We are back for more Bret Hart rating action, and let’s not delay!
THE QUEBECERS
STEW’S THOUGHTS
LOOK: 3/10 – I love the Quebecers. I mean, they were a lot of fun. What does that have to do with their appearance? Nothing. They were schmoes.
CHARISMA: 7/10 – I mean, they did have Johnny Polo, although he was nowhere near the height of his powers here yet. And Jacques Rougeau was usually a funny, if overly cartoonish, fella. Pierre was just kind of there. I get that he’s better recently as PCO, but that wasn’t him yet. But they just had… something about them. They were enjoyable.
RINGWORK: 6/10 – As I noted in the article I linked above, they had some bonkers double team moves that you just did not see in their era. They consistently put on decent enough matches, too.
THOUGHTS: 16/30 – You see, the problem here is that when Bret Hart was deciding how to rate wrestlers, he did not have a Theme Song category, whereupon the Quebecers would score an easy 9/10, only missing that last point because they inexplicably changed The Mountie’s lyrics to “We’re NOT The Mounties”. Or maybe that made it better. I don’t know. But these guys were a quality mid-tier tag team of their era that I personally recall fondly.
THE BIG SHOW
STEW’S THOUGHTS
LOOK: 10 – At various points in his career, Show was definitely a 10. Sometimes he pudged out a bit too much, and certain combinations of facial hair + hairstyle made him look like a goof. But during his best days, like the early to mid 2000’s? Like Royal Rumble 2004 Big Show? Dude was a terrifying beast.
CHARISMA: 6.5 – Big Show occasionally seemed a little bit uncomfortable with some promos, so that stops me from rating him higher. He was pretty well-rounded, though. He could pivot from intense to monster to funny guy to sympathetic and sad pretty well. He will always suffer from how often WWE changed his alignment (he never felt like he could get much traction in any one role), but he was pretty good at most aspects.
RINGWORK: 6.5 – Definitely one of the best big man workers, ever. Show was freakishly athletic for most of his career, and he knew how to work with the size and strength he had. He could lumber around when it fit the match, but given his size, his ability to move fluidly is astounding. He never had to do as much as others might, but you could tell he COULD do whatever he wanted.
THOUGHTS: 23 – A dude who looks like Show did and was as well-rounded as he was deserves a high score. For all his accolades and how long his career was, Show might well have been UNDERutilized. He only ever seemed to get a main event slot when it was convenient, and he was usually portrayed as more of an obstacle for a star to overcome than a star himself.
WYNTYR’S THOUGHTS
LOOK: 10. He’s one of the biggest dudes in wrestling history, and he’s capitalized on it. A bit skinny (relatively) when he first showed up in WCW, after he filled out he was just a massive massive dude
CHARISMA: 8. A genuinely likable fella irl, and it really comes through in his work. Show is well loved by fans and the boys in the back
RINGWORK: 6. A perfectly serviceable big man, better than most
THOUGHTS: 24. Pretty good score for the biggest professional athlete on the planet
ARN ANDERSON
STEW’S THOUGHTS
LOOK: 2.5 – Look, I’ll take my lumps for this is I must, but Arn didn’t look like a wrestler. He looked like your drunk uncle you saw once a year at the family picnic. Even when he was young, he looked old. And when he was old, he looked OLD.
CHARISMA: 8 – Nothing Arn did was wildly memorable, but few people were as believable as he was when he spoke. He had that 80’s Yelling A Lot promo style, but he did it with great intensity. And he felt more menacing that funny or entertaining. His promos all seemed to come from the heart.
RINGWORK: 8.5 – Arn was one of those flawlessly boring guys. He didn’t put on flashy eye-catching matches. His ringwork was a lot like his charisma. It was believable, even if it wasn’t radiant. He just went out and did the hard work.
THOUGHTS: 19 – I think this is a perfect score for Double-A. People will tell you he should have been a main eventer, but they are wrong. Arn was never a world title guy. But he was great in the role he had of a tough, dependable dude with a long career full of steady performance. He was very good at what he did, but he always felt like what he was: a #2 guy.
WYNTYR’S THOUGHTS
LOOK: 6. Just a burly, hairy, chunk of meat. Not impressive looking in wrestling circles, but irl? This is the dude busting beer bottles over peoples heads and throwing dudes out of the window at your favorite dive bar
CHARISMA: man, this is tough. Arn was one of the best promos of all time, and is only rivaled by guys like Dusty Rhodes and Eddie Kingston in making you *believe* what he’s saying. I’ll say 8, and let the other guys beat me up if they disagree
RINGWORK: 8. Double A was the perfect template for an 80s Southern-style wrestler. His stuff looked hard as hell while never actually hurting anyone in the ring, and he could transition from chain wrestling to submissions to Southern-style “high flying” at the drop of a hat.
THOUGHTS: 22. Seems like a fairly low score for my third favorite wrestler of all time, but somehow also seems maybe a bit high if taken from a non-mark standpoint.
That’s it for this week! As always, let us know your scores for these talents… AND let us know who we should review going forward!
Until next time… take care!
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