Wrestlers who were too soon or too late

[southofheavy]

I'm glad someone said Dean Ambrose. I've thought that for a long time. He's totally in the wrong era. He should either be in ECW or the territories, bleeding and punching and being a complete, utter maniac. Instead, he's gotta actually wrestle and do moves beyond piledrivers and throwing fireballs. They've got him doing that dive that takes him a month to run across the ring for and it's long enough to realize that there isn't really much about WWE or modern wrestling in general that plays to his strengths.

[Al]

Dean Malenko was a top cruiserweight heel at the same time Rey Misterio Jr. emerged nationally. I can't imagine him ever being in a more opportune spot.

[SomethingSavage]

Wasn't Malenko ranked #1 in the PWI 500 back in '97 or so?

Yeah. The guy absolutely benefited from being in that particular time period. I realize the PWI rankings where wonky as shit some years, but it's still a solid indicator of how big a deal he was becoming in the eyes of "workrate" marks during that time.

 

I never got the sense that he was underappreciated or "held down" by the cruiserweight division either. The guy thrived in that setting. The commentators did an excellent job of pimping his skills, and the crowd almost always reacted accordingly. Whenever he was placed in a position to draw a reaction, the fans gave it to him. Seemed like a genuine sense of respect.

Today, there's a sea of similar guys doing the "technical wizard" shtick. Malenko felt ahead of the curve and was very much a darling of that era.

[Bierschwale]

Ambrose is mischaracterized as an ECW or off-brand Lawler type because of the role that he's been in for so long now. At his best, he's a worker in the TV title-division vein, with promos to match.

[joeg]

I always thought Shelton Benjamin would have been a main eventer or a world champion at some place and time being booked by Bill Watts.

 

Lightning Kid/XPac is one I thought who came way too early. He was 5'11", skinny and really fucking good. Now there are just in his spot on the card who are 5'11" skinny and mediocre.

 

Same thing with Brian Kendrick. Kendrick when he came into WWE had better skills than anybody on their roster, and now in his 4th run with the company 15 years later that still seems to be the case.

[El Dragon]

Maybe it feels off saying this about a guy who will probably be winning the WWE Title tomorrow, but Bray Wyatt working as a steady top heel in a territory always felt like a perfect mesh to me. He could even "Abduct" departing babyfaces to explain why they were not gonna be around. Or, even better, he'd be the worlds best Raven in ECW, pushing his stuff up a notch and having bloody brawls.

 

I think Bray and Ambrose, more then anything, got screwed over living in a world were brawling isn't really a thing that is done well anymore due to lack of blood and companies not wanting to be viewed as "not kid friendly"

[El Dragon]

I always thought Shelton Benjamin would have been a main eventer or a world champion at some place and time being booked by Bill Watts.

 

Lightning Kid/XPac is one I thought who came way too early. He was 5'11", skinny and really fucking good. Now there are just in his spot on the card who are 5'11" skinny and mediocre.

 

Same thing with Brian Kendrick. Kendrick when he came into WWE had better skills than anybody on their roster, and now in his 4th run with the company 15 years later that still seems to be the case.

 

I mean this with no offense to Kendrick, but that argument holds up better for Paul London, who was an even better Kendrick at the time. Kendrick right now is probably the best he's ever been. Also, let's be real here, Kendrick in 2002 had "better skills than anybody on the roster"? The same SD roster that had Eddie, Lesnar, Benoit, & Rey?

[joeg]

Point taken... but I'm doubling down. I think Kendrick was almost as good as Danielson, always have. I think he was probably the second best out of that whole group of early 2000s indie guys. Kendrick in his first run in 04 was it? When people went to Benoit with questions about things, Benoit would have Kendrick show them.