History Wrestling / TPE

** Petty was well known for his work as the masked Cheetah Kid, and had also worked as Leopard Mask, as 1/2 of the short-lived masked Komodo Dragons team with Dean Malenko and as Colonel [=DeKlerk=] of Team South Africa[[note]]With Sergeant Kruger, aka [[Wrestling/DoinkTheClown Ray Licaccelli/Gary Fall/Ray Apollo]][[/note]] in the "Pat O'Connor Memorial Tournament" at ''NWA Clash of the Champions XIII'' and at ''NWA [=Starrcade=] 90.''

* TagTeam
* TrashTheSet: A rare unintentional example. After winning a match once in ECW, they invited fans into the ring to dance with them...and the ring collapsed.

* DanceBattlers[=/=]DancingIsSeriousBusiness

* FinishingMove: The Drive-By (inverted DDT followed by a top-rope somersault senton)

* WeaponOfChoice: Tables, though they would use anything they could find.

'''Johnny Grunge''' (Michael Durham 1966-2006) and '''"Flyboy" Rocco Rock''' (Theodore James "Ted" Petty 1953-2002) were an American ProfessionalWrestling TagTeam best known for their work in Wrestling/{{ECW}} as '''The Public Enemy,''' After having spent years in various promotions under different names, and after increasingly facing each other in international tours, including a dark (non-televised) match at the very first episode of ''[[Wrestling/{{WWERaw}} WWF Monday Night Raw]]'', they debuted as the Public Enemy at ''ECW [=UltraClash=] '93'', September 18, 1993. They would go on to be 5x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/ecw/ecw-t.html NWA ECW/ECW World Tag Team Champions]] before going to Wrestling/{{WCW}} in 1996. They would hold the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-t.html WCW World Tag Team Titles]] for 8 days, beating Harlem Heat (Wrestling/BookerT and Stevie Ray) on September 23, 1996 and losing them back on October 1, in preparation for the Outsiders (Wrestling/ScottHall and Wrestling/KevinNash) winning the belts and basically killing them off. They would flounder for some two more years in WCW before returning to ECW at ''ECW House Party 99,'' January 16, 1999, in response to a challenge made six days earlier at ''ECW Guilty As Charged'' by [[Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys Buh Buh Ray Dudley]]. The Dudleys ran TPE out in February and they would be in and out of Wrestling/{{WWE}} and WCW by the middle of August. In between leaving WWE and returning to WCW in July, they were [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/nwa/world/nwa-t.html NWA World Tag Team Champions]] for 2 days in June 1999. They would bounce around various independent promotions for the next three years, until Rocco, wrestling as a single, died of a heart attack during a match in September 2002.

!! "The Original Mack Daddies of Troping"

* GarbageWrestler

* PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy: Wrestling/PaulHeyman had the idea of two wannabe rappers. TPE were presented as "hoodies" who loved hardcore GenreMotif/HipHop.

** FromBadToWorse: Returned to WCW in the [[{{WrestleCrap}} Hardcore Junkyard Invitational]] at ''Bash at the Beach'' on July 11, and were gone after Sid [[SquashMatch squashed]] them both in a handicap match on the August 26 (taped August 19) ''WCW Thunder.''

* {{Acrofatic}}

* TheCameo: Lost to the Smokin' Gunns in a dark (non-televised) match before ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 95.'' For that matter, given that they made their WWE TV debut on the February 22 (taped February 16), 1999 ''[[Wrestling/{{WWERaw}} Raw]]'' and their last appearance saw the

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Apparently, WWE had told the Acolytes ([[Wrestling/RonSimmons Faarooq]] and [[Wrestling/JohnBradshawLayfield Bradshaw]]) to rough up TPE, to send a message that they weren't welcome, in their match on the March 7 (taped March 2), 1999 ''[[{{BShow}} Sunday Night Heat]]'', which TPE won by DQ, but TPE were so used to big brawls that, reportedly, they barely noticed any difference.

* ArchEnemy: The Funk Brothers ([[Wrestling/TerryFunk Terry]] and Dory Jr.), Wrestling/{{Sabu}}, the Gangstas (Wrestling/NewJack and Mustafa), Harlem Heat (Wrestling/BookerT and Stevie Ray), Wrestling/TheNastyBoys, High Voltage (Robbie Rage and Kenny Kaos)

-->"...the first generation of American children that is more afraid of living than dying."[[note]]Wrestling/PaulHeyman had read a ''[=Newsweek=]'' article that discussed cultural changes in the U.S. and the perils faced by young men growing up in areas such as Los Angeles and had included the line, "The generation of today is more afraid of living than dying."[[/note]]

* ShoutOut: Received one in the Music/{{Weezer}} song "El Scorcho":
-->"So I went to your room and read your diary:\\
'watching Grunge leg-drop New-Jack through a press table...' and then my heart stopped"

-->"...the first generation of American children that is more afraid of living than dying."[[note]]Wrestling/PaulHeyman had read a ''[=Newsweek=]'' article that discussed cultural changes in the U.S. and the perils faced by young men growing up in areas such as Los Angeles and had included the line, "The generation of today is more afraid of living than dying."

'''Johnny Grunge''' (Michael Durham 1966-2006) and '''"Flyboy" Rocco Rock''' (Theodore James "Ted" Petty 1953-2002) were an American ProfessionalWrestling TagTeam best known for their work in Wrestling/{{ECW}} as '''The Public Enemy,''' After having spent years in various promotions under different names, and after increasingly facing each other in international tours, including a dark (non-televised) match at the very first episode of ''[[Wrestling/{{WWERaw}} WWF Monday Night Raw]]'', they debuted as the Public Enemy at ''ECW [=UltraClash=] '93'', September 18, 1993. They would go on to be 5x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/ecw/ecw-t.html NWA ECW/ECW World Tag Team Champions]] before going to Wrestling/{{WCW}} in 1996. They would hold the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-t.html WCW World Tag Team Titles]] for 8 days, beating Harlem Heat (Wrestling/BookerT and Stevie Ray) on September 23, 1996 and losing them back on October 1, in preparation for the Outsiders (Wrestling/ScottHall and Wrestling/KevinNash) winning the belts and basically killing them off. They would flounder for some two more years in WCW before returning to ECW at ''ECW House Party 99,'' January 16, 1999, in response to a challenge made six days earlier at ''ECW Guilty As Charged'' by [[Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys Buh Buh Ray Dudley]]. The Dudleys ran TPE out in February and they would be in and out of Wrestling/{{WWE}} and WCW by the middle of August. They would bounce around various independent promotions for the next three years, until Rocco, wrestling as a single, died of a heart attack during a match in September 2002.

** Johnny Grunge had previously wrestled as Johnny Rotten, as the Russian Assassin (in the Philadelphia-based NWF promotion) and as Zap of the tag team the Equalizers.[[note]]Dusty Wolfe, one of the many guys doing the Wrestling/DoinkTheClown gimmick in the indies, was Zoom. Michael Lane was Zip.[[/note]]

-->"...the first generation of American children that is more afraid of living than dying."
-->--'''"Flyboy" Rocco Rock'''

'''Johnny Grunge''' (real name Michael Durham 1966-2006) and '''"Flyboy" Rocco Rock''' (Theodore James "Ted" Petty 1953-2002) were an American ProfessionalWrestling TagTeam best known for their work in Wrestling/{{ECW}} as '''The Public Enemy,''' After having spent years in various promotions under different names, and after increasingly facing each other in international tours, including a dark (non-televised) match at the very first episode of ''[[Wrestling/{{WWERaw}} WWF Monday Night Raw]]'', they debuted as the Public Enemy at ''ECW [=UltraClash=] '93'', September 18, 1993. They would go on to be 5x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/ecw/ecw-t.html NWA ECW/ECW World Tag Team Champions]] before going to Wrestling/{{WCW}} in 1996. They would hold the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-t.html WCW World Tag Team Titles]] for 8 days, beating Harlem Heat (Wrestling/BookerT and Stevie Ray) on September 23, 1996 and losing them back on October 1, in preparation for the Outsiders (Wrestling/ScottHall and Wrestling/KevinNash) winning the belts and basically killing them off. They would flounder for some two more years in WCW before returning to ECW at ''ECW House Party 99,'' January 16, 1999 in response to a challenge made six days earlier at ''ECW Guilty As Charged'' by [[Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys Buh Buh Ray Dudley]]. The Dudleys ran TPE out in February and they would be in and out of Wrestling/{{WWE}} and WCW by the middle of August. They would bounce around various independent promotions for the next three years, until Rocco died of a heart attack during a match in September 2002.

!! "The Original Macdaddies of Troping"

* IHaveManyNames: Johnny Grunge had previously wrestled as Johnny Rotten, as the Russian Assassin (in the Philadelphia-based NWF promotion) and as Zap of the tag team the Equalizers.[[note]]Dusty Wolfe, one of the many guys doing the Wrestling/DoinkTheClown gimmick in the indies, was Zoom. Michael Lane was Zip.[[/note]] Petty was well known for his work as the masked Cheetah Kid, and had also worked as Leopard Mask, as 1/2 of the short-lived masked Komodo Dragons team with Dean Malenko and as Colonel [=DeKlerk=] of Team South Africa[[note]]With Sergeant Kruger, aka [[Wrestling/DoinkTheClown Ray Licaccelli/Gary Fall/Ray Apollo]][[/note]] in the "Pat O'Connor Memorial Tournament" at ''NWA Clash of the Champions XIII'' and at ''NWA [=Starrcade=] 90.''

* IHaveManyNames: Johnny Grunge had previously wrestled as Johnny Rotten, as the Russian Assassin (in the Philadelphia-based NWF promotion) and as Zap of the tag team the Equalizers.[[note]]Dusty Wolfe, one of the many guys doing the Wrestling/DoinkTheClown gimmick in the indies, was Zoom. Michael Lane was Zip.[[/note]] Petty was well known for his work as the masked Cheetah Kid, and had also worked as Leopard Mask, as 1/2 of the short-lived masked Komodo Dragons team with Dean Malenko and as Colonel [=DeKlerk=] of Team South Africa[[note]]With Sergeant Kruger, aka [[Wrestling/DoinkTheClown Ray Licaccelli/Gary Fall/Ray Apollo]][[/note]] in the "Pat O'Connor Memorial Tournament" at ''[[Wrestling/{{WCW}} NWA Clash of the Champions XIII]]'' and at ''NWA [=Starrcade=] 90.''

-->"We represent the first generation of American youth that is more afraid of living than dying."

* ArchEnemy: The Funk Brothers ([[Wrestling/TerryFunk Terry]] and Dory Jr.), Wrestling/{{Sabu}}, the Gangstas (Wrestling/NewJack and Mustafa), Harlem Heat (Wrestling/BookerT and Stevie Ray), High Voltage (Robbie Rage and Kenny Kaos)

* RedBaron: "The Macdaddies of Violence"

* ArchEnemy: The Funk Brothers ([[Wrestling/TerryFunk Terry]] and Dory Jr.]], Wrestling/{{Sabu}}, the Gangstas (Wrestling/NewJack and Mustafa), Harlem Heat (Wrestling/BookerT and Stevie Ray), High Voltage (Robbie Rage and Kenny Kaos)

* RedBaron: "The Macdaddies of Violence"

* RealSongThemeTune: Ini [=Kamoze=]'s "Here Comes the Hotstepper"

'''Johnny Grunge''' (real name Michael Durham 1966-2006) and '''"Flyboy" Rocco Rock''' (Theodore James "Ted" Petty 1953-2002) were American ProfessionalWrestling TagTeam best known for their work in Wrestling/{{ECW}} as '''The Public Enemy,''' After having spent years in various promotions under different names, and after increasingly facing each other in international tours, including a dark (non-televised) match at the very first episode of ''[[Wrestling/{{WWERaw}} WWF Monday Night Raw]]'', they debuted as the Public Enemy at '''ECW UltraClash '93''', September 18, 1993. They would go on to be 5x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/ecw/ecw-t.html NWA ECW/ECW World Tag Team Champions]] before going to Wrestling/{{WCW}} in 1996. They would hold the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-t.html WCW World Tag Team Titles]] for 8 days, beating Harlem Heat (Wrestling/BookerT and Stevie Ray) on September 23, 1996 and losing them back on October 1, in preparation for the Outsiders (Wrestling/ScottHall and Wrestling/KevinNash) winning the belts and basically killing them off. They would flounder for some two more years in WCW before returning to ECW at ''ECW House Party 99,'' January 16, 1999 in response to a challenge made six days earlier at ''ECW Guilty As Charged'' by [[Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys Buh Buh Ray Dudley]]. The Dudleys ran TPE out in February and they would be in and out of Wrestling/{{WWE}} and WCW by the middle of August. They would bounce around various independent promotions for the next three years, until Rocco died of a heart attack during a match in September 2002.

[[caption-width-right:316:L-R: "Flyboy" Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge]]