Brian Fowler Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 He had that great run 94-95 (or maybe 96? When did the team with Slater end?) but didn't do much after that, did he? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yo-Yo's Roomie Posted October 25, 2013 Author Share Posted October 25, 2013 Finally get to answer my own topic. My top five would be: Vader: I think Vader was probably the best WCW wrestler, all things considered. He always managed to come off like a total beast in his matches, but also make his opponents, no matter where they were on the pecking order, look credible. He worked well with other big guys like Traylor, classic US heavys like Dustin, Steamboat and, of course, Sting, and could go in there with a virtual jobber like Brad Armstrong and work a credible match. I'd have to reevaluate his WWF run before deciding how far up this list he should be, but he gets on it for the WCW run alone. Bret Hart: Probably the best of the decade for me, and another guy who worked well against a tonne of different opponents and styles. He had the great classic babyface run, where he was great working as an underdog, and also as a favourite against guys like Waltman, and then he turned around and had perhaps an even better run as a heel. The feuds with Austin, Lawler and Owen were all great for different reasons. One of the best at working babyface vs babyface matches, and also working against big men. Dustin Rhodes: Dustin is kinda like Vader, in that his first half of the decade in WCW is good enough to get him on the list alone. I'm sure he had a lot of solid stuff in WWF too, but that WCW run is virtually untouchable. Really great tag team worker as well as a great singles worker. Had some quality feuds, the best being the Studd Stable feud, of course, but also the Windham feud and his stuff opposite the Dangerous Alliance. Consistently high level worker, who might have been the hands-down best of the decade had he stayed in WCW. Chris Benoit: One of the most consistently good wrestlers I've ever seen. Doesn't have a tonne of great matches, but has hardly any that are less than good, and it seems his baseline performance is better than anyone else's from the decade. I really like the feud with the Dungeon of Doom (it somehow made the Dungeon not a cartoon), I think his workrate stuff holds up better than just about anyone else's because of that level of believability he brought to it, and he has quality stuff working up and down the card, singles and tags. My fifth spot is a lot more open to debate. I'm considering guys like Pillman, who suffers from being used poorly after the break-up of the Blondes, and falling off a cliff after the injury, Regal, who is another guy who was shunted to the side for long periods, but I think made more of what he was given, Shawn, who has high-end matches, but a shortish peak, and even guys like Anderson, Eaton and Windham, who were all solid gold at the start of the decade, but fell away for various reasons. Austin is another strong contender, as is Waltman. I think, for now, I'll settle on Rey Misterio Jr though. He was hands down the best of WCW's cruiserweight division and, when given the opportunity to work with heavyweights, and even to work other cruisers but in more storyline-driven situations than pure workrate/exhibition ones, he almost always delivered big. My ignorance of ECW, SMW and other indies should be obvious, and I'd love to hear about more contenders from those places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaedmc Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 He was still one of the best guys around in 2011. Carried a really bland Cody Rhodes to a couple quite good matches, had a classic with Cena on RAW, was good every week on tv that he was healthy. Carried? GTFO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 They were the only good matches Cody had that year... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaedmc Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 Even if that were true(it's not), it's not indicative that he was carried. He was good in those matches with Rey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ultimoDANK Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 Put in a little thought and my top 10 would be... 1. Bret Hart 2. Vader 3. Steve Austin 4. Flair - a name that should have been brought up by now. I love his WWF run. The Vader match at Starcade 93. The WCW Savage fued. 5. Benoit 6. Rey Jr 7. Foley 8. Dustin Rhodes 9. HBK 10. Eddie Guererro Honorable mentions or guys who could be pushed to 9 or 10... Regal, Rude, Savage, Owen... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mookieghana Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 One thing I'd throw out is that I think Ricky Steamboat in early 90s WCW was pretty awesome. 1990 had great work from Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane in WCW alongside terrific Ric Flair battling Luger and many others. In 1991 Shawn is pretty great both in the Rockers and when he starts wrestling some singles with people like Mr. Perfect; Pillman had some great singles stuff in WCW too. Come to 1992, Pillman stays hot and WCW Ricky Steamboat is pretty motivated. WCW has a lot of fun with Dustin Rhodes, Barry Windham, Sting and Steve Austin in both singles & tag action. By 1993, the Hollywood Blonds (Austin/Pillman) are in full effect and the man they call Vader is big and scary in WCW. 1994 you've got Flair rekindling his feud with Steamboat and fighting Vader in a Thundercage, Austin continuing to be splendid and Bret Hart getting a good match out of Diesel and feuding with his brother. 1995 is some great Bret Hart gems versus guys like Hakushi, Quebeccer Pierre and more Diesel. HBK is killing it against everyone from Razor Ramon to Owen Hart and WCW Benoit is making an impact with Eddy & Liger. The amazing Rey Mysterio has a stellar 1996 just being a human showcase against Jerry Lynn to Malenko to Ultimo Dragon alongside Guerrero & Malenko & Benoit being awesome singles wrestlers. Shawn has a ton top flight singles matches against a variety of guys (Owen/Bret/Mick/Davey/Vader/Sid) and Flair proves he still has it when he grapples Randy Savage. It's easy to forget but Ultimo Dragon was terrific in 1997 WCW and Rey Mysterio continued to be tons of fun (especially when you add in Juvi to the mix). Eddy remained top notch and Psicosis even had a chance to shine. Shawn continued to have great matches in WWF and Steve Austin in WWF found his voice and delivered in a big way as a top singles star. 1998 has Juvi feuding with Chris Jericho (really great stuff) and Benoit continuing to be the machine he was in WCW with the Booker T series and the memorable additional of Bret Hart. Kidman broke out and the three faces of Foley were career making. In 1999 the Rock makes himself known and has great series against Austin and Triple H. Those same names from the previous year (Kidman, Foley, Juvi, Benoit, Austin, Rey) all do great and RVD/Jerry Lynn start have their epic ECW series. It gets tough because 90s is a very wide timeframe. Benoit had 1995-1999 in WCW. Flair had good 1990-1996. HBK had 1991-1997. Austin had 1992-1994 and 1996-1999. Bret did consistently deliver from 1990-1999 so he does quite well in the longevity measure. Rey exploded from 1996-1999 alongside Juvi and Pillman brought it from 1990-1993 especially (and good stuff in 1995 too). Guerrero was awesome from 1995-1998 but his accident slowed him down. Foley did great stuff in WCW (esp. 1992-1994), went to ECW/Japan and then finally made it in WWF 1996-1999. Sting's working days from 1991-1996 are worth mentioning. If you're looking at the whole decade, I think it comes down to Flair, HBK, Austin, Bret, Foley, Sting with my nod going to Shawn over Bret for personal aesthetic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaedmc Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 Oh no. You were a Shawn guy? Next thing you'll tell me you liked Super Nintendo over Sega Genesis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 Oh no. You were a Shawn guy? Next thing you'll tell me you liked Super Nintendo over Sega Genesis. Who doesn't? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mookieghana Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 Oh no. You were a Shawn guy? Next thing you'll tell me you liked Super Nintendo over Sega Genesis. Who doesn't? Rankings of Systems I was playing in the 1990s: NES Computer: Apple ][ (1990-1995) / 90s PC (1995-1999) Atari 2600 Super Nintendo Sega Genesis TurboGrafx-16 Magnavox Odyssey² Sega does not fare well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaedmc Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 You and Vic both? And Fowler talking about Cody Rhodes getting carried? This thread blows. I'm gonna grab the guy who said Renegade by the hand and we're gonna run away together. And we'll live in a tree house. It'll be just like Badlands. And he'll dress up like Sissy Spacek and watch Al Snow/Bossman Kennel match and laugh and laugh. Oh how we'll laugh. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 Cody sucked for the vast majority if his career thus far, but I loved my Genesis... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerjeRUN Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 Oh no. You were a Shawn guy? Next thing you'll tell me you liked Super Nintendo over Sega Genesis. Who doesn't? Foolish people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petey Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 I know a bunch of his work came in Japan, but for better or worse, Sabu did a bunch of revolutionary things that meant a lot to a lot of people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphman 3000 Posted October 27, 2013 Share Posted October 27, 2013 I know a bunch of his work came in Japan, but for better or worse, Sabu did a bunch of revolutionary things that meant a lot to a lot of people. It's a shame he never got a WCW or WWE deal sooner. By the time WWE signed him in 2006 he was 42. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petey Posted October 27, 2013 Share Posted October 27, 2013 Well he had the very brief WCW run in 1995. Anyone know why Sabu left WCW in '95? Was it voluntarily or was he let go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted October 27, 2013 Share Posted October 27, 2013 There was a dispute over pay. They had been arguing for weeks over it and Sabu said fuck it and left. I like the Genesis, but I'm never going to choose it over the system with Megaman X, Super Punch Out and A Link To The Past. Cody Rhodes has been good since he debuted, but I think he was poorly cast as a heel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 Also, the SNES Contra and Castlevania games blow the Genesis ones out of the water. Anyway, for top ten, I've got Bret at #1, and then Shawn, Austin, Vader, Foley, Eddy, Rey, Owen, Dustin, and Voldemort in no particular order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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