Mad Dog

He had the Benoit matches in WCW. I think there was a good Disco Inferno match in there. Past that, I can't remember anything in WCW that he did that was very good.

I didn't go with Rude because he had a short peak and because there were just guys that were better. His Dangerous Alliance stuff was great and there were some really good matches in there but I just don't see a case for him vs. a lot of guys.

Waltman: 1991-1999 Shane Douglas... he was probably 1992-1997ish. If you go back and watch that 1991 WWF run, he was atrociously awful in it. Awful matches, his promos are so awful that I actually start turning red with embarrassment. And I tend to think he wasn't that good once he got to WCW and he was kind of counter-productive in ECW in 1998 due to his injuries.

I liked him a lot in SMW and thought he was their best overall talent. I'm still working through SMW right now and I plan to start buying the big ECW Hardcore TV sets next year so maybe I'll change my tune as I'll probably be seeing a ton of his stuff the next few years.

It wasn't a great match but I think the Guerrero/Syxx ladder match from Souled Out 97 is a bit of an overlooked gem.

My biggest problem with Steamboat is it feels like he had that nice run in WCW and then he was done by mid 1994. I feel like someone who worked the entire decade or further into the decade deserves more consideration than someone who didn't even make the halfway point. I would tend to think Bret Hart, Vader and maybe Chris Candido would be the closest to a consensus top 3 that you would get on here. Maybe Tracy Smothers and Arn Anderson as well.

I think as a team they deserve mention out there. They were unique and innovative for their time. They were really the first suplex machine team that would become popular later in the decade. And if you go back and watch them, they just hit moves from angles and situations you wouldn't expect or see. I think as a unit they would have merit in a top 100 situation. In a top team situation, I think the Rock N Roll Express would be the top team of the decade for SMW and the Steiners would probably be in the 2-4 range.

Punk got fired for the Hart brawl right as his big push was starting.

But it was beyond a shitty gimmick. He had to wrestle like someone who wasn't him. That's hard to do as you're essentially having to crawl out of your own skin and be someone else. This would be like putting a blond wig on Bret Hart and telling him to go wrestle Hulk Hogan matches every week on television.

You can say the same thing about Lance Storm though. Go back to Barely Legal and see how terrible he was. He might have used the worst chair shot ever on that show. You can't hold fake Diesel against Kane though. He had a shitty gimmick and he was supposed to wrestle like someone else.

Kane was in a successful tag team with X-Pac and he was a difference maker his first 6 months in the WWE. He had good agility for a big man, good offense, had moves he would only break out in big matches. Didn't sell too much, sold enough, got over despite not being able to talk and having a fucking shitty gimmick. Good matches with Austin and Vader. In 1999 his tag team with X-Pac was really the only thing in the company worth a damn in the ring. Kane's biggest flaw is he had a feud with the Undertaker who wasn't having a lot of good matches at the time and the WWE Undertaker in 98 and 99 wasn't a good place to have good matches on a consistent basis.

I think it's safe to say that the vast majority of their fanbase do not... I've taken my wife to WWE, I've taken my wife to WEC, I would take my wife to TNA, I would take my wife to Chikara, I would never take my wife within a mile of an RoH show or RoH fans.

Lance Storm had exactly one good run in his career and that was the 8 months or so he was in WCW. Storm lacked charisma, couldn't brawl and wasn't really capable of carrying someone in a match. I tend to feel that Lance Storm got his undeserved good reputation because he was the last sound technical wrestler ECW had and because he's Canadian. Look at his later WWE run and how boring he was. I will throw out several guys who were not top 10 calibur guys that I feel were better than Lance Storm. Jeff Jarrett, Billy Kidman, Alex Wright, Kane, Road Dogg, Val Venis, Rikishi, Bob Holly, Bltizkrieg and Molly Holly. Those are all late 90s main stays and all of them I can safely say were better than Lance Storm IMO.

I fucking hate Sabu but I've never seen the problem with his punches or crowd brawling. Really, I feel those are his biggest positives as a worker. Also, posting Sabu stuff from his WWE run isn't fair to him. Sabu was a trainwreck by then due to injuries and his style. You have to really look at Sabu's work from 93-99 to be fair to the guy. That said, I still hate him.

I picked him because he's honestly the only person that stands out to me anymore as having week in and week out good matches on television. He's certainly the only WWE worker I remember being worth a shit that year on a consistent basis. Benoit was okay that year but he was really hit and miss. Some really good matches, disappeared for months, really great match, disappeared for another couple of months.

Dustin's booking was really fucked in that 98-99 range. I don't think you can really blame him for not having any good matches in that time period.

Was he more over than Sting? And if not, how can he be the better worker? I've watched every single WCW PPV from 1990 to GAB 1996 in the past two years and the idea that Dustin is a better worker than Sting is frankly ridiculous. Sting had great matches with good workers and people say he was carried. Dustin had mediocre matches with Austin, Rude, and Arn And yet here we are aruging over if he was better than Sting. I don't get this at all. I accept that "the answer" isn't Sting. But I think he was better than he's being credited for here. I listed both guys so I obviously think highly of both. My opinion is that Rhodes was a more complete package as a worker than Sting was. Sting was more over because Sting had more charisma. But Sting was also booked more competently throughout his career. Rhodes got over despite some really shitty gimmicks and storylines that hampered him in the WWE.

Rhodes is a more flexible worker than Sting. Sells better, better comebacks and a better tag worker. Sting was probably a better brawler and had better charisma. But Rhodes at his peaks was a notch below being an elite worker. Great offense, understood his role in the matches, always came back at the right times, always played his characters correctly. Rhodes gets overlooked in WCW because he was Dusty's son and he gets overlooked in the WWE because of that retarded Goldust gimmick. But look at his run with the WWE in 2002. He was an afterthought surprise in the Royal Rumble and he went on to form the best tag team of the year with Booker T. Great segments all year, played his character perfectly and he made the team click. Would it be crazy to say that Sean Waltman was the best U.S. worker in 1999?

Jarrett is hard to rank. You kind of want to dismiss him, then you think about it and you realize he just has a laundry list of good matches and he was probably more consistent from 1990-1999 than anyone else was in the 90s. Really, Jarrett overall is kind of an odd worker. He's been around for 25 years and he's just been this consistent worker the entire time. I really think he doesn't get enough credit for his longevity, consistency and ability to stay relevant for as long as he has. There are guys that people rave about as amazing workers that petered out in 4-6 years. What's more impressive? A couple of years of greatness or 25 years of consistently good?

Because Sting wasn't a "great worker". Unless we've bastardized the word "great" into something completely meaningless. Everything in wrestling that's good, watchable, enjoyable, fun or cool isn't GREAT. That's would be the top of the shelf shit. John He was a good worker that had moments and brief streaks of greatness. Is that fair to say about him?

Crow Sting had that really good match with DDP on Nitro in 1998. Also, Sting is anything but luggage. You want proof of that? He had the best singles match I've ever seen with Meng/Haku for the U.S. Championship in 1995. I would also offer Jeff Jarrett up as more of a top 25-30 guy through out the 90s. He doesn't have that showcase classic or anything but he was really a consistent guy throughout the entire decade. Had good matches with the most random list of wrestlers you can name. I mean, how many guys can say they were having good matches with the Moondogs early in the decade and finished off 1999 with that really good Chris Benoit match at Mayhem.

I think I would go with: Sting Vader Stan Hansen Chris Candido Tracey Smothers Steve Austin Sean Waltman Bret Hart Dustin Rhodes Scott Hall I did Bret/Owen as an either or. I think Owen was probably a better worker but Bret, despite his flaws, was given more opportunity to shine in the 90s. Ultimately he had a very wide array of good matches with a large variety of workers.

Columbus supports wrestling in any form. WCW drew, ECW drew, TNA draws, etc. WWE doesn't draw so well anymore but they really burned us on some fucking awful shows. I know a lot of guys quit going after that awful HHH/HBK HIAC match. As for GCW, I was born in 81 so I wouldn't know first hand. The GCW crew from about 80-83 is really well known by the old timer fans around here though. They talk about those guys more than they do Crockett honestly. So I would say, they at least were drawing well enough to come back 3-5 times a year.

I've found the British style fascinating so far. I've just been jumping around on that Youtube channel and watching away.

I think I'm good on watching Big Daddy then. I have to be honest. I started on Youtube watching Johnny Saint. He's good and entertaining but I quickly found Jim Breaks to be a much more compelling character and kind of slided over to watching his matches. From my 3 or 4 days, I don't see the case for Saint. He's good but he feels like a popular secondary face in a secondary division. It feels like people like him but they aren't there solely because Saint is wrestling.