Your Favorite Wrestler and Why

[Greggulator]

SABU. When I watch him, he makes me doubt about why man was put on earth.

EDDIE GILBERT. So funny and hilarious and also great at making it look real.

STEVIE RICHARDS. My favorite comedy wrestler ever. So underrated.

FOLEY. No one combined intelligence and coming off like a madman better.

JJ DILLON. The greatest manager of them all. Oozed 80s corporate sleaze like no one else.

BRAY.

[Super Ape]

Diamond Dallas Motherfucking Page.

I remember hating his fucking guts during his Lord of the Ring era. Could not stand him. Then he turned face against the NWO, had that amazing feud with Randy Savage, and just carried himself like the People's Champion Rock never was. The Rock was all about the glitz and glamour and "the most electrifying man in sports entertainment," Page pushed himself with a working-class, gravel-gutted air, the guy who was ready to throw down and hang on to everything he EARNED.

Hearing him on Austin's podcast only made me like him even more, just because of the stories he told. I could listen to him talking about his career and the people whose lives they changed all day. I still have my photo of him putting me in the Diamond Cutter when I was 12 and he'd showed up at some Podunk sports memorabilia show in Pennsauken, NJ. And speaking of the Diamond Cutter, I've yet to see a finishing move put over as that was, like some omnipresent secret weapon that you knew existed, but could never see coming. No hype, no setup, just a quick kill.

The first wrestler I ever marked out apeshit for, though, was Shawn Michaels. I just got into wrestling at the tail-end of the New Generation era, and to me Michaels was the torch-bearer (I wouldn't come to appreciate Bret Hart until I got his DVD set in 2005), and while I wasn't a little kid after his comeback in 2002, I would still mark out for his work after; the fact that he came back after a supposedly career-ending injury and ran at such a high peak for almost eight years, even as he really began physically showing his age, was nothing short of incredible.

Also, Mick Foley and Genki Horiguchi are honorable mentions. Foley because Foley, and Genki because he has such a great grasp of the basics that he was able to elevate himself just by doing a few things out of the ordinary and either make himself or his opponent look like a world-beater. Not a spectacular move set by Dragon Gate standards, but he's got the tools to more than compensate for it.

[J.H.]

For the longest time my 2 favorites were Tito Santana and Harley Race

 

I loved Tito because he was the most believable Babyface. I loved how he moved in the ring, he put fire and emotion into everything he did. His comebacks always got the crowd hot and he always made his opponent look good. I was a big fan of his counter to the atomic drop being the figure four leglock. The first time I saw him do that I lost my shit. I thought it was so fucking innovative and clever (yeah I'm guessing he wasn't the first one to do it, but when I saw Tito do it, it was slick as hell).

 

Harley Race, on the other hand, just gave off the vibe. He was the guy that would sit on his porch with no shirt on and tell kids only once to get off his lawn. After that first warning he'd get off his porch and kick someone's ass. His offense was realistic, nothing flashy and that is why he gave off that aura of toughness. He kept it simple because he would leave being flashy to the other guy. He kept it simple because it worked for the role he played in his matches. Harley would eat the other guy's offense so he could land that one good blow, or hit that one sweet suplex that would knock the wind out of the other guys sails. If the other guy has to land 7 blows to equal 1 of Harley's then Harley was truly the better man. That's how I viewed him.

 

Recently both Tito and Harley have been deposed. I'm in  awe of Nick Bockwinkel, the James Bond Villain of wrestlers. My buddy Mike had never seen Bock wrestle until we started hanging out. After watching a bunch of Bock Mike's reaction summed up a fictional version of Bock perfectly. "He jogs 5 miles a day, does some light calisthenics, sits in his living room and reads some Proust and then has a scotch or 2 before bed all to get up the next day to do it again, only he skips the calisthenics to wrestle Jim Brunzell for 30 minutes. Maybe he'll have an extra scotch that night before bed".  What I like about Bock in the ring is he always has gameplan and sticks to it. Its basic psychology but its effective. He really gives off that vibe that he is outthinking his opponent and if that opponent is in control he is trying to get the superior position back so he can get back to his gameplan. Sure, there are times when he looks like he is just having fun (the match with Martel where the crowd turns on both of them and start to chant "Boring" only for Bock to talk smack at Martel with "You hear that Martel? you should give up now! These people think you're boring!") that's some brilliant psychology to raw both the crowd and the TV viewer back into the match.

 

Its for reasons like that, combined with his arrogant rich boy character, that Verne Gagne kept the AWA title on Bock for 5 years. Yeah, you wanted to see your favorite babyface whip Bock from ringpost to ringpost but when Bock would come out the winner the fans would pay to see him again in the hopes that the next guy would actually beat him. Bockwinkel had already tricked people to come to the next show and they didn't even know it!

 

James 

[DMN]

Piper or Terry Funk. I can't choose. Just happy I got to see them brawl once.

[Matt D]

I absolutely love the first two or three minutes of almost every Bock match because it's obvious he comes in with a game plan and it's not always the same one.

[Ramsey]

Bockwinkel vs. Flair is almost a thread topic unto itself. Flair get's the rub as "the greatest" but what was he better at than Nick? Quality of competition may be all he has over Bock.

[Matt D]

I think that Bock does most of what Flair does as well as Flair. Watch him bump around or stooge vs Verne or Hogan. Watch him fill time in interesting ways for the first part of a match vs Martel. Watch him bring the stiffness vs Wahoo.

On top of that he switches things up so much more, and there seems so much more thought and strategy to his matches. He does the things Flair excels at excellently and he does what Flair does poorly excellently too.

[Ramsey]

I think another thing that hurt Flair in this comparison was Ric's tendency to go into "Flair by the numbers" mode. Part of that can obviously be attributed to his insane schedule.

[OSJ]

This is the sort of wrestling discourse this board was made for! The two things that leap out is that (1.) Flair generally had better opponents to work with than did Bock. However, Flair by the numbers always guarantees at least a *** match, but can also be said to hold back truly superior opponents (Terry Gordy comes to mind as an example of someone who was slowed down by FBTN). (2.) Bock varied his game far better then did Flair and it's sad that we never got to see him against truly worthy opponents. Methinks Ramsey has nailed it by saying the one thing that elevates Flair is quality of opponents. I'd have loved to see Bock do a run in the NWA and even WWF just to see how he'd change things up.

[Fuzzy Dunlop]

I recall hearing Bockwinkel turned down the chance to become NWA Champion because he was earning good money as AWA Champion without anywhere near the bonkers travel schedule. Had he been the NWA Champion he'd obviously have had more exposure and worked with a greater and more varied set of opponents and would probably be talked about way more than he is because, from what I've seen of him, he was all time fucking great.

 

I remember about 6-7 years back just obsessively seeking out anything I could find that he was involved in after seeing his $500 a punch promo on Lawler for the first time. And that's just one promo.

 

[Newb82]

When I was little, I was a full fledged Hulkamaniac. To the point where I would refuse to rent a PPV on VHS if I knew he lost.

After him, it was Bret. He was everything a good guy should be from 1991 until 1997. His moments of crankiness made him even better, because they made him human. I was 100% on Bret's side in his war against that cowardly asshole Steve Austin.

[Matt D]

"Quality of opponent" aside, I really feel like we saw more than enough on the AWA 80s set to really get a sense of Bockwinkel in multiple settings. We saw him as the chickenshit champion, as the dominant champion, as a sneaky asshole southern tag heel, as a wrestler in a big, more neutral setting vs Flair, as the righteous babyface full of fury, as a bit more vulnerable as a babyface. You saw him vs the same opponent multiple times to see how he changes things up, even over multiple years. We basically saw everything but how he acts in a squash and there are a few of those out there. His versatility is off the charts and the set really shows that to us. I'm not sure what else anyone needs. You even get the hour long epic with Hennig, which was resoundingly the #1 match on the set.

[Ramsey]

Bock's broadway with Curt Hennig is not only my favorite Hennig match and one of my top five Bockwinkel matches, it's also my favorite 60 minute draw ever. I really can't think of a Flair broadway that I enjoyed better and this includes his stuff with Steamboat. That's about the highest praise you can give considering Ric's reputation as "the 60 minute man."

[Dewar]

Bret Hart- saw him go from Stampede, to floundering in the WWF, then into the Hart Foundation, and then finally a singles success on the big stage. It's sort of like all the D-Bry fans feel about watching him go from ROH to the top of WWE.

 

Nick Bockwinkel - just so damned good. Made you hate him as a heel, but had a nice babyface run at the end of his career.

 

Chris Jericho - hometown boy, the one guy who "made it" that I used to be able to watch at the local community centre.

[The Green Meanie]

Two guys I haven't seen listed at all :

 

Lord Steven/William Regal - I briefly caught a glimpse of him during his early WCW days around 1993-94. Never being an WCW person (have always been pro WWF/E) I was never impressed with WCW wrestlers until I discovered his character, and immediately became a fan. The whole snobby British lord character worked amazingly. Years later when he came to the WWF as the goodwill ambassador, I was so so so happy that he'd finally hit the big time. Over the years, his character has changed slightly, (ambassador, commissioner, king, etc) but he's always managed to entertain. Coupled with the fact that the man can wrestle pretty much better then anyone else in the world, hold for hold, and practically portrays himself in his character (a villain!) he will always been my absolute favorite.

 

A runner-up for second? Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. He's not flashy. He's always been a no-frills guy that likes to beat people up. Has devastating elbow drops/smashes, and uses the figure four perfectly. The Heartbreaker shin guard gimmick? Perfect. I always loved Gorilla Monsoon's comments about how it takes him about twenty minutes just to warm up, the man has always been a pure workhorse! A truly underrated wrestler if there ever was one.

 

 

And for the ones already listed, throw my name in for the following: Savage, Hansen, Flair, and Demolition. Current guys: Barrett and Cesaro.

[Rehabilitated Rick]

CM Punk. For single handily getting me back into wrestling with that promo in 2011. I was going through some bullshit at the time, getting in trouble, hanging with the wrong people and generally being a liability to myself and a stain on my family name. I hadn't watched wrestling in a long time, I was talking in a group-chat on Windows Messenger and some of my buddies were hyping the shit out of this promo, I checked it out and was immediately hooked again. Wrestling took over my self-destructiveness and steered me into the right direction. So yeah, thanks Phil if you're reading this. you're still a pretty shitty wrestler by all means, but thanks.

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

Jim Neidhart.

 

Guy was a rhino....

[OSJ]

I don't have the 1980s AWA dvd, so I'm just going from memory and I don't want to beat this into the ground, but Bock was so awesome against guys that were green as grass (Hogan & Hennig), past their prime (Blackwell & Verne) that I really feel saddened that he didn't take the opportunity of being the NWA champ. Can you imagine the matches against Race, Flair, Steamboat, etc.? I'm not going to say that Bock was the best ever, but he sure as hell belongs in the discussion.

[BurningBeard]

Two things that are kinda inter-related here so bear with me.

 

Ric Flair can entertain me like nobody's business BUT I think when his first DVD set came out and Youtube started taking off it really overexposed him as... not neccesarily a one trick pony but as having routinely formulaic matches. A fucking great formula but after a while it started to feel like "if you've seen one, you've seen them all." He's the ultimate territory wrestler because, as I said, it's a great fucking formula if you're going to a different town every night but if I'm sat watching a block of Flair matches on TV it sours it.

 

Bockwinkle on the other hand, I'd heard the name due to being into my history but had never ever even had the chance to see him wrestle. Again, when Youtube started taking off more and more of his matches became available and it was like a revelation. He is legit one of the most intricate wrestlers I've ever watched, so invested in the minutae of a match. And I don't think it has overexposed him because no one match was ever the same with him. Bockwinkle is the wrestling equivalent to water - he's fluid and you can put him in anything and he'll adapt. You guys hit it on the head saying if he'd had a better quality of opponent/had decided to run with the NWA he'd probably be everyone's answer as #1 in this thread.

[scraylo187]

Besides Tatanka?

 

I think I'm going to have to go with Goldust. I thought he was so weird and cool when I was a kid, his music was just insane sounding and Marlena made me feel funny. 

 

Such a good wrestler. His IC runs were awesome, the tag team with Booker was a lot of fun...His return run has been so big for me that it's a little frustrating that it's been reduced to weird promos with his brother. Let them do that and then also wrestle constantly. 

[tbarrie]

Such a good wrestler. His IC runs were awesome, the tag team with Booker was a lot of fun...His return run has been so big for me that it's a little frustrating that it's been reduced to weird promos with his brother. Let them do that and then also wrestle constantly. 

Whom would they wrestle, though? They beat Rybaxel something like three times straight. The Wyatts have been busy chasing the titles. And there are no other heel tag teams in the WWE.

[Dre013]

I have a top five ...but the only one that hasn't been discussed is Chris Adams. His turn on the Von Erichs and run as the second incarnation in Texas of the Dynamic Duo with Gino Hernandez was entertaining as hell. Enjoyed his run as champ after the boys died off, and even liked his jobber to the stars run in WCW. Plus he trained Austin and became his Eskimo buddy after Stone Cold married Adams' ex-wife. Just an interesting character.

[Big Z]

Hard to argue with the Bret and Flair mentions, and they remain two of my personal favorites. After that, it is time to travel to early 90's WCW with Sting, Lex Luger, and The Steiner Brothers. Loved the Steiners throwing guys around and being presented as unstoppable forces. Love Luger because he was so much better then most give him credit for, and just came off as a huge star. And Sting is the rightful franchise of WCW, and damn good in the ring when motivated and not stuck in pointless feuds.

[JRGoldman]

I realized that I never explained why The Sheepherders were and are my favorite wrestlers, so I figured I'd chime in. When I was a kid, I thought wrestling was something that only the toughest of the tough could do. Each guy was the toughest person they knew. Kind of like in fantasy novels about the middle ages, when each town would have a champion, in case they were invaded or stormed, they could potentially defend themselves with single combat. That's why wrestling was so awesome to me; you'd have these dudes like Gary hart running all over the world, flying to remote villages and shit just to find Kamala, or Killer Khan, and it was easy to see why. Those guys were monsters. Even guys like Hulk Hogan, who was basically what you get when Godzilla and Jesus have a baby, would gulp when facing down some crazed cannibal of unknown origin.

 

The Sheepherders were different. Sure, they were from some far off field, but they weren't huge. They weren't even all that athletic, to be honest. But they had something that no one else had: it was clear that they were completely fucking crazy. Somewhere along the way, something horrible happened to those men, and they turned to one another and said "all we have in this world is each other, and all we know how to do is bleed". So that's what they did. Half the time, I doubt they knew what territory they were in, why they were there, or how they got there. They just showed up, and saw those same weird pretty boys that cared more about girls and cars than anything else, but were still frustratingly as tough as they were. Can you even imagine? It's like the wrestling equivalent of Waiting for Godot, but instead of Pozzo and Lucky you have to deal with fucking Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers. I'd go insane too. In this world of larger than life characters, The Sheepherders were the only people that ever had a reason for being they way they were that made sense.  

[mco543]

That is a post for the DVDVR Hall of Fame. Awesome.