Worst wrestler to win the Rumble

[Powder/The Professor]

Lex Luger, end of thread.

[zerosignel]

triple h , he didnt need to win the rumble ever he was so over

[Loki]

Worst wrestler in terms of skills, probably Big John Studd, but it was only a "thank you" moment that didn't mean too much in the big picture.

Luger was horrible, but I still consider Bret Hart as the "real" winner.

Duggan was over with the crowd, and the "cast" for that Rumble was less than stellar.

All in all, I'll vote Rey.
He's not a bad wrestler, by any means, but a guy who even I could lift and throw over the top rope, SHOULDN'T win a Royal Rumble, not in a million years.

[Veladus Jobs To Dead Computers]

In pure wrestling ability, I'm gonna have to go with Yokozuna. Great guy from what I've heard, but Khali times 2 in the ring.

In terms of reasoning for winning, Hogan. He was already insanely over, and it was a perfect opportunity to put over some good talent. You didn't even have to put them in the WM ME since that rule started a few years later.

In terms of "man I hate that guy," Ric Flair. .... I hate that guy.

[randomranter]

veladus said:

In pure wrestling ability, I'm gonna have to go with Yokozuna. Great guy from what I've heard, but Khali times 2 in the ring.

I just have to disagree with this one point. He wasn't going to be doing any 450 splashes any time soon, but for a man who weighed over a quarter ton, he was fairly agile, and put on some entertaining matches. If you're going to compare Yoko to Khali in terms of ring skills, Yoko wins about 10 times over.

[Sparvid]

primetime110 said:

When Rey won the Rumble, Alot of wrestling fans probably said "damn" Because we all knew what was going to happen through Wrestlemania with the Rey/Death of Eddie storyline.

That he'd win the belt by pinning the non-champion in a three way?

[The Missing Manic]

Yeah I forgot about Luger he was pretty damn awful

[salTy]

pdubsworld said:

Lex Luger, end of thread.

[Veladus Jobs To Dead Computers]

randomranter said:

veladus said:

In pure wrestling ability, I'm gonna have to go with Yokozuna. Great guy from what I've heard, but Khali times 2 in the ring.

I just have to disagree with this one point. He wasn't going to be doing any 450 splashes any time soon, but for a man who weighed over a quarter ton, he was fairly agile, and put on some entertaining matches. If you're going to compare Yoko to Khali in terms of ring skills, Yoko wins about 10 times over.

Simply put, no one that fat should be wrestling. It's asinine in regards to believability. How many real fighting styles or even general athletic competitions does a guy like that have a chance at dominating in? If you count sumo, there's that. After that... pretty much none. Fat doesn't give an advantage. It slows your movements down tremendously, it wrecks havoc on your endurance, and it often causes problems with everything from your back to your cardiovascular system. No matter how many fat men Vince shoves down our throat, it's never going to be really credible. Yoko was especially bad since his arms and legs were so big that seriously reduced the amount of moves that could be used on him or by him, and very few people could lift him. So his matches almost always wound up being brawls. And not good brawls like Austin is famous for. Perhaps Khali was a bad comparison (especially since it's an ICW fad atm to say he's the worst in the history of the sport) but I stand by my point.

Also, negative ten million points for a "lol omgz the fat guy sat on him" finisher.

[Dynamite Kid]

Worst in what way? Worker? Performance in the match? Over-ness? Reason for win?

Worker - Either Jim Duggan or Batista.
Performance - Rey's hour performance was a joke. He just got his ass handed to him.
Over-ness - Uhhhh...Rey again?
Reason for win - Uhh....Rey.

[randomranter]

veladus said:

randomranter said:

I just have to disagree with this one point. He wasn't going to be doing any 450 splashes any time soon, but for a man who weighed over a quarter ton, he was fairly agile, and put on some entertaining matches. If you're going to compare Yoko to Khali in terms of ring skills, Yoko wins about 10 times over.

Simply put, no one that fat should be wrestling. It's asinine in regards to believability.

Your entire arguement becomes invalid right here. Why? Because "Pro Wrestling" and "Believability" aren't even in the same ballpark.

90% of all wrestling moves defy simple laws of physics unless the recipient is doing most of the work.

The Royal Rumble magnifies this. Simply put, if the RR were booked as anything resembling a believable contest, someone like Viscera, Yokozuna, Andre the Giant, etc. could never be eliminated. There is simply no possible way that one or even several people are lifting 500 lbs that high when that 500 lbs is fighting back. This holds especially true if someone like Yokozuna decided to simply sit in a corner.

How many real fighting styles or even general athletic competitions does a guy like that have a chance at dominating in? If you count sumo, there's that. After that... pretty much none. Fat doesn't give an advantage. It slows your movements down tremendously, it wrecks havoc on your endurance, and it often causes problems with everything from your back to your cardiovascular system. No matter how many fat men Vince shoves down our throat, it's never going to be really credible.

Actually, you're probably in the minority in that opinion. Andre the Giant was regarded as a credible (both legit and scripted) threat for decades. Vader weighed well over 400 lbs and was considered a credible threat during most of his pre WWF days. And yes, many people do believe that Yokozuna was booked properly as a credible threat. Same goes for Bam Bam, not counting his WWF work.

Yoko was especially bad since his arms and legs were so big that seriously reduced the amount of moves that could be used on him or by him, and very few people could lift him. So his matches almost always wound up being brawls. And not good brawls like Austin is famous for.

I don't think anybody's going to say that Yokozuna could or did put on 5 star mat classics. But when you look at the overall picture, given his weight, size, ability, and abilities of his opponents, Yokozuna was probably one of the best big men in the business at the time. Vince knew his limitations and booked around them.

He was no Kurt Angle in the ring, but he wasn't Uncle Elmer either.

Perhaps Khali was a bad comparison (especially since it's an ICW fad atm to say he's the worst in the history of the sport) but I stand by my point.

Khali is the first wrestler that I've ever heard of that Vince had "banned" from live television because his matches were so bad that they had to be heavily edited to be watchable. I don't know that he's the worst in the history of the sport, but during most of his run, I'd say he's definitely in the top 5. (I will give him credit -- he has improved somewhat, to the point of being "watchable".)

Also, negative ten million points for a "lol omgz the fat guy sat on him" finisher.

Why? He's 500 lbs. If I were a 500 lb man, i'd use that weight to whatever advantage I could too. Given his size and his character, the Bonzai Drop was the perfect finishing move. It might not be the most original move, but it did make the most sense, from a legit and storyline standpoint.

[Asics Johnson]

humanoid88 said:

Lex Luger couldn't afford to win the Royal Rumble.

Did anyone else catch the subtle tasteless humor in this statement?

Well done, sir.

[randomranter]

dynamitekid said:

Worst in what way? Worker? Performance in the match? Over-ness? Reason for win?

Worker - Either Jim Duggan or Batista.

John Studd

Performance - Rey's hour performance was a joke. He just got his ass handed to him.

I think he did just fine.

Over-ness - Uhhhh...Rey again?

Rey is more over than most of the roster. He's more over than Studd or Duggan was.

Reason for win - Uhh....Rey.

Now this I agree with.

[Veladus Jobs To Dead Computers]

randomranter said:

veladus said:

Simply put, no one that fat should be wrestling. It's asinine in regards to believability.

Your entire arguement becomes invalid right here. Why? Because "Pro Wrestling" and "Believability" aren't even in the same ballpark.

90% of all wrestling moves defy simple laws of physics unless the recipient is doing most of the work.

Point. To an extent. Just because some of it doesn't make sense doesn't mean we should throw reality out the window entirely. For instance when people were ragging on the Khali vs. Rey match because Rey had no offense that could be believable on Khali. Different people have different opinions on what's credible. It doesn't mean any of them are right or wrong.

The Royal Rumble magnifies this. Simply put, if the RR were booked as anything resembling a believable contest, someone like Viscera, Yokozuna, Andre the Giant, etc. could never be eliminated. There is simply no possible way that one or even several people are lifting 500 lbs that high when that 500 lbs is fighting back. This holds especially true if someone like Yokozuna decided to simply sit in a corner.

On the contrary, the big guys often get teamed up on. I don't care what you weigh or how much you fight back, if 8 well muscled guys are trying to get you over the rope, you are gonna go over it whether you like it or not. As for sitting in the corner, there's a lot of "could never be eliminated" ways. The Miz could never be eliminated if he came into the ring, slid back out, ran to the parking lot and drove away.

Actually, you're probably in the minority in that opinion. Andre the Giant was regarded as a credible (both legit and scripted) threat for decades. Vader weighed well over 400 lbs and was considered a credible threat during most of his pre WWF days. And yes, many people do believe that Yokozuna was booked properly as a credible threat. Same goes for Bam Bam, not counting his WWF work.

Andre could've stood to lose a few pounds, but he was by means booked solely as being a big fat guy. If he had 3% body fat he'd still have been well over 400 pounds. Vader... no comment. I've never seen his pre-WWF matches. Bam Bam, like Andre, could've stood to lose a few pounds but was not booked solely around his weight. Yoko was.

I don't think anybody's going to say that Yokozuna could or did put on 5 star mat classics. But when you look at the overall picture, given his weight, size, ability, and abilities of his opponents, Yokozuna was probably one of the best big men in the business at the time. Vince knew his limitations and booked around them.

And when your limitations are such that Kurt Angle probably couldn't have produced a good match with you... well, I don't think it's a huge stretch for someone to say you might be the worst wrestler in the small group of RR winners.

Why? He's 500 lbs. If I were a 500 lb man, i'd use that weight to whatever advantage I could too. Given his size and his character, the Bonzai Drop was the perfect finishing move. It might not be the most original move, but it did make the most sense, from a legit and storyline standpoint.

Really? Are you telling me you find it believable that opponents wouldn't move out of the way? It was always obvious he was going for it. If they were so out of it that they didn't know what was going on or simply couldn't muster the energy to move, then they could be beaten with a Hogan Finger Poke of Doom anyway.

[Adam Pacman Khan (akkilla)]

malonesr said:

Bret Hart. Seriously why wasnt he good enough to win it by himself??? And then when he won it a few years later... oh wait SCSA won that one thats right.

Bret hart is very angry at you for posting this/every other anti-bret post.

[randomranter]

veladus said:

Point. To an extent. Just because some of it doesn't make sense doesn't mean we should throw reality out the window entirely. For instance when people were ragging on the Khali vs. Rey match because Rey had no offense that could be believable on Khali. Different people have different opinions on what's credible. It doesn't mean any of them are right or wrong.

I disagree. I think that Yokozuna was perfectly credible. He was booked properly, and had a moveset that he could work with that complimented his immense size.

On the contrary, the big guys often get teamed up on. I don't care what you weigh or how much you fight back, if 8 well muscled guys are trying to get you over the rope, you are gonna go over it whether you like it or not.

If he's fighting back, no, he's not going anywhere. 8 men getting him over the top rope is far easier said than done. He had a *very* low center of gravity. They'd still have to be able to grab and hold him at the right angle to be able to lift him, which isn't all that easy when you also have to avoid his foot connecting with your jaw. Then, even if they do manage to grab him properly, a slight shift in his weight will mean that he simply falls back and lands on his ass, leaving the 8 men to start all over again.

As for sitting in the corner, there's a lot of "could never be eliminated" ways. The Miz could never be eliminated if he came into the ring, slid back out, ran to the parking lot and drove away.

Note that Vince used almost this exact strategy to win the RR. And people crapped all over it.

Storyline issues aside, though, if the RR were a legit contest, I'd suspect that a move like this would be grounds for disqualification. I'm sure a rule would be put into place saying that contestants must remain in the ring at all times, and make a good faith effort to re-enter the ring if they leave via the middle or bottom ropes.

Andre could've stood to lose a few pounds, but he was by means booked solely as being a big fat guy.

Fat? No. Big? Yes. In fact, his size was one of the cornerstones to the Hogan/Andre feud of WM III: "Can Hogan lift and body slam the 500 lb giant?". His weight and his height pretty much got the same amount of attention.

If he had 3% body fat he'd still have been well over 400 pounds. Vader... no comment. I've never seen his pre-WWF matches. Bam Bam, like Andre, could've stood to lose a few pounds but was not booked solely around his weight. Yoko was.

Bam Bam was booked based on his agility for a man his size.

And when your limitations are such that Kurt Angle probably couldn't have produced a good match with you... well, I don't think it's a huge stretch for someone to say you might be the worst wrestler in the small group of RR winners.

He had passable matches with Bret Hart and the Undertaker. He complimented Owen well when they tagged together. Again, I never said he was going to put on mat classics, but for a man of his size, I think he did quite well.

Really? Are you telling me you find it believable that opponents wouldn't move out of the way? It was always obvious he was going for it. If they were so out of it that they didn't know what was going on or simply couldn't muster the energy to move, then they could be beaten with a Hogan Finger Poke of Doom anyway.

I could say the same thing about dozens of different finishers. Hogan's leg drop. Savage's elbow. Booker's Scissors kick. Eddie's Frog Splash. King Kong Bundy's Avalanche. But nobody's ever claimed that these weren't credible finishers. Yoko's bonzai drop is in the same category.

[vinnie245]

Rey Mysterio, he just doesn't look like a guy that can eliminate anyone, let alone last for 60 minutes

[Big L]

vinnie245 said:

Rey Mysterio, he just doesn't look like a guy that can eliminate anyone, let alone last for 60 minutes

true

[Overly large testicles]

All this shitting on the Jim Duggan. He was an amazing worker who played the part incredibly well. And he's always been super over. He can whip up an entire crowd like few others. He is what pro wrestling is all about. That's right, I said it.

[The Ichi]

NO-ONE, with the possible exception of Giant Gonzalez, was a worse wrestler than The Great Khali is.