Who's your Boy?!

[Jetlag]

I figure this topic may produce some interesting discussion on this board. It's also a nice change from the usual "Who/what is the greatest xy" topic.

 

What is a boy, you ask? Here's the definition from OSW:

 

 

A BOY is a (generally not very talented) wrestler that didn’t achieve success, where there’s a bit of cringe factor admitting he was one of your favourites. You like/support him more than the average & what he deserved. Like my boy Test, or Heidenreich. He can’t have won a major world title as well (which actually cuts out Garvin, even though the rest of his career was very boy-worthy). The term ‘boy’ is also used in Japanese Dojos (for young trainees) and in general vernacular too (e.g. Will Ferrell’s boy Blue in the film Old School).

 

CRITERIA FOR BEING A BOY:

1. Unsuccessful – No WWE/WWF, WCW/NWA or NJPW world titles.
2. Unpopular – He must not be respected in general or have hope for the future. Think The Ascension.
3. Untalented – There’s a certain cringe factor. You have to be a little ashamed to admit you’re a fan. Heidenreich is the Golden boy, a paragon of Boyness.

 

My boys:

 

- Masayoshi Motegi - I am unsure if he was actually untalented, but given that he more often than not is trying very hard rather than being good, I'd say he qualifies. Guy who has a reputation for dropping out of the J-Cup 1st round in weird matches where he usually fucks something up, pudgy indy wrestler who blades in every match and takes stupid bumps while never achieving any success or recognition at all... Motegi was a boy for life. He still does enough right to keep his matches resembling pro wrestling while always busting his ass, so I love the miserable little bastard.

 

- 90s Ryuma Go - early in his career he was the real deal, so I am restricting this to his 90s crazy man phase. I don't think I've seen him in a good let alone great match yet, but him fighting space aliens, working as a tribute US babyface or shootstylist is more than endearing. A hilarious and tragic character.

 

- James Magnum - has won me over with his matches in Kitao Dojo.

[supremebve]

I hate to admit this, but Disco Inferno was my boy. He's one of the few comedy wrestlers that actually consistently made me laugh. There was a match where he was fighting tooth and nail with Dean Malenko and winning until he'd start dancing and Dean would stretch him half to death. Then there was that time when he was going to debut a new submission, but couldn't remember how to apply it. He pulled a drawing out of his tights and still fucked it up. The pic was just a crude drawing with one leg crossed over the other. He wasn't a great worker, but he was great in his role.

[PeteF3]

Norio Honaga. Basically a serious version of Toru Yano. Didn't look like he had an athletic bone in his body but won three IWGP Junior titles despite far less talent than the usual junior staples, won through a combination of luck and cheating.

[Coffey]

I loved Raven in high school during his WCW run. He's a big reason why I got into ECW too. It's funny because when I watch him now, I think his promos are corny & he's not a very good worker but back in H.S., I would even use the library to print out pictures of him DDTing people. When I got WCW/NWO Revenge for Nintendo 64, Raven was the only person I played for the entire first day. I even, shamefully, dressed-up in Raven attire when I met Disco Inferno at Origins in Columbus, OH. Not my greatest moment. A fat kid in cut off jean shorts with a flannel tied around my waist. Woof.

 

Basically, I was a total mark.

 

Now, Raven was not unsuccessful, nor unpopular, however he didn't ever win a world title (outside of ECW), but my fandom took it to an, ahem, extreme.

 

I believe his in-ring days are over now. Only thing I ever see with his name on it now are shoot interviews and shit like that.

[El-P]

Raven is great.

 

Come on, Honaga was en excellent sleazy heel worker. Loved his stuff with Liger.

 

My boy (Jim Barnett impression here)... would be Sambo Asako. Fat judo guy from the early days of FMW. Took stupid bumps and was doing stuff he really shouldn't do (but I won't spoil anything here), played Onita's understudy of sorts. He sadly slowly died of diabetes years later.

[soup23]

I guess Ian Rotten would apply here. A generally scuzzy worker that is always shit on in pretty much every circle I have seen besides this one and the IWA-MS fans that come and go.

[G. Badger]

This is kinda tough based on the "untalented" qualifier. Maybe misunderstood talent?

 

If so, I'd pick New Jack. Not technically astounding in ring or on the mic but, he was a blast to watch. He'd bring comedy to his matches too...in between hitting people in head with shit. Also having Natural Born Killaz playing the whole time added to his aura as being legitimately dangerous...

 

Another guy would be Jimmy Rave. People seemed to really HATE him in ROH as part of the Embassy but, I think they overlooked his skills. It became Jimmy Rave sucks, throwing TP or whatever rather than- this guys pretty solid and a good chicken shit or crybaby heel as those things weren't appreciated at the time. He and Alex Shelley but, the whole MCMG thing disqualifies him I guess...

[Al]

Most of the 1995 ECW roster. The Blue Meanie and the Public Enemy in particular.

[NintendoLogic]

For me, it was Jinder Mahal before his current push. I thought he had a nice jumping high knee and double underhook suplex.

[ohtani's jacket]

Whenever I think of "boy," I think of Pardon the Interruption so it's hard for me not to think "your boy" sarcastically.

 

I'm gonna choose one randomly:

 

Steve Blackman.

 

Steve Blackman, that's my boy.

[brocklock]

Chuck Palumbo. He had a great punch, a good superkick, and awesome hair.

[joeg]

Stalker Ishikawa.

 

Sandman.

[Laz]

Seconding the Disco Inferno pick. I remember legitimately laughing my ass off when he was part of the Filthy Animals, changed his name to Disqo (like Sisqo, of "Thong Song" infamy), and had the Disco Duck. I was actually hoping he'd get signed by Vince because he was such a solid midcard act.

[The Thread Killer]

I started my career working in prisons.

 

The phrase "Who's your boy?" had a much, much different meaning there.

 

And I second New Jack, but I would also not call him "my boy" for a couple of different reasons. The main one being I don't want to get stabbed in the head.

[SmartMark15]

MY BOYS!

 

Spirit Squad is already a whole boy stable as it is. They were some of the first heels I encountered as a wrestling fan so I can't help but have an attachment to them and their stupid jumping trampoline.

 

Also, Paul Burchill as a pirate is BOY CITY in terms of boyness. Definitely have Burchill in there as well.

[Alucard]

Maven, I marked for him all the way and loved any time he got near the main event scene, and Alex Riley who I wished would have been the breakout star of 2011.

[Hawkeye12]

Not sure if John Tenta or the Barbarian fit the the category since they are pretty respected. Warlord and Ludvig Borga probably do. Had Mark Henry not ended up doing so well in later years, he would've made my list based on his early stuff. Mike Awesome as well! Those are just some off the top of my head.

[SmartMark15]

Maven, I marked for him all the way and loved any time he got near the main event scene, and Alex Riley who I wished would have been the breakout star of 2011.

Alex Riley is quite the boy indeed.

[southofheavy]

Jimmy Rave is a great pick. I remember buying into the whole "Jimmy Rave sucks" thing when I first got into RoH, but after a while, that shifted to "Uhhh, he's actually pretty good."

 

Right now, I gotta go with Oney Lorcan. He's obviously talented and over, but he got over through sheer force of will in NXT. He's an absolute blast to watch. If they didn't have any plans on pushing him or giving him any sort of direction, he's taken what has been given to him and made the most out of it. I'm stoked on his upcoming tag team with Danny Burch. They're gonna give everyone hell.

[cheapshot]

JT Smith. Always worked his butt off and was a goof, but he was a lovable goof.

[cad]

Kato Kung Lee: Panamanian martial arts expert who was neither a brilliant athlete nor a master technician, but none of that mattered because he was always right. I always side with Kato in his matches. Once he lost his mask he had the look of this little grumpy old man who'd seen everything there was to see and didn't have time for any shit from the rudos, even if they hadn't done anything yet. And he was right, because they were rudos, so they were going to do something that merited a backhand from the old man. Someone like Satanico could win a million titles and have the Diablo Velazco seal of approval, but he didn't have a black belt so to Kato he was nothing. Sometimes he'd chokeslam Negro Casas to hell, which was funny to see coming from a tiny guy like Kato. More people should have treated Casas that way.

 

El Supremo: Immobile bodybuilder type who the EMLL inexplicably used as a base for flashy young tecnicos in the early 1990s. It shouldn't have worked but he was actually okay at it. Luchawiki lists him as nearly 50 for that part of his career, but there's no way that's right. Got one of the most transparent bumps up to main event level ever in the last few months of 1992 so he could drop his mask to Pierroth. That was a fun feud, even if it was mostly on the back of Pierroth (Supremo was a better base than a brawler), and it probably would have been more fun if it weren't a sign of how bad things had become for the company in such a short amount of time. Supremo pretty much had three moves, the punch, the knee, and the suplex. Virtually disappeared after losing the mask, but not before growing a mustache and looking a bit like a movie star from the 1950s. He was popular enough to inspire an unrelated wrestler to take on the name of Supremo II. All three masks he won in his career are pretty cool: Robot R-2 and Lawrence de Arabia, because those are amazing gimmicks, and Guerrero Azteca because that match somehow ended up on Youtube, and if nothing else it's a pretty cool ringside look at a fairly big mask vs mask match from the 1980s outside of the typical venues.

[peachchaos]

Duke "The Dumpster" Drose was universally panned as a terrible gimmick, and rightfully so, but I thought the guy working the role held his own in the ring. I recall him looking good out there with Hunter among some others, but it was obvious from the getgo that the character was a flop. Part of me really really wishes he had a comeback during the Attitude Era so he could've smashed some trash cans in the Hardcore Division. Ahh, what could have been!

[ButchReedMark]

Jim Powers. From 1990-1992 I'd have taken him over Hogan if you were sick enough to put a gun to my five year old head. After that, Gene Snitsky. In 2004 and 2005 he was fucking hilarious.

[Matt D]

I'm still iffy on this. For instance, I'll do serious work at some point to prove that John Studd is hugely underrated as a stooging, heat-seeking heel due to the critical over emphasis on workrate and execution (two areas where he doesn't excel). That doesn't mean he's one of my favorites. It just means that I think he should be ranked as middle of the pack overall (and very good at certain elements) instead of one of the worst ever.

 

This, on the other hand, seems more like personal favorites where you look past their flaws for various reasons.

 

I could say Sandow because I watched him coming up in MA indies and was hugely entertained by him back in 2000 or so.

 

I think more accurate would be 2010s Rey Bucanero, who I gained a personal connection for when I was watching a lot of 2006 CMLL to really figure out week to week lucha, and then later went back and watched a lot of the earlier GdI tags. He's obviously lost a step but I still enjoy it when he tries to go in a big singles match or when he's paired with interesting opponents. He's got a lot of personality in the ring without some of the failings of Ultimo Guerrero (Structurally, though he makes up for it in presence) or Mr. Niebla (TOO much clowning and too much booze). He worked up to Hechicero's level this year, for instance, but he's better as a role player in a trios match.

[Dylan Waco]

Rufus R. Jones in Puerto Rico. Huge fan of the look, the sass and the double punch. I also love the Fred Sanfordish selling techniques he would employ It doesn't hurt that he is a legit cultural legend among a lot of people in my old neighborhood in Charleston.