Wrestlers you WISHED were good

[Carbomb]

Vince McMahon...the build for some of his matches made him look like a real monster...kinda goes to prove that the amount of wrestling you watch has no bearing on how good you are at it.

He had blinders with Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, Shane McMahon, Triple H (the Smackdown one) and Shawn Michaels. McMahon usually delievered the goods in gimmick matches. Vince was exactly how he should be for the character he plays. He'd look odd doing flying headscissors.

 

I personally didn't think the Hogan or Shane matches were blinders, but I agree - he wasn't supposed to go out there and slap headlocks on, as the whole point is that he's a non-wrestler venturing into a wrestler's territory. It'd make the wrestler in question look stupid if he was able to go hold-for-hold with them, and in the case of Shane, people would wonder why two non-wrestlers were being all technical and shit.

Bollocks. That Hogan match has everything. It's a clear five star encounter.

I found it a bit underwhelming, personally. But hey - to each his own.

[the_mole]

Has Ahmed Johnston been mentioned? he looked tremendous at Survivor Series 95 and if he was a much better wrestler I could have seen him becoming a HUGE star in the attitude era

[CleetusVanDamme]

Hamhead was fine for what he was, it's just that he couldn't go 6 minutes without tearing something. Shame, as he was legit one of the most popular guys in the whole company through 96/97. He also suffered from being part of the most pointless heel turn of all time, killed him dead.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

The Ahmed Hates the Gays angle was brilliant. When he found out Goldust had a fiddle about with his sack while he was out cold, he stormed the dressing room in the most believable display of rage I've ever seen in wrestling. He went fucking SPASTIC! Loved that angle.

[Dr.PeterVenkman]

Johnny The Bull/Stamboli in WWE

 

Was quality in WCW as one of the Thrillers then was absolute shite when they finally brought him through in WWE, he was shit when he was in the FBI too

[CleetusVanDamme]

The Ahmed Hates the Gays angle was brilliant. When he found out Goldust had a fiddle about with his sack while he was out cold, he stormed the dressing room in the most believable display of rage I've ever seen in wrestling. He went fucking SPASTIC! Loved that angle.

 

 

Goldust kissing Ahmed turned my dad into the South Park parody of a wrestling fan for a while. I think if he'd been at a show when that happened he'd have probably tried to jump the rail, the spacker.

 

 

I've went and found my post, to save typing it out again..

 

 

 

 

Ahmed Johnson springs to mind.

I could be wrong, but when Ahmed Johnson debuted and slammed Yokozuna, I believe the rafters actually shook. I'll never forget watching Raw at 6 o'clock after school on a Friday (what a time to watch wrestling, eh?) and seeing Ahmed Johnson for the first time. He was something special. And he actually stayed over for a good 6-12 months, before everyone realised he was mental. The "Ahmed Hates Homo's" angle in mid-96 was pretty good. He was throwing babyfaces through walls just to rip Goldusts throat out. His match along with the LOD against the Nation is lost amongst the Bret Hart vs Steve Austin classic at WM13, but that street fight was brilliantly done.

 

Ahmed Johnson was my dad's favourite wrestler. He hated wrestling, but not when Ahmed was on, in my house every Friday without fail you'd hear my dad shouting at the tv "FUCKING GET HIM HAMHEAD, ON YE GO SON". I swear I'd never seen my dad as angry as he was when Goldust kissed him, he was sat fucking fuming, red face and everything, what a mark. Of course, as soon as Ahmed was off tv he'd be back to the usual "this is shit" "you are gay" insults whenever wrestling was on, he couldn't talk, he was gay for Ahmed.

 

 

 

I've still never seen him get THAT angry at anything again, and he still gives me abuse for liking wrestling. I might get KOTR 96 on Tagged Classics sometime, and stick it on at his house, see if it gets a reaction.

[brutusbarber]

bring on the usual flames but I hoped that Austin was actually going to do something else other than Punch kick Stunner... decade or so later and no change.

 

I too also hoped that Nathan Jones was going to be the next big thing....

 

Kizarny looked amusing for all of 3 minutes then it was clear he was a supreme jobber....

[vealster]

I always thought Deuce and Domino had a great gimick loved the 50's style outfits and their entrance music was cool and catchy.

 

But as athletes/performers both of them were a little on the shit side to me you could see they were struggling out there.

[The Genius]

Vince McMahon...the build for some of his matches made him look like a real monster...kinda goes to prove that the amount of wrestling you watch has no bearing on how good you are at it.

He had blinders with Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, Shane McMahon, Triple H (the Smackdown one) and Shawn Michaels. McMahon usually delievered the goods in gimmick matches. Vince was exactly how he should be for the character he plays. He'd look odd doing flying headscissors.

 

I personally didn't think the Hogan or Shane matches were blinders, but I agree - he wasn't supposed to go out there and slap headlocks on, as the whole point is that he's a non-wrestler venturing into a wrestler's territory. It'd make the wrestler in question look stupid if he was able to go hold-for-hold with them, and in the case of Shane, people would wonder why two non-wrestlers were being all technical and shit.

Bollocks. That Hogan match has everything. It's a clear five star encounter.

I found it a bit underwhelming, personally. But hey - to each his own.

I agree!!! My point is he might have been a "non wrestler" but he's the guy running the show, who has been watching from the sidelines for decades and is in better physical shape than half the roster. Had he been any other "non wrestler" the training montages would be the bit which would explain why he would be comfortable doing some actual wrestling.

 

Whats the point in showing him hitting wrestling moves in the clips, having all that build up, and then coming out looking like the most pumped OAP in history and resorting to having him spend 20 minutes breaking every fall with his face?

 

Also the guy has had more matches then Mark Henry has has hot dinners...Mark Henry being someone who started as a non wrestler but everyone seemed fine when he started hitting big power moves. Surely by the time you're onto his tenth match or so we can expect to see him be capable of stringing an offence together???

[truthofsin]

I'll have to go with Test for this one.. He had the look, the music, the legit badass gimmick (wasnt he pushed as Motley Crues ex bodyguard or something?) and the association (he was in the corporation when it was hot, then the Steph thing).. Sadly his in ring work wasnt so great and either were his promos, but i still feel it was ultimately the crappy booking of the steph angle and the lack of any real feud with HHH coming off it that he never recovered from..

[air_raid]

I thought Test was fucking awesome coming off that match with Shane O' at SummerSlam and was fucking livid that old man Vince was booked against Trips at Armageddon instead of good old Andrew. In fact, fuck it. He should have been on Survivor Series. In fact, he should have taken the belt from Trips instead of Big Slow, who should have stuck to his comedy shit with Bosom Man.

 

Just me, then?

[Loki]

I honestly think if Goldberg had been a better wrestler then he'd have had a longer WWE career than he did. He had one of the best looks any wrestler has ever had, and a fantastic "legit brawler" charisma going. But he needed his hand held all the time in the ring. I remember reading that quite a few WWE wrestlers were unwilling to work long feuds with him as they felt he was dangerous in the ring. Really, if he'd been able to properly learn the WWE way of doing things, he could have been someone they could have built their business around for quite a few years.

[GlennCullen]

I thought Test was fucking awesome coming off that match with Shane O' at SummerSlam and was fucking livid that old man Vince was booked against Trips at Armageddon instead of good old Andrew. In fact, fuck it. He should have been on Survivor Series. In fact, he should have taken the belt from Trips instead of Big Slow, who should have stuck to his comedy shit with Bosom Man.

 

Just me, then?

 

As a kid I wanted Test to go on a rampage and get revenge on Trips and Steph. I would've gladly accepted him as champion. Wrestling was much more fun back then.

[air_raid]

Really, if he'd been able to properly learn the WWE way of doing things, he could have been someone they could have built their business around for quite a few years.

 

I know what you're saying here, but the reality of having someone established like Goldberg - someone who has "bankable" stamped all over them - why wouldnt the WWE have booked him the way he needed booking? Having Goldberg in lengthy matches where he was required to do lots of selling was always a recipe for disaster. Why not play to his strengths?

 

In sporting analogy things work best when you build your team around your best player rather than try and force someone into something that doesnt suit them. For example my own Lilywhites abandoned the 4-4-2 they have played for the last 442 years, in favour of 4-4-1-1 to suit VdV. Torres being shoehorned into Chelsea's 4-3-3 hasnt.

[ShortOrderCook]

Johnny The Bull/Stamboli in WWE

 

Was quality in WCW as one of the Thrillers then was absolute shite when they finally brought him through in WWE, he was shit when he was in the FBI too

 

He and Nunzio were a tremendous tag team for a while. They had a fair streak of cracking tags on Velocity that the crowd just ate up. They played the little quick guy and big powerhouse tandem brilliantly and worked the hot tag with that to perfection.

 

 

I thought Test was fucking awesome coming off that match with Shane O' at SummerSlam and was fucking livid that old man Vince was booked against Trips at Armageddon instead of good old Andrew. In fact, fuck it. He should have been on Survivor Series. In fact, he should have taken the belt from Trips instead of Big Slow, who should have stuck to his comedy shit with Bosom Man.

 

Just me, then?

 

Not at all. I've always said that putting Test in the triple threat and giving him the title thus elevating a new star in the process was the way to go and the logical move. I'm still gutted it didn't happen. I reckon it would have been well received.

 

 

My contribution... i always wished Chaz Warrington was good. I don't really know why though. I always liked him from The Headbangers and really hoped he'd get over and succeed in singles when he became Chaz. When that didn't happen i was desperate for him and D'Lo to be super-awesome as a tag team. They were good and D'Lo is quality but there was something definitely lacking and it sure as shit wasn't Tiger Ali Singh.