The Ding Dongs were a short-lived WCW tag team whose masked, bell-ringing presentation was meant to be broad and funny but reportedly met boos at its televised debut. The label “WCW’s stupidest gimmick ever” is a subjective verdict, not a measurable ranking; the story behind the act explains why it remains an easy target for wrestling fans.
Who were the Ding Dongs?
A 2025 retrospective identifies the wrestlers as Richard Sartain and Greg Evans. Before WCW, the pair had worked together as the Rock N Roll Rebels from 1987, performing in Southern territories and independent organizations, including Deep South Wrestling. The retrospective says Jody Hamilton brought them into the picture after Deep South folded and he joined the NWA/WCW. Read the retrospective.
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The same account credits WCW executive Jim Herd with the Ding Dongs concept. Sartain and Evans wore masks to conceal their identities, with bells attached to their wrists and ankles; they rang a bell when tagging. Sartain reportedly described the inspiration as the audience response to the WWF’s Bushwhackers, with the idea aimed at broad, family-friendly appeal. This is a retrospective account, not a surviving WCW memo confirming the concept’s internal rationale.
According to that account, the wrestlers learned about the gimmick only 24 hours before their debut. They thought it was too silly, but accepted it as an opportunity. The report reflects the performers’ recollection as presented in the retrospective; a primary interview transcript is not available in the cited material.
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What happened in their debut?
The Ding Dongs made their televised debut on June 14, 1989, at Clash of the Champions VII: Guts and Glory. They faced George South and Cougar Jay at the Ritz-Epps Fitness Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. WrestleBlake’s 2022 match review lists the bout at 3 minutes and 39 seconds. Read the match review.
The review describes boos from the entrance through the match and says the bell broke, prompting the show’s biggest pop. Those are the reviewer’s account of the crowd and moment, not a measured audience study or an independently verified transcript. It also transcribes commentator Jim Ross after the Ding Dongs won: “Ding or Donged their way to victory. Oh, that was horrible.” That wording should be treated as the review’s transcription rather than a confirmed verbatim broadcast transcript.
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The contrast is central to the gimmick’s reputation: the bells and masks offered an unmistakable visual and audio hook, but the review describes the presentation as awkward in execution and the audience as hostile. The venue and crowd response help explain the mismatch, though they do not prove how audiences elsewhere would have reacted.
Why did the Ding Dongs disappear?
The 2025 retrospective says the boos and jeers led Herd to end the team’s push. Sartain and Evans then worked losses, including matches against the Samoan Swat Team and New Zealand Militia. In August 1989, the account says, the team was “killed off” in a short squash against the Skyscrapers and unmasked. That places the end of the gimmick about two months after its June debut, without establishing an exact final match date or a complete match record.
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Why is the gimmick remembered so poorly?
- The intended audience and reported reception clashed. The retrospective describes a family-friendly concept, while the match review reports boos at the debut. The sources suggest a mismatch, but they do not offer a controlled measure of audience reaction.
- The hook was conspicuous, but fragile. Masks and repeated bell-ringing made the act easy to recognize. The match review’s account of a broken bell turned that signature device into an awkward moment rather than an effective payoff.
- The run was brief. The retrospective dates the debut to June and the team’s end to August 1989. A short run and rough debut can cement an unfavorable memory, but they do not establish an objective “worst ever” ranking.
Neither cited account is an official WCW archive or a contemporaneous newspaper report. The material establishes no statistic for popularity, ratings, merchandise sales, or business impact. It supports a narrower conclusion: the Ding Dongs were an ill-received, short-lived act whose concept and reported debut made them memorable for the wrong reasons.
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- In 1995, two wrestling companies squared off on Monday night television to compete head to head in an unprecedented confrontation. On one side, Vince McMahon, the promoter who created WWE and made the industry what it is today. On the other, WCW, owned by media giant Ted Turner, and run by an ambitious man named Eric Bischoff. This is the whole story, told by those who created it, lived it, and
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