Midcarders of Yesteryear

[PSF]

In years past there have been midcarders far more talented and over than todays main eventers. What I'm looking to get your opinions on is, who do you think from the WWE's past do you think would be main-eventing today if they were in their prime now?

 

Would Mr Perfect be a multiple time champion now? Far better than alot of the current crop and if he was now in matches with Ziggler and Rhodes at their level, would people be saying that HE was the next big thing?

 

How about Billy Gunn? I'm thinking "The One" Billy Gunn stage. Would he have been good enough to be feuding with the likes of CM Punk and Mark Henry?

 

And finally, the big man Test! Around 2002 when feuding with the Taker, I thought that was his chance to shine, but there was so much talent around (Angle, Rock, Triple H, Jericho, Lesnar, Taker etc...), he never had a chance. But with the main event pool now so diluted, would he be holding the gold?

[MichaelMush]

I think the main difference now is that you not only have two main title belts but also monthly PPV's and longer TV shows so the title gets passed around a lot more often.

 

I agree that Mr. Perfect would be up there. I think Owen Hart would have some awesome matches with some of the guys that are there now.

 

I think of some of the guys that were there in the mid card around 1995-1997 like Faarooq, Goldust, Ahmed Johnson and British Bulldog.

[PunkStep]

Dibiase would be world champ. He came as close as anyone can get in 88, so in todays scene he would've held it a few times by now.

 

Razor Ramon also.

[SSJLogan]

Id take D-Lo Brown as Smackdown champ any day.

[martyngnr]

Curt Hennig and Rick Rude had absolutely everything and would be massive stars nowadays.

 

...and obviously when the Boss Man comes back at the Royal Rumble he'll be the biggest star in the business.

[SSJLogan]

My Pre-Attitude Era list would be:

 

1) Mr Perfect

2) British Bulldog

3) Roddy Piper (was a main eventer but didn't win the big one)

4) Ricky Steamboat (WWE)

5) Jake Roberts

 

My Attitude Era list would be:

 

1) Owen Hart

2) Ken Shamrock

3) X-Pac (He should have been the original small man world champ before Mysterio)

4) Scott Hall (WCW or WWE before the Attitude era)

5) Prince Albert (I think he has a wicked stand out look for a wrestler with great size and with heel Trish as his manager i think it would have been great)

[simonworden]

My answer has to be nobody, if the booking is done as it is today then most of the aforementioned wouldn't have been developed as a character in the same way they were and would just be another member of the pack today, in my opinion

[300]

My answer has to be nobody, if the booking is done as it is today then most of the aforementioned wouldn't have been developed as a character in the same way they were and would just be another member of the pack today, in my opinion

 

What a load of rubbish.

[Chest Rockwell]

Owen was great and all, but that man was midcard 4 life, even if that life had been longer.

[PSF]

Owen was great and all, but that man was midcard 4 life, even if that life had been longer.

 

With all the talk of Ziggler, Ryder and D-Bry being the future of the main event, could you in all honesty say that any of them are better than Owen Hart was? Not a chance, the King of Harts could have outshined anyone of them.

[Chest Rockwell]

Ziggler is much more believable as a main eventer than Owen was.

 

As much as I enjoy Daniel Bryan, I don't see it from him though at the moment.

[simonworden]

My answer has to be nobody, if the booking is done as it is today then most of the aforementioned wouldn't have been developed as a character in the same way they were and would just be another member of the pack today, in my opinion

 

What a load of rubbish.

 

 

Can you elaborate on this, would like to know why your opinion differs to mine and that what I wrote should be considered rubbish?

[Chest Rockwell]

Because it's a stupid bullshit cop out to suggest that there are no characters in wrestling, and it's the boring 'cookie-cutter' line we keep hearing, usually from people who have no follow up argument other than to parrot the soundbites they've read in lieu of being able to rationalise and form a considered opinion of their own.

[King Pitcos]

Impossible to say. Wrestlers were developed differently then, so by the time you got to the WWF, chances are you were already pretty experienced and handy. Plus you were nowhere near as over-exposed in those days. You'd have a couple of squash matches a month, then a big feud (that usually only consisted of one or two actual angles) two or three times a year.

 

Also, how are people defining "midcarder" and "main eventer"? Ted DiBiase main-evented pay-per-views, so did Owen Hart and Rick Rude. Is it just a rewording of "would they win the world title if they were around nowadays?" thing?

[Dirty Eddie]

I think that overall Daniel Bryan and Owen Hart are very bloody similar.

 

Both smaller athletes, but better workers than most around them, trained by legends and traveled the world before getting the call to WWF/E. Both use a combination of traditional American wrestling mixed in with stuff they have learned from working in Japan and Europe; fast-paced, technical wrestlers.

 

The only major difference is that Bryan can cut one hell of a promo when given the chance, where as Owen always struggled a bit with the interview side of things. He wasn't 'bad' as such, but just not very natural.

 

I don't really think Owen would ever have been World Champ, and even if he was around now, he'd have the same shortcomings as he did then. That still makes him better than Jack Swagger though, so who really knows?

 

 

 

Jack Swagger is to World Titles like Koko B Ware is to Hall Of Fame Rings: if Swagger/Koko got one, anyone can!