Brooklyn Brawler and The others

[alko]

In 90s, there was very different format of weekley WWF shows. Many matches between some "loosers" and Stars. The output was very well know before it begann.

Why did the WWF make it so?

And who were the famoust ones? I have in my head Brooklyn Brawler. But there were for sure another guys.

 

[Kimi]

The name for those guys is 'jobbers'. And there were thousands of them. Usually they were local guys who worked for small local companies or sometimes trainees.


The reason for the shows being formatted like that was due to how the wrestling business used to work before big TV deals and PPV show.

Back in the american territorial days wrestling companies made most of their money from ticket sales for house shows, and they used TV to promote those shows to sell more tickets. Every company had a small circuit they used to run, going to every town once every three or four weeks (it varied a lot, bigger town were run more than others). So to get people to go to their house shows, they'd build up a big match on TV and then do the match on every show. Once that match had happened, they'd do a re-cap on TV and start building the next one.

Everyone wanted to see stars face each other, and they would buy tickets for it. So to fill up TV time they would have the stars face jobbers so that the stars could show off. There were still some real matches on TV, but far less than you have today. For example, if you had a tournament going on you might have a match between two lower tier stars on TV, and there was usually a mid-card 'TV title' that was defended on TV.


It's not unlike how in more recent history WWE would build up a match for a PPV show, and have the match take place there with the money coming from PPV buys instead of house show tickets. What made it change to the current format was the rivalry with WCW in the 90s. WCW put big matches on TV and attracted views, so WWF had to do the same to keep up. With time TV ratings became far more important and TV contracts got bigger and bigger, and that's where we are today.

Ironically, I find the old TV format far more enjoyable to watch than the current star filled shows. I really enjoy watching late 80s WCW for example. But I think NXT does a good job of balancing the two formats.



As for some famous jobbers, there are too many to list. If you google "WWF jobbers" you'll probably find bunch of lists. But there are some big stars who started off jobbers. Both Matt and Jeff Hardy were jobbers of WWF TV before becoming stars. Big Boss Man was a jobber on WCW before turning into a star. There are probably a bunch more.

 

[Fro]

my favorite will always be Barry Horowitz

 

[JackSlater]

Kimi did a good job explaining the reasons for jobbers. I will add that in the 90s and earlier much more thought was given to long term storylines and protecting certain matches. In addition to pure time wasting matches, you also needed to have matches to build the reputations of new wrestlers or keep a wrestler busy while he waited to face his PPV opponent in a few months. Cue a jobber to get them a win and keep them in people's minds.

As for famous jobbers, you can't discuss them without mentioning the Hulk Hogan of jobbers, Barry Horowitz.

One of my favourite jobbers was from WCW. The Gambler. Sometimes he looked like a sleazy guy from Las Vegas (though for some reason wearing wrestling tights). Other times he looked like a riverboat gambler.

 

[CaptainCrunch67]

 

[Behn Wilson]

I would say the holy trinity of WWE jobbers was

Brooklyn Brawler
Iron Mike Sharpe &
Barry Horowitz

In early AWA days was favorite jobber was:
Jake The Milkman Milliman

Others were
Barry O
Special Delivery Jones
Jose Luis Rivera

 

[reckoning]

Kimi did a good job explaining it. The weekly tv shows were glorified commercials for the house shows, and later the PPVs. The ratings for these tv shows didn't matter.

One of the more famous examples was Mick Foley jobbing in a handful of matches in WWF in the mid-80s. (In a match against the Bulldogs, Dynamite Kid hurt him pretty bad- just for fun). Foley said in his book that he didn't want to do too many WWF appearances in that role, because he was worried if the fans recognized him as a jobber, he'd be typecast as one forever.

Almost everybody started out as one back then, usually in small promotions. Eventually they'd go somewhere else, and get repackaged as someone who could be higher on the card. The only way to get "fast-tracked" past the "paying your dues as a jobber" phase was if you were very large physically, or if you were a second-generation wrestler.

 

[Reality Check]

The Attitude Era all but ended the jobber. Unless for the high profile ones(Curt Hawkins).

 

[Hackett]

Back in the early 90s, the only was content I remember was on Saturday afternoons. It was called superstars or cavalcade wrestling or something. That was pretty much all jobbers versus stars.

It seemed to change when I started watching raw in the mid 90s.

 

[jbell886]

 

[Paris in Flames]

After much thought. I've finally decided on a favourite.

 

[iamjs]

WCW was a jobber showcase. At best, you'd get jobber vs midcarder or a jobber to the stars.

More often than not, you would get stuff like this:

 

[GarbageGoal]

Sharpe
Jose Luis Rivera
Mr X (Danny Davis)
Special Delivery Jones
Tony Garea
Barry Hardy
Duane Gill
Joe Mirto
Rusty Brooks
Silent Brian Mackney
Johnny K-9

 

[alko]

And there was "1-2-3 Kid", Sean Waltman.

He was also a jobber, wasn't he? And then suddenly he won a match vs Razor Ramon. Never liked this wrestler. I dont know why. Maybe because i his early days he looked so skinny in compare to other wrestlers.

What a shock, when i later discovered, that he was active in some adult movies and what a personal troubles he had.

 

[Oil Dude]

And there was "1-2-3 Kid", Sean Waltman.

He was also a jobber, wasn't he? And then suddenly he won a match vs Razor Ramon. Never liked this wrestler. I dont know why. Maybe because i his early days he looked so skinny in compare to other wrestlers.

What a shock, when i later discovered, that he was active in some adult movies and what a personal troubles he had.

The Hardy Boys and Mick Foley were also jobbers at one point in time. Hell it took me 5 years to not buy the Hardys as jobbers when I was younger.

 

[bruins309]

Sharpe
Jose Luis Rivera
Mr X (Danny Davis)
Special Delivery Jones
Tony Garea
Barry Hardy
Duane Gill
Joe Mirto
Rusty Brooks
Silent Brian Mackney
Johnny K-9

Let us not forget AJ Petruzzi, the 3rd best AJ in WWE history.

Also Ricky Ataki, Tom Stone, Fred Marzino, and Tony Colon.

Johnny Rodz had a more unique role in the Vince Sr. era. He was effectively like a proving ground for new guys coming in, and would report back to the brass.

Michael Jackson (not that one) is king of the southern jobbers.

 

[iamjs]

Michael Jackson (not that one) is king of the southern jobbers.

which should not be confused with Michael Saxon

I believe Johnny K-9 is doing time and once claimed to have played for an OHL team. I'll look it up once I get home.

 

[Kimi]

K-9 was in prison but released last year. He died in February. Going by his wiki page, he had a bunch of gang related legal problems.

 

[sabremike]

which should not be confused with Michael Saxon

I believe Johnny K-9 is doing time and once claimed to have played for an OHL team. I'll look it up once I get home.

Actualy he just recently died. He was heavily involved with biker gangs and did prison time for bombing a police station and also for killing people. The fact that he did so little prison time doesn't speak well for the Canadian justice system.

 

[iamjs]

wow he was in some deep **** with gangs.

I still can't find anything about his time in the OHL. Nothing on hockeydb, nothing with Kitchener and Croitoru. I'm thinking at best he made it into camp and was cut immediately.

This is the closest thing I can find:

He also had a brief Junior A hockey career with the Kitchener Rangers where
he played defence. But a coach -- who didn't like his bruising style --
bounced him and squelched any dreams he had of professional hockey.

http://wrestlingclassics.com/cgi-bin/.ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=print_topic;f=9;t=056523

 

[Reality Check]

And there was "1-2-3 Kid", Sean Waltman.

He was also a jobber, wasn't he? And then suddenly he won a match vs Razor Ramon. Never liked this wrestler. I dont know why. Maybe because i his early days he looked so skinny in compare to other wrestlers.

What a shock, when i later discovered, that he was active in some adult movies and what a personal troubles he had.

Waltman was highly regarded and targeted before signing with WWE. He was never intended for enhancement talent. Just an angle they always wanted to use and it took off.

Now a couple of years later WWE giving a push to Barry Horowitz, who was a well-known jobber, is the example you're looking for. This was also a period where WWF(and WCW for that matter) were both awful.

 

[cupcrazyman]

Frankie Williams

 

[Ozz]

WCW's late '90s midcard jobbers were awesome. Some crazy, stupid gimmicks they didn't care much about and you could tell the guys had insane amounts of fun with. At the time, myself and many other fans alike much preferred those guys over the main eventers especially when/after the NWO jumped the shark, beat it, buried it, dug it up, jumped over it again, etc. For instance, that's where Jericho became a cult hero long before he was a legit champ, star, huge name, etc.

But in the spirit of this thread, here are some huge losers that I laughed at as a child:

 

[GarbageGoal]

Also want to mention Rick Hunter (face) and The Gladiator (heel). Bruno once referred to The Gladiator as "Hunter" a few weeks before his departure from the WWF and we thought he got fired for blowing kayfabe!

 

[iamjs]

WCW's late '90s midcard jobbers were awesome. Some crazy, stupid gimmicks they didn't care much about and you could tell the guys had insane amounts of fun with. At the time, myself and many other fans alike much preferred those guys over the main eventers especially when/after the NWO jumped the shark, beat it, buried it, dug it up, jumped over it again, etc. For instance, that's where Jericho became a cult hero long before he was a legit champ, star, huge name, etc.

But in the spirit of this thread, here are some huge losers that I laughed at as a child:

I caught a podcast with Mancini awhile back. He seemed like a decent guy who wasn't pissed at the business for being a jobber. I can't find the interview right now, but I found these clips from Tuesday Night Titans where Vince would bring brought out a few jobbers... err, "unsung heroes" each for one week for a very short interview.