Indy wrestlers who would get over in WWE

[Guest ShooterJay]

OVW has dried up for the immediate future-there is no marketable talent in development right now, and if WWE wants to plan for their future (yeah, right) they'll have to turn to the indys eventually. So, who do you think would get over in WWE from ROH/CZW/XPW/Wildside? I'm not going to list the usual suspects (Daniels, Low Ki, AJ) for the following reasons: A) Everyone should accept by now that Daniels will never be signed, and he makes a perfectly good living as it is. B) Ki has stated numerous times he will not change his style. C) AJ is better suited in a main event role- I just can't picture him jobbing on Velocity (same with the other two, in fact.) He's a huge star in TNA anyway, and under written contract to them. So here's the list:

 

1. CM Punk- I just discovered this guy's work recently, and HOLY SHIT was I impressed. His ring work is so tight, from spots to psychology, and can work any type of match- hardcore brawl, 2/3 falls tech match, ladder match, iron man match, you name it. His microphone skills are incredible- at ROH he managed to turn from face to heel in two seconds flat and become one of the most over heels in the promotion. The straight-edge heel gimmick is 100% original to WWE, and actually socially relevant As Sandman pointed out to me though, he'd need to get rid of that damn Pepsi tattoo.

 

2. Backseat Boyz- WWE is desperately hurting for a tag division, so I have no idea why these guys haven't been signed up already. I have never seen a tag team in such perfect sync with each other, and they have seemingly dozens of crowd-popping doubleteams. Acid's not great on the stick, but Kashmere is- he's got a loopy charisma to him. They could be the Hardyz for the 21st century, but BETTER. I think they're bigger than the Hardyz too. (well, bigger than Jeff at least.)

 

3. Red- no matter how much "WWE style" is forced down our throats, it's become glaringly obvious that fans want to see highspots- look how fast Rey got over. At this point, Red can do any spot Rey can, and better. He'd be the smallest wrestler in the company too, so he'd get underdog heat.

 

4. Nick Mondo- sick of Jeff Hardy's "personal issues?" Well, here's a guy who will GLADLY kill himself for you. I think an actual serious hardcore division could really freshen up WWE, and Mondo is the guy to deliver it. Unfortunately, it seems like the guy really does have a death wish (he's volunteered ALREADY for that friggin' 1 million thumbtack match) so he'll likely be out of wrestling in a year.

 

5. Paul London- has to be seen to be believed. The most incredible pure athlete I've seen in the indys EVER- he'll cleanly hit spots you didn't think were possible, and he's a damn fine wrestler too. The fact that he's just barely a 2 year pro is mind-boggling. A guy WWE could definitely build a serious and strong (those being the key words) cruiserweight division around.

 

6. Dunn and Marcos- that catchphrase is GOLD baby! And hey, somebody's gotta fill Spike Dudley's role when he takes one bump too many. (Half-kidding about this one).

 

Any differing opinions?

[Guest Sandman9000]

Mondo's looked at as a deathmatch wrestler, which is a no-no in Wee's eyes. I think that DQ's Messiah, and I think Messiah would do much better then Mondo, even with only one thumb.

 

Homicide is as versatile as Punk, if not more.

[Guest Youth N Asia]

I'm a CM Punk mark. But he's too big to be a cruiserweight and too small to be a heavyweight. Unless they brought him in to team with someone, or with Hero or Cabana I don't think he's stand a chance.

 

Trent Acid should be a star though. I like Kashmere, but Trent's the star of the Backseat Boys. He could be a great heel.

 

Red fuckin sucks and I'm not overly impressed with Dunn and Marcos

[Guest What?]

Paul London...

 

 

'nuff said

[Guest ShooterJay]

Red fuckin sucks and I'm not overly impressed with Dunn and Marcos

I was joking about Dunn and Marcos- I mark for goofy jobber teams. Check the sig.

 

I don't get the Red hate, since he's stolen the show with Hidaka, Ki and a lot of the other upper echelon indy workers. He's worlds above Divine Storm and the Maximos. But hey, that's your opinion, I respect that.

 

Homicide is more versatile than Punk in terms of ringwork. But there's three strikes against him in WWE-land.

 

1. He's old (for an indy wrestler at least)

2. He's black (just stating fact, don't flame me)

3. He's marble-mouthed.

 

And Chris Hero would never in a million years get over outside of IWA. Cabana yes, if they partnered him with somebody.

[Guest Sandman9000]

And if Cabana could stop saying fuck every fifth word.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

Red would get over.

[Guest bigdunn20]

Mondo will need to learn how to run the ropes first.

[Betty Houle 0]

I have my doubts about Red getting over.

 

#1 - He ain't particularly good.

 

#2 - He lookds like a 11-year-old girl. I think the majority of WWE fans would find him laughable.

 

#3 - Look at the WWE. Mysterio is a rare exception to the rule: Tiny guys don't get over.

 

BTW, if people love 90-pound guys doing flips and flops, how come junior high school gymnastics aren't drawing 1000's and 1000's?

[Guest Pegasus Kid]

Out of that batch I doubt WWE would even consider anyone outside of Red and London and upon further looking it'd end up like this:

 

Red: Lots of experience for a worker so young. While a dynamic performer, Red has yet to lock down any of the necessities of working a layered match. His aerial offense, while impressive is not polished by any means and there is a great potential for missed spots and subsequent injury to either himself or his opponent(s). He is too much of a risk at the present.

 

Paul London: While a fundamentally sound performer and well rounded in both mat work, high flying and constructing a well worked match, London has no physical qualities that set him apart from any other US Independant worker. His look could condemn him as generic in the eyes of the paying audience and would make for a difficult situation in getting him over.

 

Jim Ross - Looking for a seven foot high flyer

[Guest Goodear]

I've never seen a few of those guys so I won't comment on them.

 

I think Mondo has some talent but is basically wasting it by bleeding from every pore at every opportunity. With all of the scars on the guy, I think WWE would shy away from him.

 

Red is visually impressive, but has a bad case of indy desease, where he's got nice moves but has no clue about when to use them. He doesn't know how to build anything up and commonly ends up just chucking as many spots together in a row as he can. He is better than The Maximos, but they have the same problems that he does added to offense that obviously requires serious opponent cooperation to work.

 

I really think The Biscoes could be potential WWE guys once Mark fills out a little more and if they can get away from the head dropping finishers a little more. They have a good grasp of chain wrestling that a lot of the indy guys just don't have and seem to have pretty good personality if shakey dilivery in their promos.

[Guest Tim Cooke]

Maybe I am just watching a different Paul London, but the numerous times that I have seen him live and with all the tapes I have of him, his look isn't bland.

 

He has the look of that huge babyface star who is willing to do battle with the bad heel.

 

It's all about how you carry yourself in the ring. If you go out like John Cena originally did as a face and not do anything worthy of being a face, then your stuck.

 

But if you go out there with some fire, some emotion, plan your spots accordingly, and get yourself over as a face, people will accept you. People want to cheer the good guys in this day and age believe it or not.

 

London is one of those guys who just has the prescence about him. He doesn't need to do all the highspots to get himself over. Luckily, he has those in his back pocket for insurance. But if you booked him to do "hot" babyface spots, he would get over just as well.

 

Tim, who saw London do ONLY 2-3 highspots in his best match ever on 12/7/02.

[Betty Houle 0]

I'm still waiting for someone to mention Blow-Ki...

[Mecha Mummy 0]

But there's three strikes against him in WWE-land.

 

1. He's old (for an indy wrestler at least)

2. He's black (just stating fact, don't flame me)

3. He's marble-mouthed.

Ahmed Johnson.

 

"SAWEEFSHALREHLKHELGNLAWERKH!!! YUHR! GUHN! DAUWN!"

[Guest Pegasus Kid]

I'm still waiting for someone to mention Blow-Ki...

Too stiff, too reckless, too dangerous. He'd definitely need "re-programming" because Ki is basically the opposite of what WWE wants.

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

Red is just a spot monkey, but he's the type of spot monkey who would get over with the WWE crowds fast and easily. Tell me that the Red Star Press wouldn't make that crowd mark the fuck out.

 

American Dragon, if marketed right could be the next Chris Benoit, the guy has the selling, killer psychology and moveset to make it big. If pushed as the "Tech Killer" or the guy who'll use mat wrestling to fuck you up he could be huge. And the cattle mutilation would get over in a heartbeat.

 

I'm not going to go out of my way to pimp Low-Ki but the guy had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand in a Metal match I saw from 2001 with Essa Rios.

 

I'm going to go with Tim Cooke on this one and say that London has the best chance of making it. He's got a style in the ring that seems to come naturally to him and has a great babyface look.

[Guest Nevermortal]

Samoa Joe: He's fuckin' big, and Samoan (not related to the WWE samoans, but they really like the Island Boys). If he tones up and turns his gut and boobie flab into muscle, he'd probably be signed in a second.

[Guest Doyo]

If Low Ki toned it down just a little he wouldn't be any more stiff

than Tajiri. I'd bet Ki would have no problem doing this for a bigger paycheck.

Of course if the WWE ever signed him, he wouldn't get used any better than

Tajiri has been used. Brock's shooting star was more danger to himself

than anything Low Ki would do to him.

[Guest Phoenix Fury Legdrop]

Shawn "Hotstuff" Hernandez (he's got size and charisma, and is over HUGE in Wildside like a legit main eventer after maybe 5 shows there)

 

Samoa Joe

 

Salvatore Rinauro (if he bulks up; one of the most charismatic indy guys ever, even more so than Brian Kendrick)

 

Colt Cabana (minus the f-word)

 

Nate Hatred (just so he gets the hell away from actual good talent. He ruined a lot of stuff that could have been good (mainly no-selling for Team Wildside, and making Chris Hero look like a jobber)

 

Doug Williams

[Guest ChaosTheory]

Some that you have already listed:

 

Paul London

Samoa Joe

Hotstuff Hernandez (with a little more seasoning)

Backseat Boyz

Briscoes (In about 2 years)

and what about....

 

EZ Money- I know he had a run in WWE developmental land-but this guy just seems like he was tailor made for WWE/Sports Entertainment. He has a good moveset and would be great at putting over mid-card guys in WWE.

[Guest subliminal_animal]

Homicide is more versatile than Punk in terms of ringwork. But there's three strikes against him in WWE-land.

 

1. He's old (for an indy wrestler at least)

2. He's black (just stating fact, don't flame me)

3. He's marble-mouthed.

How old is he? And how marble-mouthed?

 

And I really don't think his being black would be held against him. He's small, though.

 

And Chris Hero would never in a million years get over outside of IWA.

Why do say that?

 

Mondo will need to learn how to run the ropes first.

Huh? He can't?

 

BTW, if people love 90-pound guys doing flips and flops, how come junior high school gymnastics aren't drawing 1000's and 1000's?

Because it's not as cool if they're not pretending to beat each other up. And you see a wider variety of or more interesting flippy stuff from most spot guys.

 

Too stiff, too reckless, too dangerous.  He'd definitely need "re-programming" because Ki is basically the opposite of what WWE wants.

I think I heard they once offered him a contract, but he had to cahnge his style.

 

Has he really hurt a lot of guys, though? Like anything serious? I used to think he was dangerous, too, but he must do a decent control job if he's not putting anyone on the shelf.

 

Samoa Joe: He's fuckin' big, and Samoan (not related to the WWE samoans, but they really like the Island Boys). If he tones up and turns his gut and boobie flab into muscle, he'd probably be signed in a second.

He just forget all that and just call himself "Big King Jelly" or "The Jell-O-tinous Joe Jitsu" Problem solved, contract signed.

 

Salvatore Rinauro (if he bulks up; one of the most charismatic indy guys ever, even more so than Brian Kendrick)

Salvatore isn't bad and does a bunch of cool stuff (which a lot of idny guys do nowadays, it seems), but and I guess he has charisma, but it's very boring and I don't find him funny at all.

 

Shawn "Hotstuff" Hernandez (he's got size and charisma, and is over HUGE in Wildside like a legit main eventer after maybe 5 shows there)

I've seen a lot of Wildside TV, and the guys people say are "over huge" get some whispers and are lucky to get five people chanting for them at any given time. The crowd sits on their hands for every single minute of the show.

 

My list of guys. This is more who I think they'll probably sign eventually, not who would get over (since it'd be a lot longer then):

 

BEST CHANCE -

Hotstuff Hernandez

Samoa Joe

Paul London

Michael Shane

CM Punk

 

GOOD CHANCE:

American Dragon

Trent Acid

BJ Whitmer

David Young

 

FAIR CHANCE:

Tony Mamaluke

Jason Cross

AJ Styles

EZ Money (again)

Slugger (ROH, and it won't matter if he can't wrestle)

Doug Williams (if only because they don't seem to go out of their way for guys who wrestle mainly outside the US and something else I could see them not liking, just I can't put my figner on it)

Stryker (PWF, I don't think this is Matt Stryker)

 

!@#$%^&* GREATEST CHANCE, A.K.A. SURE THINGS )*&^%$#@!:

Kid Kool

Corporal Robinson

Madman Moose Marretti

Rocco Murder

Tony Hightower

Afa, Jr.

Zero Gravity

The Bodacious Pretty Boy

Special K member Izzy

Special K member Hydro

Special K member Delicioso

That fat black guy who starts riots in ROH

His fatter Hispanic friend who looks like he has an explosive attached to his chest

 

As you can see, with those can't-miss prospects in the last category, the WWE can blow their future as much as they want, as long they have these stars ready to sign contracts.

[Guest dreamer420]

I think the SAT's would get over in the WWE. If they do the gimmick where they are protecting the Spanish Announce Table and announcers it would be hilarious and draw some good heat.

 

Red would get over in a second in the WWE for same reason that RVD and Rey did. He can work his ass off and amaze people with his moveset.

 

The Backseat Boyz would make great additions to the WWE and I believe that they would be great draws as faces or heels.

[Guest HollywoodSpikeJenkins]

Messiah if he uses the Messiah gimmick. It will bring WWE publicity, probably get Messiah a nice push, and he has charisma and talent.

 

 

And Am Drag. Because Am Drag is Law, Rule, and Justice.

[Guest Rob Van Dam]

I think London, Michael Shane, and American Dragon have the best chance

London has connections to Dory Funk

Michael Shane is HBK's nephew or something like that

and American Dragon is a former developmental guy they had signed and they've been giving him numerous dark and velocity matches over the last few months

I heard Daniels really impressed them that camp they had in feb. down at OVW

[Guest dreamer420]

I think Chris Daniels has the ability to be a solid main eventer wherever he goes. I don't think he would be given the chance to be one in the WWE but he sure as hell has the talent.

 

If TNA was smart they would elevate him into the title picture after the blowoff to the Jarrett/Raven feud has taken place.

[Guest ShooterJay]

Responding to subliminal's questions:

 

Homicide is at least in his 30's, I know he's trained a bunch of the top indy workers (Low Ki being foremost).

 

And I have two promos of him from ROH where I can't understand a damn word he says.

 

Chris Hero has a bland look, no physique, only above-average promo skills and no major highspots that would get him over in a bigger promotion.

 

I don't think Low Ki has ever hurt anyone badly, although I vaguely remember a story of him accidentally-on-purpose kicking American Dragon in the throat once. The worst most wrestlers get is a shitload of welts from him.

 

Mondo runs the ropes like a WWE women's wrestler, but it's not so odd as to be noticeable to the casual fan.

 

I forgot about Michael Shane- he's the most "WWE style" out of all the upper-tier indy wrestlers, has the HBK connection, and has really stepped up his game in the past six months or so.

 

Even though Hotstuff blew a couple of spots against Alex Arion at the last ROH show, I was still impressed and could see him going places.

 

Don't hate on Izzy and Dixie, Youth Gone Wild was/is an awesome tag team in JAPW and they are by far the most polished and impressive of the Special K members. Not WWE material though.

 

And Rocco Murder and Moose Maretti ACTUALLY EXIST? I thought they were just a running gag on the CZWFans board.

[Chunk 0]

Red and Jody Fleisch would both get over in the WWE. Most casual fans mark for high spots and those two guys and pull off stuff that your casual fan wouldnt even dream possible. How long there heat would last is another story, but they would get over initially.

 

AJ Styles could go all the way in the WWE as well. He's a good flyer but isnt too risky and could tone it down for the wwe. Hes not tiny either so he wouldnt look too small up against some of the wwe roster.

 

ChUnK!

[Guest Brian]

I've always said Daniels, because his work accomadates itself to the WWE-style easily, he has alot of good looking spots, good mic-work, a good look, and charisma.

[Guest Nevermortal]

Responding to subliminal's questions:

 

Homicide is at least in his 30's, I know he's trained a bunch of the top indy workers (Low Ki being foremost).

 

And I have two promos of him from ROH where I can't understand a damn word he says.

So true. Watch the one they have up their now with his protege J-Train. I have no clue what the fuck is going on. At least its better than the Carnage Crew....who just blow that promo hard. I don't know what happened either, they cut a good one a while back.

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

I had recently went to a smackdown taping in Pittsburgh and one of the biggest pops of the night was for Shark Boy in a dark match. I think that he would be a great addition to the WWE. There is no doubt in my mind that they could do some great comedy angles with him in the WWE and also another he would be a great addition to the WWE Cruiserweight division.