Best Workers Who Weren't Main Eventers

[Dylan Waco]

I have seen Regal assailed before as a guy who can't truly be a top level all time guy because he never worked a match that could have headlined Wrestlemania. I have seen people say that me calling Tracy Smothers one of the best/most versatile all around wrestlers I've ever seen is "silly" because he never worked anywhere near the top of a card other than SMW/USWA. I have been told that Scorpio was a good mid-card act, but saying he was better than Shawn Michaels in 96 is nonsense, because Shawn's matches felt like bigger deals and he had to "carry a company." I'm not sure that entirely answers your question, but that's where the idea for the topic came from

[Matt D]

Big match feel is the WORST

[Timbo Slice]

So Dylan starts this thread and doesn't include Chris Masters?

 

Is this a socko account or something?

[ohtani's jacket]

I see what you mean.

 

Virus strikes as a guy who's a fantastic worker and a midcarder, whose title matches are excellent without having a big match feel. A lot of it boils down to opportunities I suppose. Terry Rudge would be another example if we only had his WoS stuff, but watching him go longer on German houseshows we know he can work a big match.

[Dylan Waco]

Masters isn't an all timer BUT his 18 month or so run is about as good a run I've ever seen for a guy who got no chances at all from a storyline/angle perspective.

[El-P]

Fit Finlay

William Regal

2 Cold Scorpio

Tracy Smothers

Arn Anderson

Ricky Morton

Bobby Eaton

Brian Pillman

I agree 100% with this list.

 

And yeah, Dan Kroffat (Furnas I wouldn't consider him a great worker), Buzz Sawyer.

 

First name that comes to my mind was Yumi Fukawa, for whatever reason. Tremendous worker in ARSION, who never got past the lower half of the undercard. Hiromi Yagi has to be there too.

[Matt D]

I do not know about Eaton. He had the king gimmick in memphis briefly, main evented vs Bill Watts and had the Clash match vs Flair. It isn't Hogan level or anything but three runs in three territories is notable.

[Al]

Eaton was clearly a top wrestler in Continental as well.

[khawk20]

Where does Cowboy Bob Orton fit into this?

 

I'm sure he did some work as a main eventer in some of the smaller territories back in the day. Not sure how to rank him in the NWA/Mid Atlantic area (1983 specifically with Slater/Race/Flair, etc), or his WWF time, where he main evented against Backlund in the usual heel challenger fashion for a few shows. Post-84 he was never truly top of the card, I don't think.

 

No question on the talent end of the spectrum, but he gives me more of a "supporting player" vibe for the most part.

[KrisZ]

Koko Ware should be on this list

[Matt D]

You know, Dustin really never main evented for any length of time. I think he had one In Your House vs Taker main event, a War Games and Thundercage over in WCW.

[pantherwagner]

Some names to consider

Black Terry

HERODES~

Solar

Espanto Jr.

Javier Monarca Cruz

Americo Rocca

[thebrainfollower]

Dustin did face Taker 3 times on PPV on 96 but never in the main event. Shawn main evented all 3 of those so yeah Dustin Rhodes, amazing example.

[stomperspc]

I think there are really two separate groups of non-main eventers. You have guys like Morton and Smothers who were on top of Smokey Mountain Wrestling but whenever placed on a slightly larger stage were considered mid card guys. Then there are guys like Regal and Arn who never had a sustained main even run anywhere, largely because they spent the prime of their careers in bigger promotions. I don’t think you can exclude one group and include the other because it is not a fair or direct comparison. If Arn would have left WCW in 1994 and worked SMW, he’d have been in the main events. If you exclude Morton, it is just on a technicality and missing the point of the discussion, I think.

 

Along those same lines, I wouldn't consider Dustin a main eventer. A ton of guys have been in main events (Arn was in his fair share) but that does not make them a main event wrestler.

[Childs]

Regal takes the prize for me in this category. Few have ever been as good match to match, but he wouldn't have a shot at cracking my top 20, because he didn't work the kinds of era- or promotion-defining matches pulled off by the guys I'd rank ahead of him. Will and I had this conversation recently, and I know he disagrees.

 

As for some others ... Fuchi and Kikuchi come to mind. You can't be any less featured than the All-Japan juniors. Sano wrestled in a few main events but never consistently as far as I know. Hase was never really a main eventer; he only got one shot at the IWGP title, I think.

 

Mysterio verges on this category, doesn't he? Clearly an all-timer and a draw, but he's rarely been more than an upper mid-carder with WWE.

[RyanClingman]

Gran Hamada is certainly a guy that would be near the top of my list.

[RyanClingman]

Gran Hamada is certainly a guy that would be near the top of my list.

[Matt D]

Now I want Regal to accompany Bryan to one of his matches vs Orton to help fight off the Shield only to turn on him since Bryan is getting what Regal never had. They could have a great little two month feud to tide things over before the December HHH match to earn the Rumble spot that I (and apparently no one else) seem to want to have happen.

[Loss]

This is hard for me to answer because I have a tough time figuring out who's eligible, but Regal seems like a strong pick. As for big matches, Regal gelled well with Shinya Hashimoto, who is quite possibly the best dome show wrestler ever, so I'm not convinced that Regal's style is incompatible with main events. Maybe it would be a departure in some ways from what he is used to doing, but Regal is more versatile than he gets credit for being.

 

Does Liger qualify? If Liger qualifies, Liger is the clear answer. But Liger isn't a guy I want to pick here because he had all the advantages and opportunities typically given to main event wrestlers to have good matches and performances, so I think it's a moot point that misses the spirit of the thread.

[Childs]

Regal absolutely could have adapted to working in big main events. He just didn't.

 

Completely agree on Liger. I don't put him in this category, because he was as much an ace as he could be in his context. I almost think of NJ juniors and NJ heavies as linked but separate promotions. The juniors even had their own big shows.

[pantherwagner]

Ryan, I thought about Hamada too, but he main evented semi-regularly at El Toreo and perhaps Palacio de los Deportes from 75 to maybe 79 or 80, usually feuding with Perro Aguayo or Rene Guajardo. He main evented more often at smaller arenas. He was a regular main event opponent of Aguayo, Fishman, Canek and others later on until he left for Japan in the mid 80s and semi-retired to train women wrestlers. So he was on top of cards for enough time and with enough different opponents to be considered a true major league main eventer.

 

I'm not counting Michinoku or Universal as those two were obviously minor promotions.

[jdw]

Does Liger qualify? If Liger qualifies, Liger is the clear answer. But Liger isn't a guy I want to pick here because he had all the advantages and opportunities typically given to main event wrestlers to have good matches and performances, so I think it's a moot point that misses the spirit of the thread.

Liger would qualify. Very rare main events, and it almost always was the event (J Cup) that drew rather than Liger himself. For someone who has worked for 20+ years, his ratio of main events is going to be lower than any tip worker you can find.

 

Fujiwara had a decent number of main events in UWF 1.0 and 2.0. No one had as mnay as Maeda, and Takada probably came in second in 2.0. But Fujiwara got some. Of course he mained in his own promotion.

[goodhelmet]

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I think there are really two separate groups of non-main eventers. You have guys like Morton and Smothers who were on top of Smokey Mountain Wrestling but whenever placed on a slightly larger stage were considered mid card guys. Then there are guys like Regal and Arn who never had a sustained main even run anywhere, largely because they spent the prime of their careers in bigger promotions. I don't think you can exclude one group and include the other because it is not a fair or direct comparison. If Arn would have left WCW in 1994 and worked SMW, he'd have been in the main events. If you exclude Morton, it is just on a technicality and missing the point of the discussion, I think.

 

Along those same lines, I wouldn't consider Dustin a main eventer. A ton of guys have been in main events (Arn was in his fair share) but that does not make them a main event wrestler.

I agree with everything said here. To get a clearer picture, it should either take smaller territories into consideration as main even terms or exclude the smaller promotions altogether.

[Marty]

Would Barry Windham count in this group? He only had a few cups of coffee with the main event in the late 80s/early 90s at best, and when he was NWA champ, he was still second fiddle to whatever Vader as WCW champ was doing.

[cm funk]

Regal, Finlay and Rhodes are all really solid picks.

 

Tajiri

Super Crazy

Psychosis

 

People more knowledgeable than me can probably point to Tajiri and Psychosis headlining shows in the last decade, but to me they're midcard guys in the states and upper midcard in their native countries.

 

What about Scott Hall? He headlined b house shows as IC champ and was in or around main events with the nWo, but he was 3rd in the nWo pecking order. He only had one PPV title match in the WWF (Rumble 93, it wasn't the actual main event) and was never in the world title picture in WCW. I consider him about as high an upper midcarder as you can get, but not quite crossing the line into main eventer.