Past wrestlers from other eras that wouldn't make it today?

[xsKiitz]

So basically, I would like to know which retired wrestlers from back in the Hogan days, the Bret Hart days etc. who made it back then, wouldn't make it today?

Keep in mind that I don't mean in their current state. When they were in their prime. So pretty much gimmick-wise, style-wise, wrestling-wise, character-wise, would they be accepted by the modern audiences and do you think they could adapt.

Today, I don't think Dusty Rhodes for one would have made a name for himself. There really wouldn't be much appealing about him and I don't think he'd be accepted with today's wrestling fans.

Another would be Harley race, same reasons pretty much.


So, yours thoughts on this?

 

[hatehabsforever]

As much as a phenom as he is, and as much as I have enjoyed his long and illustrious career, I am not so sure the Undertaker gimmick would have gotten over today. In other words, had the Undertaker not debuted years ago as he did, and no other similar gimmick had existed, and some guy came along today as the Deadman, who gets buried alive, continues to return, etc., I don't think fans would buy into it today.

I guess we are lucky that he debuted back when he did, otherwise we may have lost out on one of the most successful and popular gimmicks.

 

[tarp]

koko b ware! Today wrestling WWE isn't as childish, I know it's pg but the cartoons and such. I have to disagree about Harley Race, he was the legit tough man, like Stan Hansen, and Black Jack Mulligan, wrestling needs the tough guys, Shemaus, Taker, Vader!

 

[xsKiitz]

As much as a phenom as he is, and as much as I have enjoyed his long and illustrious career, I am not so sure the Undertaker gimmick would have gotten over today. In other words, had the Undertaker not debuted years ago as he did, and no other similar gimmick had existed, and some guy came along today as the Deadman, who gets buried alive, continues to return, etc., I don't think fans would buy into it today.

I guess we are lucky that he debuted back when he did, otherwise we may have lost out on one of the most successful and popular gimmicks.

I actually typed up a secondary question in the original post asking whether the Undertaker gimmick would've gotten over today. Got rid of it, but I'm glad you touched on that, ha. And I agree.

 

[Savior with faith 101]

Mine may well be a controversial one that many people will disagree with, but i personally think Hulk Hogan would struggle to get over today in the way he did. The whole take your vitamins goodie two shoes etc may well still get with the kids, but would the males take to him the way that they did before?

My reasoning for this is John Cena, the good guy who beats everyone is what has turned the fans against him somewhat. I think the same wouldve happened with Hulk. Also the fact that Wrestling isnt seen as cool in the way it was back then, so he would struggle to get the same main stream attention that he did.

While i think he was a clever enough man to be able to be able to adjust his gimmick and make it work today, i doubt that his original gimmick wouldve worked as it was

 

[The Perfect Max]

Easy! Stone Cold Steve Austin. As much as it pains me to say it, it isn't is a question of can it work?, it's how the holy hell would work? It couldn't be done. His character would be ok I suppose, but, he ain't allowed to use the middle finger or say some crap like he normally does so, there, he is my pick.

 

[UnBEARaBULLfan]

Weel since this is the "pg era" I'm gonna say everyone from the attitude era. Plus I think maybe the Iron Shiek woundn't be as over as he was, he would probably go the same route Muhammed Hassan did and end up getting real hatered and being released

 

[Mustang Sally]

Today, I don't think Dusty Rhodes for one would have made a name for himself. There really wouldn't be much appealing about him and I don't think he'd be accepted with today's wrestling fans.

I keep going back and forth on this question and still don't really know the answer. On one hand, Dusty's ridiculous looking body always made it hard to take him seriously if you were just considering how he looked before the match started.

On the other hand, though, he came across as a legitimate tough guy despite his high percentage of body fat, and there always seems to be room for a genuine tough guy in today's wrestling. When he was moving around, he knew how to work well enough that the fans could forgive his weight and even get behind him. I remember those Bunkhouse Brawls. Plus, he had a personality and ability to work the mic that no one else had back then.

In today's wrestling, we can take Trevor Murdoch and Husky Harris as modern-day examples of Dusty Rhodes. They seemed pretty tough, but they never made it in WWE because they couldn't work like Dusty Rhodes. He had something the other two never had and I think he would have made it in the modern era.

The guy I have a problem believing would have made it today is Andre the Giant. Despite the obvious comparison to Big Show, the Andre I remember could barely move himself around the ring. Yes, we expect big guys to be slower than small ones, but Andre was pitiful. Big Show is actually pretty mobile for his size; Andre wasn't. Of course, I saw him only in the 80's; perhaps he moved better earlier in his career.

In all, though, it's hard to believe Andre's gimmick would have worked in today's wrestling. At least Big Show has his personality to make him more interesting; Andre was a one-trick pony who didn't have much else to offer. If his opponents didn't stand in front of him and allow themselves to be hit, he wouldn't have been able to function back then, either.

 

[achromat666]

I can't say I agree with whether Attitude stars wouldn't have gotten over today, bear in mind the wrestlers themselves make the character, not the other way around. And a lot of the stars that made that era definitely had the ability and on mic charisma to make their character work now. Whether they'd be as over as they were may be a separate matter.

For me, My choice is Hacksaw Jim Duggan. every time he's made an appearance in recent years I only think of how completely out of place he is, and how much of a caricature he is as a performer. His character didn't even had much depth, just a patriot that said tough guy and Hoooooo a lot while brandishing a 2x4.

I don't even think he'd make it as a jobber.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

Taker and Kane would have no chance today - magical powers, as Miz would say "Really?" IRS, RepoMan, RVD (a Jean Claude Van Damme rip off), any wrestler who was meant to be something else outside of wrestling (dentist, trash man, farmer etc).

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I think that there's a huge number of major stars from past eras that wouldn't make it today. Or, I should say, they wouldn't make it in the eyes of a hefty portion of the IWC.

Let's say for the sake of argument that we had Harley Race, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels & Dusty Rhodes in their prime, say 25-30 years of age, and you put them having virtually the same look and abilities that they had in their prime in front of a net fans. These 5 legends would be subjected to the very same criticisms that the IWC throws at a lot of young wrestling talent today. Hell, they'd probably be criticized even more than the usual favorite targets of the IWC these days.

Harley Race & Ric Flair would be called slow, boring and unathletic looking, Hulk Hogan would be even more criticized by modern wrestling fans today than he already is because of his generally limited in-ring offense, Dusty Rhodes wouldn't be remotely taken seriously because of how he looks nor would his promo skills be appreciated and Shawn Michaels would be criticized because he doesn't have the size or overall look that they think a good wrestler is supposed to have. All of them would probably be criticized by some because their wrestling offense doesn't involve doing flips and suicide dives all over the place every 10 seconds.

One reason why we all, to varying degree,s love those wrestlers is because we grew up watching them and we enjoyed seeing them do their thing. If you take nostalgia out of the equation and put them in their primes before a modern audience of internet wrestling fans, they'd be constantly shit on and those legends would just be the tip of the iceberg.

 

[S.J. Maximus]

I don't think Bret Hart could get over in this day and age despite his amazing in-ring talent and decent mic skills. We've seen too many people with good mic skills end up floating in midcard due to the lack of mic prowess (Shelton Benjamin, Morrison for the last 5 years, Ziggler, etc.) and i think Bret falls into that same category

 

[silrock316]

First, I disagree strongly with the assumption that Undertaker wouldn't be over. He is physically a beast, he is one of the best mic workers in the business and he can flat out put on a good match and that paired with the unique character. I firmly believe Taker would be over pretty good in any era.

Which leads me to my pick of a wrestler who was over back when that I believe wouldn't be over now if he was introduced.

Ultimate Warrior: Not only was he terrible on the microphone, but his move set may actually be worse than Cena's. However, his face painting would be refreshing because it is something we do not see as much of these days. In a era where we judge actual in-ring skills much more than we did when we were kids, I would find it hard that this era would cheer for him simply because he would run to the ring and go crazy on the ropes.

This is just my opinion but I don't see what he would offer this era.

 

[That'sVintageMichaelCole]

As much as a phenom as he is, and as much as I have enjoyed his long and illustrious career, I am not so sure the Undertaker gimmick would have gotten over today. In other words, had the Undertaker not debuted years ago as he did, and no other similar gimmick had existed, and some guy came along today as the Deadman, who gets buried alive, continues to return, etc., I don't think fans would buy into it today.

I guess we are lucky that he debuted back when he did, otherwise we may have lost out on one of the most successful and popular gimmicks.

The reason that there were no similar gimmicks until after Undertaker came about was because they all tried to copy him.

When he was the American Badass, I still liked him and his Mic Skills were very good. The build up to him and HHH at WM17 was very very good. That was not just down to HHH.

I think Lex Luger would find it tough now, I mean his moves bored me back then.

I think any of the old guys who are considered to have "slow and methodical" matches would struggle. Styles have changed.

The question is do you think they could have adapted?

 

[FSWWE]

I really think that Muhamad Hassan could had been huge!!

• Do you remember what he did to Undertaker?

He was showing us why he was great!! I dont know what happened to him, i stop watching WWE for about a year :X

Another one that could have been great was: Shelton Benjamin, i love what he does in the ring!!

Now wrestlers that couldnt make it!!

Hulk Hogan, obvious!!
Ricky Steambot, cause WWE has better wrestlers right now!!
Bret Hart - i dont know 100%, but difficultly:X

I dont know about Taker :X i mean he is a legend, every fan respect him, but if he debuted Monday Night, i would be intriguing about him, so yes, he could be great even if he debuted right now!!

 

[The Suplexer Perfecter]

If Undertaker debuted today like he did in 1990, everyone would laugh their asses off. He wore gardening gloves, remember?

Andre the Giant wouldn't work either. We'd all say he can't wrestle, can't talk, and should be fired (see comments on Khali).

Ricky Steamboat wouldn't either, he would have no "character" and basically a John Cena type good guy but did better in the ring.

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

I really think that Muhamad Hassan could had been huge!!

• Do you remember what he did to Undertaker?

He was showing us why he was great!! I dont know what happened to him, i stop watching WWE for about a year :X

Another one that could have been great was: Shelton Benjamin, i love what he does in the ring!!

Now wrestlers that couldnt make it!!

Hulk Hogan, obvious!!
Ricky Steambot, cause WWE has better wrestlers right now!!
Bret Hart - i dont know 100%, but difficultly:X

I dont know about Taker :X i mean he is a legend, every fan respect him, but if he debuted Monday Night, i would be intriguing about him, so yes, he could be great even if he debuted right now!!

Would you care to elaborate on the three that you don't think would make it in today's mat scene? One thing to keep in mind, I am sure that if the above three you are trying to sell short (Hogan, Steamboat and Hart) were put into today's wrestling world this would be under the assumption that the 80s and 90s booms that happened in wrestling still occurred obviously Hart, Hogan and Steamboat would all be replaced.

Now, there is nothing OBVIOUS about Hogan in my opinion, and you're welcome to have yours, but explain why you think it's so obvious that Hogan couldn't make it in today's wrestling world. The thing is that if Hogan was a rookie, he'd have to use his other moves that he relied on his early career in all likelihood with The Axe Bomba, the Backbreaker Submission and the Powerslam Pinfall Combo being far more regular moves in his arsenal. Then again people went crazy over the People's Elbow so somewhere in there Hogan's legdrop still might have worked as a secondary finisher/signature move. But to use the word obvious and not elaborate makes your argument very suspect since you're not backing up a single thing.

Ricky Steamboat again if guys like Kofi Kingston and Rey Mysterio (more so in Mysterio's case) are flying around from pillar post and managing to get over and win titles, I can't see why Ricky Steamboat would not work in today's wrestling scene as a new talent. And to be honest, I feel his promos and charisma are far more in quantity than a lot of these guys in the current era. In my opinion I don't feel he has the same compelling qualities that a Kofi Kingston has. He like Hogan would have tweaked one or two minor things to find a way to be relevant in today's wrestling, but to just discount him and say that just because there are "better" wrestlers around today that he'd have no chance, that's just preposterous.

Then the one that really caught my attention and dare I say ire, is that despite your wording you've still made an assumption that Bret Hart would not be a star in today's wrestling scene. If someone like Chris Benoit could have won the World Heavyweight Championship almost a decade a go, I have no doubt that Bret Hart could have done the same thing today. Bret Hart might not have had the charisma levels of a Rock, Austin, Hogan or Savage but the guy had his own kind of confidence and swagger into that ring with his wrestling ability and that spoke just as well as his promos which I do admit had roughness at times and were not the grandstanding fare that guys like Hogan or Austin had but Bret Hart had a certain element to him that made him a very likable and over star. Compare his mic work to Chris Benoit's and you'll see that Bret Hart is a lot more impassioned in the way he'd cut his promos just watch SummerSlam 94, In Your House I, King Of The Ring 1993 and you'll see what I mean.

This isn't to make fun of you but I notice that English is not your native language so I know some things might get lost in translation here but I have to vehemently disagree with your assessments, not to say that I can't respect an opinion but with what you've said and how you've said it I'm looking to get more out of your statement. Therefore I have to challenge your post and I welcome a reply, not to say that you have to but it would be nice to read someone backing up pretty bold statements, which is pretty much the nature of these forums to begin with, I'd like to hear more of what you have to say.

 

[Swarles Barkley]

This type of question is extremely hard to answer because things don't happen in a bubble. You can't just take what a guy did in 1987 and plant him in 2011 and say, "Well that wouldn't work today because of [insert reason]." Would Hulk Hogan work today? Probably not. But we also wouldn't get the same Hulk Hogan we got in the 80s. Same with Steve Austin in the 90s. They likely would not have been doing the same schtick they did when they were the hottest thing going because societal trends change. For example, Austin, Rock and WWF Attitude came about at a time when the envelope was being pushed across all media platforms.

Hogan and "Rock 'n' Wrestling" wouldn't work today because that's not the way society is structured. MTV is no longer the hot spot for music, and we can't discount the influence of the burgeoning cable market on wrestling. Cable is now well established. If you notice WWE is plugging the shit out of Facebook and Twitter. So they have their finger on the pulse just like they did in the 80s. But the pulse is different. If Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift ended their Grammy speech with "And you're going to get yours CM Punk" would it work? That's basically what happened when Cyndi Lauper did that 1985. Now, if Bieber went on Twitter and did it, it would be huge. See what I'm trying to say? Society morphs and trends change. What worked three decades ago wouldn't work now. Same as what works now, wouldn't have worked three decades ago.

Nothing happens in a vacuum. But if we think these performers are as talented as we do, they would have found a way to get over to the extent they did during their heyday. But it is a different time in 2011, so saying that Andre the Giant wouldn't work is reasonable. Andre was a product of his time. He was so popular because he could move from territory to territory and never get stale. That can't happen today. Andre would be Big Show. Big Show, as a giant of a man, probably would have Andre-level respect had he been around in the 70s and 80s. Also, someone like The Miz or Randy Orton or CM Punk probably wouldn't have worked during Andre's time. That's not a slight on any of those performers both past and present, just a reasonable conclusion to draw.

 

[Midnite Express 2009]

I would say, Tommy Rich. I say that since Atlanta is the site of tonight's WrestleMania. Tommy Rich wasn't the best wrestler in the world, and I always wonder why/how he won the NWA World Title (I think, honestly, the board was trying to pad Harley Race's title reigns). But yes, Tommy Rich wouldn't make it because there wouldn't be anything for him to do. He hardly ever ventured past Atlanta or Georgia Championship Wrestling, so that says something right there (and when he did, he didn't do too well). His character would be 1 demisional and it'd be very hard to build upon it. Plus, he was somewhat of a slower wrestler, all things considered.

The Rock N' Roll Express would be another name. GREAT tag team, albeit, a bit of TOO over if you asked me, but they wouldn't make it, NOT because tag teams are a thing of the past (despite their being "tag team champions") but due to the fact that they couldn't be marketed to the right way in today's time. They were apart of an era where Rock music was HUGE, so they fit into that perfectly. If it were today, they'd be boo'd for being TOO soft in less than 3 matches.

 

[Deviancy]

If we're going by gimmicks and mic skills, I'd say Shawn Michaels and the Ultimate Warrior. Now keep in mind, when I say this I'm thinking of who would win over the mainstream audience, not who would win over the hardcore wrestling fan.

Shawn Michaels came into play when the mainstream loved hair metal, it was all about dressing like Brett Michaels, being a glammed up pretty boy, and t&a. But that whole scene died in the early 90's and the whole image and gimmick not only died with the music, it became a joke. Sure, Shawn has great ring skills but so does Swagger. I think it was primarily nostalgia that carried Michaels into the 21st century.

The Warrior was just pure cartoony, campy, nonsense, he couldn't even do anything in the ring except for spaz out and throw people around. That for some reason worked back in the day, the kids ate it up for whatever reason. But these days, people would wonder why the WWE was taking advantage of the mentally challenged, and why the man wasn't medicated.

Koko, Barbarian, Haku, Earthquake, Tugboat, and numerous others also come to mind. But the thing is, they didn't exactly go over extremely well back in the day either.

As for Taker..

It better be 19-0 at the end of the night.

 

[gpants]

If Undertaker debuted today like he did in 1990, everyone would laugh their asses off. He wore gardening gloves, remember?

Andre the Giant wouldn't work either. We'd all say he can't wrestle, can't talk, and should be fired (see comments on Khali).

Ricky Steamboat wouldn't either, he would have no "character" and basically a John Cena type good guy but did better in the ring.

I don't really agree with the whole Andre thing, yeah so he didn't have great mic skills (or any really for that matter) and yeah had a very limited and basic move set. However he was a beast of a man and he had Bobby Heenan one of the greatest managers of all time with him to do the mic work.
It would be so much better to have him on today than either The Big Show or Khali that's for sure.

My pick would be Sargent Slaughter, no way would he be taken seriously in today's market and he definitely would not have a title run of any kind.

 

[Mike D]

Immediately the great Iron Shiek and Jimmy Superfly Snuka come to mind.. why? Of course it isn't their talent, charactor, look ect but the current 'youth' movement. LOL Yes, Shiek won WWF Gold at 40 years old (?) and Superfly was 37 or so when he debute in WWF. Both of these guys were known, but not remotely close to what they would become in the years after. There are MANY more that would fall victim to McMahons youth movement from back then.

 

[Mike D]

I think that there's a huge number of major stars from past eras that wouldn't make it today. Or, I should say, they wouldn't make it in the eyes of a hefty portion of the IWC.

Let's say for the sake of argument that we had Harley Race, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels & Dusty Rhodes in their prime, say 25-30 years of age, and you put them having virtually the same look and abilities that they had in their prime in front of a net fans. These 5 legends would be subjected to the very same criticisms that the IWC throws at a lot of young wrestling talent today. Hell, they'd probably be criticized even more than the usual favorite targets of the IWC these days.

Harley Race & Ric Flair would be called slow, boring and unathletic looking, Hulk Hogan would be even more criticized by modern wrestling fans today than he already is because of his generally limited in-ring offense, Dusty Rhodes wouldn't be remotely taken seriously because of how he looks nor would his promo skills be appreciated and Shawn Michaels would be criticized because he doesn't have the size or overall look that they think a good wrestler is supposed to have. All of them would probably be criticized by some because their wrestling offense doesn't involve doing flips and suicide dives all over the place every 10 seconds.

One reason why we all, to varying degree,s love those wrestlers is because we grew up watching them and we enjoyed seeing them do their thing. If you take nostalgia out of the equation and put them in their primes before a modern audience of internet wrestling fans, they'd be constantly shit on and those legends would just be the tip of the iceberg.

I disagree on a number of examples.
1.. Hulk Hogan. 'limited in ring offense'... If batista can become a huge star today and Hogan would wrestle circles around him how couldn't he be a bigger star? Watch Hulk in Japan.. He was not a bad in ring worker for a guy legit 300 pounds 6' 5" or so. other examples are Eziekiel, mason, kane (whos better than these other two bozos before him)..and others..cena as well..just look at his punches, lol or his vertical flying shoulder tackle.

2. Shawn Michaels.. lacks size??? SEriously? Go look at early 90's Michaels and then look at 185 pound john morrison..or 180ish dolph ziggler or cody rhodes miz ( 210-215) and on and on. Michaels was a legit 220 and muscular...whether or not he wouldve passed drug test is a different story but he had more size then a lot of guys today. Guys today are much smaller than the past

 

[FSWWE]

Would you care to elaborate on the three that you don't think would make it in today's mat scene? One thing to keep in mind, I am sure that if the above three you are trying to sell short (Hogan, Steamboat and Hart) were put into today's wrestling world this would be under the assumption that the 80s and 90s booms that happened in wrestling still occurred obviously Hart, Hogan and Steamboat would all be replaced.

Now, there is nothing OBVIOUS about Hogan in my opinion, and you're welcome to have yours, but explain why you think it's so obvious that Hogan couldn't make it in today's wrestling world. The thing is that if Hogan was a rookie, he'd have to use his other moves that he relied on his early career in all likelihood with The Axe Bomba, the Backbreaker Submission and the Powerslam Pinfall Combo being far more regular moves in his arsenal. Then again people went crazy over the People's Elbow so somewhere in there Hogan's legdrop still might have worked as a secondary finisher/signature move. But to use the word obvious and not elaborate makes your argument very suspect since you're not backing up a single thing.

Ricky Steamboat again if guys like Kofi Kingston and Rey Mysterio (more so in Mysterio's case) are flying around from pillar post and managing to get over and win titles, I can't see why Ricky Steamboat would not work in today's wrestling scene as a new talent. And to be honest, I feel his promos and charisma are far more in quantity than a lot of these guys in the current era. In my opinion I don't feel he has the same compelling qualities that a Kofi Kingston has. He like Hogan would have tweaked one or two minor things to find a way to be relevant in today's wrestling, but to just discount him and say that just because there are "better" wrestlers around today that he'd have no chance, that's just preposterous.

Then the one that really caught my attention and dare I say ire, is that despite your wording you've still made an assumption that Bret Hart would not be a star in today's wrestling scene. If someone like Chris Benoit could have won the World Heavyweight Championship almost a decade a go, I have no doubt that Bret Hart could have done the same thing today. Bret Hart might not have had the charisma levels of a Rock, Austin, Hogan or Savage but the guy had his own kind of confidence and swagger into that ring with his wrestling ability and that spoke just as well as his promos which I do admit had roughness at times and were not the grandstanding fare that guys like Hogan or Austin had but Bret Hart had a certain element to him that made him a very likable and over star. Compare his mic work to Chris Benoit's and you'll see that Bret Hart is a lot more impassioned in the way he'd cut his promos just watch SummerSlam 94, In Your House I, King Of The Ring 1993 and you'll see what I mean.

This isn't to make fun of you but I notice that English is not your native language so I know some things might get lost in translation here but I have to vehemently disagree with your assessments, not to say that I can't respect an opinion but with what you've said and how you've said it I'm looking to get more out of your statement. Therefore I have to challenge your post and I welcome a reply, not to say that you have to but it would be nice to read someone backing up pretty bold statements, which is pretty much the nature of these forums to begin with, I'd like to hear more of what you have to say.

First im sorry, im from Portugal (and i thought my english was average, everybody complains about it )
i can understand, but spelling... :s

Now back to topic:

Hulk Hogan -We already have Cena to be Kids Role Model! Hulk Hogan as a heel couldnt stand in the PG era and his looks isnt quite the most faboulous or better to be relevant, his mic skills are the only thing that he could have in his resumé to somehow be someone, but only with a new gimmick of course!!

Ricky Steamboat - I have to admit, i dont know much about him... I know that he was a great wrestler and a babyface. Look fans now are much more, ah with lack of better words, dumbasses... Now IWC are never satisfied, look at Bryan Danielson, he won the US Championship and now you see threads about him moving up to main event, that is total garbish since he is in his WWE Rookie Year. At this moment people want to be entertained, so if a guy cant cut a promo its damn hard difficult to give him a push to be a legend right now, because the scripted part matters a lot (80% in a feud).

Bret Hart - With him I have my doubts! He had a legendary rivalry with HBK, we all know that he fought agaisnt HBK in a legendary IronMan Match, he is a legend and very well deserved. But look, Tyson Kidd is the better personification of Bret right now! Great in the ring, bad cutting promos, maybe yes he is in the Jobber area now, because we already saw Bret, but like i've said earlier Superstars that cant cut a promo and that cant make is presence felt with words cant be great legends like they are now!
I respect that you are a great Bret Hart mark, I love his work too and now Sharpshooter looks like a legendary move when Undertaker, Edge, Benoit etc

But see Benoit had one thing that stood out, he was intense like no one! Bret is a ancient John Morrison, cant act but can amaze!


Thats are my thought, and I'm so sorry for giving you the trouble of translate this