Where are the technical wrestlers these days?

[GW_Hart86]

What ever happened to the good old fashioned technical wrestlers that you used to get back in the day? It seems now that there is none of them left hardly.

I used to love watching wrestlers like Bret/Owen Hart, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels etc.... Now, most wrestlers seem to have a very limited skill set when it comes to in-ring ability.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not for critiscizing new talent. I'm loving the current youth movement that the WWE is launching and I am really behind it, supporting it all the way. It is long over-due.

I just can't help missing the old school wrestlers who possessed that world class in-ring ability and used to put on incredibly entertaining matches which doesn't seem to exist nowadays. I think with it being the PG era just now, that these kind of wrestlers would come in really useful as the action now is within the ring as opposed to the late 90's when the attitude era had matches frequently leaving the ring and fighting backstage or wherever else.

Anyone else see my point?

 

[WooWooWoo1999]

I definitly see your point. The guys that have great in-ring ability are not being pushed such as Tyson Kidd, Jack Swagger, Daniel Bryan, etc. I think that WWE has stopped caring about the talent's in-ring ability and care about their mic skills and ability to cut a promo.

 

[gbswim972]

It's not even that they don't care about the Bell to bell guys..... There are a bunch that can wrestle in the WWE... The Problem is all of the focus is on one guys.....Cena..... Until that changes we won't get the bell to bell guys we love to watch

 

[RatedRKO2011]

I'm miss all them classic matches eddie vs angle WM20 is a great one to watch. WWE have just signed another wrestler like Sin Cara so it looks like that style is more favourable now adays

 

[BritishLion]

WWE still has some great technical wrestlers on their roster. The best of these is Daniel Bryan, considered by some to be the best technical wrestler in the world. He's certainly one of the best. Tyson Kidd's also a great technical wrestler, having been trained by none other than Bret Hart. The problem with WWE nowadays is that they prefer talkers to wrestlers. Sometimes I feel like the only one watching for the wrestling. If you watch the ratings breakdown, great matches lose viewers whereas pointless Michael Cole promos gain viewers. This is what annoys me about WWE fans. They'd prefer wrestlers to argue and put each other down than wrestle each other. Wrestlers like Daniel Bryan are put down for being "boring" just because they don't pander to ten year olds on the mic. Great workers like Tyson Kidd are relegated to Superstars because creative have nothing for them. I have hundreds of ideas for Kidd. Why don't creative? Because they can't be bothered.

 

[Chadmw]

First of all I just want to LOL, because of course someone of course managed to blame the lack of technical wrestling on Cena. Geezus you guys would blame cancer on this guy if you could

The reason why technical wrestlers don't get over is that the fans Boo them and start chanting Borrrrrinnnnggg during there matches.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

Very simply, although WWE have a number of good technical wrestlers in their ranks, asides from Bryan and Regal nobody really stands out.

Most technical wrestlers who've made a name for themselves are dispersed throughout the independant scene and in Japan, some that come to mind would be Eddie Edwards, Roderick Strong, Kazushi Sakarba and many others. Great technical wrestling is out there, for some the obvious advice is to watch Ring of Honor.

 

[WooWooWoo1999]

I really wish Superstars was still on TV. Apart from Santino, that was the show that had guys who could actually wrestle and put on a great match bell to bell.

 

[PhD]

What is this "back in the day" stuff? WWE/F has always been built on outsized personalities that employ a limited ring style, because that is what makes the wrestling most accessable to the casual fan. You may remember a dude called Hulk Hogan?

Seriously, I was at an ROH event earlier this year, and this 12 year old kid next to me kept screaming for people to do their finishers. And as others have pointed out, there are plenty of technical wrestlers on the roster, they just have trouble getting over. The product today, as it has been for a while, is not targeting fans of pure pro-wrestling. That is what the indies are for.

 

[SalvIsWin]

To be completely honest, I always enjoyed the drama portion of wrestling shows more than I ever did the wrestling. In fact, the wrestling I always found to be a means to the end, which was the drama. I would guess that most people fall into the same category as myself, and thus they actually don't really enjoy the actual wrestling that much. Technical wrestling is the most like actual wrestling than anything else, so I would think that it's also the least popular for the reasoning I outlined above. At least a brawling-style of match is somewhat enjoyable to the casual fan, whereas a technical match probably only appeals to a small porportion of fans.

 

[crippler]

Its alot about promos these days if the wrestler can't cut a decent promo he will get nowhere. Some of the big stars from the past if they were around now they would get lost cuz of the promo abilities.Today Andre the Giant and Bob Backlund would never had been as big as they were only because of there promo skills.

 

[Saeros]

Technical wrestlers in the WWE atm

Alberto Del Rio
CM Punk
Daniel Bryan
DH Smith
Jack Swagger
Santino Marella
Tyson Kidd
William Regal
Yoshitatsu

Some may suggest that Smith, Tatsu, Santino and some others arent technical wrestlers, but id consider them. They arent marketed that way, thats the only reason.

Fact is, Creative are lazy, and While i disagree that its all because of Cena, it does have some truth.

WWE seem to only want to give chances to a select few. If this roster had decent minds behind it, most of the wrestlers would be in a program with another instead of being used as filler. Drew Mcintyre for instance, should not be used as filler, he is very marketable. Same as Jack Swagger. WWE seems to center its product around a very select few, and not bother with others.

Those mentioned above may not have as much skill as Bret, Flair, Malenko, but there are still technical wrestlers about, especially on the indy circuit

All they need is to be given time, a good program, and some time to talk. The only promo's we see these days are from those in the upper card, and even some of them dont get much anymore.

 

[772Attitude]

You have to remember, its not called wrestling anymore. It's all about entertainment. Who's the best acter or the best talker. Srry buddy but those technical wrestling days are over.

 

[HorsemenNo4]

Sadly there aren't many technical wrestlers in the WWE. A lot of cases, they aren't 'entertaining' outside of wrestling and lack mic skills. Therefore given some crappy comedy sketch to make them entertaining.
Remember Lance Storm? Great wrestler but when he made it to WWE, they tried to make his character funny or comical. Whatever you wanna call it. They killed his character.

If you technical, you have to be good on the mic or else you'll be buried in mid-card forever.

Sadly you can either be a spot-monkey or have a '5 move set' and you'll become champion. Technical doesn't mean much in the WWE

 

[The Brain]

The reason we don’t see technical wrestlers like that anymore is because the death of the territories has finally caught up to WWE. It took 20 years but it has finally happened. The great wrestlers of the past were able to work in different territories throughout the world to perfect their style. They had the benefit from learning from many different teachers. There may have been a guy who worked in Calgary and Minnesota and took the things he learned in both places when he made it to New York. There may have been another guy who worked Florida and Texas and learned a just as good but different style than the first guy. He would have taken what he learned in those territories and made it his own in New York. The list goes on and on about how many different territories the older guys worked before making it to WWE.

Now that the territories have been gone for many years the guys who worked them are fading away. What we have instead is everyone on the roster learning the same style from the same people in FCW. That’s why people are having a hard time standing out now.