Johnny B. Badd / Marc Mero gets a bad rap

[XaviersSS2015hair]

Johnny B Badd was super over in WCW he was a really solid Opening match guy. He did a lot of cool moves that were kind of ahead of their time and was always able to put on a very solid opening card match and feud. He looked like a million bucks for the time and for some reason now exists in a strange place where very few other successful guys from the era reside. With the Ahmed Johnson's of the world. Where did it go wrong? Why does he exist in this Outsider status? Even Conrad won't sign him for a Starrcast (and Conrad signs EVERYBOY from WCW.) Was he really as bad as people like Bruce Prichard make him out to be? I was a really big fan of his up until the knee injury and terrible boxer gimmick that followed. It's been some years since I've seen it but I'm pretty sure Triple H even put Marc Mero over on one of HHH's WWE produce DVDs.

[The Dark Order Inferno]

Popular wrestlers like Foley and Malenko weren't fans and that seems to have coloured many people's view of him online. He was a huge get for the WWF at the time, people forget that.

He was a capable worker who needed polish, unfortunately the WWF in 1997 was kind of sink or swim so he didn't really get the help he needed to adapt to their style or get the wildman character down, then came the dual blow of getting hurt and the Vince's noticing his hot wife.

I liked the B Badd character, even being oblivious to Little Richard as a pop culture figure, but he should have started migrating away from it well before he left WCW and become his own thing, and dropped the abuse of fake tan.

Prichard hates him because he's a human centipede-like extension of Vince's behind and Mero committed the cardinal sin of speaking out against wrestling's huge fatality rate. He was pretty much the lone figure who spoke out in the aftermath of Benoit, about the many guys who have died young as a result of their time in wrestling and that's cost him even though it absolutely needed to be said. Conrad's view of guys tends to be coloured by what his friends in wrestling think, so his not being a fan isn't exactly a shock.

[Mozenrath]

I think Mero was sort of in a spot of that he would sour people on him because he was paid so much higher than his station for a lot of his career. He also had that f***ing awful DDP angle that lasted 400 years and had the babyface ruin the heel's life, because reasons. That didn't really do him favors, that and the feud with Sable being the two most notable runs he had.

That being said, he had talent, and I'd have liked to see how things would have turned out with him under different circumstances. Sable is the one who got him his huge paychecks, but she also overshadowed him, so it's hard to say where he'd have been without her.

[ThankGodForSidJustice]

Sept 8, 2019 3:40:45 GMT -5 The Dark Order Inferno said:

Popular wrestlers like Foley and Malenko weren't fans and that seems to have coloured many people's view of him online. He was a huge get for the WWF at the time, people forget that.

He was a capable worker who needed polish, unfortunately the WWF in 1997 was kind of sink or swim so he didn't really get the help he needed to adapt to their style or get the wildman character down, then came the dual blow of getting hurt and the Vince's noticing his hot wife.

I liked the B Badd character, even being oblivious to Little Richard as a pop culture figure, but he should have started migrating away from it well before he left WCW and become his own thing, and dropped the abuse of fake tan.

Prichard hates him because he's a human centipede-like extension of Vince's behind and Mero committed the cardinal sin of speaking out against wrestling's huge fatality rate. He was pretty much the lone figure who spoke out in the aftermath of Benoit, about the many guys who have died young as a result of their time in wrestling and that's cost him even though it absolutely needed to be said. Conrad's view of guys tends to be coloured by what his friends in wrestling think, so his not being a fan isn't exactly a shock.

If I remember Regal, another popular guy in most IWC circles, didn't think highly of him as I remember him namedropping Mero on I think his Austin podcast interview when talking about guys in WCW he thought weren't very good when he first started. Triple H also buried him pretty bad in his DVD documentary. If I remember I think Austin and DDP both think decently of him but that's about it when it comes to big names. I never really got why he gets so much hate as I always thought he seemed pretty talented and going by interviews he seems like a super nice guy. Having animosity towards him over his over priced contract to me is ridiculous. Yeah he was over paid but even so more power to him for being able to get such a great deal. All these guys bashing him over it has always come off as extremely petty to me.

[Ben Wyatt]

Up until he hurt his knee, he was a far better worker than a lot of people give him credit for.

And he was over, even in the WWF Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. He only suffered in that regard when the aforementioned knee issue took him off TV, while Sable blew up in his absence.

[chronocross]

I wasn't crazy about the gimmick at first, but around 94-95 when he had feuds with Regal, Austin and DDP, I enjoyed his matches.

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

Yeah dude gets shit on a lot because Vince saw big things in him and he didn’t turn out the way The Rock and Stone Cold did. But how many people turn out to be like those two? Literally two.

[msc]

I used to think he was unfairly maligned because of the whole Sable thing, but then after the Benoit Incident when he went on all the TV shows and started referencing all the wrestlers he knew who died due to drugs like *Owen Hart*, I went off him in a hurry.

[Deleted]

he was WON rookie of the year in 91 and most improved in 95 so he was liked by fans in his WCW run

[jason1980s]

Johnny B. Badd could have gone the way of Diamond Studd or Oz/Vinnie Vegas in WCW 1991/1992 but Johnny made it work. Hall and Nash obviously have lots of talent but even they couldn't really work with those gimmicks during the time. Mero had the talent to make a character like Badd work and become popular. A play on Little Richard really shouldn't work out.

Mero came in to a big contract because he was still very hot off of WCW. It wasn't like Foley who hadn't been in a well known company (sorry, ECW) for close to two years and his last few months in WCW he was third banana to Kevin Sullivan and Dave. If Foley had worked in another other era but the 1990s, he would probably have to turn his career to that of a full time writer because his hardcore style with very little wrestling talent wouldn't work in other eras. Even during the bloody 1970s, the wrestlers still had to have the charisma and wrestling talent like a Bruno or Billy Graham. It's awesome Foley came in to a big storyline with Undertaker and he did have enough talent to make it work with Undertaker, much better than the last few years of Undertaker opponents but I'm sure WWF had much bigger plans for Mero in April 1996 than Foley as they should have. I was a fan of Foley's style as a kid but looking back I can surely see it, as Ric Flair said, as a "glorified stuntman" and really no different than these backyard hardcore style "wannabes."

Mero does school speeches now where he speaks against the dangers of drugs as drugs had consumed his life during the 1990s. It put a strain on his relationship with his mother and even though he was a champion in both WCW and WWF the drugs consumed him so much that he couldn't enjoy his runs. Good for him for doing these speeches. The world needs more people not afraid to cite their failures in an attempt to help someone else. I can see why the mass amount of deaths during the mid 2000s was something that affected him. The Chris Benoit murder/suicide should have been an event that made any and all wrestlers and fans question the business.

[kingoftheindies]

Mero was insanely over in WCW till he left. He also had plenty of good matches. I know the popular trope is that Mero didnt know how to work outside of the Johnny B Badd character but I just think the injuries were the bigger issue... plus Foley not liking him with pay.

[Aceorton]

Mero was an outstanding turd/chickenshit heel, even after the injury (see the Butterbean thing from IYH: Degeneration X). He may not have been able to fly around the same in the ring, but he had sleaze out the gills. They just never did anything consistent with him, and eventually he got backseated not just to Sable but also to Jackie. If they'd pushed him right in late 1997 and early 1998, he could have easily been back in the IC picture with Rock, Shamrock and those guys, or even in a mini-feud with Austin for the title as a kiss-ass hired gun for McMahon, the same way Dude Love was.

Re: other wrestlers hating on him, it feels like that has very little to do with his talent and more to do with his contract and his wife's growing ego and diva treatment, and how that split them off from the rest of the locker room. There are several accounts out there of them cutting themselves off from other people.

[2coldMack is even more baffled]

Ehhhh? He was talented, but man, without that Johnny B. Badd gimmick, he was worthless, charisma wise.

[Allie Kitsune]

Sept 8, 2019 7:11:11 GMT -5 Ben Wyatt said:

Up until he hurt his knee, he was a far better worker than a lot of people give him credit for.

And he was over, even in the WWF Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. He only suffered in that regard when the aforementioned knee issue took him off TV, while Sable blew up in his absence.

Mero had an awesome "work the crowd" moment in WWE in a battle royal where he just kept throwing his arms up in the air at various times until it got over and the crowd started to get really into it.

Even once he finally got eliminated, he did it one last time and the crowd still popped for it.

[Shark]

Sept 8, 2019 3:40:45 GMT -5 The Dark Order Inferno said:

Popular wrestlers like Foley and Malenko weren't fans and that seems to have coloured many people's view of him online. He was a huge get for the WWF at the time, people forget that.

He was a capable worker who needed polish, unfortunately the WWF in 1997 was kind of sink or swim so he didn't really get the help he needed to adapt to their style or get the wildman character down, then came the dual blow of getting hurt and the Vince's noticing his hot wife.

I liked the B Badd character, even being oblivious to Little Richard as a pop culture figure, but he should have started migrating away from it well before he left WCW and become his own thing, and dropped the abuse of fake tan.

Prichard hates him because he's a human centipede-like extension of Vince's behind and Mero committed the cardinal sin of speaking out against wrestling's huge fatality rate. He was pretty much the lone figure who spoke out in the aftermath of Benoit, about the many guys who have died young as a result of their time in wrestling and that's cost him even though it absolutely needed to be said. Conrad's view of guys tends to be coloured by what his friends in wrestling think, so his not being a fan isn't exactly a shock.

My issue with Mero in regards to that was the death list he took all over the place deliberately misleading people into thinking all 100 or so names on the list were the result of drugs when they were not. I actually did the research and about 30 names on the list had nothing at all to do with drugs and were the results of accidents or crime or disease, but Mero made all of them seem like drug related deaths. I have zero problem with him bringing attention to something that needed attention, but he went about it in a very dishonest way.

[Deleted]

I actually thought he was a hilarious shitbag as "Marvelous" Marc. I dug it.

[Hypnosis]

Sept 8, 2019 15:27:59 GMT -5 @rebelliousworkhorse said:

I actually thought he was a hilarious shitbag as "Marvelous" Marc. I dug it.

I like when he called Butterbean "Butterball".

[jason1980s]

Marvelous Marc had potential but it was tough because a lot of guys were getting freedom to do more with their characters since the Attitude Era was starting. Now lot of guys who probably couldn't get over just a year earlier were now able to get over so a Marvelous Marc was overshadowed.
I do think it was crazy that Sable overshadowed him. I get that Vince McMahon emotionally was about 14 years old in 1998 so it's understood he would be infatuated with Sable but to me, as a real 14 year old, I thought she looked to be in her late 40s or early 50s. No offense to Marc but Sable didn't impress me. It's sad that she overshadowed Marc and also Sunny who I think probably has some emotional issues from being a 25 year old whose career was technically done with WWF because of Sable getting so much more attention. I'm sure Vince McMahon felt his original investment in Marc didn't pay off and I'm sure he had some wrestlers in his ear about Marc being a failure so in typical Vince fashion he must embarrass Marc by having his wife defeat him.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

He is actually quite an underrated wrestler- and Foley is my favourite wrestler but I think it is mainly his fault.

That said, his comments after Benoit were really gross.

[J. Hova]

What killed Mero's career wasn't injuries or his lackluster work outside of the Johnny B. Badd character, it was when Sable powerbombed him. I think it was Cornette who said a couple of weeks after that, Mero was set to work a program with Austin or at least a big match with Austin. Immediately after the powerbomb happened, Austin called and asked who he was working with now since he can't work with someone who just let his wife powerbomb him on national TV and have it be credible to take any kind of offense from him.

Personally, I thought the Marvelous Marc Mero character had tons of potential. I don't think he's ever have been a main event level guy, but he could have been a solid mid card or gatekeeper to the main event type of guy.

As far as the whole Benoit thing went, I had a few thoughts when I saw him on TV for the first time in damn near ten years. "What the hell happened to him?" "This is the guy they find? Was Johnny Stamboli busy?"