More under-rated than Lex

[RedTwoster]

7 hours ago, Carbomb said:

I thought I read on here that he showed up for the Triple H/Sting match at Wrestlemania a few years ago?

I can’t quite remember if he did, but he definitely turned up for one of the DX reunions.

[LEGIT]

Bang on with Lex. I've posted numerous times on here how much I liked him, great wrestler in the ring, and very over. His WWF baby-face run was looked down upon because he was the fans second favourite after Bret, but I think that's a compliment rather than an insult. I for one think the slam challenge was a wonderful bit of booking, immediately establishing him as a top face. His top matches were full of drama, he was similar to Cena somewhat in that regard.

I'd also pip for Rikishi. He was a fat dancing man who rubbed his ass in people's face. But he wasn't a joke character, he always had credibility. Good on him for that. He was great in the ring, very underrated, and for a time extremely over. Had some great matches and moments during the boom period with many other legends. Headshrinkers were good too.  

 

[davertfnewman]

Just been watching the bits of the shoot interview from years ago with Mike Shaw and they ask him about Lex, who he mentioned prior that he liked because he was a decent guy. The question is about whether he was pushed beyond his talent with "not being a great worker" and Mike's answer was along the lines of him not needing to be, he looked so good that he had to be at the top of the card and it wouldn't be credible if he wasn't. Same with a guy like Sid, the minute he starts doing jobs for people he should be powerbombing out of their shoes then it's obvious it's a work. Same with a lot of guys of that era, actually, which was something not adhered to in the next era post-2000 or so.

[HarmonicGenerator]

10 hours ago, LEGIT said:

I'd also pip for Rikishi. He was a fat dancing man who rubbed his ass in people's face. But he wasn't a joke character, he always had credibility. Good on him for that. He was great in the ring, very underrated, and for a time extremely over. Had some great matches and moments during the boom period with many other legends. Headshrinkers were good too.  

 

I think the “Bad Man” heel turn at the end of 2000 did a lot of damage for Rikishi, he never quite recovered from having to be the guy that ran over Stone Cold. That fall off the Cell is an apt demonstration of his potential upper card stock falling.

I say this as someone who enjoyed his Sunday Night Heat tag team with Haku in 01, and the “nostalgia even though it’s only been four years” tag team with Scotty around WMXX. But after he did it for The Rock, he was kind of done as someone relevant in the top part of the show.

Edited March 1, 2025 by HarmonicGenerator
I’m a bad man

[TibBo]

7 hours ago, davertfnewman said:

he looked so good that he had to be at the top of the card and it wouldn't be credible if he wasn't. Same with a guy like Sid, the minute he starts doing jobs for people he should be powerbombing out of their shoes then it's obvious it's a work. Same with a lot of guys of that era, actually, which was something not adhered to in the next era post-2000 or so.

I wonder if that had something to do with the rise of MMA, and everyone realising bigger muscles don’t necessarily make you better?
 

I never knew Jake was considered a bad worker?

[SaitoRyo]

Bob Holly, perhaps? 

People hated him because he had the reputation being a bully, but he could work a solid match with anybody and had a surprising amount of decent matches over the years. There were a couple against JBL in 2004/05 that were good, then the series with RVD on the rebooted ECW in 06. He was a really strong WWE TV-style wrestler and you knew shit was on when he was in the ring. 

If you go back and watch SmackDown episodes from the 2000s, you'll see that he was genuinely over, too. Always got a decent pop and got people into his matches. Could have been a solid addition to the IC or US title scenes, but he got pigeonholed as a tag guy with the 'hell of a hand' label, I think.

[Callum1993]

11 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

I can’t quite remember if he did, but he definitely turned up for one of the DX reunions.

Yeah he definitely turned up at that Wrestlemania as well. Him and the Outlaws squared up to Hogan, Hall and Nash. Quite surprising he hasn’t done a Rumble appearance since that. 

[RedTwoster]

41 minutes ago, SaitoRyo said:

Bob Holly, perhaps? 

People hated him because he had the reputation being a bully, but he could work a solid match with anybody and had a surprising amount of decent matches over the years. There were a couple against JBL in 2004/05 that were good, then the series with RVD on the rebooted ECW in 06. He was a really strong WWE TV-style wrestler and you knew shit was on when he was in the ring. 

If you go back and watch SmackDown episodes from the 2000s, you'll see that he was genuinely over, too. Always got a decent pop and got people into his matches. Could have been a solid addition to the IC or US title scenes, but he got pigeonholed as a tag guy with the 'hell of a hand' label, I think.

I really enjoyed his runs in the upper card on Smackdown. I wasn’t an ‘internet fan’ at the time, so I knew nothing about his reputation. As far as I was concerned, he was a slightly terrifying hard bastard who might have Brock Lesnar’s number, when the two feuded. His matches were hard-hitting slug-fests, and a lot of them were good fun to watch. If he had even a lick of promo ability, he might have had staying power at the top of the card. 

[davertfnewman]

2 hours ago, TibBo said:

I wonder if that had something to do with the rise of MMA, and everyone realising bigger muscles don’t necessarily make you better?
 

I never knew Jake was considered a bad worker?

Jake Roberts? Excellent worker, just watched his match against Ronnie Garvin on that Omni show and that's the era of him doing a lot more and making everything count.

[TibBo]

Yehh I’m with you matey. Someone mentioned earlier he has a rep for good on the mic but underrated in the ring. It isn’t a take I had heard before.

[air_raid]

On 3/1/2025 at 5:30 PM, HarmonicGenerator said:

Haku

There’s a shout. Blighted by a crap win/loss record but he made all his stuff look good - awesome pendulum backbreaker, made so many strikes look painful. Great foil for Bret or Rockers types to look good and had some belters with Smithers, and even “past his prime” in WCW drew sympathy for Benoit in their series. Never particularly mentioned as a great worker, but he was.

[davertfnewman]

On Haku, there have been a few videos I've watched on WWE Vault with him in matches against Greg Valentine and the British Bulldog and they've been the ones I've stopped to watch. Getting into it in 1991, there weren't always non-stop matches but the majority of guys came off as strong and tough, which Haku certainly was.

[westlondonmist]

I watched early 90s Lex and thought he was cool, his WWF run was shit though. I could possibly think that due to the USA flags as that just did nothing for me. I missed his WCW run until about 98, and he was shit by then. He's so hit and miss. 

 

 

I think Lance Storm. People say he was bland but I thought he was brilliant in WCW, had me in stitches at times. The belt collector stuff where he held the Canadian Championship, the 100kg and under title and Hardcore title was great

 

 

Edited March 2, 2025 by westlondonmist

[Merzbow]

All of Lance's best work was comedy stuff, where being the straight man was used as a joke. I feel like he'd rather be known as a technical wizard but honestly he really wasn't amazing in ring.

He does a class obituary, though.

[gmoney]

1 hour ago, air_raid said:

There’s a shout. Blighted by a crap win/loss record but he made all his stuff look good - awesome pendulum backbreaker, made so many strikes look painful. Great foil for Bret or Rockers types to look good and had some belters with Smithers, and even “past his prime” in WCW drew sympathy for Benoit in their series. Never particularly mentioned as a great worker, but he was.

My issue with Haku is that even though I know he's well hard, he looks so lovely and avuncular I could never take him seriously as a threat. That attitude would get me eye pulled out if I met him in real life, I'm sure.