Who is/was your favorite Professional Wrestler? Managers can

[Crazy Guggenheim]

be included too.

Wrestler: Don Muraco.

Manager: The Grand Wizard.

[sleipnir]

1. The Ultimate Warrior...

Who can't love him and his funny politics now....



Kids...The Ultimate Warrior is what happens when you do too many steroids. You become a freak, your body prunes up, and then you make wacko right-wing speeches at colleges in Connecticut.

[ghostsofgiants]

25. He's become my favourite cryptofascist as of late

But my favourite wrestler when I used to watch was Shawn Michaels. Some of the best matches I've ever seen were wrestled by him.

Best manager ever was Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, hands down.

[enigmatic]

119. Ultimate Warrior is flat-out insane

Have you seen his website w/ his "commentaries"? Talk about ureadble woo-woo stuff..

[Seabiscuit]

2. Andre the Giant

[hfojvt]

3. Kenny Jay

manager: Bobby "the weasel" Heenan

[madrchsod]

7. scrap iron gadaski

who won the losers match between scrap iron and kenny jay?
in 1972 rick flair`s first match was with scrap iron and it ended in a draw

[chicagojoe]

19. I remember the wrestler known as..

"Pretty Boy" Bobby Heenan.

[Archae]

4. "Da Crusher!"

He was so great.
I met him, briefly.

[ArmchairActivist]

9. OMG, is that Stan Stasiak?

Or is the more than one crusher?

Here's Stan "The Crusher" Stasiak that I remember.



And you definitely wouldn't want to get hit with one of these:



Heart punch!!!

I can't tell if that's the same guy or not...

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

5. Dick The Bruiser.

Saw him live many times. He never once lost with me at ringside.

My second favorite was Wilbur Snyder- the last proponent of what he called "Scientific Wrestling". A zen master before his time.

[benburch]

108. He used to drink at my family's bar. nt

[Crazy Guggenheim]

109. What was he like? I've heard, and seen, that a lot of these people

who play bad guys are usually the nicest people once the camera's off.

[benburch]

110. Oh, of course he was a nice guy!

All that stuff was acting.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

111. Do you remember Ox Anderson? Bad guy. Well I saw his Obit.

and comes to find out it seems he was this "very nice Mormon" type.

[enigmatic]

113. I'll never forget seeing Ox Baker on "The Price Is Right" ...

as a contestant when I was a teenager; my jaw dropped to the floor..

[Dragon Turtle]

6. Sting

Not sure about my favorite manager.

[madrchsod]

8. good to see there are some

awa fans still around..

[Crazy Guggenheim]

10. Here are some all time stars.

"Moon Dog" Mayne.

Dick "The Bulldog" Bower (He was crazier than George Steel}

Gorilla Monsoon

Ray Stevens

Chief J. Strongbow

The Fabulous Kangaroos

The Valiant Brothers

And of course Gorgeous George!

[ArmchairActivist]

14. You mean the Royal Kangaroos?

These two?



Oh, they were such bastards....

[Crazy Guggenheim]

15. There was also The Fabulous Kangaroos.

[enigmatic]

102. Oh yeah!

They wrestled in Pedro Martinez's NWF in the early 70's and I loved these guys; remmber the Love Brothers?

[crimson333]

11. Tommy Wildfire Rich

Buzz Sawyer
Ric Flair

[ArmchairActivist]

12. A few more from my day...

Any other DUers recognize these guys?

From Hazel Dell, Washington...



Dutch Savage!

And this one here, furiously brandishing the "Apache strap"



Bull Ramos! I remember when Jimmy Snuka took him out in the championship match, off the top rope of course.

Speaking of that match, isn't this the both of them posing together?



And one last one... One of the all-time SOBs in the history of wretling. Playboy Buddy Rose



Now. Who can name the other two guys in that photo?

Ah, the internet....

-AA

[Spirochete]

47. Frank Bonema?

and Lonnie Mayne? Or was he already deceased by then?

[Tom Kitten]

97. That's Rip "The Crippler" Oliver...

and Frank Bonnema the announcer (I used to work with his daughter a looong time ago)

Rip Oliver and Billy Jack had a good feud going at one time

[ArmchairActivist]

114. You got it...

The legendary Frank Bonnema with the mic and indeed The Crippler mugging in the background. Oh, he was a nasty piece of work, Rip Oliver. Booooo!

Here's one more of a young frank with the above mentioned Lonny Mayne. I remember Mayne used to wear a T-shirt that said, 'Oregon: Love it or fight me'

[Crazy Guggenheim]

13. Bruno Sanmartino

[Crazy Guggenheim]

16. Here's The Grand Wizard.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

17. Don Muraco

[chicagojoe]

18. Many...

...Black Jack Lonza
Sailor Art Thomas
Moose Cholak
Bruiser
Crusher
The Chain Gang (tag team)
etc., etc.

[Archae]

20. The absolute greatest pro wrestler EVER though...

That one that boxed ABC's John Stossel's ears and knocked him on his ass! :D

[Pushed To The Left]

118. That was "Dr. D" David Schultz

I remember seeing that!

[Omphaloskepsis]

21. Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat

[Ganja Ninja]

91. My boss used to wash dishes in a restaurant with Ricky. n/t

[mark414]

22. i loved WWF when i was little

my favorites were hulk hogan (pre-hollywood) and his nemesis sgt. slaughter

also on my list was jake the snake, legion of doom, and the bushwhackers

damn i loved those guys...haven't watched wrestling in years, but those are still some good memories

[Huckebein the Raven]

23. Brett "The Hitman" Hart

[BikeWriter]

24. 6' 8" 325 lbs.Bruiser Brody!

Frank Goodish was a mild-mannered, well-liked man - when he transformed into Bruiser Brody, however, he was the most unpredictable, dangerous man in all of professional wrestling. Standing 6' 8", 325 lbs. with wild, long black hair, unkempt beard and fur covered boots, Bruiser Brody's very appearance was enough to make most people stop in their tracks in awe. When he got to business in (and outside of) the Ring, however, people learned not to stand and gawk, but rather to run for their lives.
http://www.wrestlingmuseum.com/pages/bios/bruiserbrody2.html

[retread]

33. Responsible for the phrase "pulling a Brody." When a wrestler, who

held a title, was ready to leave the territory; it was custom to drop the strap in a climatic match with the next champion. Brody was famous for just leaving or refusing to do the job.

[BikeWriter]

36. He didn't always lose when he was told to, no.

[Pushed To The Left]

121. I heard he did that to Lex Luger

in a cage match when Luger was about to leave Florida. Apparently Brody refused to cooperate with him and Luger ended up escaping by climbing out of the cage!

[AngryAmish]

37. He was called "King Kong" Brody in Chicago

The only Bruiser in Chicago was Dick the Bruiser.

[BikeWriter]

100. I'd heard they had a disagreement over the name. :-)

[flvegan]

26. Kerry Von Erich or Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka

I was also a huge fan of ECW.

[BikeWriter]

27. Jimmy Snuka seemed to defy gravity, didn't he?

Hestayed in the air a large portion of his matches. :)

[flvegan]

29. As I recall he was the first to leap from the top of a cage.

Against Bob Backlund at MSG.

He missed, but that was pretty extreme at the time.

[BikeWriter]

32. He was definitely one of my favorites at the time...

I liked all of the Von Eriks, too.

[sniffa]

28. abduLLah the butcher

as a kid, my favorites were sting, and brutus the barber beefcake (who now works for the MBTA as a token coLLecter, and caused a brief scare downtown when he Left a bag of cocaine in his booth, and it was mistaken for anthrax - smaLL worLd).



edit: my favorite manager used to be jimmy hart, aLthough skandar akbar was a good one too.

[flvegan]

30. Abdullah and The Shiek

were to wrestling what fighting is to hockey. If you want blood, you've got it.

They were both featured in a small movie called, "I Like to Hurt People" largely dominated by pro wrestlings greatest bloodletters.

[sniffa]

31. terry funk too

i aLso forgot - i Love cactus jack. damn, so many good characters.

[One_Life_To_Give]

34. Charlie Brown

I don't remember him ever winning a match. But he sure was comical to watch.

Should also give mention to Chief J. Strongbow and the old Intercontinental Heavyweight Champ, Bob Backlund.

[retread]

35. Wrestler: Terry Funk Manager: Bobby Heenan

*

[benny05]

39. Dory Funk too

[AngryAmish]

38. The Sandman

"Blood, Sweat and Beers"


Fav manager: Paul Ellerling.

[sniffa]

46. good choice

he wasn't athLetic, but he couLd Lay a beating and take one too. he's aLso a great juicer.

[AngryAmish]

48. Not athletic? He could chug 3 beers BEFORE a match

[sniffa]

51. and smash them on his forehead untiL he bLed

oh, and smoke cigarretes before, during, and after his match.

[flvegan]

71. and the sleaziest female sidekick thus far

Francine, or something.

ECDub! ECDub!!

[sniffa]

74. it was 'woman'

francine, the queen of mean, i thought was someone different.

[GCP]

40. Wasn't there a "gay" wrestler called Ricky something?

I used to love watching him practising ballet moves then thrashing some opponent!

[BigMcLargehuge]

41. when I was watching WWF as a kid -

B Brian Blair, Ricky Steamboat, Mil Masceras (Viva Lucha!)...

[sniffa]

45. miL mascaras

was one of the worst workers ever! but his 'dropkiss' was devastating.

[BigMcLargehuge]

50. another great personality that went nowhere was

Leaping Lanny Poffo, when he use to come out dressed like a professor, read bad poetry taped to the back of a frisbee, bounce the frisbee of his opponents head, then get the ever-loving-blue-eyed shit kicked out of him. Even by the jobbers!

[sniffa]

55. oooh, 'the genius' Lanny poffo

:P

pete "the duke of dorcester" doherty was my aLL time favorite jobber. he onLy wrestLed when the WWF came to the garden (once a month) and aLways Lost. his 1 victory came against poffo... and he didn't he use a finisher, but cheated.

[AngryAmish]

96. Lanny Poffo's brother is....Macho Man Savage

From Downers Grove, IL

[AngryAmish]

65. I saw Mil Mascaras a few weeks ago

He is still in great shape for a guy in his 60s.

[flvegan]

75. B Brian Blair is a County Commissioner here now.

Total asshat dipshit gonna-be-a-die-hard-rethug.

[underpants]

42. YOU MAY NOT LIKE IT BUT YOU BETTER LEARN TO LOVE IT

A hell of a nice guy too I am told

[peekaloo]

43. Andy Kaufman.

:eyes:

Actually I remember a "Russian" named 'The Great Malinko' (sp?) who was featured on Gordon Solie's show in Florida, way back when. He had false teeth and sometimes when he was angry and screaming his dentures would become loose in his mouth and he'd be chewing 'em. :D

Guess they didn't have Fix-A-Dent in Mother Russia. :silly:

[crimson333]

52. Gordon Solie was great

I loved hearing him talk

[peekaloo]

58. Do you remember the wrestler I mentioned?

I think he had a glass eye, too. It gave him the appearance of a madman.

My dad and brothers always had to watch G.S. every Saturday.

[crimson333]

115. I remember hearing the name of the great malinko

but I can't remember his face

[Eagle_Eye]

44. I like Chyna

<>

[CornField]

49. Koko B Ware

[BigMcLargehuge]

54. didn't he come back at one time as Red Rooster

or was that another bird themed guy?

[sniffa]

56. nother guy

it'LL come to me.

i'm thinking terry somthing.

edit: terry tayLor.

http://www.obsessedwithwrestling.com/profiles/t/terry-taylor.html

[Beware the Beast Man]

57. Terry Taylor

Did a stint in the WWF as an announcer, as well.

[BigMcLargehuge]

60. let me say, this, worst. character. ever. ...

Right up there with "The Machines"

Remember them? Andre the Giant as a masked Japanese speaking giant and his masked Englush speaking handler? It was like a year or two before he died that the Machines made their awesomely bad debut.

[Beware the Beast Man]

62. Have I got a website for you!

http://www.wrestlecrap.com

[enigmatic]

107. I love that site

Great stuff.

[sniffa]

63. i had no idea how many 'mahcines' there were

i onLy remember 3.

Team: The Machines -masked-
Members: Super Machine (Bill Eadie)
Big Machine (Blackjack Mulligan)
Giant Machine (Andre The Giant)
Manager: Capt. Lou Albano

Hulk Machine (Hulk Hogan)
Piper Machine (Roddy Piper)
Animal Machine (George Steele)
Crusher Machine (Crusher Lisowski)
Macho Machine (Randy Savage)
Dragon Machine (Ricky Steamboat)
Junkyard Machine (Junkyard Dog)
Rebel Machine (Dick Slater)
Honky Tonk Machine (Honky Tonk Man)

[BigMcLargehuge]

69. you're a full 50% better than me... I only remembered 2!

Super Machine - Bill Eadie
Giant Machine - Andre the Giant

The back story was, as I remember it, the "commissioner" had thrown Andre out of the WWF for some infraction so he was coming back Lucha Lumox style to dish out his giant revenge... But I only remember it being a storyline for like a month, tops.

[Beware the Beast Man]

53. Mick Foley/Mankind/Dude Love/Cactus Jack

Good wrestler, smart & funny guy, and a Democrat to boot!

[newfaceinhell]

59. Either Mick, or Stone Cold Steve Austin during his "WHAT?!" period.

As wrestlers- definitely Mick as a human being.

[-..__...]

61. George "the animal" Steele

Not so much for his ring antics, but when combined with his physical appearance made a great laughable wrestling personality.

The tag team of Professor Touro Tanaka and Mr. Fuji were amusing. I always got a kick out of their preferred way of cheating... throwing salt
in their opponents eyes.

[Dukkha]

64. The Undertaker

He's like Rob Zombie as a wrestler

I liked mainly the classics of the 80's
Hulk Hogan
Roddy Piper
Andre The Giant
Jimmy Superfly Snuka

and King Kong Bundy!
FIVE!

[sniffa]

68. 'COUNT TO FIVE!'

he's an actor too. :o

[jandrok]

66. "Superstar" Billy Graham

I like a lot of the old-time guys. Roddy Piper, Austin Idol, The Von Erichs, Kevin Sullivan, The Funks, The Freebirds, "Maniac" Mark Lewin, Dusty Rhodes....all of those guys were really entertaining.

As far as managers go, nobody could beat Lou Albano. The man was pure genius.

Rasslin' was so much more fun in them there days. Too much showmanship and not enough action nowadays.

Superstar Graham was awesome. Body like a Mack truck, the platinum blond hair, the snotty attitude. He was one of the prototypes for the guys who came later like Hulk Hogan.

[johnnie]

67. From when I was young

Johnny Powers

[lpbk2713]

70. The Great Malenko

Late 50's and 60's in the Tampa Bay area.

[blindpig]

72. Abdulla The Butcher

Ugly. Scary. Scary-ugly. I swear that guy was too real, I've read that other wrestlers feared him. I saw him beat the murderous shit out of this big Puerto Rican dude, Pedro Martinez I think. After a while the crowd went silent. Security guards stood around looking at their shoes. If it weren't real that performance deserved an Academy Award. If it was real it was a felony. It's the one time that I'm convinced that it was the real thing.

"Classy" Freddy Blasie was my fav manager last I paid attention to that nonsense. What a magnificent windbag! His album, "King Of Men", is a hoot and features the classic, "Pencil-necked Geek". A hallmark of Western Civilization.

Edited to give the appearence of literacy.

[sniffa]

77. reminds me of 'new jack'

at Least twice, he's intentionaLLy maimed an opponent and aLmost kiLLed them.

[flvegan]

78. There's video out there of that. He's brutal.

[DS1]

73. I forgot the name, but it was a "Brothers" schtik, they were supposed

to be from Australia, and when they'd walk around (and their hype the crowd move) was swinging their arms up and down in unison like an exaggerated march.

I'd laugh so hard at those two guys

[sniffa]

76. the bushwackers

they were babyfaces in that gimmick.

they used to be the 'sheepherders' - a heeL tagteam (aLso from new zeaLand) managed by rip morgan. i thought they were better then.

[DS1]

81. YES!

Thanks

I also liked the Iron Sheik, I dunno, I guess I've got a thing for




heels, of course

[flvegan]

84. a/k/a The Kiwi Sheepherders, I believe.

One of them used to yell "yute!" or something throughout the match.

[ProfessorGAC]

79. The Road Warriors

When they first broke back in the early 80's, they were so unique. Mike had such a good schtick, and the two of them were huge, agile and quick. The whole act was just so well considered and they had the skills and size to convince us that they should be as dominant as they were. They were sort of among the first extreme wrestlers because they were the first HUGE guys doing top rope and launch moves.

Always liked those guys.
The Professor

[William Bloode]

80. Well....

Other than myself, i would choose 2 of my former trainers Nelson Royal, and Gene Anderson.

[sniffa]

82. i didn't know we had a worker in our midst

wouLd you mind teLLing us your gimmick? :D

do you work indies, or do we see you on tv?

[William Bloode]

Well...

My gimmick was basically the huge destroyer because of my size(i am 6'6 300lb)My monicker changed from place to place. I have been on tv, but never as a big name. Most of my big time work was done in the old NWA before it went down as well as Texas World Class. I did some work for WCW as well. Tiny limited amounts for WWF(E) as i hated and still do hate Mr Vince and would never work for him.

A lot of my work has been as local i i could get though. I never did catch on very big and could never afford not to work a regular job, so i tended to work at Smokey Mnt, or USWA, or Wildside ect when i could as to remain close to home yet still have fun.

[livetohike]

83. Jumpin' Johnny DeFazio

Oh, what great memories of watching Studio Wrestling with my grandparents! They would yell at the TV in Slovak. They liked Bruno Samartino, but my favorite was Jumpin' Johnny DeFazio.

[enigmatic]

85. My trinity:

Johnny Powers



Goldust



And the man who was hardcore before hardcore was cool:

The Sheik

[Blue-Jay]

86. "Iron" Mike Sharp

That guy sure could take a beating.

[enigmatic]

94. The jobber's jobber!

The Mulkeys were the classic tag-team jobbers, too..

[terrya]

87. Lex Lugar

He was just so damned...impressive. :-)

[Beware the Beast Man]

88. Kane. That is, until:

1. He started talking regularly
2. They removed his mask. That just killed his gimmick.

For a large-sized wrestler, he had some crazy skills, and ws the only one I knew of who could do off-the-top-rope maneuvers.

[jmowreader]

89. Dusty Rhodes, the American Dream

I liked Ted DiBiase when he was playing the good guy, but when he moved from the National Wrestling Alliance to the World Wrestling Federation and became the bad guy, I didn't like him so much.

My favorite bad guy was Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka.

The Boogie Woogie Man was kinda fun, but you didn't see too much of him. He didn't fuck around--he'd go into the ring, pin the other guy in less than a minute and leave.

[Ganja Ninja]

90. There's just too many great personalities to name but here goes

Bobby the Brain Henan
Mr Fuji
Luscious Johnny Valentine
Killer Kowalski
Adorable Adrian Adonis
Jimmy Hart
The Road Warriors
The Honky Tonk Man

Hell I could go on and on. That's why I love wrestling. These guys were/are so over the top it's hilarious.

[sniffa]

92. found a cooL gif

that wouLd make a great avatar.

[flamingyouth]

93. Roddy Piper

[Crazy Guggenheim]

104. He wrote a book. It could have been in an interview and talked

about his 20 year cocaine addiction.

[ironflange]

95. Archie "The Stomper" Gouldie

He was on Calgary's Stampede Wrestling, a heel who loved to stomp his victims into submission. He left town, and Abdullah the Butcher became the star bad guy. One day Archie came back and beat Abdullah up but good, funny how the bad guy can becoma a hero so quickly.

[Tom Kitten]

98. Beauregarde

I remember he was pretty flamboyant and a great interview. His patented move was "The Thumb" and he was the first wrestler to record an album (with Greg Sage!)

http://www.zenorecords.com/beauregarde/menu.htm

[Crazy Guggenheim]

99. How about 'girl' wrestlers. I haven't heard any mention of then.

The Fabulous Moolah.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

101. OOOO YEAH!

I just like saying that!

:woohoo:

[Balbus]

103. Tito Santana

[Crazy Guggenheim]

105. It couldn't find the post but some here mentioned Pedro Martinez

I think you might have benn thinking about Pedro Morales.

[PBR me]

106. "rock n roll zoomoff"

[immoderate]

112. Antonino Argentina Rocca

Probably the best athlete of his time.


Manager: Freddy Blassi, who made a familiar saying of "pencil neck geek."

[Pushed To The Left]

116. Mick Foley!

Not only is he a great performer, but he's a progressive as well! I'm really enjoying this thread!

[Ekirh]

117. Mick Foley is an excellent choice.

His Biographys Have a Nice Day and Foley is Good are also good reads.

[Ekirh]

120. Hmmmm

Wrestler: Ricky the Dragon Steamboat

Manager: Bobby the Brain Heenan... although I really prefer him as a commentator with Gorilla Monsoon (R.I.P)

Bobby the Brain Heenan: You know how the Undertaker got that urn.

Monsoon: I'm afraid to ask.

Bobby: The old fashion way he URNed it.