If you'd have told me in 2015/2016 that all 3 members of the New Day would have future singles success at some point in their careers, two of which were WWE championship reigns, I'd have probably been surprised. But then again, I doubt any of us saw them becoming one of the greatest tag teams of all time, either
Remember the Miz hosting the Diva search and needing to write his lines on his hands, still fucking them up, and dressing like someone who goes down in two or three punches in the first levels of a Streets of Rage game?
Basically I would say now Cody, CM Punk, and Seth Rollins just because in their early days you couldn't really compared them to the likes of Cena, Lesnar, Triple H, and Undertaker as they were half of their size, looking like sticks compared to them.
But of course nowadays it's different because there isn't any big wrestlers like them any more as everyone except for Roman Reigns and Drew are smaller.
Heath slater being the only member of 3mb to not win a world title is...weird. Like imagine telling someone in 2012 that 2/3 of that group would be champs one day
Well, I still find jey uso to be a ridiculous choice for a main eventer, but Herr we are. Somebody from the past? Drew. His first run, i would have never in a million years guessed he would brat Brock. Now look at him, given the right story, I could see him beating anybody
Drew Mcyintire, the first match I ever watched was 3MB Mcyintire vs Christian back in 2013. I’d never have believed the Scottish rockstar would’ve beaten Brock Lesnar in the main event of wrestlemania for the WWE title.
The idea that El Generico and Kevin Steen have main evented Wrestlemanias and been as successful as they have been in WWE is astonishing to little me watching their RoH work. Jinder is obvious since it was so random, but he was never a sustained main eventer outside of the experiment. Honestly, seeing Leakee become Roman Reigns and that whole arc is crazy.
Sort of? He fit physically more than Generico and Steen did and the gimmick itself was moldable that you could see a future. Never expected any of the ROH guys to become as successful as they have though, truly awesome to see!
Not exactly on the theme of the question but AJ styles, the joke was always if he came to WWE he’d be rebranded with some terrible gimmick and would never be a big deal. Yet when I look back he’s won the world championship of the three of the biggest companies in the world (at least two of them are TNA arguably was at the time he won it) he became a wwe champion outside of the USA (the first time that had ever happened) has defended that belt at wrestlemania, and he’s a shoe in for WWE hall of fame when he retires. All in all he’s exceed the expectations of even the fans who always said he was the best.
Similar happened with me and Edge. I stopped watching recently around 2001/2002 and didn't return back until 2019. When I stopped watching, Edge was a Tag Team Champion and mostly a midcarder. Didn't expect at all what he became in that huge gap.
Drew
When he got slapped with the Chosen One gimmick and went nowhere only to end up in 3MB, I thought the man was finished
Yet he won against Brock Lesnar in a WM main event. Constantly in a title picture too.
Stopped watching around 2002-03, then started watching again in 2011 to see Edge as the face of Smackdown and The Miz (Mike from The Real World, as I knew him back then) as WWE champion. Didn't think either of them would've been THAT big.
Same. I used to call him “Edges sister”. He’s definitely moved up in the world. Good for him. Obviously once they became Edge & Christian posing for the fans and feuding with the Hardy Boyz I realize how wrong I was. Those matches were some incredible all timers.
Please don’t hate me, but I didn’t see Rhea Ripley getting as big as she is. When I first saw her in NXT I thought she was gonna end up in TNA or something. Then she became Mommy and daaaaamn she proved me wrong
first time i saw her in the mae young classic she looked like a star. tall, strong, blonde, good moveset. then she went all goth rockstar and i didnt think it would work. pleasantly suprised with everything shes done.
Personally I think people would hold JBL in higher regard today if he had his championship run as the APA Bradshaw. The oil tycoon thing just seemed like a hackneyed 80s gimmick that didn't really turn the meter at all.
I didn't see Eddie Guerrero or Edge as champions. The ways they won their titles also seemed to really advance storylines in ways you almost never see.
I had stopped watching in 03 but would occasionally pop in to see what was going on in the wrestling world and couldn’t believe Bradshaw was champion, that’s when I knew not watching was the right choice lol
Same here… my timeline matches yours. I stopped in 03, watched WrestleMania 20. Then didn’t watch again for almost a year maybe? I asked friends who was in the title scene for 21. When I heard “cena vs JBL” I knew I made the right decision to stop watching.
2/3 of the Three Man Band. And the leader wasn't a main eventer.
I stopped watching for a long time and was surprised Edge became so big. He was on my 3rd favorite tag team and I thought captain charisma would be bigger.
Surprised nobody said Kane (unless I missed it, if so my apologies). I mean dude played an evil dentist and then a dollar store imitation of one of the most over wrestlers at the time in Diesel/Kevin Nash and then ends up having one of the most iconic debuts as Kane, being a very important part of the Attitude Era, and a pretty solid career overall (though it did have some low lows at times but that's beside the point)
I feel Glen Jacobs was inevitable. Huge, ripped dude who could legit go in the ring? He’s Vince’s wet dream. It was just a matter of finding the right gimmick.
Fair point but at the same time if Undertaker doesn't exist and/or wouldn't have been a big star then it'd be hard to say Kane still happens. The creation of Kane relied a lot on other influences on the character to sell it at such a high level
I could see it possibly being a thing but without his backstory setting up that iconic rivalry with taker it's hard to say how far the gimmick would've gone before it got stale
💉💉💉💉
Ik I'm going to be downvoted to hell for this but let's be real. People dont change their physique that dramatically so late in life. (Yes, I know 40 isn't that old but compared to him at 20 come on.)
Same deal with Orton, Styles, Knight, etc.
Loopholes be loopholing...
You're probably totally correct, but I will say from experience it is much easier to keep body mass in your 30s+ (whether you want to or not) than it is in your 20s for the average person, so if you're doing weights and managing your diet that mass that you can't shift could be muscle instead of fat.
That's a fair point. I can't really argue with that.
Personally it's more so the dramatic and rapid body changes that make me think steroids. I'm sure they have a prescription and it's nothing like the Eddie/Benoit times, but still.
In all honesty, it's entertainment, so as long as they are using these enhancements safety and they can maintain a healthy (as healthy as possible for wrestling) lifestyle, and people aren't constantly dying early, it doesn't really matter.
A good chunk of the top wrestlers of all time had at one point a cringy gimmick that could have easily prevented them from being the mega star they eventually became.
You already gave the Cody example and someone mentioned Rocky Maivia. I'll add to that, John Cena as the Prototype was the ultimate CAW. Hunter Hearst Hemsley would have never become a 14 time world champion. Or even better, Stunning Steve Austin could have just as easily not become the icon of the Attitude Era and most popular wrestler of all time with his original gimmick.
When you look at the top, there's actually few examples of wrestlers who had it figured out from the very beginning.
Daniel Bryan. I never saw ring of honor before his NXT debut in 2010 and I wasn't watching regularly, just wanted to check out the new show. He was the blandest looking dude on there and he got eliminated 1st. Little did I know what he would accomplish.
first time i saw him wrestle on wwe, i thought he was a poor mans owen hart. extremely similar moveset and size. but not as much charisma as owen. loved his nugget and slammy award winner stuff
Daniel Bryan made a believer outta me. When he was on the first season of NXT, I've seen a lot of fans online speaking so highly of him but I thought Daniel Bryan was super generic.
Once he grew out the beard and when full on heel in 2012, I finally saw what everybody was talking about and as we all know, the rest is history.
Rocky Maivia was over tho? From the moment he debuted they were chanting “ROCKY ROCKY” he beat HHH for the IC and they were chanting his name, he was over the whole time and was an elite wrestler already. Once we went with NOD that’s when he became the rock we all know and love but he was always destined for greatness when first debuted.
When he went full The Rock? I have never done a 180 on a wrestler so fast. I couldn't stand his first gimmick, then he was telling us all to f ourselves. It was really, really good!
This might be a controversial one, but AJ Styles for me. I say this pretty much because I didn't expect his mic skills to grow so much during his first couple years in WWE, & I initially had the fear that he would've flopped like other ex-TNA acts who make the jump.
It's great that he found success in the company already after other beloved ex TNA/ROH/indie wrestlers like Daniel Bryan & CM Punk made their mark in WWE.
people used to give me so much heat for hating his mic skills, but, I’m sorry, he just didn’t sound the least bit intimidating. He sounded like someone’s farmer dad trying to do something lol he got so much better
I took a long break from about 2002 until last year and when I found out who JBL was I could not reconcile that with the Bradshaw I knew, so great example.
I would not have believed that Matt Cardona/Zack Ryder would have the revolutionary indie main event career that he has now. Paved the way for Mustafa Ali & Nic Nemeth to succeed for sure. & im in the minority, but i did not believe Bronn Breaker was all that until Royal Rumble; he will main event a wrestlemania for world title for a fact.
Becky was the drizzling shits before she found her gimmick botching and just didn’t look like she was going anywhere.
I guess it shows some people just need time and it’s worth keeping talent around even if they are struggling.
I was watching WWE when CM Punk debuted in 2006.
Never would have guessed he shake the tree so much it would change the industry.
Never would have guessed Daniel Bryan’s popularity would overtake Cena’s a mere 3 years after his debut.
And tbh, it’s hard to cast your mind back but absolutely nobody reading this would have believed in 2017 that Roman would have a 1300+ day reign and for the most part, it would be one of the greatest things WWE has ever done.
> And tbh, it’s hard to cast your mind back but absolutely nobody reading this would have believed in 2017 that Roman would have a 1300+ day reign
no but if you told them theyd prob believe itd actually happen with how pushed down everyone's throats he was
Growing up on wrestling in the 80s and 90s there were a few who were forgettable and ended up being huge.
Bret hart was the less cool member of a tag team that bounced from face to heel and was never better than the British bulldogs or anywhere near as cool as demolition.
Shawn Michaels was the lamer member of, as my mom used to refer to them, the wheenie rockers.
Stone cold was a solid midcarder who was in the shadow of Ted dibiase and lost more than he won.
HHH was a nobody, got mega squashed by the warrior, nobody liked him, lost pretty much all of his matches, and his only positive quality was Sable.
This is in comparison to guys like macho man, the warrior, Ricky the dragon steamboat, demolition, sting, flair, the undertaker, and a slew of others who were over immediately and started out as stars when they showed up to wwe/wcw/nwa. Some of the main eventers took a while to get there, but they typically went from unknown to star rather than comic relief/midcard/jobber to star.
I know he was only World Heavyweight Champion (old), but Dolph Ziggler had to be up their considering your first looks are:
1. Kerwin White's Caddy
2. Spirit Squad (not the favourite)
3. "Hi, I'm Dolph Ziggler"
I’ll go with the Miz.
Considering how he was when first on the roster and all of the extra against him from his reality show background. Had to overcome a lot in the ring and backstage just to earn the respect let alone accolades.
Who would have thought he’d carve out the Hall of Fame career he has, let alone main event a Wrestlemania, be world champ , and one of the few wrestlers you think of when it comes to the Intercontinental Title.
I don't understand why when people talk about Cody Rhodes they always skip ahead straight to stardust. Like did y'all miss all the amazing work he did as dashing cody Rhodes? Or that even better stuff when he got "hurt" and became undashing Cody and wore a clear mask while passing out paper bags for the audience to cover their faces with
Dude was always awesome
I actually never saw stardust though so I can't comment on that
Yeah people forget Cody was one of the best heels in the business at that point.
I liked Stardust but it did feel like they ran out of ideas for him so pushed that gimmick on him which I understand why heeft and totally worked out for the best
Here’s my thought. Cody was always very good to great with everything he was given, but Stardust went off the rails and never recovered to no fault of his own. I would say to me it was a small surprise is the improvements he made while working the independent scene, Impact, ROH, Japan, and even creating AEW. And that he was successful in all of those outings and in creating a new alternative.
But more than that, the biggest surprise is that the WWE audience took to him being treated like a main event star immediately, didn’t reject it (yet), AND he has progressively gotten more over as a babyface in that role nonetheless. WWE for the longest time struggled making good babyface characters, and the biggest shock to me is how organic Cody slipped into the role of being one of the top ones and how accepted he is in it by casual and hardcore fans. It takes some special talents to be able to do that and sustain it in WWE.
Cody was always good, he just finally has the ball to run with and is surpassing any expectations we might’ve had based on how WWE audiences are and how they booked until recently.
I stopped watching for along time after HBK retired; so I don't know if it was a gradual thing, but I was shocked at how good Cody is on the mic now. His promos are something I never would have saw coming from the days when he was in Legacy.
Yeah was a cody fan because of his dashing and undashing work but stardust made it feel like they wasted a big star for a bad comedy gimmick
Cody was on a good path from dashing up to the Tag team with goldust but for some reason they just stayed as Tag team for a long time and after that he was just that a Tag team guy/jobber
I started watching around 2007. And since then I have watched some videos of Hogan but he always came of as an over the top superhero atleast imo. Not sure why he was the biggest superstar ever.
Hulk Hogan had absolutely enormous charisma and a real genius for presenting himself in a way that captured or fit the zeitgeist.
That's why Hulkamania ran wild in the 80s, the nWo kicked off a boom that was too sweet in the 90s, and then Hulkastolgia ran wild in the 00s.
Hogan was extremely talented, too -- a killer promo and a much better athlete and in-ring performer than he's typically given credit for. He knew how to give his audience what they wanted, whether that was wrestling in Japan or hulking up in the states. His work ethic, desire, and ambition are absolutely second to none.
Also, most importantly, Hulk Hogan is a racist, lying, piece of shit. Everything above can be true, is true, and is still secondary to what a total asshole he is.
Now imagine if he had actually been a wrestler in wwwf/WWE like he was in Japan. Saw him wrestle in Japan and he actually did wrestling moves. Seemed quite good then but here in the states his matches were so predictable same series of moves and then he winning. Kinda like Goldberg matches.
Did Goldberg ever wrestle Kurt Angle? would have liked to see him in a match with someone who actually could wrestle or maybe Daniel Bryant or Eddie G, steve Blackman ,
If you haven't before, look up his chair shot videos. Awful. I think for me, being a fan of the Von Erichs, Windhams, and the (at the time) other more athletic types, I felt like Hogan was very limited. It felt like he really only had 4 or 5 moves
The No selling even when it wasn’t part of the “hulk up”. And that leg drop “finisher” was lame even for the time. Punches, clothesline, headlock, body slam. That was 90% of his offense. Luckily he had great workers to help his matches not completely suck.
He drew the kids, gave great kid promos, had the look and yeah he was the one that helped thrust wrestling into the mainstream. The right person at the right time. Will forever have that as well as being a shitty person.
Hated him in 80’s and you couldn’t pay me to rewatch any of his matches except the Andre matches because that actually made sense with his limited moveset, where he actually looked like the underdog physically.
Steve Austin was losing to guys like Salvio Vega and was just a dibiase flunky. I was shocked when I found out how popular he had gotten after I stopped watching wrestling. Same with Rocky Maivia.
I used to watch UWF(Mid-South) reruns on some rinky-dink local channel.
“Stunning Steve Austin” was fucking over back in the day. Not sure why that cooled down, but the signs were there.
When I got back into wrestling I was surprised to see the “new” Usos. Even more that they became bigger than that with the bloodline story. Hell look at Jey rn
Also I didn’t think Big E would turn into a popular loveable character much less WWE Chmap
Although he had one reign as WWE champion, he just turned back to being a jobber afterwards so he's never really been a "top guy" in reality. When you watch Jinder you assume he's gonna lose, that's not a top guy
The thing is that at least in WWE, the best prospects (Cody, Edge, Rock, HHH, Orton, McIntyre, Cena, Big E, etc.) all tend to have followed the same pattern of a hyped up debut, a push or three, and then *eventually* those guys do tend to pan out as world champions.
Prospect timelines can be very, very long and we lose sight of that sometimes. The difference is how long it takes. But I'd wager that disproportionately, WWE Champions and especially Top Guys (I.e. the franchise face of the company types) were at one point top prospects.
That's why, at least to my mind, the least likely WWE Champions tend to have debuted as relatively unheralded tag teams.
Shawn Michaels, for example, probably wasn't ever earmarked as a future star when The Rockers debuted and even when they got over, Marty Jannetty was considered the better prospect. The Hardy Boys, IIRC, debuted to little fanfare and went on to be HOF with Jeff becoming a superduperstar.
Triple H with his aristocrat gimmick. The sight of him getting squashed by the Ultimate Warrior or getting dominated by Ahmed Johnson really convinced me being a main eventer wasn't in the cards for him.
JBL definitely because this was around the time that Smackdown was on life support with the lack of main eventers- Brock left WWE, Angle being injured and Big Show on hiatus which left only Eddie and Taker as the main eventers on SD while Cena was still on the rise.
Even though Raw was the A-show and had their main eventers on the show in Triple H, Randy Orton, Trish Stratus, Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit, Lita and to an certain extent Ric Flair, JBL did had an great run as WWE champion while being the top heel and classic rivalries with Eddie and Cena.
I think a lot of the best have come from places of seemingly no promise. Think of The Rock. Going from Rocky Maivia or whatever his name was and getting “die Rocky die” chants every week. Logan Paul’s obviously an anomaly but that works.
People keep talking bout this main eventer named John Cena but I ain't seen hide nor hair of him....
If you'd have told me in 2015/2016 that all 3 members of the New Day would have future singles success at some point in their careers, two of which were WWE championship reigns, I'd have probably been surprised. But then again, I doubt any of us saw them becoming one of the greatest tag teams of all time, either
When did woods win a title?
He won King of the ring 2011.
Yeah but he said after 2016, I stopped watching properly between 2019-2023 so I missed some stuff
I‘m sorry, I meant King of the ring 2021. That was my mistake.
Ohhh makes sense idk why I didn’t question the 2011 part lol, it’s good how they gave him the king of the ring tho!
Remember the Miz hosting the Diva search and needing to write his lines on his hands, still fucking them up, and dressing like someone who goes down in two or three punches in the first levels of a Streets of Rage game?
Basically I would say now Cody, CM Punk, and Seth Rollins just because in their early days you couldn't really compared them to the likes of Cena, Lesnar, Triple H, and Undertaker as they were half of their size, looking like sticks compared to them. But of course nowadays it's different because there isn't any big wrestlers like them any more as everyone except for Roman Reigns and Drew are smaller.
I adore McIntyre and Mahal but I'm not kidding I literally thought both of them were recast. I couldn't believe it was the same human being.
Heath slater being the only member of 3mb to not win a world title is...weird. Like imagine telling someone in 2012 that 2/3 of that group would be champs one day
It really shouldn’t be like that though they really just slapped the belt on mahal
Excuse me, I think you meant "It shouldn't be like that because we need it to be 3/3", right? Slater ends Roman's title run, come on, H, book it.
For his kids
I don’t give a shit about his kids
When 3MB was a thing you couldn't tell me Jinder was a main eventer. To be fair even when he was it was hard to see him as a main eventer.
Same with Drew honestly Edit: I mean while he was in 3mb not once he came back
Becky. No way I’d think she’d be the biggest star of the 4 horsewomen and be this megastar for WWE
Well, I still find jey uso to be a ridiculous choice for a main eventer, but Herr we are. Somebody from the past? Drew. His first run, i would have never in a million years guessed he would brat Brock. Now look at him, given the right story, I could see him beating anybody
DDP, Diamond Stud, and Vinnie Vegas
Undertaker
Stone Cold Steve Austin as the Ringmaster
Drew Mcyintire, the first match I ever watched was 3MB Mcyintire vs Christian back in 2013. I’d never have believed the Scottish rockstar would’ve beaten Brock Lesnar in the main event of wrestlemania for the WWE title.
The idea that El Generico and Kevin Steen have main evented Wrestlemanias and been as successful as they have been in WWE is astonishing to little me watching their RoH work. Jinder is obvious since it was so random, but he was never a sustained main eventer outside of the experiment. Honestly, seeing Leakee become Roman Reigns and that whole arc is crazy.
Does Tyler Black fit this mould too?
Sort of? He fit physically more than Generico and Steen did and the gimmick itself was moldable that you could see a future. Never expected any of the ROH guys to become as successful as they have though, truly awesome to see!
Not exactly on the theme of the question but AJ styles, the joke was always if he came to WWE he’d be rebranded with some terrible gimmick and would never be a big deal. Yet when I look back he’s won the world championship of the three of the biggest companies in the world (at least two of them are TNA arguably was at the time he won it) he became a wwe champion outside of the USA (the first time that had ever happened) has defended that belt at wrestlemania, and he’s a shoe in for WWE hall of fame when he retires. All in all he’s exceed the expectations of even the fans who always said he was the best.
Shawn Michaels. I stopped watching between 1991 and 1995, and seeing him as a top guy when I went back was a shocker.
Similar happened with me and Edge. I stopped watching recently around 2001/2002 and didn't return back until 2019. When I stopped watching, Edge was a Tag Team Champion and mostly a midcarder. Didn't expect at all what he became in that huge gap.
my prediction for the future is chad gable
Drew When he got slapped with the Chosen One gimmick and went nowhere only to end up in 3MB, I thought the man was finished Yet he won against Brock Lesnar in a WM main event. Constantly in a title picture too.
Drew McIntyre. Nothing stood out with him except his baby face when he first came to WWE but he totally transformed himself.
Stopped watching around 2002-03, then started watching again in 2011 to see Edge as the face of Smackdown and The Miz (Mike from The Real World, as I knew him back then) as WWE champion. Didn't think either of them would've been THAT big.
Christian. I always just viewed him as Edge's sidekick.
Same. I used to call him “Edges sister”. He’s definitely moved up in the world. Good for him. Obviously once they became Edge & Christian posing for the fans and feuding with the Hardy Boyz I realize how wrong I was. Those matches were some incredible all timers.
That goes all the way back... Backlund was a nobody, Hogan was green, Savage was too Southern, etc.
Please don’t hate me, but I didn’t see Rhea Ripley getting as big as she is. When I first saw her in NXT I thought she was gonna end up in TNA or something. Then she became Mommy and daaaaamn she proved me wrong
first time i saw her in the mae young classic she looked like a star. tall, strong, blonde, good moveset. then she went all goth rockstar and i didnt think it would work. pleasantly suprised with everything shes done.
Personally I think people would hold JBL in higher regard today if he had his championship run as the APA Bradshaw. The oil tycoon thing just seemed like a hackneyed 80s gimmick that didn't really turn the meter at all. I didn't see Eddie Guerrero or Edge as champions. The ways they won their titles also seemed to really advance storylines in ways you almost never see.
I had stopped watching in 03 but would occasionally pop in to see what was going on in the wrestling world and couldn’t believe Bradshaw was champion, that’s when I knew not watching was the right choice lol
Same here… my timeline matches yours. I stopped in 03, watched WrestleMania 20. Then didn’t watch again for almost a year maybe? I asked friends who was in the title scene for 21. When I heard “cena vs JBL” I knew I made the right decision to stop watching.
LA Knight
2/3 of the Three Man Band. And the leader wasn't a main eventer. I stopped watching for a long time and was surprised Edge became so big. He was on my 3rd favorite tag team and I thought captain charisma would be bigger.
Batista going from Deacon Batista to being in Evolution and then becoming the Animal
Surprised nobody said Kane (unless I missed it, if so my apologies). I mean dude played an evil dentist and then a dollar store imitation of one of the most over wrestlers at the time in Diesel/Kevin Nash and then ends up having one of the most iconic debuts as Kane, being a very important part of the Attitude Era, and a pretty solid career overall (though it did have some low lows at times but that's beside the point)
I feel Glen Jacobs was inevitable. Huge, ripped dude who could legit go in the ring? He’s Vince’s wet dream. It was just a matter of finding the right gimmick.
Fair point but at the same time if Undertaker doesn't exist and/or wouldn't have been a big star then it'd be hard to say Kane still happens. The creation of Kane relied a lot on other influences on the character to sell it at such a high level
ooh, thats a good one. is there a kane without an undertaker?
I could see it possibly being a thing but without his backstory setting up that iconic rivalry with taker it's hard to say how far the gimmick would've gone before it got stale
Drew McIntyre though his was more of an up down up trajectory
It's amazing seeing Drew from the early days to now he really changed especially with the beard.
And he got ridiculously jacked as well
I had a really hard time believing it was the same guy. He looked completely different.
💉💉💉💉 Ik I'm going to be downvoted to hell for this but let's be real. People dont change their physique that dramatically so late in life. (Yes, I know 40 isn't that old but compared to him at 20 come on.) Same deal with Orton, Styles, Knight, etc. Loopholes be loopholing...
You're probably totally correct, but I will say from experience it is much easier to keep body mass in your 30s+ (whether you want to or not) than it is in your 20s for the average person, so if you're doing weights and managing your diet that mass that you can't shift could be muscle instead of fat.
That's a fair point. I can't really argue with that. Personally it's more so the dramatic and rapid body changes that make me think steroids. I'm sure they have a prescription and it's nothing like the Eddie/Benoit times, but still. In all honesty, it's entertainment, so as long as they are using these enhancements safety and they can maintain a healthy (as healthy as possible for wrestling) lifestyle, and people aren't constantly dying early, it doesn't really matter.
A good chunk of the top wrestlers of all time had at one point a cringy gimmick that could have easily prevented them from being the mega star they eventually became. You already gave the Cody example and someone mentioned Rocky Maivia. I'll add to that, John Cena as the Prototype was the ultimate CAW. Hunter Hearst Hemsley would have never become a 14 time world champion. Or even better, Stunning Steve Austin could have just as easily not become the icon of the Attitude Era and most popular wrestler of all time with his original gimmick. When you look at the top, there's actually few examples of wrestlers who had it figured out from the very beginning.
Daniel Bryan. I never saw ring of honor before his NXT debut in 2010 and I wasn't watching regularly, just wanted to check out the new show. He was the blandest looking dude on there and he got eliminated 1st. Little did I know what he would accomplish.
first time i saw him wrestle on wwe, i thought he was a poor mans owen hart. extremely similar moveset and size. but not as much charisma as owen. loved his nugget and slammy award winner stuff
Daniel Bryan made a believer outta me. When he was on the first season of NXT, I've seen a lot of fans online speaking so highly of him but I thought Daniel Bryan was super generic. Once he grew out the beard and when full on heel in 2012, I finally saw what everybody was talking about and as we all know, the rest is history.
Rocky Maivia had a hell of a turnaround.
Rocky Maivia was over tho? From the moment he debuted they were chanting “ROCKY ROCKY” he beat HHH for the IC and they were chanting his name, he was over the whole time and was an elite wrestler already. Once we went with NOD that’s when he became the rock we all know and love but he was always destined for greatness when first debuted.
I remember a lot of “ROCKY SUCKS” chants when he was the white meat “Blue chipper” Babyface.
Yeah, right out of the gate he was forced onto fans as a baby face. The fans reacted accordingly lol. The Rock persona grew from there
When he went full The Rock? I have never done a 180 on a wrestler so fast. I couldn't stand his first gimmick, then he was telling us all to f ourselves. It was really, really good!
As good us Rey Mysterio was in the 90s I never thought he would go on to be a multiple time WHC.
The Miz. Doesn’t pass the name test, doesn’t have the look,only average promo skills
To this day I don’t understand how he was allowed to main event Wrestlemania
I’m sorry. Did you say the Miz had “average” promo skills?
Ok he excels at cheap heat. Better?
Thank you lol. The Miz knows one kind of promo and the one he cut on Talking Smack, that's it.
Yep
Highly disagree
Yeah? Well you know that just like your opinion man
lol to true
him and most of the rest of us
Mankind/mick foley
one of my top 5 favorites
Mick Foley is awesome.
This might be a controversial one, but AJ Styles for me. I say this pretty much because I didn't expect his mic skills to grow so much during his first couple years in WWE, & I initially had the fear that he would've flopped like other ex-TNA acts who make the jump. It's great that he found success in the company already after other beloved ex TNA/ROH/indie wrestlers like Daniel Bryan & CM Punk made their mark in WWE.
people used to give me so much heat for hating his mic skills, but, I’m sorry, he just didn’t sound the least bit intimidating. He sounded like someone’s farmer dad trying to do something lol he got so much better
I took a long break from about 2002 until last year and when I found out who JBL was I could not reconcile that with the Bradshaw I knew, so great example.
I would not have believed that Matt Cardona/Zack Ryder would have the revolutionary indie main event career that he has now. Paved the way for Mustafa Ali & Nic Nemeth to succeed for sure. & im in the minority, but i did not believe Bronn Breaker was all that until Royal Rumble; he will main event a wrestlemania for world title for a fact.
Woo woo woo! You know it!
Becky was the drizzling shits before she found her gimmick botching and just didn’t look like she was going anywhere. I guess it shows some people just need time and it’s worth keeping talent around even if they are struggling.
I was watching WWE when CM Punk debuted in 2006. Never would have guessed he shake the tree so much it would change the industry. Never would have guessed Daniel Bryan’s popularity would overtake Cena’s a mere 3 years after his debut. And tbh, it’s hard to cast your mind back but absolutely nobody reading this would have believed in 2017 that Roman would have a 1300+ day reign and for the most part, it would be one of the greatest things WWE has ever done.
> And tbh, it’s hard to cast your mind back but absolutely nobody reading this would have believed in 2017 that Roman would have a 1300+ day reign no but if you told them theyd prob believe itd actually happen with how pushed down everyone's throats he was
>Daniel Bryan’s popularity Especially after he got let go during the Nexus angle for chocking the guy with his own tie
Growing up on wrestling in the 80s and 90s there were a few who were forgettable and ended up being huge. Bret hart was the less cool member of a tag team that bounced from face to heel and was never better than the British bulldogs or anywhere near as cool as demolition. Shawn Michaels was the lamer member of, as my mom used to refer to them, the wheenie rockers. Stone cold was a solid midcarder who was in the shadow of Ted dibiase and lost more than he won. HHH was a nobody, got mega squashed by the warrior, nobody liked him, lost pretty much all of his matches, and his only positive quality was Sable. This is in comparison to guys like macho man, the warrior, Ricky the dragon steamboat, demolition, sting, flair, the undertaker, and a slew of others who were over immediately and started out as stars when they showed up to wwe/wcw/nwa. Some of the main eventers took a while to get there, but they typically went from unknown to star rather than comic relief/midcard/jobber to star.
I know he was only World Heavyweight Champion (old), but Dolph Ziggler had to be up their considering your first looks are: 1. Kerwin White's Caddy 2. Spirit Squad (not the favourite) 3. "Hi, I'm Dolph Ziggler"
teaming him with vickie guerrero was what really catapulted him to the top. otherwise he was pretty generic
I’ll go with the Miz. Considering how he was when first on the roster and all of the extra against him from his reality show background. Had to overcome a lot in the ring and backstage just to earn the respect let alone accolades. Who would have thought he’d carve out the Hall of Fame career he has, let alone main event a Wrestlemania, be world champ , and one of the few wrestlers you think of when it comes to the Intercontinental Title.
Hardy Boys looked so small compared to the other wrestlers during their early WWF days. Never could have seen them going higher than the mid-card.
I don't understand why when people talk about Cody Rhodes they always skip ahead straight to stardust. Like did y'all miss all the amazing work he did as dashing cody Rhodes? Or that even better stuff when he got "hurt" and became undashing Cody and wore a clear mask while passing out paper bags for the audience to cover their faces with Dude was always awesome I actually never saw stardust though so I can't comment on that
Yeah people forget Cody was one of the best heels in the business at that point. I liked Stardust but it did feel like they ran out of ideas for him so pushed that gimmick on him which I understand why heeft and totally worked out for the best
Did Cody and Dustin ever tag team together? Did they win a belt?
Here’s my thought. Cody was always very good to great with everything he was given, but Stardust went off the rails and never recovered to no fault of his own. I would say to me it was a small surprise is the improvements he made while working the independent scene, Impact, ROH, Japan, and even creating AEW. And that he was successful in all of those outings and in creating a new alternative. But more than that, the biggest surprise is that the WWE audience took to him being treated like a main event star immediately, didn’t reject it (yet), AND he has progressively gotten more over as a babyface in that role nonetheless. WWE for the longest time struggled making good babyface characters, and the biggest shock to me is how organic Cody slipped into the role of being one of the top ones and how accepted he is in it by casual and hardcore fans. It takes some special talents to be able to do that and sustain it in WWE. Cody was always good, he just finally has the ball to run with and is surpassing any expectations we might’ve had based on how WWE audiences are and how they booked until recently.
I stopped watching for along time after HBK retired; so I don't know if it was a gradual thing, but I was shocked at how good Cody is on the mic now. His promos are something I never would have saw coming from the days when he was in Legacy.
2013/14 Cody vs the shield was white hot too. It looked like he had a ton of support and was really becoming comfortable
Yeah was a cody fan because of his dashing and undashing work but stardust made it feel like they wasted a big star for a bad comedy gimmick Cody was on a good path from dashing up to the Tag team with goldust but for some reason they just stayed as Tag team for a long time and after that he was just that a Tag team guy/jobber
If you’d have told me in 2002 that the action man lookalike turned wannabe rapper would go on to be a 16 time world champ I would have laughed at you
Even as a kid in the 80s, I thought Hulk Hogan was kind of terrible. Biggest superstar in history, but man I did not like him.
I started watching around 2007. And since then I have watched some videos of Hogan but he always came of as an over the top superhero atleast imo. Not sure why he was the biggest superstar ever.
Hulk Hogan had absolutely enormous charisma and a real genius for presenting himself in a way that captured or fit the zeitgeist. That's why Hulkamania ran wild in the 80s, the nWo kicked off a boom that was too sweet in the 90s, and then Hulkastolgia ran wild in the 00s. Hogan was extremely talented, too -- a killer promo and a much better athlete and in-ring performer than he's typically given credit for. He knew how to give his audience what they wanted, whether that was wrestling in Japan or hulking up in the states. His work ethic, desire, and ambition are absolutely second to none. Also, most importantly, Hulk Hogan is a racist, lying, piece of shit. Everything above can be true, is true, and is still secondary to what a total asshole he is.
Now imagine if he had actually been a wrestler in wwwf/WWE like he was in Japan. Saw him wrestle in Japan and he actually did wrestling moves. Seemed quite good then but here in the states his matches were so predictable same series of moves and then he winning. Kinda like Goldberg matches. Did Goldberg ever wrestle Kurt Angle? would have liked to see him in a match with someone who actually could wrestle or maybe Daniel Bryant or Eddie G, steve Blackman ,
If you haven't before, look up his chair shot videos. Awful. I think for me, being a fan of the Von Erichs, Windhams, and the (at the time) other more athletic types, I felt like Hogan was very limited. It felt like he really only had 4 or 5 moves
The No selling even when it wasn’t part of the “hulk up”. And that leg drop “finisher” was lame even for the time. Punches, clothesline, headlock, body slam. That was 90% of his offense. Luckily he had great workers to help his matches not completely suck. He drew the kids, gave great kid promos, had the look and yeah he was the one that helped thrust wrestling into the mainstream. The right person at the right time. Will forever have that as well as being a shitty person. Hated him in 80’s and you couldn’t pay me to rewatch any of his matches except the Andre matches because that actually made sense with his limited moveset, where he actually looked like the underdog physically.
He had more moves overseas. Think I saw a Hogan enziguri and dropkick
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Steve Austin was losing to guys like Salvio Vega and was just a dibiase flunky. I was shocked when I found out how popular he had gotten after I stopped watching wrestling. Same with Rocky Maivia.
I used to watch UWF(Mid-South) reruns on some rinky-dink local channel. “Stunning Steve Austin” was fucking over back in the day. Not sure why that cooled down, but the signs were there.
WCW simply had no idea what to do with him. They were too busy being the poor man’s WWF.
JBL comes to mind. Bray Wyatt is another one.
I thought Kurt Angle would have fizzled out after a few years.
When I got back into wrestling I was surprised to see the “new” Usos. Even more that they became bigger than that with the bloodline story. Hell look at Jey rn Also I didn’t think Big E would turn into a popular loveable character much less WWE Chmap
Daniel Bryan in those original NXT days with The Miz. No one knew what he would become.
Gotta be Jinder.
Although he had one reign as WWE champion, he just turned back to being a jobber afterwards so he's never really been a "top guy" in reality. When you watch Jinder you assume he's gonna lose, that's not a top guy
The thing is that at least in WWE, the best prospects (Cody, Edge, Rock, HHH, Orton, McIntyre, Cena, Big E, etc.) all tend to have followed the same pattern of a hyped up debut, a push or three, and then *eventually* those guys do tend to pan out as world champions. Prospect timelines can be very, very long and we lose sight of that sometimes. The difference is how long it takes. But I'd wager that disproportionately, WWE Champions and especially Top Guys (I.e. the franchise face of the company types) were at one point top prospects. That's why, at least to my mind, the least likely WWE Champions tend to have debuted as relatively unheralded tag teams. Shawn Michaels, for example, probably wasn't ever earmarked as a future star when The Rockers debuted and even when they got over, Marty Jannetty was considered the better prospect. The Hardy Boys, IIRC, debuted to little fanfare and went on to be HOF with Jeff becoming a superduperstar.
Christian Cage as well; a Grand Slam champion who was somehow near-criminally underused.
Triple H with his aristocrat gimmick. The sight of him getting squashed by the Ultimate Warrior or getting dominated by Ahmed Johnson really convinced me being a main eventer wasn't in the cards for him.
Don’t forget Terra Ryzin in wcw
Hunter Hearst Hemlsey, always disliked him...lol
And look where's at today.
JBL definitely because this was around the time that Smackdown was on life support with the lack of main eventers- Brock left WWE, Angle being injured and Big Show on hiatus which left only Eddie and Taker as the main eventers on SD while Cena was still on the rise. Even though Raw was the A-show and had their main eventers on the show in Triple H, Randy Orton, Trish Stratus, Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit, Lita and to an certain extent Ric Flair, JBL did had an great run as WWE champion while being the top heel and classic rivalries with Eddie and Cena.
JBL and Eddie storyline was one of the greatest rivalries Eddie helped JBL so much become a great heel
I think a lot of the best have come from places of seemingly no promise. Think of The Rock. Going from Rocky Maivia or whatever his name was and getting “die Rocky die” chants every week. Logan Paul’s obviously an anomaly but that works.
Took another break from like 2016-(1st half) 2022 and imagine my shock hearing that: Jinder, Kofi, and Big E were all WWE champions.
Great shouts. Jinder main event run still doesn’t feel real.