First Round: Philadelphia - JBL vs. Steven Richards

[Theo Mays]

Tournaments are always full of insane upsets and I just have this feeling that Richards would pull this upset. Richards is known for giving it his all every fight and usually coming up short. JBL is known for his short fuse and if he loses his cool here Richards will slide right in and pick up the victory. Call me crazy, but I'm voting Stevie.

 

[ZeroVX]

God, another hard choice. In terms of appearance, JBL looks a hell of a lot tougher than Stevie. He looks like a poor man's Stan Hansen, which is no knock against either man. Suave businessman one minute, rough brawler the next. In terms of wrestling, Stevie is easily better. He has an excellent style of wrestling that doesn't seem to focus on any particular aspect, which is better than JBL's, which is pure brawling. So it comes down to promos. They both played popular faces, but are both praised more often for their heel roles. Both played characters who supported aspects of society that people flat-out hate. The difference, I feel, is what those aspects were. Steven Richards supported censorship, which gave his character massive heat, especially due to the real-life problems WWE was having at the time. JBL, on the other hand, seemed to show support for many more things. He claimed to be a great American while running away from most of his matches. He bragged about his vast amounts of wealth while acting to get more. He even seemed to be borderline racist, especially in his feud with Eddie Guerrero. I love Stevie, don't get me wrong, but the simple fact that people had multiple reasons to hate JBL made him a bit more versatile, so he gets my vote.

 

[jmt225]

Stevie Richards, hands down.

JBL was a shit wrestler, who got an undeserving push. And because of that push, people overrate the fuck out of him. But the fact is, JBL was a shit tag team wrestler, who then went on to have one of the worst, most boring title runs in the history of WWE.

Stevie Richards, on the other hand, was a good, VERY entertaining professional wrestler. He never got the push JBL got in WWE, but he still has had a much more entertaining career. Because of that alone, he deserves to go over here.

But when you also look at it from a kayfabe point of view, guess what? JBL lost to the Blue Meanie, aka Stevie Richards lackey. If the Blue fucking Meanie can find a way to beat JBL, then Stevie Richard would easily find a way to defeat the worthless chump as well. And that's a straight up fucking fact.

 

[X]

My vote is going to Stevie Richards, without even a second thought. I like Bradshaw, always have, thought he was very underrated when he first broke out as a singles competitor in 1997-1998, thought he was underrated in the Acolytes and I still think he was underrated as a heel. That said, Stevie rocks my socks. I love the kid. That's my reason for voting, seriously. This is the one match-up in the tournament that I'm not taking seriously, so, yeah. Go Stevie!

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

JBL. Basically, JBL is Stan Hansen Jr. as far as wrestling goes. His moveset mirrors Hansen's. Sure he's not as tough or as ring polished, but JBL also knows how to beat anyone. Owning wins over Cena, Rey Mysterio, Benoit, and many other wrestlers who are much better than Stevie.

I respect Richards and all, but JBL shouldn't have a time with Stevie. Sure Philly will be hostile, but the crowd doesn't play into this. And it's not like JBL was ever booed before.

So JBL wins this in a tougher battle than one may think.

 

[Muffin Top Merkley]

JBL over Stevie.

JBL almost ended in midcard hell once the seperation of the APA before finding a gimmick that worked and created heat from the crowd. Before long, he was the longest reigning World Champion in Smackdown history and one of the greatest heels of that time.

Stevie was never able to amount to anything above a hardcore champion.

 

[DirtyJosé]

I voted to get JBL into this tourney, but I can't vote him over Steven Richards. The Right to Censor was better than most any heel gimmick JBL had. bWo in Philly = win for Stevie.

 

[RVDgurl]

The hometown boy gets my vote. Partly because Stevie has been the pillar of consistency his entire career and is an ECW alumni, but mainly because I hate JBL. Watching JBL is like nails on a chalkboard. I could stomach JBL back in his APA days, but that was absolutely the only time in his career where he was mildly entertaining. Stevie has been able to have success with several gimmicks where as I feel JBL has been an epic fail for a large majority of his career.

 

[deem]

I vote JBL.

I may prefer Stevie, I'm not quite sure... I know that during JBL's heel champion run I loved him more than I've ever loved Stevie, and since we are taking primes I guess that means I prefer JBL.

Regardless, we are voting for realism as if this were a real tournament, so here is what happens. JBL, bonafide main eventer, has been known to go out to upsets for sure. However, in a tournament like this, it simply does not make sense booking wise for him to be upset at this stage. There is no future PPV card in which he can be booked against Stevie in a revenge match, he would just be done. Gone. Undoubtedly JBL is the bigger draw than Stevie, as such there is NO way he doesn't go through.

Finally, kayfabe. Stevie shines at great showings where he almost convinces you he can win before he loses. JBL shines at poor showings where he almost convinces you he can lose before winning. That is EXACTLY what happens here. This is a 5 minute match so I'll book it below, tell me this doesn't look likely.

Lock up, JBL throws him away. Smug. Lock up, wrestling by Stevie, grounds JBL. JBL is angry, gets to feet, charges in, drop toe hold to some ground offense, JBL gets to feet, caught again, more offense. JBL gets a big boot, goes for a grapple move, gets reversed, Stevie offense. Near falls on JBL. Goes for finisher, reversed, clothesline from hell, reversed, Stevie hits finisher, nearfall. Goes for it again, misses, clothesline from hell, uno dos tres.

Srs, that's how this match goes. JBL moves on.

 

[gd]

JBL gets too much shit on here. I've always liked him. Played his role well, was pretty entertaining on the mic, had some nice tits. What else can you ask for? His stuff with Punk right after he won the title was actually pretty good.

I think I'm voting for Stevie though. The Philly thing is a huge bonus. So is the fact that in ECW Stevie was actually really good. The doppelganger of the Dr. Stevie character, if you will. He's also getting murdered, so he deserves a vote or 20.

 

[PsychoBlack]

I have to vote stevie here. Im a fan of in ring work and that was always something stevie excelled at while JBL was at best mediocre. Stevie never recieved a proper push but he always put on an excellent match for what he was given. for this reason my vote goes for Stevie