# Who's your favorite professional wrestler? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 3, 2012, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-professional-wrestler/611623 "2012-02-03T04:22:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-professional-wrestler/611623/41 "2012-02-03T16:20:33Z")
> [@Darth\_Hamsandwich](#): > > **Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka** : no one could get the height that guy could leaping off the turnbuckle. Plus, he had a pretty awesome vendetta going with Roddy Piper. > > Honorable mentions: > > **The Unpredictable Johnny Rodz** and > **Special Delivery Jones** only because they were THE goto guys where you knew how the match was going to end. There was also **Quick Draw Rick McGraw** , and few people remember that, prior to his run in AWA, **Curt Hennig** was a fighting jobber for the WWF. Other former jobbers include the Hardy Boys and Mick Foley. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-professional-wrestler/611623/42 "2012-02-03T16:22:35Z")
> [@stanger](#): > > The slow wary walk around the inside of the ring, the classic face-plant that you saw in Rick Flair in later years - this is where they came from. Ric Flair and Greg Valentine teamed together in their early years. I think that is why there is so much similarity between the two (though Ric was always in better shape and few could match Flair’s charisma). ---
**Author:** ![WreckingCrew](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wreckingcrew/32/4080_2.png) [@WreckingCrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WreckingCrew)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-professional-wrestler/611623/43 "2012-02-03T16:24:35Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > **WreckingCrew** , did you ever come up to the Friendly Tap? It changed ownership recently and is no longer a wrestling bar, but Matt used to bartend occasionally between gigs. I’ve been there a few times, but never when Matt was working. I’m down in Warwick, so that is a bit of a haul for a brew. My parents are still in Lincoln, basically right across the river from the Friendly Tap. I ran into Matt’s parents a few years ago. They said, “oh, did you know that he is a wrestler now?” Trust me, Mrs. Hyson, I knew. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-professional-wrestler/611623/44 "2012-02-03T16:29:02Z")
> [@WreckingCrew](#): > > I’ve been there a few times, but never when Matt was working. I’m down in Warwick, so that is a bit of a haul for a brew. My parents are still in Lincoln, basically right across the river from the Friendly Tap. > > I ran into Matt’s parents a few years ago. They said, “oh, did you know that he is a wrestler now?” Trust me, Mrs. Hyson, I knew. Cool. We have to do a RI wrestling fan dopefest some day. ---
**Author:** ![WreckingCrew](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wreckingcrew/32/4080_2.png) [@WreckingCrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WreckingCrew)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-professional-wrestler/611623/45 "2012-02-03T16:32:16Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Cool. We have to do a RI wrestling fan dopefest some day. I’m friends with Matt on Facebook, I’ll see if he can be our celebrity guest. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-professional-wrestler/611623/46 "2012-02-03T16:48:55Z")
> [@Darth\_Hamsandwich](#): > > **Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka** : no one could get the height that guy could leaping off the turnbuckle. Plus, he had a pretty awesome vendetta going with Roddy Piper. Snuka all the way. I was a wrestling fan for a brief moment in the early 80’s before it went national. A person in the northeast had no idea about the goings on in other territories unless you read the magazines. In the WWF at that time, nobody was more exciting than Jimmy Snuka. The Piper feud was really Snuka’s final big run in the WWF, IMHO. Prior to that he had great storylines involving [Bob Backlund (when Snuka was a heel)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGZXwMU1lOc) , then [as a face with Ray Stevens](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Btmeq53dM2A), and then [Don Muraco](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncsF7ST9n4I). I vividly remember watching the start of the Muraco feud, and was later at one of their matches in Madison Square Garden. There was a lot of Superfly Snuka in Mickey Roarke’s “Randy the Ram”, I think. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-professional-wrestler/611623/47 "2012-02-03T16:52:00Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > There was a lot of Superfly Snuka in Mickey Roarke’s “Randy the Ram”, I think. The story was supposed to be based on Jake the Snake. But even Roarke couldn’t pull off looking as messed up as that. He probably did go to Superfly or Macho Man for the wrestling persona he portrayed. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-professional-wrestler/611623/48 "2012-02-03T17:25:29Z")
My favorite was Roddy Piper, I followed him from back when he was only a regional pre-WWF wrestler. Later, Lanny Poffo was my favorite, both in his “Leaping” and “Poet” identities 🙂 Both wrestlers brought a sense of intelligence, wit, and genuine class to ring. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-professional-wrestler/611623/49 "2012-02-03T17:40:38Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > I’m an old school fan. Mid-70s through the early 90s in particular. I quit watching the modern product after the infamous [Katie Vick](http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/oww/hallofshame/katievick.html) simulated necrophilia incident. > > That said, my all time favorite performer was Cowboy Bill Watts. YES - Cowboy Bill. I knew his sons. ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-professional-wrestler/611623/50 "2012-02-03T18:16:03Z")
All time, either Mick Foley or HBK. Right now, I think CM Punk is just killing it, and I agree with others that Dolph Ziggler has big time potential. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-professional-wrestler/611623/51 "2012-02-03T18:36:22Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I love hearing peoples wrestling stories. I should have added my favorite tag team of all time, The Fabulous Freebirds. They were the actual originators of rock music themes. The original team of Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, and perhaps the best tag wrestler ever, Buddy Roberts were truly fabulous. Like so many teams, the later versions were second rate. Oh man…The 'Birds were awesome. The first heels I sorta liked, even though I cheered the babyfaces against them. 1978, maybe '79. Mid-South Championship wrestling. A jobber team is waiting in the ring, and all of a sudden there is music? Announcer Boyd Pierce wondered on air where the music was coming from…then Michael and Terry came strutting to the ring. At first it was just the two of them, but Watts, for some reason I have never understood, did not like Hayes in the ring. He put Roberts with Gordy as a seasoned veteran…and also to protect Gordy. The 'Birds could lose occasionally by someone pinning Buddy, while keeping Gordy as the strong bad ass type. Hayes was mostly relegated to a manager’s role at the time. The 'Birds won the tag belts from Watts & Robley, went on to “blind” JYD in one of the hottest angles anywhere. The blowoff to that feud, with Hayes and JYD in a dog collar/cage match at the Superdome, set an attendance record that I think still stands for a wrestling show in that building. Here’s a song I ran across the other day that brings back memories…I don’t remember them actually using it as entrance music, but it was on a WCW album… [Freebird Forever](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYp4nxMLlzI) ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-professional-wrestler/611623/52 "2012-02-03T19:05:54Z")
Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka The Wild Samoans - Afa, Sika and then later Samula George “The Animal” Steele Junkyard Dog Pedro Morales Ivan Putsky “Iron” Mike Sharpe ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-professional-wrestler/611623/53 "2012-02-03T19:13:00Z")
…and just because this thread is dredging up so many memories… Our long time ‘heel’ in the Pac NW regional wrestling in the '80s was “Mean” Mike Miller. As kids, we all hated him, booed him, and pretended to be him. He was an amazing wrestling personality. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-professional-wrestler/611623/54 "2012-02-03T20:09:33Z")
Ok how about the Jobbers? Who are your favorite ham 'n eggers? Reno Riggins and Barry Horowitz are mine. Reno Riggins used to be really entertaining beating up Tatanka until his ineveitble comeback. Barry was the guy you couldn’t help cheer for because he was always just _this_ close, but you knew he wouldn’t win. There was another guy that WWF used once or twice named Fallen Angel who I thought was pretty good. I saw him wrestle on Windy City Wrestling once and thought the big leagues should take a look at him. I don’t know where he is now. Edit: looks like he’s still around: [Christopher Daniels - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Daniels) ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-professional-wrestler/611623/55 "2012-02-03T20:16:16Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > Ok how about the Jobbers? Who are your favorite ham 'n eggers? Back in the 80s it was Terry Taylor, better known at the time as the Red Rooster. I would pretend to be him a lot because I liked the strut. In the lae 90s WCW, the most memorable for me is Glacier, who got his clock cleaned by Goldberg in about 20 seconds. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-professional-wrestler/611623/56 "2012-02-03T20:27:11Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > The Piper feud was really Snuka’s final big run in the WWF, IMHO. Prior to that he had great storylines involving [Bob Backlund (when Snuka was a heel)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGZXwMU1lOc) Everyone seems to remember Snuka splashing Muraco off of the top of the cage, but no one ever brings up Snuka missing the cage top splash on Backlund. > [@TriPolar](#): > > The story was supposed to be based on Jake the Snake. But even Roarke couldn’t pull off looking as messed up as that. He probably did go to Superfly or Macho Man for the wrestling persona he portrayed. Fuzzy memory has me remembering reading that Lex Luger was among the amalgam of characters used to create Randy the Ram, though the story was mostly Jake. And I think it would be more appropriate to say that even the Snake looks _less_ messed up than Mickey Roarke. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-professional-wrestler/611623/57 "2012-02-03T21:20:20Z")
I also liked George “The Animal” Steele. King Kong Bundy was pretty cool, too. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-professional-wrestler/611623/58 "2012-02-03T22:19:10Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > Back in the 80s it was Terry Taylor, better known at the time as the Red Rooster. I would pretend to be him a lot because I liked the strut. That gimmick was a tragic waste of a damn fine worker. Taylor was a former North American Heavyweight Champion in Mid South, and a great talent. Vince McMahon liked to lure top talent away from the territories, and then ruin them with bad gimmicks. Did the same thing to Hacksaw Duggan, The Sheepherders, One Man Gang, Dusty Rhodes, and to a lesser extent Ted Dibiase…though Dibiase excelled in the Million Dollar Man gimmick and it worked in WWF, it was typically silly and cartoonish. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-professional-wrestler/611623/59 "2012-02-04T01:07:04Z")
Dusty and Hacksaw also made their characters work, and the Sheepherders achieved popularity (and payouts) like nothing they had known before. One Man Gang had a decent run in his original persona before being subverted to Akeem the African Dream (or whatever they named him). ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-professional-wrestler/611623/60 "2012-02-04T01:54:05Z")
I think Vince liked to own the gimmicks used in his company so he couldn’t build a star and then have them go somewhere else for more money. He wanted to repackage Vader as “The Mastadon” but Cornette claims he put his foot down. I can still remember the announcers calling him The Mastadon though. I still think Owen and Bulldog should have held the big belt at least once each. Heck, Bulldog was in half of the main events at PPVs in 95 and 96. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-professional-wrestler/611623.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-professional-wrestler/611623.md?page=4)