Wrestlers you hate that others like

[Tommy Smith]

Meh, I understand why people don't like Hart but he'll always be my favourite.

His bitterness over the past 20 odd years is disappointing, but the dude is basically the poster child for personal tragedy in the wrestling business so I'm willing to cut him some slack.

He's still, along with Angle, my favourite in ring worker of all time. His matches had an element of realism to them which I've always preferred to the spot monkey types. He was also the greatest in ring story teller I've seen. He just knew how to build up a match and could work with any body type.

I also don't get people saying he lacked charisma. I thought he was very charismatic, which is why he went over without great mic skills. At his peak he was loved world over and got huge pops when his music hit. He wasn't a bubbly or flamboyant character, but I thought his charisma came in a natural unassuming sense.

As for the industry passing by, again I don't agree. Perhaps the two defining matches that led to the Attitude Era were his era defining match with Austin at WM - perhaps the greatest match in WM history - and also the Montreal Screwjob.

The whole Team Canada work was awesome and I think, had things been different, he could have played a great role in the WWE during the Attitude Era. He wasn't the anti establishment type that defined the era like DX or SCSA, but he could have made a great heel to work with those guys. Well he did before he left. His feud with Austin is one of the greatest of all time.

 

[madunit]

As a character. I hated the Rock as a face.

I also don't like the current Jericho face run. It's so corny and pathetic to watch. I don't recall him in previous face runs pandering to the crowd this much before.

 

[madunit]

Don't get me wrong though. Jericho, SCSA and Angle are my absolute all time faves.

 

[Big Pete]

I've mellowed out a lot, so I thought it'd be more interesting to cover the guys I didn't like when I was younger.

Bret Hart - These days, I consider the Hitman one of the best wrestlers to ever work in the WWE. However, when I first started getting into Pro Wrestling via WCW I wasn't so keen on the Hitman. After years of being portrayed as a mid-card act, Russo flipped the switch on Bret, making him his WCW Champion. The push did little for me and when Bret went over my favourite wrestler not once but twice in controversial circumstances, my feelings on the Hitman turned icy. Outside of beating Goldberg, the biggest issue I had with Bret was that his character was boring. All he did was talk about how he kept getting screwed by the boys, which always sounded worse on TCM since they would bleep out the word screw. Fortunately the Hitman and the WWE were able to put together a great dvd compilation and I was able to see how great Bret was at the peak of his powers.

Kurt Angle - Angle was a tremendous heel. His comedic timing, balanced with his olympic credentials made him one of the greatest acts in Professional Wrestling. However, when Kurt Angle underwent a babyface push in the summer of 2001, my interest in Kurt soured quickly. The sudden change from a dorky Tom Hanks wannabe into an American Icon was all too sudden and I couldn't get into his matches against Austin, Booker T and the other Invasion members of the day. Even an all-time great performance against Stone Cold Steve Austin at SummerSlam 2001 couldn't win me over. In the end, when Kurt changed heel and found himself feuding with Edge, I was at peace and enjoyed the majority of Kurt's career.

The Hardy Boyz - Team Xtreme inhabited all the qualities I disliked of modern pop culture at the time. Loose baggy jeans, the pretty boy looks with zero personality and the cool punk chick who mixes in with the boys and there's nothing you can do about it. I was well and truly on the side of Edge & Christian for most of their run and only began to mellow on Matt when he became V1 on SmackDown. Years later, I believe they were among the best workers of the Attitude era (particularly 1999 where they busted their arses to get over) and admire them for their ability to stay relevant.

Eddie Guerrero - Coming back after a serious car crash that nearly took his life, it took Eddie a long time for him to discover his mojo. While opinions vary on his run with Chyna, I was never a big fan of Latino Heat and didn't think anything of it when he was released by the company in 2001. When Eddie returned in 2002 to feud against Rob Van Dam, it would be fair to say my initial reaction was lukewarm at best. It really wasn't until years later I was able to appreciate Eddie as a worker and in his death realise how amazing Eddie had been just prior to the car crash. These days, I consider Eddie one of the greatest workers I've seen, but if you had have asked me my thoughts of Eddie as a pre-teen, I wouldn't have been fussed one way or another.

 

[Meth]

Kane. A waste of a potentially great gimmick (got off to a enormously good start) and ran 15 years too long.

Big Show. Same sort of thing, really.

Goldberg. Post WCW. His limitations were eclipsed by the hype early on, but now it's all that I see.

 

[The Vaulting Violinist]

So many to name:

Stone cold - I know this sounds well out there but I never got in to his SCSA gimmick. Loved his ECW work beforehand though

Ric flair - I know I didn't see the 70s/early 80s version of him but I just found him so boring in the 90s. Couldn't wrestle and was usually sooky on the mic

Piper - never saw him as a main eventer. I liked aspects of his character but never seemed like a credible threat to hogan etc.

Michaels - twat

 

[The Vaulting Violinist]

Totally agree on ambrose as well. So fugging boring

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

HBK - incredible in the ring and had aspects of brilliance as a heel. I didnt like his DX schtick in the 90s, but his feud with Hogan was awesome.

 

[Iafeta]

So many to name:

Stone cold - I know this sounds well out there but I never got in to his SCSA gimmick. Loved his ECW work beforehand though

Ric flair - I know I didn't see the 70s/early 80s version of him but I just found him so boring in the 90s. Couldn't wrestle and was usually sooky on the mic

Piper - never saw him as a main eventer. I liked aspects of his character but never seemed like a credible threat to hogan etc.

Michaels - twat

I can agree on Piper. Also listening to his old promos, he over indulged in jokes about skin colour too.

Flair in the 80s. The reaction he was getting. Particularly from the ladies. Cool pull off a powerful promo but yes I thought his in ring wrestling was formulaic.

 

[Marshall_magic]

Another one for me is Becky Lynch, she's okay but I never found her very interesting at all. It was clear they tried to build the SD women's division around her but she didn't have the character for it, so they shifted Charlotte over. She can wrestle some decent matches, but so can Natalya who gets caned for being boring.

 

[madunit]

Sami Zayn. Baron Corbin.

I dunno, I just don't buy their schtick.

 

[Captain Apollo]

I can agree on Piper. Also listening to his old promos, he over indulged in jokes about skin colour too.

Flair in the 80s. The reaction he was getting. Particularly from the ladies. Cool pull off a powerful promo but yes I thought his in ring wrestling was formulaic.

If you can find footage of Ric Flair v Ricky Steamboat matches from 1989 at the Chi-Town Rumble in February (where he defeated Flair for the NWA Title), the match went for23 minutes, and then at Wrestlewar (when Flair won back the title from Ricky), the match went for 31 minutes, I suggest you do. Shows both wrestlers at the top of their game in the ring. Probably the best two wrestling matches I've seen solely based on what happened in the ring.

 

[Valheru]

Yeah I can't agree with Flair being on this list.

His run in the 80s is legendary and his work with the WWF in 91/92 and WCW 92-96 was also great.

He still held his own right up until 2008.

One of the all time greats.

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

I love a Flair promo

 

[pennywisealfie]

Bray Wyatt is at the top of the list with a bullet. So boring.

Randy Orton second.

 

[Iafeta]

If you can find footage of Ric Flair v Ricky Steamboat matches from 1989 at the Chi-Town Rumble in February (where he defeated Flair for the NWA Title), the match went for23 minutes, and then at Wrestlewar (when Flair won back the title from Ricky), the match went for 31 minutes, I suggest you do. Shows both wrestlers at the top of their game in the ring. Probably the best two wrestling matches I've seen solely based on what happened in the ring.

Yeah Rics definitely not on my list. I'm up to January 1997 on the Network and God I can't get enough of Ric on the mic. Particularly if it's Ric on the mic, alongside Arn on the mic, and then my current love bunny Debra McMichael who has epic heat with the stuff she comes up with.

 

[Iafeta]

Juventud Guerrera. Admittedly for so long I've been a big Juvi mark. Going back and watching though he's so sloppy, and quite dangerous as well. When he slowed it down and sold it was good. But he generally went full speed ahead, meaning moves were meaningless as how can you keep throwing something of value if no one is selling it, and because he was so quick there are a lot of missed spots.

 

[Big Pete]

The early days of Juvi's stint in WCW was rough (it didn't help that Mean Gene was burying him in interviews...'speak English, dammit!') but by '98 I thought he was one of the better workers on the roster..

His AAA work still holds up nicely.

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

Always preferred Psycosis as the heel lucha to Rey's babyface. But, Jericho against the babyface Juvi was gold especially when he'd pronounce the 'J' in Juventud.

 

[InFlames]

Dean Ambrose.

I cringe everytime he speaks and my hand automatically picks up the remote and presses fast forward.