Worst Five Accomplished Wrestlers (In Terms of In-Ring Work)?

[DitchMarner]

Which accomplished wrestlers are the worst at actual wrestling?


I'd go with:


5. The Rock: He was electrifying and could be funny as hell, but he was always much better at talking than wrestling.

4. Kevin Nash: Limited and generic big man.

3. Bill Goldberg: He could work a solid enough match under the right circumstances, but too often it was just gorilla press slam, spear and jackhammer. I was never a fan.

2. Hulk Hogan: Whenever I want to see a technical masterpiece, Hulk Hogan is pretty much the last big name wrestler I want to watch.

1. The Ultimate Warrior: LOAD DA SPACESHIP WITH DA ROCKET FUEL AND FEEL THE POWER OF THE WARRRRRRIIIIOOOORRRRRR AAAARRRRGGHHHHHH!!!!!!! Not my cup of tea.


Honorable mentions:

John Cena (circa 2004 to 2010 or so)
Steve Austin (post neck injury to late 1999/2000 hiatus): Similar to The Rock in this era, but I give him a slight edge.
Scott Steiner: His skills and abilities took a noticeable dip around the time his promos and character markedly improved. He was all right in WCW toward the end of the company's run but sucked ass in early 2003 in the WWE.


Not quite there:

HHH: I wouldn't put him in the same class as guys like Flair or Jericho when it comes to wrestling, but to me he was a clear notch above the Hogans and Warriors in his prime.
The Undertaker (in his first decade): I think he deserves somewhat of a pass because of his character and the wrestlers he had to work with. Could Hart or Michaels have gotten good matches out of Giant Gonzales or King Mabel?
Sheamus: Not particularly bad or anything but generic and pretty bland.

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[CDJ]

Steiner was great in the ring for a pretty damn long period of time imo

I think HHH is a great worker. I’m not even a fan of his tbh but he’s been a part of many a great match

1-3 are on the money, in that order too imo

 

[alko]

Giant Gonzales

 

[JackSlater]

Probably Ultimate Warrior on top, the guy was jacked and had a unique way about him but in ring he absolutely needed to be carried. He had no sense for wrestling and wasn't athletic. I have come around in the last little while on Warrior's promos though, I enjoy them now where I use to think they were trash. Cena absolutely deserves to be on any such list as well. Goofy selling that never really improved as he took move after move on his ass, poor execution of all kinds of moves, terrible psychology, especially at the end of matches where he would bury people needlessly. I'd put Orton on a list like this as well, for whatever talent eople often accuse him of having he doesn't seem to put it to good use. Batista was bad before he was on top, bad when he was on top, and has been bad ever since. Sgt. Slaughter was really popular in the 1980s but I hate his boring matches. Giant Baba matches are a chore to get through despite his big name status in Japan.

I wouldn't put Steiner or HHH anywhere on such a list because each of them showed the ability to lead a great match. Steiner was one of the best in ring wrestlers in the world in the early 90s, though of course when he started losing the feeling in his foot in the last 90s and beyond he sucked. HHH did have a short but high peak around 2000 that I have to respect despite how much I generally dislike him. JYD is a good mention as well, he was terrible in WWF and I don't care for his work under Watts.

 

[Sheppy]

Cena just looks incredibly uncoordinated, honestly.

 

[boredmale]

I have come around in the last little while on Warrior's promos though, I enjoy them now where I use to think they were trash.

Warriors promos fit him perfectly. Sure they were complete gibberish and sounded crazy, but look at his character, they made us believe he was a lunatic. lol

 

[Unholy Diver]

Bruno Sammartino, as a Pittsburgher it might be sacrilege, but all Bruno did was brawl, kick, punch, bearhug, granted it was a much different time but he was pretty limited from what I recall

 

[KIRK]

Steiner was great in the ring for a pretty damn long period of time imo

I think HHH is a great worker. I’m not even a fan of his tbh but he’s been a part of many a great match

1-3 are on the money, in that order too imo

Yeah, I'm not putting Steiner in that category. He was a NCAA Division 1 All American

 

[JackSlater]

Bruno Sammartino, as a Pittsburgher it might be sacrilege, but all Bruno did was brawl, kick, punch, bearhug, granted it was a much different time but he was pretty limited from what I recall

Good call, even for the time his stuff is not good. WWE revision paints Sammartino as a more famous wrestler than he was as well. When you win the war you get to write a lot of the history though.

 

[DitchMarner]

I didn't follow that closely when he was pushed as a top guy, but JBL was never that good in the ring, was he?

Khali was absolute dog shit, but I'm not sure he's that "accomplished" (he did beat Undertaker and he won the WWE Championship).

Where would guys like Lex Luger and Sycho Sid rank?

 

[reckoning]

I'm limiting my list to guys who had fairly long runs of several years; I'm not counting people like Zeus or Giant Gonzalez who only had short cups of coffee. I'm also not counting Vince McMahon, who had some of the worst matches I've ever seen, but wrestling wasn't his full-time job:

#1 - Brutus Beefcake: Had no in-ring ability whatsoever, but managed to have a long career near the top of the card only because he was good friends with Hulk Hogan. It's very telling that most of his feuds in WWF were against their best workers: Valentine, Martel, Savage, Hennig, etc. And none of them could get a good match out of him.

#2 - Kevin Nash: Certainly had charisma and knew how to work a crowd, but was incapable of executing the most basic holds properly.

#3 - Ryback: Less talent than Sheamus, but just as boring.

#4 - Ultimate Warrior: His matches were just one clothesline after another.

#5 - Honky Tonk Man: A great heel personality who could get nuclear heat with the fans, but any attempts he'd make at actual wrestling were pathetic.

 

[Ben Grimm]

Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Andre the Giant, Junkyard Dog, and Hornswoggle.

 

[alko]

Cena absolutely deserves to be on any such list as well. Goofy selling that never really improved as he took move after move on his ass, poor execution of all kinds of moves, terrible psychology, especially at the end of matches where he would bury people needlessly. I'd put Orton on a list like this as well, for whatever talent eople often accuse him of having he doesn't seem to put it to good use.

Hm. I stopped watching WWF in the 2000s, then only briefly here and there. I know Cena has this very stupid finishing move. But anyway, Why did the WWE make him the Face of the company?

 

[BostonBob]

Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Andre the Giant, Junkyard Dog, and Jackie Gayda.

Andre was actually pretty good before he messed up his knees and then got real heavy. My top 5 picks are:

- Ultimate Warrior ( he sucked even before he got to the WWF )
- Hulk Hogan ( outside of a few good matches in Japan the guy was a complete joke in the ring )
- El Gigante / Giant Gonzales ( it was laughable that WCW tried to make him a credible contender for Flair's title )
- Ahmed Johnson ( not sure what was worse - his matches or his interviews )
- The ( not so ) Great Khali ( only got his big push in the WWE because Vince wanted the Indian market )

 

[JackSlater]

I didn't follow that closely when he was pushed as a top guy, but JBL was never that good in the ring, was he?

Khali was absolute dog shit, but I'm not sure he's that "accomplished" (he did beat Undertaker and he won the WWE Championship).

Where would guys like Lex Luger and Sycho Sid rank?

I don't care for either guy, but they aren't atrocious. In terms of in ring work Luger is basically the rich man's Ultimate Warrior, Sid is like a well off man's Kevin Nash.

Hm. I stopped watching WWF in the 2000s, then only briefly here and there. I know Cena has this very stupid finishing move. But anyway, Why did the WWE make him the Face of the company?

It's never been about putting the best in-ring wrestler on top. When Vince took over he went after Hogan, who is a bit underrated in-ring but certainly wasn't the best on the roster. Then he tried out Warrior, who was maybe the worst on the roster. Then he went to Bret Hart, who actually was the best on the roster, but Vince never really liked him at the top. He went to Michaels, again best on the roster, but it didn't work out. Then it was Austin, not the best on the roster, then HHH, not the best on the roster, then Cena, not the best on the roster, and then Reigns, not the best on the roster. Cena sold a lot of merchandise compared to the rest of the roster and kids liked him so WWE pushed him to the moon. Since Vince had no competition he was free to push terrible babyface Cena endlessly despite him actively turning off huge parts of the audience.

 

[DaaaaB's]

Ultimate Warrior
Goldberg
Big Show
Kevin Nash
Honky Tonk Man

Id say Kane deserves to be mentioned in this thread. Maybe not top 5 but I've always thought he sucked.

 

[Kaner9]

Sheamus and Ryback and Batista comes to mind. Big Slow too. And Shane Douglas.

Oh and seeing Rock mentioned... smh

 

[Sheppy]

Ultimate Warrior
Goldberg
Big Show
Kevin Nash
Honky Tonk Man

Id say Kane deserves to be mentioned in this thread. Maybe not top 5 but I've always thought he sucked.

I thought he was good awful in his later years. I hated watching him take a DDT or a Pedigree. Just absolutely brutal.