Examples of pro wrestling borrowing cues from pop music extend beyond Rick Derringer and Cyndi Lauper’s involvement in the WWE’s mid-‘80s boom. That same timeframe found stars in other promotions cutting novelty singles and promo videos. Here’s 8 choice cuts outside of the Rock ‘N’ Wrestling Connection’s sphere of pop culture influence, featuring some of the squared circle’s best and worst crooners.

Terry Funk—“Barbara Streisand’s Nose”

Album: Great Texan

Year: 1984

Former NWA world champion Terry Funk’s enduring popularity in Japan spawned perhaps the goofiest example shared here aside from “WrestleRock Rumble”. While most of the songs on this list come across as serious self-promotion that didn’t age gracefully, “Barbara Streisand’s Nose” is surely to goodness a parody. After all, there’s a Weird Al Yankovic vibe to this tune. If any similarities to Al were intentional, then Funk and his support system were ahead of the curve—the parody song master’s career-defining Dare to Be Stupid LP hit shelves a year later.

Ricky Morton—“Boogie Woogie Dance Hall”

Album: Promotional single

Year: 1987

Bandana wearing, mullet sporting Ricky Morton was the NWA’s greatest underdog of the ‘80s. As half of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express with Robert Gibson, he was part of the best babyface tag team of the era. Flying solo, he was one of Ric Flair’s greatest challengers. He’s a true living legend of the ring who still takes indie bookings in the Deep South. His singing, on the other hand, is far from legendary. Never one to exaggerate, announcer Tony Schiavone calls “Boogie Woogie Dance Hall” a hit single in this fan club advertisement.

Kamala—“Can’t Live Like That”

Album: The Best of Kamala Vol. 1

Year: 2006

One of wrestling’s best known and least racially sensitive “wild savage” gimmicks was Kamala. During early ‘80s stops in Memphis and other territories he became the feared Ugandan Giant, just a few years after Idi Amin’s disposition and exile. Kamala (real name Jim Harris) made the most of a patronizing gimmick, developing into one of wrestling’s best big men and feuding with the likes of Hulk Hogan and the Undertaker. Turns out he could have convincingly chased those same heights with a blues singer gimmick, as a guy who supposedly could not speak English ironically had the best singing voice in the business.

Adrian Street—“Imagine What I Could Do To You”

Promo Video

Year: 1985

Exotic Adrian Street was one of wrestling’s greatest flamboyant characters, a legit tough guy and skilled mat technician, whom unsavory audience members feared was gay. Think Goldust’s original character, if it’d been conceived a decade earlier and appeared in Alabama-based Continental Championship Wrestling. Whoever penned this throwback glam rock tune had a great grasp of Street’s character. The two-minute stream of lyrical gold includes such lines as “I can tear a telephone directory in two/ Bending iron bars is something else that I can do/ I always pick my teeth with the nearest billiard cue/ So imagine what I could do to you!”

Hulk Hogan’s Wrestling Boot Trash Can Band feat. Green Jelly—“Leader of the Gang”

Album: “Leader of the Gang” Single

Year: 1993

This one bends the rules a little, as the official video shows the Hulkster wearing the WWE title before an overseas showdown with the Great Muta. This campy Gary Glitter cover cracked the UK top 40, making it the most commercially successful song on this list. Considering Green Jelly made nursery rhymes edgy by cable television standards, it’s no surprise that they turned Hogan’s vocal performance here into proverbial chicken salad.

Handsome Jimmy Valiant —“Rocker & Roller”

Album: Promo single

Year: 1979

The Boogie Woogie Man himself was a great visual fit for Southern rock in the late ‘70s. In fact, you could probably convince the uninitiated that this is a music video for an obscure Jacksonville, Florida band that fell short of the big time. Valiant’s popularity and staying power in Memphis had more to do with his magnetic charisma than his limited in-ring skills. He wasn’t exactly Ricky Steamboat, but he didn’t have to be to put butts in the Mid-South Coliseum’s seats. He’s also not a Van Zant brother when it comes to singing, but a staged rock concert was a viable means to accentuate Valiant’s over the top character.

Jerry “The King” Lawler —“Wimpbusters”

Promo Video

Year: 1984

Memphis wrestling had charming, goofy promo videos beyond the Fabulous One’s awkwardly erotic vignettes. One example from 1984 established Jerry Lawler as a hero to all and legendary manager and former Gentrys guitarist Jimmy Hart as a spineless wimp. Notice guest cameos from future WWE main eventer Randy “Macho Man” Savage, former NWA world champion Tommy Rich and the aforementioned Jimmy Valiant, just to name a few. The obvious nods to Ray Parker Jr.’s Ghostbusters theme and its accompanying music video plant instantly recognizable pop culture nods, until Lawler starts inexplicably hanging out at a middle school cafeteria.

AWA Superstars—“WrestleRock Rumble”

Promo Video

Year: 1986

The American Wrestling Alliance’s send up of the ’85 Bears’ “Super Bowl Shuffle” ranks up there with the Shockmaster’s botched entrance and Lex Luger’s loss to a t-shirt when it comes to wrestling-related meme fodder. Aside from a brief display of the late Nick Bockwinkel’s gift for gab and the novelty of seeing the likes of Shawn Michaels, Mr. Perfect and Scott Hall before they became mainstream stars, it was a bizarre attempt at drawing eyes away from the WWE during the early Wrestlemania era. Plus there’s numerous unanswered and unsettling questions. Why would the party loving Midnight Rockers hang out at Showbiz Pizza? Why is Greg Gagne's yelling so cartoonish? Also, why promote a show with “rock” in its name and Waylon Jennings as an advertised guest with a rap parody?