STFU Donnie
Occasional Pre-Show
With the long overdue induction of Bruno Sammartino this year, speculation and prognostication has turned to some of the other long overdue inductions. While legends like Randy Savage, Rick Rude, Owen Hart, and others are all more than deserving of enshrinement, I feel like there is a class of wrestler, the cream of which are also deserving of honor...The Jobber.
If we acknowledge wrestling for the art form that it truly is, then we must also recognize that for one man to win, another must agree to lose. Arguably the single most important aspect of wrestling is the art of putting somebody over.
The jobber was given any number of tasks with a single instruction: "Make him look like a million backs." Sometimes the assignment was a new talent, often a green guy with a great body who didn't know what he was doing, which made him dangerous, both to his opponent and his box office potential. Sometimes the assignment was a midcard talent who the promotion was getting ready to move up and work with or become champ. Sometimes the assignment was a main event talent, fresh off a big, high profile loss, who needed to begin being rebuilt. Every type of style in the ring needed to be accommodated and any number of finishers needed to be taken, all requiring top notch skill, athleticism, and timing.
Having been introduced to wrestling in the mid-80's, the jobbers were a weekly feature facing and losing to all of my favorites, ensuring they looked like a million bucks, getting them ready to draw money with whomever they were paired on the circuit. The same faces were on TV every week, so why are so many nameless and faceless in my memory...except names and faces like Barry Horowitz, George South, Mario Mancini, Rocky King, The Conquistadors, The Mulkey Brothers, and many other I'm sure you will remember.
These men were all very good at doing jobs, so much so that 30 years after the fact, I still remember their names and faces and although I can't recall many classic matches, I can run off a list of Hall of Fame wrestlers, wrestlers who might never have managed to impress a Vince McMahon or Jim Crockett or Pat Patterson or Dusty Rhodes, impressed them enough to be given wins on bigger names, moving up the card, until eventually winning a title, becoming a box office draw, having great matches and a legendary career. The jobbers were once the very foundation upon which every legend was built.
So my proposal is that the WWE create an "Enhancement Talent" category, creating a wing to recognize the best jobbers of all time. My first inductions would be Barry Horowitz and George South and I would ask some legend with whom they worked to induct them and explain what a thankless job these guys did and how great they were at doing it, then let them have a few minutes to say a few words. They can be the cold opener before the tapes start running on the main show. Ultimately however they wish to handle their inductions, if WWE is to have a true Hall of Fame to recognize outstanding contributors to the industry, then it will always be incomplete with out a wing honoring those who laid the foundation for the Sammartinos, Funks, Races, Flairs, Rhodes, and Hogans...The Jobbers.
If we acknowledge wrestling for the art form that it truly is, then we must also recognize that for one man to win, another must agree to lose. Arguably the single most important aspect of wrestling is the art of putting somebody over.
The jobber was given any number of tasks with a single instruction: "Make him look like a million backs." Sometimes the assignment was a new talent, often a green guy with a great body who didn't know what he was doing, which made him dangerous, both to his opponent and his box office potential. Sometimes the assignment was a midcard talent who the promotion was getting ready to move up and work with or become champ. Sometimes the assignment was a main event talent, fresh off a big, high profile loss, who needed to begin being rebuilt. Every type of style in the ring needed to be accommodated and any number of finishers needed to be taken, all requiring top notch skill, athleticism, and timing.
Having been introduced to wrestling in the mid-80's, the jobbers were a weekly feature facing and losing to all of my favorites, ensuring they looked like a million bucks, getting them ready to draw money with whomever they were paired on the circuit. The same faces were on TV every week, so why are so many nameless and faceless in my memory...except names and faces like Barry Horowitz, George South, Mario Mancini, Rocky King, The Conquistadors, The Mulkey Brothers, and many other I'm sure you will remember.
These men were all very good at doing jobs, so much so that 30 years after the fact, I still remember their names and faces and although I can't recall many classic matches, I can run off a list of Hall of Fame wrestlers, wrestlers who might never have managed to impress a Vince McMahon or Jim Crockett or Pat Patterson or Dusty Rhodes, impressed them enough to be given wins on bigger names, moving up the card, until eventually winning a title, becoming a box office draw, having great matches and a legendary career. The jobbers were once the very foundation upon which every legend was built.
So my proposal is that the WWE create an "Enhancement Talent" category, creating a wing to recognize the best jobbers of all time. My first inductions would be Barry Horowitz and George South and I would ask some legend with whom they worked to induct them and explain what a thankless job these guys did and how great they were at doing it, then let them have a few minutes to say a few words. They can be the cold opener before the tapes start running on the main show. Ultimately however they wish to handle their inductions, if WWE is to have a true Hall of Fame to recognize outstanding contributors to the industry, then it will always be incomplete with out a wing honoring those who laid the foundation for the Sammartinos, Funks, Races, Flairs, Rhodes, and Hogans...The Jobbers.