Wrestling Character Variations

Strong Bad abandoned this gimmick in favor of il Cartographer after he became more popular.

Il Cartographer was Strong Bad's second wrestling incarnation. Italian for "the mapmaker", his name uses an integral article (he is occasionally referred to as "the Il Cartographer", meaning "the the"). Hailing from the Age of Exploration and billed as "The Namer of Nations", Il Cartographer is styled after a 15th-17th century Italian navigator: he wears a floppy orange beret, a frilly white shirt, and a brown vest, and talks in an Italian accent. His gimmicks include throwing maps to the restrooms into the crowd (labelled "Ye Olde Restroom Trail") while approaching the ring, then raising a flag reading "the il-est" to claim the ring in his name. He also has his own wrestling theme, mostly consisting of his name repeated by high-pitched singers.

According to Strong Bad in Fan Costumes 2017, he won the Continental Breakfast title belt in front of a depressing basement wall with some sheets taped to it, a venue he used to wrestle in. At this point, he was enemies with Homestar Runner (or his wrestling alter ego, the Jack 'Em Up Kid). Homestar calls him "el Photographer" and mixes up his costume with Rudy from Fat Albert.

The Jack 'Em Up Kid was Homestar Runner's wrestling alter ego. His red pants (reading "'EM UP!" on the back) are pulled up to his chest, which has cinnamon stubble on it, and his hat has no propeller. He has white kneepads and shoes. His tag team partner is Gary the Legend, an imaginary figure.

When cutting a promo, the Jack 'Em Up Kid talks extremely quickly, frequently leaning to the camera and exclaiming "Hoo yeah!", and constantly running out of breath and inhaling quickly in between words. He refers to his fans as "Jack 'Emites" and "Jack 'Emettes", offering much licensed merchandise.

• Many elements of this persona are similar to Hulk Hogan:
  • He ends the promo with "What you gone did when you get jacked up by the Jack 'Em Up Kid?", a twist of Hogan's famous interview-ending catch phrase, "Whatcha gonna do when Hulkamania runs wild on you?!"
  • In addition, beginning "Well you know, announcer man..." is similar to Hogan's famous interview opening, "Well ya know something, Mean Gene..."
  • Fans are called Jack 'Emites and Jack 'Emettes similarly to Hogan's "Hulkamaniacs".
• His costume and name resemble that of veteran pro-wrestler Shawn Michaels, the Heartbreak Kid.
• His frequent use of the phrase "Hoo yeah!" is a reference to Macho Man Randy Savage, whose famous catchphrase was "Oooh yeah!"
• Gary the Legend's name is similar to wrestler and commentator Larry the Legend.

Deemed a "misfire", the Brothers Strong moved on to several other gimmicks.

The razor blade lodged in Strong Mad's forehead references blading, the method that professional wrestlers use to make themselves bleed mid-match. Blading involves using a razor blade like Strong Mad's to surreptitiously cut oneself mid-match so that nobody notices that the cut is self-inflicted. Many older wrestlers have noticeable scar tissue on their forehead (much like Strong Mad does in the clip) from blading hundreds of times in their careers.

"Arby" redirects here. For the restaurant chain, see Arby's.

Rax and Arby, the Sanctum of Spiky Shoulder Pads, was Strong Bad and Strong Mad's third wrestling team. As the name implies, they wear spiky shoulder pads. Strong Mad's singlet is red and has "RAX" written on it, and Strong Bad wears a green mohawk.

Visually, the team references the Road Warriors tag team (also known as the Legion of Doom), who became famous for their shoulder pads covered in spikes.

The duo was managed by "the insidious" Mr. Cheatayama.

Gardenboy is Strong Sad's wrestling identity. He has a red rake, straw hat, and a green watering can that can spout flames. He refers to all of his opponents as gophers. He has his own wrestling theme, based on Il Cartographer's. (The singers even accidentally say "Il Cartographer" at one point.) Later on, the Magnificent Marzipan steals his garden tools. Instead of gophers, he later asks to fight half woman-half man's champions instead.

He was named after the sender of the email yes, wrestling, after Strong Bad suggests to the sender to "stop trying to perfect the Summer Squash Suplex" and get "a rake, a straw hat, maybe a watering can and start screaming about how your opponents are gophers".

It is unknown if this is Marzipan's real wrestling gimmick or just a nickname given to her by Gardenboy.