Pro Wrestling 10 List Thread

Thread Games
461

Legit tough

  1. Meng/Haku
  2. Brock Lesnar
  3. ‘Dirty’ Dick Slater
  4. Minoru Suzuki
  5. Harley Race
462

Legit tough

  1. Meng/Haku
  2. Brock Lesnar
  3. ‘Dirty’ Dick Slater
  4. Minoru Suzuki
  5. Harley Race
  6. Hardcore Holly
463

Legit tough

  1. Meng/Haku
  2. Brock Lesnar
  3. ‘Dirty’ Dick Slater
  4. Minoru Suzuki
  5. Harley Race
  6. Hardcore Holly
  7. Kurt Angle

Won Olympic Gold with a “broken freakin’ neck”. If that doesn’t qualify, nothing does.

464

Legit tough

  1. Meng/Haku
  2. Brock Lesnar
  3. ‘Dirty’ Dick Slater
  4. Minoru Suzuki
  5. Harley Race
  6. Hardcore Holly
  7. Kurt Angle
  8. Bryan Danielson

He walked in on a man trying to rob his house, chased him down, and held him in a rear naked choke until the cops showed up.

465

Legit tough

  1. Meng/Haku
  2. Brock Lesnar
  3. ‘Dirty’ Dick Slater
  4. Minoru Suzuki
  5. Harley Race
  6. Hardcore Holly
  7. Kurt Angle
  8. Bryan Danielson
  9. Shad Gaspard

In addition to his famous last action of telling the rescuers to save his son from drowning before trying to save him, he also once prevented an armed robbery.

466

Legit tough

  1. Meng/Haku
  2. Brock Lesnar
  3. ‘Dirty’ Dick Slater
  4. Minoru Suzuki
  5. Harley Race
  6. Hardcore Holly
  7. Kurt Angle
  8. Bryan Danielson
  9. Shad Gaspard
  10. Jesse “The Body” Ventura

Jesse Ventura was a member of the US Navy Underwater Demolitions Team during the Vietnam War. While officially he had no combat missions, special operations teams tend to have a fair number of “off-the-books” missions. The Underwater Demolitions Team, for the most part, over time were merged with the Nave SEALs. Despite his significant faults, one does not qualify for a Special Operations team if one is not “Legit tough”.

I Watched Him Before He Was Famous

  1. Maxwell Jacob Friedman - saw him on Long Island at one of Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore shows.

I hope this one isn’t too difficult, especially for those who only followed the big national promotions. And by famous, I mean on one of the big promotions with at least nationwide exposure (for whatever nation they operate in), and in there for more than one or two cups of coffee.

467

I Watched Him Before He Was Famous

  1. Maxwell Jacob Friedman - saw him on Long Island at one of Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore shows
  2. Darby Allin

I saw him wrestle in DEFY a few times in 2017. He already had the makeup by then, but instead of skateboarding to the ring he’d have a man dressed in a labcoat drag him out in a body bag. He also had different theme music;

468

I Watched Him Before He Was Famous

  1. Maxwell Jacob Friedman - saw him on Long Island at one of Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore shows
  2. Darby Allin
  3. Ted Dibiase

I remember him from NWA Mid-South, when he was a “young lion” under Bill Watts and hadn’t developed a ring personality yet. He was laid back and kind of mumbled through his promos. It was crazy to see him as the extraverted Million Dollar Man years later.

469

I Watched Him Before He Was Famous

  1. Maxwell Jacob Friedman - saw him on Long Island at one of Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore shows
  2. Darby Allin
  3. Ted Dibiase
  4. Orange Cassidy*

Putting an asterisk by this one because I’m not 100% sure it was him. I went to a Chikara show about 10 years ago, and I remember the Ants. He worked as an Ant when he was in Chikara, and they wore masks and body suits to resemble ant physiology. So, no face or hair to go by, but I’m going to claim this one anyway.

470

I Watched Him Before He Was Famous

  1. Maxwell Jacob Friedman - saw him on Long Island at one of Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore shows
  2. Darby Allin
  3. Ted Dibiase
  4. Orange Cassidy*
  5. Alex Reynolds (Dark Order)

Also House of Hardcore (HoH) show and he’s another Long Island guy. I could probably fill the rest of this list with guys from Create-A-Pro that went to AEW (like MJF, though I first saw him at HoH).

471

I Watched Him Before He Was Famous

  1. Maxwell Jacob Friedman - saw him on Long Island at one of Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore shows
  2. Darby Allin
  3. Ted Dibiase
  4. Orange Cassidy*
  5. Alex Reynolds (Dark Order)
  6. Christopher Daniels

He was in the WWF at some point in the 90s as enhancement talent. I remember seeing him in a match and thinking he looked pretty good in the ring.

472

I Watched Him Before He Was Famous

  1. Maxwell Jacob Friedman - saw him on Long Island at one of Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore shows
  2. Darby Allin
  3. Ted Dibiase
  4. Orange Cassidy*
  5. Alex Reynolds (Dark Order)
  6. Christopher Daniels
    1. CM Punk

At the Midlothian Park District Athletic and Recreation Center, I saw some very low rent indie Lunatic Wrestling Federation, some skinny kid with a Pepsi tattoo in some sorta Chick Magnet tag team.

II saw Christoher Daniels several times in Windy City Pro Wrestleing, did not make any impression.

473

I Watched Him Before He Was Famous

  1. Maxwell Jacob Friedman - saw him on Long Island at one of Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore shows
  2. Darby Allin
  3. Ted Dibiase
  4. Orange Cassidy*
  5. Alex Reynolds (Dark Order)
  6. Christopher Daniels
  7. Ethan Page

Also saw him at a DEFY show in 2017. I met him before the show and he started working me by telling me he was the hottest free agent in wrestling and everyone was beating down his door to sign him, and I smiled and responded “I think I heard that somewhere.”

474

Saw Tyler Black many time at the Midlo-Dome for IWA-MS. Despite being as big a carny asshole as you can get, Ian brought in a lot of talent for some great shows.

475

I Watched Him Before He Was Famous

  1. Maxwell Jacob Friedman - saw him on Long Island at one of Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore shows
  2. Darby Allin
  3. Ted Dibiase
  4. Orange Cassidy*
  5. Alex Reynolds (Dark Order)
  6. Christopher Daniels
  7. CM Punk
  8. Ethan Page
  9. Seth Rollins
  10. Candace LeRae

I saw her work a dark match at an ROH show I went to in 2016, right when they were first starting their women’s division.

New category:
He’s OUR scumbag! (heels who became fan favorites without explicitly turning face)

  1. MJF

His transition over the course of his world title run from “arrogant prick you love to hate” to “arrogant prick you love” was completely organic and something to behold.

476

He’s OUR scumbag! (heels who became fan favorites without explicitly turning face)

  1. MJF
  2. Stone Cold Steve Austin

He debuted the Austin 3:16 motto after defeating born-again Xtian Jake Roberts, and his merch subsequently sold out.

477

He’s OUR scumbag! (heels who became fan favorites without explicitly turning face)

  1. MJF
  2. Stone Cold Steve Austin
  3. Ric Flair

So many times…
Fans just wanted to cheer Slick Ric. I don’t think that’s the case anymore, except for a brief nostalgia pop.

478

He’s OUR scumbag! (heels who became fan favorites without explicitly turning face)

  1. MJF
  2. Stone Cold Steve Austin
  3. Ric Flair
  4. George ‘The Animal’ Steele

Well before the Rock ‘N’ Wrestling connection with Cyndi Lauper he had become a very entertaining wrestler. He exaggerated his heel routine with the green tongue, foreign objects, and chewing up the corner pads to the degree that the audience wanted to see him do it.

479

He’s OUR scumbag! (heels who became fan favorites without explicitly turning face)

  1. MJF
  2. Stone Cold Steve Austin
  3. Ric Flair
  4. George ‘The Animal’ Steele
  5. The Undertaker

Undertaker followed the WWF mold of “If you’re popular, we’re turning you face” ala Randy Savage and Roddy Piper. The turn was cemented when he stopped Jake “The Snake” Roberts from hitting Savage and Miss Elizabeth with a chair.

480

He’s OUR scumbag! (heels who became fan favorites without explicitly turning face)

  1. MJF
  2. Stone Cold Steve Austin
  3. Ric Flair
  4. George ‘The Animal’ Steele
  5. The Undertaker
  6. “Macho Man” Randy Savage

Mentioned in previous post --Savage became popular even before his official face turn due to his powerful charisma and extremely colorful intense promos.