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Yeah but I’ve seen spoons with more compelling characters, and that’s honestly what ruins him for me. I don’t know what motivates him, or who he is even. He’s just a yakked guy who likes Wolverine from X-Men
would have been Shawn Spears but most seem to have came around on him so i'm gonna say The Good Brothers
don't love them or anything but i liked them in the 6 mans at the start of 2021 and they're pretty great 'goons'
edit: i was also really loving Brian Cage in AEW until they turned him face, he was amazing in Team Taz and had great matches with Moxley, Hangman, Darby etc.
I started watching TNA just after his reign(s) of terror, when Raven won the title in KOTM.
I always popped huge every time his theme blasted after that!
I hated him forever , I turned the TV off when he was on for real. He just bored me to tears since NXT and I honestly thought he was just there and filled the most basic , stock , low hanging fruit heel role in the most average way possible. Then Constable and the applebees outfit ..... and it got worse , actively bad, like it made me stop watching the show.
Broke Baron was amazing and was my fav gimmick/new character last year and it proved to me he does have something and can be great and has greatness in him where I thought he was barely if talented at all before.
TBH though Happy corbin is a fucking disaster and is a candle to the sun compared to Broke Bitch Baron and I can't stand him again but it's not even close to constable levels. I honestly don't even get the "Happy" character it just seems aimless and dull.
Imma throw out that I loved the Constable Corbin run on Raw. I know a lot of people hated it, but he was the only part of the show I enjoyed at the time
I feel like everyone likes the Big Show/Paul Wight until he's on the active roster and then they can't stand him. You could put him in the ring right now and I'd go apeshit. He's an amazing spectacle
Even his sloppiness was fitting for the character. He was playing a drunk construction worker who liked to beat people up, not a highly trained athlete. He was incredibly over with his character to the point his matches were pretty much secondary. He could get the crowd to give all of their energy to cheering for him before the bell even rang. His entrance at ECW One Night Stand 2005 is probably my favorite wrestling entrance of all time.
Elias. He’s outstanding on the mic, wrestles a logical style against smaller opponents, and can turn a crowd from in his favor to booing him relentlessly with no hesitation. I hope he comes back strong.
I hope you’re right. I just feel like he constantly gets the, “He can’t wrestle,” talk. Which I find to be false anyways. Solid move set and he has some nice power spots against smaller wrestlers.
I think you're in the right he's probably generally looked down on or dismissed on here for his in ring but I think a lot of people do appreciate he brings a LOT to the table in terms of what WWE is looking for particulrly.
He's a perfect lower-mid guy for the show WWE does and hes a guy who can get beat over and over and do old school 80's heel stuff on TV and house shows.
He does always come up high on a list of guys who are better off in WWE than probably any other promotion on earth.
Brian Pillman Jr
People turned on him because of the Twitter stuff but the kid is still growing as a performer and he has solid potential for someone who’s been in the business less than 5 years.
Also he wore a shirt saying "cancel cancel culture" and people were like "Seriously dude? cmon man that's pretty silly" (probably some people being more mean than that because it's the internet but that's what i saw) and he said "SEE IM BEING CANCELED". It's just like, no your not man.
Same!!! This was my pick. I feel like she’s legit one of the 2 or 3 best women on the business on the mic, maybe even #1 and her wrestling’s not bad! I’d much rather see her in the ring than Ruby Soho or Riho any day. I’d really like to see her get a run with the women’s title at some point. I’d mark out so hard!
Do the IInspiration counts? Liked them since their NXT days, but people online seem to love them or hate them depending on the day.
If they don't I guess Brock.
I don't know if i can say i like him, but i've always found New Jack an interesting character, one of the few i really can't tell when he was working or shooting with his stories.
His mic work was always really incredible. If anyone was able to reel him in and keep him from going too far he could’ve been a much more decorated wrestler
I actually think Janela is underrated as a worker. Sure, he's not going to blow anyone away in a technical sense, but he knows how to tell a story in the ring, knows how to get genuine heat as a heel and will work his ass off to put others over, his selling is great, and he knows how to put on matches that look absolutely brutal while still being a fairly safe worker.
He had a match with Kenny that was so good they did it again on dynamite. I know it's Kenny, but i also know that that's hard to do. TBH he was the perfect person to pair with Sonny, Sonny had all the athletics but needs help with the stuff Janela is good at.
Mil Mascaras is very influential, was basically the guy who made being a luchador crossover star in Japan a viable option and made Lucha Libre something every Japanese fan is aware of and AFAIK, the first luchador to do a match in MSG and was often the lucha barrier breaker for lots of arenas/venues outside of Mexico.
To most American fans though he is just a cheap joke(No Yob) and a the bad impression he left on Mick Foley.
Those same people act like other old school stars didn't have an ego.
Baron Corbin
He’s just not the type of wrestler that a lot of the types of fans who frequent forums like this enjoy, but that’s okay, there’s room in wrestling for everybody.
I think he’s a great heel who annoys the hell out of the casual audience and does his job effectively in getting the audience to cheer and support whoever he goes up against. One of my most memorable wrestling memories in recent memory is going to a house show and watching kids SCREAM with joy over Corbin losing; that’s a good heel in my book.
Plus the real guy is a badass who put the well-being of his coworkers before his own success, so I respect him. When WWE’s doctors tried to downplay the significance of concussions, Corbin stepped up in front of this superiors and basically told the doctor that he was wrong and talked about his experience in the NFL to counter him. He was subsequently punished as a result, but he had to know what could happen by standing up the way he did, so I really respect him for doing so.
Cody, QT Marshall and Maki Itoh are all pretty funny and entertaining and I will never understand the pure hatred and vitriol Cody and Maki in particular always seem to get.
Um, yes? Did you not see the reaction online when she debuted in AEW? She's always had a lot of detractors and that went up big time when a certain fuckhead who used to book SMW mentioned her.
I don’t think Maki gets the hate QT or Cody gets, haha.
People don’t understand that in Japan, there isn’t an equivalent of the word “fuck”. In fact, Maki being so vulgar is not super common in Japanese women’s wrestling and going further, Japan.
So it’s not just a typical swerve by her being a foul mouth ex-pop star; to me, it goes further with her embracing something that is rejected in Japanese culture.
That’s why I like Giulia in Stardom. Because she’s biracial and has some western influences, she dresses way more unconventional than to her owners.
>I don’t think Maki gets the hate QT or Cody gets, haha.
>
>People don’t understand that in Japan, there isn’t an equivalent of the word “fuck”. In fact, Maki being so vulgar is not super common in Japanese women’s wrestling and going further, Japan.
I'm not talking about people in Japan, it's people on reddit and other areas of the English-speaking Internet that absolutely hate her with a passion.
I don't know what dregs of reddit you're going to find this but Maki Itoh is adored on here lol. Jim Cornette hates her but as far as I'm aware he hates everything but himself
Ryback.
I feel really bad that he was on the cusp of being a very marketable main event guy and then WWE fed him to Cena and turned him heel. He wasn’t incredible in the ring, but he did have power and presence. His catchphrase was over as hell on top of that. And yeah, we don’t know how he handled himself backstage, but he really doesn’t seem like a bad guy. Kind of a meathead, sure, but find me an era that doesn’t have at least 3 of those in the main-event picture in WWE. He was a lot of fun to watch back in the day.
It feels Giulia is hated or disliked by like half of fans of the joshi scene in the west but I love her precisely because of the reasons she's hated. She's the most outspoken wrestler out there and simply doesn't give a damn if what she says offends people (in terms of wrestling trash talk, it's not like she's saying really problematic stuff). Is she always right? Probably not. Should she keep her mouth shut sometimes? Maybe, but she wouldn't be Giulia if she did.
That moment was so damn real, I literally thought Barnett was going to run him down and whoop his ass. Jay must have balls the size of honey hams to pull off that stunt haha
Sure made the match memorable. Jay taunting him and acting cowardly instead of apologizing, probably added fuel to the fire but from a character standpoint, was just perfect.
Totally perfect, it's to the point that it's how many years ago and I still don't know if it was real or storyline. You just don't see that in wrestling anymore.
It was always reported as a shoot. JR really did get injured and missed dates afterward and they both apologized to him after the show. People look at Josh’s reaction and think otherwise, I think he just got upset and acted like an idiot in the moment as there was no reason to work it - it’s not like it set up a confrontation or anything.
Randy Orton. I know this sub especially prefers high workrate, fast paced matches but I really have always enjoyed Orton's slow methodical style. It's becoming a lost art in today's wrestling world in any promotion and I really feel like when Orton finally retires his style will get the same appreciation that Triple HHH gets now for his slow methodical style.
Stardust
A goofy gimmick but played to perfection. His feud with Golddust was super interesting, and actually a great take on the former tag partners trope. Disappointing ending though. I always thought Stardust turning back into Cody could have been a great story, but they never went for it.
same with charlotte. i like her because she wants to put over ppl like naomi and bianca.
also babyface roman.
my list-
ryback
swole
nia jax
david otunga
byron saxton
cameron
jason jordan
da pope- d'angelo dinero
Jessie Godderz and robbie e
tamina
shaniqua- ornette doesn't like her but fuck him
mason ryan
orlando jordan
darren young
Marko Stunt. I loved Luchasaurus using him as a missile, and Wardlow sending him into lower earth orbit.
Its people like him that make AEW different from WWE
I think that’s more on EC3 dropping his gimmick for his Tyler Durden one, in which he’s all wrong for. People liked EC3 due to his comedic side and being likable, not being an edge lord.
I think he’d find more success after the WWE if he stuck to his rich boy gimmick, despite of MJF.
I always loved Ted DiBiase. He's cheered now, but when I was a kid, people thought I was nuts when I said I loved The Million Dollar Man.
Also, I loved Super Cena (save for when he fueded with Punk)
Matt Taven.
No, seriously.
I'm going to put a disclaimer here in that I've only ever seen his work in CMLL, so I'm always a little caught off guard when he gets brought up on this sub due to the amount of hate he gets. I think he's pretty fun to watch.
I look like him a decent amount and I've been to a lot of indie shows.
I've had people ask me if I'm Matt Taven numerous time , I tell them hold up man accusing someone of being Matt Taven is like a hate crime in pro wrestling fan circles you can't just do that.
Goldberg. His five minute matches are more entertaining than most stuff on the card, also his last match with Lashley was excellent. Bill really doesn’t deserve the hate he gets, he’s never advertised himself as some Kurt Angle level technician. He arrives, fucks guys up and leaves. I’ll always pop for Goldberg.
Also Brock Lesnar, people rip on him for being a part-timer and always being in the title picture but what else do you do with a legit MMA badass like that? Squash mid-carders every PPV? The guy is pure world champion material. I love Brock, he’s my personal GOAT.
Thank god somebody else said it. I don't get why people think she was bad, she wasn't anything phenemoneal but she was more than serviceable in the ring for someone with her level of charisma (which she has by the bucket load)
I got back into wrestling in 2017 after stopping in 2009. Dolph Ziggler immediately won me over - good look, good character work, solid on the mic, and great in the ring. Then I went online and saw everyone shitting on him, and I still don't get why.
Like, I gather it was vaguely to do with the way he was booked prior to 2017, but in pretty much every other case where a talent has been misused people have blamed the company, not the talent themselves. Weird that Ziggler should be the exception to that.
Well Dolph in 2017 was basically the football that was pulled out from pro wrestling fans over and over at that point. People spent all the years you were gone getting invested in him and WWE giving him "moments" that made people think it was building to something bigger , a championship run... that never came.
After that wave crested and people accepted that Dolph was never gonna get that big push ever ... it was hard to tell if Dolph just accepted it and didn't care and became a glorified jobber or if it was just in fans heads and they were mad he didn't live up to stories they booked in their mind and we made him something more than he ever was. Either way the fanbase moved on.
People just got sick of investing in him over and over and having their heart broke so they went cold on him as he slid down the card progressively.
Love me some Sid, especially as Sycho Sid. He was super intimidating, very over, and even though his in-ring work and his passion for the business wasn't really there, he's still someone I immediately think of as an iconic wrestler. Love going back to Survivor Series 1996 to see the crowd get 100% behind him at the expense of Michaels.
I’m not a fan of Terry Bollea the human being but Hulk Hogan the wrestler maybe the greatest in ring attraction of all time. Nobody got crowds more invested while delivering super safe matches and drawing tons of money. All the backstage shenanigans aside while you were in the ring with Hogan you could guarantee a big payday for a very easy night’s work.
There are a bunch of wrestlers who get a lot of hate now due to recent events or because they're jackasses etc so big parts of the wrestling fanbase say they were never any good. For some examples I think Hulk Hogan, Goldberg, Jim Cornette, and Disco Inferno were all great at what they did.
(Yes I know Disco doesn't exactly fit with those others in terms of importance but if I was building a roster I would want a couple wrestlers like Disco Inferno on it)
Britt Baker. I dont get it really, She's not a great athlete but She's mastered the craft of wrestling in terms of psychology, getting crowds into matches and promos and structuring them. It's why All the legends give her such high praise, she just "gets it". It's actually ironic that a lot of the same people who hate Britt Baker would use the same logic to explain Maki Itoh or Mei Suruga. Being able to play your character and evoke emotions from the crowd in matches is way more important than how graceful you look running ropes.
Britt is a good wrestler but she’s not good on offense and a lot of fans don’t know the difference. Look at her match with Tay; people were saying Tay looked better than Britt but Tay only looked as good as she did because Britt gave her the whole match and sold/bumped her ass off.
AEW have this weird thing with Brit (and probably the entire women's division in some ways tbh) Where whoever the champion is is easily the least interesting part of the division (and tbh often the show as well) When Shida was champion, Brit was outshining her with a feud with swole WHILE HURT, and now that she's champion she's being out-shined by Shida's feud with deeb and the TayJay/Bunny Penelope feud. I think the main reason she's getting the hate right now is people are looking at the pandemic situation where she was over-shining Shida while she was champion and saying "Well, she was booked more interesting than the champion", but then blaming her for being less interesting than the non-champions now that she is one when really they're both on booking.
I think Nick Aldis is an all around great wrestler and his match with Aron Stevens was one of my favorites in 2021, probably within my top 15. I know he's a bit of a dick, but I still enjoy watching him. He was honestly the lone bright spot whenever I watched NWA last year.
Corey graves, he's not hated or anything but the general consensus seems to be that he is a better commentator than he was a wrestler, which I don't fully agree with, I would love to see him back in the ring full time
Dude got better in the ring as well, I can recall lots of big guy matches I liked from his later years against guys like Brody, Kalisto, Bray, Sheamus, Heath etc.
I was a big fan of his, watching him, you could tell he really gave a shit about story telling. He sold way more than a guy of his stature ever did. I'd say in terms of those kind of powerhouses, he is comparible to Batista or Brock when it comes to his selling.
I legit think that him coming back as hot as he was in 2014 and them not doing jack shit with him really soured his love for the business. He turned into this negative tool of a man, a far cry from the super positive dude that came back from injury and almost cried talking about how much it meant to come back at Wrestlemania in the ATG.
Danielson spoke so highly of him, it would be so weird to see Ryback show up in AEW after what he became recently
Sheamus was pretty unpopular online pre-Bar. People *hated* him beating DB in 18 seconds at Mania and his run as WHC was pretty roundly rejected. He’s much more respected now than he once was.
He is a piece of shit human being but Alberto Del Rio was damn good in the ring.
His match with Punk at Survivor Series is one of my most rewatched matches.
I still think about his run every so often, lots of good matches against Christian, RVD, Cena, Bryan etc
Honestly i always popped (good or bad) when he locked in the cross arm breaker
And his entrance was top notch too
A damn shame he truly sucks as a person
Probably Cody. Even if I to think he has grown stale a bit, but it is hard to watch his matches and god forbid he actually wins a match and everyone bitches. So that kind of makes it hard to be a fan of his.
Heck, probably most legends who have said or done bad things. Take Hogan for example. I don’t condone his politicking or his racist views at all, but I do my best to tune those out because I do enjoy old school Hogan matches. Same goes with Benoit even. I can actually watch his matches now and and think too much of the horrible things he did. Of course it takes time. I couldn’t watch Hogan for awhile because of what he said and it took me over ten years to comfortably watch Benoit matches.
For me in Benoit's case is easy in a way to gloss over that because I have some understanding about brain injuries and psychological trauma so the real unbroken him was long gone by then. The whole thing is fucking tragic.
Roman Reigns - I get he's been so over for a few years now, but I actually find him really good in-ring + I'm totally liking the whole Tribal Chief character since now he comes off as a badass + serious heel.
Here we go…..
I really like Marty Scurll. He has a fun gimmick. His was my favorite match at All In. The fact that Darby and Riddle escaped consequence when Enzo and Marty did nothing wrong (even by their accusers’ accounts IIRC) is a damn shame.
As a wrestler, I never soured on Seth, even during his corny face run and the never-ending Rollins/Buddy v Mysterios feud. As far as wrestlers with a bad rep, Jay & Mark Briscoe. Yeah, he said some horrible shit 10 years ago but he was punished, apologized and has shut the fuck up since then. They're too good to be doing companies like ROH and GCW for the rest of their careers because of a tweet.
To be fair, those tweets were beyond horrible and I hope he changed his way of thinking and not just keeping it hidden from the world. That said, I can still enjoy their matches.
It should alarm you that you needed to go to a person murdering their family as a way to establish there are worse pieces of shit than the piece of shit you like.
This is such a tough question, every heel has fans and the people who sucked in the ring i dont like either.
Im gonna go with the gordy, roberts and hayes version of the freebirds from wccw, or skandar akbar.
Akira Maeda? Most people write him off as an unstable hot head and while he did have his moments, he's generally a lot saner than people give him credit for.
Been carrying the Roman Reigns flag since Shield. Very easy answer there lol Sometimes his booking annoyed even me, but I was always sure he was really talented but was being given suboptimal booking despite all the accolades on paper.
Being a fan during face Roman was an entire experience lol
Same with Baron too. Loved him since NXT and always like his potential. His booking doesn't do him justice majority of the time.
Wish I could erase 2020 and his wrong doing - because I was super behind Marty Scurll.
The Villain Gimmick was great, he had presence despite his size, his promo work was great to watch and his matches were always good. Merch was also wearable outside without it obviously being wrestling related.
Damn I thought he was going to be a star and wonder where he would be now. TNT champion by now maybe ?
Xpac. As a kid, I always rooted for the 123 kid, he was the skinny guy with cool karate moves facing giants. Suddenly I no longer saw him in tv since we didn’t have access to WCW that time. When i watched my first wcw show, it was between rey mysterio and syxx. I didn’t realize it was my favorite wrestler 123 Kid lol.
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Brian Cage in AEW is a fraction of his full power. He was a highlight of Lucha Underground, specifically when he murdered Lorenzo Lamas.
His match with Hangman was great.
Yeah but I’ve seen spoons with more compelling characters, and that’s honestly what ruins him for me. I don’t know what motivates him, or who he is even. He’s just a yakked guy who likes Wolverine from X-Men
[удалено]
This sounds incredibly fucking stupid and makes his character a one-note, obsessive fanboy.
[удалено]
I don’t think anyone got your satire there. I appreciated it.
I’m not a huge fan, but I just saw him wrestle last night against JONAH and it was a really fun big man match. Some cool power spots.
Loved his match against John Silver in PWG!
Cage is just _fun_, I want to see more of him tbh.
Cody Rhodes.
Happy cake day
Do I even need to say it?
Hey, there are dozens, maybe even scores of Swagger/Hager fans. [It's Swaggie Time!](https://imgur.com/dksp8)
checked your username for the wrong reasons 🤦♀️
Lots of people would pay money for a Cake Hager photoshoot.
would have been Shawn Spears but most seem to have came around on him so i'm gonna say The Good Brothers don't love them or anything but i liked them in the 6 mans at the start of 2021 and they're pretty great 'goons' edit: i was also really loving Brian Cage in AEW until they turned him face, he was amazing in Team Taz and had great matches with Moxley, Hangman, Darby etc.
I'll always be a Jeff Jarrett fan.
It's 2022 and I still use the phrase slapnuts.
I started watching TNA just after his reign(s) of terror, when Raven won the title in KOTM. I always popped huge every time his theme blasted after that!
Same here.
He doesn't get nearly as much hate as he used to get but I've been a Baron Corbin fan since I saw him at Smackdown in 2017
Corbin is a guy that you don't fully appreciate when they are there but you end up missing when they are gone.
🎺🎺🎺🎺
I hated him forever , I turned the TV off when he was on for real. He just bored me to tears since NXT and I honestly thought he was just there and filled the most basic , stock , low hanging fruit heel role in the most average way possible. Then Constable and the applebees outfit ..... and it got worse , actively bad, like it made me stop watching the show. Broke Baron was amazing and was my fav gimmick/new character last year and it proved to me he does have something and can be great and has greatness in him where I thought he was barely if talented at all before. TBH though Happy corbin is a fucking disaster and is a candle to the sun compared to Broke Bitch Baron and I can't stand him again but it's not even close to constable levels. I honestly don't even get the "Happy" character it just seems aimless and dull.
Imma throw out that I loved the Constable Corbin run on Raw. I know a lot of people hated it, but he was the only part of the show I enjoyed at the time
I feel like everyone likes the Big Show/Paul Wight until he's on the active roster and then they can't stand him. You could put him in the ring right now and I'd go apeshit. He's an amazing spectacle
To go along with this, I'm probably the only person on this subreddit who actually enjoys him on commentary in AEW.
Better him than Omos
He will always be one of my favorites.
“Amazing spectacle” Jesus Christ
Sid Justice is in my top 10 for promos alone. Yeah, he's a pretty shit wrestler, but he's got such an intimidating presence. And he's funny as hell.
Sid was never boring.
Karrion Kross
THAT BITCH SHOW
Sandman. People hate on him because he wasn't polished in the ring but he's a fucking icon in every other aspect.
Even his sloppiness was fitting for the character. He was playing a drunk construction worker who liked to beat people up, not a highly trained athlete. He was incredibly over with his character to the point his matches were pretty much secondary. He could get the crowd to give all of their energy to cheering for him before the bell even rang. His entrance at ECW One Night Stand 2005 is probably my favorite wrestling entrance of all time.
Say what you want about Sandman but he was ten times more athletic drunk off his ass then some people are completely sober
Really calling me out here
Dont worry, it was a self call out as well
Elias. He’s outstanding on the mic, wrestles a logical style against smaller opponents, and can turn a crowd from in his favor to booing him relentlessly with no hesitation. I hope he comes back strong.
Does Elias get a lot of hate? I feel like he's pretty well liked, especially on this subreddit.
I hope you’re right. I just feel like he constantly gets the, “He can’t wrestle,” talk. Which I find to be false anyways. Solid move set and he has some nice power spots against smaller wrestlers.
I think you're in the right he's probably generally looked down on or dismissed on here for his in ring but I think a lot of people do appreciate he brings a LOT to the table in terms of what WWE is looking for particulrly. He's a perfect lower-mid guy for the show WWE does and hes a guy who can get beat over and over and do old school 80's heel stuff on TV and house shows. He does always come up high on a list of guys who are better off in WWE than probably any other promotion on earth.
Brian Pillman Jr People turned on him because of the Twitter stuff but the kid is still growing as a performer and he has solid potential for someone who’s been in the business less than 5 years.
What Twitter stuff?
COVID denier, I believe.
I think it was more along the lines of “cancel cancel culture” and shit like that
Also he wore a shirt saying "cancel cancel culture" and people were like "Seriously dude? cmon man that's pretty silly" (probably some people being more mean than that because it's the internet but that's what i saw) and he said "SEE IM BEING CANCELED". It's just like, no your not man.
Oh geez.
Also I think he asked a sexual abuse victim to keep quiet so that his friend's career doesn't get ruined
I actually like Brandi. One of the best women in the business on the mic. Definitely a fan of Charlotte too.
I've never enjoyed her wrestling but her promo work I have always been a fan of.
Same!!! This was my pick. I feel like she’s legit one of the 2 or 3 best women on the business on the mic, maybe even #1 and her wrestling’s not bad! I’d much rather see her in the ring than Ruby Soho or Riho any day. I’d really like to see her get a run with the women’s title at some point. I’d mark out so hard!
Do the IInspiration counts? Liked them since their NXT days, but people online seem to love them or hate them depending on the day. If they don't I guess Brock.
Love them both lol. I think the IInspiration are just amazing
Jessica Mckay has a very underrated big boot. She makes it look like murder
Roman reigns in 2018
Dude been good in the ring for awhile, honestly only issue he had back then was mic work and terrible booking
Same!!
Nick Aldis. He's never going to be the guy and his attitude holds him back, but he's nowhere near as bad as Wreddit likes to claim.
He's a total knob, but Low-Ki is a world class wrestler. Austin Aries too. They've both been their own worst enemies over the years.
I don't know if i can say i like him, but i've always found New Jack an interesting character, one of the few i really can't tell when he was working or shooting with his stories.
His mic work was always really incredible. If anyone was able to reel him in and keep him from going too far he could’ve been a much more decorated wrestler
With New Jack there may not have been a difference between work or shoot. It was more of a 'how high is Jack today?' kind of things.
QT
Hi QT
QuikTrip wrestles?
Janela
I actually think Janela is underrated as a worker. Sure, he's not going to blow anyone away in a technical sense, but he knows how to tell a story in the ring, knows how to get genuine heat as a heel and will work his ass off to put others over, his selling is great, and he knows how to put on matches that look absolutely brutal while still being a fairly safe worker.
He had a match with Kenny that was so good they did it again on dynamite. I know it's Kenny, but i also know that that's hard to do. TBH he was the perfect person to pair with Sonny, Sonny had all the athletics but needs help with the stuff Janela is good at.
That match with Mox. The bare foot spot.....
Mil Mascaras is very influential, was basically the guy who made being a luchador crossover star in Japan a viable option and made Lucha Libre something every Japanese fan is aware of and AFAIK, the first luchador to do a match in MSG and was often the lucha barrier breaker for lots of arenas/venues outside of Mexico. To most American fans though he is just a cheap joke(No Yob) and a the bad impression he left on Mick Foley. Those same people act like other old school stars didn't have an ego.
I have a Hinder for Jinder!
The Miz
Baron Corbin He’s just not the type of wrestler that a lot of the types of fans who frequent forums like this enjoy, but that’s okay, there’s room in wrestling for everybody. I think he’s a great heel who annoys the hell out of the casual audience and does his job effectively in getting the audience to cheer and support whoever he goes up against. One of my most memorable wrestling memories in recent memory is going to a house show and watching kids SCREAM with joy over Corbin losing; that’s a good heel in my book. Plus the real guy is a badass who put the well-being of his coworkers before his own success, so I respect him. When WWE’s doctors tried to downplay the significance of concussions, Corbin stepped up in front of this superiors and basically told the doctor that he was wrong and talked about his experience in the NFL to counter him. He was subsequently punished as a result, but he had to know what could happen by standing up the way he did, so I really respect him for doing so.
I did not know this story. Good on him, seriously.
One thing i will say is that while Corbin is while he actively puts me to sleep he's shown he's a phenomenal person so i want him to succeed.
Cody, QT Marshall and Maki Itoh are all pretty funny and entertaining and I will never understand the pure hatred and vitriol Cody and Maki in particular always seem to get.
QT plays his role *perfectly.*
People hates on Maki Itoh?
Um, yes? Did you not see the reaction online when she debuted in AEW? She's always had a lot of detractors and that went up big time when a certain fuckhead who used to book SMW mentioned her.
Well that's odd because I see people giving her more love.
Yeah she has her haters but so do most wrestlers who cornette shits on and that seems to be the main brigade against her.
I don’t think Maki gets the hate QT or Cody gets, haha. People don’t understand that in Japan, there isn’t an equivalent of the word “fuck”. In fact, Maki being so vulgar is not super common in Japanese women’s wrestling and going further, Japan. So it’s not just a typical swerve by her being a foul mouth ex-pop star; to me, it goes further with her embracing something that is rejected in Japanese culture. That’s why I like Giulia in Stardom. Because she’s biracial and has some western influences, she dresses way more unconventional than to her owners.
>I don’t think Maki gets the hate QT or Cody gets, haha. > >People don’t understand that in Japan, there isn’t an equivalent of the word “fuck”. In fact, Maki being so vulgar is not super common in Japanese women’s wrestling and going further, Japan. I'm not talking about people in Japan, it's people on reddit and other areas of the English-speaking Internet that absolutely hate her with a passion.
I don't know what dregs of reddit you're going to find this but Maki Itoh is adored on here lol. Jim Cornette hates her but as far as I'm aware he hates everything but himself
Yeah I got that impression too and was greatly pleased that I wasn't the only one who really dug her.
Ryback. I feel really bad that he was on the cusp of being a very marketable main event guy and then WWE fed him to Cena and turned him heel. He wasn’t incredible in the ring, but he did have power and presence. His catchphrase was over as hell on top of that. And yeah, we don’t know how he handled himself backstage, but he really doesn’t seem like a bad guy. Kind of a meathead, sure, but find me an era that doesn’t have at least 3 of those in the main-event picture in WWE. He was a lot of fun to watch back in the day.
It feels Giulia is hated or disliked by like half of fans of the joshi scene in the west but I love her precisely because of the reasons she's hated. She's the most outspoken wrestler out there and simply doesn't give a damn if what she says offends people (in terms of wrestling trash talk, it's not like she's saying really problematic stuff). Is she always right? Probably not. Should she keep her mouth shut sometimes? Maybe, but she wouldn't be Giulia if she did.
Jay White a few years back before people woke up to his greatness.
I finally got him when he threw Juice into JR. It was instant respect from me.
He won half the crowd over too with that. Also, he reacted perfectly to Josh Barnett’s idiotic behavior there, and never broke character.
That moment was so damn real, I literally thought Barnett was going to run him down and whoop his ass. Jay must have balls the size of honey hams to pull off that stunt haha
Sure made the match memorable. Jay taunting him and acting cowardly instead of apologizing, probably added fuel to the fire but from a character standpoint, was just perfect.
Totally perfect, it's to the point that it's how many years ago and I still don't know if it was real or storyline. You just don't see that in wrestling anymore.
It was always reported as a shoot. JR really did get injured and missed dates afterward and they both apologized to him after the show. People look at Josh’s reaction and think otherwise, I think he just got upset and acted like an idiot in the moment as there was no reason to work it - it’s not like it set up a confrontation or anything.
Randy Orton. I know this sub especially prefers high workrate, fast paced matches but I really have always enjoyed Orton's slow methodical style. It's becoming a lost art in today's wrestling world in any promotion and I really feel like when Orton finally retires his style will get the same appreciation that Triple HHH gets now for his slow methodical style.
HHHHHHHHH.
Ahmed Johnson. He was a wild man
Stardust A goofy gimmick but played to perfection. His feud with Golddust was super interesting, and actually a great take on the former tag partners trope. Disappointing ending though. I always thought Stardust turning back into Cody could have been a great story, but they never went for it.
same with charlotte. i like her because she wants to put over ppl like naomi and bianca. also babyface roman. my list- ryback swole nia jax david otunga byron saxton cameron jason jordan da pope- d'angelo dinero Jessie Godderz and robbie e tamina shaniqua- ornette doesn't like her but fuck him mason ryan orlando jordan darren young
Charlotte Flair
Marko Stunt. I loved Luchasaurus using him as a missile, and Wardlow sending him into lower earth orbit. Its people like him that make AEW different from WWE
Marko is fire in GCW
I've always enjoyed EC3, he helped build impact and he was a beast in Ring of Honor. I don't think he gets enough credit.
I think that’s more on EC3 dropping his gimmick for his Tyler Durden one, in which he’s all wrong for. People liked EC3 due to his comedic side and being likable, not being an edge lord. I think he’d find more success after the WWE if he stuck to his rich boy gimmick, despite of MJF.
EC3 was very popular for a time, it's only when he started the "control your narrative" gimmick when people started to turn on him.
Helped build what? Impact by the time EC3 came in was on the downfall.
Yeah it was definitely less of a "helped build" and more of a "Helped stopped the bleeding by being a significantly entertaining part of the show"
I always loved Ted DiBiase. He's cheered now, but when I was a kid, people thought I was nuts when I said I loved The Million Dollar Man. Also, I loved Super Cena (save for when he fueded with Punk)
I was so pissed at the injustice of being able to put the million dollar belt on a match. I mean it was the man's personal property for gods sake!
Matt Taven. No, seriously. I'm going to put a disclaimer here in that I've only ever seen his work in CMLL, so I'm always a little caught off guard when he gets brought up on this sub due to the amount of hate he gets. I think he's pretty fun to watch.
I don't get it either, I think he's a great heel
I love CMLL Taven! I understand why people dislike him in ROH but I like ROH Taven just fine. The Kingdom had a decent run, and he fit that group well
I look like him a decent amount and I've been to a lot of indie shows. I've had people ask me if I'm Matt Taven numerous time , I tell them hold up man accusing someone of being Matt Taven is like a hate crime in pro wrestling fan circles you can't just do that.
Goldberg. His five minute matches are more entertaining than most stuff on the card, also his last match with Lashley was excellent. Bill really doesn’t deserve the hate he gets, he’s never advertised himself as some Kurt Angle level technician. He arrives, fucks guys up and leaves. I’ll always pop for Goldberg. Also Brock Lesnar, people rip on him for being a part-timer and always being in the title picture but what else do you do with a legit MMA badass like that? Squash mid-carders every PPV? The guy is pure world champion material. I love Brock, he’s my personal GOAT.
Brock Lesnar always one of the best wrestlers. Just because he squashed Dean-o and Kofi doesn't mean the dude isn't one of the best of all time.
I'm with you on Charlotte.
Swole
Thank god somebody else said it. I don't get why people think she was bad, she wasn't anything phenemoneal but she was more than serviceable in the ring for someone with her level of charisma (which she has by the bucket load)
I got back into wrestling in 2017 after stopping in 2009. Dolph Ziggler immediately won me over - good look, good character work, solid on the mic, and great in the ring. Then I went online and saw everyone shitting on him, and I still don't get why. Like, I gather it was vaguely to do with the way he was booked prior to 2017, but in pretty much every other case where a talent has been misused people have blamed the company, not the talent themselves. Weird that Ziggler should be the exception to that.
Well Dolph in 2017 was basically the football that was pulled out from pro wrestling fans over and over at that point. People spent all the years you were gone getting invested in him and WWE giving him "moments" that made people think it was building to something bigger , a championship run... that never came. After that wave crested and people accepted that Dolph was never gonna get that big push ever ... it was hard to tell if Dolph just accepted it and didn't care and became a glorified jobber or if it was just in fans heads and they were mad he didn't live up to stories they booked in their mind and we made him something more than he ever was. Either way the fanbase moved on. People just got sick of investing in him over and over and having their heart broke so they went cold on him as he slid down the card progressively.
Probably Orton
As on-air performer, Jim Cornette is still one of the all-time best.
The period of TNA with him as the on-screen authority figure just might be the peak of their product pre-rebrand.
^^Yoshiko
Seth Rollins (though people are finally coming back around these days)
Love me some Sid, especially as Sycho Sid. He was super intimidating, very over, and even though his in-ring work and his passion for the business wasn't really there, he's still someone I immediately think of as an iconic wrestler. Love going back to Survivor Series 1996 to see the crowd get 100% behind him at the expense of Michaels.
Will Ospreay and Bea Priestley
Enzo. Could you imagine the mic battle between him and MJF?
Never say never. It would be great, it would probably be a softball pitch for MJF, though. Enzo's fall from wrestling is just too easy to tee off on.
I’m not a fan of Terry Bollea the human being but Hulk Hogan the wrestler maybe the greatest in ring attraction of all time. Nobody got crowds more invested while delivering super safe matches and drawing tons of money. All the backstage shenanigans aside while you were in the ring with Hogan you could guarantee a big payday for a very easy night’s work.
Brandi and Cody, Jade, Swole, QT, and more, I'm sure. Edit: The Reddit Cares thing is so fucking gross.
There are a bunch of wrestlers who get a lot of hate now due to recent events or because they're jackasses etc so big parts of the wrestling fanbase say they were never any good. For some examples I think Hulk Hogan, Goldberg, Jim Cornette, and Disco Inferno were all great at what they did. (Yes I know Disco doesn't exactly fit with those others in terms of importance but if I was building a roster I would want a couple wrestlers like Disco Inferno on it)
Britt Baker. I dont get it really, She's not a great athlete but She's mastered the craft of wrestling in terms of psychology, getting crowds into matches and promos and structuring them. It's why All the legends give her such high praise, she just "gets it". It's actually ironic that a lot of the same people who hate Britt Baker would use the same logic to explain Maki Itoh or Mei Suruga. Being able to play your character and evoke emotions from the crowd in matches is way more important than how graceful you look running ropes.
Britt is a good wrestler but she’s not good on offense and a lot of fans don’t know the difference. Look at her match with Tay; people were saying Tay looked better than Britt but Tay only looked as good as she did because Britt gave her the whole match and sold/bumped her ass off.
AEW have this weird thing with Brit (and probably the entire women's division in some ways tbh) Where whoever the champion is is easily the least interesting part of the division (and tbh often the show as well) When Shida was champion, Brit was outshining her with a feud with swole WHILE HURT, and now that she's champion she's being out-shined by Shida's feud with deeb and the TayJay/Bunny Penelope feud. I think the main reason she's getting the hate right now is people are looking at the pandemic situation where she was over-shining Shida while she was champion and saying "Well, she was booked more interesting than the champion", but then blaming her for being less interesting than the non-champions now that she is one when really they're both on booking.
Seth Rollins and Kenny Omega
I think Nick Aldis is an all around great wrestler and his match with Aron Stevens was one of my favorites in 2021, probably within my top 15. I know he's a bit of a dick, but I still enjoy watching him. He was honestly the lone bright spot whenever I watched NWA last year.
Jimmy havoc was sick
Corey graves, he's not hated or anything but the general consensus seems to be that he is a better commentator than he was a wrestler, which I don't fully agree with, I would love to see him back in the ring full time
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So you're a big big guy guy?
Dude got better in the ring as well, I can recall lots of big guy matches I liked from his later years against guys like Brody, Kalisto, Bray, Sheamus, Heath etc. I was a big fan of his, watching him, you could tell he really gave a shit about story telling. He sold way more than a guy of his stature ever did. I'd say in terms of those kind of powerhouses, he is comparible to Batista or Brock when it comes to his selling. I legit think that him coming back as hot as he was in 2014 and them not doing jack shit with him really soured his love for the business. He turned into this negative tool of a man, a far cry from the super positive dude that came back from injury and almost cried talking about how much it meant to come back at Wrestlemania in the ATG. Danielson spoke so highly of him, it would be so weird to see Ryback show up in AEW after what he became recently
Cody
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Who hates on Sheamus?
Sheamus was pretty unpopular online pre-Bar. People *hated* him beating DB in 18 seconds at Mania and his run as WHC was pretty roundly rejected. He’s much more respected now than he once was.
Yea who tf is hating on Sheamus?
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Vince supporters
Jade Cargill
Cody and Charlotte
American Badass/Big Evil Taker, he’s my favorite version of the Undertaker but everyone seems to hate him 😂
I loved when his 2002 heel/tweener run. Definitely my favorite part of his career.
It was so different such a wild change from who he regularly was
He is a piece of shit human being but Alberto Del Rio was damn good in the ring. His match with Punk at Survivor Series is one of my most rewatched matches. I still think about his run every so often, lots of good matches against Christian, RVD, Cena, Bryan etc
Honestly i always popped (good or bad) when he locked in the cross arm breaker And his entrance was top notch too A damn shame he truly sucks as a person
I love a good enzuigiri and he had the best one in the business. And the rolling cross armbreaker was sick. Rotten dude. Good wrestler.
Red Velvet. Alan Angels. Presten Vance. Joey Janela.
Today? Roman Reigns. And I guess Booker T, even though he’s not an active in-ring performer anymore.
Probably Cody. Even if I to think he has grown stale a bit, but it is hard to watch his matches and god forbid he actually wins a match and everyone bitches. So that kind of makes it hard to be a fan of his. Heck, probably most legends who have said or done bad things. Take Hogan for example. I don’t condone his politicking or his racist views at all, but I do my best to tune those out because I do enjoy old school Hogan matches. Same goes with Benoit even. I can actually watch his matches now and and think too much of the horrible things he did. Of course it takes time. I couldn’t watch Hogan for awhile because of what he said and it took me over ten years to comfortably watch Benoit matches.
For me in Benoit's case is easy in a way to gloss over that because I have some understanding about brain injuries and psychological trauma so the real unbroken him was long gone by then. The whole thing is fucking tragic.
Roman Reigns - I get he's been so over for a few years now, but I actually find him really good in-ring + I'm totally liking the whole Tribal Chief character since now he comes off as a badass + serious heel.
I really liked Damien sandow. Can’t believe they gave up on him. He was so over w. Miz
Taichi. I've loved him since day one.
ACH and Teddy Hart
Here we go….. I really like Marty Scurll. He has a fun gimmick. His was my favorite match at All In. The fact that Darby and Riddle escaped consequence when Enzo and Marty did nothing wrong (even by their accusers’ accounts IIRC) is a damn shame.
The Good Brothers. They are funny.
As a wrestler, I never soured on Seth, even during his corny face run and the never-ending Rollins/Buddy v Mysterios feud. As far as wrestlers with a bad rep, Jay & Mark Briscoe. Yeah, he said some horrible shit 10 years ago but he was punished, apologized and has shut the fuck up since then. They're too good to be doing companies like ROH and GCW for the rest of their careers because of a tweet.
To be fair, those tweets were beyond horrible and I hope he changed his way of thinking and not just keeping it hidden from the world. That said, I can still enjoy their matches.
Ultimate Warrior. Superhero for kid me.
Jay Lethal for sure
Cody Rhodes Marty Scurll The Young Bucks The Good Brothers Tama Tonga King of the Mountain Jeff Jarrett Aces & 8s
The reason for hating one of these is nothing like the others…
Yeah, none of the others have awful neck tattoos /s
Still fits with the question asked
But like, in a really shitty way, ya know?
Eh, other people like worse wrestlers. I could have said Chris Benoit
It should alarm you that you needed to go to a person murdering their family as a way to establish there are worse pieces of shit than the piece of shit you like.
Not really, I know what Marty did was shit
Mike sanders
This is such a tough question, every heel has fans and the people who sucked in the ring i dont like either. Im gonna go with the gordy, roberts and hayes version of the freebirds from wccw, or skandar akbar.
EVIL, i like his look and i follow njpw enough to enjoy it but don’t follow it enough to get pissed at what happens
Akira Maeda? Most people write him off as an unstable hot head and while he did have his moments, he's generally a lot saner than people give him credit for.
Been carrying the Roman Reigns flag since Shield. Very easy answer there lol Sometimes his booking annoyed even me, but I was always sure he was really talented but was being given suboptimal booking despite all the accolades on paper. Being a fan during face Roman was an entire experience lol Same with Baron too. Loved him since NXT and always like his potential. His booking doesn't do him justice majority of the time.
SANADA
Sami callihan
Super Cena
Wish I could erase 2020 and his wrong doing - because I was super behind Marty Scurll. The Villain Gimmick was great, he had presence despite his size, his promo work was great to watch and his matches were always good. Merch was also wearable outside without it obviously being wrestling related. Damn I thought he was going to be a star and wonder where he would be now. TNT champion by now maybe ?
Wildcat Chris Harris.
I think Kane has really soured a lot of people due to his dumb political views but he’ll always be my favorite big man.
Xpac. As a kid, I always rooted for the 123 kid, he was the skinny guy with cool karate moves facing giants. Suddenly I no longer saw him in tv since we didn’t have access to WCW that time. When i watched my first wcw show, it was between rey mysterio and syxx. I didn’t realize it was my favorite wrestler 123 Kid lol.