"Nobody's favourite wrestler" - or are they??

[air_raid]

Here's an idea I had while writing House Show Happenings (TM) bloody ages ago. I recall describing Bull Buchanan (that's how long ago it was) as "nobody's favourite wrestler" and it got me thinking... just how many wrestlers out there WOULD be somebody's favourite wrestler at some point? So here I am, posing that question.

Parameters : I'm not just talking about your favourite wrestler EVER, but during your fandom at any given time, wrestlers you could point at and go "They're my favourite wrestler." So for instance, my favourite wrestler during my fandom has been, in rough order, Bret Hart, Chris Benoit, AJ Styles, Kazuchika Okada and/or.. time I admitted it, CM Punk. Also, to try and narrow the field a bit and not go TOO obscure, could we limit it to (a) wrestlers that have at least wrestled since the first WrestleMania and (b) have been at least semi-regulars for the WWF/WWE, JCP/WCW, ECW, TNA/Impact, ROH, AEW, All Japan, New Japan, Noah or Dragon Gate?

I'm hoping to learn some surprises here so I'm also going to say - you needn't reply if your answer is any of the following because they're either fucking obvious or I know of real life friends or posters here that would list them : Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Harley Race, The Road Warriors/LOD, Arn Anderson, Jerry Lawler, Kerry Von Erich, Andre The Giant, Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Randy Savage, The Undertaker, Jake Roberts, Ted DiBiase, Hacksaw Duggan, Big Boss Man, Demolition, Mr Perfect, Davey Boy Smith, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Sting, Lex Luger, Vader ( @Jazzy G), The Steiner Brothers, Barry Windham, Sid, Dustin Rhodes/Goldust, Ricky Steamboat, Rick Rude, Cactus Jack/any Mick Foley character, Ron Simmons/Farooq, Owen Hart, Jeff Jarrett, Razor Ramon/Scott Hall, Diesel/Kevin Nash, Kid/X-Pac, Yokozuna, Steve Austin, Brian Pillman, The Rock, Triple H, Goldberg, Booker T, Tommy Dreamer, The Sandman, Shane Douglas, Raven, Rob Van Dam, Sabu, Taz(z), The Dudley Boys, The Giant/Big Show, Diamond Dallas Page, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Chris Jericho, Ultimo Dragon, Rey Mysterio (Jr), Mitsuharu Musawa, Toshiaki Kawada, Akira Taue, Kenta Kobashi, Jun Akiyama, Kensuke Sasaki, Keiji Muto/Great Muta, Masahiro Chono, Shinya Hashimoto, Great Sasuke, Koji Kanemoto, Shinjiro Otani, Jushin Liger, Kane, Kurt Angle, Mike Awesome, Masato Tanaka, either Hardy Boy, Edge, The New Age Outlaws, Rhino, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, Nigel McGuinness, Austin Aries, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shinsuke Nakamura, Naomichi Marufuji, KENTA, CIMA, Kenny Omega, Kazuchika Okada, Tetsuya Naito, Zack Sabre Jr, Kota Ibushi, Drew McIntyre, Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose/Jon Moxley, Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt, Kofi Kingston, Kevin Steen/Owens, Sami Zayn, MJF, Swerve Strickland... oh fuck it, you know what I'm getting at.

So... go on. Any surprises among your "was my favourite wrestler"? Was Repo Man legitimately your favourite? Did you watch Superstars every week because you were hoping Adam Bomb would be on? Was your number one Crash Holly? Did you never doubt El Dandy? Is The Miz actually awesome for you? Are you loco for Solo? Also, no sexism here, women included. If Kairi drives you inSane or you think I'm not being fair to Belair, let me know.

Let's find out how many people actually are or at least were someone's favourite. Including Bull Buchanan.

[BomberPat]

Two for me that aren't on the list are Tajiri and Spike Dudley. Loved both of them from when I got into ECW, and then when they came to WWE. I think Tajiri was in arguably the most consistently great wrestler in the world for a couple of years, and Spike is the epitome of "understanding the assignment".

[Chili]

Tajiri was easily my favourite wrestler in 2000-2001. I thought he was just an incredible rough diamond that I couldn't wait to see get his due. Definitely the top of my OSW boy stable.

[gmoney]

My best mate's favourite wrestler is Bob Holly.

[Slapnut]

21 minutes ago, air_raid said:

I'm hoping to learn some surprises here so I'm also going to say - you needn't reply if your answer is any of the following because they're either fucking obvious

 

23 minutes ago, air_raid said:

Tommy Dreamer

Not sure I’m following?

[Jesse]

As a teenager my favourite wrestler was The Hurricane. I thought his look was great, thought he was really funny and went absolutely mental for him whenever he got to do something other than get the shit kicked out of him. Had posters of him on my wall, bought his t-shirts, dressed up as him for Halloween the whole lot.

[Guest]

I absolutely loved Glacier as a kid. I didn't care about the work rate, or the moveset, I cared about how cool his entrance looked and that he looked like Sub-Zero.  He was a superhero to me in a land of men. Obviously that petered out a bit before he started feuding with Perry Saturn over a kick. 

I always loved Ezekiel Jackson. I was no longer a child, but coming into manhood realising that a massive bloke with a scary scowl talking to Brian Kendrick about the Art of War and ploughing people through the matt, even if he was slow and plodding, was great wrestling. I've maintained love for a good ol' fashioned powerhouse since then.

 

[air_raid]

5 minutes ago, Slapnut said:

Not sure I’m following?

I know its revisionist history to say he's utterly shit, and take him out of the bingo hall and he always has been, but he was over like crazy in ECW and if that was your favourite promotion and you preferred storylines to MOVEZ, at the time your favourite could easily have been Tommy if it wasn't Sandy or Taz.

In the interests of fairness, maybe watching ECW retrospectively on Bravo a couple of years after the fact probably didn't make him anybody's favourite over here at the time you had Steve Austin on one channel and Goldberg on the other, and maybe I was thinking too broadly.

[tiger_rick]

Bret was my favourite for the longest time but I'd have to admit to Crush being my second favourite during his neon Hawaiin dude phase. I love WM9 and Doink/Crush will always be my sleeper match of all-time because I just loved the big lug.

Tajiri was my genuine favourite wrestler around the turn of the century. I think he's not in that massive list of disallowed wrestlers. He was a major highlight of ECW when my access to it became easier in 1999 through trading, their home video releases and shows on Bravo. Absolutely loved it when he turned up in the WWF working with Regal.

Jerry Lynn was another favourite in 1999, for similar reasons. His work in ECW wowed me. 

As for "Nobody's favourite wrestler", that's got to be IRS.

[air_raid]

Just now, tiger_rick said:

Bret was my favourite for the longest time but I'd have to admit to Crush being my second favourite during his neon Hawaiin dude phase. I love WM9 and Doink/Crush will always be my sleeper match of all-time because I just loved the big lug.

@IANdrewDiceClay to thread please.

[Jazzy G]

The New Age Outlaws were a great team. Road Dogg & Billy Gunn were not great wrestlers. 

Getting onto topic, I legitimately loved JBL's first run as WWE champion. The Million Dollar Man for our era/hard right Republican character was a heat magnet combined with his classic chickenshit heel in ring style. The fact that he managed to get people cheering Big Show over him at one point shows how much he got it. 

Also, I'm sure people have heard the WWA story a million times before, but my friends and I loved Shark Boy.

[Supremo]

There was a kid on our street who loved Steve Blackman. Whenever we’d play wrestling he’d always want to be him. He could never remember his entrance music though, so he’d sing his own version. You know the start of Dude Love’s entrance theme, that goes, “Heyyy, hey hey heeey…”? He’d do that, but go, “Steeeeve, Steve Blackmaaaannn!”

I remember when, “Heat,” was on Channel 4, and that was the only show a lot of kids could watch, Essa Ríos was everyone’s favourite. Honestly think the lad could have done a UK tour off the back of that run.

There was a lad in our school who loved Ken Shamrock. It’s been decades since and I’m still not over the day after King of the Ring 1998. Everyone buzzing about Stone Cold losing the belt and Mankind getting thrown off the Cell, yet he kept interrupting with, “YEAH BUT DID YOU SEE KEN SHAMROCK WON KING OF THE RING?”

Anyway, K-Fed.

[SaitoRyo]

2 minutes ago, Supremo said:

I remember when, “Heat,” was on Channel 4, and that was the only show a lot of kids could watch, Essa Ríos was everyone’s favourite. Honestly think the lad could have done a UK tour off the back of that run.

Yup, I was a certified member of the Essa Rios Fanclub. I was about 9 years old at the time Essa was doing his thing, primarily on Heat, and I was definitely drawn to the high-flying bloke with the bright red hair who, for a time at least, had a hot girl by his side. 

[Gus Mears]

I'm skirting around the edges of Air Raid's obscurity rule here, but for a brief time when I started getting into ROH and wider indies, Sweet and Sour Larry Sweeney was my favourite. A deeply stupid gimmick, and there was a comedy match he had with Delirious and Colt Cabana from some promotion (might have been IWA: MId South) which I watched about 10,000 times.

[TheScarlettChad]

My favorite for ages was Mr. Kennedy