Squared Circle Gazette Radio #53 - The Luckiest and Unluckiest Wrestlers Ever

[JaymeFuture]

After taking feedback and nominations from multiple forums, our panel returns this week to talk the luckiest and unluckiest wrestlers in the history of the business, discussing the careers of the likes of Kevin Nash, Daniel Bryan, Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, Ahmed Johnson, Mr. Kennedy, Sid, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Lex Luger, Steve Austin, Brian Pillman, Ted DiBiase, Brutus Beefcake, Jake Roberts, and yes, Triple H, as well as many, many more. A really fun show this week as break down the chance elements that led many to their destinations, check it out and let us know what you think.

 

http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/mf/play/peru2y/SCGRadio53-TheLuckiestandUnluckiestWrestlersEver.mp3

 

And we have our next Trial episode coming next week...

[SomethingSavage]

There's a wide range of talking points and plenty of variety in the names listed there. Can't wait to dive into the episode and get the gang's thoughts.

 

Daniel Bryan feels like an ongoing story, but the sheer magnitude of missed opportunity and bad timing for his misfortunes has to rank really high on the list for unluckiest.

Although Bret's career is another one of the biggest tragedies to me. I was a huge Hitman fan back in the day, and it's just a real shame that his career came to such an abrupt end - especially with the landscape of the company he was in during that time. It just felt so lackluster - like the guy deserved so much more. Even his WWE comeback felt so half-assed and weak. Never did feel like the proper payoff. And what's worse is that, considering Bret's style, he really should have been able to outlast the end of WCW and eventually find his way back to the Fed for a few final dream matches - whether it be with Kurt Angle, post-2002 returned HBK, Jericho, Hunter, Brock circa 2003, or whoever. The WCW run and errant kick from Goldberg isn't the same long "laundry list" of bad luck Bryan seemed to endure recently, but it could be just as monumental in terms of derailing a lot of future business.

 

DiBiase is a strange case, in that I feel he's both extremely lucky and, simultaneously, somewhat unlucky. It's a shame that he was pigeonholed into the Million Dollar Man shtick, basically sacrificing any sense of his prior identity or great in-ring attributes for a pretty lackluster in-ring track record after his crossover into the Fed. That being said, Ted's still reaping the rewards of that gimmick to this day. It set him for life. To his credit, he tackled the act and fully embraced it - but plenty of guys would've killed for the chance.

 

Nash is a politician and a power broker, through & through. He's money hungry and not ashamed of it. I think he's a case of just being far more cut-throat and conniving when it comes to that stuff. The stories he and Hall tell about how they renegotiated their contracts - TWICE - with WCW just goes to show that he was the ultimate opportunist. I know it's not a popular opinion, but it's hard to fault a guy for getting paid while he can. Lot less to do with luck than intellectual strategy at the end of the day, I'd say.

 

Not sure that Ahmed was unlucky - just really sloppy & stacked with poor instincts as a worker. Always dug him as the ultra intense powerhouse with a MAJOR sense of urgency & an aura - sort of like a more explosive Sid at the time. But Sid had stronger presence and safer habits. Ahmed was kind of doomed from the start if he wasn't going to slow down, get some seasoning, find a safer pacing, and apply those practices to his working style.

 

Kennedy is an interesting conversation piece. The guy seemed to be primed as a pet project for the Fed for at least two years, and then they just went ice cold on him. I know there are various stories out there, depending on who you ask, but yeah. Looking forward to hearing your guys' takes on him.

 

I feel like Triple H, Beefer, Jake, and Pillman have all been covered in depth elsewhere - so hopefully more time is given to some of the other cases, although I can absolutely understand why all these guys would come up in the conversation. Should be another stellar show.

[JaymeFuture]

Yeah, we tried to not focus on the Pillman case as much since we've talked it before, and Beefcake and HHH were funny asides as much as anything. I agree with you on the Nash case - Kieran said it best on the show I think, that being a chancer and a hustler is part of Nash's skill set. I do think he and Hall had fantastic luck with their WWF contracts ending when they did - six months into a television war that was impossible to envision one year prior, and immediately made them more valuable commodities than they might have been had the war never happened. Wonder what kind of offer they would have got to jump prior to the head to head conflict turning up the heat.

 

Bret's case is undeniably horrible. I'm currently prepping a future Monday Night War timeline show for Q3 of 1997, and it's astounding how that quarter starts with the Canadian Stampede, the absolute peak of that feud, and ends with Vince basically telling him to go to WCW. Thing that makes me feel he was unluckier than most is that he had bad luck in completely unconnected areas (career tailspin and devalued, family tragedy, injury), it wasn't even as if one thing caused a domino effect like you see in a case like Ahmed, where his sloppyness in taking care of himself and others forced a steep decline.