Wrestlers You Watched and Changed Opinion On

[celtics543]

Clunky title but I'm looking for guys who you thought you wouldn't like or had seen bits and pieces and made the decision you wouldn't like them but then watched a full match or program and found yourself a big fan.

The inspiration for this thread is that I've been watching Orange Cassidy and his program with Chris Jericho in AEW and from the little I knew of Orange I assumed I'd hate his work but I was so wrong. Originally I was on the Cornette bandwagon of thinking it was stupid but when you actually watch it, he's one of the best characters in the entire industry.

I'm interested in other guys and gals who you've all felt this way about?

[toodarkmark]

Oct 7, 2020 8:35:26 GMT -5 celtics543 said:

Clunky title but I'm looking for guys who you thought you wouldn't like or had seen bits and pieces and made the decision you wouldn't like them but then watched a full match or program and found yourself a big fan.

The inspiration for this thread is that I've been watching Orange Cassidy and his program with Chris Jericho in AEW and from the little I knew of Orange I assumed I'd hate his work but I was so wrong. Originally I was on the Cornette bandwagon of thinking it was stupid but when you actually watch it, he's one of the best characters in the entire industry.

I'm interested in other guys and gals who you've all felt this way about?

Not to turn this into a Cornette thread, and I used to be the biggest Cornette fan, but the less you listen to him and actually watch something, the happier you will be.

For me it's Kenny Omega (ironic with what I just said.) I saw him on a card in the 00's and just hated his hair, his face, the way he walked and decided to not pay attention to the match. So then he was doing the Cleaner gimmick in ROH like 10 years later, and at first I was like "I'm going to hate this", but then he started sweeping, and did the animae finger point, and had a 6 man with the Bucks against I cant even remember and I was super into it. Then I found BTE and the rest was history for me.

[corndog]

I will talk about my opinion changing both ways.

I used to love Will Osprey when he was a junior heavyweight, and even continued to like him in his recent move to heavyweight. But lately, all of his smiling and weird facial expressions when selling, kind of take me out of his matches. I've even skipped some of his matches in the G1, he's just not must see for me anymore. Granted he still has match ups I want to see, like his match with Ibushi and Shingo.

Taichi is a wrestler I have gone a full 180. When he first returned with SUZUKI-GUN, I hated watched his matches and just thought the guy couldn't work. Then he had a really entertaining match with Hiromu in BOSJ and a little while afterwards a really good match with Naito at TakaTaichimania. Since his move to heavyweight, he just keeps getting better. I love his matches with Ishii, and he has been great in the G1 this year. He was pretty good last year, but this year he is even more motivated. He still cheats and trolls once in a while, but for the most part he's been a pretty good worker as of late.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Punk.

Maybe it was years of reading on the Net how amazing he was, by the time I saw him in WWE, I was underwhelmed to say the least.

Jumped on the bandwagon after the Pipe Bomb and match with Cena. No shame.

[fw91]

Cena- My opinion shifted from Company golden boy pet project to All time great

[Deleted]

Mance Warner.. Some stone cold brisco brother redneck backyard wrestler wannabe. I didn’t think I would be a fan, at least not on paper

Mance Warner is one of my current favorites, now that he’s parted ways with MLW, I really hope he shows up in AEW and hits their pay window.

[The Ichi]

MJF. Thought he would just be your typical cocky rich heel act when I first heard about him.

He pretty much is, but he does it extremely well.

[Hypnosis]

Jay White.  I first saw a pic of him online a few years ago with a stupid haircut, and hated him solely based on that.

Then I watched him in ROH, felt he had potential, and after seeing White's match against Juice Robinson in NJPW's G1 Special in San Francisco two years ago, thought he was a tremendous heel.

Been a fan ever since.

I didn't like Heath Slater at first on NXT Season 1 because of his dumb head-shaking and goofiness, which made him unlikeable to me as a face early on.

The Nexus run, team with Gabriel, and One Man Band character changed all of that.  His team with Rhyno on Smackdown had some of my favorite segments of that brand in 2016.

[mcmahonfan85]

Samoa Joe, AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels. first exposure to them was when TNA was on Fox Sports. at first i was intrigued because of the fan reactions they'd get, but after seeing around five matches i was forced to label them overrated. every time they came out you'd think it was Austin or The Rock making a surprise appearance by the way the fans would lose their shit (complete with several dueling chants and "This is awesome!" chants before the bell would even ring), then the match would only be three minutes long, and the fans would lose their shit again. i was not impressed...then i saw their work in ROH, where they were allowed to have matches that actually went longer than five minutes. to this day i still consider the Impact Zone crowd to be the worst audience in wrestling, because man were they off-putting with the way they overreacted to everything.

similarly, Paul London. he'd go out on the C show acting like he just did five lines of coke, get quickly beat, and then do it all over a couple weeks later. you'd think that after getting your ass beat week in and week out you'd not be so excited to lose again. then i saw his stuff in ROH and was annoyed at WWE for their booking of him.

[King Devitt]

Adam Cole.
I knew the guy was a decent wrestler, but I hated that his entire gimmick was one catchphrase that (to me) was lifted from Chris Jericho.
I assumed he was untalented and had to rip off other people to get over. Plus he only had ONE catchphrase and that was it.

I've been clean for a couple years now, but back when I smoked I was watching Cole walk to the ring, and in that state of mind it just clicked with me.
The way he carried himself like he was 6 foot 5, with the cockiness and arrogance in his walk and facial expressions.
Then hearing him talk. I had seen and heard all of this before, but on that one night with UE in its early inception, it all just clicked with me.
Ate crow on here a couple times about it, and I've been a huge fan ever since.


Inversely Zack Sabre Jr.
Used to love the guy. Loved his style. But sometime around him being handed New Japan Cup I started to sour on him.
Every match is him being the same "did I leave the oven on?" expression.
Doesn't really sell for anyone, and the only one that can look good in a ZSJ match is ZSJ.
I even became childish and took to calling him Zack Sabre Robot.
In my head canon he's the illegitimate son of Linda McMahon.
Once I saw people like Jonathan Gresham I knew that there were others who could work that style and still sell, and make their opponents look good.
Maybe he's better now? It's been a few years.
I still am baffled no one has called him out on it.
Dude was in a submission hold in NJC and looked like he was trying to name all the prime numbers in his head. I was done.

[Aceorton]

Regal. Didn't think anything of him in WCW, and his "Man's Man" run in the WWF was junk. Then I saw him against Benoit in person at the Pillman show in 2000 and forgot every opinion I'd had about him previously. He completely sold me on that snug, realistic style and has been one of my favorites ever since.

[IgnahtaSempria]

The Young Bucks.

The first few times I saw them, I thought they were just spot monkeys who wrestled a paint-by-numbers style, where they just did the same spots in the same order every match, and filled in the gaps with superkicks.

Then I saw them vs. the Golden Lovers, and I realized they were completely able to tell a story in the ring.

[petef3]

Thought Ronnie Garvin was old and boring at the time. Then got on the Internet and bought into a lot of the BS narratives around why he was made World Champion (which was an unqualified disaster, but for maybe different reasons than are commonly proposed). Didn't figure out what an incredible worker he was until maybe 15 years ago. His Crockett and especially WWF runs are sort of bows onto his career, not how his career should be defined.

I agree on ZSJ--his style stands out as unique at the time but as a guy who's watched a lot of classic World of Sport, he comes off as more of a "cosplay wrestler" than Kenny Omega ever has. He can play the notes, but not the music. I can't describe how much I irrationally hate the "European Clutch," too, because I was such a fan of that spot in its day and ZSJ has no clue how to actually execute it.

[romanstylesiii]

Kevin Steen in 2008. Him in a singlet looks like every other indy guy. His in ring work and his mic work instantly make him seem like star

[Jaws the Shark]

Another here for Zack Sabre Jr. but I changed twice. Before I had watched him I was really excited, I was totally into the idea of a throwback chain/technical wrestler and submission expert. Then I saw him and was hugely disappointed, I thought he lacked charisma and his psychology and selling was seriously lacklustre; he was a proper Johnny Kickpadz who did a lot of moves but that was about it. Now he's developed an actual character and can do a promo, and his psychology has improved somewhat (although it's still one of his biggest shortcomings) and I'm quite a fan of his. I'm still not 100% sold on his name or look (although I don't dislike it as much as some) but I'm now excited to see where he goes from here.

[realist]

Joey Ryan

(Of course, this is all before the #speakingout stuff.)
The first time I saw him was in TNA, and I became a fan of his sleazy character work. Then his entire gimmick revolved around his penis and he became insufferable to me.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Cody Rhodes was a main eventer nowhere in my eyes until AEW. I last saw him in a boring Defiant show.

Now I think he is one of the best babyfaces in wrestling.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Tama Tonga

While the others have been praise, this is going the other way. Dude had the look, the swagger, the shit you want to get over and he was over. He was always a decent wrestler without crazy flash but he got the job done. When it came time for him to step up and potentially be a big time singles guy, he shit the bed. Booking aside in the G1, that whole thing with him was just ass and it was his last shot at being "that guy" instead of a tag

To his credit tho, he accepts being in a tag and obviously NJPW treated G.O.D. like royalty for some reason but yeah I thought he had the potential to be a big star and when you watched him in singles, he went backwards

[CubsFan71]

John Cena. For years I detested him and would normally stop watching whatever ppv I was watching because you just knew what the result was going to be if when it SHOULDN’T HAVE been the result. Then he did the whole U.S title open invitation on Raw and it was easily the best match on Raw week in and week out if not some of the best matches I’ve seen in a long long time. Count me among the members of the Cenation

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

I was never fully part of the “Taichi sucks” bandwagon, but I think he’s quietly become one of the better and deadlier heel wrestlers around. He does a lot of old time cheap heat, then he rips off the pants and goes into his second gear and he’s got nice high-impact stuff.

Add me to the Cenation converts. From 2004-05 he was a bit green and he ran through opponents quickly, but he was still compelling (and say what you will about JBL the personality, him and Cena had a classic gory brawl right out of the early 80s) Then he had a streak of solid to awesome matches in 2007, and he got even better since. He’s like Dusty for me in the sense you can tell they’re really having fun out there, and that imprints on me as a viewer.

I was “ehh” on Tommy Dreamer during his ECW heyday. He was playing the gritty badass feuding with Raven, and he wasn’t colorful like Austin, Booker, Angle or Jericho so I kinda dismissed him. Then I looked back on his work, and thinking about it, he was the perfect type of lead hero for 90s ECW. The gross out gimmick didn’t work, but I think he’s a fun performer in general and he’s displayed some nice humor at points.