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Your favourite 3 midcarders 4 life


tiger_rick

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Give us your top 3. The definition for this is never held a World Title. I know there are some anomolies that will create (Roddy Piper for one) but that's the rule of thumb.

1. X-Pac/123 Kid

I loved the 123 Kid with his massive head, horrendous karate and hideous promos. His selling was A1, the gimmick was great and he was believable. Later as Syxx in dubya-see-dubya and X-Pac, he was cool as fuck. His work was brilliant and only the bronco buster stopped you loving his offence. That tag team with Kane was a great duo too. I even liked him in X-Factor. Never got the X-pac heat thing really although I can see why the constant flipping and flopping and shit DX reunion stopped people caring about him. It's a pity he was a fucked up dude because he could have had plenty more runs.

2. D'Lo Brown

We all know at which point D'Lo's career career came to a screeching halt but before that, i thought he was heading sky high. he was awesome. That chest protector gimmick made him stand out but the head wobble, being thickset physically and diving around like a cruiserweight added to it. He was brillaint in most skits and interviews he was involved in. Such a shame things went downhill. I never forgot though.

3. Marty Jannetty

How can you not love Marty? An absolutely fucked up fella who fell in and out of favour with Vince but always got another shot because he's a grand worker and a loveable rogue. There was never any chance of him progressing due to his limited mic skills but he's a dynamic wrestler and a tremendous seller whose colourfoul attire was always a welcome addition to any show. It has to be said though, not even marty coule overcome a tag team having a "New" name.

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FIll in later but for me

 

Tito Santana - before Shawn Michaels, Tito was Mr Wrestlemania and a the guy used to put people over on the way to the title and was fantastic either in tags with Rick Martel (who was my other choice) or as IC champ/contender. Safe pair of hands and watching a lot of the material Richard Land has put up reminded me how good he was and how over with the crowd he was

Mr Perfect (does holding the AWA title count?) - The Look, the swagger, the hair (way before Dolph tried to tribute it), Bobby Heenan as his manager, fantastic wrestler who would bump for anyone and worth it just for his match at SS against Bret (and Rap is Crap of course). Good enough to be considered a challenger but not good enough to win it

Jake Roberts - Could play any role. Currently in the middle of his spell after Earthquake squashed Damien to the Macho Man snake bite and the guy is just awesome. Could make a kid believe that a skinny guy could wrestle against the giants.

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Do you think Pitcos can get away with voting for Kofi Kingston three times?

  1. Owen Hart. I know it's an obvious one, but I have always loved watching him. From his High Energy and New Foundation days to the brilliantly-done falling out with Bret, he had a very good start to his post-Blue Blazer WWE career. The Survivor Series 1993 match with him being the only Hart brother eliminated sowed the seeds and the tag match VS The Quebecquers at the Rumble was also executed perfectly. Cue a couple of incredible matches with Bret that year, he also became one of the top heels in wrestling at the time. Played the underprivileged brother part excellently. It's a shame he took the piss a bit too much and apparently wasn't as passionate about wrestling as his super serious brother, because he could've been a major player. If he was around today, easily a World champion, but that's not saying much today is it.
  2. Razor Ramon. Man, he should've won the big one and it astounds me that he didn't even do it in WCW. Probably on account of him being a bit of a dick during his tenure there. The Bad Guy had it all- an imposing size & physique, a brilliant look, charisma coming out of his arse and he was a very good brawler. He pulled off the chest hair look better than anyone I have ever seen. Sold the stunner beautifully.
  3. The Miz. I was determined to go for a mid carder for today so I didn't seem too 'member berries' by only picking 90s guys. Although Miz has been WWE champion and headlined a Wrestlemania, can I pick him? He really is a perennial mid-carder. Picking him anyway, so there. There are few guys that have been better value than Miz since he started teaming with Morrison. He was clearly the talent out of that team and followed this up with a brilliant US title run, before surprisingly slotting into the main event picture- albeit as a prop for a Cena/Rock feud. Over the past 18 months he has been sensational- adding Maryse has further magnified his arrogance. The only thing I dislike is the fact that his feud with Bryan, which has been really interested (especially on Talking Smack), seems a bit pointless as I can't see a decent pay-off. Well, there won't be one now he is on Raw, anyway.
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@tiger_rick, have you seen any of the times 123 Kid and Marty Jannetty showed up in CHIKARA?

123 Kid was first there for King of Trios in 2011, and was just shit hot, like he'd turned back the clock. Over the course of the weekend he worked with Great Sasuke, Jinsei Shinzaki and Dick Togo, and had an absolute classic with El Generico.

He was back in 2012 teaming with Tatanka and Aldo Montoya as "Team WWF", which wasn't quite as fun, but still surreal and brilliant.

 

Possibly my favourite, though, was in the Tag Team Gauntlet at King Of Trios 2012. The Devastation Corporation (basically a heel Road Warriors knock-off) were dominating, eliminating a bunch of jobber teams, until the Powers of Pain came out and eliminated them. Next team out was Demolition, who eliminate Powers of Pain, and the final team is 1-2-3 Kid and Marty Jannetty! They won, go on to face The Heartthrobs (the forgettable mid-00s WWE team) and to challenge the Young Bucks for the tag titles. It was glorious.

 

For the record, off the top of my head, I'm going to go;

1. Marty Jannetty

2. Big Boss Man

3. Meng

But I'll probably change my mind in five minutes.

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I love all 3 guys Rick has mentioned, hell Marty was my favourite Rocker. I think I will try and stay from someone like Roddy as he did main event the 1st Wrestlemania. 

In no real order.

1. Koko B Ware.

I thought he was great as a kid, colourful and fun.I was always able to get behind him whether as a singles guy or as part of High Energy. I can't actually remember if he was even a good wrestler but all I do remember is that he was easy to get behind and I am sure the crowd enjoyed his stuff too. I imagine most will disagree with me on him.

2. Chris Kanyon

I thought he was brilliant, had some fantastic matches, he looked dead cool and was entertaining on the mic. To be honest I think the Jersey Triad were an under rated stable. Sadly the man had his problems with mental health and also seemed to have problems feeling he had to stay closeted as a wrestler. 

3. Val Venus

I thought this guy was cool. He looked the part, came across as an arrogant arse hole and was not bad in the ring. He got a decent mid card push for a bit but never made it past the IC title.

 

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Roddy Piper's one of my favourite wrestlers of all time, but you're right that he's anomalous: even without winning a World title, he was still kind of a main-eventer for a long time. I suppose it's testament to how good he was that his main event matches never needed the title to add to the spectacle.

Another anomaly would be Jerry Lawler, I think. For some reason no-one ever thought him good enough to win a World title, but he was Southern champion regularly, which was basically the World championship for Southern promotions, if you think about it. And with his ability to work just using punches, maybe the odd body slam or suplex, and the piledriver, plus his stellar work on the mike, it mystifies me he never got a World title run.

For me, it's:

1. Greg "The Hammer" Valentine - Came across as a nasty customer to have to deal with, even for a main eventer who'd eventually put him away. The feud with Ronnie Garvin cemented him in my head as "the main event of the midcard", if you get my meaning. Obviously, he benefited from working in an era when midcarders actually got storylines and reasons for people to give a shit, as opposed to just filling the card and trading wins and losses on TV, but he made it all work, despite not being particularly good on the mike.

2. Mr. Perfect - I actually think he should have had a main event run, to be honest, he was that good. Great in the ring, great on the mike, great character work, could make people really hate him. Never understood why he never won a World title. And sure - the way the WWF was presented in the media back in the 80s, you could realistically picture almost any singles wrestler as potentially being a World champion, but he really did come across as main event. In fact, I'll go so far that there are very few entrance themes that come across as more main event than Mr. Perfect's.

3. "Rollerball" Rocco - alright, he was British Middleweight champ, but it's difficult to compare like-for-like when it comes to British and US wrestling. The Middleweight belt was never really main event, and Rocco was never accorded the status that Daddy, Kendo, Haystacks, or even Pallo and McManus, were. But he was easily one of the best ever; he was state-of-the-art at the time, and simultaneously believable. Absolute nutcase on the mike too.

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1. William Regal
The first match I remember seeing him in was vs Chris Jericho at WrestleMania X-7, and he won me over immediately. Everything he's done before or since has grabbed me. Commanding presence on screen, and captured perfectly that 'Blackpool pier' comedy. A genuine shame he never held the title in WWE, could have filled some time nicely between Mania & Summerslam.

2. The Hurricane
Loved him so much I dressed up as him for two Halloweens in a row (and may have wrestled as him at training once or twice). The perfect midcard comedy character, with only being able to hit the chokeslam by gaining power from his 'Hurrifans'. Loved The Rock showing some arse for him, and the Royal Rumble spot where he believed he could chokeslam Hunter & Austin simultaneously was incredible. Could watch him fuck around in ten minute matches forever.

3. Essa Rios
Not even a midcarder, really. But showing up on Metal(?) he absolutely gripped me as a kid/early teen. Just seemed really cool, and his over the corner dive still feels mental today.

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1- Tatanka.

I cannot explain for the life of me why I love this guy, but I really do. Always have. Loved his early 90's run, his heel turn on Luger, his return in the mid 2000's (especially his facepaint when he went heel), his appearance outta nowhere in the Andre battle royal last year. I still hate HBK for getting himself disqualified at Mania IX, no number of awesome matches, discovery of religion or now being an all-round good egg will make up for that, depriving the world of what would clearly have been the greatest, most epic IC title reign ever. I'd like to think he'd still be IC champ now, if it weren't for HBK's blatant cheating - incidentally, he's still not apologised for that, despite it being his biggest transgression to date.

 

2-  Kofi Kingston

He's just so damned likeable, even if the New Day are starting to outstay their welcome now.

 

3- British Bulldog

After Tatanka and Undertaker, the guy who kept me interested in wrestling when it started. One half of my favourite match ever (Summerslam vs Bret), could be awesome in the ring, looked like a superstar, and one of the few white guys to ever pull off braids as a hairstyle.

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Mr Perfect: Whenever I think of the IC title he's usually the person I imagine it being on. Great matches, great character, great hair. 2002 is one of my favourite Rumble appearances of all time. Never dropped the towel. Never missed the gum clap. No one kicks out of the Perfect plex. 

Tatanka: I was an absolute mark for Tatanka as a kid. The war dance, the tomahawk chops. You want someone who defines a mid carder? He was unbeaten for over a year yet at no time was he even slightly considered as a Main eventer. The Heel Turn was shit. But that's because i involved Lex Luger. Who has Mojo Rawley level heat with me. 

Kofi Kingston: The epitome of the WWE's 50/50 booking. Knocked a feud with Orton oit of the park, oinning him and Punk in quick succession in a Survivor Series match but for some reason WWE never capitalised on it. Was fantastic in the Early days of the New Day until it got over done. I still believe he can get a short run at the top some time. Even going with the 'never reached your potential' angle. I actually think the crowd would get behind it. 

 

 

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Bloody hell, how could I forget Regal? He might have to edge Meng or Boss Man out of my list.

And, yeah, absolutely no way I'd consider Roddy Piper a midcarder even if he was never World Champ, so I couldn't justify putting him on my list, even though that's the criteria we're using. Otherwise, he'd be up there, he's my all-time favourite.

As for Lawler, it would depend on what we class as a World Title - he held the AWA Title.

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Hardcore Holly - Or any of the names he previously went by. Always enjoyed Holly. A great wrestler who worked really hard, he always seemed to be a consistent performer to put with anyone on the roster. A killer dropkick and convincing facial expressions all added to his character. I did not mind his mic skills either. 

Too Cool - Okay they may not be considered 'cool' these days but back when I was a young teenager, I adored these guys. People used to go crazy for the worm and I loved it too. An entertaining tag team with charisma. I have not watched their matches for a long time and in some ways I would like to keep it that way so I just keep fond teenage memories of them. 

Adrian Adonis - A great heel and a big guy who worked hard. A very limited time in the WWF but was still memorable. The stuff outside of WWF even more so, he even had a young Paul Heyman with him at one stage. I always feel his WWF gimmick was a small influence on the Goldust character although his full gimmick would create full controversy these days. Some of the things he was able to do for a guy of his size were incredible and he is often someone I go back to watch. 

 

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I'm with Rick on X-Pac. Definitely my number one in this category. Always enjoy watching him, great in the ring and hugely over for a time as well. He'd have fit right in these days, might have even got up to the top level.

Beyond him, I'd be tempted to say Neville, who I've always had a soft spot for, but it's still a bit early days to resign him to midcard forever even if he likely is. So I'd go with Boss Man, who kind of shares the "I remember him from both boom periods" status with Bulldog, and... probably Rhyno, actually. Paul Heyman did such a good job putting Rhyno over on commentary in 2001 I'm still always happy to see him show up and hit a Gore. 

(The ECW title doesn't count, does it?)

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45 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

I'm with Rick on X-Pac. Definitely my number one in this category. Always enjoy watching him, great in the ring and hugely over for a time as well. He'd have fit right in these days, might have even got up to the top level.

Beyond him, I'd be tempted to say Neville, who I've always had a soft spot for, but it's still a bit early days to resign him to midcard forever even if he likely is. So I'd go with Boss Man, who kind of shares the "I remember him from both boom periods" status with Bulldog, and... probably Rhyno, actually. Paul Heyman did such a good job putting Rhyno over on commentary in 2001 I'm still always happy to see him show up and hit a Gore. 

(The ECW title doesn't count, does it?)

Just the WWECW Title. The original incarnation is acceptable. He also won the NWA Title in TNA briefly. Depends when that last counted on that note.

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