lovin these ROH shout outs. after years of intrigue, finally caught some ROH in 2015. didn't care mush for some guys like Jay Lethal and Young Bucks. but I loved Beer City Bruiser, War Machine, and the Briscoes. Steve Corino was on commentary at the time. then it got removed from the station I had and I never bothered getting back into it. might get back into it now.

gotta check out more mid south stuff, but Jake the Snake to me just needed to be a heel. same with Roddy Piper. just unlikable faces. Hell, I even prefer Macho Man as a heel. finally got into some glorious mid 80's wwf a while back. loved it. never got a chance to see much back in the day outside a little bit.

Aug 30, 2019 2:22:32 GMT @fisto said:

lovin these ROH shout outs. after years of intrigue, finally caught some ROH in 2015. didn't care mush for some guys like Jay Lethal and Young Bucks. but I loved Beer City Bruiser, War Machine, and the Briscoes. Steve Corino was on commentary at the time. then it got removed from the station I had and I never bothered getting back into it. might get back into it now.

gotta check out more mid south stuff, but Jake the Snake to me just needed to be a heel. same with Roddy Piper. just unlikable faces. Hell, I even prefer Macho Man as a heel. finally got into some glorious mid 80's wwf a while back. loved it. never got a chance to see much back in the day outside a little bit.

Nice. You can never go wrong with 80s WWF. 

I hear you on 2015 ROH. Guys like BCB, War Machine, and the Briscoes really stood out as something different in a land full of 180 pound Superkickers.

The Young Bucks were a lot like 95-98 Michaels for me in that I'd grudgingly respect them as talents while simultaneously loathing them, and everything they stood for. The Bullet Club as a whole was so cringey to me. 

*Spoiler Alert* Jay Lethal will actually be making the list on the strength of two pretty strong runs. His wrestling was mostly crap by the mid 2010s (outside of one miracle match with Kyle O'Reilly where the stars were aligned just right) but he carried himself like a star and was booked accordingly. I had no problems with 2014-2015 main eventer Jay Lethal, though his wrestling was waaaaay better back in the mid 2000s when he was a gutsy Barry Windham style young up and coming babyface who wrestled like Chris Benoit. 

What did you think about that ECW block in the 160s?

While I'm here I might as well finish the next entry. The long awaited #144 will be posted before I go to sleep this evening.

#144 Paul London

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}

People have (or at least had) a major misconception about early ROH. General consensus claimed early ROH was a promotion full of complete unknowns which gained a cult following because....reasons? Magic? Hype? The truth is ROH's original target audience knew exactly who the vast majority of their wrestlers were. They had been the hot names on the indie scene for a while. Fans "in the know" were aware of all the major players. The genius of early ROH was bringing all these scattered indie stars from around the country in under one umbrella for dream matches on a regular basis. Now promotions had done this before. But only once a year for big tournaments like the ECWA Super 8 or APW King of the Indies. There was also a one off "super indie" show in 1999 called Break(ing?) The Barrier. Conventional wisdom at the time said it would not be economically viable to fly guys in from all across the country on a regular basis. ROH proved them wrong. (Although, to be fair, most ROH regulars from other parts of the country would soon relocate to Pennsylvania or the surrounding states)

Paul London, however, really was a complete unknown. He had no hype, be it on the internet or in the mags. He debuted alongside his fellow Texas Wrestling Academy students in a lame low card filler feud. And that's all I saw London as during his first few ROH shows- low card filler.

That all changed on a show called Unscripted. A series of unforeseen events caused the card to be reworked at the last minute. Hence the name. London wrestled TWA rival Michael Shane in a "Fight Without Honor" match booked on the fly in the style of the Attitude Era.

This was London's breakout performance. A ladder was introduced into the match. London utilized the ladder for Shelton Benjamin-style dives and even did a Shooting Star Press off the ladder, which garnered the iconic "Please Don't Die" chant that would soon become a staple of London's matches. I was in the building that night. It was wild. Definitely one of the best live matches I had seen up to that point. Hell, it's still one of the best matches I ever saw live.

While London was the star of the match, and clearly the better wrestler, I have to give Michael Shane some credit. He was the perfect opponent for London on that one particular night. Shane actually did have buzz, if only for being a relative of Shawn Michaels, dating all the way back to 2000 when he had a cup of coffee in dying day ECW. But he sucked. I'm trying to think of a wrestler to compare him to. (Honorable Mention) Funaki, maybe? But a heel. And with none of Funaki's charm. See, Shane didn't even do flips! What a loser! Shane's general blandness made London's daredevilry stand out even more than it normally would have. There were no dueling chants. That crowd was 100% behind London.

London won the match, and he won over the tough ROH crowd in the process. London was now A Star. Over the next few years Philly ROH crowds (myself included) would occasionally adopt a wrestler as "their guy." London was the first of these. He was also the first true ROH homegrown star.

The next big London moment came 3 months later at Final Battle 2002. London was now probably the most popular wrestler in the company. Philly loved him. He was up against the hated ROH Champion Xavier. Think....I dunno....Jinder Mahal, I guess. Everybody knew Xavier was an unworthy, overpushed champion. That was the whole point! I was a rare Xavier moderate. I understood what they were doing. Xavier was actually pretty good, even! He just wasn't ROH Champion material. Anyway, even though I was more Xavier tolerant than most, I was backing my boy London that night. They did this one SPECTACULAR nearfall where London feigned being smashed head first into an exposed turnbuckle. Xavier was licking his chops, ready to finish off the pesky challenger. When London caught The X Man off guard with a super cool, never seen before or since, Legsweep DDT! 1-2-NEW CHAMPION! NOOOOOO! Xavier kicked out! Dammit! I think everybody in the building bought that nearfall. Stupid Xavier shocked the world a minute or so later when he retained over the People's Choice. Great match! Very underrated in ROH lore. Although I'll admit you probably had to be there to fully appreciate it.

Paul London was a damn fine pro wrestler. He had the movez. Best Shooting Star in the business. The Dropsault. You have no idea how cool it was the first time I saw him do a Dropsault where he dropkicked one guy while moonsaulting onto another. Yet he was also a great traditional babyface who had a natural ability to get the crowd behind him.

He had another shot or two against Xavier which ended in heartbreaking defeat. Longtime ROH fans also fondly recall his "Epic Encounter" with Bryan Danielson. I'm actually not as big a fan of that one as most people. It dragged a bit for me. But I'm sure it would have been a different story had I been in the building that night.

London topped even the Shane epic with a bout against AJ Styles in June 2003. London actually played a heelish role in this one (perhaps all those title match setbacks had started taking a toll?). It ended in a double pin draw due to politics (AJ was the NWA [TNA] champion and couldn't do jobs) but I think it's probably the best draw I ever saw. Brilliant match where London worked AJ's leg for the bulk of it while AJ would occasionally fire back with big bombs. It was like a football game between a great ball control offense who demoralized the opposition 5 yards at a time and a quick strike offensive juggernaut. AND the way they wrestled the match played into the finish. Top 3 ROH match for me and I imagine it would also rate high for me on an All Time Greatest Match list.

London signed with WWE not long after this. He had his farewell match against ROH Champ Samoa Joe in July. Once again he came up short with the ROH Title on the line. Story of his ROH career.

London was only the 2nd ROH guy to sign with WWE following fellow TWA grad Brian "Spanky" Kendrick. Within 10 months London had gone from complete unknown to WWE superstar.

I was hyped to see my boy London on TV every week. But he didn't really do a whole lot for 3 years. In hindsight, I think he'd have been better off staying in ROH/Etc. for a few more years.

Two Weeks Later......

I forgot all about London's TNA run until right now. Yeah, he wrestled there too while he was red hot in ROH. TNA London didn't do as much for me as ROH London did. In TNA he was just another good X Division guy getting respectful golf claps. He didn't have the same connection with TNA's Nashville audience that he had with ROH audiences. Pretty sure he won still won the X Division Title a time or two though.

Anyway, London came to WWE in 2003. I was excited. But he didn't do much of note for a really long time. Let's see....He took a huge bump at some Royal Rumble courtesy of Snitsky. He feuded with Kidman (and maybe Chavo?) over who had the better Shooting Star Press. I had honestly lost just about all interest in him a few months into 2004. Oh, he also had some cult favorite Velocity matches with Akio, but I barely ever watched Velocity, and don't remember any of those bouts off the top of my head.

He eventually formed a tag team with Brian Kendrick. They eventually won the tag titles and defended them in a pretty famous TLC Match which saw Joey Mercury's face get exploded. Aside from that, this run is mostly a blur. They feuded with such "greats" as Deuce & Domino, The Teacher's Pets, and the Other Pitbulls. I was SHOCKED a while back to find out they held the titles for 11 months. It felt more like 4 to me. One of the least memorable long title reigns ever (at least to me).

HHH (and maybe Shawn?) got that INTERNET HEAT for BERRYING London & Kendrick this one time but I was like "LOL. Come on. It's London & Kendrick. Who cares?" 

Then London got fired for laughing.

You'd think post-WWE London would have been a hot commodity who excelled in alternative wrestling without "being held back by WWE restrictions." You'd be wrong. He has done little of note over the last decade+. There was this one goofball promo he cut with Daniel Bryan while high as a kite and.....?

Synopsis- London was a great in early ROH. Then he signed with WWE....probably 5 years too early. I think he'd have done much better for himself had he come in around 2008-2009. He also could have built up a legendary legacy on the indies. But it is what it is. At least we'll always have 02-03 "Listworthy" Paul London.

Man, the Anthony Keidis of pro wrestling. What could've been, but wasn't.

What was his whole Intrepid Traveler deal post-WWE?

I feel like London just disappeared into weed obscurity a few years after his release.

Sept 7, 2019 3:27:37 GMT 🤯 said:

What was his whole Intrepid Traveler deal post-WWE?

I don't know too much about this. Pretty sure it was just London being London though. Aka: a weirdo.

I have to give London credit for having me completely bamboozled. He always seemed like such a nice young man. Turns out he's about 8/10 on the Teddy Hart Scale of Craziness.

Sept 7, 2019 3:27:37 GMT 🤯 said:

I feel like London just disappeared into weed obscurity a few years after his release.

Pretty sure that's exactly what happened. I'll have to look up London's post-WWE career at some point. The 2010s are mostly a big blur for me but I don't recall reading about him having any big runs anywhere of note.
------------------
One last thing I forgot to mention in my already way too long post.....

It seems like most people today view London as the Jannetty of Londrick. I guess that's even technically true given (the equally nutty) Kendrick enjoyed a career resurgence a few years back. Plus there's that shitty "The" Brian Kendrick stuff some people are wild about.....for some weird reason. But I always saw London as the Michaels of the duo when they were active. Perhaps because London >>>>>Kendrick in ROH. Plus Kendrick got fired from WWE after doing nothing of note during his first run with the E.

That humongous praise-filled write up, including a number of "best live matches I've ever seen" would be something I'd expect to see for a Top 20 wrestler.

Paul London is #144.

Pretty sure we're going to be seeing some novels later down the line.

Dude I was so into London when he signed. He was my first exposure to the idea that there was something beyond the WWE in the post-WCW/ECW era. Like I literally had no clue where guys came from that showed up. Wrestling schools? Indys? Fuck outta here they're coming from another dimension.

#143 Demolition Ax

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
Let's get one thing out of the way right off the bat. Demolition are the greatest tag team in WWF history. Yes, even above the New Age Outlaws. Fact!

Demolition debuted shortly after I began to watch wrestling. I mentioned in an earlier post how Kamala was the first wrestler to ever scare me. Well, Demolition were the 2nd. They were terrifying. For that reason, I was not a fan. I cannot be 100% certain of this, but it would not surprise me if I occasionally looked away from the screen in horror during Demolition matches. They were so creepy! And their wrestling so brutal. The facepaint....the studded leather outfits.....I had never seen anything like Demolition before. And their in ring style was brutality defined. They perfected the art of clubbering. To this day I refer to certain types of clubbering as "Demolition-style clubbering." 

For many months they didn't do much of note aside from annihilate jobbers. I don't recall them having any feuds. They got the slow burn push, just destroying jabronies week after week, while terrifying the youth of America in the process.

Demolition's first big angle came fittingly on Halloween 1987. They destroyed top jobber Brady Boone and continued to beat on the young high flyer after the match. Boone's cousin Billy Jack Haynes ran out for the save. Demolition wrecked him too. Then BJH's fellow Oregonian Ken Patera attempted to make the save. He too felt the wrath of Demolition. In one segment Demolition demolished a top jobber and two legit babyface stars. I don't think I had ever seen anything like that before. Up to this point babyfaces always ran off the heels when making the save. Not this time. Demolition weren't just creepy weirdos anymore. Now they were creepy monsters. That made them more terrifying than ever. Who could possibly defeat them? I feared for my beloved Hart Foundation's life lest they ever cross paths with the destructive force that was Demolition.

Yet I did a complete 180 on the Demos at Wrestlemania IV when they defeated the hated Hart Foundation-beating Strike Force for the tag titles. All of a sudden I loved Demolition. They were still creepy, mind you, but now I was ready to dance with them on the dark side.

Demolition held the tag titles seemingly forever, annihilating all who stood in their way. I stuck with them when they turned face on the Powers of Pain and Fuji because I never cared much for those guys anyway, but I would turn on them when they feuded with my beloved Brainbusters. I definitely popped when the 'Busters upset them for the tag titles.

Demolition would eventually regain the tag titles and feud with the Twin Towers in an awesome-on-paper feud that I weirdly have no recollection of.

The real time peak of my Demolition fandom actually came when they added stupid Crush and started winding down. See, because I was super into their feud with those LOD posers. I legitimately believed Demolition were the genuine article while LOD were the phonies. That feud had huge buzz in my neighborhood. Demolition vs. LOD was serious business.  Anyway, stupid LOD won that feud, but I at least had the Crush excuse to save face. "LOD only beat Demolition because of the weak link, Crush! They would NEVER have been able to beat Ax & Smash! Fact!"- 1990 Baker

Demolition also had a top 25 all time theme and a Top 20 all time finisher in the Demolition Decapitation. They went from the creepiest team on the planet to the coolest and back again a time or two. 

Fwiw Smash is considerably higher than Ax simply because I'm familiar with more of Barry Darsow's other work. I've seen next to nothing of Ax as a Masked Superstar, Machine, or Mongol. 

#142 John Kronus

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
I repeat myself a lot. One of my most often repeated stories is being blown away by the Eliminators vs. Dudleys match at Barely Legal in what was my (perfect) introduction to ECW. That one match convinced me the Eliminators were no less than the 2nd greatest tag team of all time. I had never seen guys that size move around the ring the way the Eliminators did. They did at least half a dozen things I had never seen before in that glorified squash match. In short, they blew my mind.

Kronus flew with all the grace and flips of 2 Cold Scorpio while being 30 pounds heavier. All while having feet so educated they made Stan Lane's scholarly kickers look like middle school dropouts. That one match also had me believing Saturn & Kronus were both individually Top 5 wrestlers in the world, if not #1 & #2. Hey, I was a movez guy back then, and NOBODY had cooler moves than the incredible Eliminators. 

Turns out they were a bit of a one hit wonder in hindsight. I liked them a little less with each subsequent match I saw. Everything just happened to click for them on that one magical night.

Still, Kronus definitely had the moves. I also want to make it clear that I did not see Kronus as the Jannetty of the team (even though he totally was). At the time, I saw Kronus & Saturn as equals. Plus Total Elimination is one of the greatest finishers of all time. Top 5, most likey.

Which brings me to a major bone of contention I had with 08-99 ECW..... WHY WASN'T KRONUS BEING PUSHED?!?! Late 90s me thought the lack of push(es) for Kronus (& Nova) was a major ball drop by Paul E. Guys not nearly as over as those two got chance after chance while Kronus & Nova languished in the lowcard. I also thought his Gangstanators team with New Jack was a cool idea they could have done more with. The Dudleys took out their partners so it made sense that these two former rivals would join forces to battle a mutual enemy.

Again, in hindsight I understand why Kronus didn't get pushed. But it definitely bothered me at the time. I'm pretty sure he unceremoniously left ECW at some point in '99 to go work for (ugh!) XPW. Can't say I REALLY blame him for leaving....but XPW? Really?

Anyway, The Eliminators, with the help of some masterful Heyman booking, convinced a lot of people, including myself, that they were the greatest tag team in the world circa 96-97. Kronus' high flying and educated feet played a major role in this stellar con job.

#141 King Kong Bundy

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
While it no doubt seems ludicrous today, I swear Bundy was one of the Top 5-10 stars in the business when I began to watch wrestling in 1987. In fact, I feel like Bundy was the 2nd wrestler I knew of, period (behind Hogan, of course). KKB was a really big deal in 1987, and I bought into him from day one. He oozed starpower, 80s style. 450 pounds... a memorable/unique look... a devastating Splash finisher... an equally devastating Avalanche set up... Heenan as manager... cool ring name... cool nickname in "The Walking Condomium"... commentary put him over huge... the iconic 5 Count... injured Hogan... main evented a Wrestlemania opposite The Hulkster... and would soon (in)famously elbow drop a midget. Yeah, Bundy was a really big deal. 

Somehow I knew about Wrestlemania II and the angle leading up to it long before I ever watched the show. I can only speculate it was brought up by the commentary team on at least one occasion. That alone established Bundy as a top guy in my mind. The Wrestlemania III midget massacre is another thing that always stuck with me. Bundy's next great claim to fame was BEATING HULK HOGAN(!!!) on SNME.....by countout.....with help from "The Brain"....but still! It was the first time I ever saw Hogan taste defeat in any form. So if Bundy wasn't already a Top 10 fave (which he probably was, to be honest) that definitely sealed the deal. 

Bundy would lose to Hogan in the rematch and disappear for years. Yet this is one case in the early days of my fandom where "out of sight, out of mind" didn't completely apply. I never totally forgot about Bundy if only because his LJN figure was one of my favorites*. Plus main eventing a Wrestlemania....and elbow dropping a midget....and actually beating Hogan meant he would never be completely forgotten.

*Bundy's figure was used for perennial top heel and blatant Vader ripoff, The Colossus, in my 93-95 action figure league 

I was so hyped for Bundy's 1994 return. Aww yeah! Business is about to pick up! See, I hadn't realized the business had changed. Monster heels like Bundy were still $$$ in my mind. So I foresaw Bundy recreating his 80s glory days against the likes of Bret, Lex, and Taker. It didn't turn out that way. He peaked with a Survivor Series win over Luger. Bundy, and the Million Dollar Corporation he was a part of turned out to be a flop. I was done with KKB when he lost to Taker at Wrestlemania 11. Though, to be fair, I actually was interested in that match going into the show, meaning I was still a Bundy believer as late as WM 11. 

He lost the match, and he lost my interest. By this point I'm staring to enter into my "No old guys!" phase. Bundy was passed it. He did little else of note and unceremoniously disappeared a few months later.

Bundy gained some measure of late career fame due to a bit of Apter Mag buzz centered around him breaking a ring with a knee drop in a 1997 indie match against a wrestler named Primo Carnera III (ECW's short-lived Big Guido). I watched the match a few years back. It's not nearly as impressive as it sounds.

My next brush with Bundy came at my 2nd ever live indie show- a Maryland Championship Wrestling card at a local high school in late 1998. I was deeply into my regrettable smark phase, meaning I was so done with Bundy, and 80s fatties in general by this point. Bundy ran through his dated 80s shtick to defeat MCW champ Romeo Valentino with the stupid splash and dumb 5 count. Yawn. Before that he signed overpriced autographs for hundreds of Maryland rubes. It was really quite absurd to see all these marks stand in like for a really long time just so they could geek out over some relic from the 80s. I spent intermission chatting with a REAL WRESTLER in Christian York who had just Sabu'ed himself on the guardrail with an Asai Moonsault gone wrong. I complained to York about a hack like Bundy getting all this attention while he only had one REAL fan paying him any attention over his brave act of daredevilry. Christian York was super cool but I honestly hope he thought I was a dick for my dismal dismissal of the legendary King Kong Bundy. This whole incident is one of my more regrettable moments as a wrestling fan. How dare I disrespect the great King Kong Bundy! He main evented Wrestlemania II, dammit! 

King Kong Bundy also made a few memorable appearances on Married With Children, which is only one of the greatest sitcoms of all time. Furthermore, the Bundy name of the primary family featured in the show was directly inspired by King Kong himself. Did Christian York ever inspire one of the greatest shows ever? I think not! 

For this alone, King Kong Bundy is likely cooler than your favorite wrestler.

The GOAT John Kronus story.




I have no idea how true it is, but the perception of Kronus was always that he literally didn't have his shit together enough to put together a match without Saturn, like even more so than we could ever notice, as noticeable as it was sometimes. Kronus was maybe the biggest Anvil of any tag team ever in that regard, although Saturn, to his credit, always designed shit to make Kronus look good too and disguised it as well as one could. Saturn pretty much had to babysit him in real life too, so Saturn running to WCW is maybe the most justified jump EVER. Dude deserved it. I haven't seen any of Kronus' XPW stuff, where I think he was there on and off for three years. Could everyone had carried him? Is that even possible? He must've had some ring sense. Anyway, Saturn sorcery or not, Kronus was a legit wonder for a couple years. No one shaped like that should be able to move like he did. 

I used to think Kronus was REALLY fucking awesome, like maybe I liked him just a little more than Saturn for a short period there. I even really liked the New Jack/Kronus pair, I don't know something about them together worked for me, I was fine with it. I used to fantasy book ECW and stuff when I was in detention in junior high/high school and I'm pretty sure I gave Kronus a pretty big push in some of those.

Actually the 1 XPW tape I bought back in the day I'm pretty sure Kronus was one of the main draws to buy it for me, I remember he was pretty bad out of shape and the whole tape sucked.

And young Bundy could cut a underrated killer promo!

Great batch here. I never knew I saw Bill Eadie as early as 1984 until years later but me and my cousin always thought Ax was actually the cooler member of Demolition. After having no real interest in them early on by 1989 they were neck and neck with the Road Warriors as my favorite tag team. They really lost something when Ax became sick and was relegated to a manager by late 1990. Great talker as well with one of the most distinct voices in the business.

Kronus made the bottom of my Jannetty list mostly because he didn't get that aforementioned push. He had all the talent in the world though but apparently didn't have the mind for it.

King Kong Bundy was one of those wrestlers that scared me splattering jobbers with 5 counts and setting match time records at Wrestlemania. Breaking Hogan's ribs on SNME made Wrestlemania II seem like an impossible task for Hogan to overcome. He did have a solid cage match with Hogan and came through on the real big stage which makes it easy to see why Hogan went back to him in 1987-88 when the monster factory was starting to run dry. One of the most unique looks in all of wrestling with his hairless face and head and just massive bulk. I can't explain it but he just looks different from most any other superheavyweight. Along with that he was a pretty good athlete who made everything look like it had impact. I feel he's actually a bit underaprreciated as a superheavyweight and Baker 's assessment of being one of the top 10 stars of 1987 is not far off.

I had heard that Saturn story before and it's the sort of thing that would have bumped Kronus up 5 spots had I remembered it when coming up with my list.

Every story I've ever heard about Kronus paints him as an athletic marvel who also happened to be dumber than a box of rocks.

Forgot to mention Bundy's quality Memphis run in my King Kong writeup. He had some fun matches there with Lawler and also formed a cool tag team with Rick Rude, of all people.

Going to Upstate New York for a week which means this project is once again temporarily on hold.

Let's get one thing out of the way right off the bat. Demolition are the greatest tag team in WWF history. Yes, even above the New Age Outlaws. Fact!

It's not even close either. Demolition was top tag team against OTHER top tag teams. New Age Outlaws were a top tag team in one of the most barren eras for tag team wrestling ever.

Demolition's only serious competition for top WWE tag team is The Hart Foundation.

#140 Colonel DeBeers

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}*The Colonel is another guy who is way too high. Should probably be 40-50 spots lower. Hey, I never said I was Hennig.

Colonel DeBeers was a politically incorrect heel's heel who didn't like minorities, America, steroid users, Sgt. Slaughter, Jake The Milkman, turkeys, or much of anything, really. The man was quite literally a mustache twirling villain. And what a mustache it was! Truly one of the greatest in the history of this, or any, industry. He also bore a passing resemblance to my old man, though not nearly as much as Jerry Jarrett, and my dad was merely average in the mustache department. How unfortunate.

Anyway, DeBeers feuded primarily with Sgt. Slaughter & Jake "The Milkman" Milliman by the time I got around to watching dying day AWA. Both feuds were quality. Hell, they were probably the two best feuds in the company.

The big thing when I got into AWA was the (in)famous Team Challenge Series. Sgt. Slaughter was a team captain. DeBeers was also on Sarge's team, and the not-so-good Colonel was forever plotting a hostile takeover. He would cause chaos by swaying the other heel members of Sarge's Snipers over to his side. And it actually worked! DeBeers took over the team when the cowardly Sarge fled to the greener pastures of WWF rather than face the wrath of the South African Mercenary. The team was renamed DeBeers' Diamond Cutters, meaning DDP also owes the Colonel a debt of gratitude. 

The DeBeers/Milkman feud was AWA's version of Skip/Horowitz. The longtime jobber beat the Colonel with the help of some Slaughter shenanigans in a memorable "Turkey on a Pole" match. The way I remember it this turned The Milkman into one of, if not the, most popular wrestlers in the company. Milkman (who I'll write more about later) would then lead the fans in "TURKEY" chants to get under the Colonel's skin.

DeBeers got a lot of TV time as the #2 singles heel in the company (behind Zbyszko). DeBeers would have been the guy babyfaces had to go through to get to Larry Legend had AWA still been a properly functioning promotion. I think that actually was the plan but it didn't always work out in practice because AWA was a (loveable) mess.

He was also a good squasher. His proto-Styles Clash finisher was probably the coolest singles move in the company. He also broke out another cool move on occasion but I forget exactly what that one was.

I have to admit he was less good in regular matches, mainly because he took the same rather cartoonish head over heels bump for every single move whether it be a punch from a jobber or a (theoretical) Russian Sickle from Nikita. I'll admit it was an amusing discovery at first, but one that got old real quick.

The Colonel was good on promos but he would have been better had he even attempted an accent. For the so-called "South African Mercenary" spoke with no hint whatsoever of a foreign accent.

Even before his AWA days, the Colonel seized on a hot political topic to further his career. He originally made his bones in the Portland territory, mainly wrestling under his real name of Ed Wiskoski. However, the big local story at one point involved a cult which would eventually engage in acts of terrorism taking over a small Oregon town. You can read about it here  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajneeshpuram DeBeers would adopt a gimmick based on the leader of this cult. 

Colonel DeBeers definitely got professional wrestling. The way he seized on hot button political issues to bolster his own career is rather brilliant imo.

#139 Matt Striker 

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
Matt Striker loved professional wrestling. I reckon that applies to most of the folks on this list. *Spoiler Alert* You won't be seeing the likes of Warrior, Goldberg, Brock (sorry 🤯 ), and Bad News here. But Striker was more enthusiastic than most about his pro wrestling love.

I first encountered Striker in 2001 ECWA. To set the stage I have to explain ECWA a bit....

ECWA was a Delaware based indie that served as my main alternative wrestling fix in between the demise of ECW/WOW and the rise of ROH. I started going to ECWA shows in November 2001. They had a reputation for being "classy." Truly a rarity in the notoriously sleazy wrestling business. Promoter Jim Kettner was one of the few universally liked figures in said business. I never heard anyone utter a negative word about the man. Even notorious grump Low Ki has had nothing but good things to say about Mr. Kettner over the years. ECWA even had a loose working relationship with WWF. I have little doubt that Kettner's good reputation played a role in WWF deciding to work with the promotion. Infamous sleazeball Rob Feinstein even allegedly made a deal with Kettner that ROH wouldn't run shows in Delaware due to his respect for the man. Could be true since ROH never did run Delaware.

Anyway, ECWA's yearly Super 8 Tournament in February-March was what they were famous for dating back to my Apter Mag phase a few years earlier. It was the big yearly indie tournament back then. A run in the Super 8 often catapulted a wrestler to bigger and better things. They also had a fun cast of gimmicky regulars and the best crowds in the business. ECWA crowds were mostly families who were into everything. They'd cheer the faces and boo the heels. They also appreciated good wrestling. They'd respectfully and attentively watch the slow parts of a match (you never heard a "boring" chant in ECWA) and pop for the big high spots. Then they often gave both competitors a post match standing ovation. ECWA cards featured a nice mix of workrate guys from all around the US who would soon go on to become ROH pioneers and a regular cast of homegrown sports entertainers who often had New Generation style gimmicks. Both groups were over with ECWA audiences. The two different styles (sadly) did not interact all that much. A part of me wishes "ECWA style" wrestling, with its stylistic diversity and great old school crowds, would have become the norm. Alas, it was not to be. If anything, ECWA was the last of a dying breed.

Striker was a babyface when I got into ECWA and you haven't lived until you've seen Matt Striker be the guy on the apron in tag matches. "Guy on the apron in tag matches" is a very specific, very weird thing to be good at. But Matt Striker is probably the best ever. He was so into it. He'd reach as far as he possibly could for a hot tag. He would facially sell everything. Wincing when his partner was in trouble. Happy faces when his partner reached an opening. Righteous indignation when the bad guys cheated. He was constantly stomping the mat, clapping his hands, pumping his fist, or getting a "Let's Go ___" chant started. Striker hamming it up on the apron made those matches better. I realized early on I was seeing a master at work.

He also impressed when those hot tags inevitably came. Striker's big thing was applying at least one tricked out "Mr. Salty" style submission in every match. People in the know claimed he stole them from Lucha. But still! How many people were watching proper Lucha in 2001-02? More proof Matt Striker is a pro wrestling fanatic. He was also the first guy I ever saw hit Carlito's Back Cracker, which would become all the rage on the scene a few years later.

Striker eventually turned heel to join up with Prince Nana and his minions. I honestly don't remember much of Striker's ECWA heel run. I was (unfortunately) getting away from ECWA by that time. But I'm sure it was good. I can't see Matt Striker settle for being anything less than the best damn lackey in the business.

Striker mostly (exclusively?) wrestled the gimmicky weekend warriors. I kept hoping he'd get a chance to show what he could do against the workrate guys like Ki, Daniels, and Danielson. Striker had already shown glimpses of in ring greatness. I wanted to see what he could do in 15+ minute matches with those workrate gods. You also had a ready made story with the homegrown ECWA guy branching out to prove himself against the best in the business. Alas, this too was not to be.

Full Disclosure: Striker (and Nana) were very friendly chaps who I chatted with on a few occasions in the parking lot before ECWA shows. I'm sure this biases my opinion just a little. BUT Frankie Kazarian and Nikolai Volkoff were also very personable gentlemen and you won't be seeing them on this list. So it can't be a major factor.

I always wanted Striker to show up in ROH or one of the other "cool" indies. He had a good look, tons of charisma, the willingness to own a gimmick, and some cool moves nobody else was doing. Instead ROH booked Other Matt Stryker. Stryker with a 'y' was a failed Gabe project. He had this Angle meets Malenko thing going on that's not nearly as cool as it sounds. He was a poor man's version of both, and just really bland in general. I was at an ROH show where some fan did the GOAT heckle. Matt Stryker was wrestling Samoa Joe for the ROH Championship. Some fan correctly blurted out "You're not even the best Matt Striyker!" Fact Check: True. The whole place started cracking up, Samoa Joe included. Stryker was already a failing project. This killed him for good. Within a few months ROH stopped booking him on a regular basis.

Leave it to Teddy Hart, pro wrestling genius, to see something in Best Matt Striker. Teddy & Court Bauer hyped their H2Wrestling project. aka: The greatest promotion that never was. Striker was intended to be involved as Matt Martel. He was going to feud with straight laced traditionalist Michael Modest. The "Martel" name implied Striker was going to be doing a Rick Martel-style "Model" gimmick. I was so hyped for this. But it never happened. I'm 99% sure the whole H2Wrestling thing was a big con from the very beginning. It was basically just Teddy & Court doing fan fic on a large scale. So poor Striker once again fails to get the big break he deserved.

I went to a CHIKARA show in 2003. It was a big tag team tournament somewhere in Pennsylvania. I was wandering around the venue before the show. Perhaps going to the concession stand, or maybe checking out the merchandise, when I saw a guy in the crowd who looked suspiciously similar to Matt Striker. He was wearing regular clothes. He was also with some smoking hot, model-looking woman. I wasn't 100% sure it was him. And I wasn't planning on bothering him even if it was. Then he sees me, smiles, and waves. Then Matt Striker, professional wrestler, and his gorgeous 10/10 companion walk over to ME, regular wrestling fan. I always thought this was really cool. I'm just a regular wrestling fan! Until now I didn't even think I was particularly memorable in the look department. Now I realize I must have stood out with my colorful bandannas tied around flowing bleach blonde 'rocker' locks in the style of a headband while I wore one of my rotating collection of about 10 wrestling shirts. Anyway, Striker introduces me to his associate, who I'm going to call Hotty McHotterson since I forget her real name, and just starts chatting away. I naturally assume Striker and this Goddess are going to be doing a run in at some point. We're at a wrestling show. Matt Striker is a pro wrestler. A dingy building in dingy Allentown or Reading or Wherever, PA is not the natural habitat for women like Hotty McHotterson. She's obviously going to be Striker's valet. I broach the topic to Striker in a toned down sort of way. Striker insists he's just here to see the show. Pretty sure I gave him a sarcastic "Sure you are" and maybe even a wink. I was such a jackass smark.

Turns out Striker and Hotty did not do a run in. I didn't sit with them, but did keep an eye on 'em from time to time (Ok, it was like 75% sneaking glimpses of Hotty, but I was curious about when the "inevitable" run in would transpire). They just watched the show cheering the faces and booing the heels like any normal wrestling fans. When it was over I could only assume Striker really did attend this show just to see some rasslin.' More proof that Matt Striker loved the pro wrestling. And I could also only assume that woman must be Striker's real life girlfriend, making him an even bigger legend with me than he already was.

Striker showed up on Smackdown to job to Angle in Kurt's invitational challenge where he'd squash a different jobber every week. A few months later Matt Striker made national news.....

Turns out his 'real' job was teaching at a NYC high school. Striker took time off from his teaching job to wrestle a few matches for the Zero One promotion in Japan. The school department found out and fired him for unauthorized use of sick time or something like that. The story made national news. WWE justifiably capitalized on the publicity by bringing Striker back.

He started out as another Angle Invitational opponent for Kurt. This time Angle broke kayfabe by mentioning their previous match and Striker getting fired from his teaching job. Striker lost the match but ended up with a WWE contract. My man had finally made the big time.

Yet after all that time of wanting Striker to get a break I wasn't a huge fan of him when he finally did. Wrestling fans....truly the most fickle of creatures. Striker did a Dean Douglas gimmick. Again, all very sensible giving the teaching/firing incident is what he was now known for. But this Dean Douglas inspired gimmick suffered from the law of diminishing returns. Great though Striker may have been, he was still no Dean (or Genius). It was honestly all a bit hacky in my opinion.

Still, I was glad to see him finally get a break. About a year later he joined up with the cool, albeit random, New Breed faction. 3/4ths of Other New Breed made my list, and I kind of regret confining Elijah Burke to mere Honorable Mention status (he was like #227). The had a cool feud with the ECW Originals, putting them over at Wrestlemania 23, and then beating them in a wild match on WWECW tv. Striker still delivered the goods on occasion in the ring. He was very good at selling. Striker took a great DDT in the style of RVD or Val Venis. He also had great "TIMBER" sells on occasion. The one that stands out is his awesome sell of an RVD kick at (I think) Wrestlemania 23. 

Once that ran its course he started managing some big fellas like a sort of less terrible Harvey Whippleman. Big Daddy V was a Striker charge. I think he also lead the careers of Great Khali and Mark Henry for a little while.....

Before transitioning to the commentary booth. He was an IWC darling for namedropping "obscure" stuff like Japan's Zero One promotion and other wrestlers/promotions one never expected here to referenced on WWE TV. Lots of people were saying he was even better than an "old and stale" JR! Striker remained an internet darling on commentary when I left wrestling behind in 2009.

When I came back in late 2012 most people now hated his commentary. No idea what happened there. Too many cutesy "smark" references, maybe?

He eventually left WWE and did commentary work for Lucha Underground, New Japan, and probably some other places.

As far as I'm concerned Matt Striker should have a job somewhere in pro wrestling for as long as he wants simply because few people love pro wrestling as much as Matt Striker. I hope I have proven that during the span of this incredibly lengthy write up.

#138 Johnnie Stewart

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}The original Chris Candido. I'd estimate at least 80% of Candido's shtick was lifted directly from "The Illustrious One." Candido himself once admitted he'd rather be Doug Somers than Hulk Hogan. I think Skip was just trying to throw us off. What he really meant to say is he'd rather be Johnnie Stewart than Hulk Hogan.

Candido was the more polished wrestler. There's no doubt about that. But I'll take Stewart every single time.

Stewart was another dying day AWA guy who got a lot of tv time because there was basically nobody else left. He played his "spoiled brat" gimmick to the hilt. In fact, he was so good at it that I paired him with Lana Star(!) in my NGW fan fic project. Higher praise from me is hard to come by. Stewart also tried to be a hip 90s Guy by dropping Bart Simpson quotes and even regularly wearing a Bart Simpson shirt. It comes off pretty cheesy today but I think it actually helps the gimmick. Besides, he makes up for it by wearing SPLENDED blue & gold frilly robe. That beaut is so garish it would make Ric Flair blush.

Stewart had a culture clash feud with Sgt. Slaughter where the Sarge obviously didn't take kindly to the pampered rich boy. It was even said that Stewart's own father wanted the Sarge to toughen up his snot nosed son. Stewart also feuded with the atrocious "Rock & Roll" Buck Zumhofe over the AWA Light Heavyweight Title. Needless to say this was not your Rey/Dean/Eddie brand of Cruiserweight Wrestling.

Stewart was a hoot on promos with the same hyperactive crybaby delivery Candido would later use. One of my greatest accomplishment this year came a few months back when I turned my brother into a Johnnie Stewart fan. That makes two of us!....probably in the entire world. 

I remember the announcers putting him over big. They talked about his college football career (implying that he still played while wrestling) and I believe claimed he was some sort of Rookie of the Year...maybe in Memphis?

Stewart absolutely got pro wrestling. He was just green. Definitely needed more polish and experience. Sadly, he would never get it. Stewart himself claims he was offered a multi-year WCW contract when AWA was on death's door only to have it vetoed by Ric Flair who "didn't want another Ric Flair clone running around." I can actually believe this tale. Stewart was definitely in the Flair Family. While his gimmick and natural instincts would have been perfect for Vince, he was too small and unroided to really capture WWF's attention.

So he left the business for years only to later come back claiming to own the AWA name......or something like that. It was all very carny and shady.

Stewart also made the news about a decade ago when some group booked him for a talk thinking they were getting Comedy Central's Jon Stewart. Then these jabronies had the gall to be upset about getting Best Jon Stewart! Pfft! Give me "The Illustrious One" every single time.

Long before that Stewart "invented" high flying & hardcore wrestling in my 1990 action figure league where he feuded with ex-partner Sailing Seaver. This blood feud (induced by magic marker) involved both men leaping from bookcases and putting each other through makeshift structures/tables. The Stewart/Seaver split also predated the Rockers split by at least two years while being suspiciously similar. Yeah, I pretty much invented 90s wrestling in my basement action figure leagues. You're welcome. Pretty sure Vince had secret cameras installed in both of my basements so he could steal my best ideas.

#137 Shelton Benjamin

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
I was aware of Shelton Benjamin's existence going back to his OVW days teaming with Brock Lesnar as 1/2 of the Minnesota Stretching Crew. My actual intro to Shelton came during an outdoor house show in Frederick, MD that I went to on a whim in the summer of 2002. He was on the babyface side in a low card 6 man tag. It was hardly a mind blowing introduction on the level of the Eliminators/Furnas & LaFon/Rey, but he did impress by hitting a few cool spots which would soon become his signature moves. It was enough to capture my attention and mark Benjamin out as a guy to keep an eye on. I think he had a low key Heat debut not long after that and worked the Heat circuit for a little while to gain tv experience in the big time.

But all that is honestly just noise. The "proper" Shelton debut everybody remembers came in December 2002 as 1/2 of Team Angle alongside Charlie Haas. I was Day One on Team Angle. Great introduction and presentation. They were gifted to Angle by Paul Heyman. It immediately gave them a big time rub and established them as Guys Who Mattered. They had matching outfits, a proper team name, and hung around with major players. They were also immediately booked as the equals of Smackdown's top faces like Benoit, Rey, Edge, and Los Guerreros. Honestly, a large part of my Team Angle fandom was just based on their presentation. WWF knocked it out of the park with these two.

They backed it up in the ring with cool double teams and good matches against Smackdown's top dogs on a weekly basis. They were the best "real" new tag team WWF had produced since the Tag Team Golden Age 2.0 back in late 99-2000. 

They did their thing for a year with the only major change being switching their team name from Team Angle to the awesomely pompous (and accurate!) World's Greatest Tag Team. With all due respect to AMW and the Briscoes, Team Angle/WGTT was my 2003 Tag Team of the Year. They also had a cool theme (or at least intro to their theme) that I adopted for my "Baker" themed Smackdown CAW/dream wrestling character, "Countdown" Claude Vanity. 

Shelton was definitely the Michaels of WGTT. Haas was a solid hand, but Benjamin had the flashier moves, and more of an It Factor. The 2004 Draft would separate the two. I wasn't a big fan of this at the time as I would have liked to see them rule the Smackdown (or Raw) tag scene for another year to further establish their legacy as the greatest WWE tag team since the Hardys/E&C/Dudleys/APA quartet.

But I didn't mind too much when Shelton got an immediate push, including a win over Triple H(!) which sent the internet into spasms of joy as this was during a period where HHH was hated and rarely lost. Shelton beat him the next week too by DQ or something. A new star had arrived!

I compared 2004 Benjamin to a modern day Barry Windham due to both men receiving the "young up and comer" babyface push. I was definitely a Shelton fan. He fought Evolution in tags and held the IC Title for a really long time....or maybe had a few reigns. I don't remember the details.

And that right there is a problem. Shelton got a King of the Midcard push for like two years but it's honestly all a bit of a blur. And I was a Benjamin fan! I think he feuded with Jericho and maybe "Death My To Interest" Carlito? 

Shelton's next big moment came during the first (and best) Money In The Bank when he wowed the crowd by making use of the ladder for some Paul Londonesque spots. Then came a famous Raw match with Michaels that was my 2005 WWE tv MOTY. I thought this was going to be his big breakout performance.

Alas, it was not to be. Benjamin continued to aimlessly tread water in that same upper midcard role. Since they had already exhibited good chemistry, my next big idea was for Shelton to be McMahon's chosen one to oppose Michaels at Wrestlemania 22. That didn't happen either. Instead Shelton got a Momma and I quickly lost interest.

Shelton never did win me back. At least not for long. There was a brief WGTT reunion in 2007 that I was excited about....but it never went anywhere. Then he turned heel as "The Gold Standard" and I thought maybe that might shake off the staleness. Nah. That was lame too. For a few years there I used to just laugh and shake my head when people still called Shelton underrated. He was the most overrated "underrated" guy ever.

The truth is his moves weren't THAT cool if he didn't have a ladder and you watched literally any non-WWE wrestling. The worst T-Bone Suplex I ever saw says hello. And that was his finisher! He also had no mic skills and the charisma of a wet blanket. And once some writer brought it to my attention that the bulk of Shelton's offense looked like it hurt both guys I couldn't unsee it.

In hindsight I don't even think he was particularly underpushed, though I still would have liked to see him have a high profile match with Michaels at some point. WGTT got a huge push for a 21st Century tag team. He was a perennial IC Champ or contender. He had some wins over big names. He just never reached that next level of match quality or crowd support.

Post-WWE saw him have a poorly received ROH run and a New Japan run that appears to have elicited indifference. I think he signed with WWE again a year or two back but I've heard literally nothing about that run. So I assume he's just low card filler.

Still, I loved WGTT/Team Angle, and remained a pretty big Benjamin backer 2 more years in the mid 2000s. 3 straight years of fandom is an impressive feat given my notoriously fickle tastes. And it's enough to land Benjamin a fairly prominent position on The List.

#136 Survival Tobita

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
There was a contingent of two or three posters on the old PW who would get really bothered by the fact that I loved old school wrestling and didn't have much time for the modern stuff. This really upset them for some reason. I mostly ignored these people, and it did not bother me.....until one of those posters compared me to Jim Cornette. Whoa! Bad form! Low blow! Them's fightin' words!

While it's true 80s & 90s pro wrestling is just about my favorite thing in the world, I like it for largely different reasons than Cornette. I certainly don't consider myself a wrestling traditionalist in the stuffy purist sense.

My love of the weird in wrestling is well documented. I am a big fan of a certain type of outside the box thinking in pro wrestling. My New Generation Wrestling fanfic project remains the best thing I ever did on either PW. Broken Matt Hardy is my favorite wrestling thing to happen this decade. I am a huge fan of Teddy Hart's drugged out vision of professional wrestling. This very list is littered with other examples. And then there is Survival Tobita....

Survival Tobita didn't just tweak the wrestling rulebook. He obliterated it. Ring? Who needs one! Certainly not Survival Tobita. He fought monsters wearing homemade costumes on gym mats more often than not in his no budget SPWC promotion.

But I get ahead of myself. Let's go back to the very beginning. Just who the hell is Survival Tobita? Well, his glorious t-shirt does a good job of explaining it. Survival Tobita was a diehard Japanese rock and roller who fought monsters. Yep. That's pretty much the gist of it.

I had seen weird wrestling before Survival Tobita. Jerry Lawler occasionally fought monsters in Memphis. WWF and WCW/NWA had their share of oddities over the years. Global and even the staid AWA weren't afraid to get weird from time to time.

But none of those wrestlers or promotions went as far as Survival Tobita. His entire bush league fed revolved around him fighting monsters on gym mats in front of small crowds in Japanese gymnasiums. Just about every month Tobita would have to save the world from a new monster. It was the strangest, most avant garde wrestling I had ever seen. It was insane in the best possible way.

I got into Survival Tobita in late 2000-early 2001. His actual "peak" would be 99-00. Survival Tobita had a cult following in the weirder corners of the Internet Wrestling Community. Some guy put together a popular comp tape called The Legendary Battles of Survival Tobita. You better believe I bought that bad boy.

This #136 spot says Survival Tobita on the marquee but it's really Tobita and Friends. He fought a whole cast of wacky characters. Most of whom were allegedly played by the same guy. Here are a few I remember....

Automatic Robot- A robot who was impervious to pain until Tobita incapacitated him by hitting his STOP button.
Bauxite Medium- A tinman with big metal boxes on his hands. He dominated with thudding box shots until Tobita was able to remove the metal box hands.
Origin Abe Virgon- An ape man who mostly ran around the 'ring' acting apelike until a countout occurred. Definitely the Joey Abs of Tobita's rogue's gallery.
Lantern Ghost- Huh? Wtf? Why a LANTERN ghost? Is this a thing in Japan? 
Son of Lantern Ghost- Next level Tobitaness. A Lantern Ghost is weird enough. But SON of Lantern Ghost? Genius!

And last but not least....

Mokujin Ken aka: Ken The Box

Ken The Box was the breakout star of Tobita's monster gallery. He was a tree man of sorts. He wore a costume that limited his mobility. So all he really did was swing his arms up and down while slow walking. But watch his matches! He is immediately over. Within seconds the crowd is swinging their arms up and down, Ken The Box style. Ken The Box was also the one monster Survival Tobita was never able to defeat. One shot from Ken's lethal "Swinging Branch Punch" was all it took to incapacitate our hero. Fwiw Survival Tobita vs. Ken The Box totally would have been my #50 on UT's current Rivalries Countdown had it went up that far.

Turns out Ken The Box is based on a video game character. I just discovered that little nugget of information a week ago.

I want to make it very clear there is no irony involved here. This is very important. I genuinely dug what Survival Tobita was doing. The dude had a vision and he presented it to the world. My man was living his dream. I never laughed AT Survival f'n Tobita. If I laughed at all, it was WITH the great man....when I was supposed to. 

I got my friend Slothman hooked on the Legendary Battles of Survival Tobita. Sloth may have loved Tobita and Friends even more than I did. We used to fantasy book a wrestling fed based around our coworkers, which has to be one of the most awesomely nerdy things I've ever done. Anyway, Survival Tobita & Ken The Box definitely made appearances in our work fantasy fed. Another time we were discussing Tobita's battle with a wrestler called Bisexual Nikoichi. My friend Lisa overheard us. She said "You guys are sick" with a disgusted look on her face. Then she walked away in a huff while Sloth and I started cracking up. 

An actual real life band put out a song called The Legendary Battles of Survival Tobita. No band ever recorded a song called the Legendary Battles of Eddie Guerrero. Therefore, Tobita > Eddie. Proving my list is accurate.

My favorite sort of wrestling weirdness is when wrestling goes entirely off the rails in terms of characters and setting while still retaining some semblance of traditional wrestling psychology (my NGW fed was big on this). Survival Tobita matches actually make a whole lot of sense in terms of face/heel structure, selling/comeback, etc. The average Tobita match starts with him being overwhelmed by a monster. Then Tobita will figure out the monster's weak point and (usually) come back to win by exploiting that weakness. It's basically Pro Wrestling 101. And also Monster Movie 101. 

I'll even go so far as saying Survival Tobita had an influence on the wider world of wrestling. There is definitely a big Survival Tobita influence on CHIKARA. I also know for a fact Mike Quackenbush was a fellow Tobita enthusiast. I'm almost positive they booked Ken The Box at least once. And what was HUSTLE if not Survival Tobita-ness done on a larger scale with a bigger budget?

The truth is I always pooh poohed this Survival Tobita inspired stuff. Like "Pfft! Survival Tobita did it first! Survival Tobita did it better. Y'all just a bunch of hacks." To me, it lacked the authenticity of Tobita's special brand of madness.

I have already second guessed myself on placement several times during this countdown. Up to now it's usually been thinking a wrestler is too high. Survival Tobita was the first act to pop up that I thought was much too low. I regretted having him at "only" #136. Was thinking he should have been more like 102-104...

Until the other night when I discovered Tobita wasn't quite as revolutionary as I had always assumed. There was a wrestler named Ryuma Go, who I only knew of from a blurb in Foley's first book, who was doing Survival Tobita-esque stuff long before Tobita took it upon himself to make wrestling weird again. Then there's that Kaiju Big Battel stuff. I always thought Tobita predated that. Nope. Turns out Kaiju started in 1996. Tobita didn't "blow up" until 1999 at the very earliest. And Argentina's awesomely bizarre Titanes en el Ring dates all the way back to the 1960s.

So Tobita not being quite as original as I always assumed makes me feel a little better at having him all the way down at #136. 

Still, Survival Tobita rules. Some of his Legendary Battles are up on Youtube. You should all go watch a few of them.

#135 Mean Street Posse (minus Joey Abs. Sorry, Kilgore ) 

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
I'm a firm believer that not every wrestler needs to be a main eventer or workrate god to have value. Just look at this list for crying out loud! Role players are important in filling out a card, and the Mean Street Posse were damn good role players. They were never destined for big things but they did a bang up job of entertaining me and the masses in their comedic lower card role.

I just mentioned the importance of presentation during my Shelton Benjamin writeup. Well, the Posse are another great example of this. WWF and the members themselves knocked this gimmick out of the park. They looked the part. They embraced their (very cool) gimmick. They also had a sweet Titantron video and an even sweeter theme.

Even though I couldn't stand Shane I embraced the Posse from Day One. They just cracked me up. The whole "Mean Streets of Greenwich" thing was a hoot to 1999 me. Those initial stories about Shane and the gang being badasses were hilarious. To this day the identities of Other Posse members Willie Green and Billy P. remain an intriguing mystery to this weirdo. I want to know more about these guys!

1999 was around the peak of my unfortunate smark phase. Normally I'd have pooh poohed non-wrestlers being featured in such a prominent position. But even at my most obnoxious I could never hate on the Posse. They were just so good at what they did. I loved their interactions with the Stooges. At least one of those MSP/Stooges matches is a sports entertainment masterpiece. 

It also helped that the Posse, like their buddy Shane, had that very late 90s-early 2000s mentality of going above and beyond the call of duty to entertain the crowd and earn respect from the boys. Surely the likes of Bob Holly & Bradshaw couldn't have been happy about these "non-wrestlers" getting prominent positions on Raw without ever having paid their dues. So Holly & Bradshaw would be like "Hey, we're gonna bash you over the head with a chair as hard as we can." And Rodney & Pete Gas are all like "OK! Cool! Hit me with your best shot!" The Posse weren't afraid to die for the amusement of bloodthirsty late 90s wrestling fans and I respected the hell out of them for it even way back in 1999.

@ness demanded I write about Rodney. So here it goes. Rodney was my favorite Posse member. Mainly because of his FABULOUS hair. I've always seen Rodney as basically a grown up Zack Morris. Probably because both were unabashed preppies with fabulous hair. It's just a shame Pete Gas (Lawler's favorite MSP member) doesn't quite work as AC Slater. That loser Joey Abs can totally be Screech though.....

While Abs was the 'worker' of the group, and a guy who actually had internet buzz, he was easily my least favorite Posse member. I always viewed him as a phony. Because he was. Dude was totally NOT from the mean streets of Greenwich, and I saw through this poser right from the get go.

While they may not have been "real wrestlers" I honestly prefer Rodney & Pete Gas in ring to probably hundreds of real wrestlers. They took big bumps. They took brutal beatings. They knew how to play heel. They even had some surprisingly cool moves. Hell, Pete Gas INVENTED a move (as far as I know) in the Gas Mask, which was like a reverse Uncle Slam. Rodney would hit a Blockbuster. They also did this back body drop into a powerbomb called (I think) the Stock Market Crash. I really liked a match they had with Kaientai this one time. They were lots of fun in 3-5 minute Attitude Era specials.

And they continued to show their dedication to the business by working the Memphis territory when they were sent down to developmental for more seasoning. I've sadly never seen any of their Memphis work, but I think they split up, and Rodney definitely adopted the awesome new ring name of Rodrageous.

Even after being released Pete Gas continued to stick with the wrestling thing. He worked at least one ECWA show right before I started following the promotion. By this point he was definitely living up to the Pete Gas name because the dude was JACKED in ECWA. Like 9/10 on the Scott Steiner scale. Gas would show up on Raw one last time in 2007 during the Raw Legends Battle Royal. The King and I marked out for him and it was awesome.

#134 Jay Lethal

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
I first heard about Lethal as a good, young talent based out of New Jersey. A few months later he was in ROH as a member of the awful Special K stable.

Special K was my least favorite thing about early ROH. They were so bush league. The group mainly consisted of an interchangeable bunch of scrawny 150 pound kids from Jersey who looked like they were still in high school. They were sloppy botch machines who gave off the stench of backyard wrestling and honestly kind of killed high flying for me. The whole gimmick was they messed up a lot because they were on drugs. This really happened. I am not making it up. So bad!

Lethal was the lone Special K regular I paid attention to since he actually looked and wrestled like a proper wrestler. ROH unfortunately called him Hydro during his Special K days. ROH champ Samoa Joe would soon take Lethal under his wing, eventually leading to Lethal ditching those Special K losers and wrestling under the name by which he is best known.

Lethal got the "Barry Windham-style up and coming babyface" push where he'd take ROH stars to the limit before suffering yet another gut wrenching defeat. I really got behind him during this run. He wrestled like a Benoit clone right down to a Dragon Suplex finisher, which appealed to mid-2000s me. Plus the fact that he lost most of the time made him easy to root for since I really wanted to see his first big win. It also helped that some of those losses came on Philly shows I attended against wrestlers I was already predisposed to rooting against, like those surly pricks CM Punk & Low Ki. Joe was giving Lethal pointers. 2 Cold Scorpio showed up once to put him over as a future star. It was only a matter of time before my man broke out in a big way....

In my Paul London blurb I mentioned how Philly would occasionally adopt wrestlers as Their Guy. I was gonna put Lethal in this category. Upon second though, I'm not quite sure that's the truth. In hindsight, I think I liked him more than most people. But not everyone....

The Low Ki match at Midnight Express Reunion in Philly really stands out. It's another one of those ROH matches I like more than probably anybody else. It was just a classic hateable heel star vs. loveable up and coming babyface encounter. What makes this one so memorable is Lethal's family was in the crowd. They cheered like crazy for their relative to the point where I think it actually caused a few people to turn on Lethal. But not this guy! I was backing Lethal more than ever and cheering along with his fam. It created a great atmosphere, and I was genuinely gutted when Lethal came up short yet again. This time to the hated Low Ki. 

A few months later I saw Lethal suffer yet another gut wrenching defeat. This time it was to Homicide at a Jersey All Pro show in Philly. Same story as ever. Lethal put up a great fight. The kid was all heart. But it wasn't enough. Homicide wrecked him with a Lariat to win the vacant JAPW Championship. Tragic.

Lethal and his mentor Samoa Joe feuded with Low Ki & Homicide for a good while. They had a few wild, well-received tag matches that I sadly don't think I ever saw. 

Lethal would eventually win the #2 ROH singles belt, the Pure Wrestling Title, a time or two. He mostly wrestled guys like John Walters and a not-quite-there-yet Jimmy Rave. 

Lethal was slowly but surely progressing. When he ran into a surly Samoan buzzsaw. Samoa Joe, having been the GOAT ROH Champ, had nothing but contempt for the Pure Title his protege held. Joe challenged Jay for a belt he didn't even want. What a dick move! Joe won the belt. He then proceeded to disrespect the title for a few months before losing it to.....Nigel McGuinness, I think.

Joe taking Jay's title was such a dick move. Joe didn't even want the damn belt! Way to treat your protege, jackass. But it all lead to something marvelous. Joe & Lethal had a rematch several months later at Final Battle 2005. Joe was his usual dickish self, casually walking away from a Lethal crossbody with the implication being "I can beat you without even trying." A few minutes later Lethal finally snapped. Hell yeah! Lethal bashed Joe's leg with like a dozen chairshots. But Joe is no joke! He came back looking to end things....when his leg gave out! One Dragon Suplex later and Lethal had scored his biggest win to date. He just pinned Samoa Joe! HAHAHA! YES! AWESOME! Suck it, bitch!

I LOVED this match and the Lethal heel turn. It played on months of storytelling. Joe had treated his own protege like garbage and now it was payback time. I was SO hyped for Lethal's 100% justified heel run.....

But it never happened. Lethal went to TNA full time a few months after turning heel. Too bad. I really wish we could have seen Lethal's 2006 heel run play out. He had a ton of momentum.

I was initially going to dismiss Lethal's TNA run. But in hindsight he did do some good stuff there, and TNA management seemed to back him in a low key sort of way. He once beat Kurt freaking Angle for the X Division Title in a memorable moment. Then came the curse of death when he was given the Macho Man impersonator gimmick. Like most impersonation gimmicks, it was funny at first, but wore thin real quick. So of course TNA keeps it going for years. "Macho Man cosplayer" became Lethal's whole shtick. Ugh! 

Yet he still had seemingly well-received interactions with Ric f'n Flair. So TNA (or perhaps Flair?) must have seen something in the guy. Then he left TNA to return to his old ROH stomping ground in 2011. This all came when I was "done" with wrestling and I only learned about it years after the fact.

Lethal picked up a few ROH TV Title reigns but had considerably regressed as a wrestler since I last saw him. I absolutely understand why he ditched the Benoit moveset. But the "new" Lethal was flat out yucky in the ring. His flippidy doo "Lethal Injection" Diamond Cutter is one of the most ludicrous finishers I ever had the misfortune to witness. And now he's doing these wimpy dives where he gently nudges the guy and lands on his feet. All while being a bland, white meat babyface without the "hard luck up and comer" hook of his 04-05 in ring peak. I was so done with Lethal...... 

Then he turned heel, started carrying himself like a star, and had a really cool slow burn feud with Jay Briscoe culminating in Lethal becoming a Double Champion. Still sucked in the ring though. Well, with the exception of a miracle match on TV against Kyle O'Reilly where everything clicked. But he carried himself like a star and had a certain presence. That always went a long way with me. Particularly so when one is surrounded by Blandy McBlanderson types like Roderick Strong, Cedric Alexander, etc.

Lethal (and the Briscoes) have been wallowing in an ice cold ROH for what feels like eternity. I'd like to hear about those guys (since I probably won't be watching) getting a run elsewhere, preferably NXT/WWF since they're about the only indie boom era stars still going who never had a run in the 'E. They deserve shot in the big time in my opinion.

#133 Ray Rougeau

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers are my 3rd favorite tag team of all time. They're also my choice for the greatest WWF tag team never to (officially) win the WWF Tag Titles. Suck it, Rockers fans. Though I'll admit to hearing arguments from New Rockers fans, assuming any other than myself exist.

Yet it wasn't always that way. I initially met the Rougeaux with indifference. They were bland white meat babyfaces comfortably behind the Bulldogs, Bees, and even Young Stallions on the WWF babyface team depth chart during my first year+ as a wrestling fan. 

Then they turned heel, joined up with Jimmy Hart, and became awesome. Somehow I understood exactly what they were doing even as a youngster. They were trolls. And they might just be the best damn trolls professional wrestling has ever seen.

Everything about their phony pro-USA gimmick was brilliant, with the tiny American flags being a particularly nice touch. I also liked how due to contractual bullshit the Rougeau Brothers got paid every time the Hart Foundation won a match. Pure pro wrestling right there.

The Rougeaux absolutely got pro wrestling. Better than just about everybody ever, honestly. They were good in the ring in addition to being world class heels and a hoot on promos. My favorite Rougeaux promo being the one where Raymond says "I'm Jacques" and Jacques says "I'm Raymond." Then they start laughing and switch places to do it over again the proper way. The switching places is what really got me. Like they had to be standing in a certain spot to do it right. Comedic brilliance. Sadly, I have never been able to find this promo. But I swear it happened! 

Then you have their epic "All American Boys" theme which is my all time favorite wrestling theme 4 days out of 7, and no lower than the Top 4 on any given day (the top 4 is all HHH & Jacques Rogueau fwiw). You also have to love those stylish neon outfits.

I'll take the Rockers & Rougeaux goofing around with purpose for 20 minutes over just about every ***** match that ever existed. The Rougeaux & Martel vs. Rockers & Tito match from Summerslam 1989 is a particularly good bout. It's also a lot more accessible than the big-in-certain-circles Rockers/Rougeaux house show matches.

The Rougeaux also had a cool finisher for the time in Le Bombe Rougeau. aka: The Straddle. aka: Jacques' dick to the mouth of his opponents.

It's a damn shame we never got an extended Demolition vs. Rougeaux 'badasses vs. trolls' feud. Rougeaux would have been awesome HTM style champs. Can you imagine the heat if they actually would have stole the belts from Demolition? $$$$$$$$$$

The Rougeaux, like later greats such as Angle & Owen, could be comedic or vicious. Their most known for being comedic, but they had a pretty brutal beatdown of the Rockers, and would sometimes put a beating on jobbers.

Before gaining worldwide fame in WWF, the Rougeaux were the top act in their hometown of Montreal. This time as beloved local heroes. They had a famous angle there where they were assaulted by Ron & Jimmy Garvin. It's so famous in Montreal wrestling lore that it is referred to simply as "The St. Jean Baptiste Day Massacre" after a newspaper article headline(!) of the incident. Yet, like DeBeers' Portland run, I have never seen any of this stuff.

The only real knock I have on Ray Rougeau is he's Not Jacques. Jacques went on to have two more stellar runs as a Mountie & Quebecer while Ray retired in early 1990 to do French language broadcasts and occasional Mean Gene-style interviews. Plus Jacques did most of the cool moves when they were teaming. But I've got nothing but love for Ray Rougeau, Jannetty though he may be.

Added write ups for Ray Rougeau and Johnnie Stewart. The Mean Street Posse and Shelton Benjamin will be the next to get blurbs. No idea when though.

The Rougeau's also had another finisher where Ray would put his opponent in a Boston crab and Jacques would then knee drop them in the back. Really nasty looking.

RODNEY better have a write-up. I don't care if it's all made up.

Added write ups for Shelton & the Mean Steet Posse. Ness need not have worried. Of course I would mention Rodney and his fabulous hair.

Will probably cover the legendary Survival Tobita tomorrow or the next day.

All this Joey Abs hate is too fucking much. At least acknowledge a husky guy with the name "Joey Abs" rules. That's some wonderful Handsome Harley Race irony.

I thought the Mean Street Posse were hilarious. "From the mean streets of Greenwich Connecticut" coupled with being dressed like rich preppy boys and even their names. (Joey Abs? Pete Gas?) Way better stooges than Patterson and Brisco IMO.

Sept 19, 2019 12:20:42 GMT thereallt said:

I thought the Mean Street Posse were hilarious. "From the mean streets of Greenwich Connecticut" coupled with being dressed like rich preppy boys and even their names. (Joey Abs? Pete Gas?) Way better stooges than Patterson and Brisco IMO.

Whoa, whoa, whoa... Let's not get crazy.

But MSP vs. P&B better make the top rivalries countdown!

Excited to read the MSP writeup to see how/why Abs was isolated out. Unlike New Day or other iconic trios, I could never and still can't tell the difference between Pete and Rodney and Joey... Just got/get a kick out of all three collectively.

EDIT: would've loved to see a Brock vs. MSP 3-on-1 Handicap match during the dark match days on Metal or Jakked.

Google image search resulted in this gem, revealing SmackDown video game developers no sold Joey Abs just like Baker-man does:

Sept 19, 2019 13:02:56 GMT 🤯 said:

Google image search resulted in this gem, revealing SmackDown video game developers no sold Joey Abs just like Baker -man does:

Typical WWE bullshit, you either have to fuck a McMahon or go to school with one to get any rub. 

took a while to get back. somehow went from 80's wwf to early tna. plan on getting back into wwf soon and the Rogeaus were a really underrated tag team that I enjoy a lot. loved those ECW shout outs. dug Hack Myers as soon as I saw him, mainly because of how over he was. think they could've pushed him. he improved a lot but I guess Paul didn't see any more use for him. really like JT Smith and wish he would've stuck around more but I think he had other things in life to do. El Puerto Ricano is another local homegrown wrestler I think could've gotten a push.

I have liked every single wrestler on this list at one time or another. They wouldn't be here otherwise. But some wrestlers I am more excited to write about than others. I've covered a lot of these acts ad nauseam. They've ceased being fun to write about. I'm just repeating myself.

Then there is Survival Tobita. Finally posted his blurb. It's probably the one I was most excited to write up to this point. Go read it. Then watch some Survival Tobita on Youtube.

Jay Lethal blurb is up.

Sounds like after Brock I need to research some Survival Tabita. Also, what a great ring name. The only thing I love more is the genius idea of booking a fantasy fed with coworkers cast as wrestlers.

Now time to catch up on Jay Lethal.

How awesome would that Lethal blurb had been if it was accompanied by long-time old PW poster Jay Lethal?

I always wondered if PW's Jay Lethal was a weirdly massive real Jay Lethal fan who just never posted about Jay Lethal... Or if it was just one of the weirdest coincidences.

Testing, testing... @jaylethal?

Baker's mention of wanting to one day see an NXT run for Jay and the Briscoes has me now thinking: are they to this era what Sting was to his era in so far as being WWE holdouts?