Wrestlers you WANT to like/dislike, but just can't?

[Pinc]

One of the more ludicrous things I've seen watching wrestling was when Miz did his Stone Cold Steve Austin face when Lesnar stormed the ring. Of course, Lesnar acted great by making Miz look like a wee boy and even threw a chair at him to emphasise the point. In that moment I got what Kevin Nash was on about when he said Miz winning the belt "exposed the business".

 

Some folk on here were going on about what a top babyface he'd be too. Never understood that one either.

 

That moment was the only time I've ever enjoyed Miz as a babyface, thought he looked the bollocks doing that.

[Undefeated Steak]

Thread full of thickos so far, don't just name guys you don't like!

I was just keeping up with the flow of traffic. Honest.

[Callum1993]

For me it's Bret Hart. As a fan growing up I didn't start watching until like 1998 by which time Bret had gone to WCW. I never really watched any of his stuff until I got back into wrestling in like 2006. Although he's a great technical wrestler and stuff I've never really enjoyed sitting down and watching one of his matches. Plus he comes across as a bitter prick when it comes to interviews and backstage stuff. Never been a fan and probably never will be.

[Jackpot]

Rock.

 

I find him to come across as a cunt but I can't help myself liking him. He's just got that natural likeable nature, even though I know I wouldn't find anybody else entertaining saying the exact same things.

 

JBL.

 

On commentary he comes across as a twat and plenty of backstage talk of him being a bit of a bully, especially when he got his main event push. But again, I find him entertaining. And he's by far my favourite on the commentary team.

 

On the flip side, Vickie Guerrero.

 

Whenever she came on screen, I wanted to turn over. I suppose that was her job so she was doing it well but the girl grated on me so badly. But when I see the things she was asked to do, and she willingly did them I found a bit of sympathy for her. And she's never badmouthed the company since, always talks highly of it. I do feel a bit bad for the anger I had for her.

[CleetusVanDamme]

I wish I could go back to wishing death on the Young Bucks. Times were simpler a few years ago. I could happily label them as spot-monkeys, up there with D-Rich as the worst of the worst, the Olsen Twins without the drawing power. And I was right to.

 

... But then I saw one of them climb to the top of a ladder, only to drop down and do a back-rake! I saw one of them cartwheel/backflip all the way across the ring (like the thing Chyna used to do) and end the sequence with a back-rake, and I couldn't help but think "that's amazing". I've became a fan of their beautifully executed Running Suck-Its as well. Great move.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

I want to like Hulk Hogan, I really do. He's an icon of wrestling and part of wrestling's Mount Rushmore. At first, it was because I saw his nostalgia run in 2002 and saw him as an old man clinging to past glory. But then I went back and watched the stuff in his heyday. This guy's meant to be a superhero? He's balding, and despite the 24 inch pythons he's a bit tubby. And when he's wrestling, he's constantly biting, eye gouging and back raking. He might be strong, and he might talk a good game about eating your vitamins and saying your prayers, but he's not much of a hero to me. Plus, he was a terrible sore loser in the 1992 Rumble.

 

I want to like Hogan because it feels like I can't appreciate a significant part of wrestling history. At Wrestlemania 30, it was like, "YAY Austin! YAY Rock! ... And fucking Hulk Hogan..."

 

I used to think it was because I was an Attitude Era kid. But, I had the same feelings about Ric Flair in 2002, and through most of his late WWE run, but I went back and watched his old stuff, and I can appreciate that. Love Naitch. 

[Tommy!]

CM Punk.

 

I really should have liked him as a face and hated him when he was heel.

 

He was good in ring, put over a good character, had hype from ever corner and had charisma out the wazoo.

 

I wanted to cheer him, I wanted to hate him as a heel but for some unknown reason I just could invest in him and couldn't find myself getting behind him or waiting to see him get his arse handed to him like I should. His feud with rey was as close as I got, and its sad I couldn't be into him as much as every other fan seemed to be when he was at his peak and setting the world on fire.

 

I should have, I really wished I could have but I just couldn't.

 

Its my own loss I guess. Him always seeming like a bit of a cunt might not of helped, but that shouldn't effect my enjoyment on screen should it. If I took wrestlers IRL into account there would be next to no one its ok to watch.

[HarmonicGenerator]

He was good in ring, put over a good character, had hype from ever corner and had charisma out the wazoo.

 

 

 

Well, that is where it comes out...

 

[Kaz Hayashi]

Test

 

I fucking hated the big gonk. Even recently when watching some stuff on the network, i sat down thinking, the lads big, fast and powerful, maybe it's time to give him a chance... It lasted 3 minutes and then i actually changed the show. Not saying it was directly linked, but clearly it was.

I fully understood and still do, that he had enough about him to be shit hot, but he lacked the hot.

 

JBL

 

Now, i was a big fan of APA. In retrospect i also really enjoied the look and style of all of his pre-APA gimmicks, starting with Justin Hawk and especially, New Black Jacks.

But jesus, i dont know why, i just could not get in to the JBL run at all. He bored me. It felt like a deflated version of the angry powerhouse i had become a fan of. I just don't have time for it at all.

 

Freebirds

 

I don't know where to start with this. I did somewhat enjoy a bit of their panto shit. But seriously... What am i trying to get?? Its one of those things where i didnt get it in the early 90's and wayching back, theres less to get. Theres a fragment of approval for the fact they added a touch of colour to some of the grey scale going at the time and there was 3 of them.

They did fuck all for me apart from entering to some decent music with nice cape.

Couldn't invest at all though.

 

On the flipside:

 

Headshrinkers

 

I love this team as much as any i have ever seen. They seemed so fresh at the team, even though just a rehash, but i just missed out on the original 80's version.

The look screamed 'were gonna fuck you up'. They seemed so solid, the music was simple but quality, the in ring was aggressive yet fast, yet apart from a brief run as champs, they didn't really live on the high roads for long (as quality heels). I cant imagine they stand out in my peoples top 5 tag teams... But they do in mine.

Not arsed about them as a face tag team and one of the worst offences for racial stereotyping, even the fucking team name is terrible really.... Nevermind eating 'meat' on the way to the ring.

 

Justin Hawk Bradshaw

 

As mentioned earler, i was a big fan of everything pre the last incarnation. I think i first saw the 'hawk' version at IYH. The music, manager and cow bell sold me from the get go. That in ring strong style had me hooked.

Again though, i was probably the only one in the play ground shouting 'mooo' (maybe for other reasons). Whilst people might look back and think 'yep, theres potential', i remember thinking he was the hardest bastard in the WWF at the time.

I want to dislike him now, because hes an irritating twat, but this will always hold me back.

 

Hakushi

 

I was mesmorised by this strange dude. I had no previous knowledge of japanese wrestling other than the 1 or 2 previous WCW vs Japan shows i'd heard about. Even so, nothing to base an opinion on.

His look (wow), his style (wow) and his overall vibe was so appealing to me.

Reality is, i probably only ever saw 4 or 5 of his matches at the time, but always hoped he would start tagging with Yoko as a super japanese version of what Crush didn't live up to.

I felt he was hard done to and its a shame it didnt work out.

Sometimes i look back and think, i really only liked him because of the gimmick and he didnt show enough for me to have homestly really invested in. On top of that he ended up as a shite comedy sketch with Barry.H. Theres plently i should dislike him for as Hakushi, but i cant, hes mint.

[SD Jones]

Dolph Ziggler

 

I'm told one of my worst characteristics is that I am a shameless bandwagon jumper. I'm all over the latest fads like a cheap suit, and i'll drop it like a phat beat as soon as the sell by date approaches. Nowhere is this more evident than when i'm taking in some Wrestling. I hear the "We Want Ziggler" chants and I just want to get out of my chair and join the swarm of humanity that's going to carry him aloft like an army of human ants after he wins the Royal Rumble.  

 

I really want to like him, but I truly believe the sight of Dolph Ziggler coming to the ring would sicken a pig. That doesn't mean i'm not the bandwagon jumper I thought I was, it just means that Dolph Ziggler is the shits. I like the opening credits to Saved By The Bell as much as the next person (unless the next person is the person that does Dolph Zigglers graphics), I don't even mind the fact that he's a noodle haired wanker. He's athletic and can turn in a bout. It's his identity as a professional wrestler that I can't take to.

 

"The Show Off",

"You wish you could pull this off"

 

This abhorrent combination of words wouldn't be so bone chillingly gobshitish if the person was a show off, if he was pulling it off. He's meek, overly anxious, self aware and inhibited and he's pretending to be this confident, swaggering big dick who cuts loose and has a good time. The aura he carrys doesn't match what his character is supposed to be. There's room for somebody that looks like a beach bum but exudes real arrogance, poise and boldness. There isn't room for someone whimpering "90 days" while he's having his pants pulled down.

 

His entrance is what bothers me most, it's so contrived and forced. Now it's normal to do the same shite every week, but when you are trying to creat the illusion that you are to some extent interacting with the audience seeing the same thing almost every time shatters whatever doubt there was that he'd be able to do the exact same thing even more comfortably in an empty arena. I just don't think his entrance connects with the crowd in the way it's supposed to. Anyone that's ever been ringside at a live event and see's the talent playing to the TV audience instead of the live audience will know what I mean. Good performers can do both. When I see Dolph enter the ring and turn back and speak to the crowd I just just see the people in the front row saying "who the fuck is he supposed to be talking to?".

 

The only thing that's going to save him is a reboot. Sack the faux cocky sh*te and become a proper overachieving underdog, preferably one with an anxiety disorder. Either that or they give him some Prozac and let him ease into the character a bit. 

[air_raid]

Chris Jericho for me, I'm more than aware that his last couple of runs have been dross and that he's a self-obsessed twat of the highest order. He'd probably sell out his granny if it meant his shite band's album went double-platinum. But despite all of that he was still my favourite as a kid and he was always the guy I'd go when we were jumping about someone's garden playing wrestling so I just can't bring myself to say "sorry, mate but you're a cunt"

 

Good shout. The biggest problem for me about Jericho is that it seems every time I decide he's a pillock, that my admiration for him is solely based on nostalgia, his act is stale and I don't care about him any more, he goes and releases another book that makes me love him again.

 

 

I wish I could go back to wishing death on the Young Bucks.

 

 

Yes, yes, yes. Pair of twats. But they're so good at being twats, that I enjoy watching them. It's getting to the point where I don't want to watch their latest stupid psychology-murdering car crash multi-way flipfest, because I don't want to catch myself enjoying them.

 

At least reDRagon are still shit.

[Slapnuts]

Speaking in a "Beyond the ring" sense, I'm exactly the demographic that shouldn't like Cena, but I really do, and it's Total Divas that has completely changed the way I see him (absolutely no pun intended!!)

 

Speaking within kayfabe, we are supposed to hate HHH/Steph but I can't boo them. And I don't mean because they're "good" or "talented on the mic", I mean strictly within kafabe terms, I genuinely think they make good/valid points and they make me laugh so I find it hard to boo them.

 

So what I'm really saying is that I'm torn whenever Cena goes up against the Authority haha!

[Michael_3165]

Randy Orton - I just don't 'get' it. I have enjoyed many of his matches but nowadays I just don't care. I don't see the fascination. He doesn't connect with me at any level, either good or bad. Why is he a 'viper'? What is the character other than 'man in trunks'? The fact that he comes off as a bit of a cock in real life doesn't help. He lacks something that makes me view him as the top talent and I think this has been reflected in the 'nearly but not quite' push for him at the top level.  

 

CM Punk - Another one that has produced some great matches and has a hell of a gimmick. But I don't get it either. He always came off as a stroppy teenager and seemed to try too hard to be edgy and a rebel. I watched his matches for the work but was mainly invested in the other person in the match. I never really cared if he won or not or even whether he was in the business or not!

 

Sheamus - It seems he is a good guy... It is clear he has made huge strides in his career and some of his matches in recent years have been of a very high standard. That said, when he is a heel he is a generic big bloke thats a bully. There is nothing unique or different about him in terms of character. When he is a good guy I just don't buy the smiling giant thing. Strip away the ginger hair and pale look and what are we left with? A good worker and big man but little else (for me at least).

 

The Miz - Always a mid carder. He performs in this role but following his horrific title reign and match against Cena I have increase levels of indifference toward him. Again he is another guy lumbered with a cocky heel gimmick. Unlike Rollins, Ambrose, Bray Wyatt and others he has nothing that grabs me and makes me want to watch. His cocky heel thing seems very forced and I don't buy into it. 

 

Jeff Hardy - I want to like Jeff I really do! I think I personally cannot get past his spot monkey period and take him seriously as an act. In fairness I haven't seen much of his TNA run but his run in WWE seemed to pander to teenage girls. Never rated him as a 'worker' and his gimmick and look just don't draw me in.

[Scott Malbranque]

Want to like Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan, but can't.
Want to hate Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and John Cena but can't.

[DeanoTheGame]

I feel as though I should like the NXT Women's division, considering everybody raves about how good they are, but with the exception of Sasha Banks I'm not interested in them at all. Carmella is okay too, but I think that's down to the Cass/Enzo connection more than being interested in her.

 

I've tried to like Jeff Hardy so many times over the past 15 years but he's fucking shit.