Wrestlers criticised as overrated to such an extent that they became underrated

[Maikeru]

Warrior is the prime example in my view - delivered two of the best Wrestlemania matches of the early 90s. Oozing with charisma and could work reasonably well when it really came down to it. Stiff in the ring and limited move set but nothing looked awful when in his prime. 

Hogan - Capable of pulling off a much broader arsenal of moves than anyone outside Japan ever saw. Had psychology down to a tee. Could work as well as he needed to basically. 

Sid Justice - Really popular as a baby face upon initial arrival in WWF. Came across as an absolute monster as a heel with his intensity - admittedly all the jobber matches leading up to WM8 came across a lot better than the main event with Hogan. Wasn’t all that out of place with his title run in 96/97 with the roster at the time.

Demolition - The Road Warrior knockoff rap is so unfair. Apples and oranges in my book, and I actually preferred them. Great powerhouse workers that are probably the biggest remaining elephant in the room when it comes to outstanding HoF inductions.

Any others?

 

 

[IronSheik]

Think you've hot shotted the whole angle here. 4 great examples 👏

Undertaker in the dawn of internet forums in the early 2000s used to get absolutely shat on by smarks saying he should retire and he was holding back younger talent from getting spots. But the Big Man was on top for a further 20 years and stole a few Manias in those years.

Until recently I'd have said Roman Reigns was the biggest example of this. But his heel run especially has shown everyone how fucking brilliant he is. 

[Chili]

LEX LUGER. 1988-1991 Lex Luger doesn't get carried, he works. His finest in ring output, he's brilliant in this period. 

[FUM]

I think most are on the bandwagon now but there was a definite stage where John Cena was underrated. Some fans were still stuck in the “you can’t wrestle” stage of his career that they didn’t want to let go.

[wandshogun09]

5 hours ago, IronSheik said:

Undertaker in the dawn of internet forums in the early 2000s used to get absolutely shat on by smarks saying he should retire and he was holding back younger talent from getting spots. But the Big Man was on top for a further 20 years and stole a few Manias in those years.

To be fair though, he was fucking dire during that early 2000s period. Some of his 2002 PPV matches in particular were absolutely awful. Austin at Backlash, Hogan at Judgment Day and Triple H at King Of The Ring has got to be up there with anyone’s worst 3 consecutive PPV matches ever. There are a few exceptions of course, he did have some good matches in there but on the whole I thought he was pretty rotten most of the time from around 2001 to about 2007. It’s easy to look at it now and talk about some of the better work later in his career but nobody knew that was coming back then. I can see why watching him in 02-04 especially would’ve had people thinking he needed to pack it in. 

5 hours ago, Chili said:

LEX LUGER. 1988-1991 Lex Luger doesn't get carried, he works. His finest in ring output, he's brilliant in this period. 

Probably the best answer that will come up in this thread. And I’d extend it beyond 91. They were probably his best years in the ring but I thought he was always perfectly fine in the ring for his style and for all the criticism he gets, I don’t remember crowds back then being indifferent to him very often. Lukewarm at times during the Allied Powers run maybe, when he was coming to the end of his WWF days. But most of the time, crowds were into him. Great heel but even his babyface run in WCW in 96/97 was quality I thought. When he’d fire up on the NWO or something and start taking them all out he was class. And the reaction when he beat Hogan for the title was incredible. I genuinely never thought there was anything wrong with his in ring work. He wasn’t Bret Hart but he wasn’t supposed to be. And as much as critics point out that his best matches were when he was ‘carried’ by the likes of Flair, Steamboat and Pillman he also had a really good match with Dan Spivey at WrestleWar 91 that totally shits on that theory. That Hogan match in 97 was good as well. The way some go on you’d think he was Van Hammer.

One I will throw in, even though he was never ‘overrated’ because I’ve never seen anyone rate him that highly was Marc Mero. He’s often brought up as someone who was terrible in the ring but I’ve never been on board with that. He wasn’t amazing or anything but I thought he was fine in that PPV opening match to midcard spot. Early Johnny B Badd wasn’t up to much in ring but he played the gimmick well. And late Marvelous Marc in the WWF in 98 was cack with the boxer gimmick and taking powerbombs from Sable. The writing was on the wall at that point. But even then I thought he was alright in the role as the dickhead boyfriend to Sable. A bargain bucket version of the Randy Savage and Elizabeth thing. There was a spell though, in 95 and 96, when actually really enjoyed his in ring stuff as well. Late 95 Johnny B Badd had some surprisingly good matches with Pillman and DDP at the end of his WCW run. And I thought he was fun to watch in the early Wildman days in the WWF before the knee injury took him out in 97. And while he obviously didn’t invent the move, him busting this out at SummerSlam 96 blew me away as a kid;

That’s the first Shooting Star Press in the WWF, right? Back in 96 I never had access to Japanese stuff (outside of the Eurosport ‘WSW’ days) so I’d never seen Liger doing this years earlier. 

Like I say, wasn’t one of the best but nowhere near as bad as some would have you believe. And it’s mostly other wrestlers rather than fans who shit on him in shoot interviews and stuff. What is it? Jealousy about him being one of the first to get a guaranteed contract from Vince in 96 and ‘not deserving it?’ Him and Sable just not being particularly well liked backstage during that period? Him piping up in the aftermath of the Benoit murders? Because there was much worse on both the WWF and WCW rosters back then than Mero yet whenever his name gets brought up during a shoot interview or podcast it seems to be met with eye rolling and digs.

I’ve given way too much thought to Marc Mero at 6am but there we go.

[Cousin Jim Bob]

1 hour ago, wandshogun09 said:

Because there was much worse on both the WWF and WCW rosters back then than Mero yet whenever his name gets brought up during a shoot interview or podcast it seems to be met with eye rolling and digs.

 

 

Its a long time since I watched it but I remember on his own RF shoot he seemed like a really nice guy. Is completely cool about what happened with Sable and the WWF bookng. I'm sure he could have buried some of the locker room who were dicks to him but he laughs it off as well. One of those shoots where the guy has moved on from wrestling and is happy with life.

[Guest]

Mero gets talked down as those on half his money throught they were twice as good. Add in the likes of Foley leading that narrative it just became fact. How dare a man get a good salary and have a hot wife 

Edited September 10, 2021 by Louch

[RedRooster]

JBL. He was pretty despised during his WWE title run, but consistently delivered both as a character, and in his matches, which were against a diverse range of opponents. 

While I'm giving the bullies their due, I'll add Hardcore Holly to the mix. He was a really solid midcard wrestler, and was often very fun to watch, particularly during his ECW run. 

[Guest]

Mero once put over a joke of mine on Twitter, proving he's the best seller in the business.

[Vamp]

Hogan's an interesting one because I'd say his Japan stuff is overrated and his American stuff underrated. 

I think there's this tendency to say his Japanese stuff shows he could be a "good wrestler" but his American work shows he could be great. In age where we see wrestlers desperate to "get their shit in" it gives you a new appreciation of how Hogan worked.  He knew how to make people care and how to make people part with their money. It's like there's this perceived wisdom that he was lazy in America and had to work hard in Japan. I don't think that's true. I think he just knew exactly how to work for the given audiences (with the exception of his early WCW stuff).

I'm not disputing that he wasn't also capable of some utter shite. Not least in his personal opinions. 

[Guest]

Hogan wasn’t lazy, he was working 300ish days a year. Add in everything else he was getting pulled to do. Few workers ever worked smarter than he did 85-91 to be available as much as he was in ring. 

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

The Bellas are so hated that being anything better than Khali level in the ring makes them underrated by definition. Not their biggest fans, they're not great and I think they're some of the least deserving HOFers in there (yeah, I know). But Brie was competent before she came back and concussed Liv Morgan, she held up her end of the Summerslam match with Steph and didn't completely embarrass herself in the Divas division in the late 2000s/early 2010s. Nikki was better in-ring, having some pretty good matches with the likes of Paige, Charlotte, Natalya & Ronda, but most were determined to hate the Bellas by that point. Nikki could have become the women's answer to Ricky Steamboat and she still would have been shat on.

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, Shane O' Mac Version 2 said:

The Bellas are so hated that being anything better than Khali level in the ring makes them underrated by definition. Not their biggest fans, they're not great and I think they're some of the least deserving HOFers in there (yeah, I know). But Brie was competent before she came back and concussed Liv Morgan, she held up her end of the Summerslam match with Steph and didn't completely embarrass herself in the Divas division in the late 2000s/early 2010s. Nikki was better in-ring, having some pretty good matches with the likes of Paige, Charlotte, Natalya & Ronda, but most were determined to hate the Bellas by that point. Nikki could have become the women's answer to Ricky Steamboat and she still would have been shat on.

They got abuse as fans seen the like of Natalya as some kinda super worker cause of her lineage and they were blocking her. Don’t think that’s ever been shown in any match Iv seen her in when given the chance 

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

The Nikki Bella feud is actually the most interested I've ever been in Natalya's matches. She does things well, but she's just.. there. Really struggle to care when they give Natalya pushes.

[Keith Houchen]

Nice to see Hogan and Mero mentioned in the same thread. Instantly reminds me of that story how Mero was on the card, doing his flips and moonsaults and whatnot. Hogan main events, place went nuts and he returns backstage having barely broken a sweat. He sees Mero with ice packs on his knees and ankles and says “You need to learn how to work, brother”