Blading with Bill: The most overrated wrestlers of all time
It’s time for a column I’ve been looking forward to for quite some time.
After giving you my Mount Rushmore of a variety of wrestlers — babyfaces, heels, tag teams, underrated and managers — it’s time for the most overrated wrestlers of all time.
I’m the first to admit I am not a huge fan of World Wrestling Entertainment or, before that, the World Wrestling Federation.
I found many of their characters to be forced — you don’t take a great worker like Barry Windham and call him the Widowmaker — and the storylines were silly and often predictable. Worse, WWE head honcho Vince McMahon almost always favoured big, sculpted wrestlers, and their work in the ring or on the mic was secondary.
With that in mind, it’s no surprise I tended to focus more on WWE of WWF than the National Wrestling Alliance or World Championship Wrestling when making my choices.
Once again, it becomes difficult to narrow down such a large field to only four. Many names were considered and came close to making the cut: Jeff Jarrett, Roman Reigns, Sid Vicious, Bret Hart, The Ultimate Warrior, Lex Luger, Batista, The Junkyard Dog, Mongo McMichael, Paul Roma and many others were considered.
Next week, I’ll feature my favourite announcers of all time.
Hulk Hogan
Terry Bolea was at one time the most recognizable wrestler in the world. McMahon did a great job packaging Bolea as the All-American hero, the ultimate good guy who time and time again overcame the forces of evil.
And, to be fair, Hogan was great at his gimmick, particularly on the mic where he exuded the little Hulksters to say their prayers, eat their vitamins, and train hard.
But Hogan was one dimensional in the ring. His matches were generally short and followed the same formula. His switch to heel with the New World Order was a welcome change but most of those matches were horrendous. It’s worth a look back just to see how poor Hogan was in the ring. Even worse than I remember.
Unlike Ric Flair, who is in many ways more popular and relevant now than in his prime, Hogan is all but forgotten in his retirement.
Hunter Hearst Helmsley
Paul Michael Levesque, or Hunter Hearst Helmsley, got his first big break when he joined WCW, who called him Jean-Paul Levesque and gave him a snobby, French-Canadian character. It didn’t work. He soon moved to the WWF who rebranded him as HHH and a star was born.
Levesque was at his best as the co-founder of the D-Generation X stable, a group of smart-ass heels who flaunted authority and were a big factor in the company’s Attitude Era.
But, like Hogan, HHH was a big body who wasn’t the best in the ring. He worked hard and cared about his craft, but he was limited. I never enjoyed his interviews, which often consisted of nothing more than yelling, and his entrance, complete with deafening noise and his trademark water spit, was ridiculous.
He cemented his future by marrying McMahon’s daughter and is now helping run the company.
Kevin Nash
Nash is perhaps best known as Scott Hall’s tag team partner, who combined with Hogan to form the NWO and create one of the most memorable angles and groups of all time.
Nash actually played that part well. He was cocky, arrogant and completely devoid of any respect for authority.
But as great as that run was, Nash also had several false starts in the business as companies attempted to find a character and take advantage of his towering figure.
Nash was also labelled as Diesel, Master Blaster Steel, Oz and Vinnie Vegas. All were even worse than they sound, mainly because Nash simply wasn’t good enough in the ring or on the mic.
He was in the right place at the right time wth the NWO. Otherwise, he may have never achieved the level of notoriety he did.
Bill Goldberg
Goldberg is the epitome of all sizzle and no steak.
The Oklahoma native played professional football before turning to wrestling. He was big and strong, but extremely limited in and out of the ring. He rose to fame in WCW with a lengthy undefeated streak of 173-0 in singles competition before finally being defeated by Nash, of all people.
Goldberg’s matches were often short and culminated with a spear, followed by a vicious power slam to pin his opponent. Most were less than five minutes which was necessary due to his lack of ability in the ring. He was even worse on the mic — his promos were often nothing more than grunts and screams.
Goldberg was a WCW World Heavyweight Champion, two-time WCW United States Heavyweight Champion and WCW World Tag Team Champion with Bret Hart.
He still wrestles but is far past his prime.
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