Shining a Spotlight 5.15.08: The Overrated

Posted by Michael Weyer on 05.15.2008

In a sure to be debated list, I give my picks for past and present workers I feel don't warrent the mass acclaim they receive from so many.

Well, Sacrifice wasn't quite the train wreck I expected but still could have used help. Putting Kaz in the title match was a nice shakeup as it's about time we got fresher faces in the main event scene. Still ticked that Roxxi got shaved but hopefully she'll get a good push out it as she's improved nicely. As for the tournament, way overdone with the mixed teams but thankfully they gave it to LAX, which is long overdue.

"Overrated."

It's one of those terms that gets thrown about quite a lot on the IWC in regards to various performers. People who think certain guys don't deserve spots, guys who get by with much larger reps than they deserve and just aren't as hot as so many think they are. I've been asked before who I think is overrated and have sometimes mentioned those picks at times but thought I'd give a list of who I think fits into that.

Now, I recognize the fact that this is in no ways a definitive list of overrated performers. The thing is, everyone has their own "rating system" as it were so no two lists like this can be alike. Guys will talk about Flair, Rock and others as incredibly overrated while pushing a mid-card guy no one else likes. For example, RD Reynolds, the man behind Wrestlecrap will regularly put down HHH but then talk about someone like Zach Gowan being a "can't miss prospect" which is something I've never really heard anyone else say. So I'm fully aware a lot of my picks are going to get some debate but it's how I feel.

Now my criteria for overrated is a mix of both in-ring performance and persona as I'll explain each time. I'm sure some are going to be surprised at some I leave off. Hogan, for example, has long been called overrated but the fact is, he was never that high really in the minds of hardcore fans. But Hogan, like Flair, just exists on a different level than most other performers as he could come out tomorrow to a monster pop and a big-time matchup. I long felt Benoit was a bit overrated by many, a fine technician but never quite the guy to really depend on to carry a company. However, I'm leaving him off as too much of my judgment of him as a performer is affected by what happened at the end. Also, there are some guys I acknowledge as excellent, just not in the same extreme as so many take it (Bret Hart for example). But I was concentrating on the ones I really feel just didn't deserve the massive acclaim given to them.

So with that in mind, let's get to my list:

Rob Van Dam: Ah, RVD. A man who has been hailed as the biggest waste of a superstar WWE has ever had, a guy with a massive fanbase in the IWC, the one everyone thought should have been carrying the company in 2002-03. To which I ask, are you as high as he often is? Yeah, he was good when he started out in ECW with the high flying and all that. But watch his stuff and you can see that often it's just the high flying, not too much else to his offense. Plus, the guy has to rank as one of the worst sellers I've seen, taking a major hit but then bouncing right back up as if it was nothing. What really gets me is that in about 2002 or so, RVD seemed to believe his own hype, that he was the next champ for sure and his workrate got even worse. I found it so hypocritical that at "One Night Stand" 2006, the fans kept yelling "Same old shit" at Cena when RVD's repertoire hasn't changed in years. The fact he blew his giant push in '06 in only a month shows how he wasn't the guy you'd depend on to carry things. Fact is, RVD stands as a great example of Paul Heyman's philosophy in ECW of "accentuate the positives, hide the negatives." Without that in place, RVD just never came up to expectations yet still gets held in esteem as a guy who should have gotten a push he never truly deserved.


Bruiser Brody: I've never gotten the appeal of Brody to so many. I've seen workrate freaks down on anything not technical fall over themselves talking about what a great worker Brody was. Thing is, I just don't see it. Yeah, he was arguably the best brawler the business has ever seen but that's all he was, a brawler who would no-sell anything thrown at him and just did wild battles with other guys like him such as Abdullah the Butcher. They talk about how great he was drawing money in the days where guys would go from territory to territory but overlook the fact he would bury so much of the local talent, making them look weak so when he left in only a few weeks, the promotion would be poorer off. That led to him being blackballed from a lot of places which was why he was in Puerto Rico when he was stabbed to death in the locker room. I think that horrible fate has led to him being held in higher regard than he truly deserved. A great brawler, yes, but not exactly one of the biggest stars around or all around great fighter.


Shane Douglas: I think I may get some agreement on this one. You look at the early part of Douglas' career and he just didn't seem to have superstar quality within him. He had an okay run with the UWF and then WCW, highlighted by teaming with Ricky Steamboat but let's face it, anyone could team with Steamboat and look like a million bucks. So he was in the right place at the right time with ECW as they needed a cocky heel champ and he fit the bill then. But you actually watch his stuff and even in his ECW prime, he never seemed to have that superstar quality. He had good persona but just didn't take it to the next level in the ring like he should have, his "I'm better than you" attitude working against him actually as no, he didn't seem better than a lot of his opponents. His short time as "Dean Douglas" in WWF showed his shortcomings to a grand audience as did his later stint in WCW. Yet the guy still complains about all the people who held him back from his true potential, ignoring how he did reach it in 1995 and it wasn't as good as he thought. Like RVD, he's a good example of someone who did make it as a star but then just sat back and coasted on it for years to come rather than really try to reach further.


The Rock N Roll Express: I know some may be bugged by this but I'm holding to it. The Midnight Express was always a great team, either combination and the RnR were fair too. However, look at their battles today and you can tell the Midnights really carried it off better as the RnR never seemed as daring or amazing as so many claim. Hell, the Rockers were actually much better with their double-team moves and ariel abilities. Robert Gibson was clearly the weaker part of it while Ricky Morton went way too much for the whole "face in peril" stuff to make their matches seem a real team effort. Sure, they were hot with fans then but so was Dusty Rhodes and like Dusty, the RNR just don't hold up well when you look at them today.


David Von Erich: Watching both the recent DVD releases on World Class highlights that David was the most talented and charismatic of the Von Erich brothers, the one everyone thought would go the farthest. Even the NWA board seemed ready to give him the title and people say that if he had, WCCW would have gone to WWE equal heights. I admit, David was good in the ring and a better presence on the mic but I never quite bought him as the guy you'd give the biggest belt in the world at the time to. By no means was his success due to Fritz owning the promotion but it did seem the big fish in a small pond and I suspect that he had lived to get the big belt and toured, it might have exposed his shortcomings. Like Brody, his early death seems to have enhanced his reputation, while Kerry (who I actually considered the better athlete and personality) has been turned on. He was a tragic loss to the industry but saying the wrestling world would be massively different had he lived seems a bit much.


Batista: I've written before that I've never understood the rush of love toward Batista in 2005 when he got his big push as champion. Yes, he's a good "big guy" fighter in the ring with better stamina than most and when put with the right opponent (Undertaker a great example), he's capable of some great matches. But the guy just doesn't seem to be deserving of all the praise he gets. Really, what's the big difference between him and Goldberg? He has a basic power attack, lots of posing and yelling for the crowd but isn't that skilled inside technically. True, WWE really doesn't lean on that too much but the guy just doesn't click for me as a main event player. He was fine on the rise as the monster but something seemed lost when he reached the big stage, making his whole persona seem lacking.


Michael Hayes: Don't get me wrong, Hayes is one of the best personalities the business has ever known. He's an amazing talker, has great presence even at his age, is quite intelligent and in his Freebirds heyday, could work a crowd like few others. But when you talk actual match work…Well, that's another story. Terry Gordy was a great wrestler, Buddy Roberts took a lot of shots but Hayes just seemed to go around with some brawling, not any real ring finesse, more interested in posing and working the crowd than a match. That did help with the Freebirds' rise in WCCW and their heat but the fact is, the guy just wasn't that great a worker. So he deserves attention for the sizzle but failed to bring the steak.


Andre the Giant: I'm not talking about the latter years of his life when Andre was in constant pain and barely able to move. I mean even back in the 1970's, when he was much more trim and mobile, Andre just didn't seem deserving of all his praise. People talk of how bad his ring skills had deteriorated by the 1980's but watch old stuff and they don't seem that big to begin with, just basic blows and chops with his massive size. He was able to work his size well but it was the basic act of so many giants before and since, including Great Khali. He was a huge draw but promoters knew it was for the novelty of seeing someone so huge with smaller athletes and that he wasn't a guy to be given a big belt or anything. Not only that but except for rare occasions (his 1980 match with Killer Khan), he often seemed unmotivated and just going through the motions for so many guys. It is sad that he had to fall so hard at the end but his prime really wasn't as great as so many will claim.


Ken Kennedy: He has ring skill and great on the mic but Kennedy simply hits me as massively overrated. People talk about how he's a future main eventer in the making but he just doesn't rub me that way. He's good but not quite that good and while his injuries have marred some of his push, he also doesn't seem to really be able to carry a match against a weaker opponent. Really, name one really great epic match (besides MITB) he's been in where he came off like a million bucks. He may be able to grow into that in time but at the moment, he doesn't quite have the skill to back up that big mouth and it might be best to wait on a serious title run until that happens else you expose his weaknesses too soon.


Scott Steiner: In 1990, Steiner was an amazing athlete, puling out moves almost no one had seen on a US stage before. He and brother Rick were one of the best tag teams of the 1990's and a singles run was planned before his first serious arm injury. Thing was, at the time, Scott was just too soft-spoken to really carry as a singles guy and not quite as mega-hot with the crowd in that role either. He did have some runs with smaller belt like the TV title but didn't seem to click as a singles star. He did when he remade himself as "Big Poppa Pump" but in doing so, roided himself up to about half his mobility, cutting down on his ring skills. He has shown better improvement in TNA, remarkable after his injury, but while his mouth and personality may earn him a main event run, his actual ring skills are a shadow of their former self. So this one is really overrated more to timing than other factors but timing is often everything in this business.


Rhino: Three years later and it still amazes me that Rhino had a run with the NWA world title, even if it was only a couple of days. Rhino was really just your basic brawler in ECW, albeit with some good conditioning and occasional ring skills but still a guy prone to running over people and did the same in WWE. Having him as a main eventer and even champion in TNA just never seemed right to me and his fast fall from that seems to prove my assertion right. Yet, people still talk about him being a great worker and a better "big man" than most when he isn't really that big. Like many other ECW guys, Rhino's weakeness were revealed once the company went under yet so many ignore that.


Larry Zybsko: When you talk about a guy coasting on one success, Zybsko spent years taking that one great early program with Bruno Sammartino and making a career out of it. His run in the AWA showcased that the guy was a great talker but a poor worker, tons of stalling in his matches and not much else before he'd cheat his way to victory. The only reason he was AWA champion was because he was Verne Gagne's son in law and thus wouldn't jump ship (although he did just before the company went under). He kept that up in WCW, managing a run with Arn Anderson as tag champs where AA clearly carried the ship and even a brief run as TV champion before becoming the sardonic commentator. His stuff in TNA as a management guy kept up the cocky heel but seeming more a smarmy jerk than a supposed intelligent ring veteran.


Stan Hansen: Another guy acclaimed as a terrific brawler but you really sit down and watch a "classic" Hansen match and you're left with a feeling of "that's it?" The guy did have great presence but came off way too stiff in the ring. Before you say "oh, he's just working it well," it's actually because he was blind as a bat without glasses and so really didn't know how hard he was hitting guys. It still amazes me the Japanese fans ate that up for so many years as the guy just comes off lumbering and uncoordinated compared to so many lighter fighters. His attitude hardly helps as he can seem as crazy as he acts in the ring as the AWA learned when they tried to make him their champ. Still in work, stiffer in attitude, the guy just doesn't win you over as much as his legend would have you think.


So those are my big picks for overrated guys, a selection I'm sure will be ranked on by readers but I expect that. Again, just my own personal opinions but you never know, maybe some agree with me on a few of these.

Next week I flip it over to my picks for underrated workers. For now, the spotlight is off.