15 Best WWF/E Wrestlers

[Guest DeputyHawk]

Since the WWF went national in 1984, these are the 15 most pushed wrestlers NEVER to have been given a run with the World title. Do you think any of these guys should have held the World belt, if so at what point should their run have been, and do you think that run would have been a success? Feel free to add and comment on any others I may have missed.

 

Roddy Piper - Yes

Had one of the hottest feuds in wrestling with Hulk Hogan 84-85, but winning the belt would have cut short Hogan’s superman run. Piper was a great heel challenger but a title run wouldn’t have worked at this point. I do, however, think he could have had a perfectly plausible short run as champ in 92, exchanging the belt with Flair – the pop that showdown got at Rumble 92 is testament enough to that.

 

Paul Orndorff - No

Orndorff’s run against Hogan at the top of the card in 86 falls under a similar situation to Piper’s the previous year. Having him win the belt would have ruined Hogan’s undefeated streak and that was what was making wrestling so hot at the time. The only time Orndorff could have conceivably won the title was immediately after his heel turn, leading to Hogan regaining it at The Big Event. Not much point.

 

Bam-Bam Bigelow - No

Bigelow was hugely over late 87-early 88 – it even looked as if Hogan was grooming him as a potential successor at Survivor Series 87, though I’m sure it would have ultimately gone the Orndorff route and Bam-Bam would have turned heel on the Hulkster had he not got injured. But even if that had happened, the feud would have played second banana to Savage & DiBiase’s title dispute over the summer anyway. The only other conceivable time Bigelow could have been champion was in 95 following the publicity over the Lawrence Taylor match. But he lost that match, and at that point his up-and-down career was finally toast.

 

Ted DiBiase - No

Much debate has been had over this one, whether DiBiase was originally scheduled to win the title tournament at WM4. How that would have panned out is uncertain, but it’s pretty much agreed things worked out better the way they happened with Savage anyway. A title switch with Savage in the summer of 88 is conceivable, but runs were longer back then and it would have weakened Savage’s credibility. No to this one.

 

Rick Rude - Yes

The Ravishing One was a great I-C Champion. His main event run against Warrior in 1990 was doomed from the start because Warrior had already convincingly beat him in the I-C division the year before. There’s a persistent rumour that they considered putting Rude past Warrior for the belt at SummerSlam 90 as a way to transition it back to Hogan. That would have worked fine, in retrospect probably better than using Sgt Slaughter to accomplish the same thing. He would have been a lame duck champion, but the belt had to come back off Warrior and Rude would have sufficed in that role.

 

Mr Perfect - No

Perfect had a short run as heel challenger to Hogan in early 1990. He may – depending on who you talk to – have been considered to win Rumble 90 and challenge Hogan at WM6 somewhere between abandoning Zeus and plumping for Warrior in that role, but I don’t believe he was ever seriously considered as championship material at that time. Late 92-early 93 was Perfect’s prime time for a title run (he was mega over at Survivors 92 & Rumble 93) and it may well have happened had Flair not returned to WCW and the title emphasis swung away from him towards Bret & Yokozuna. Things just didn’t fall his way.

 

Razor Ramon - No

Due to the NWO, which came later, Razor’s remembered as being more successful in the WWF than he actually was. His only real run at the top of the card was in late 92-early 93 and that was in the shadow of being Ric Flair’s henchman. No way should he have beat Bret for the belt at Rumble 93. He was a solid fixture of the I-C division after turning face but Bret carried the ball in 94 and Diesel in 95, both as faces. There was no opportunity for Razor to step up.

 

Lex Luger - Yes

And a resounding yes, he unquestionably should have won the belt at SummerSlam 93. Luger was pushed as the next big thing going into that show and even as an adolescent mark I couldn’t understand why there was such a big celebration to close the show after a mere count-out win. He’d come up short, he’d failed, what a disappointment, end of story. I remember my Dad (who was never a fan) cynically saying Luger was obviously supposed to win and something had clearly gone wrong. Luger never had a chance after that.

 

British Bulldog - No

Bulldog got pretty high up the card on a number of occasions but never quite ascended to the pinnacle. The first time was main eventing SummerSlam 92, but that can be written off as a geographical aberration. But it did open the door for him to go to WCW as a main eventer, return to WWF as an upper mid-card face then finally become a full-fledged WWF main eventer after turning heel in late 95. He had a run against Diesel, a cracking match against Bret Hart at IYH5 and a good program against Shawn Michaels in mid-96. Davey Boy invariably had good matches and was a good stop-gap challenger but never had the intangibles to be champion.

 

Owen Hart - No

Owen’s big main event run was against brother Bret throughout the spring and summer of 94 following his upset win at WM10 and given momentum by winning the second PPV King of the Ring tourney. Much like brother-in-law Bulldog, Owen had good matches but lacked the intangibles to go all the way. After that run, he remained a solid upper mid-card heel fixture. His only other chance at the title was the proposed run against Shawn Michaels following Montreal, but that fizzled out almost as soon as it was set up at the end of IYH19. Sadly we’ll never know if he would have had another shot, but I doubt Owen would have ever been champ.

 

Vader - Yes

After establishing himself as one of the best big men and most dominant heel champions ever in WCW, how WWF could fuck up Vader remains one of the great mysteries of our time. Conspiracy theories abound that he was supposed to beat Shawn for the belt at SummerSlam 96 but Shawn whined until he got it vetoed. Then again that Vader was supposed to win the gold from Shawn at Survivors that year instead of Sid. Certainly the subtitle of IYH12 – “It’s Time!” lends credence to that theory. But for whatever reason, it never happened, and that’s a shame. Despite having put on a few pounds, Vader could have been just as impressive a heel champion in the WWF as he had been in WCW. Big wasted opportunity.

 

Ken Shamrock - No

The World’s Most Dangerous Man had tons of credibility from UFC upon entering the fed in 97, boosted in fans’ eyes by legit beating the crap out of Vader at IYH15, and was firmly in the main event mix by the end of the year. Unfortunately his first headline PPV against Shawn wasn’t particularly good and winning KOTR 98 and the I-C title came too late in the day to mean anything. He conceivably could have had a good heel run against Austin (who was ‘The Man’ for most of Shamrock’s tenure) but it never happened, so we’ll never know.

 

Rob Van Dam - Yes

Another resounding yes. RVD got really over really fast on his 2001 debut, essentially too fast for his own good. It was a case of shit or get off the pot with him and, despite putting him into the No Mercy & Survivor Series main events that year, they got off the pot. He turned face (no one would boo him anyway) and was the guy most fans wanted to see on top throughout the abortion period that was the WWF/E in 2002. He should have won KOTR that year, and he should have beat Undertaker for the belt at SummerSlam – they even had a back-story. But he didn’t. Then he injured HHH in the Elimination Chamber at Survivors 02 and he hasn’t been anywhere near the top of the card since. He’s still one of the most over guys on the roster. Massive opportunity lost.

 

Booker T - Yes

As the pivot point for the entire Invasion angle in 2001, Booker was put into a position he wasn’t ready for. Verbal sparring with The Rock is something no one (except maybe Chris Jericho)’s going to get over doing. But he’s had his chances since: he got over well as a face in 02-03 and considering the angle they ran, they REALLY should have put him over HHH for the Raw title at WM19. Apparently it was intended to do just that before Hunter convinced them he had to be kept strong for Goldberg, and we know how that worked out. WM19 was Booker’s moment and he should have been given it.

 

Edge - No

There have been big plans for Edge for a while now. He won KOTR 01 and vowed not to ‘Billy Gunn’ the honour. He became Hogan’s special running buddy in 02. He was being positioned as a legit main eventer on Smackdown in early 03 before his neck injury, and now he’s in that position again on Raw. He main evented Survivor Series & New Year’s Revolution and won the Ladder Match at WM21 to earn a title shot against Batista. It’s too early to say whether Edge will ever get his run as champ or whether he will remain in this list of ‘coulda-been’ contenders. At this point, if he retired tomorrow, then I would say no.

[MikeJordan23 0]

Since the WWF went national in 1984, these are the 15 most pushed wrestlers NEVER to have been given a run with the World title.  Do you think any of these guys should have held the World belt, if so at what point should their run have been, and do you think that run would have been a success?  Feel free to add and comment on any others I may have missed.

 

Roddy Piper - Yes

Had one of the hottest feuds in wrestling with Hulk Hogan 84-85, but winning the belt would have cut short Hogan’s superman run.  Piper was a great heel challenger but a title run wouldn’t have worked at this point.  I do, however, think he could have had a perfectly plausible short run as champ in 92, exchanging the belt with Flair – the pop that showdown got at Rumble 92 is testament enough to that.

 

Paul Orndorff - No

Orndorff’s run against Hogan at the top of the card in 86 falls under a similar situation to Piper’s the previous year.  Having him win the belt would have ruined Hogan’s undefeated streak and that was what was making wrestling so hot at the time.  The only time Orndorff could have conceivably won the title was immediately after his heel turn, leading to Hogan regaining it at The Big Event.  Not much point.

 

Bam-Bam Bigelow - No

Bigelow was hugely over late 87-early 88 – it even looked as if Hogan was grooming him as a potential successor at Survivor Series 87, though I’m sure it would have ultimately gone the Orndorff route and Bam-Bam would have turned heel on the Hulkster had he not got injured.  But even if that had happened, the feud would have played second banana to Savage & DiBiase’s title dispute over the summer anyway.  The only other conceivable time Bigelow could have been champion was in 95 following the publicity over the Lawrence Taylor match.  But he lost that match, and at that point his up-and-down career was finally toast.

 

Ted DiBiase - No

Much debate has been had over this one, whether DiBiase was originally scheduled to win the title tournament at WM4.  How that would have panned out is uncertain, but it’s pretty much agreed things worked out better the way they happened with Savage anyway.  A title switch with Savage in the summer of 88 is conceivable, but runs were longer back then and it would have weakened Savage’s credibility.  No to this one.

 

Rick Rude - Yes

The Ravishing One was a great I-C Champion.  His main event run against Warrior in 1990 was doomed from the start because Warrior had already convincingly beat him in the I-C division the year before.  There’s a persistent rumour that they considered putting Rude past Warrior for the belt at SummerSlam 90 as a way to transition it back to Hogan.  That would have worked fine, in retrospect probably better than using Sgt Slaughter to accomplish the same thing.  He would have been a lame duck champion, but the belt had to come back off Warrior and Rude would have sufficed in that role.

 

Mr Perfect - No

Perfect had a short run as heel challenger to Hogan in early 1990.  He may – depending on who you talk to – have been considered to win Rumble 90 and challenge Hogan at WM6 somewhere between abandoning Zeus and plumping for Warrior in that role, but I don’t believe he was ever seriously considered as championship material at that time.  Late 92-early 93 was Perfect’s prime time for a title run (he was mega over at Survivors 92 & Rumble 93) and it may well have happened had Flair not returned to WCW and the title emphasis swung away from him towards Bret & Yokozuna.  Things just didn’t fall his way.

 

Razor Ramon - No

Due to the NWO, which came later, Razor’s remembered as being more successful in the WWF than he actually was.  His only real run at the top of the card was in late 92-early 93 and that was in the shadow of being Ric Flair’s henchman.  No way should he have beat Bret for the belt at Rumble 93.  He was a solid fixture of the I-C division after turning face but Bret carried the ball in 94 and Diesel in 95, both as faces.  There was no opportunity for Razor to step up.

 

Lex Luger - Yes

And a resounding yes, he unquestionably should have won the belt at SummerSlam 93.  Luger was pushed as the next big thing going into that show and even as an adolescent mark I couldn’t understand why there was such a big celebration to close the show after a mere count-out win.  He’d come up short, he’d failed, what a disappointment, end of story.  I remember my Dad (who was never a fan) cynically saying Luger was obviously supposed to win and something had clearly gone wrong.  Luger never had a chance after that.

 

British Bulldog - No

Bulldog got pretty high up the card on a number of occasions but never quite ascended to the pinnacle.  The first time was main eventing SummerSlam 92, but that can be written off as a geographical aberration.  But it did open the door for him to go to WCW as a main eventer, return to WWF as an upper mid-card face then finally become a full-fledged WWF main eventer after turning heel in late 95.  He had a run against Diesel, a cracking match against Bret Hart at IYH5 and a good program against Shawn Michaels in mid-96.  Davey Boy invariably had good matches and was a good stop-gap challenger but never had the intangibles to be champion.

 

Owen Hart - No

Owen’s big main event run was against brother Bret throughout the spring and summer of 94 following his upset win at WM10 and given momentum by winning the second PPV King of the Ring tourney.  Much like brother-in-law Bulldog, Owen had good matches but lacked the intangibles to go all the way.  After that run, he remained a solid upper mid-card heel fixture.  His only other chance at the title was the proposed run against Shawn Michaels following Montreal, but that fizzled out almost as soon as it was set up at the end of IYH19.  Sadly we’ll never know if he would have had another shot, but I doubt Owen would have ever been champ.

 

Vader - Yes

After establishing himself as one of the best big men and most dominant heel champions ever in WCW, how WWF could fuck up Vader remains one of the great mysteries of our time.  Conspiracy theories abound that he was supposed to beat Shawn for the belt at SummerSlam 96 but Shawn whined until he got it vetoed.  Then again that Vader was supposed to win the gold from Shawn at Survivors that year instead of Sid.  Certainly the subtitle of IYH12 – “It’s Time!” lends credence to that theory.  But for whatever reason, it never happened, and that’s a shame.  Despite having put on a few pounds, Vader could have been just as impressive a heel champion in the WWF as he had been in WCW.  Big wasted opportunity.

 

Ken Shamrock - No

The World’s Most Dangerous Man had tons of credibility from UFC upon entering the fed in 97, boosted in fans’ eyes by legit beating the crap out of Vader at IYH15, and was firmly in the main event mix by the end of the year.  Unfortunately his first headline PPV against Shawn wasn’t particularly good and winning KOTR 98 and the I-C title came too late in the day to mean anything.  He conceivably could have had a good heel run against Austin (who was ‘The Man’ for most of Shamrock’s tenure) but it never happened, so we’ll never know.

 

Rob Van Dam - Yes

Another resounding yes.  RVD got really over really fast on his 2001 debut, essentially too fast for his own good.  It was a case of shit or get off the pot with him and, despite putting him into the No Mercy & Survivor Series main events that year, they got off the pot.  He turned face (no one would boo him anyway) and was the guy most fans wanted to see on top throughout the abortion period that was the WWF/E in 2002.  He should have won KOTR that year, and he should have beat Undertaker for the belt at SummerSlam – they even had a back-story.  But he didn’t.  Then he injured HHH in the Elimination Chamber at Survivors 02 and he hasn’t been anywhere near the top of the card since.  He’s still one of the most over guys on the roster.  Massive opportunity lost.

 

Booker T - Yes

As the pivot point for the entire Invasion angle in 2001, Booker was put into a position he wasn’t ready for.  Verbal sparring with The Rock is something no one (except maybe Chris Jericho)’s going to get over doing.  But he’s had his chances since: he got over well as a face in 02-03 and considering the angle they ran, they REALLY should have put him over HHH for the Raw title at WM19.  Apparently it was intended to do just that before Hunter convinced them he had to be kept strong for Goldberg, and we know how that worked out.  WM19 was Booker’s moment and he should have been given it. 

 

Edge - No

There have been big plans for Edge for a while now.  He won KOTR 01 and vowed not to ‘Billy Gunn’ the honour.  He became Hogan’s special running buddy in 02.  He was being positioned as a legit main eventer on Smackdown in early 03 before his neck injury, and now he’s in that position again on Raw.  He main evented Survivor Series & New Year’s Revolution and won the Ladder Match at WM21 to earn a title shot against Batista.  It’s too early to say whether Edge will ever get his run as champ or whether he will remain in this list of ‘coulda-been’ contenders.  At this point, if he retired tomorrow, then I would say no.

Rowdy Roddy Piper - No. He was the biggest heel in the WWF at a time when it would be silly to take the title off Hogan. Such is luck.

 

Mr. Perfect - He's my favorite wrestler - but he definitely shouldn't have won it during his second run in the WWF (1988-1991) but his third run when he turned face, him beating Ric Flair for the title in a return match at Survivor Series would've been great.

 

Owen Hart - There was no time where he could have reasonable won the title. The most over he was in his career was during his return in late 1997, but obviously the were grooming title for Austin, and him winning before Austin would be the dumbest thing they could ever do. 1994 was the other time, but I think they did it right, with having Bret lose the first match and win the return match. I mean, you could've had Owen win the belt at KOTR and Bret win the re-match but I, personally, would not have gone that way.

 

 

Vader - This is the most obvious of the list. He was clearly booked to be the next big monster heavyweight champion from his debut. It would've been perfect for him to get the title at SummerSlam 1996 against Shawn Michaels and go on a dominate run until the next big baby face (OR even Shawn Michaels) was ready to hold the belt.

[Guest DeputyHawk]

Vader - This is the most obvious of the list.

Luger in '93, Vader in '96 and RVD in '02 I would say are about equal as biggest mistakes in not getting a run.

[Guest Rrrsh]

Luger was never over enough to get the belt.

 

RVD was a msitake, but not giving it too Perfect or Rude in 91 was far worse than anything you have mentioned.

[Guest BillyTheStud]

Booker T won the "WCW Championship" in the WWF in 2001.

[Guest Hass of Pain]

GREAT post man.

 

Roddy Piper - Yes. Piper was, in my opinion, the greatest heel in WWF history and he deserved the title more than anyone who's ever been listed on a "Greatest to Never Hold the WWF title" list. Roddy Piper should have definitely been put over Hogan (at gunpoint if necessary) a few months before Wrestlemania 2. They wouldn't have had to do it clean, have Piper cheat his ass off to take the title. That wouldn't damage Hogan, it would have just made people hungrier than they had ever been before to see Hogan run wild on someone. Piper/Hogan in a major venue for Wrestlemania not only could have rivaled Andre/Hogan in terms of fans drawn, but it might have been even bigger than that match historically speaking had everything been done properly, and it would still be the biggest drawing house show run of all time. Instead, Hogan refused to put over Piper, Piper refused to put over Hogan, and we ended up with King Kong Bundy.

 

Paul Ornforff - No. Orndorff didn't need the title to do record business with Hogan, and if a heel were to be given the title at that point in time it should have been Piper.

 

Bam Bam - No way. Bam Bam just isn't cut out to be a World Champion. He's a good midcarder, good for an occassional short program on top, but that's about it. He's also highly overrated in the ring in my opinion, and won Worst Wrestler of the Year honors in 1987 from the Observer Newsletter, which would be the period he would have needed to win the WWF title had it happened.

 

Ted Dibiase - Yes. Dibiase was the total package, and deserved the World Title big time. The end result would have been Hogan/Savage, one of the most legendary matches in WWF historu, not happening though so I think things worked out the right way.

 

Rick Rude - Yes, for exactly the reasons Hawk stated.

 

Mr. Perfect - Yes. When Curt Hennig returned as a referree at Wrestlemania X and got a suprisingly huge reaction, the time would have been perfect to immediately thrust him into the upper card with a program for the title with either Hart of Luger, both of which Hennig would have been able to work well with. He would have made a really good short term champion at that point, but injury reared its ugly head if I recall correctly.

 

Razor Ramon - Nope. Ramon was a great IC level guy, but that was where it ended.

 

Lex Luger - Yes. As is the story of his career, trying to milk the fans too long while Luger chased the belt ended up being his downfall. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Lex Luger should have won the belt at Summerslam 93. They all but implied on television that Luger would be winning the match and it made me want to tune in to see the crowning of a new champion, and the no rematch stip in the match made me even more positive that Luger would be going over. So when I tuned in and saw Lex Luger celebrating a COUNT OUT victory like he had just won the Super Bowl, I was like fuck this and fuck supporting this loser, and I think a lot of people felt the same way. Fans were still stupid enough to buy into someone like Luger at the time, and the Apter mags were putting him over huge as the future of the WWF. (Cover Story - "Why Luger will succeed where Savage and the Ultimate Warrior Failed"), and the WWF blew it by not putting him over strong and decisively.

 

Bulldog - No, no, no, no. Was never taken seriously as a main eventer in WCW, wasn't even good enough to warrant that spot in the first place and a pretty bland guy in general.

 

Owen Hart - No. I have nothing but respect for Owen Hart, but I don't think that he would have ever held the title. Kind of like Christian, always consistently good but never a top priority.

 

Vader - No. I love Vader's work, but as a character I didn't think he was good enough to sell pay-per-views on top nor do I think he was really a good fit as a WWF champion. Just personal preference mostly.

 

Ken Shamrock - Yes. Shamrock was Kurt Angle before Angle was. He was an astoundingly accomplished athlete who picked up wrestling faster than all but a few people, was intense as all hell, could really sell his holds as being deadly and had that star aura and presence to him. He was just a guy that commanded respect and attention. Shamrock/Austin could have been one of the coolest programs ever.

 

Rob Van Dam - Yes. Same reason Hawk said. I think they'll bring him back strong and a break from TV is what he needed most anyway, so I think a title run is still in the cards for him.

 

Booker T - No. Criminally overrated. A bad promo and marginal wrestler at best.

 

Edge - No.

[JJ Johnson 0]

Technically, RVD was Undisputed Champion for about thirty minutes.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

Anyone who thinks that Piper should've gone over Hogan is insane. We'd be sitting here blaming him for the death of the WWF right now if they had done that. The WWF did the right thing with Hogan's first run.

[Guest Ice Classic V.2]

Technically, RVD was Undisputed Champion for about thirty minutes.

When was this?

[Guest Rrrsh]

Dusty Finishes never count as real reigns. So, technically, no he was not.

[Guest LooneyTune]

Actually, RVD was "champion" for all of 30 seconds before Ric Flair had the match continue. I'm still pissed they actually announced him as World Champion.

[Guest Hass of Pain]

Anyone who thinks that Piper should've gone over Hogan is insane. We'd be sitting here blaming him for the death of the WWF right now if they had done that. The WWF did the right thing with Hogan's first run.

I totally disagree. It's not like Hogan would have had to job clean. Piper could have had outside interference from any number of heels and knocked Hogan senseless with a chairshot and pinned him. People would have been OUTRAGED at Piper, and if they sold the injury the same way Hogan sold his ribs at the hands of Bundy, fans would have turned out and tuned in at droves to finally see Hulk Hogan get revenge on his top rival of the last three years and take his title back. That wouldn't have hurt Hogan any more than selling for Bundy's finisher did, and Wrestlemania II and III would have been remembered as the pinnacle of American wrestling. It wouldn't have killed the WWF at all, it would have just been another hot angle way better than what Wrestlemania 2 turned out being.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

And you also would've negated Hogan/Andre from WMIII which is one of the biggest shows they've ever done.

[Guest Ransome]

Rob Van Dam - Yes

Another resounding yes. RVD got really over really fast on his 2001 debut, essentially too fast for his own good. It was a case of shit or get off the pot with him and, despite putting him into the No Mercy & Survivor Series main events that year, they got off the pot. He turned face (no one would boo him anyway) and was the guy most fans wanted to see on top throughout the abortion period that was the WWF/E in 2002. He should have won KOTR that year, and he should have beat Undertaker for the belt at SummerSlam – they even had a back-story. But he didn’t. Then he injured HHH in the Elimination Chamber at Survivors 02 and he hasn’t been anywhere near the top of the card since. He’s still one of the most over guys on the roster. Massive opportunity lost.

Very fitting choice of words for RVD.

 

Ken Shamrock could have been an excellent choice for World champ, although his WWF stint didn't really last long enough to warrant one.

[BorneAgain 0]

Booker T - No. Criminally overrated. A bad promo and marginal wrestler at best.

You did watch Raw in 2002 right? You know that thing about Booker and Goldust having great backstage skits, putting on good matches, and being the only guys worth watching most of the time.

 

Or with Booker basicallly being a great singles performer after he left Harlem Heat as well as over, and only really getting worse after he was shafted at WM 19?

 

Marginal wrestler at best, give me a break.

[Guest Hass of Pain]

Booker T - No. Criminally overrated. A bad promo and marginal wrestler at best.

You did watch Raw in 2002 right? You know that thing about Booker and Goldust having great backstage skits, putting on good matches, and being the only guys worth watching most of the time.

 

Or with Booker basicallly being a great singles performer after he left Harlem Heat as well as over, and only really getting worse after he was shafted at WM 19?

 

Marginal wrestler at best, give me a break.

Yeah, those segments were Goldust literally carrying the comedy and building for one Booker T reactionary line at the end. Those segments were successful mostly because Goldust set Booker T up so well, and Book's delivery always came off like he was doing a poor imitation of The Rock.

 

Booker T totally had me fooled in WCW as a guy who could hang in with the best of them in the WWF if he came into the company, and that just didn't turn out to be the case. His promos when he came into the WWF were just terrible, I felt bad for him out there. Then he injured Steve Austin executing his first move in the company and did nothing to better a match with Buff Bagwell that died the worst death that I have seen a match die in years. Booker really didn't do himself any favors out of the gates.

 

His stuff with Goldust was awesome, but it was always the grossly underrated Goldust setting him up. Goldust giving him two minutes of hilarious comic lead in so Booker T could deliver one line. Goldust channeling Ricky Morton and selling his ass of for five minutes before giving Booker T a big hot tag to clean house off of.

 

But when he is on his own, he just isn't that spectacular in my opinion. His promos are barely intelligable at times, an he mumbles and pulls the mic away from his mouth a lot and it is impossible to follow him or get an emotional attachment to what he is saying a lot of times. He has a good catchprase and a passably entertaining move that's comparable to The Worm, but when it comes down to it he isn't that good of a wrestler anymore and he was never at an elite level. His matches consist entirely of sloppy kicks and chops. As a veteran, he should have been able to at least have watchable matches with John Cena, but Booker looked as bad as Cena. Christian couldn't even get that good of a match out of him when he was fueding with him on Raw for the IC title.

 

He was good in WCW, but when he left the small pond he has pretty much been mediocre since. You can blame it on losing to HHH if you want, but no wrestler who deserves to be on top of a company rolls over and stops trying because he has to job. I would blame the fact that he doesn't even seem to like wrestling that much anymore and plans to retire soon over that, but I think when it comes down to it he has lost a step and he just isn't very good any more.

[BorneAgain 0]

As a veteran, he should have been able to at least have watchable matches with John Cena, but Booker looked as bad as Cena. Christian couldn't even get that good of a match out of him when he was fueding with him on Raw for the IC title.

 

He was good in WCW, but when he left the small pond he has pretty much been mediocre since. You can blame it on losing to HHH if you want, but no wrestler who deserves to be on top of a company rolls over and stops trying because he has to job. I would blame the fact that he doesn't even seem to like wrestling that much anymore and plans to retire soon over that, but I think when it comes down to it he has lost a step and he just isn't very good any more.

For the record, Booker did have a good to great match with Cena on Smackdown as part of the # 1 contenders tournament in February.

 

As for the rest, while I do believe Booker is not as good as he was 7 or even 5 years ago, I would attest a great deal of that to age and injuries.

 

Is he unmoitivated at points? Yes, and though that hardly justifies it, I do understand why he is. Booker is still capable of putting on at least a good match in my opinon. My issue is not really that he is some wrestling god now, but that he has not been a "marginal peformer at best" his entire career like your statement seems to imply.

 

Plus when you look back, Trips was really at his worst point wrestling wise by Wrestlemania 19, on a title reign that no one really wanted to see. I highly doubt there would have been some great outcry by either smarts or marks had Booker won the title there especially when one considers how many people were expecting that and really didn't have a problem with it. My bottom line is that a title win there would have been nothing but postive.

[iggymcfly 0]

The thing about heels is that when they get over, then by reflection, the faces that beat them get even more over. If Booker T got a title reign, it would have flopped no matter what.

 

However, if HHH jobbed at WM three years ago, it would have felt less and less special each time, to the point where whe he beat Batista, there would have been hardly any buzz at all. Because of that Booker T match, people actually thought that HHH would beat Benoit, and some people even thought he'd beat Batista.

[BorneAgain 0]

The thing about heels is that when they get over, then by reflection, the faces that beat them get even more over. If Booker T got a title reign, it would have flopped no matter what.

How do you know that?

[CanadianChick 0]

Actually, RVD was "champion" for all of 30 seconds before Ric Flair had the match continue. I'm still pissed they actually announced him as World Champion.

What I thought was the worse thing was that they never freaking followed up. You could have had a pretty good feud between Taker and RVD, who strangely have quite good chemistry in the ring. What do they do instead? RVD is in a IC Title match the next week and feuded with Brock in a non-decisive feud and Taker gets in a boring feud with Triple H. Sweet.

[tominator89 0]

Roddy Piper - Yes, he is right: people paid to see Hogan beat him. He set a standard for mic skills and he could have been a great champion.

 

 

Paul Orndorff - No, he had a nice run with Hogan but I didn't see any championship appeal. He was a good challenger, but that's all.

 

Bam-Bam Bigelow - No, I've enjoyed his work but I don't think he would have been a good champion. A solid mid-carder who worked hard, but in the end, nope.

 

Ted DiBiase - Yes, he should have. No doubt to me whatsoever. He MADE the Million Dollar Man gimmick. He got great crowd heat and should have won it.

 

Rick Rude - Yes, when he cut his hair to become a more serious contender for Warrior's title in the cage I thought that was a good move.

 

Mr Perfect - Yes, but he had the problem of making everyone else look good.

 

Razor Ramon - No, good mid-carder but the gimmick was too cheesy. Scott Hall, when motivated, was a fine in-ring competitor. Giving him the IC title all those times was good enough.

 

Lex Luger - No, he wasn't the next Hulk Hogan, was boring in the ring, and I have no problem with the way things actually happened. Why not put the title on the Patriot? Same problems.

 

British Bulldog - No, unfortunately. He was well-built, but too injury-prone and, like Razor, I think the IC title was good enough for him.

 

Owen Hart - Yes, when he returned and pushed HBK into the annoucer's table they missed the boat on pushing him to the main event scene. What could have been.

 

Vader - Yes, he was a monster. He could work and he seemed to be groomed for the spot.

 

Ken Shamrock - No, not enough depth to the character.

 

Rob Van Dam - Yes, another no-brainer. He could do no wrong and was insanely over. I'm amazed it didn't happen.

 

Booker T - No, perhaps surprising, but I think his career has been on the fall since WCW folded.

 

Edge - No, he's handling himself well at the moment but I get the feeling that anyone could be plugged into the "I'm sick of being screwed and want a title shot" gimmick.

[iggymcfly 0]

The thing about heels is that when they get over, then by reflection, the faces that beat them get even more over. If Booker T got a title reign, it would have flopped no matter what.

How do you know that?

Because he's a no-talent hack who can't cut a decent promo, and he can't keep a match interesting for more than five minutes.

[BorneAgain 0]

The thing about heels is that when they get over, then by reflection, the faces that beat them get even more over. If Booker T got a title reign, it would have flopped no matter what.

How do you know that?

Because he's a no-talent hack who can't cut a decent promo, and he can't keep a match interesting for more than five minutes.

He was over and was certainly a better wrestler than HHH at the time.

 

Booker would have flopped? What exactly do you call the three or so months after Triple H held on to the title? A success?

 

Call it a lesser than two evils argument if you must, but that fact is Booker would have done equal, if not better business if he had won the title at Wrestlemania.

[tbondrage99 0]

Roddy Piper - Yes, Piper was the most hated man in wrestling for a time. He should of won the title from Hogan and lost it back to him.

 

Paul Orndorff - No, If he was going to win it should of been at the cage match, but that match was excellent and there was no reason to change it.

 

Bam-Bam Bigelow - No, One of the bigger nos for me on the list. I like Bigelow fine but I dont know how much staying power he would of had has champion.

 

Ted DiBiase - Yes, He should of still lost the tournament at WM4 but won the title at Summerslam that year, only to lose it back to Savage at Survivor Series so they could still go on with Savage vs. Hogan at WM 5

 

Rick Rude - Yes, He should of won the title from Warrior at SummerSlam like had been said before, defended it against Warrior at Survivor Series and defended it against another big name face at The Royal Rumble, making it believeable that maybe Hogan couldnt beat him.

 

Mr Perfect - No, As much as I would of liked to see Perfect win the title, I never saw him having anything more then a good fued against Bret Hart for the world title.

 

Razor Ramon - No, Razor was perfect for the IC division while he was there thats it. I do think though that had he not jumped ship to WCW he would of won the title one day.

 

Lex Luger - Yes, I hate Luger as much as everyone else out there, the guy couldnt wrestle his way out of a wet paper bag. Despite that though he still should of won the title at Summerslam instead of that cop out of a count out finish.

 

British Bulldog - No, Bulldog was great and always a favorite and a believeable main eventer, yet at the same time I dont think I could see him as world champ.

 

Owen Hart - Yes, He should of won the cage match against Bret Hart at Summerslam. Simple as that.

 

Vader - Yes, He had HBK beaten more then once in that match at SummerSlam it was stupid for him not to of won the title.

 

Ken Shamrock - No, The biggest no on my list without a doubt. I dont think he should of ever been near the main event at any point and time.

 

Rob Van Dam - Yes, The biggest yes on this list. RVD could of been as over as Austin or The Rock had he been given the ball. If it were a more perfect world he would of pinned Austin in that triple threat with Angle.

 

Booker T - Yes, Once again the WWE dropped the ball here, he should of won the tilte against Triple H at Wrestlemania. Heck he should of been in at Vengence instead of Angle to crown the first undisputed champion in my opinion.

 

Edge - Im on the fence with this one so far, I dont think he should of won it yet but this is still going on so he could be a good champ if given the chance.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

Yeah, we all know the world was being lit on fire by the HHH/Nash HIAC match.

[alfdogg 0]

Booker was in the process of being phased back into the midcard in WCW before Vince bought it, as well. He won the US title at what ended up being the last WCW PPV, and the World title was going back to Goldberg from Steiner, IIRC.

[iggymcfly 0]

The thing about heels is that when they get over, then by reflection, the faces that beat them get even more over. If Booker T got a title reign, it would have flopped no matter what.

How do you know that?

Because he's a no-talent hack who can't cut a decent promo, and he can't keep a match interesting for more than five minutes.

He was over and was certainly a better wrestler than HHH at the time.

 

Booker would have flopped? What exactly do you call the three or so months after Triple H held on to the title? A success?

 

Call it a lesser than two evils argument if you must, but that fact is Booker would have done equal, if not better business if he had won the title at Wrestlemania.

Read the originial post in it's entirety. My whole argument was that since Booker's reign was going to flop anyway, they were better off saving the rub for later.

 

Sure, HHH's reign might have been just as bad, but that kept Benoit and Batista's later WM wins special instead of being obvious and anticlimactic.

[Epic Reine 0]

Benoit and Batista's world title WM wins were very obvious. not to say they weren't special but I have a real hard time believing they would have killed off Benoit and Batista's build and momentum with them jobbing to the H.

[BorneAgain 0]

The thing about heels is that when they get over, then by reflection, the faces that beat them get even more over. If Booker T got a title reign, it would have flopped no matter what.

How do you know that?

Because he's a no-talent hack who can't cut a decent promo, and he can't keep a match interesting for more than five minutes.

He was over and was certainly a better wrestler than HHH at the time.

 

Booker would have flopped? What exactly do you call the three or so months after Triple H held on to the title? A success?

 

Call it a lesser than two evils argument if you must, but that fact is Booker would have done equal, if not better business if he had won the title at Wrestlemania.

Read the originial post in it's entirety. My whole argument was that since Booker's reign was going to flop anyway, they were better off saving the rub for later.

 

Sure, HHH's reign might have been just as bad, but that kept Benoit and Batista's later WM wins special instead of being obvious and anticlimactic.

And I'm questioning how Booker was going to flop despite evidence to the contrary. I don't deny that him not winning helped Batista and Benot's victories. That's true. Its the entire "It was definitely going to flop" argument I dispute.

[Guest stylz]

a quick note about Booker...if they had done the right thing and put the belt on him and X-9, they could've turned Nash heel when he came back (why was he a face again?) and done Booker-Nash (It would've been more fitting for a heel challenger to put a face champ through the announce table, unlike what they did at Judgement Day 2003) and HHH-HBK through the spring and the big Goldberg push in the summer. But its not like I'm fantasy booking or anything.

 

Carry on...

 

J