Its another one word theme for the League.  This group of freelancers for hire hops aboard the Jolly Roger of the interwebs, Cool and Collected once weekly to answer the pop culture question of the week and to collect our booty.

Pirates.

Yes, pirates is the topic of the week.  The Pirates of the Carribean movies are dumb fun but not something I want to write about.  Watchmen is great, but better writers than I have discussed the Tales of the Black Freighter.  I didn’t watch classic film swashbuckling.  Pirate comics are few and far between.  Oh yes, its that time again people.  Lets talk about wrestling’s greatest pirate.

(Jean Pierre Lafitte was given consideration.  While he was a fine wrestler he is not as much fun.)

In one of Vince McMahon’s greatest mistakes, a new character debuted to take advantage of a phenomenon in pop culture.  Unfortunately Vinny Mac was not aware of Captain Jack Sparrow.  The gimmick was shelved and yet much beloved still 7 years later.  Oh that’s right, this gimmick was way back in 2006 and some of us remember it like it was yesterday.

Paul Burchill, who at the time was without a gimmick, teamed with William Regal.  He was a fine wrestler and deserved his nickname of The Ripper but wasn’t doing much else.  Burchill ended his tag team and chose to go back to his ancestral roots which dated back to Blackbeard.  What better way to kick off this character than with a dramatic entrance?  On a rope!

Ladies, take a look at the gimmick in full color.  And remember, he spoke with a British accent. Sploosh!

So what happened?  A great gimmick, a good wrestler, and tons of merchandise potential.  Foam pirate swords for all the kids!  Well, Vince was not aware of the success Disney was having with pirates and canned the gimmick.  Paul came back with his “sister” Katie Lea in a psuedo incest angle.  This was during PG WWE too, so think about that one for a minute.

For the guys, at one point Burchill was accompanied by a pirate wench.  Playing this role was the one and only Shelly Martinez.  Eventually there will be a long post about her on this site, but for now take a look at the comely lass.

I bet no one else in the League talked about pirate wrestlers this week.  But just to be sure, why don’t you check out links to the rest of the Members’ posts!

The Combat Workshop

http://thecombatworkshop.blogspot.com/2013/01/league-assignment-arrrrr-pirates.html

Fortune and Glory Days

http://fortuneandglorydays.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-league-has-spoken-pirates.html

Achievements in Gaming

http://rgendres.blogspot.com/

Goodwill Hunting 4 Geeks (and look around the site, this is a three parter!)

http://goodwillhunting4geeks.blogspot.com/2013/01/league-of-extraordinary-bloggers_28.html

Shezcrafti (and damn her for including Lazy Town’s You Are a Pirate).

http://shezcrafti.com/awesome-pirate-songs/

ReDiscover the 80s

http://www.rediscoverthe80s.com/2013/01/8-best-pirate-villains-in-80s-early-90s.html

Plaid Stallions

http://www.plaidstallions.com/matchbox/figures.html

AEIOU and Sometimes Why

http://aeiouwhy.blogspot.com/2013/01/loeb-post-alestorm-ahoy.html

Branded in the 80s

http://brandedinthe80s.com/shiver-the-league-s-timbers

Double Dumbass On You

http://www.doubledumbassonyou.com/2013/01/31/zanzibar-the-gas-siphoning-dreadnok-pirate/

Cavalcade of Awesome

http://blog.paxholley.net/2013/01/31/muppet-treasure-island-and-its-awesome-soundtrack/

Travelling Pics

http://traveling-pics.livejournal.com/521875.html

Dork Dimension

http://www.dorkdimension.com/2013/02/toy-pix-pirate-mini-figure.html

Cold Slither Podcast

http://coldslitherpodcast.com/2013/02/04/don-karnage-and-the-sky-pirates-the-league/