Post by tystates on Dec 21, 2009 22:28:31 GMT -5
Saw this posted on another board by C.C. Milani tonight. There are 17 wrestlers in LOW on the list. Just his opinions but gotta respect the effort to name 100 guy and rank them. He said this was for the national run of Mid-Atlantic from 1985-89.
So what’s the criteria?
1. Really, how big a star was the wrestler in question?
2. How much did he help the promotion?
3. How much did this wrestler define the Crockett Era?
4. Was he any good? In the ring, on the mic…obviously there’s some personal bias here.
5. It only examines the wrestler’s impact from April 1985 (Crockett debuts on WTBS) through November 1988 (Crockett sells to Turner).
Couple of quick notes- a wrestler will get more credit for being a top star for a short period of time than being around all four years and not making an impact. If a wrestler was strictly a jobber they are not eligible, and I know there’s a thin line there. If you ask me why The Mulkeys are out and the Italian Stallion and Gary Royal are in, I may not have a satisfactory answer. I know J.J. Dillon, Paul Jones, and Jim Cornette all got in the ring and wrestled, but I’m not including them. UWF wrestlers are considered the same as NWA wrestlers, Florida and Central States guys are not.
Here we go:
1. Ric Flair- who else could it possibly be? You could cut Flair in half and he’d still take the first two spots. Came dangerously close to jumping to the WWF in 1988, which would have killed any chance Crockett had of selling the company to Turner, which would have killed the NWA.
2. Dusty Rhodes- pushed himself as the NWA’s version of Hulk Hogan. He held onto the top babyface spot for far too long, but it was his just the same. To this day I think Dusty should have had a longer title reign after winning it in 1986, even just to shake things up. Somehow won and lost the U.S. title and the TV title twice without being pinned. Dusty’s “Midnight Rider” angle was the biggest flop I’ve ever seen. Wrestled Lex Luger in a cage match at Starrcade ’87, where he’d be suspended for 90 days if he lost. He was originally supposed to lose that match and become the Midnight Rider after that. But the plan changed, and Dusty took the U.S. title for himself. For all of Dusty’s strong points and weak points, he’s the clear #2 here, no one else is even in the discussion.
3. Nikita Koloff- headlined a Bash and a Starrcade. His shocking babyface turn was powerful and well done. To this day I’m shocked he never had a run in the WWF. We’re all still grateful for Nikita clotheslining David Crockett.
4. Magnum T.A.- was a red hot babyface until his career-ending accident, and JCP was never the same without him. After re-watching matches six and seven in his U.S. title series against Nikita I was amazed by the feverish intensity of the crowd- these people LOVED Magnum. Was scheduled to win the U.S. title back from Nikita Koloff at Starrcade ’86 in an “I Quit” cage match. Magnum won the U.S.title from Tully Blanchard in the previous year’s Starrcade in a match that set new levels of gore and brutality for it’s time.
5. Lex Luger- the most underrated wrestler in history. You read that right. Luger was over like crazy from his early 1987 debut until around 1991, and worked hard to get better in the ring and on interviews. In fact, one can argue that the company should have put the world title on Luger as a babyface in 1988 and pushed him the way the WWF pushed Hogan. One of Flair’s top contenders and the main event on Crockett’s first two national pay-per-views. In hindsight, they turned Luger babyface too quickly. Listening to people talk today you’d think Luger was one of the biggest disasters in history, but during his early years he was a superstar. Said to be a real-life prima donna and has no ties to WWE, which I’m sure has a lot to do with the negative way history looks upon him.
6. Road Warrior Hawk- the star of the team. Has anyone thought about what might have been if the team had never existed, and Hawk had been a singles wrestler known as The Road Warrior? IMO he would have been one of the biggest stars of the 80’s, someone that could have main evented a Wrestlemania against Hogan. During this period the Road Warriors team was far bigger than any tag title that could be placed on them.
7. Tully Blanchard- a phenomenal, underrated heel. Despite his lack of size could have gotten over huge in the WWF. If you had to pick someone other than Ted Dibiase to be the “Million Dollar Man”, Blanchard would have been a great pick. Had great chemistry with Baby Doll, and I felt they split the pair up too quickly. Held the U.S. title, which is why he’s ranked ahead or Arn Anderson. One negative about Tully is that there’s no way he could have been used as a babyface, so they couldn’t freshen him up with a turn. There’s no telling how successful Tully could have been if he’d peaked when the territories were still thriving, and he could have moved from area to area every nine months or so. Having said that, Tully was definitely stale and needed to be replaced by the time he quit the company in 1988.
8. Barry Windham- had tremendous runs against Flair and then as a Horseman, a world championship talent that peaked in 1988. Barry was the wrestler that had the best series of matches against Flair during this timeframe. It’s a damn shame that so much of what should have been the peak of his career was wasted thanks to his own bad decisions. Barry’s size made him an effective heel, especially when he started “filling out” in 1988. Barry getting in a limo, opening the window, and displaying the Midnight Rider’s mask in one hand while raising four fingers on the other was an all-timer.
9. Arn Anderson- it was great watching Arn blossom into a star starting from his 1985 debut, and he held a top position in the promotion throughout his stay. Due to his spot in the Horsemen he had to do a lot of jobs, but there weren’t too many wrestlers that would not have switched places with him. He was intimidating, and fit “The Enforcer” role well in the Horsemen. Was the star of one of my all-time favorite angles when after warning Magnum T.A.for weeks “not to be caught alone”, he and Ole did a very realistic-looking number on Magnum T.A. in the Omni’s dressing room. To this day I think he could have been a top babyface as well.
10. Sting- became an overnight sensation by accident right when the company badly needed one. Would rank higher if he had caught on before 1988. And to think, they just threw him out there as someone for Flair to kill time with while Flair’s feud with Luger developed. The WWF was said to cover Sting when he was an afterthought stuck on the UWF shows, perhaps the NWA should have picked up on that as a sign that the guy was pushable. Should have taken their chances with this “lightning in a bottle” and quickly put the title on Sting in 1988?
11. Ricky Morton- too small to be a singles star, but was over like crazy in 1985 and 1986. The Rock & Roll Express is arguably the greatest tag team of all time, and Morton was the unquestioned star of that team. The popularity of the RRX crashed in early 1987 as the promotion started a Rock & Roll Express fan club, complete with Ricky singing a song called “Boogy Woogie Dance Hall” that was even worse than you’d imagine. Male fans don’t like that kind of stuff, and that was this promotion’s core audience. I was at an NWA show in 1987 where THE RUSSIANS (!!!) were cheered and the Rock & Rolls were booed.
12. Road Warrior Animal- played Harvey Martin to Hawk’s Lawrence Taylor. A bit like Robert Gibson in that he got hooked up with the right guy. Unlike Hawk, I doubt he could have been a singles star on his own. No matter- he was part of the top tag team of his era. The Roadies’ heel turn was well done, and Animal hoisting Sting upon his shoulders while Hawk clotheslined him from the top rope was an outstanding moment.
13. Ron Garvin- a good hand, but would rank far lower without his ill-fated title reign. They needed to do more- a lot more- to build Garvin up before putting the belt on him. I was convinced that they were going to do a double-turn with he and Flair when Garvin was the champion, but no- the company was too creatively bankrupt for something like that. So we watched the fans in Chicago cheer Flair and boo Garvin at Starrcade, with Garvin quickly sinking back to the midcard immediately afterward. The match from World Wide Wrestling where he knocked out Tully Blanchard with a taped fist is one of my all time favorites.
13. Bobby Eaton- a spectacular worker who couldn’t talk, but found the perfect situation for himself. Phenomenal at taking bumps and making his opponents look good. After the Midnights won the NWA tag titles from Anderson and Blanchard they would come out with both the U.S. and NWA tag title belts, and it made the team appear to be special. Of course, within weeks the Midnights were basically fed to the Road Warriors, and moved down the card to feud with Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose. It was as if the wrong guys got over too much, and the promotion needed to amend that.
14. Ole Anderson- very underrated behind the mic, effective as both a babyface and a heel. A bit on the older side and always seemed to be on the verge of being phased out of the Horsemen, and we all knew it was over for Ole as soon as Lex Luger showed up looking for his spot. Ole and Arn Anderson were a tremendous and realistic tag team in 1985, but something seemed to be missing when Ole returned from a hiatus in mid-1986.
15. Big Bubba Rogers- words cannot express how badly the NWA blew it with this guy. By 1986 they got him over as a monster, killer heel, but they had no clue what to do with him. They could have had Dusty defending the NWA title against Bubba at Starrcade ’86. Aligning him with Scandor Akbar and giving him the UWF title just to lose to Steve Williams totally undercut the guy. No surprise that the WWF could make him a superstar while the NWA couldn’t.
16. Robert Gibson- a solid worker, but a very, very lucky guy to have hooked up with Morton. I haven’t gotten the Midnight Express record book yet, but I’d be curious to learn how many times the Rock and Roll Express wrestled the Midnights. I’d bet the number is north of 400.
17. Stan Lane- gave the Midnight Express a tremendous infusion of flash, spark and charisma. I still think he could have been a huge success as a singles babyface or heel, but for whatever reason had his greatest successes in tag teams. Lane’s in-ring introductions of Jim Cornette were classics.
18. Rick Stiener- excellent in his role in the Varsity Club and as a character babyface. They should have done more with him, and they waited far too long to turn him. His moentum was killed when Mike Rotondo quickly regained the TV title from him.
19. Terry Taylor- another guy they blew it with, not once but twice. Taylor had the talent to be a main event heel and was always pushed by Bill Watts, but he didn’t get along with Dusty Rhodes and was too small for Vince’s taste. Fantastic in the ring and on the stick, had he turned heel a year earlier he would have had a better opportunity to showcase his talent and become a top star. Would have brought a lot more interest to the “unified TV title” than either Nikita Koloff or Mike Rotondo did.
20. Steve Williams- terribly miscast as a babyface. Talented and athletic, but they never knew what to do with him. Could have been a headliner as a mean, dumb jock bully managed by Jim Cornette. And to think, Bill Watts was on track to making him the Hulk Hogan of the UWF. Toward the end of the Crockett era Williams did turn heel…by sending in a tape from Japan where he took off his shirt and uncovered an Oklahoma Sooners singlet, indicating that he was joining the Varsity Club.
21. Ivan Koloff- another guy that really started to show his age, in fact after his 1987 feud with Nikita ended I was openly saying that the promotion needed to put Uncle Ivan out to pasture. He could still perform at a high level inside the ring, but having Nikita around made him look pale in comparison. I don’t mean to put him down- in my opinion Ivan Koloff is a Hall of Famer, but he was at the twilight of his career at this time.
22. Eddie Gilbert- never got the push that he deserved. Gilbert was fantastic acting as a manager of sorts for Dick Murdoch and Terry Taylor. Another wrestler that was miscast as a babyface in 1988, Gilbert was most effective as a sneaky, snotty, undersized heel. One of the wrestlers hurt the most by Crockett’s purchase of the UWF.
23. Jimmy Garvin- Garvin’s interviews during his feud with Wahoo McDaniel were among the funniest ever. I didn’t like him as a babyface, and his feud with Kevin Sullivan was a head-spinner. In this promotion there often seemed to be more championships than performers, but Gorgeous Jimmy never won a title. What’s up with that?
24. Dennis Condrey- probably better in the ring than Lane, but not nearly as charismatic. I’ve never seen a guy drop out of the wrestling business quite like Condrey did.
25. Dick Murdoch- they blew it with him. When he was managed by Jim Cornette they had great chemistry and it made phenomenal TV. So Murdoch goes on a Japan tour, and when he comes back they stick him with Paul Jones, as if the Cornette stuff never happened. Mind-boggling.
26. Michael Hayes- charismatic with good mic skills and had genuine starpower, but could get lazy both in the ring and on the mic. I think he could have had a good run as a heel single, but couldn’t seem to escape the shadow of The Freebirds, an act that had run it’s course by 1987. Truth be told, by the time he arrived in JCP in 1987, Hayes had already passed his peak at age 27.
27. Wahoo McDaniel- he was only there for about a year, and started to show his age. Still a good performer and considered a legend in the Carolinas. I always wondered why in 1986 Wahoo and Jim Garvin suddenly had a feud. Won the National Title for no other reason than to lose the title to Nikita Koloff. The title was “merged” with the U.S. title, meaning they got rid of it, which was a good idea.
28. Manny Fernandez- what was Manny thinking when he quit the promotion in 1987? Was it really worse than working Memphis, or being a security guard? His 1986 heel turn had potential, but he, Rick Rude, and Paul Jones did not click as a unit. Manny seemed to have fallen off the face of the earth for years before Rhodes brought him in and immediately made him half of the tag team champions.
29. Tommy Rogers- an incredibly underrated worker, The Fantastics had some of 1988’s best matches against the Midnight Express. Unfortunately, “The Fantastics” gimmick didn’t play well with NWA fans, and the team got a lot of boos. I still can’t figure out how after his NWA run no U.S. promotion figured out a role for this Rogers until SMW opened.
30. Buddy Landell- I don’t believe Buddy when he says they were going to put the NWA title on him, but they did give him the National Title and they were going to pair him with Baby Doll right before he got fired. They brought him back for a little while after the 1986 Bash, but he had lost some spark and gained some pounds. Buddy quickly found himself farmed out to the satellite Central States territory, and then out of the NWA entirely. Ric Flair showed up on World Wide talking about his trip to Hawaii, and Buddy later came out and said “I don’t have to go to Hawaii to hang ten- I can do it standing right here (while motioning toward his crotch). That was heavy stuff in 1985, and it obviously went over the heads of the censors. One of the best “punk heels” ever, but had an appetite for self-destruction.
31. Mike Rotonda- solid wrestler, kind of bland, especially as a babyface. I did like him in the Varsity Club as “Captain Mike”. Inexplicably held the TV title for close to a year. Looked like a rising superstar right before McMahon started “The War of ‘84”, which changed the business in a way that made “boots and trunks guys named Mike Rotondo” obsolete. The fact that the NWA barely used him outside of Florida in 1987 despite him being well-known from his WWF days was a clear sign of that.
32. Rick Rude- in my opinion one of the most overrated wrestlers of all time, which isn’t to say he was bad…just overrated. Winning the tag belts with Manny Fernandez was supposed to be the first of many great things for Rude, who was promised a big push when McMahon, Crockett, Watts, and Gagne were all bidding for his services. Rude turned down a guarantee of winning the AWA title in favor of coming here, which speaks badly for the 1986 version of the AWA title. Rude eventually walked out of the promotion without even dropping the belts, and was immediately hired by the WWF.
33. Brad Armstrong- a fantastic in-ring talent, but lacking in charisma. He desperately needed to turn heel and get a manager for his team with Tim Horner. Almost seemed “too Southern” for a national promotion. Putting the UWF tag titles on Armstrong and Horner didn’t bolster the team- it simply made the titles look like a championship for jobbers, much like Denny Brown’s junior title.
34. Terry Gordy- Gordy is one of my all time favorites, but he wasn’t around long enough to rank any higher. He had a match against Black Bart on TV that was among the bloodiest of all time. The promotion should have made an all-out effort to get him in as a full-timer and pushed him to the moon, as he had the talent to be a world champion.
35. Jimmy Valiant- Jimmy made me laugh a few times. What else can I say about him that hasn’t already been said? They had him feuding with Paul Jones without a break from early 1984 until the end of 1986. Oddly enough, had literally nothing to do after the feud ended. Tony Schiavone deadpanning the question “Will Big Momma become a bald-headed geek?” before Starrcade ’86 is an underrated comedy classic.
36. The Barbarian- huge and athletic, you’d think they could have gotten a bit more out of this guy. The Powers of Pain tag team was a success at first, but fizzled quickly. Probably saved his career by jumping to the WWF, as opposed to doing a scheduled series of scaffold matches against the Road Warriors summer of 1988. He knew his knees couldn’t handle that bump every night.
37. Pez Whatley- a holdover from the Ole Era, produced one of the funniest moments in wrestling history when he turned on Jimmy Valiant. For those that don’t remember, while doing an interview together Valiant called Whatley “the world’s greatest black athlete”. Before Michael Jordan or Carl Lewis got a chance to pummel Valiant for making the remark, Whatley did it himself. But it gets better- Whatley just happened to have a pair of scissors in the pocket of his dress pants, and quick enough to say to himself “hey, I’ll use these to cut Valiant’s hair before the other babyfaces pull me off of him”. Good times, I tell ya.
38. Buzz Sawyer- miscast as a babyface in 1985, and ended up not doing very much at all despite being an established star on WTBS from the GCW days. Was there any reason to not bring Sawyer back in when he was tearing it up in World Class a year later?
39. Bobby Fulton- kind of an odd choice for a Fabulous Ones type team, as he was pudgy and not particularly good looking. A very good worker, but I can’t see him doing anything in the business had he not been hooked up to Tommy Rogers.
40. Krusher Krushev- huge guy and not a bad worker, but stuck behind Nikita. Always seemed out of place to me, sort of like a third wheel on the Russian team, ot the guy Ivan teamed with when Nikita was busy in a singles match. That sounds good on paper, but not when it’s as transparent as it was. Was never quite the same after tearing up his knee at the very end of 1985.
41. Al Perez- I’m sorry, but I thought Perez was boring. Got a push in 1988 and seemed to have some potential, but didn’t get over. Might have been better suited in a babyface tag team. Walked out during the Turner takeover, which pretty much ended his career.
42. Dick Slater- excellent talent but left after a few months in 1985. Another guy they had no reason not to bring in after the WWF let him go. Slater being locked in a cage wearing a gorilla suit for a few weeks while making Ivan Koloff crazy was cute and campy.
43. The Warlord- another generic Road Warrior wannabe, except even bigger. They could have done more with him in 1986 when he was Baby Doll’s protégé, even if using him as giant fodder for a babyface or two.
44. Larry Zybysko- there was no chemistry at all between he and Baby Doll. Good on the mic, awful in the ring. Aside from him winning the Western States Heritage Title I can’t remember a thing Zybysko did, which speaks volumes. Oh, and no one cared about that title.
45. Billy Jack Haynes- was scheduled to win the TV title in the January 1986 tournament, but walked out before that happened. Dusty was going to give him a huge push- Haynes would have been the company’s #3 babyface, and Dusty’s “other sidekick”. Frankly, he was an idiot for leaving, regardless of the circumstances. After this everyone wised up to Haynes’ act and a few months later he wound up taking a significantly reduced role in the WWF, which squelched what was once a very promising career.
46. Ron Simmons- talented but raw, but as a former superstar football player at Florida State University they should have created something more interesting for him.
47. Baron Von Rashke- did a good enough job taking Krushev’s place when he was injured, but The Baron was far past his prime and having him stand next to Nikita Koloff didn’t exactly make him look strong. Became another face in the Paul Jones stable before a brief babyface turn.
48. Sam Houston- a bump machine, they should have started building a real push for him in 1986 but Dusty allegedly ran him off over his real-life relationship with Baby Doll. Spent 1985 playing Tonto to Dusty and Magnum’s Lone Ranger. Looked great in Watts’ UWF in 1987, and they were foolish not to bring him back.
49. Bill Dundee- talented, but they had no idea what to do with him. Was probably too small to be much more than a midcarder in a national company, but played the “undersized sneaky heel” role well.
50. Chris Adams- I saw Adams as a legitimate star that was miscast as a babyface. As the promotion got more and more stale in 1987, why didn’t anyone stick a tape of Adams’ work as a snide British pretty boy heel in World Class and say “couldn’t he do that for us”? Sad to say, by 1987 those in charge no longer seemed interested in things like that.
51. Ron Bass- not that he was the greatest heel, but how could he possibly get over as a babyface? Not a bad worker, but Bass was strictly card-filler material on a national level. Would have been more effective in a heel cowboy tag team.
52. Superstar Billy Graham- lost in the shuffle as a member of Paul Jones’ army. Turned babyface and witched back to his old, colorful gear. Vince McMahon liked it so much he immediately hired him away.
53. Brett Sawyer- The little brother that always got beaten up. Could have had a role after 1985 after becoming a star on WTBS in 1983, but his career fizzled after that.
54. Bob Armstrong- Bob could talk, but it came across as outdated jive and by this point he was just too old. I hate to say it, but In my opinion he held Brad down, making him look like a kid that couldn’t escape his dad’s shadow.
55. Kevin Sullivan- didn’t do a lot of wrestling, so he ranks lower than one may expect. Here’s a guy I thought was terribly overrated in almost every aspect of the game. People give Sullivan all kinds of credit for having “a great wrestling mind”, yet I’ve never seen a single example of it.
56. Tim Horner- no charisma, not a good interview, but an outstanding worker, probably one of the ten best in the U.S. in 1987 and 1988. Unfortunately, he rarely got the chance to showcase his in-ring talent. Tim never got the break that Robert Gibson or Bobby Eaton got, but could easily have filled either of their roles.
57. Black Bart- that’s an awful name to saddle an 80’s wrestler with, he would have been better off not changing from Hangman Rick Harris.
58. Sheepherder Luke- not much they could do without blood and over the top violence, but…
59. Sheepherder Butch….their interviews could be entertaining. The Sheeps were out of place in this promotion,and I have no idea why Dusty even used them.
60. Vladimir Pietrov- over like crazy and could have been a huge success had he not….um….been sent to prison.
61. Angel Of Death- big, talented guy that should have had a better career. Needed a better gimmick, and “Angel of Death” wasn’t it. Neither was The Russian Assassin, and we’ll get to that later.
62. Dutch Mantell- and speaking of miscast wrestlers….Dutch Mantell as a Kansas Jayhawk? I always liked Dutch and to this day I believe he could have gotten way over as a character babyface, but they didn’t allow him to do a thing here, and he was gone quickly.
63. Shane Douglas- every time I saw Douglas in 1987 I was impressed by his talent and potential. His UWF and NWA days marked the beginning of an interesting career.
64. Hector Guerrero- another guy they could have done more with...as in, more than Lazertron. Outstanding in-ring talent, would have been a far better choice as junior champion than Denny Brown. I always said they should have brought in Chavo Guerrero and had them work as a heel team- they were very effective in Mid-South as recently as 1985.
65. Abdullah The Butcher- he wasn’t around very long and didn’t do very much. Abdullah always cracked me up.
66. Buddy Roberts- I liked Buddy but he was barely around. Despite looking good with Watts in 1986 it was obvious that Buddy was near the end of the line.
67. Chris Champion- there’s no doubt in my mind he could have gotten over at least as a midcard babyface. No idea why they didn’t bring in a replacement after Sean Royal left the New Breed.
68. Harley Race- Harley did a cool angle with Magnum T.A., but left for the WWF right when the program was starting. Harley could still work but it seemed like they were bringing in an old man to feud with T.A. Not sure what they would have done with him had he stuck around…probably would have stuck the poor guy with Paul Jones.
69. Randy Rose- decent worker, no charisma. Came in at the very end of Crockett’s tenure as a member of the Original Midnight Express. Would rank higher had he not come in so late, this ranking is based on the bloodying of Jim Cornette alone.
70. Bobby Jaggers- there was a time Jaggers was an outstanding performer, but he didn’t show much during his stint here.
71. Russian Assassin #1 (note- I know he and Angel of Death are the same, but they were different characters)- Dave Sheldon started learning how to speak Russian when he first got this role, which shows an impressive amount of dedication…but the “Russian Asssassin” idea stank.
72. Sean Royal- did goofy, crazy interviews and had really bad hair. Sean was a young guy that got his break during the dying days of Florida when they were desperate for talent that was willing to work cheap, and quickly became disenchanted with the wrestling business.
73. Bob Roop- a leftover from GCW, Roop was phased out pretty quickly after Crockett took over.
74. Lazertron (I know, it’s Hector Guerrero)- a high-flying wrestler from outer space? How weird is it that Hector was both Lazertron and the Gobbeldy Gooker?
75. Kendall Windham- Kendall being named a “Junior Horseman” was a classic unintentional comedy moment. Really, during this period Kendall was skinny, ugly, and a bad worker. The promotion had better options, but I guess Dusty kept him employed as a favor to Barry and Blackjack.
76. Tiger Conway Jr- part of the “Jive Tones” tag team with Pez Whatley.
77. American Starship Eagle- tall, geeky blond guy with furry boots who would eventually get a Bozcut and join the Varsity Club.
78. The Terminator- cool gimmick, but didn’t stick around very long.
79. Teijo Khan- okay…where did they come up with this guy? Seriously, where?
80. Steve Regal- seemed poised to get a run as junior champion, but quickly vanished.
81. One Man Gang- stuck around just long enough to lose the UWF title to Big Bubba Rogers.
82. Ricky Santana- another guy they could have done more with, especially since he was good-looking and Hispanic.
83. Russian Assassin #2- it was 1988. Masked guys didn’t get over in North America any more. Dusty did not get the memo. Jack Victory, the man under the mask, wasn’t a bad wrestler. I’m jumping into 1989 here, but ”Secret Service” Jack Victory- Jack looking around, being ultra-serious while talking into his shirt- was a riot, and I have no idea why it was done away with so quickly.
84. Joe Nighthawk Coltarine- I liked him, and so did the fans. Why he disappeared so quickly remains a mystery.
85. Dustin Rhodes- came in at the very end of the Crockett / Dusty era, in a tag team with Kendall Windham. They acknowledged that he was Dusty’s son, but didn’t make a big deal about it. Hmmm…a 20-year old Dustin shows up with a bleached-blonde mowhawk and is teaming with the brother of his Dad’s greatest adversary. Dustin only lasted about a month or so, leaving when his Dad did.
86. Denny Brown- may have done the worst wrestling interview I’ve ever seen. I have no idea what he was even trying to say. I don’t think he did either. Sums up why he didn’t get a push.
87. Jack Hart- had a featured match on WTBS, where he and Rick Rude wrestled Wahoo McDaniel and Billy Jack Haynes for the Florida tag titles. A moment in the sun for a talented performer.
88. Mighty Wilbur- IT COULD HAVE WORKED AS MID-CARD COMEDY! Let’s recap…Paul Jones signs a guy sight unseen, thanks to a recommendation from his “old friend” Red Bastien. It turns out to be a friendly, giant country bumpkin that laughs off Jones’ tirades and refers to him as “ol’ puddin’ head”. But in 1987, no one named “Mighty Wilbur” was getting over, and the guy they chose for the role was horrific. His career mercifully ended when he broke his leg during one of the 1988 Bunkhouse Stampedes.
89. Nelson Royal- far too old at this stage, but he gets credit for inviting me to drink coffee and sit by his campfire while he told me all about the Bunkhouse Stampede Finals.
90. Thunderbolt Patterson- I found Ole turning on Bolt to be spectacularly entertaining. T-Bolt’s interviews were so bad that they were comedy gold, and he was even worse in the ring. Upon taking over GCW, Dusty couldn’t wait to get rid of him. Dusty is still on my Christmas card list for bestowing this act of generosity and mercy upon this nation’s wrestling fans.
91. Don Kernodle- good worker that they seemingly had no use for after turning him babyface. Held the NWA tag titles with three different partners from 1983 – 1984, so I can’t imagine why Crockett or anyone else couldn’t have gotten something out of him. I was going to say “they should have made him part of a tag team”, but I’ve probably said that too many times. You can only have so many “Midnight Express” and “Rock and Roll Express” type tag teams.
92. The Italian Stallion- only ranked this high because he stuck around forever. How did he manage that? The fact that he had a 15 minute match against Steve Williams on a prime-time national cable broadcast clearly indicated that this promotion was clueless.
93. Buzz Tyler- I never got this guy. For whatever reason he seemed reasonably “over” in the Carolinas, doing a silly dance while the song “Footloose” played. Aging and heavy, would have looked more at home downing Budweisers at a VFW lounge than in a wrestling ring.
94. Mike Davis- not too bad, but the “Rock & Roll RPMs” gimmick is one of the worst ever.
95. Leo Burke- was only around for a very short time, but he was an impressive wrestler.
96. Thunderfoot- speaking of the worst gimmicks ever…the guy has a loaded boot and calls himself “Thunderfoot”. I did like his shiny ring outfits, though.
97. Tommy Lane- how did he and Davis ever get hired with that gimmick- in the same promotion that had the Rock & Roll Express?
98. Rocky Kernodle- Don’s brother who wrestled under the fake name “Keith Larson” while Don was a bad guy. So when Don turned he changed his name, and then….uh…nothing.
99. Gary Royal- a portly guy that somehow held the NWA junior heavyweight title just long enough to lose it to Denny Brown.
100. Bugsy McGraw- Bugsy was in briefly in 1987, teaming with Jimmy Valiant. It was even worse than it sounds. I liked McGraw around 1980, but by this point he wasn’t even funny anymore, just a fat old bald guy that would have looked more at home seated next to Buzz Tyler at a VFW lounge. At least he didn’t last long.
So what’s the criteria?
1. Really, how big a star was the wrestler in question?
2. How much did he help the promotion?
3. How much did this wrestler define the Crockett Era?
4. Was he any good? In the ring, on the mic…obviously there’s some personal bias here.
5. It only examines the wrestler’s impact from April 1985 (Crockett debuts on WTBS) through November 1988 (Crockett sells to Turner).
Couple of quick notes- a wrestler will get more credit for being a top star for a short period of time than being around all four years and not making an impact. If a wrestler was strictly a jobber they are not eligible, and I know there’s a thin line there. If you ask me why The Mulkeys are out and the Italian Stallion and Gary Royal are in, I may not have a satisfactory answer. I know J.J. Dillon, Paul Jones, and Jim Cornette all got in the ring and wrestled, but I’m not including them. UWF wrestlers are considered the same as NWA wrestlers, Florida and Central States guys are not.
Here we go:
1. Ric Flair- who else could it possibly be? You could cut Flair in half and he’d still take the first two spots. Came dangerously close to jumping to the WWF in 1988, which would have killed any chance Crockett had of selling the company to Turner, which would have killed the NWA.
2. Dusty Rhodes- pushed himself as the NWA’s version of Hulk Hogan. He held onto the top babyface spot for far too long, but it was his just the same. To this day I think Dusty should have had a longer title reign after winning it in 1986, even just to shake things up. Somehow won and lost the U.S. title and the TV title twice without being pinned. Dusty’s “Midnight Rider” angle was the biggest flop I’ve ever seen. Wrestled Lex Luger in a cage match at Starrcade ’87, where he’d be suspended for 90 days if he lost. He was originally supposed to lose that match and become the Midnight Rider after that. But the plan changed, and Dusty took the U.S. title for himself. For all of Dusty’s strong points and weak points, he’s the clear #2 here, no one else is even in the discussion.
3. Nikita Koloff- headlined a Bash and a Starrcade. His shocking babyface turn was powerful and well done. To this day I’m shocked he never had a run in the WWF. We’re all still grateful for Nikita clotheslining David Crockett.
4. Magnum T.A.- was a red hot babyface until his career-ending accident, and JCP was never the same without him. After re-watching matches six and seven in his U.S. title series against Nikita I was amazed by the feverish intensity of the crowd- these people LOVED Magnum. Was scheduled to win the U.S. title back from Nikita Koloff at Starrcade ’86 in an “I Quit” cage match. Magnum won the U.S.title from Tully Blanchard in the previous year’s Starrcade in a match that set new levels of gore and brutality for it’s time.
5. Lex Luger- the most underrated wrestler in history. You read that right. Luger was over like crazy from his early 1987 debut until around 1991, and worked hard to get better in the ring and on interviews. In fact, one can argue that the company should have put the world title on Luger as a babyface in 1988 and pushed him the way the WWF pushed Hogan. One of Flair’s top contenders and the main event on Crockett’s first two national pay-per-views. In hindsight, they turned Luger babyface too quickly. Listening to people talk today you’d think Luger was one of the biggest disasters in history, but during his early years he was a superstar. Said to be a real-life prima donna and has no ties to WWE, which I’m sure has a lot to do with the negative way history looks upon him.
6. Road Warrior Hawk- the star of the team. Has anyone thought about what might have been if the team had never existed, and Hawk had been a singles wrestler known as The Road Warrior? IMO he would have been one of the biggest stars of the 80’s, someone that could have main evented a Wrestlemania against Hogan. During this period the Road Warriors team was far bigger than any tag title that could be placed on them.
7. Tully Blanchard- a phenomenal, underrated heel. Despite his lack of size could have gotten over huge in the WWF. If you had to pick someone other than Ted Dibiase to be the “Million Dollar Man”, Blanchard would have been a great pick. Had great chemistry with Baby Doll, and I felt they split the pair up too quickly. Held the U.S. title, which is why he’s ranked ahead or Arn Anderson. One negative about Tully is that there’s no way he could have been used as a babyface, so they couldn’t freshen him up with a turn. There’s no telling how successful Tully could have been if he’d peaked when the territories were still thriving, and he could have moved from area to area every nine months or so. Having said that, Tully was definitely stale and needed to be replaced by the time he quit the company in 1988.
8. Barry Windham- had tremendous runs against Flair and then as a Horseman, a world championship talent that peaked in 1988. Barry was the wrestler that had the best series of matches against Flair during this timeframe. It’s a damn shame that so much of what should have been the peak of his career was wasted thanks to his own bad decisions. Barry’s size made him an effective heel, especially when he started “filling out” in 1988. Barry getting in a limo, opening the window, and displaying the Midnight Rider’s mask in one hand while raising four fingers on the other was an all-timer.
9. Arn Anderson- it was great watching Arn blossom into a star starting from his 1985 debut, and he held a top position in the promotion throughout his stay. Due to his spot in the Horsemen he had to do a lot of jobs, but there weren’t too many wrestlers that would not have switched places with him. He was intimidating, and fit “The Enforcer” role well in the Horsemen. Was the star of one of my all-time favorite angles when after warning Magnum T.A.for weeks “not to be caught alone”, he and Ole did a very realistic-looking number on Magnum T.A. in the Omni’s dressing room. To this day I think he could have been a top babyface as well.
10. Sting- became an overnight sensation by accident right when the company badly needed one. Would rank higher if he had caught on before 1988. And to think, they just threw him out there as someone for Flair to kill time with while Flair’s feud with Luger developed. The WWF was said to cover Sting when he was an afterthought stuck on the UWF shows, perhaps the NWA should have picked up on that as a sign that the guy was pushable. Should have taken their chances with this “lightning in a bottle” and quickly put the title on Sting in 1988?
11. Ricky Morton- too small to be a singles star, but was over like crazy in 1985 and 1986. The Rock & Roll Express is arguably the greatest tag team of all time, and Morton was the unquestioned star of that team. The popularity of the RRX crashed in early 1987 as the promotion started a Rock & Roll Express fan club, complete with Ricky singing a song called “Boogy Woogie Dance Hall” that was even worse than you’d imagine. Male fans don’t like that kind of stuff, and that was this promotion’s core audience. I was at an NWA show in 1987 where THE RUSSIANS (!!!) were cheered and the Rock & Rolls were booed.
12. Road Warrior Animal- played Harvey Martin to Hawk’s Lawrence Taylor. A bit like Robert Gibson in that he got hooked up with the right guy. Unlike Hawk, I doubt he could have been a singles star on his own. No matter- he was part of the top tag team of his era. The Roadies’ heel turn was well done, and Animal hoisting Sting upon his shoulders while Hawk clotheslined him from the top rope was an outstanding moment.
13. Ron Garvin- a good hand, but would rank far lower without his ill-fated title reign. They needed to do more- a lot more- to build Garvin up before putting the belt on him. I was convinced that they were going to do a double-turn with he and Flair when Garvin was the champion, but no- the company was too creatively bankrupt for something like that. So we watched the fans in Chicago cheer Flair and boo Garvin at Starrcade, with Garvin quickly sinking back to the midcard immediately afterward. The match from World Wide Wrestling where he knocked out Tully Blanchard with a taped fist is one of my all time favorites.
13. Bobby Eaton- a spectacular worker who couldn’t talk, but found the perfect situation for himself. Phenomenal at taking bumps and making his opponents look good. After the Midnights won the NWA tag titles from Anderson and Blanchard they would come out with both the U.S. and NWA tag title belts, and it made the team appear to be special. Of course, within weeks the Midnights were basically fed to the Road Warriors, and moved down the card to feud with Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose. It was as if the wrong guys got over too much, and the promotion needed to amend that.
14. Ole Anderson- very underrated behind the mic, effective as both a babyface and a heel. A bit on the older side and always seemed to be on the verge of being phased out of the Horsemen, and we all knew it was over for Ole as soon as Lex Luger showed up looking for his spot. Ole and Arn Anderson were a tremendous and realistic tag team in 1985, but something seemed to be missing when Ole returned from a hiatus in mid-1986.
15. Big Bubba Rogers- words cannot express how badly the NWA blew it with this guy. By 1986 they got him over as a monster, killer heel, but they had no clue what to do with him. They could have had Dusty defending the NWA title against Bubba at Starrcade ’86. Aligning him with Scandor Akbar and giving him the UWF title just to lose to Steve Williams totally undercut the guy. No surprise that the WWF could make him a superstar while the NWA couldn’t.
16. Robert Gibson- a solid worker, but a very, very lucky guy to have hooked up with Morton. I haven’t gotten the Midnight Express record book yet, but I’d be curious to learn how many times the Rock and Roll Express wrestled the Midnights. I’d bet the number is north of 400.
17. Stan Lane- gave the Midnight Express a tremendous infusion of flash, spark and charisma. I still think he could have been a huge success as a singles babyface or heel, but for whatever reason had his greatest successes in tag teams. Lane’s in-ring introductions of Jim Cornette were classics.
18. Rick Stiener- excellent in his role in the Varsity Club and as a character babyface. They should have done more with him, and they waited far too long to turn him. His moentum was killed when Mike Rotondo quickly regained the TV title from him.
19. Terry Taylor- another guy they blew it with, not once but twice. Taylor had the talent to be a main event heel and was always pushed by Bill Watts, but he didn’t get along with Dusty Rhodes and was too small for Vince’s taste. Fantastic in the ring and on the stick, had he turned heel a year earlier he would have had a better opportunity to showcase his talent and become a top star. Would have brought a lot more interest to the “unified TV title” than either Nikita Koloff or Mike Rotondo did.
20. Steve Williams- terribly miscast as a babyface. Talented and athletic, but they never knew what to do with him. Could have been a headliner as a mean, dumb jock bully managed by Jim Cornette. And to think, Bill Watts was on track to making him the Hulk Hogan of the UWF. Toward the end of the Crockett era Williams did turn heel…by sending in a tape from Japan where he took off his shirt and uncovered an Oklahoma Sooners singlet, indicating that he was joining the Varsity Club.
21. Ivan Koloff- another guy that really started to show his age, in fact after his 1987 feud with Nikita ended I was openly saying that the promotion needed to put Uncle Ivan out to pasture. He could still perform at a high level inside the ring, but having Nikita around made him look pale in comparison. I don’t mean to put him down- in my opinion Ivan Koloff is a Hall of Famer, but he was at the twilight of his career at this time.
22. Eddie Gilbert- never got the push that he deserved. Gilbert was fantastic acting as a manager of sorts for Dick Murdoch and Terry Taylor. Another wrestler that was miscast as a babyface in 1988, Gilbert was most effective as a sneaky, snotty, undersized heel. One of the wrestlers hurt the most by Crockett’s purchase of the UWF.
23. Jimmy Garvin- Garvin’s interviews during his feud with Wahoo McDaniel were among the funniest ever. I didn’t like him as a babyface, and his feud with Kevin Sullivan was a head-spinner. In this promotion there often seemed to be more championships than performers, but Gorgeous Jimmy never won a title. What’s up with that?
24. Dennis Condrey- probably better in the ring than Lane, but not nearly as charismatic. I’ve never seen a guy drop out of the wrestling business quite like Condrey did.
25. Dick Murdoch- they blew it with him. When he was managed by Jim Cornette they had great chemistry and it made phenomenal TV. So Murdoch goes on a Japan tour, and when he comes back they stick him with Paul Jones, as if the Cornette stuff never happened. Mind-boggling.
26. Michael Hayes- charismatic with good mic skills and had genuine starpower, but could get lazy both in the ring and on the mic. I think he could have had a good run as a heel single, but couldn’t seem to escape the shadow of The Freebirds, an act that had run it’s course by 1987. Truth be told, by the time he arrived in JCP in 1987, Hayes had already passed his peak at age 27.
27. Wahoo McDaniel- he was only there for about a year, and started to show his age. Still a good performer and considered a legend in the Carolinas. I always wondered why in 1986 Wahoo and Jim Garvin suddenly had a feud. Won the National Title for no other reason than to lose the title to Nikita Koloff. The title was “merged” with the U.S. title, meaning they got rid of it, which was a good idea.
28. Manny Fernandez- what was Manny thinking when he quit the promotion in 1987? Was it really worse than working Memphis, or being a security guard? His 1986 heel turn had potential, but he, Rick Rude, and Paul Jones did not click as a unit. Manny seemed to have fallen off the face of the earth for years before Rhodes brought him in and immediately made him half of the tag team champions.
29. Tommy Rogers- an incredibly underrated worker, The Fantastics had some of 1988’s best matches against the Midnight Express. Unfortunately, “The Fantastics” gimmick didn’t play well with NWA fans, and the team got a lot of boos. I still can’t figure out how after his NWA run no U.S. promotion figured out a role for this Rogers until SMW opened.
30. Buddy Landell- I don’t believe Buddy when he says they were going to put the NWA title on him, but they did give him the National Title and they were going to pair him with Baby Doll right before he got fired. They brought him back for a little while after the 1986 Bash, but he had lost some spark and gained some pounds. Buddy quickly found himself farmed out to the satellite Central States territory, and then out of the NWA entirely. Ric Flair showed up on World Wide talking about his trip to Hawaii, and Buddy later came out and said “I don’t have to go to Hawaii to hang ten- I can do it standing right here (while motioning toward his crotch). That was heavy stuff in 1985, and it obviously went over the heads of the censors. One of the best “punk heels” ever, but had an appetite for self-destruction.
31. Mike Rotonda- solid wrestler, kind of bland, especially as a babyface. I did like him in the Varsity Club as “Captain Mike”. Inexplicably held the TV title for close to a year. Looked like a rising superstar right before McMahon started “The War of ‘84”, which changed the business in a way that made “boots and trunks guys named Mike Rotondo” obsolete. The fact that the NWA barely used him outside of Florida in 1987 despite him being well-known from his WWF days was a clear sign of that.
32. Rick Rude- in my opinion one of the most overrated wrestlers of all time, which isn’t to say he was bad…just overrated. Winning the tag belts with Manny Fernandez was supposed to be the first of many great things for Rude, who was promised a big push when McMahon, Crockett, Watts, and Gagne were all bidding for his services. Rude turned down a guarantee of winning the AWA title in favor of coming here, which speaks badly for the 1986 version of the AWA title. Rude eventually walked out of the promotion without even dropping the belts, and was immediately hired by the WWF.
33. Brad Armstrong- a fantastic in-ring talent, but lacking in charisma. He desperately needed to turn heel and get a manager for his team with Tim Horner. Almost seemed “too Southern” for a national promotion. Putting the UWF tag titles on Armstrong and Horner didn’t bolster the team- it simply made the titles look like a championship for jobbers, much like Denny Brown’s junior title.
34. Terry Gordy- Gordy is one of my all time favorites, but he wasn’t around long enough to rank any higher. He had a match against Black Bart on TV that was among the bloodiest of all time. The promotion should have made an all-out effort to get him in as a full-timer and pushed him to the moon, as he had the talent to be a world champion.
35. Jimmy Valiant- Jimmy made me laugh a few times. What else can I say about him that hasn’t already been said? They had him feuding with Paul Jones without a break from early 1984 until the end of 1986. Oddly enough, had literally nothing to do after the feud ended. Tony Schiavone deadpanning the question “Will Big Momma become a bald-headed geek?” before Starrcade ’86 is an underrated comedy classic.
36. The Barbarian- huge and athletic, you’d think they could have gotten a bit more out of this guy. The Powers of Pain tag team was a success at first, but fizzled quickly. Probably saved his career by jumping to the WWF, as opposed to doing a scheduled series of scaffold matches against the Road Warriors summer of 1988. He knew his knees couldn’t handle that bump every night.
37. Pez Whatley- a holdover from the Ole Era, produced one of the funniest moments in wrestling history when he turned on Jimmy Valiant. For those that don’t remember, while doing an interview together Valiant called Whatley “the world’s greatest black athlete”. Before Michael Jordan or Carl Lewis got a chance to pummel Valiant for making the remark, Whatley did it himself. But it gets better- Whatley just happened to have a pair of scissors in the pocket of his dress pants, and quick enough to say to himself “hey, I’ll use these to cut Valiant’s hair before the other babyfaces pull me off of him”. Good times, I tell ya.
38. Buzz Sawyer- miscast as a babyface in 1985, and ended up not doing very much at all despite being an established star on WTBS from the GCW days. Was there any reason to not bring Sawyer back in when he was tearing it up in World Class a year later?
39. Bobby Fulton- kind of an odd choice for a Fabulous Ones type team, as he was pudgy and not particularly good looking. A very good worker, but I can’t see him doing anything in the business had he not been hooked up to Tommy Rogers.
40. Krusher Krushev- huge guy and not a bad worker, but stuck behind Nikita. Always seemed out of place to me, sort of like a third wheel on the Russian team, ot the guy Ivan teamed with when Nikita was busy in a singles match. That sounds good on paper, but not when it’s as transparent as it was. Was never quite the same after tearing up his knee at the very end of 1985.
41. Al Perez- I’m sorry, but I thought Perez was boring. Got a push in 1988 and seemed to have some potential, but didn’t get over. Might have been better suited in a babyface tag team. Walked out during the Turner takeover, which pretty much ended his career.
42. Dick Slater- excellent talent but left after a few months in 1985. Another guy they had no reason not to bring in after the WWF let him go. Slater being locked in a cage wearing a gorilla suit for a few weeks while making Ivan Koloff crazy was cute and campy.
43. The Warlord- another generic Road Warrior wannabe, except even bigger. They could have done more with him in 1986 when he was Baby Doll’s protégé, even if using him as giant fodder for a babyface or two.
44. Larry Zybysko- there was no chemistry at all between he and Baby Doll. Good on the mic, awful in the ring. Aside from him winning the Western States Heritage Title I can’t remember a thing Zybysko did, which speaks volumes. Oh, and no one cared about that title.
45. Billy Jack Haynes- was scheduled to win the TV title in the January 1986 tournament, but walked out before that happened. Dusty was going to give him a huge push- Haynes would have been the company’s #3 babyface, and Dusty’s “other sidekick”. Frankly, he was an idiot for leaving, regardless of the circumstances. After this everyone wised up to Haynes’ act and a few months later he wound up taking a significantly reduced role in the WWF, which squelched what was once a very promising career.
46. Ron Simmons- talented but raw, but as a former superstar football player at Florida State University they should have created something more interesting for him.
47. Baron Von Rashke- did a good enough job taking Krushev’s place when he was injured, but The Baron was far past his prime and having him stand next to Nikita Koloff didn’t exactly make him look strong. Became another face in the Paul Jones stable before a brief babyface turn.
48. Sam Houston- a bump machine, they should have started building a real push for him in 1986 but Dusty allegedly ran him off over his real-life relationship with Baby Doll. Spent 1985 playing Tonto to Dusty and Magnum’s Lone Ranger. Looked great in Watts’ UWF in 1987, and they were foolish not to bring him back.
49. Bill Dundee- talented, but they had no idea what to do with him. Was probably too small to be much more than a midcarder in a national company, but played the “undersized sneaky heel” role well.
50. Chris Adams- I saw Adams as a legitimate star that was miscast as a babyface. As the promotion got more and more stale in 1987, why didn’t anyone stick a tape of Adams’ work as a snide British pretty boy heel in World Class and say “couldn’t he do that for us”? Sad to say, by 1987 those in charge no longer seemed interested in things like that.
51. Ron Bass- not that he was the greatest heel, but how could he possibly get over as a babyface? Not a bad worker, but Bass was strictly card-filler material on a national level. Would have been more effective in a heel cowboy tag team.
52. Superstar Billy Graham- lost in the shuffle as a member of Paul Jones’ army. Turned babyface and witched back to his old, colorful gear. Vince McMahon liked it so much he immediately hired him away.
53. Brett Sawyer- The little brother that always got beaten up. Could have had a role after 1985 after becoming a star on WTBS in 1983, but his career fizzled after that.
54. Bob Armstrong- Bob could talk, but it came across as outdated jive and by this point he was just too old. I hate to say it, but In my opinion he held Brad down, making him look like a kid that couldn’t escape his dad’s shadow.
55. Kevin Sullivan- didn’t do a lot of wrestling, so he ranks lower than one may expect. Here’s a guy I thought was terribly overrated in almost every aspect of the game. People give Sullivan all kinds of credit for having “a great wrestling mind”, yet I’ve never seen a single example of it.
56. Tim Horner- no charisma, not a good interview, but an outstanding worker, probably one of the ten best in the U.S. in 1987 and 1988. Unfortunately, he rarely got the chance to showcase his in-ring talent. Tim never got the break that Robert Gibson or Bobby Eaton got, but could easily have filled either of their roles.
57. Black Bart- that’s an awful name to saddle an 80’s wrestler with, he would have been better off not changing from Hangman Rick Harris.
58. Sheepherder Luke- not much they could do without blood and over the top violence, but…
59. Sheepherder Butch….their interviews could be entertaining. The Sheeps were out of place in this promotion,and I have no idea why Dusty even used them.
60. Vladimir Pietrov- over like crazy and could have been a huge success had he not….um….been sent to prison.
61. Angel Of Death- big, talented guy that should have had a better career. Needed a better gimmick, and “Angel of Death” wasn’t it. Neither was The Russian Assassin, and we’ll get to that later.
62. Dutch Mantell- and speaking of miscast wrestlers….Dutch Mantell as a Kansas Jayhawk? I always liked Dutch and to this day I believe he could have gotten way over as a character babyface, but they didn’t allow him to do a thing here, and he was gone quickly.
63. Shane Douglas- every time I saw Douglas in 1987 I was impressed by his talent and potential. His UWF and NWA days marked the beginning of an interesting career.
64. Hector Guerrero- another guy they could have done more with...as in, more than Lazertron. Outstanding in-ring talent, would have been a far better choice as junior champion than Denny Brown. I always said they should have brought in Chavo Guerrero and had them work as a heel team- they were very effective in Mid-South as recently as 1985.
65. Abdullah The Butcher- he wasn’t around very long and didn’t do very much. Abdullah always cracked me up.
66. Buddy Roberts- I liked Buddy but he was barely around. Despite looking good with Watts in 1986 it was obvious that Buddy was near the end of the line.
67. Chris Champion- there’s no doubt in my mind he could have gotten over at least as a midcard babyface. No idea why they didn’t bring in a replacement after Sean Royal left the New Breed.
68. Harley Race- Harley did a cool angle with Magnum T.A., but left for the WWF right when the program was starting. Harley could still work but it seemed like they were bringing in an old man to feud with T.A. Not sure what they would have done with him had he stuck around…probably would have stuck the poor guy with Paul Jones.
69. Randy Rose- decent worker, no charisma. Came in at the very end of Crockett’s tenure as a member of the Original Midnight Express. Would rank higher had he not come in so late, this ranking is based on the bloodying of Jim Cornette alone.
70. Bobby Jaggers- there was a time Jaggers was an outstanding performer, but he didn’t show much during his stint here.
71. Russian Assassin #1 (note- I know he and Angel of Death are the same, but they were different characters)- Dave Sheldon started learning how to speak Russian when he first got this role, which shows an impressive amount of dedication…but the “Russian Asssassin” idea stank.
72. Sean Royal- did goofy, crazy interviews and had really bad hair. Sean was a young guy that got his break during the dying days of Florida when they were desperate for talent that was willing to work cheap, and quickly became disenchanted with the wrestling business.
73. Bob Roop- a leftover from GCW, Roop was phased out pretty quickly after Crockett took over.
74. Lazertron (I know, it’s Hector Guerrero)- a high-flying wrestler from outer space? How weird is it that Hector was both Lazertron and the Gobbeldy Gooker?
75. Kendall Windham- Kendall being named a “Junior Horseman” was a classic unintentional comedy moment. Really, during this period Kendall was skinny, ugly, and a bad worker. The promotion had better options, but I guess Dusty kept him employed as a favor to Barry and Blackjack.
76. Tiger Conway Jr- part of the “Jive Tones” tag team with Pez Whatley.
77. American Starship Eagle- tall, geeky blond guy with furry boots who would eventually get a Bozcut and join the Varsity Club.
78. The Terminator- cool gimmick, but didn’t stick around very long.
79. Teijo Khan- okay…where did they come up with this guy? Seriously, where?
80. Steve Regal- seemed poised to get a run as junior champion, but quickly vanished.
81. One Man Gang- stuck around just long enough to lose the UWF title to Big Bubba Rogers.
82. Ricky Santana- another guy they could have done more with, especially since he was good-looking and Hispanic.
83. Russian Assassin #2- it was 1988. Masked guys didn’t get over in North America any more. Dusty did not get the memo. Jack Victory, the man under the mask, wasn’t a bad wrestler. I’m jumping into 1989 here, but ”Secret Service” Jack Victory- Jack looking around, being ultra-serious while talking into his shirt- was a riot, and I have no idea why it was done away with so quickly.
84. Joe Nighthawk Coltarine- I liked him, and so did the fans. Why he disappeared so quickly remains a mystery.
85. Dustin Rhodes- came in at the very end of the Crockett / Dusty era, in a tag team with Kendall Windham. They acknowledged that he was Dusty’s son, but didn’t make a big deal about it. Hmmm…a 20-year old Dustin shows up with a bleached-blonde mowhawk and is teaming with the brother of his Dad’s greatest adversary. Dustin only lasted about a month or so, leaving when his Dad did.
86. Denny Brown- may have done the worst wrestling interview I’ve ever seen. I have no idea what he was even trying to say. I don’t think he did either. Sums up why he didn’t get a push.
87. Jack Hart- had a featured match on WTBS, where he and Rick Rude wrestled Wahoo McDaniel and Billy Jack Haynes for the Florida tag titles. A moment in the sun for a talented performer.
88. Mighty Wilbur- IT COULD HAVE WORKED AS MID-CARD COMEDY! Let’s recap…Paul Jones signs a guy sight unseen, thanks to a recommendation from his “old friend” Red Bastien. It turns out to be a friendly, giant country bumpkin that laughs off Jones’ tirades and refers to him as “ol’ puddin’ head”. But in 1987, no one named “Mighty Wilbur” was getting over, and the guy they chose for the role was horrific. His career mercifully ended when he broke his leg during one of the 1988 Bunkhouse Stampedes.
89. Nelson Royal- far too old at this stage, but he gets credit for inviting me to drink coffee and sit by his campfire while he told me all about the Bunkhouse Stampede Finals.
90. Thunderbolt Patterson- I found Ole turning on Bolt to be spectacularly entertaining. T-Bolt’s interviews were so bad that they were comedy gold, and he was even worse in the ring. Upon taking over GCW, Dusty couldn’t wait to get rid of him. Dusty is still on my Christmas card list for bestowing this act of generosity and mercy upon this nation’s wrestling fans.
91. Don Kernodle- good worker that they seemingly had no use for after turning him babyface. Held the NWA tag titles with three different partners from 1983 – 1984, so I can’t imagine why Crockett or anyone else couldn’t have gotten something out of him. I was going to say “they should have made him part of a tag team”, but I’ve probably said that too many times. You can only have so many “Midnight Express” and “Rock and Roll Express” type tag teams.
92. The Italian Stallion- only ranked this high because he stuck around forever. How did he manage that? The fact that he had a 15 minute match against Steve Williams on a prime-time national cable broadcast clearly indicated that this promotion was clueless.
93. Buzz Tyler- I never got this guy. For whatever reason he seemed reasonably “over” in the Carolinas, doing a silly dance while the song “Footloose” played. Aging and heavy, would have looked more at home downing Budweisers at a VFW lounge than in a wrestling ring.
94. Mike Davis- not too bad, but the “Rock & Roll RPMs” gimmick is one of the worst ever.
95. Leo Burke- was only around for a very short time, but he was an impressive wrestler.
96. Thunderfoot- speaking of the worst gimmicks ever…the guy has a loaded boot and calls himself “Thunderfoot”. I did like his shiny ring outfits, though.
97. Tommy Lane- how did he and Davis ever get hired with that gimmick- in the same promotion that had the Rock & Roll Express?
98. Rocky Kernodle- Don’s brother who wrestled under the fake name “Keith Larson” while Don was a bad guy. So when Don turned he changed his name, and then….uh…nothing.
99. Gary Royal- a portly guy that somehow held the NWA junior heavyweight title just long enough to lose it to Denny Brown.
100. Bugsy McGraw- Bugsy was in briefly in 1987, teaming with Jimmy Valiant. It was even worse than it sounds. I liked McGraw around 1980, but by this point he wasn’t even funny anymore, just a fat old bald guy that would have looked more at home seated next to Buzz Tyler at a VFW lounge. At least he didn’t last long.
