Which Promoter has/had the best eye for talent?

[Dub H]

By that I mean really the ones that see the potential in a new comer/rising star. Not just signing top star.

I must say Gedo seems to have a good success rate of big pushes for wrestlers that are not a big deal yet.

[realist]

Good topic! I don't know if this counts or not, but I think Vince Russo would deserve a mention here. He pushed The Rock, Steve Austin, Mankind, and Triple H. Yeah, I know it's Vince McMahon's company, but Vince saw other guys as his top stars like Mark Henry and Marc Mero. Vince Russo was the one who pushed those guys.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Of all time? Verne Gagne.

Apart from the people he trained, Flair included, he saw what could draw. f*** Hulkamania started in the AWA and Gagne taught Hogan how to Hulk Up.

[Ultimo Gallos]

Paul Heyman,he managed to take people that had never been stars and make them stars. Court Bauer is good at doing the same thing.

[Deleted]

Sept 10, 2019 13:31:26 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

Of all time? Verne Gagne.

Apart from the people he trained, Flair included, he saw what could draw. f*** Hulkamania started in the AWA and Gagne taught Hogan how to Hulk Up.

For all of Verne's numerous faults (being a greedy carny being near the top of the list), he definitely had the best eye for talent. Look at "WWF Golden Age" roster, and think about how many AWA talents are on the list.

Hulk Hogan
Jesse Ventura
Bobby Heenan
Mr. Perfect
Ken Patera

That's not even counting other talents that found their footing in the AWA, like Vader.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Sept 10, 2019 15:35:59 GMT -5 @hedm2005 said:

Sept 10, 2019 13:31:26 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

Of all time? Verne Gagne.

Apart from the people he trained, Flair included, he saw what could draw. f*** Hulkamania started in the AWA and Gagne taught Hogan how to Hulk Up.

For all of Verne's numerous faults (being a greedy carny being near the top of the list), he definitely had the best eye for talent. Look at "WWF Golden Age" roster, and think about how many AWA talents are on the list.

Hulk Hogan
Jesse Ventura
Bobby Heenan
Mr. Perfect
Ken Patera

That's not even counting other talents that found their footing in the AWA, like Vader.

I came in to argue Heyman, but damn this case for Gagne is strong.

[EyeofTyr]

Besides those already mentioned in here, Gabe and Cary together were pretty good at cherry picking the indies for ROH in their heyday.

Quackenbush and his associates for years were excellent at picking up a lot of relatively unknown talent with them sometimes becoming stars in CHIKARA and sometimes far beyond (in the case of talents like Chase Parker and Matt Martel and Ricochet and Chuck Taylor/Dustin, Dalton Castle, Ruby Riott, Johnny Gargano, Mustache Mountain and Player Uno/Evil Uno and Stu to name a few). To say nothing of the Wrestle Factory graduates that have gone on to have exceptional careers like Cesaro and Drew Gulak, Lince Dorado, Luke Harper and Orange Cassidy.

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

In recent years, Joey Janela's Spring Break shows has been the launchpad for talent that would be completely overlooked anywhere else, like PCO, Dustin Thomas, Marko Stunt (Lost in NY), and even the Rock and Roll Express got booked in New Japan off the back of their match with Santana and Ortiz at Spring Break 3 Part 2 this year.

[XaviersSS2015hair]

Sept 10, 2019 16:20:22 GMT -5 Oh Cry Me a Screwball said:

In recent years, Joey Janela's Spring Break shows has been the launchpad for talent that would be completely overlooked anywhere else, like PCO, Dustin Thomas, Marko Stunt (Lost in NY), and even the Rock and Roll Express got booked in New Japan off the back of their match with Santana and Ortiz at Spring Break 3 Part 2 this year.

Rock and roll Express got booked in New Japan this year?! What show? I got to check that out. I saw both their matches with the Briscoes this year and as I stated in another thread they were better than they had any right to be. I knew about the LAX match and I would like to check that out since I'm a big LAX fan.

[XaviersSS2015hair]

Sept 10, 2019 16:02:01 GMT -5 EyeofTyr said:

Besides those already mentioned in here, Gabe and Cary together were pretty good at cherry picking the indies for ROH in their heyday.

Quackenbush and his associates for years were excellent at picking up a lot of relatively unknown talent with them sometimes becoming stars in CHIKARA and sometimes far beyond (in the case of talents like Chase Parker and Matt Martel and Ricochet and Chuck Taylor/Dustin, Dalton Castle, Ruby Riott, Johnny Gargano, Mustache Mountain and Player Uno/Evil Uno and Stu to name a few). To say nothing of the Wrestle Factory graduates that have gone on to have exceptional careers like Cesaro and Drew Gulak, Lince Dorado, Luke Harper and Orange Cassidy.

Wow I knew most of those names had passed through Chikara but to see them all laid out like that is very impressive. It's hard not to argue Quackenbush in this conversation.

[cassonova]

I was going to mention Quackenbush, but was beaten to it.

For all of his faults, Ian Rotten brought together a bunch of young guys in the mid-2000's who had little exposure up to that point, such as Jimmy Jacobs, Chris Hero, CM Punk, Tyler Black, Chuck Taylor, etc.

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

Sept 10, 2019 17:45:47 GMT -5 XaviersSS2015hair said:

Sept 10, 2019 16:20:22 GMT -5 Oh Cry Me a Screwball said:

In recent years, Joey Janela's Spring Break shows has been the launchpad for talent that would be completely overlooked anywhere else, like PCO, Dustin Thomas, Marko Stunt (Lost in NY), and even the Rock and Roll Express got booked in New Japan off the back of their match with Santana and Ortiz at Spring Break 3 Part 2 this year.

Rock and roll Express got booked in New Japan this year?! What show? I got to check that out. I saw both their matches with the Briscoes this year and as I stated in another thread they were better than they had any right to be. I knew about the LAX match and I would like to check that out since I'm a big LAX fan.

They are on the US tour that's happening later in the month.

[Joe Neglia]

Sept 10, 2019 13:31:26 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

Gagne taught Hogan how to Hulk Up.

LOL, Hogan just ripped that off wholesale from Blackjack Mulligan.

[Joe Neglia]

And Hogan was already a top name when he went to the AWA. Had been in the business for four years at that point and had already had the Shea match with Andre.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Sept 10, 2019 20:15:42 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

And Hogan was already a top name when he went to the AWA. Had been in the business for four years at that point and had already had the Shea match with Andre.

I disagree that he was a top name, before the AWA he was just a random monster heel, in the AWA and with Gagne teaching him, he took it to another level

[Joe Neglia]

Sept 10, 2019 20:22:21 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

Sept 10, 2019 20:15:42 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

And Hogan was already a top name when he went to the AWA. Had been in the business for four years at that point and had already had the Shea match with Andre.

I disagree that he was a top name, before the AWA he was just a random monster heel, in the AWA and with Gagne teaching him, he took it to another level

That's not true at all, I'm sorry. He was a top star on the territory circuit who was having matches with Andre, Backlund, Antonio Inoki; already had a short run at the very top in Knoxville, and was teaming with the likes of Dusty and Hansen.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Sept 10, 2019 20:37:16 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

Sept 10, 2019 20:22:21 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

I disagree that he was a top name, before the AWA he was just a random monster heel, in the AWA and with Gagne teaching him, he took it to another level

That's not true at all, I'm sorry. He was a top star on the territory circuit who was having matches with Andre, Backlund, Antonio Inoki; already had a short run at the very top in Knoxville, and was teaming with the likes of Dusty and Hansen.

I’ll defer to you. I always thought Hogan was just an average heel before Hulkamania.

[Bub (BLM)]

Bischoff was better at this than given credit for. Paul Heyman would say Eric just stole his guys, but ECW was a glorified indy. Those wrestlers were moving up.

Anyway, yeah. Bischoff is responsible for Benoit, Malenko, Guerrero, Jericho, and a real important one, Konnan. Konnan was Eric's guy for finding Cruiserweights and luchas. That brought us Rey Jr., Ultimo Dragon, Juvi, Psichosis, La Parka.

Bischoff has a legacy of just hiring WWF main eventers, but that's a crock.

[J. Hova]

I agree with what people have said about Gagne and Heyman. I'm going to go and throw Cornette in the conversation as well.

He launched Candido, Sunny, New Jack, Lance Storm, Chris Jericho, Kane, Al Snow, Bob Holly, and D'Lo Brown. That's pretty solid, IMO.

[The Spelunker!]

I came here to post Cary, Gabe, Quack and Rotten. I’ll throw out Prazak and Danger too. Their work in SHIMMER shows they generally have the pulse of women’s wrestling, especially if you look at how many of their alumni ended up in WWE or TNA.