Ace Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 That's more accurate about Benoit than it is Malenko. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwoy2j Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 I think it says alot that Dean was easily the most over cruiser on the roster. People forget that Rey went through a period of people not giving a shit about him for a while. Dean always got huge pops, and was able to translate that into a run against a few heavyweights like Jarrett. He had the Nashville crowd at Starrcade 1996 rocking during his match with Ultimo Dragon. I can imagine it was no small feat to get an nWo-era Southern crowd like that into a cruiserweight match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Malenko was one of the most over guys on the roster way before Jericho. The Cloverleaf was one of the most over finishes in wrestling. I miss that era when submissions ended matches on a semi regular basis. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twiztor Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 I think he's super underrated when it comes to introducing cruiser wrestling to the US. This is because he wrestled like Tully Blanchard or those dudes but against the aerialists. The only aerial move he did was the nasty stomach buster from the top rope, and that doesn't really count. He wrestled a style people who grew up on wrestling -- especially southern wrestling -- were used to seeing. I think a lot of that stuff would have been cast as a total novelty act if it wasn't for him making it look like aerial moves could beat a really high-end technical master. i think this nails it right on the head. Without Deano bridging the gap, WCW's burgeoning cruiserweight division would've been DOA. Perhaps this is why WWE was never successful with their own division. you had "real wrestling" and then you had "flippy wrestling". Dean wrested the "real" style in the "flippy" world, which made it work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greggulator Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Dean got labelled as a "charisma suck" or whatever for working in a vacuum. I thought that wasn't a good argument -- his gimmick was The Shooter or some derivative and he was always just focused on his opponent and winning matches. He was a technical master there to pick his foe apart and was purely focused on just that point. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Dean had the best music in WCW. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomAct Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 And, as we've mentioned, try finding a show past about late 96 where he wasn't getting a reaction. Dude popped when he came out, popped for his offense, went crazy for his finish. I'm not sure where this "wrestled in a vacuum" shit comes from. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cool arrow Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Like Greggulator said, Dean was the silent assassin. Which if you'll remember was also SCSA's character, before the 3:16 promo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Dean had the best music in WCW.Perfect for weddings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Territorial Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 I find the idea that you have to have good matches with bad wrestlers to be good stupid. Particularly in cases like this, when the other half of the argument is "he had good matches with good workers, so the other guys are all good workers and he is not". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Let's not forget about his work in All Japan with his brother. They even had a match against each other which ruled, and you would think that might end up an Arn vs. Flair level disaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BalancingAct Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Wait, what? Didn't Flair and Arn have a particularly good PPV (I think) match? Arn went for DDT, Flair held ropes and got the figure four but Arn small packaged him? Or am I remembering 10 matches and combining them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offspring515 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 I think he's super underrated when it comes to introducing cruiser wrestling to the US. This is because he wrestled like Tully Blanchard or those dudes but against the aerialists. The only aerial move he did was the nasty stomach buster from the top rope, and that doesn't really count. He wrestled a style people who grew up on wrestling -- especially southern wrestling -- were used to seeing. I think a lot of that stuff would have been cast as a total novelty act if it wasn't for him making it look like aerial moves could beat a really high-end technical master. i think this nails it right on the head. Without Deano bridging the gap, WCW's burgeoning cruiserweight division would've been DOA. Perhaps this is why WWE was never successful with their own division. you had "real wrestling" and then you had "flippy wrestling". Dean wrested the "real" style in the "flippy" world, which made it work. I always thought the big problem with the WWE's cruiser division was that, much like their women's division and at various times the tag division, nobody existed within the division except a champion and a top contender. Taka vs. Brian Christopher....then the next month BC stops being on tv and it's Taka vs. Scott Taylor...then the next month Scott Taylor joins Christopher in the "where are they now" file and someone else shows up to fight Taka. The division failed because there was no division. In WCW you had a whole group of guys fighting and having matches away from the belt. It made it seem like the belt was something worth fighting for and not just a merry-go-round of random challengers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimo Necro Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 The pop Malenko got at Slamboree 98 when he returned tells you he was super over at the time. Briliant segment and you knew Jericho was getting his ass handed to him. ...then 2 weeks later WCW stripped him of the title as per. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Wait, what? Didn't Flair and Arn have a particularly good PPV (I think) match? Arn went for DDT, Flair held ropes and got the figure four but Arn small packaged him? Or am I remembering 10 matches and combining them? Yeah, it was a solid match but it's one of those things where you just don't want to see obvious best friends wrestle. I think Funk said the same thing in his book about his match with Dory. With the Malenko Bros. match, it was just two technicians going face to face and there wasn't some angle made up to try and sell the match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 I think he's super underrated when it comes to introducing cruiser wrestling to the US. This is because he wrestled like Tully Blanchard or those dudes but against the aerialists. The only aerial move he did was the nasty stomach buster from the top rope, and that doesn't really count. He wrestled a style people who grew up on wrestling -- especially southern wrestling -- were used to seeing. I think a lot of that stuff would have been cast as a total novelty act if it wasn't for him making it look like aerial moves could beat a really high-end technical master. i think this nails it right on the head. Without Deano bridging the gap, WCW's burgeoning cruiserweight division would've been DOA. Perhaps this is why WWE was never successful with their own division. you had "real wrestling" and then you had "flippy wrestling". Dean wrested the "real" style in the "flippy" world, which made it work. I always thought the big problem with the WWE's cruiser division was that, much like their women's division and at various times the tag division, nobody existed within the division except a champion and a top contender. Taka vs. Brian Christopher....then the next month BC stops being on tv and it's Taka vs. Scott Taylor...then the next month Scott Taylor joins Christopher in the "where are they now" file and someone else shows up to fight Taka. The division failed because there was no division. In WCW you had a whole group of guys fighting and having matches away from the belt. It made it seem like the belt was something worth fighting for and not just a merry-go-round of random challengers. You hit the nail on the head here. Even as a kid, it felt like there was Taka and then nobody. Kaientai had a fun little run but that was vs. heavyweights as well. They just never got behind the division enough to make it matter like WCW did (or just let them because they weren't paying attention and the wrestlers were getting over without permission). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattdangerously Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Let's not forget about his work in All Japan with his brother. They even had a match against each other which ruled, and you would think that might end up an Arn vs. Flair level disaster. That match was far from being a disaster. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Was Dean Malenko overrated as a worker? WHAT THE FUCK 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomAct Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 I loved Flair vs Arn at Fall Brawl. Had no idea people thought it was bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 I loved Flair vs Arn at Fall Brawl. Had no idea people thought it was bad. Same here. Great match. Didn't know folks didn't like it, or is that an anti-Scott Keith thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricksilver Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 I liked that little time period where Arn Anderson got wins over Flair and Hogan. It was about 10 years too late, but still. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newb82 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Wait, what? Didn't Flair and Arn have a particularly good PPV (I think) match? Arn went for DDT, Flair held ropes and got the figure four but Arn small packaged him? Or am I remembering 10 matches and combining them? Pillman hit Flair with an enziguiri, leading to a DDT for the pin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirSmUgly Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 He got a great match out of Disco Inferno. Disco was actually really awesome as a worker, I thought. Could work comedy, could go with most of the other guys on the roster, was a really good tag guy with Alex Wright. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquariumDrinker Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 I know this ventures into fantasy booking territory, and he may be just trolling the IWC, buy I'm thinking about Jim Ross and a possible new promotion or going to TNA. I can't think of anyone else (who's a free agent) who brings the kind of credibility and cachet to such a situation as JR. He seems universally beloved by fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 As long as they keep selling his stuff on wwe.com, i dont think JR will sever his relationship wthe company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts