Dylan Waco Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 I was thinking about this earlier as a common criticism you see of certain guys is that their matches lacked a "big match feel" or something akin to that. That doesn't make or break a match to me, but I understand it to a degree. Still when I think of who would rate highly on a depth chart for me, virtually every one I can think of in the top couple of levels is a guy who was a consistent top of the card level guy, if not out right ace/night in and out main eventer in a major promotion. So in this thread I was interested to see who would be the top guys we could think of who wouldn't fit in that category necessarily. Keep in mind that main eventing here or there does not disqualify someone for this, the point is where did they spend the bulk of their careers, particularly their peaks as in ring talents. I"ll toss out some names here, hopefully with some thoughts later. Fit Finlay William Regal 2 Cold Scorpio Tracy Smothers Arn Anderson Ricky Morton Bobby Eaton Brian Pillman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 Anderson & Morton are the two standouts on that list for me. A couple interesting names for consideration -- Liger and Eddy Guerrero. Liger was unquestionably the ace of his division and headlined some shows, but was never the focal point of the promotion. Guerrero obviously had his run on top, but there was a ton of greatness that preceded it and followed it where he wasn't on top of the card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 I would be interested to see you run down your list. For example, why doesn't Smothers or Morton get credit for being on top of Smoky Mountain or Morton being in the top program in 1986 NWA? The others I agree with wholeheartedly except Finlay who was in the main event for a long time in Europe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Jackson Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 Tito Santana of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 Going to throw out some more names for consideration. Mostly just interested to know in what sort of esteem people here hold them: Buzz Sawyer Raymond Rougeau Buddy Landell Mr. Saito Dan Kroffat / Phil Lafon Doug Furnas Haku Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 Tito Santana of course. My instant thought was Greg Valentine but I don't know his card placement for the bulk of his Mid Atlantic career. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted September 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 I would be interested to see you run down your list. For example, why doesn't Smothers or Morton get credit for being on top of Smoky Mountain or Morton being in the top program in 1986 NWA? The others I agree with wholeheartedly except Finlay who was in the main event for a long time in Europe. My plan was to add detail when some other names were thrown into the hat. I specifically noted major promotion which is why I included Smothers, but could see the argument either way. Finlay's peak as a wrestler (in my view) is post Europe which is why I included him. Morton is tricky because he was an attraction and star of note, but I'm not sure you could really call him a main eventer in the sense that we normally use that term Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted September 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 Tito Santana of course. My instant thought was Greg Valentine but I don't know his card placement for the bulk of his Mid Atlantic career. I'd actually argue Valentine is far more of a main eventer (at least in my mind) than Finlay or Morton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrainfollower Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 What's the criteria for not being a main eventer? Santana-Valentine main evented quite a few WWF cards in 84-85 and Valentine main evented off and on in MACW for years. Someone like Ray Rougeau even, wasn't he a main eventer in tags in Montreal before coming to the WWF? And Ricky Morton had matches with Flair and I was under the impression the Express main evented a lot of B shows in JCP 96 as well as tons of Smoky Mountain Wrestling. Regal, Finlay and Smothers are great picks. I would say Arn is the best of the bunch, he main evented a bunch of War Games I guess, but if you count those you're only a few steps away from counting Battle Royals and the like and that pretty much eliminates just about everyone. I'm not saying he should be on the list but what about Jake Roberts? Other than the Andre feud and the brief Sting feud where was he the main event in his career? Against Ron Garvin in GA? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted September 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 Going to throw out some more names for consideration. Mostly just interested to know in what sort of esteem people here hold them: Buzz Sawyer Raymond Rougeau Buddy Landell Mr. Saito Dan Kroffat / Phil Lafon Doug Furnas Haku Not sure about Saito. I love him, think he's great, but I could be convinced either way on him being a "main event" type guy. Kroffat and Furnas are great picks. I will say this for Ray Rougeau - if we had more Montreal I think he would be considered one of the forgotten great faces of the 80s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 Tito Santana of course. My instant thought was Greg Valentine but I don't know his card placement for the bulk of his Mid Atlantic career. I'd actually argue Valentine is far more of a main eventer (at least in my mind) than Finlay or Morton Well, what is his Mid Atlantic run as a main eventer? I don't know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrainfollower Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 Buzz Sawyer I thought main evented a bunch against Tommy Rich and others in GA. Haku never main evented anywhere except a few random matches against Hogan but putting him on the same list as Ricky Morton and Arn Anderson? I don't know, the guy had many highlights but also a lot of boring Prime Time matches filled with nerve holds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Jackson Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 Jake v. Sylvester Ritter (future JYD) main evented late-70s Stampede, if that counts as being a "main eventer". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted September 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 What's the criteria for not being a main eventer? This is part of what makes this thread interesting I think. I posted a few names and immediately someone who's opinion I respect responded saying he wasn't sure if a few of them really qualified. To me a main eventer is a guy who was on top or the near the top of a major promotion for a reasonably lengthy amount of time. I"d say at least a few years minimum. But then you have someone like a Greg Valentine who is a sort of middle ground player or a Ricky Morton who headlined in SMW and on the B circuit for Crockett...it's tough Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 how do we define main eventer? One main event program (Morton, who might have had more if we count Mid-South)? Multiple main event programs with different people? Over different years? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 Surely Greg Valentine was a main eventer in 1979 in WWF? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrainfollower Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 You know thinking about this I'm pretty sure we could find more guys in the attitude era and today who never main evented anywhere. I mean for cripes sakes my first house show the Conquistadors main evented! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Jackson Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 My impression is that Greg was a main eventer from around 76/77 to about 83, and arguably 84. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted September 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 I consider Greg a main eventer in the sense that he was an in demand star, booked against top names in top programs for years. He wasn't an ace, but that doesn't mean he wasn't in a solid spot like that. Having said that a lot of the really good Valentine work is after he was a main event level guy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteF3 Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 I'm fairly sure Jushin Liger would fulfill the "not a main eventer" criteria. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisZ Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 Yoshiaki Fujiwara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Redman Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 What about Rey Mysterio? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Jackson Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 Tito Santana of course. My instant thought was Greg Valentine but I don't know his card placement for the bulk of his Mid Atlantic career. I'd actually argue Valentine is far more of a main eventer (at least in my mind) than Finlay or Morton Well, what is his Mid Atlantic run as a main eventer? I don't know. Just looking at Greensboro, Greg main evented often between 1976 and 1981, first in tags with Flair, then against Wahoo, more tags with Flair, then against Flair. By late-82 he was second from the top more often than not, so still pushed hard. He main evented early-84 against Dick Slater, although I believe that was a bit of a down period for the territory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 Does Rip Rogers count? He main evented the Maritimes, Global, Poffo's ICW maybe? Wherever that Adrian Street feud was? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 I'm a little confused by the topic description. There are a lot of guys who've been mentioned before who weren't main eventers but had a big match feel to their matches. Liger and Fujiwara for example. Finlay in title matches in Europe (I'm not really sure that he was a main eventer in Europe, btw.) Are you looking for the best guys who were non-main eventers or the best workers who didn't have such a big match feel to their work but were great workers anyway? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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