only thing today's fans might recognize is the generous use of the steel chair as a weapon. Still, you have to imagine lampooning old timey wrestling would be a lot more fun than doing it with the current product.

I've always been somewhat curious as to why The Simpsons, iconic for its skewing of pop culture, never did a wrestling episode during the Attitude Era, at a time where almost everyone watched at least some wrestling. Bret Hart made a cameo appearance in one episode in the mid 90s, but that's it: No Rock, No Hulk Hogan, no Stone Cold Steve Austin. And no guest stars in this episode, either.

Still, the episode was good for a few laughs, which these days, is good enough for The Simpsons to earn a thumbs-up from me. It wasn't a revolutionary take on pro wrestling, but making it on an episode at all is still an accomplishment.


Greg Parks has been a columnist for Pro Wrestling Torch since 2007. Follow him on Twitter @gregmparks for live Tweeting during Raw, Impact, and PPVs, as well as other bits of wisdom. Comments, questions and feedback are welcome, and can be sent to g_man9784@yahoo.com.

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