Slim J

[Dylan Waco]

Discuss Here.

[Jingus]

Slim was a spectacularly talented cruiserweight a dozen years ago, but I haven't seen much of his stuff in a long time. Any Youtube recommendations for post-Wildside-era matches?

[Dylan Waco]

It's sad how someone can make something of a name for themselves as an outstanding flyer and innovative cruiserweight, come back home to their region and improve as a wrestler, and become a complete after thought to most fans as a result. That said, that's pretty much what happened with Slim J.

 

To be fair some will prefer his early run and who could blame them. While he's almost never talked about in the same breathe as people like Amazing Red or Jack Evans he should be. For the flashy, exciting, and unique spotfest workers of the era he was right there with them as illustrated in this match with Red

 

 

or this brief reel where he does possibly the crazy sequence of spots I've ever seen to a seemingly terrified Sal Rinauro.

 

 

What's crazy is that Slim J - who was regarded highly among fans of that style at the time - was almost erased from history when he went back to Georgia and dropped out of the big time limelight. Unlike a guy like Jimmy Rave, or even Tank, who worked elsewhere and are part of the wrestling memory of the places they worked outside of the South, Slim J is a guy who I NEVER hear mentioned when people talk about the early indie boom of nutty high flyers and crazy flippy dudes who were desperate to catch a break.

 

That's bad enough in my eyes, but what makes it worse is the fact that he actually became a much more well rounded worker when he came back home. Yes you could still count on him for some crazy spots, and yes some of them were a little bit too goofy for their own good. That said he became a guy who could really sell, had great timing, new when to pick his spots, and could work the mat with the best of them. His matches v. Shaun Tempers and Fred Yehi in recent years were excellent, with the Yehi series in particular being among the best things in wrestling last year (technically it started at the end of 2014).

 

I have no clue if he's really working anymore, as he rarely worked outside of Anarchy in recent years and they closed up. I know he took some dates late last year, but his days as a regular performer are probably over. That said, I think his stellar running in Cornelia, and his status as one of the most exciting flyers of his era, make him someone worth at least considering.

[Jingus]

For what it's worth, Cagematch says he's worked at least a couple matches last month for the WWW group that is running the old Anarchy building.

 

Slim got a shot or two on TNA back when they were using half the Wildside roster in their early days, but I recall he somehow managed to piss off the management in a hurry. He was grabbing his dick on TV as part of his "douchebag white-bro rapper" gimmick, and apparently that peeved Jerry Jarrett something fierce. Might've pissed off Russo as well through some kind of backstage behavior, although I may be conflating some memories of the Lost Boys not even trying to ingratiate themselves with Vinny Roo back then.

 

a seemingly terrified Sal Rinauro.

Having gotten to know Sal pretty well at the time, I'm fairly confident in saying there's no "seemingly" about it. Sal never had the same level of insane agility as a lot of the best Wildside cruiserweights, and he was kinda self-conscious about how a guy as small as him was expected to do a lot of flippy bullshit. That often led to him reluctantly trying to do some fucking crazy spots which he probably shouldn't have attempted due to their sheer level of difficulty for a guy who was never the springiest gymnast on the trampoline. He was one of those poor bastards who'd wind up slowly limping around the locker room in wince-inducing visible pain after his match, more often than not.

[Phil Schneider]

He is a big mover for me, now we have seen the 2006 Anarchy War Games match which is one of the great babyface War Games performance ever, plus the YARD CALL and Dog Collar matches with Corey Hollis, he comes off like one of the great brawlers of the 2000s, along with the Fred Yehi series which showed off his technical wrestling, and I can't imagine him not making my list.

[Quentin]

Yeah, between being one of the most unique and innovative high flying guys of the boom, developing in to a really strong worker on the mat and then the great violent babyface moments that Phil mentioned, Slim has a shot for me. I would also mention the 2007 cage match with Patrick Bentley, I think that’s actually better than his war games performance. He’s fun in 2002 as a spot guy and was having legitimately great matches as recently as 2019. Slim has never failed in the “random match theory” of throwing on random matches of his and seeing how they impress me. A dude that honestly just got robbed, there’s no other way to put it. 

[soup23]

Interesting candidate that I like but really need to invest into. 

[Phil Schneider]

3 hours ago, Quentin said:

Yeah, between being one of the most unique and innovative high flying guys of the boom, developing in to a really strong worker on the mat and then the great violent babyface moments that Phil mentioned, Slim has a shot for me. I would also mention the 2007 cage match with Patrick Bentley, I think that’s actually better than his war games performance. He’s fun in 2002 as a spot guy and was having legitimately great matches as recently as 2019. Slim has never failed in the “random match theory” of throwing on random matches of his and seeing how they impress me. A dude that honestly just got robbed, there’s no other way to put it. 

That Bentley match is really good, we reviewed it here

 

https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2018/12/slim-j-is-brain-dead-like-jim-brady.html