Marty Jannetty

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[Gregor]

Jannetty had kind of a what-if career, but there's still a lot of really good stuff there. He has an argument as the best wrestler in the WWF in 1993 and didn't show any signs of slowing up in January 1994. After that, he doesn't have much on tape but his occasional long matches are enough to make it clear that he can still go.

[Loss]

Does anyone disagree with the mindset that if you have Jannetty on your list, Michaels has to be quite a bit higher?

[Lee Casebolt]

I think if you rate Jannetty over Michaels, you have some serious explaining to do. I'm willing to grant that there may be an explanation, but I'd want to hear it.

[fxnj]

I recently watched a handheld on Youtube of him facing Michaels at the Cow Palace that I really dug. The blurriness and weird lighting even kind of adds to match by giving it some dream-like quality that goes along with that what-if factor 90's Jannetty has surrounding him. I doubt the Michaels series and the Rockers run are enough to make a top 100 guy but he could go.

[Gregor]

Does anyone disagree with the mindset that if you have Jannetty on your list, Michaels has to be quite a bit higher?

Yeah, I do. Jannetty's singles performances aren't very similar to Michaels' singles performances; it's not inconceivable that someone could find singles Michaels a chore to watch but still enjoy singles Jannetty.

[Matt D]

I could also see someone think that Jannetty did less bad things in the tag team and did the good things just as well, if that makes sense.

 

That said, I think his match with Goldust in 95 is unfortunate for a debut match. He took way too much of it. That might have been Dustin's fault, though, or maybe an agent's, but I bet it was Marty trying to have the best match he could instead of one that got over the new heel better.

[C.S.]

I could see someone thinking that Jannetty was the better of the two during The Rockers - not the argument I'm making, mind you - but that's about it.

 

Even if you hate Shawn, you cannot realistically see Jannetty's post-Rocker tenure as anything other than one giant missed opportunity after another.

[PeteF3]

It seemed by the '90s that Shawn had legitimately surpassed Marty with the Rockers. They were fairly even in the AWA, but later on I got the distinct vibe that Shawn was churning out more good performances even before the break-up.

 

That said, I would not hesitate for a second to rank 1993 Jannetty ahead of 1993 Shawn. Jannetty had more good matches with a wider variety of opponents and outworked Shawn in the matches they had with each other.

 

That's as far as I'll go however, and of course that nugget is relatively meaningless to a GOAT list. Shawn had another 15 years' worth of overrated but still strong performances. Jannetty had to remain content with blips of goodness (the Douglas match in ECW, the Angle match) here and there, which I don't think is enough for a Top 100 case.

[BigBadMick]

Was there anything worthwhile in Jannetty's 1995-96 WWF run? (Actually, I'm not even sure he left in 96, but when that one finished up....)

[GSR]

Was there anything worthwhile in Jannetty's 1995-96 WWF run? (Actually, I'm not even sure he left in 96, but when that one finished up....)

 

There was the match at the Survivor Series with Bob Holly, Barry Horowitz & Hakushi against 123 Kid, Skip, Rad Radford & Tom Prichard that stands out, but not much else. He had the stint as the New Rockers with Leif Cassidy but that was at a time when Tag Wrestling was at an all time low in the WWF.

 

[Loss]

He had a match with Skip on RAW where he was suddenly the most over babyface in the company. It was surreal to watch - that crowd loved them some Marty Jannetty.

[Goodear]

I never got the enthusiasm some have for Jannetty. He certainly has athletic talents but has never connected to me as a performer. He just seemed so hollow in terms of character after the Rockers broke up and never moved past that phase in his career. I find he lacks range in that he has the one Jannetty Gear and never seems to pick things up or slow things down when appropriate. I just watched one of the matches with Matt Borne as Doink and Marty just couldn't escalate his game to match Borne's fire. I don't find him compelling in any way and certainly can't endorse his placement in my top 100.

[thebrainfollower]

I watched this match with Skip just minutes ago and it is truly amazing how over Jannetty is. He got absolutely nothing out of it, but it's an amazing start to a forgettable run.

[El-P]

I fucking love Marty. Maybe a tendency to love underdogs, beautiful losers and B-sides on my part. Was terrific in the Rockers, and was quite excellent as a single wrestler showing up during the 90's. He's the guy I always to see pushed more during that decade. Always showed up from nowhere and then vanished. And came back from nowhere, was still over and was still delivering teh goods, and went away. Hell, he was still fun when he showed up in WCW in 1998, doing jobs on Thunder. Yeah. At this point I'd rather watch a cool 1995 WWF Superstar Jannetty match than a post comeback Micheals self-conscious epic ("Sorry, I love you… bouhhhhhhh").

[fxnj]

 

Binge watched a bunch of indy Jannetty matches and this really stuck out. Badass southern style brawl with both guys taking some hard bumps. Jannetty plays the role of the seasoned veteran cleaning house against this indy bum. Most of the other matches I watched were pretty underwhelming with Jannetty basically running through his signature spots with guys who weren't that talented, but this match shows he could could still go when he cared to at least up until a few years ago. I wish he was more reliable and could have gotten a run working like this in a big promotion.

[elliott]

I still think the Rockers are among the best WWE teams ever (if not the best), the Rose & Somers feud is tremendous and there's some interesting singles work. The Doink 2/3 Falls match is one of my favorite matches from 90s WWF. Feels easy to dismiss at first glance but the more you stop to think about it, Marty was pretty great.