Debate on his career....

[logan_punisher]

This guy is one of the best wrestlers. One of the best technician specialists in the world. Future Hall of Famer. Dean Malenko. I don't know if he already is but in my opinion he deserves it of be isn't one. Lets take a look at his beginning of his career and his retirement.

Career Early years (1979–1994)

Malenko was born into a wrestling family, and his father Boris Malenko was a prominent wrestling figure. He started out as a referee in the Tampa area and even worked briefly as a referee for the WWF in the mid-1980s. He has wrestled all over the world and has spent much time wrestling in Mexico and Japan. He wrestled with his brother Joe Malenko from 1988 to 1992, forming a tag team, until his brother retired. On January 24, 1992, Malenko defeated "The Superstar" for the Suncoast Pro Wrestling (SPW) Southern title in Palmetto, Florida. Malenko defeated Jimmy Backlund for the ICWA Light Heavyweight title on March 12, 1992, in Tampa

Extreme Championship Wrestling (1994–1995)

The Shooter (1994) He later joined Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) on August 27, 1994, as a heel participating in a professional wrestling tournament for the vacant NWA World Heavyweight Championship. He defeated Osamu Nishimura in the quarterfinals before he ended up losing to the eventual winner Shane Douglas in the semifinals. Douglas would later rename his ECW title, the Extreme Championship Wrestling World Title after throwing down the NWA World Title, and the promotion was also renamed Extreme Championship Wrestling. He became known as "The Shooter" Dean Malenko and was given a gimmick similar to an Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter (due to his resemblance to Royce Gracie). On November 4, 1994, he defeated 2 Cold Scorpio to win his first ECW Television Championship.

Retirement

Malenko's final wrestling match took place at 4th Annual Brian Pillman Memorial Show in August 2001. In his final match, Malenko teamed with longtime friend Perry Saturn and defeated Raven and Justin Credible. Malenko appeared in the ring along with other legendary wrestlers during a segment of the WWE Homecoming edition of Raw on October 3, 2005. His friend Eddie Guerrero died on November 13, 2005 and Malenko made a special appearance on the November 14 edition of Raw alongside Chris Benoit, speaking about Eddie's death and talking about the memories they had shared together. The following Friday on SmackDown!, Malenko once again appeared after a match between Chris Benoit and Triple H, and the three embraced. After the 2006 Royal Rumble, he was seen congratulating Rey Mysterio on his Rumble victory. At Vengeance 2007, he appeared in a backstage segment watching Chavo Guerrero. On the Chris Benoit memorial episode of Monday Night Raw, he talked about the life of Chris Benoit. He was very sad since two of his close friends, Eddie and Benoit, both died, but said he was happy that they were together again. Dean then made an appearance on the March 31, 2008 edition of Raw to join The Four Horsemen and other WWE superstars in a farewell tribute to Ric Flair He made an appearance on the June 28, 2010 episode of Raw congratulating Ricky Steamboat on his DVD release. He and all the others in the ring were attacked by the Nexus.

What's your opinion on his career?
Should he be in hall of fame?

 

[UFOcalling]

To be honest, I only really remember Malenko for his time in WCW. I wasn't a "die-hard" Nitro fan until around 1997ish, so I will always associate Malenko with WCW as a big part of the Cruiserweight Division, and later as a Horseman (mostly I remember him tagging with Benoit as a Horseman). I also remember when Malenko arrived in WWE (WWF, at that time) as part of "the Radicals", but I also remember the group in WCW called "The Revolution". Wasn't Malenko in that group too? I remember that Benoit definitely was, and Shane Douglas was the leader of that group. When Saturn, Benoit, Guerrero & Malenko left WCW for WWF it pretty much left Douglas screwed...but that's for a different thread all together.

One of my best memories of Malenko is his WCW Cruiserweight feud with Chris Jericho (with Dean playing the babyface). The match that stands out the most in my memory is the night when Malenko entered that Cruiserweight battle royal (at a PPV, if I remember correctly) while wearing a mask, and portraying a different character all together. I can't remember the exact date, or what Malenko's alias was that night (I remember it was a black & orange costume, possibly pumpkin-related?)...what I do remember is that the winner of the battle royal won the opportunity to challenge the current Cruiserweight Champion to a match that night; and Jericho was the reigning champ at the time. Jericho was a heel at that time, and the pop for Malenko (when he removed his mask) seemed almost deafening. If memory serves, Malenko beat Jericho that night for the belt as well.

Maybe Dean didn't beat Jericho for the belt that night, but regardless - that was a great moment in Malenko's history. It's also the best memory I have of Malenko, although I'm sure I must have also seen a lot of other great matches before that night (and after as well) that are just slipping my mind. I'll always remember his great Cruiserweight matches with Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Jericho, Juvi, etc. I must have seen hundreds of Malenko's fantastic undercard matches in the late 90s on WCW TV.

In my opinion, Malenko had a great career. Dean Malenko (The Master of 1,000 Holds,and a brilliant ring technician) was also the one who "gave" Chris Benoit his famous "Crippler Crossface" (if memory holds up). Malenko is one of those guys who probably is a lot more respected among actual wrestlers (and those in the "biz") as opposed to the average wrestling fan. Obviously he's not one of those "old school" names that comes up much in this day and age, but Stinko Malenko will always hold a special place in my wrestling memories. His career is definitely hall of fame worthy, and like I already said: I only really know of his career post 1997. With everything he did before that as well, he seems like a shoe-in for the Wrestling HoF (along with the WWE HoF).

 

[HBsam31]

I kind of got introduced to Malenko during his time in ECW. I was a kid and the whole show just had me hook. Malenko was one of my favorites in the limited time I got to see ECW. When he moved on to WCW is when I realized he was the real deal. He was a staple in the crusierweight division, and his matches with Rey Mysterio were just a great thing to watch. He was a different kind of crusierweight in that he stayed on the ground for the most part, and his style meshed really well with the rest of them. WHen he moved on to WWE there was some initail buzz, but he never really took of there. I am assuming it was because of his size, and his lack of any real mic skills. I always thought he could just as easily have had Benoit's push if he was just a little bit bigger. That being said I think he was mis used as a wrestler in WWE. It turned into an agent job for him though, and I am sure he did a lot for the younger guys and was happy doing it. As far as the HOF goes I think that is a tough one. By WWE's standards I think he should most certainly go in. He has seen and done it all in the business. Something tells me though it is going to be tough for him to get in. I just think he might get overlooked. Great informative thread by the way.

 

[boozinjedi]

Anyone that saw his matches with Eddie in ECW already know he deserves HOF.
Each and every match they had was HOF caliber!!

 

[Radical Canadian Goose]

I will always consider Malenko as one of the greatest technical wrestlers of all time. On the mic he had less personality than a damp sponge. Based on his WWE career (as a wrestler not an agent) then Zach Ryder should get the nod before Malenko. Based on his entire pro wrestling career, he'll get the nod posthumously. Sorry, I like the guy as much as anybody, I just don't feel that he made much of an impact on the industry in general to deserve a Hall of Fame consideration at this point in time

 

[Jerichoholic8894]

One of the unsung greats of the Wrestling world.

He could tear the house down any day of the week, you can have you're Rock vs Cena, i
ll just take another Malenko-Guerrero classic.

 

[scottyshowman82]

I frickin loved Deano! What was great WCW was it was really a culture shock when you first watched it. Growing up I was so used to these larger than life figures that had limited move sets and so much showmanship. You turn on WCW Nitro and you see a smaller guy like Dean Malenko facing the smallest but most amazing wrestler you'll ever see in Rey Mysterio Jr. doing moves you've never seen before, at a pace you've never seen before. I swear when Rey Mysterio dived over the ropes at Great American Bash of 1996, the crowds came of of their seats, because no one ever saw anything like that before.

Dean Malenko did bring down the house with Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero and so many others back in the day. He made the Texas Clover Leaf famous and made it look just as fierce as Bret Hart's sharpshooter. I remember Bobby Heenan raving about Malenko during his matches, saying he was great and ice cold and all about business. Another really cool fact about Dean Malenko is that with so many world title changes in the past year, Pro Wrestling Illustrated made a controversial but right decision naming him the #1 Wrestler in the business topping their PWI 500. Their reasoning, simply put, he was the best technical wrestler in the business period and he was.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

If the HOF can have guys like Ivan Putski, Johnny Rodz, and Koko B. Ware, then definitely there is room for a guy like Malenko.

Malenko may not have been the prototypical mic-guy, but when you watched him in the ring, you had to give him mad props. For anyone who ever said that technical wrestling was boring, I present Dean Malenko. He took technical chain wrestling to a whole new level, and made it look exciting and authentic in the ring. His matches with Mysterio, Guerrero, Benoit, Jericho, and Ultimo Dragon are just great matches. During the Monday Night Wars, I came to see what would happen with the NWO, but at the end of the show, I remembered the cruiserweights.

So yeah, I think Malenko belongs in there. To me, he was an important part of the Monday Night Wars, and delivered some of the best matches of the decade.

 

[tak161]

Absolutely Malenko deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. You can't talk about the best technical wrestlers of all time without Malenko being at the top. Sure, he wasn't great on the mic, but he didn't need to be. When he stepped into the ring, he didn't need to speak. All he had to do was what he did best, wrestle. I'll always remember his battles with Jericho, Mysterio, Benoit, Saturn, just to name a few. Also, I really enjoyed the team of Malenko and Benoit, they were unbelievable.

I don't know if he'll ever get the nod, just considering that he was never really over the top popular. But like was stated earlier, if they can put Koko B. Ware in, then Malenko should be guaranteed a spot.

 

[anvilx8]

Malenko's awesome... HOF worthy? Interesting question. I'd say NO. But since Koko B. Ware and the likes are in the HOF, then i just have to answer YES.

He was instrumenal in the cruiserweight division, one of the best technical wrestlers ever, and really innovative. So for that reason, I'd say yes.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

If he wasn't tight with Vince and part of the inner circle at the WWE these days I don't think he would have been considered for the HOF, at least not in the near future.

However, personally I would love to see Malenko get inducted at some point. While he didn't have any personality to speak of, his technical ability was one of the best of all time. He was a phenomenal wrestler and his matches with the likes of Chris Jericho and Eddie Guerrero speak for themselves. "The man of 1,000 holds" deserves respect for his in-ring talent, which brought a different dimension to ECW and proved that the company wasn't all about just tables, blood and violence and that it also had great wrestlers.

Malenko was a key figure in the WCW Cruiserweight division in the mid to late 1990s and held the belt on multiple occasions, his matches were always one of the highlights of Nitro and its a shame that he was right at the end of his in-ring career when he arrived in WWE. He had been wrestling for a long time even before he joined ECW, so imagine his success had be become a big name on US soil earlier in his career? He would be held in much higher regard than he is today.

Personally, I think he deserves a HOF entry as one of the smaller names in a class, but I can't say he will. Maybe a few years down the line perhaps once their bigger stars have been inducted.

 

[logan_punisher]

People see what I see. There is more WRESTLERS that deserve the HoF nod. There are always going to be top players inducted. They should give Dean Malenko that spot he deserves. As much some people would say it. Chris Beniot deserves to be inducted with Dean. Malenko should induct Beniot in the HoF. I know what Beniot did/didnt. You cant take the in-ring abilities of Eddie, Beniot, & Malenko. Rey Mysterio should induct Dean Malenko In class of 2014 HoF.

 

[The HEEL JuiceLee]

I loved the Jericoh-Malenko where Y2J went to Washington D.C saying it was a conspiracy because Malenko competed under a false alias. That pop when Malenko took off the mask at the end of the match was crazy crazy Road Warrior pop.

I notice a few pointed out he didn'y have mic skills or a personality, but in Jericoh's 1st book he said that Dean was one of the funniest guy's he ever new & felt if Malenko wanted to he could of been a big comedian on a sitcom or something like that.That make's me think that his promo's & personality were just part of his iceman of 1,000 holds gimmick. After reading that I thought to myself ,what if Dean could of had some Eddie Guerrero comedy type promo's & connect & interact with the crowd more then possibly get over. I guesss it's his own fault if he held back a great personality because he favored being the strickly business Iceman. Just 1 of though what if questions in wrestling...

As far as the Hall of Fame goes I think since he got to be an agent in Vince's inner circle I think he would be like the 4th or 5th member of a class with a big headliner like Randy Savage,Owen Hart, or Jake Roberts. Also someone pointed out he might go in after his death, I believe if he didn't get in as a bottom of a class that 99% sure he would get in if he got real sick or death.
Me personaly would like him to go in in like 4 to 8 years in the middle or bottom of a big name headliner.Macho Man preferably.I have heard stories that there dad's were good friend & Dean came up with the Poffo brothers.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

However, personally I would love to see Malenko get inducted at some point. While he didn't have any personality to speak of, his technical ability was one of the best of all time. He was a phenomenal wrestler and his matches with the likes of Chris Jericho and Eddie Guerrero speak for themselves.

I disagree with this statement. Just because he barley talked on the mic doesn't mean he didn't have a personality. Goldberg didn't talk in the mic for a while and built a persona because of that. In his WCW days that's how I saw Malenko, a smaller Goldberg in terms of charisma.

He doesn't talk much but you can get a feel of his no nonsense character with his body language and the way he would walk that ramp to the ring.

And Malenko had an amazing career. Sure it's not Eddie, Jericho, Benoit, or Mysterio levels especially in the WWE. But I am very sure he made a lot of contributions backstage and was part of the Radicalz package which was a huge angle at the time when they jumped ship.

Malenko was also the #1 ranked wrestler in the 500 in 1997. Considering that 1996's #1 was Shawn Michales and 1998's #1 was Austin, Malenko is in a very prestigious company.

Did he make a huge on screen impact in the WWE after the Radicalz angle? Well no, but Malenko was did give the WWE Light Heavyweight Championship it's best run. Ok that's not saying much but he carried the belt rather well considering it's a title the WWF/E didn't care about.