Bunny Hugged

Bunny Hugged is a 1950 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies short, directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. Released in 1951, the short is essentially a re-working of Jones's 1948 short Rabbit Punch, substituting wrestling for boxing.

Synopsis
A wrestling match pits professional wrestler Ravishing Ronald, "a de-natured boy" (a parody of Gorgeous George and "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers) against current champion, Crusher. Bugs, the mascot of Ravishing Ronald ("it's a living"), watches from a corner as The Crusher uses Ronald, tied up in his own hairnet, as a punching bag. Worried that he's losing his "bread and butter", Bugs enters the match as "The Masked Terror", wearing a mask over his face. The Crusher sees the new opponent as "fresh meat", disposes of Ronald (whose signs "HELP", "SOS" and "FOUL" go unanswered) and goes after Bugs.

Bugs tries to wrestle Crusher, but Crusher is able to knock him around and send Bugs flying into the audience. When he's quickly pinned between Crusher's legs, Bugs declares "It's about time for me to employ a little stra-gedy". He then tears his mask apart, which Crusher thinks is a rip in his shorts. Bugs comes back from off-screen wearing a sandwich board advertising his services as "Stychen Tyme", a tailor. While humming the tune to "Stitch In Time", Bugs jabs a needle in Crusher's backside, causing him to fly screaming through the audience.

Crusher then comes charging back, but Bugs opens a safe door, letting Crusher run through it and bounce off the ring before bouncing back into the now closed door. A now disoriented Crusher is able to be pinned (literally, as Bugs put a coat on Crusher and pins the coat to the mat). When the match ends and Bugs is declared the new champion, Crusher snaps out of it. He offers his hand to shake Bugs', despite the crowd's objections (Crusher merely growls them into silence). Bugs relents, but when Crusher tries to bite Bugs' hand, he's instead biting through a stick of dynamite, which blows up in his face. Now finally done with Crusher, Bugs tries to flex his muscle... but sees his muscle droop instead. Bugs simply accepts being weak, pushing his drooping muscle like a little swing.

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