Wrestlers you disliked but then became fans of

[BayleyTiffyCodyCenaJudyHopps]

Throughout the bulk of Tommy Dreamer's career, I really didn't "get" him. I thought was an ok brawler but I found him a bit dull, and his ECW-shilling character kinda put me off at first.

I guess it was when he left full-time competition and I saw just how much he loved the business and how cool a guy he seemed that I finally warmed up to him. Then I looked back on his matches and I noticed how good he was at getting the story across. Now I look forward to any time he shows up.

[Deleted]

Finlay in his WWE run. I was kind of insulted that they were pushing a guy who I thought was past his best and trying to make a big deal out of him. Then I realized that his feuds in 2006 were amazing (he got some great matches out of Lashley and Mysterio) and he became one of my favorite wrestlers in the span of like 3 months.

You may not believe me on this, but MNM. When they debuted, I thought putting over these young skinny guys against Rey and Eddie overnight was completely ridiculous and that their gimmick was too ambiguously gay to ever catch on with fans. I also thought that Melina looked really weird and thought she was nowhere near attractive enough to be a diva who was supposed to get over on looks. Then I found out that all three of them were fantastic wrestlers. Nitro and Mercury could eek out a good match with pretty much any tag team that the writers would scrounge up and Melina basically carried Trish at Survivor Series in 2005. I saw what Melina looked like out of her clown makeup and started thinking she was actually really pretty. And their promos and segments were pretty funny, Mercury and Melina in particular were really comfortable talking in front of big crowds unlike most wrestlers that got brought up from OVW. So after all of that, I ended up going from not really liking them at all to them being my favorite wrestlers on the roster when they were around.

[dlg3000]

Here's my easy answer: Kane. Kane in my opinion was nothing special. He was just boring to me. Then I saw his matches with Dolph Ziggler and his chemistry with Daniel Bryan and I have learned to appreciate him.

[The Ichi]

John Cena is the big one for me.

[Deleted]

When I was a mark, I HATED Umaga.

But... starting around Night of Champions 2007, I got around to him, and he became the first heel I supported.

Same with Chris Masters. In his first run, I thought he was a roided-up waste of space. When he came back, he was cleaner, looked better, and improved in the ring. And for that, I liked him.

[Boomaga]

Shawn Michaels is the ultimate example of this.

From his turning on Marty Jannetty through all of his 90's run, I couldn't stand the guy. It came from partially being a Bret Hart guy and partially from not really liking Shawn's character, either as a good or bad guy. As time went on, the Montreal Incident happened and stories of Shawn's backstage manipulation came out, I utterly despised him. Even during the early years of his return, I couldn't accept that he was a changed man and continually wanted to see him lose.

And then something just clicked, I want to say it was around 2004-2005, where I just realized that even though I spent over a decade hating this guy, he was one hell of a performer and was continually putting on the best matches of the night even at this late stage of his career. I learned to like the performer and put aside my hate for the man. Over time, I got to accepting and liking the man he had become and always looked forward to Shawn's matches, up until the end of his career. I still feel this twinge of hatred when I go back and watch his older matches, but I think his last run could have been a phenomenal career all on its own.

[bob]

The Miz

[Bo Rida]

Another vote for HBK, there's no wrestler I hated or liked more.

I have to mention Mark Henry too as he spent 10 years being terrible but eventually we got the awesome "hall of pain" run (with a period inbetween where he improved).

Although tbh I could list the majority of my top 100 wrestlers in this thread.

[Deleted]

John Cena. I became a fan of him in 2007 after he carried The Great Khali to three ok/not bad good matches. Than I realized he can indeed wrestle. The Miz and Jomo when they formed the in crowd. Umaga towards the end of the year in 2006 realizing he made a stupid gimmick straight from the 80's work during a bitter cynical ROH boom post attitude TV-14 era and made it work and how good of a wrestler he really was. That Last Man Standing match against Cena is probably in the top 3 or 5 of greatest LMS matches ever.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

Miz, and then it turned around and I started not liking him again around the time he won his first title.

more positively, Randy Orton was the drizzling shits for years until he became great in 2009.

[Ryback on a Pole!]

MVP

Hated him at first, gradually grew to be a fan of him, and then quickly got bored with him after he grew stale and lazy shortly after the feud with Matt Hadry.

[Bone Daddy]

Gotta be Regal. As a kid he absolutely bored the piss out of me

[frogsplash45]

David Otunga



Though I feel I am justified. He wasn't worth a damn until he became Laurinaitis' stooge lawyer.

[CM Parish]

Del Rio lately.

[amaron]

Jan 24, 2013 12:24:21 GMT -5 CM Parish said:

Del Rio lately.

This. I HATED the guy with a passion, and I don't mean 'heel hate'.

Now, not so much.

[Friday Night SmackOwn]

Jan 24, 2013 12:24:21 GMT -5 CM Parish said:

Del Rio lately.

Same with me. I thought he was rather bland as the heel who kept talking about "destiny" and all that. I dunno whether it's my unapologetic love of faces or somethin', but ADR's current good guy run has won me over.

[Kev The Omniscient]

Mark Henry. Hated his face run where he was teaming with MVP and Tatsu. It was such a shame because I liked the monster he was in ECW. Looking back, I guess the ugly, bright red jumpsuit stage of his career didn't last too long, but it felt a whole lot longer at the time. Thankfully they realized how great monster Mark Henry can be. "Hall of Pain" Mark Henry has been one of my favorites in recent history.

[CATCH_US IS the Conversation]

Might be hard to believe, but Alex Riley

I felt the Varsity Villian gimmick was so corny. I loved his mic work, it's just that the letter jacket bothered me a lot. Plus to me it didn't make sense that some dude who was "living out his dream" as a professional wrestler had any inclination to "relive his high school glory days".

When Riley came up to RAW as Miz's lackey, I felt he was completely useless, because they weren't having him wrestle. I slowly warmed up to the guy during the Miz celebration "Alex Riley Loves to Party" promo.

I, like many, marked out when he turned face, and hoped he was going to be big, or that he would at least be IC or U.S. Champion.

During his 2011 push, when he was sloppy and botching a lot, I didn't even blame him. I felt that the blame for his sloppy performances goes to the way WWE handled him when he was with The Miz. Imo, using Riley solely as a Butt Monkey and as a glorified non-wrestler stunted his growth as an in-ring performer. I'm just waiting for them to finally re-push him and let him win his first title, and I'm disappointed that the guy missed out on WM28 and would very likely not be at WM29.

[Mr. Socko's Brother]

Sheamus I guess, not because he lacked ability but because I thought they put the WWE championship on him way too fast. I had also grown to appreciate Kofi Kingston during that period, and was unhappy that he hadn't won the battle royal to get a shot at Cena.

So while I was glad that the title was off Cena, I thought "Really? They couldn't have picked somebody more established?"

He gradually won me over, though, by consistently putting on pretty good matches and delivering on the mic. By the time he finally lost the title, I had no trouble seeing him as championship material.

[The Ichi]

I remember never being a Jeff Hardy fan with the exception of one period - I LOVED him during 2008-2009. Shame he once again pissed away any respect for him I had.