The Hall of JTTS

[JerryvonKramer 0]

For those of you that don't know, a JTTS ("jobber to the stars") is a wrestler who is one notch above a total jobber but a notch below the lower mid-card stars. They'd typically be used as semi-legitimate opponents in order to get new stars over. The rule of thumb is: they'd beat a jobber but lose to pretty much anyone else.

 

Unlike jobbers, who are generally rookies or career no-hopers, JTTSs are often guys with well-established and decorated pasts. Often (but not always), a wrestler would become a JTTS late on in his career, when he was well past his peak and "on the way out". Your typical JTTS would be in his late 40s and approaching retirement age. However, in some cases, they can also be failed singles wrestlers whose careers have stagnated or who have suffered from a big de-push.

 

In this thread, I would like to induct a number of JTTS. I will get the ball rolling with a few and then the rest of you can add subsequent entrants (as well as whatever comments you may have).

 

So with out further ado, let me induct the first member of the Hall of JTTS....

 

Koko B. Ware

 

 

That's right, it's WWE Hall of Famer, Koko B. Ware. Now Koko debuted in the WWF in 1986 where he was immediately over with the fans. Despite this, for whatever reason, he was never pushed and found himself in the JTTS role for the next six years. Koko is your archetypal JTTS, he made jobbing to the stars an artform.

 

"Gentleman" Jerry Valiant

 

 

A ha! That collective "WHO?" was almost deafening. Now this guy was brought into the WWF in the late 70s to replace the retiring Jimmy Valiant as one half of the famous Valiant Brothers. He teamed up with Johnny with whom he won the World Tag Titles in 1979. By 1980 the Valiants were split up and Jerry Valiant became a big-time JTTS. He appears on SNME #2 where he is defeated in a 6-second squash match to Uncle Elmer. Which reminds me ...

 

 

The Hillbillies

 

Now I don't know what Vince's obsession with trying to get these guys over was in the mid-80s, but all three of them -- that's Hillbilly Jim, Unlce Elmer and Cousin Luke -- were appalling wrestlers. Apart from that squash match against Valiant and having his wedding featured on SNME, Elmer mostly jobbed to other big men like King Kong Bundy and Adrian Adonis before retiring in 1986. Cousin Luke only ever really took part in 6 man tag-matches (which they usually lost) and disappeared around 1986 as well. Hillbilly Jim stuck around for a bit longer to do the occasional job but he moved backstage in the late 80s.

 

The Bolsheviks / Boris Zhukov

 

 

Now Nokolai Volkoff was a fairly well-established mid-carder in the mid-80s. He'd formed a successful tag team with the Iron Sheik with whom he won the tag titles at Wrestlemania I and still got the odd victory in singles competition. However, in 1987, Sheiky baby was fired for his drug problems, so the WWF brought the AWFUL Boris Zhukov to replace him, and thus were born The Bolsheviks, who I don't think ever won a match in their entire run. Despite being on the roster, they frequently didn't make it onto PPV cards, and when they did -- at WM VI -- they lost to the Hart Foundation in 19 seconds. After they split in 1990, Zhukov became the very definition of a JTTS jobbing to anyone and everyone before retiring in 1992. Volkoff would return much later in 1995 as part of Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation, where he was humiliated by DiBiase and made to wear cent signs on his pants. He was mostly used as a JTTS during this time.

 

Colonel Mustafa

 

 

After a couple of years in the wrestling wilderness, the WWF came calling for the Sheik again in 1991 to take part in a rather distasteful angle in which he -- a Iranian -- was meant to portray an Iraqi symapthizer, blissfully overlooking the obvious differences between Iranians and Iraqis (Iranians are not even Arabs) and the fact that the two countries had been at bloody war for much of the 80s. Anyway, Mustafa was part of the "Triangle of Terror" with Gen. Adnan and Sgt. Slaughter and, really, was only brought in to work one match at the main event of Summerslam '91. After that feud was over, Slaughter turned face and Adnan left the promotion leaving Sheik in no-mans land, badly out of shape, and trapped in the horrible Col. Mustafa gimmick. He stuck around well into 1992, and the former World and Tag Team champ jobbed to people like Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Sid, The Undertaker, and Bossman.

 

Virgil

 

 

Virgil came to the WWF, as we all know, as Ted DiBiase's bodyguard. He got his big break in 1991 but after winning the Million Dollar Title from DiBiase and despite him being extremely over, his limited ability meant there wasn't anywhere for him to go. So the WWF aborted his push and quickly jobbed the Million Dollar Title back to DiBiase. Virgil became the JTTS's JTTS. From his embarassing loss at Summerslam '92 when Nailz literally murdered him, I don't think he ever won another match. His career after it on Obsessed with Wrestling makes for sorry reading:

 

# August 29, 1992 - Summerslam: Nailz defeated Virgil..

# November 24, 1992 - Survivor Series: Yokozuna defeated Virgil..

# January 24, 1993 - Royal Rumble: Virgil entered at #6 but was eliminated by The Berzerker..

# April 5, 1993 - RAW: Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Virgil..

# April 19, 1993 - RAW: Razor Ramon defeated Virgil..

# September 6, 1993 - RAW: Adam Bomb defeated Virgil..

# November 1, 1993 - RAW: Adam Bomb defeated Virgil..

# January 22, 1994 - Royal Rumble: Virgil entered at #10 but was eliminated by Diesel..

# March 7, 1994 - RAW: Jeff Jarrett defeated Virgil...

# April 11, 1994 - RAW: Diesel defeated Virgil.

 

That's a sorry sorry list of jobs right there.

 

"El Matador" Tito Santana

 

 

After Strike Force split, Santana was a bit directionless. So the former IC and Tag champ was repackaged in a vaguely insulting stereotypical matador gimmick and swiftly joined the JTTS ranks. In 1991 and 1992 he frequently tagged with Virgil in a team known to smarks the world over as "The Jobber Conncetion". Santana jobbed to everyone from The Barbarian and The Warlord to The Mountie before escaping for ECW at the end of 1992.

 

The Bezerker

 

 

It's ... The Bezerker! In this memorably silly gimmick, John Nord would toss jobbers out of the ring and wait for a count out victory. I don't think he ever won a "proper" match. He jobbed to up and coming faces of the time including The British Bulldog, Tatanka and the post-Demolition pineapple version of Crush.

 

I'll leave it there for now. Feel free to add your own entries.

[muda345 0]

Even though he wasn't in the WWF long, Big Bully Busick was nothing more then a JTTS

 

 

 

 

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

The Hillbillies were over and Upper mid carders in 85/86

 

I loved them as a kid.

[JerryvonKramer 0]

No offence, but I've been rewatching the old SNMEs from that era and there's no way in hell those guys were upper-midcarders in that time. They even had the retired Jesse Ventura go over them in one match.

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

HB Jim teamed with Hogan to main event MSG shows. They feuded with Piper, Ventura etc who were the upper card / main heels.

[JerryvonKramer 0]

True but their push was aborted pretty quickly. Uncle Elmer was basically immobile, Cousin Luke couldn't wrestle his way out a paper bag and HB Jim, well, he was just HB Jim.

 

After the loss to Piper/ Orton/ Ventura, Elmer jobbed to Bundy before leaving the promotion. I don't think Cousin Luke ever even got a singles match. And after that Hillybilly Jim was just a massive jobber. He routinely put people like Big John Studd and Bundy over.

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

HB Jim was never a massive jobber - his 1985 leg injury killed alot of momentum he had, but he was never a JOBBER. I don't think he even did all that many TV matches as a JTTS like Billy Jack Haynes or other pushed guys who went down the cards.

 

 

[JerryvonKramer 0]

lulz, you're quite the HB Jim mark aren't you!

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

I lived the era dude, your simply not stating facts.

[Enigma 0]

Tito Santana was with the WWF until at least spring 1993. He had a dark match with Papa Shango at WM9.

[Beto Chavez 0]

Barry Horowitz!!!

[zhangmeijie 0]

Right now Hacksaw Jim Duggan is a JTTS.

[Richard 0]

Cousin Luke briefly appeared in the AWA in 1988.

 

Speaking of 1988 AWA, Iron Sheik and Sheik Adnan teamed up there too. At least they admitted it was unusual for an Iranian and an Iraqi to be on the same side.

[chuck415 0]

Little late to the discussion but I remember HB Jim being massively over. I don't rmember seeing him do too many jobs either.

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

Little late to the discussion but I remember HB Jim being massively over. I don't rmember seeing him do too many jobs either.

 

 

[chuck415 0]

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

HB Jim has a Sirius Outlaw country show....

 

Awesome~!

[10 Pounds 0]

I grew up on old Saturday Superstars shows where you always had the JTTS winning over the jobbers. Once in a while you had a big star in the main-event like the British Bulldog, Razor Ramon or the Undertaker but your usual line-up was Skip, T.L Hopper, Sparkplug Holly getting wins over nobodies. You knew the show didn't matter since all the stars were on the 5-minutes Raw clip.

 

I kinda miss those shows. Pure nostalgia though because there's no way I would see that kind of show nowadays featuring wins by Mike Knox or Hacksaw. I don't even see the jobbers on 24/7 as "true" jobbers anymore since it's always the same names coming back again and again. I kinda miss the old no-name vanilla jobbers who clapped hands with everybody at ringside, lost in 2 minutes to a JTTS ( 'cause that's the only win the JTTS can get), got the humiliation (like being branded by Justin Hawk Bradshaw "flaming" iron, having the plunger in the face, etc...) and was never seen again.

[zappafrank 0]

I always thought that guys like Scotty 2 Hotty and Val Venis exemplified JTTS during the end of their runs with WWE.

 

Jobbers are the guys who elicit the reaction "Who is this guy?" JTTS's are the guys who elicit the reaction "He's still employed?"

 

JTTS job on RAW, Nitro, SD, etc. But they win in dark matches, on Velocity and Worldwide, etc. In this day and age your typical jobber is probably the champ of your local fed. It's all a matter of exposure.