Steve Corino

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[Shining Wiz]

Might have had an outside shot if he started 20 years earlier and could have had an impact in territories.

[Ditch]

The best comparison to Corino is..... Nishimura? Yes, Nishimura, because Nishimura did a much better job of porting territory-era sensibilities to modern times. Corino's schtick of being an old-school heat guy falls short because he isn't quite good enough as an athlete or a promo. Adam Pearce is another good comparison; Pearce is a much better promo when he has the opportunity, and nobody's going to nominate him. Corino has been in some good matches but isn't top 200 as a worker all-time, or probably even just from the US.

[Shining Wiz]

Not that promos matter for this, but Corino is head and shoulders above Pearce as far as I'm concerned. Pearce sounds like a really earnest acting student making an audition tape, whereas Corino sounds natural.

[Ditch]

I can see that.

 

Anyway, Corino got nothing in 2006 and he hasn't done anything since then to deserve top 100 status.

[Shining Wiz]

I can see that.Anyway, Corino got nothing in 2006 and he hasn't done anything since then to deserve top 100 status.

Agreed.

[Grimmas]

I'll re-watch the Tajiri feud. The Homicide feud. The Corino-Steen-Generico feud and some Zero One to be sure.

[Dylan Waco]

Corino should have been a top fifty worker of all time, but timing killed him. As it stands he did very well with what he had, but isn't someone I can see on a list

[KrisZ]

Steve Corino working in Memphis in 1988 would've been fantastic.

[Timbo Slice]

Has my all-time favorite ECW match with Tajiri at Hardcore Heaven 2000. Doesn't have enough to make my list, but he was just a guy wrestling in the wrong time.

[elliott]

I watched the Corino vs Tommy Rich match from PWX mentioned in the Tommy Rich thread. I would agree with Dylan saying it was a great Corino performance and Rich just happened to be there. Rich did have some good looking punches even if they were really slow. Aside from that this was a total one man show from Corino.

 

Corino will definitely be my post 2002 indy's gateway drug (literally all the post 2002 indy stuff I've seen is Danielson matches. never seen Steen, Generico, Jacobs, etc etc).

[Phil Schneider]

Corino came back after five years and had a absolute banger over the weekend with his son. Up there with his best stuff against Homicide and Tajiri

[Kadaveri]

Yep just watched it. Was about to say "well here's a guy I didn't expect to add to their case for 2026."

[Clayton Jones]

I don't feel like I'm the guy to go to bat for Corino but he does have a solid shot at making it onto the tail end of my ballot. Besides the stuff mentioned I really enjoyed him as a general shit stirrer in ECW, feuding with Taz, house show matches VS Dreamer, as well as later on ROH stuff teaming with Steen and sponsoring Jacobs. For GWE I just watched his matches VS Colby and an early 2000s match VS Windham, both were very good but polar opposite performances. In the latter's defense Windham looked great too. I like him well enough as a Hashimoto opponent. But big title matches, dream match type settings are where I think he falters most. Or when he relies too much on getting his friends/students work.

Overall he moves the needle for me though, I get that he doesn't for a lot of people, but I'm still surprised by the relative indifference he's gotten as a nominee.