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Mr Perfect. All that?


tiger_rick

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Agree with most of the above. I do wonder had he been fit and had momentum in 1993/94 if he'd have got the nod instead of Bret Hart. Similar statute, style and not a lot of other options around at the time.

He'd get the nod every time on account of his entrance theme in my opinion.

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Always liked him and believe that he would have had a top line run and maybe even a title run, if he had not been around when the WWF was so top heavy with superstars.

He kind of suffered the same issues in his return in 2002, althouh he would not have been a headline attraction at this point,  they could have done a lot more with him but it just shows the depth available to them at that time. 

I always thought if he was fully fit and did not have the Lloyds of London issues, he could have had a great run in 1996 when there was not so many big names around. 

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He was better off being in wcw during the attitude era, 96-97 he would've been ok working HHH, Austin, Harts, HBK etc but 98 onwards he may have looked old hat compared to Rock, DX, Hardys etc.

Wcw had older guys but with a freshish lick of paint and 80s guys he was associated with so wouldn't be the old guy 

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Great worker. Played the cocky heel perfectly (pun intended) and it’s a shame that injuries meant he spent so many years on the sidelines. Even more of a shame Hennig is no longer with us.

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16 hours ago, Suplex Sinner said:

Agree with most of the above. I do wonder had he been fit and had momentum in 1993/94 if he'd have got the nod instead of Bret Hart. Similar statute, style and not a lot of other options around at the time.

He'd get the nod every time on account of his entrance theme in my opinion.

I don't think he would have replaced Bret as I think the decision came down to some of Bret's overseas popularity they thought they could cash in on. Although there was a list with a few other names that escape me 

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Yeah, I think so but then again it was the matches with him, Roddy Piper and Bret Hart that got me into wrestling in the first place.

If the WWE had the early 90's version of Mr. Perfect now, would he be challenging for the Universal/WWE Champion or stuck fighting Baron Corbin?

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He'd be a world champion now, but as you said, that doesn't mean he should have been world champion when he was active.

As a child I remember watching a match of his against Hogan and just thought he had no chance due to his size.  Not really a good attribute to be taken seriously as a top level heel in the 80s and 90s, although he would be normal sized nowadays.

IMO his position was perfect (pardon the pun) and his slot on the card was no disgrace during such a popular time for the industry.

It can be argued that considering the time he was active, it is as much an achievement to become such an everlasting and well remembered character as it is to become a world champion during leaner times for the business. Jinder Mahal has got a world championship under his belt, but in reality who will be remembered in the annals of time?

I often hear similar revisionist history with Razor Ramon, who has retrospectively somehow become a main event talent during his WWF run. In reality, like Mr P, he was a solid midcard/upper midcard wrestler who went on to stumble across a main event calibre gimmick in WCW.

Edited by garynysmon
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8 minutes ago, garynysmon said:

I often hear similar revisionist history with Razor Ramon, who has retrospectively somehow become a main event talent during his WWF run. In reality, like Mr P, he was a solid midcard/upper midcard wrestler who went on to stumble across a main event calibre gimmick in WCW.

I don't think it's revisionist with Ramon. If he'd been around from 88-92, then it would be. But he was as good and as popular as anyone from 94-96. There's no argument that he wasn't up to the standard of Luger, Bret, Diesel or Shawn. I'm not sure the timing was ever right for a run for him, unless they'd turned him in 1995 but he was definitely on the level.

He definitely went up a gear in WCW but he's in that position because of how popular and familiar he was. There's no way Sparky Plugg or Jeff Jarrett walks out in that position and gets that angle off to the races.

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One of many "what's ifs" in wrestling, you probably wouldn't get one without the other but how would wwe look at the time if Diesel and Razor stayed?

Diesel just went heel, Vince might've kept Hall straight from alcohol etc you'd imagine a wwe title program with HBK would've happened or they've joined together to form DX/The Kliq.

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When he was on shows very few months, stood  out, when he was on nitro weekly either phoned it in or was overexposed. Probably had few great moments than a lot on tv just now, but that they have so many bang average and dull moments from us seeing them hundreds of times probably hides a lotta the really good and makes us look back more fondly than we should at a solid mid level guy 

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On 6/11/2020 at 11:16 AM, simonworden said:

I don't think he would have replaced Bret as I think the decision came down to some of Bret's overseas popularity they thought they could cash in on. Although there was a list with a few other names that escape me 

I agree - more just a what if in my head all being equal there wasn't much separating them. Obviously drawing power for the Hitman was much higher, but side by side, styles etc, very similar. 

Might treat myself to a few Mr Perfect matches tonight.

Any recommendations folks?

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As much as I love him he never came across as someone who could carry himself as a main-eventer, he could probably talk better than a Bret but unlike Hart he never seemed like someone who would be a legit threat to anyone on top.

If he came around now? Sure, he'd have runs with the belt but that doesn't mean half as much, does it?

Edited by Merzbow
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1 hour ago, Suplex Sinner said:

Might treat myself to a few Mr Perfect matches tonight.

Any recommendations folks?

I'm a big fan of the Loser Leaves match with Flair from Raw in January 93. You'll have to suffer through Rob Bartlett on commentary though.

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The series of matches with Doink in 93 to qualify for King Of The Ring were really good as well.

It’s weird though, as much as I love watching Perfect, and as good a performer as he clearly was, there aren’t that many matches of his that I’d say were really great. Pretty much everything he ever did with Bret is a given. The Flair match, the Doink stuff, I’m fond of the Blue Blazer match at WrestleMania V. Aside from that, there aren’t many jumping out. Similar with guys like Ted Dibiase and especially Jake Roberts. Everything they did looked smooth, but the emphasis wasn’t so much on having killer matches back then as it was about characters. At least in the WWF. Guess that’s why guys like Steamboat, Bret and Dynamite’s in ring stuff stood out. Obviously, in NWA/WCW, bell to bell match quality was a bigger priority and they had Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Midnight Express, Barry Windham and so on. But a lot of the best guys in WWF in the late 80s didn’t really have that many standout matches when you think back. I can only think of a handful of specific matches I really liked from Perfect, Rude, Dibiase etc. 

Edited by wandshogun09
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1 hour ago, wandshogun09 said:

The series of matches with Doink in 93 to qualify for King Of The Ring were really good as well.

It’s weird though, as much as I love watching Perfect, and as good a performer as he clearly was, there aren’t that many matches of his that I’d say were really great. Pretty much everything he ever did with Bret is a given. The Flair match, the Doink stuff, I’m fond of the Blue Blazer match at WrestleMania V. Aside from that, there aren’t many jumping out. Similar with guys like Ted Dibiase and especially Jake Roberts. Everything they did looked smooth, but the emphasis wasn’t so much on having killer matches back then as it was about characters. At least in the WWF. Guess that’s why guys like Steamboat, Bret and Dynamite’s in ring stuff stood out. Obviously, in NWA/WCW, bell to bell match quality was a bigger priority and they had Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Midnight Express, Barry Windham and so on. But a lot of the best guys in WWF in the late 80s didn’t really have that many standout matches when you think back. I can only think of a handful of specific matches I really liked from Perfect, Rude, Dibiase etc. 

I think you nailed it at the end the platform for them to have good matches just weren't available and very rarely was that the goal if the match. If he was around today he would get 20 minutes on TV at least once a week to try and have a great match.

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