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fromundertheapron · 2 years

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Episode 39 - Top 10 Top Non Champions of the 80s and 90s

We put out the question of the week, what are your top wrestlers either heel or face that were top guys in their era and in their company but never got the big belt. The World Championship in WCW or the WWE championship. Again, keep in mind growing up we only watched two companies, one in WWE and the other in WCW. This list is going to be controversial to some and its going to have a lot of people saying bullshit. But I think the list I did ended up being nothing but 80s and 90s guys so maybe there will be another list for the millennium guys. The new era guys.

Okay, so I gave myself some rules as to how I should pick these. Number 1, Vince loves loyalty so pick the guys that stayed there longer than a year. After that, there shouldn’t be a reason why they didn’t get a shot or a chance to become one.

10. Ravishing Rick Rude in WCW and WWE

Okay lets start off with the ladies man, im putting him at number 10 because he really did cause a lot of ruckus to get where he’s at. He was the top heel every where he went, not one time did he turn face in WWE for three years and then he showed up in WCW for another three years and tried going after the belt. He was a 3 time WCW International Heavyweight Champion, which only lasted a short time and it was unified with the big World Heavyweight Championship belt. The sad thing here is that he took a bump from Sting which caused him to end his career so soon. In WWE he was a one time Intercontinental Champion feuding with Ultimate Warrior and then later on with Rowdy Roddy Piper. The guy was popular when he left, we all knew who he was. So when he made his way to WCW, you would think they would have given him that push. They gave him a United States Championship when he defeated Sting. Some matches with Ricky Steamboat. But they didn’t push the button on him when he faced WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ron Simmons on different occasions. On April 17, 1993 on the Spring Stampede ppv show he legit injured his back in a match against Sting. He retired shortly thereafter only making appearances in ECW as a color commentator and in WWE as a member of DX. Finishing his career in WCW as a member of the NWO and most notably known as the only person to show up on both broadcasts of WWE Monday Night Raw and WCW Monday Nitro at the same time.

Pro Wrestling Illustrated voted him Most hated wrestler of the year in 1992

PWI ranked him number 4 in the PWI 500 in 1992

9. Curt Hennig in WWE (1988-1996). Mr. Perfect deserved that championship belt. He was top face and top heel and still yet they give the belt to people who would eventually leave for movies anyway. Another guy who feuded with the top face and should have gotten that opportunity. And I get they wanted to protect their company. But you give him a name like Mr. Perfect and he’s a heel, you should be able to give him that. He then held the Intercontinental Championship twice which was the work horse belt. The secondary belt but it still doesn’t count. He wrestled and faced people that would become top guys, Bret Hart, Razor Ramon, Randy Savage, Ric Flair, and Shawn Michaels. Unfortunately, he started having back problems by 1991 when he suffered a broken tailbone and bulge disks and had to retire. You would see him sporadically as a manager to Ric Flair, wrestled a match teaming with Randy Savage, but later on would mostly be in losing situations against Shawn Michaels and our favorite Alexander Luger. Had it not been for his bad back we would have gotten to see a Perfect push for the top gold especially in the era where Hulk Hogan left for movies and WCW. Just imagine, him vs Bret Hart, Yokozuna, Shawn Michaels, Owen Hart, Razor Ramon, Tatanka, Bam Bam Bigelow and feuding with The Million Dollar Corporation.

PWI Most Improved Wrestler 1997

Number 9 of the PWI Top 500 in 1993

8. Rowdy Roddy Piper (1984 – 1996) in WWE Are you telling me the Hot Rod never held the big belt but yet you give him the Intercontinental championship as a transition to give it to Bret Hart? I get that he’s more known to be a movie star but you had since Wrestlemania 1 to establish him as the top heel of the company and give him that chance. He faced Hulk Hogan. He smashed a coconut on Snuka’s head. Top Heel! And then when he became a top face you put him in the middle of the card or have him face younger talent.

Match of the Year in 1995 Wrestlemania 1 teaming up with Paul Orndorff vs Hulk Hogan and Mr. T.

Most Hated Wrestler of the Year 1984 and 1985

Most Popular Wrestler of the Year 1986

Number 45 in the Top PWI 500 1992

7. Ricky The Dragon Steamboat (1985 – 1988) Initially after getting a DDT from Jake the Snake Roberts on the concrete which Jake didn’t want to particularly do because he was scared Ricky wasn’t going to stop himself from hitting the pavement which happened anyway. Vince should have owed Ricky a favor from here on out. That was the first strike. The next strike is being the top match of the night right next to the match that Vince thought was going to be the top match in the main event. Vince should have thanked Ricky Steamboat then after he won the IC title from Macho Man. But instead they punish him for it and have him lose in the tournament for the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania 4. He left WWE in 1988 for WCW.

Match of the Year Wrestlemania 3 against Randy Savage

Ranked number 6 PWI Top 500 in 1992

6. Razor Ramon (1992 – 1996) in WWE Wrestlemania 10 ladder match should have told you he can go. Him facing Bret Hart at Royal Rumble 93 for the title said that he can go. He defeated Diesel on the year that he was World Champion and was in a feud with Jeff Jarrett and that should have told you that he can go. He didn’t even complain when they had Goldust flirt with Chico. Its no wonder he was the first one to shoot that shot and go to WCW. Check out episode 16 titled Hey Yo of the All Things Wrestling podcast to learn more about him, yet… he still didn’t an opportunity to hold it and be near it after that Royal Rumble match against Bret Hart.

PWI Match of the Year Wrestlemania 10 vs Shawn Michaels in a ladder match 1994

Ranked number 7 in the PWI 500 in 1994

5. Owen Hart in WWE (1991 – 1999) Not because of his death, Its more of a he should have gotten it when he was feuding with his brother. Summer Slam should have been it. But he didn’t receive that push. Instead it was given to Bob Backlund, crazy psychotic heel. Owen was a top heel from the start of that year. He won the King of the Ring, that should have put him in the front of the line. He got together with Yokozuna and then when that finished, they let Yoko try to go after it again instead of Owen. They had Owen and British Bulldog as a tag team, so they let Davey Boy go after it. Owen gives HBK a concussion, still not a championship opportunity. Montreal Screw job happens. Owen is the only one that stayed, that should have been a reason to give him the belt atleast for a few weeks before throwing it back to Shawn Michaels who left anyways because he had a bad back.

PWI Feud of the Year with Bret Hart 1994

Number 10 in the PWI Top 500 in 1994

4. Arn Anderson in WCW (1990 – 2000) The number 1 man of the top heel and the top stable in the company and even when Ric Flair left, Arn should have picked up the slack. What did Triple H do when HBK left after Wrestlemania? Trip became a top guy. So instead of him becoming top guy in WCW when Ric Flair and Sid left, they make him go after the tag belts. Honestly this was his chance to prove he wasn’t just the master of the spinebuster but a good main eventer. He was WCW TV champion 4 different times. WCW Tag team Champion with 4 different people 5 times. Ranked number 9 in the PWI 500 Magazine in 1991. You talk about a company man, this man was it. Only they didn’t pull the trigger on him because they were too busy experimenting with others that didn’t deserve it.

3. Jake the Snake in WWE (1986 – 1992) Why did this man not get a championship title after all the shit he pulled with that snake? He had a weapon. He literally almost killed Macho Man. He was in a blind man match. He almost gave Ricky Steamboat a concussion. He practically gave Andre a heart attack with that snake… and then you kill his snake? But wont give him a push.

Number 23 in the PWI 500 in 1991

Tatanka in WWE (1991 – 1996) He had an undefeated streak from 91 to 93 before he lost to some douche who left because his ankle got hurt. He would go after the Intercontinental Championship and lose via count out or DQ. But didn’t get pinned during those 2 and half years. He would be pushed as a main eventer and have main event style matches. When Hogan was gone, he would eventually adopt the hulking up move and run around the ring to get that energy from the crowd and then point at his opponent. He was honored by Chief Jay Strongbow, Chief Wahoo McDaniel and Lumbee tribesman Ray Littleturtle with a full length Lumbee tribe headdress on an edition of RAW. He feuded with IRS because tax man wanted him to pay taxes for that headdress.

My favorite year for him was in 1994 when he turned heel against best friend Lex Luger and joined the Million Dollar Corporation. He would feud with Luger, Bam Bam Bigelow, and have matches against the champions like Diesel and Bret Hart but always fell short. If anything, 1994 and 1995 would have been the year to have him win the championship and then have another feud with Lex Luger.

Ranked number 40 in the PWI 500 in 1994

1. Ted Dibiase in WWE (1987 – 1996) The man has a long resume!! He bought the wwe championship from Andre the Giant but they didn’t acknowledge it so its not in the history books. And since he thought he was cheated from that because he paid a price, he turned it into The Million Dollar Belt and always defended it. He got a bodyguard, paid off Dusty Rhodes stan friend Sapphire and turned and then kicked her out. After he defeated his opponent with the million dollar dream he would stuff a 100 dollar bill in his mouth so when he wakes up it be a way of saying thanks for doing the job. Sometimes Virgil would retrieve the 100 dollar bill and keep it for himself. The man was a free bodyguard. He made a young kid kiss his feet for money on live tv, years later we find out this little kid grew up to be Rob Van Dam.

He bought off Hercules contract and wanted Herc to work for him as a slave. Herc didn’t like that. He bought off the number 30 spot at the 1989 Royal Rumble from Akeem and tried to buy off Big John Stud who were the last two wrestlers in the ring before Big John eliminated Dibiase.

At the 1990 Royal Rumble, he was punished for buying off the number 30 spot the year before and was given number 1. He lasted 45 minutes

In 1992 he got the services of IRS which they became known as Money Inc and they won the tag team belts on three separate occasions. He would mock other heel wrestlers for losing to jobbers. He mocked Razor Ramon enough to turn him face. He retired and became a manager and even then he still was the most hated villainous heel. He started the Million Dollar Corporation and started buying contracts including Nikolai Volkoff’s who was doing poorly and needed the money. He would embarrass him and make him wear the cents logo on his trunks followed by property of the million dollar man. He followed that up with his other partner, IRS, and then Bam Bam Bigelow. He bought others and created the most hated stable in the WWE. Others in the stable were Kama who was Papa Shango and now goes by The Godfather. The walking Condom King Kong Bundy, Sycho Sid, 1-2-3 Kid, and the most famous one of all that I did not see coming. The Native American Tatanka… HE BOUGHT A NATIVE AMERICAN OFF!!!

And finally before he left to join the NWO, he introduced us all to the new Million Dollar Champion, The Ringmaster Steve Austin… Yea, that guy didn’t last long.

Most hated wrestler of the year 1982

Number 17 in the PWI 500 1991

#WWF #WCW #Top 10 #Ravishing Rick Rude #Mr. Perfect #Rowdy Roddy Piper #Ricky The Dragon Steamboat #Razor Ramon #Owen Hart #Arn Anderson #Jake the Snake Roberts #Tatanka #Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase

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blowflyfag · 5 months

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Pro Wrestling Illustrated: 1995 THE YEAR IN WRESTLING. March 1996

EDITORS’ AWARD: RICK STEAMBOAT

The debate among the editors regarding this year’s Editors’ Award promised to be more intense than ever. Then someone nominated Rick Steamboat. Debate over.

Last fall, “The Dragon” was forced to retire due to a back injury. His departure ended an 18-year career during which he won one NWA World title, four NWA/WCW U.S. titles, two TV titles, eight NWA/WCW World tag team titles, and one WWF Intercontinental title. More importantly, he won the respect of fans and wrestlers around the world.

Still Steamboat never expected the honor we’ve bestowed upon him.

“It was a pleasant surprise,” he said, “considering that I’ve been out of touch for a while now. There are a lot of good people in this sport who deserve to be honored.”

Steamboat has left quite a legacy. He competed in some of the most memorable matches of our time. His WrestleMania III bout against Randy Savage, in which he won the Intercontinental title, was a classic. PWI readers voted it 1987 Match of the Year. Two years later, his NWA World title match against Ric Flair was also voted Match of the Year. In fact, many of Steamboat’s most memorable matches came against the “Nature Boy.” In both 1978 and 1984, Steamboat’s bouts with Flair were voted third runner-up for Match of the Year.

For Steamboat, though, a great match could happen anywhere.

“It didn’t matter whether I was wrestling in front of 93,000 people at the Silverdome,” he said, “or 25 in some small town in Iowa. I felt that if people came to watch me, I should give them their money’s worth.”

It’s no surprise, then, that so many were proud to call themselves Rick Steamboat fans, and not only because of his ring skills. In 18 years, Steamboat never competed as a rule breaker.

“The Dragon” admitted, however, that he was tempted.

“I’d be a liar if I told you the thought never crossed my mind,” he said. “But I knew that I just couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t have been able to look at myself in the mirror each morning.”

Steamboat was proud, too, of his reputation as a family man. As NWA World champion, he enjoyed coming to the ring with his wife, Bonnie, and their son, Rick Jr. (pictured with his father above).

“When I broke into the sport,” he recalled, “A lot of old-timers told me they didn’t know their kids very well because they were away so often. They told me to hold off having a family for as long as I could so I’d have the time to be with them.”

:Some people criticized me for bringing my family to the ring, but I didn’t understand that. I was just so proud that I was finally a father.” The father has passed along a passion for wrestling to his son: Rick, now eight, has won several local and regional tournaments. He has even wrestled Ric Flair’s son Reed.

“That was something,” Steamboat recalled. “There was Flair on one side of the gym and me on the other, and the crowd was going wild. It was the second generation of the Flair-Steamboat feud!”

In Steamboat’s storied career, such feuds were memorable. He relished his showdowns with Flair, Savage, Rick Rude, Don Muraco, and Jake Roberts. There were some things, though, that he didn’t relish.

“I didn’t care for the dragon costume,” he said of the outfit he began wearing in the WWF in 1991. “I would put that on and ask myself, ‘Is this what our sport has evolved to?’

“When I began competing in the ‘70s,” he added, “I learned from the old-timers. They passed the torch. Today, I’m afraid that we’re getting away from our foundation.”

Although Steamboat admires men like Bret Hart and Steve Austin, he questions the commitment of many contemporary stars.

“They wrestle a 10-minute match and think they’ve been in there a long time,” he said. “I wonder if they have the stamina to wrestle for 20 minutes, let alone an hour. Heck, the longer the match, the better I liked it!”

That attitude has served Steamboat well in retirement. In addition to running the gym he has owned in Charlotte, North Carolina, for the past 12 years, he has just begun building a health club in nearby Lake Norman. He also works with a local youth group, teaching amateur wrestling.

On occasion, Steamboat admitted, he gets the urge to return to the ring himself, but that urge doesn’t last very long.

“I don’t miss all the hardships and traveling,” he said. “I do miss the time I’d spend in the ring. I really enjoyed competing.”

By his own estimation, Steamboat competed in about 5,000 professional matches. His aim in each one was not merely to win, but to excel. In the process, he showed the world how a wrestler–how any athlete–should conduct himself.

#ricky steamboat #ricky the dragon steamboat #rick steamboat #wwf #world wrestling federation #wcw #world championship wrestling #pwi #pro wrestling illustrated #magazine scan #magazine transcript

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