Accomplished Nobodies

[Citizen Snips Has Left]

Who are some guys/gals in wrestling who didn’t leave much of an impact at all but still racked up some championship reigns or other accomplishments?

I started this thinking of Ezekiel Jackson, a by-the-numbers hoss who once used a series of bodyslams as a finisher, yet was Intercontinental Champion and the very last man to hold the ECW Title.

Who else are some decorated bums in wrestling lore?

[XIII]

Alberto Del Rio is the most accomplished scrub in wrestling history. Holy shit it’s like he never existed.

[EvenBaldobombHasAJob]

Dec 11, 2022 18:29:03 GMT -5 XIII said:

Alberto Del Rio is the most accomplished scrub in wrestling history. Holy shit it’s like he never existed.

Bertie Boy's paper accomplishments with 0 impact are one of the only things he ever gets talked about for. Well, that and being a criminal.

[The Dark Order Inferno]

00s-10s WWE was THE place for those guys, Del Rio, Jinder Mahal, Sheamus, Jack Swagger and so on. People who never should have held titles at the point of their careers they held them and have careers that on paper have them as all time greats without really making the level of impact they should have. Getting the world title probably did them more harm than good.

[bob]

Jake Hager

1 time WWECW champion
1 time US Champion
1 time World Heavyweight Champion

[David-Arquette was in WCW 2000]

I'm always surprised to hear guys like Jamie Noble getting certain recognitions and agent/producer roles. Not that Jamie wasn't memorable for a period of time, but his career was largely undistinguished. I guess the argument is that he was a solid hand that didn't step out of line and could work with most types. That does make sense and is good criteria for a backstage role. Still always strikes me as odd.

[The Blue Nova]

Ahmed Johnson?

[EvenBaldobombHasAJob]

Dec 11, 2022 18:49:30 GMT -5 David-Arquette was in WCW 2000 said:

I'm always surprised to hear guys like Jamie Noble getting certain recognitions and agent/producer roles. Not that Jamie wasn't memorable for a period of time, but his career was largely undistinguished. I guess the argument is that he was a solid hand that didn't step out of line and could work with most types. That does make sense and is good criteria for a backstage role. Still always strikes me as odd.

It's not that unusual. Most successful sports coaches tend to have had unremarkable playing careers, if they even played at all. By contrast, for example, Wayne Gretzky is absolutely god-tier even by today's standards but he was lackluster at best as a bench boss.

[Natural Born Farmer]

Jack Swagger was WHC once.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Dec 11, 2022 19:05:54 GMT -5 EvenBaldobombHasAJob said:

Dec 11, 2022 18:49:30 GMT -5 David-Arquette was in WCW 2000 said:

I'm always surprised to hear guys like Jamie Noble getting certain recognitions and agent/producer roles. Not that Jamie wasn't memorable for a period of time, but his career was largely undistinguished. I guess the argument is that he was a solid hand that didn't step out of line and could work with most types. That does make sense and is good criteria for a backstage role. Still always strikes me as odd.

It's not that unusual. Most successful sports coaches tend to have had unremarkable playing careers, if they even played at all. By contrast, for example, Wayne Gretzky is absolutely god-tier even by today's standards but he was lackluster at best as a bench boss.

You cannot teach what Wayne Gretzky could do. If you can, it starts at 6, not when you’re already a pro.

[Mozenrath]

Dec 11, 2022 19:55:10 GMT -5 Cranjis McBasketball said:

Dec 11, 2022 19:05:54 GMT -5 EvenBaldobombHasAJob said:

It's not that unusual. Most successful sports coaches tend to have had unremarkable playing careers, if they even played at all. By contrast, for example, Wayne Gretzky is absolutely god-tier even by today's standards but he was lackluster at best as a bench boss.

You cannot teach what Wayne Gretzky could do. If you can, it starts at 6, not when you’re already a pro.

Yeah, it's sort of like how Bobby Eaton didn't do a bunch of training others. I believe he tried, but a lot of what he did was based on his own instincts, and that's trickier to pass on, sort of like how many "gifted" kids end up failing to learn good study habits since they aren't used to needing them.

[ChitownKnight]

Dec 11, 2022 18:46:31 GMT -5 The Dark Order Inferno said:

00s-10s WWE was THE place for those guys, Del Rio, Jinder Mahal, Sheamus, Jack Swagger and so on. People who never should have held titles at the point of their careers they held them and have careers that on paper have them as all time greats without really making the level of impact they should have. Getting the world title probably did them more harm than good.

Sheamus def made an impact IMO. He’s not John Cena or anything but he’s been in some pretty memorable storylines

[Mozenrath]

Probably a ton of territory folks. Lance Storm talks about one named Bill Puppets.

"Thankfully he didn’t push himself as the top dog in his promotion because that would not have been good for business, he simply booked himself to win the companies Mid-Heavy Weight title on virtually every show. You know the old saying that if you are a 16 time World Champion, you must have lost the title 15 times? Not in Bob Puppets’ case. CWC didn’t have TV and since he ran shows in different Cities all the time, each show was a completely stand alone event so he would simply go in as the challenger and win the Title every single show. I guess he figured winning the Title every night would be a bigger “pop” that successfully defending it at each event.

Despite Bob’s self-promotion, which is far from a rare trait among Indy promoters, he treated me very well and made an honest effort to run a good show. I won the Royal Rumble style Main Event on his first show (in addition to the Jericho debut match earlier in the show), captured the CWC Heavy Weight Title on his second show (a title I never defended nor lost), and then had a long run defending the CWC Tag Team Titles with Jericho (despite us never actually winning the Titles from anyone)."

[Mozenrath]

Dec 11, 2022 21:03:39 GMT -5 ChitownKnight said:

Dec 11, 2022 18:46:31 GMT -5 The Dark Order Inferno said:

00s-10s WWE was THE place for those guys, Del Rio, Jinder Mahal, Sheamus, Jack Swagger and so on. People who never should have held titles at the point of their careers they held them and have careers that on paper have them as all time greats without really making the level of impact they should have. Getting the world title probably did them more harm than good.

Sheamus def made an impact IMO. He’s not John Cena or anything but he’s been in some pretty memorable storylines

Yeah, Sheamus is probably going to be a Hall of Famer when he is done, even if his best work has come after his world title runs.

[thegatewaydrug]

Sheamus is Scottie Pippen. Hardly ever the #1 guy, but always a looming presence and valued [and underrated] contributor who everyone appreciates.

[BorneAgain]

I think some of the female roster post Trish/Lita pre-women's revolution fall into this. Michelle McCool and the Bellas had some prominent reigns but the contemporary women's roster feels so defined by the NXT generation that the aforementioned names just don't stand out my comparison. Nikki and Brie's reality TV work feels far more impactful than anything they did in ring.

[Deleted]

Dec 11, 2022 18:46:31 GMT -5 The Dark Order Inferno said:

00s-10s WWE was THE place for those guys, Del Rio, Jinder Mahal, Sheamus, Jack Swagger and so on. People who never should have held titles at the point of their careers they held them and have careers that on paper have them as all time greats without really making the level of impact they should have. Getting the world title probably did them more harm than good.

Dolph Ziggler.

["Playboy" Don Douglas]

Dec 11, 2022 20:30:22 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Dec 11, 2022 19:55:10 GMT -5 Cranjis McBasketball said:

You cannot teach what Wayne Gretzky could do. If you can, it starts at 6, not when you’re already a pro.

Yeah, it's sort of like how Bobby Eaton didn't do a bunch of training others. I believe he tried, but a lot of what he did was based on his own instincts, and that's trickier to pass on, sort of like how many "gifted" kids end up failing to learn good study habits since they aren't used to needing them.

I remember someone talking about this. Like Bobby would show someone what to do, and when they would ask why, he would kind of freeze and basically answer, “That’s what you do.” It was just natural for him.

[lavelleuk22]

Dec 11, 2022 18:27:44 GMT -5 Citizen Snips Has Left said:

Who are some guys/gals in wrestling who didn’t leave much of an impact at all but still racked up some championship reigns or other accomplishments?

I started this thinking of Ezekiel Jackson, a by-the-numbers hoss who once used a series of bodyslams as a finisher, yet was Intercontinental Champion and the very last man to hold the ECW Title.

Who else are some decorated bums in wrestling lore?

One of the most obvious examples of feeling like WWE just didn't "get it" any more wad in ECW when Jackson and Khoslov were getting actually big pops squashing jobbers, then competitively beating up each others jobbers. Crowds loved the unstoppable big guys, his bodyslams were over too

Then WWE turned them into generic muscle for a rather uneventful Regal heel stable and the pops were replaced by silence

As for Noble - he was one of the first wrestlers to make me appreciate "wrestling". I never watched WCW and WWE just had their smaller guys wrestler exactly like big guys so they were sort of pointless. Couldn't care less about Hardy, Helms, Chavo but Jamie Noble instantly stood out as an amazing worker amd imo one of the most underrated mic workers, great character who could be serious or incredibly funny.

Hurts to hear him even bought up in a nobody thread, the guy was somehow able to put on bangers at a time where WWE was telling guys like kendrick, London, ultimo dragon, Billy kidman etc to wrestle in the same was as your Orton, hhh, batista etc.

[Bo Rida]

The Undertaker rarely lost clean. Those that did defeat him include some of the biggest stars in WWE and... Vladimir Kozlov.