I love this thread. There were a lot of people who will forever be remembered for their lack of success, which, ironically, is successful in itself.
D-Man listed two great ones, which I remember quite fondly. He covered all the bases but I just wanted to add that I loved the self pat on the back Horowitz did, and marked out when they gave him his little mini-push.
(Funny fact: just today in the mail I got an autograph package of 4 autographs. Two names would fit into this category, the aforementioned Horowitz himself, and Tony Garea. I actually even remember looking Barry up on Wiki not that long ago. Coincidences are fun sometimes...)
Mike Sharpe was another one I remember from back in the day. It's funny, because he does look like a pretty bad dude. Just by looking at him you would think monster heel, not jobber.
Somebody stole my pick, though. Jackal960 mentioned S.D. Jones but I want to mention him again, and give him a more fitting post as not much history was mentioned. Not dogging ya, Jackal, just wanted to give one of my favorites as a kid his due.
Now my memory isn't what it used to be, and I don't know everything about his history since I was just a kid when I watched him on my television screen, so I will post the Wikipedia entry in its entirety. I think a detailed history is in order for a very special (pun intended) jobber of years gone by...
Conrad Efraim (March 30, 1945 – October 26, 2008) was a former professional wrestler best known as Special Delivery Jones or S.D. Jones from his time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). He also wrestled in Jim Crockett Promotions and the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), and he won the NWA Americas Tag Team Championship three times.[4]
Before becoming a wrestler, Efraim worked at a telephone company.[4] While there, he began training under Johnny Rodz in the sport of professional wrestling.[4] Upon completion of his training, he quit his job and began working for NWA Mid-Atlantic under the name "Roosevelt Jones" in a tag team with his partner and kayfabe cousin Rufus R. Jones.[3] While there, they had a memorable feud with the Anderson family (Ole and Gene).[3]
On January 17, 1975, after leaving the Mid-Atlantic area for California, Jones won his first of three tag team titles, combining with Porkchop Cash to take the NWA Americas Tag Team Championship from the Hollywood Blonds (Buddy Roberts and Jerry Brown).[5] The following month, Jones and Cash dropped the titles back to the Blonds. Jones won the title again in 1977, teaming with Tom Jones to defeat Black Gordman and Goliath.[5] Gordman and Goliath regained the championship, but Jones and Jones won the belts back from them on November 18, 1977.[5]
Jones also continued to wrestle in the WWF as a mid-card babyface who would give the heels a hard time but end up losing.[6] He did, however, win quite a few matches on smaller cards against lower card or fellow mid carders like Ron Shaw and Johnny Rodz.[3][7] Jones was often featured in tag team matches partnered with Tony Atlas, and the two challenged Mr. Fuji and Mr. Saito for the WWF Tag Team Championship several times in 1981.[7] On one occasion, the two ended up as the final men in a battle royal and flipped a coin to decide the winner, as seen on the WWF Coliseum Video 'Best of the WWF Volume 4' and 'Grand Slams' video cassettes.[8]
He was also the tag team partner of André the Giant on November 13, 1984 when André's hair was cut by Ken Patera and Big John Studd.[9] At WrestleMania, he famously lost to King Kong Bundy in twenty-five seconds from bell to pinfall, however the official match time was given as nine seconds.[10]
Despite mainly being used as a preliminary talent in the 1980s WWF, Jones garnered further recognition when LJN created an action figure of him for their Wrestling Superstars toy line.[4] He also appeared in the WWF's music video for Land of a Thousand Dances.[4] In 2006, SD Jones appeared for the WWE inducting Tony Atlas into the Hall of Fame.[11] After retiring from wrestling, Jones lost a considerable amount of weight and took a job at the New York Daily News.[4]
Efraim died in Antigua on October 26, 2008, following a stroke suffered two days earlier.[2]
I know this was a bit long, and I apologize. But let me ask you this. What other jobber do you know (well, besides Ted Arcidi off the top of my head) who had his own action figure, especially back in the day??? Not only did he have an action figure, I remember he was so f'n cool he had TWO. One w/a red shirt, and one w/a Hawaiian shirt. How many jobbers do you know that get one action figure, let alone two?? Exactly. But S.D. Jones freakin' did it.
His action figure accomplishments nothwithstanding, S.D. Jones was a hell of a charismatic guy. I always wondered later on why he didn't get farther than what he did. Not that his career was horrible, for a jobber. I remember him best for teaming up w/Andre the Giant and just going from memory you could tell there was a look in his eyes that showed he truly loved what he was doing, even if he wasn't in the ME scene.
S.D. Jones, for me, will always be remembered as a bright, energetic, happy guy who's personality shone through every time he was in the spotlight. Even in Wrestlemania when he knew he was going to get jobbed in record time, he came out there and cut a promo as though he was going to pull off an underdog victory and jump start his path to the top. And you even almost believed him.
Good old S.D., may he rest in peace.
Edit: sorry, cl, I must have been typing as you were posting. Didn't know you'd beat me to mentioning him again...
Dude, how can a guy who's never been worse than a borderline main eventer be a jobber??? Maybe he's been a jobber to the stars for short periods of time, but he's certainly never been close to a jobber! Santino and Goldust are closer, but they're nowhere near jobbers either. Both have won the IC title multiple times and been tag champs.
