The Importance Of Jobbers

[Nate DaMac]

Every single day on these forums I hear something along the lines of "WWE needs to push Zack Ryder" or "WWE needs to release R-Truth." It appears that everyone has a decent fan base these days with the internet community playing such a significant role in wrestling, and now everyone wants their guy to be the next big star.

What these people fail to see is while these guys aren't out there winning Championships or beating top contenders, they are still playing an important role in the company. For instance, do you remember Sheamus' debut? He spent months running through enhancement talent before he was bought as a legit contender to dethrone Cena for the World Title.

Now on the flip side, in WCW's latter years, an initiative to put over young stars at a rapid pace was put in pace and virtually every member of the roster had a storyline of some sort. While there were a couple of good things to come of it, such as Booker T's rise to the top, there were several bad to come of it as well. Jeff Jarrett became World Champion and here we are, 10 years later and he still thinks he's relevant.

All I'm saying is that although you may be a fan of Zack Ryder or Evan Bourne, they're doing a job that somebody has to do. If they're really worth a shit then they will be able to hang on to a job and eventually, someone higher up will recognize that they have something to offer in the big show. Not everyone who doesn't hold an enormous amount of Championships is a failure. For every Sheamus and Miz who makes it to the top, there's always going to be a Mark Henry or Christian who hasn't quite gotten there.(yet)

So I ask you WZ, do you believe that Enhancement talent(Jobbers) are still a vital part of the WWE today? Do you think my assessment on certain talents are incorrect?

Have fun.

 

[achromat666]

I think that's absolutely right. Jobbers are a necessity regardless of whether they use the name for them anymore. Jericho I believe has said on many occasions that he's always been willing to lose a match to make someone look good or get them over. And while he has jobbed for a while and did win titles, the Al Snows, Steve Blackmans, hell going back to the Brooklyn Brawler are the types of talents he and other have gone through to help make names for themselves.

The trickiest part is making it believable. You have the Evan Bournes, Yoshi Tatsus and R Truths that the fans cheer for and can make a loss credible. But how long does the match go? How impressive should they look before losing? Do you want a Ric Flair vs. George South or a Sheamus vs. Jamie Noble?

Jobbers are essential to the business. If everyone on the roster had a run with the title, how relevant would it be?

 

[Greydon]

I remember the days of Velocity and heat were a man or woman would come in and wrestle, beat a local guy trying to get a contract in WWE, or an enhancement talent looking to move up. This helps build credibility, and a video package when they came up to the main event scene on the roster.

Albeit, Cena was one of these enhancement talents. He wrestled against Angle, as the prototype and now look at him. Look at the Miz's status, which he reminds us of. Tough enough participant, Smackdown host, etc.

I would hate myself, if I didn't mention the best jobbers of all...The J.O.B. Squad, or "Just Over Broke". Lowest end of the pay scale. The team consisted of Al Snow,Blue Meanie, Gillberg, Scorpio, Bob Holly.

 

[Richard]

Jobbers are an important tool in pro wrestling, they are used to get over superstars who are debuting most of the time for them to get a quick decisive win under their belt while not having to have a huge main eventer put them over right away.

If WWE pushed everyone really hard like Primo and Ryder and WWE was nothing but competitive matches, it would be alright for a while but deep down, everyone loves to see a bit of a squash match and if every match was competitive then we wouldn't be able to see any superstars show any brute dominance and character development would be harder.

Just like with Kane, Batista, Triple H, Undertaker, Cena etc if they were all having very close matches with everyone including Yoshi Tatsu, Curt Hawkins etc, then we wouldn't see the first lot of guys as very dominant. Showing dominance is an important character trait in pro wrestling.

On Dolph Zigglers debut match on RAW, it was against Batista. Ziggler tried to introduce himself again to Batista but if I remember correctly, it was just one big Batista Bomb and that was it. Dolph Ziggler had a purpose, to show how much of a dominant beast Batista could be and it didn't hurt Ziggler, he's had the IC championship and technically been a World Heavyweight Champion. If a superstar is ever going to move out of jobber status, the crowd has to really get behind him or her, not because someone on the internet has a wierd fixation for Ryder.

 

[Ding_Dong_#2]

Without a doubt.

Jobbers and Prelim wrestlers are absolutely vital in building stars that are just entering the company or receiving a push.

A prelim/jobber match can be every bit as entertaining as a match further up the card; just seeing someone like The Road Warriors, Goldberg, John "Earthquake" Tenta, destroy the opposition in minutes can work wonders for building a career.

One of the problems with wrestling today is a lack of variety - so many largely meaningless singles matches around the 20 minute mark. Prelim/jobber & quality tag team wrestling matches does much more to hold the attention span.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

Yes it is pretty obvious that jobbers are pretty important. I don't know if jobbers like a Barry Howoritz or a Brooklyn Brawler would be able to remain relevant in today's wrestling world but guys like Evan Bourne or an R-Truth are certainly important. They have some connection with the crowd, however little that might be and when they come out to face a Sheamus or a Miz the crowd wants them to win even if they know that they stand no chance. Both guys, and you can add Zack Ryder to that list, are good workers and I certainly would not mind seeing a 10 minute match from either of these guys.

The point is that most people in the IWC do not understand that not everybody can be a superstar. Some people do well enough by just having a job with the WWE and guys like Truth and Bourne are those guys.