Your Favourite B+ Players

[BomberPat]

The other thing to bear in mind with Kurt is that we don't know at what point they first realised he was held together by Pritt Stick and children's dreams, and rattling with pills. They might not have wanted to take the gamble even that far back.

[air_raid]

Just now, BomberPat said:

The other thing to bear in mind with Kurt is that we don't know at what point they first realised he was held together by Pritt Stick and children's dreams, and rattling with pills. They might not have wanted to take the gamble even that far back.

It's an interesting question re : their groupthink since they ended up gambling a Mania main event on him not dying.

[Undefeated Steak]

28 minutes ago, air_raid said:

If Edge is the given example with his number of title runs and going on last with Taker at a WrestleMania then Kurt definitely counts.

Kurt's the definitive answer for me for how the question has been framed. 

Yeah, I struggled to define the criteria of being B+, but the replies, aside from Savage, have all been along the lines of what I was going for. 

Basically, an A grade player would be a Hogan, Rock, Taker, Batista, Cena, Triple H, Goldberg etc. 

Kurt, Edge, Eddie, Jericho all fall just below and are ideal shouts for the thread.  

[air_raid]

Just now, Undefeated Steak said:

Basically, an A grade player would be a Hogan, Rock, Taker, Batista, Cena, Triple H, Goldberg etc. 

popcorn.gif

[BomberPat]

Eddie, Jericho and Kurt all "suffer" from being almost too good - when you've as good, and as versatile, a worker as an Eddie Guerrero, you almost don't want them main eventing, because they're too much of a utility player. 

When Eddie's main eventing, he's wrestling the same two or three people month after month. When he's not main eventing, he can step up to that level when he needs to, but spend the rest of the time helping to elevate midcarders, or working with former main eventers on their way down, or propping up a tag team, or just about anything else.

[FourtyTwo]

27 minutes ago, air_raid said:

At the time the babyface main event scene was Austin, Rock and an imminently returning Triple H. The latter especially needed a strong heel like Kurt to work before Mania. There's seldom been a worse time to shoehorn someone else in.

Unless you mean instead of Steve Austin turning back.

There was probably mileage in keeping Austin heel and giving Angle a face run, as there was no real logic behind Austin turning face again either.  The "natural" outcome of the way the Invasion ended was heel Austin and face Angle, just due to the way the whole thing unfolded.  Not turning either would have given some different dynamics, and you could have played the two of them off against each other for a period as well, as well as doing something with Austin and HHH off the back of the two man power trip stuff pre invasion.

 

It just never seemed "logical" at the time to turn the winner heel, whilst having one of the losers, who betrayed WWE, come back as a face after it.

[BomberPat]

1 minute ago, FourtyTwo said:

It just never seemed "logical" at the time to turn the winner heel, whilst having one of the losers, who betrayed WWE, come back as a face after it.

That really bothered me at the time, as it felt like hitting the reset button, though the catalyst for it all was more likely that they felt the need to turn Vince heel, after he'd been face throughout the Invasion, and everything else just fell into place around that.

[Joe Blog]

Would Scott Hall qualify for this?

[tiger_rick]

1 minute ago, Joe Blog said:

Would Scott Hall qualify for this?

Can count his World Title runs on no hands so I'd imagine so. That said, he was fucking tremendous at times and a class above most mentioned so far. And an entire education system above Christian and JBL.

[air_raid]

I nearly mentioned Hall ; specifically, babyface Razor in 94/95 was one of my favourite parts of every WWF show and I always had big emotional investment in hoping he could topple IRS, Shawn, Diesel, Double J or basically any other heel, always wondering when he could be moved up. In WCW he was essentially a B show main eventer too. You could stick him in a World title match on PPV with Sting, off the top of my head, and he wouldnt look out of place, even though you knew he wasnt going to win.

[Vegeta]

Does Curt Hennig qualify as a B+ player? 

I always loved his work, i know he was AWA champion but i always felt he could have climbed higher when he arrived he in New York.

[hallicks]

4 hours ago, air_raid said:

popcorn.gif

Wasn't Triple H calling Daniel Bryan a B+ player because Da Meltz said Triple H himself was a B+ player in about 1998? Not that anyone cares what Meltzer says about them, or why would they bring it up in a promo 15 years later...

[cobra_gordo]

Bulldog probably fits in here. He should be A++ whether he wants to be or not, just sadly skirted around that upper echelon despite being in some great fueds, some good title runs, part of one of the greatest stables of all time and main evented the biggest wrestling event this company has ever seen.

[air_raid]

16 minutes ago, Vegeta said:

Does Curt Hennig qualify as a B+ player?

Another I nearly mentioned - one of the flag bearers for "would have been champion in a different era." The type of matches and telly presentation aren't analogous between time periods but someone with the relative talent of Mr Perfect in 89-91 would have been prime candidate for a one month run to derail a lengthy reign by a Rock, Austin or Cena for 2 months of promos or angles in the build up to winning and then a month of smug before getting cut off in the rematch.

Of course, a time displaced Mr Perfect would also have had a MASSIVE deal made out of the actual first time someone kicked out of the Perfect Plex on TV, as opposed to the "inescapable" myth being prolonged despite "nobody's ever kicked out of the Perfect Plex" being exclaimed a fair few times even though you've seen it kicked out of on a previous PPV, Superstars or SNME. Really would wind up a fair few if it was Cena.