JerryvonKramer Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 Seems to me that Johnny Ace just has the weirdest career ever, Dynamic Dude in a shitty tag team in WCW, fairly well rated run in AJPW, booker in WCW, exec in WWF/E, on-screen authority figure in WWE, now road agent. Completely weird career progression. Who can even compare? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 I feel like Rotunda has a pretty weird career, actually, falling into being the Destroyer's apprentice, having the big run in WWF as their RnRs basically only to have a mental break down, then have his partner have a mental breakdown, going over to WCW as part of the Varsity Club, becoming a ship captain because he wanted a free boat, getting featured as Michael Wallstreet in USA Today just as he was on the way out, the IRS gimmick, moving back to WCW as Wallstreet and having a late career in Japan, then ending up an agent with his kid as the Eater of Worlds. It's sort of weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 Scott Levy? young naive lovestruck kid in Memphis, obnoxious meat head in WCW in their light heavyweight division, preppy douche right out of a 1980s John Cusack movie in the WWF, getting to produce the WWF's secondary shows while an associate producer on RAW, a Kurt Cobain knockoff feuding with a kid he went to summer camp with in ECW with a former fat girl he went to the same camp with who is now a Penthouse Pet as his manager, WCW as an unmotivated rich kid cult leader, back to ECW where he teams with the guy he went to summer camp with, back to WWE as a whiny emo with a ninja for a manager, TNA as an overweight and pudgy cult leader, and uh briefly hosted his own talk show on the internet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 Mike Shaw. One shitty gimmick after another but got a run pretty much everywhere in North America. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimmas Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 My pick is Backlund. Young babyface on the undercard, made WWF Champion and had 6 year run. Disappears for 10 years, returns as old man babyface doing nothing. A year later turns heel, wins WWF Title again for one night. Has another year as a heel, then turns into a heel manager for a bit. Then has a run as a Presidential candidate character. Utterly bizarre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 There are a lot of guys like Condrey who just disappear. Tommy Rich is pretty surreal too, but that's been covered. All the York Foundation really. Geez, look at Terry Taylor. Pretty boy in Memphis who was then pushed as Watts' big new face. Gets screwed for doing a Dusty impression on a plane when Dusty's headphones weren't actually playing music. Ends up the Red Rooster. Ends up the Computerized Man of the 90s. Ends up the Taylor-Made Man with a US tag run in WCW with Greg Valentine, Goes to WWF as Terrific Terry Taylor, ends up back in WCW again, ends up back in WWF as a backstage announcer, then becomes an agent for every company under the sun multiple times. He's the one who left WWF after they instituted the new style of contracts after Russo and Ferrara left, right? Yet he was still welcomed back later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pantherwagner Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 The most extreme case I can think of was the progression of Antonio Pena: from failed local wrestler to retirement, eventually becoming an office secretary/assistance hanging around, EMLL booker and then Mexico's Vince McMahon, a man who revolutionised the entire concept of wrestling in the country and by extension impacted the way US wrestling was during the Monday Night Wars. It does not compare at all but the first one I thought about was Panico: a journeyman wrestler with a long but unremarkable career eventually turns into one of the country's power brokers. At least somebody like Tony Salazar was a solid midcard and upper midcard star at different points in his life. I doubt Panico ever wrestled higher than third from the top at Arena Coliseo. But as far as rags to riches stories goes, Pena and Ace are the top ones I can think of. Ace made some pretty good cash when he was a top exec. I don't know anything about his personal finances but unless he's a Flair, Dusty or Batista type of guy who burns through money, he's got to be there working because he truly enjoys his job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 From where they started to their journey as Kodo Fuyuki's croonies to where they ended up, Jado & Gedo had one hell of a career arc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 Little Guido and Norman Smiley, perhaps? It's a helluva transition from UWFi shoot-style to hardcore comedy gimmicks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkdoc Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 i am genuinely shocked we've gotten this far with no naoki sano Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pantherwagner Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 From where they started to their journey as Kodo Fuyuki's croonies to where they ended up, Jado & Gedo had one hell of a career arc. Good one. If anything, it's a reverse Fuyuki: who started as a can't miss prospect, built his way up to hot young star and future main eventer, got the big fat SWS contract and then his career kept slowly going down the indy sleaze world until he ended up doing all that porno bullshit in FMW. Of course he then ended up dying way too early. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LariatMMBOPPO Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 Does Noble mirror Ace a little bit? Debuted in WCW as Jaime-San, unmasked as generic (American) cruiserweight. Signed to WWE afer WCW closed and debuted as a West Virginian redneck (career highlights include long Cruiserweight title run and sleeping with Billy Gunn in a four-way with Nidia and Torrie Wilson), got fired for writing off a staph infection from a steroid injection as a medical expense, had a decent run in RoH for about a year before coming back for an aimless run. Eventually retired to focus on agenting until recently coming back as a part of J&J Security. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chief Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 Sin Cara, the current one. Wrestled as Mistico (not that one) when he started out The more famous Mistico debuts after, so legally he can't be Mistico anymore, bounces around with some other names Adopts the Hunico name when he signs with WWE/FCW Mistico then signs with WWE and they brand him as Sin Cara Sin Cara gets hurt so a fake Sin Cara (Hunico) starts appearing Fake Sin Cara (Hunico) and real Sin Cara feud over the name, fake Sin Cara gets unmasked and becomes Hunico again After Sin Cara gets hurt the 493rd time, he leaves WWE. WWE still sees value in the Sin Cara name, so Hunico becomes Sin Cara again with no mention of the switch Confusing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bierschwale Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 Kenzo Suzuki might have the most "modern puro" career of anyone going. -Gets signed off of a rugby career and gets a huge initial push, debuting on a Tokyo Dome show. Wrestles a former/future IWGP HW champ in all of his first five matches. Wins the Young Lion Cup and has a young star tag team with Tanahashi. Jobs a whole lot to Giant Silva, which is just funny. -Eventually jumps ship to Choshu's version of the "I can't fucking deal with Inoki anymore" upstart early 2000s promotion. Gets booked for oneoffs in MLW and TNA, which really isn't remarkable at all, but is funny. Accidentally kills a guy in the dojo and gets fired from World Japan. -Almost immediately gets hired by WWE. Doesn't actually wrestle for the next six months (in fact goes almost a full year between his SmackDown debut and his OVW debut at a Six Flags show, appropriately everything about this would seem to be Johnny Ace's doing), gets the Hirohito gimmick that somehow gets a preview vignette before someone realizes how monumentally stupid of an idea it was. Those first few post-9/11 years for WWE, my God. -Makes his debut with his wife working a wonderfully racist geisha gimmick as his valet, though what should you expect from Paul Heyman writing a female character? Gets a "these people are making money, do something with them" tag title reign with Rene Dupree in a Sheik/Volkoff-style "these guys both hate America for varying reasons" pairing. Eventually jobs his way out (his last WWE-affiliated match sees him teaming with GANGREL in OVW, love it) but makes friends with Ultimo Dragon and gets some CMLL bookings and then a stint as a foreign trios heavy later in the year. Works HUSTLE in between. -Stays in Mexico but jumps to AAA to do dumb mid-2000s AAA things for a while. Works a Dragon Gate tour, which, again, just funny. That DG purity! -Becomes friends with Mutoh and finds a home in AJPW surviving the regime changes of Shirashi and Akiyama to become a freelancer just last week. Select matches between 3/12/06 and 3/18/07, which is a nice little encapsulation of his career: Razor Ramon Hard Gay & TAJIRI defeat Kenzo Suzuki & Toshiaki Kawada (HUSTLE). Abdullah Kobayashi & Kenzo Suzuki defeat 2 Tuff Tony & Mad Man Pondo (Big Japan). Dos Caras Jr., Heavy Metal & Lizmark Jr. defeat Johnny Stamboli, Kenzo Suzuki & Marco Corleone (CMLL). Charly Manson, Chessman & Cibernetico defeat El Mesias, Kenzo Suzuki & Scott Steiner (AAA). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted August 8, 2015 Report Share Posted August 8, 2015 Diamond Dallas Page is a decent one. Breaks in as a nightclub owner/part time wrestling manager. Did some commentary work. Then the AWA folds. Had a tryout with WWF for an announcer role, doesn't get the gig. Drops out of wrestling and goes back to the nightclub thing for a few months. Ends up in WCW as a manager, only comes into being a wrestler relatively late getting fully trained at about 35 years old and has a big run in his 40's. Gets popular enough that he gets put over by Randy Savage, has a pretty respectable WCW run from then on given all the nonsense that went on. Goes to WWE as one of the few noteworthy signings when WCW dies, and basically becomes a jobber becasuse WCW Wrestlers Must Die. Retires from wrestling and goes into the DDP Yoga/motiativonal speaking thing which seems to have worked out pretty well. It's kind of a weird run, but it's a good one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Posted August 8, 2015 Report Share Posted August 8, 2015 Backlund is amazing. White meat babyface turns heel after a 20 year career, and essentially never again breaks away from the heel character. Atsushi Onita, emerging from retirement to revolutionize garbage wrestling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted August 8, 2015 Report Share Posted August 8, 2015 Diamond Dallas Page is a decent one. Breaks in as a nightclub owner/part time wrestling manager. Did some commentary work. Then the AWA folds. Had a tryout with WWF for an announcer role, doesn't get the gig. Drops out of wrestling and goes back to the nightclub thing for a few months. Ends up in WCW as a manager, only comes into being a wrestler relatively late getting fully trained at about 35 years old and has a big run in his 40's. Gets popular enough that he gets put over by Randy Savage, has a pretty respectable WCW run from then on given all the nonsense that went on. Goes to WWE as one of the few noteworthy signings when WCW dies, and basically becomes a jobber becasuse WCW Wrestlers Must Die. Retires from wrestling and goes into the DDP Yoga/motiativonal speaking thing which seems to have worked out pretty well. It's kind of a weird run, but it's a good one. Indeed. Not to mention, having Jay-Z settle with him over the use of the Diamond Cutter hand gesture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRGoldman Posted August 8, 2015 Report Share Posted August 8, 2015 Backlund is amazing. White meat babyface turns heel after a 20 year career, and essentially never again breaks away from the heel character. Atsushi Onita, emerging from retirement to revolutionize garbage wrestling. I think Onita wins if you include his political career and it's untimely end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elliott Posted August 9, 2015 Report Share Posted August 9, 2015 Terry Funk is my pick and I wish someone, someday would make an HBO mini-series about his life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted August 9, 2015 Report Share Posted August 9, 2015 Diamond Dallas Page is a decent one. Breaks in as a nightclub owner/part time wrestling manager. Did some commentary work. Then the AWA folds. Had a tryout with WWF for an announcer role, doesn't get the gig. Drops out of wrestling and goes back to the nightclub thing for a few months. Ends up in WCW as a manager, only comes into being a wrestler relatively late getting fully trained at about 35 years old and has a big run in his 40's. Gets popular enough that he gets put over by Randy Savage, has a pretty respectable WCW run from then on given all the nonsense that went on. Goes to WWE as one of the few noteworthy signings when WCW dies, and basically becomes a jobber becasuse WCW Wrestlers Must Die. Retires from wrestling and goes into the DDP Yoga/motiativonal speaking thing which seems to have worked out pretty well. It's kind of a weird run, but it's a good one. He also had a handful of matches in Canada as "Handsome" Dallas Page in 1979, including a TV match for Geeorge Cannon's promotion, before quitting the business for years. Which makes it even weirder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert S Posted August 9, 2015 Report Share Posted August 9, 2015 What about Ryuma Go? Junior heavyweight in 70ies All Japan and New Japan, part of the first UWF, being to some degree responsible for FMW (Onita returned to Go's indy promotion Pioneer Senshi after a 5 year hiatus), fighting space aliens in the 90ies and after that doing gay porn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 Bischoff would be a good addition to the list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 Jerry Lawler as kid artist . Ring crew, outlaw wrestler, jobber, moved up the card, secret promoter, booker, owner. Then a whole other avenue in WWF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 What about Vince? Starts off promoting shows in bumfuck Maine to prove his worth to his father, becomes on air announcer/foil for heel color guys, has a test run as a heel in the USWA, reveals being the owner of the WWF while becoming increasingly paranoid during the Monday Night Wars, plays his top stars against each other until the situation boils over and he feels he needs to double cross one of them on PPV. Turns all that into becoming the biggest heel in the history of wrestling and creates the Heel Authority Figure trope that the business is still married to today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 Terry Funk is my pick and I wish someone, someday would make an HBO mini-series about his life.Seriously. Josh Brolin is right there, guys. Hell, you could even use daddy James to either play Dory Senior or as current-day Terry as elderly retiree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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