Not that good?

Reverend Rudy

There have been so many greats in our sport, that fans have called overrated. From Hogan to Flair to Triple H, all these men have been criticized at one point or another is their career.

I think Hulk Hogan gets the most heat out of everybody. This to me seems very unfair and unjust. Usually people will point at someone's technical skills to rate a wrestler's value, but to do that is wrong. If that was the case, Hogan shouldn't even being inducted to the wrestling "Hall of Fame", but wrestling is way more than that. It's about keeping the fans interested, entertaining them, making them scream and having them watch you week in and week out. The Hulkster has done. During those Hulkamania days, people tuned in to WWF programming, to watch him (and the rest of the roster too of course) bodyslam Andre The Giant, flex his muscles and show us his 24" pythons. The WWf with him in command, took over the wrestling business and dominated the rest.

The same you can say for The Rock. The WWF, after struggling for many years (after WCW started producing better shows), took over the ratings with the help of all the "Attitude" stars, but especially Stone Cold, Mankind and The Rock. The last two have been critized for being "Not that good" and overly overrated.

Then you come to Ric Flair. This man as been refered to as the greatest of all time by some and overrated by others. I will go with the second choice here. Ric Flair for years, dominated a company that with all due respect, didn't even come close to the WWF. WCW/NWA with Naitch in command, had empty building and lost money. Ric Flair was the big fish in a very small pond. If he had chose to leave WCW for the WWF in the eighties, he would've turned out just like Harley Race and Dusty Rhodes, a big joke. In the WWF you had guys like Rowdy Roddy Piper, Paul Orndorff, Jake Roberts, Rick Rude and all of these men, as great as they were, never won the World title. Ric Flair wouldn't have either. If he had started his career in Vince's camp, he would have been at midcarder like those men I mentioned above. But Ric Flair was smart. He waited until his Legent grew to a point of no return.

I compare what happened to Flair, to Jerry Lawler and Larry Zbysko. Had these 2 men had started their career in the WWF, they would have been jobbing like the Brooklyn Brawler and Playboy Budddy Rose. But Jerry stayed in Memphis and dominated the small pond, to the point where the illusion of The King, grew so much that it was hard to ignore anymore. Same for Zbysko, who dominated AWA.

And what about Triple H? This one is a hard one to judge.ALot of people on here will say, that hadn't been for his marriage to Stephanie, he wouldn't have been as dominant as he is today. And others will say that he is the greatest heel of all time. I'm somewhat in the middle here. Hunter Hearst Helmsley was great back then. In the ring he could go with just about anyone. He could also draw immense heat to himself and yet, when he came out, people loved it. Loved to hate him as they say. That was Hunter. Today though, I think people just hate him. Today, his in ring skills have dimished and even though he is still good, he is not even close at the level he used to be.
Some of you will say, that he is better today (in the ring), than Hogan ever was. But Hogan never relied on his wrestling ablities to sell himself, he had his charisma, his looks, mic skills and whatever else. HHH doesn't really have that. He can be really charismatic at times, but for the most part, he isn't andon the mic he is average at best. He still looks good, even tho he seems to have gotten off the juice.
Would he have been the dominant factor, hadn't been for Stephanie? Not even close. As good as he was in 2000-02, today he shouldn't be where he is. He can put himself into a position, where he could win the World title 20 times, but that won't make him as good as Bret Hart or Steve Austin or Hulk Hogan, not even close.

Now, who do you think is "not that good"?

Danny Diamond

Founder/Admin

Good topic, Mr Rude. You put alot of time into this post. It should at least be acknowledged.


Unfortunetly it seems that no matter if you are Hulk Hogan, The Rock, Stone Cold or Ric Flair there will always be someone who thinks you are "not that good"


Many times a great gimmick can overcome a superstars lack of wrestling ability ala Hulk Hogan. Or you can have the exact opposite in someone like Chris Benoit.

Its very hard to have a quality combination of both.

As a wrestling fan most people seem to fall under one of two groups. The Storyline fan and the wrestling fan. Its finding the happy medium that is important.

thirty7

I gotta agree with the Rude One. I think Flair is severely overrated. And having said that, the Flair we get today is by far worse.

However in regards to Hunter. He can still go in the ring, it's just that he can't carry the lesser opponents. Put him in there with Benoit, HBK, Jericho and so on and he'll produce a great match. However you put him in there with a newer guy like Orton or a lesser worker like Kane and the match quality immediately drops.

I think to be called "great" you need to be able to provide the good to great matches with the weaker workers: whether that be with charisma (i.e. Hogan, Rock) or by wrestling skill (i.e. Benoit, HBK) because the guys who can do that are the true legends.

I wish my sex life was like ECW, first you get a One Night Stand followed by 2 months of nostalgic orgasms and then 6 months of constant sucking.

Narc

It was a bit too long, but a great read nontheless. I think, like Simon just said, everyone has gone through that. I think everybody has been accused of being overated. There are alot guys who i think r overated. Lex Luger might be on the top of my list lol. This guy had no charisma and in the last years he wrestled in WCW, he was brutal. I did like a bit as the Narcissist tho :WTF: . Also Batista is a bit overated imo .

K Jay

Batista is over-rated but his growing persona is giving us the entertainment so his in ring work does not have to be 100%. The answer to this question is going to vary from person to person and to answer it you have to look at what "you" as and indivdual want from wrestling. If you want a sound technical match then Chris Benoit is possibly the greatest draw of all time, but if you want a heel that can wind you up he`s poor. If you want a phenom that draws week after week then Goldberg is the best thing to ever hit pro wrestling but he`s not gonna carry a no-hoper thru a 30 min PPV match. Everyone`s answer will vary because everyone likes a different bit of the show. High-flyers will never carry main-events but they are gifted. Technical wrestlers will sometimes bore us. The greatest heels will get us down from time to time by continually talking themselves up and not auctually wrestling (i`m looking at you jarrett and helmsley) but it`s all part of the show and to say that someone is over-rated because they dont appeal to your veiw of what constitute to being a good wrestler will not run as the norm for every other wrestling fan.

PS Hogan Sucks

Blitzkrieg

I'm not sure I follow how Batista is overatted...


I don't think I ever heard anyone say that Batista is a great "wrestler" or that Batista is better than some of the old greats.

It's simple. Batista has a good look, a great storyline, and a cool calm demeanor that everyone likes. You have to admit that he's improved in the ring, but nobody said he was Benoit. What's wrong with people cheering for a new guy? Isn't that what we all want to see? We've been starved for somebody to come along and catch our attention and now that we got him we're supposed to come up with things so we can bitch about him?

That's why internet fans get bashed all the time. They always try to bring the guy on the top down (Triple H) , build up somebody new, and then tear that person down.

thirty7

I used to subscribe myself to that and I tried to believe it. I then popped in a tape of McMahon-Hogan from Mania 19 and despite the fact he isn't a great "wrestler" as such, it's hard not to get drawn into him.

The same kinda goes (on a much smaller scale) with me and Batista, I couldn't stand him. But he has truely evolved (with bad pun not intended) into an interesting character who I get drawn into despite not being a 4-5 star mat technician.

I wish my sex life was like ECW, first you get a One Night Stand followed by 2 months of nostalgic orgasms and then 6 months of constant sucking.

K Jay

I only put in the Hogan Sucks to draw heat. Personally i never bought hulkamania so i just did`nt feel Hogan. That said Rock V Hogan at mania was the most entertaining moment I have ever seen in wrestling but on that occasion 80.002 people did the entertaining rather than just 2.