the 25 worst wrestling performers of all time

[NeanderCarl]

I don't mean a list of bad gimmicks. I mean all round bad big league in-ring performers.

Guys with no redeeming qualities. Poor mic skills, bad matches, lacking in charisma...

And I made it twenty-five so you really gotta think about it (hey, it's something to do if you're bored!). List them in reverse order, least bad to worst, and maybe a brief description of why.

It is all opinion of course and opinion is subjective but don't simply list a guy because you personally don't like him when it is clear that he is possessing of positive attributes (for example, don't just list a guy like Shawn Michaels on here because you personally don't like him, unless you have a reasonable case for the reason he belongs on your list).


25. Greg Valentine
I expect to get a lot of flak for this guy's name showing up on the list (and let's be fair, I have classed him as the least worst!) as he did have some great matches, especially in the NWA, against superior opponents. The guy was not much of a stick man and for the most part was extremely boring. Even the Gorilla incessantly informing us that the reason Valentine was so sluggish and boring was because "he takes at least 15 minutes to warm up" didn't disguise the fact that if the stiff 'Hammer' was in the ring, chances are you were about to be bored to tears.

24. Jim Duggan
Ole 'Hacksaw' would have been further down the list had he not had some spirited brawls earlier in his career, and commanded great long-term popularity through his blue-collar persona and weird charisma. You know that when even the commentators can’t disguise their surprise at Duggan pulling a wrestling move like a sunset slip out of his bag of tricks (“Only at WrestleMania can I be surprised!”) that this guy is no Ric Flair. But following a great run in the ‘Rat Pack’ prior to the WWF, Duggan’s one dimensional kick-punch-stumble style has had a spot in the mainstream wrestling business for over two decades. Spare us!

23. The Warlord
Steroid freak Terry Szopinski was at least bearable as one half of the NWA and WWF’s Powers of Pain tag team. Upon going solo in 1990, he became a bland, immobile solo midcarder, who spent most of his two year run putting Davey Boy Smith over.

22. Jim Neidhart
His weaknesses disguised in his successful and entertaining tag team with Bret Hart, he was fully exposed in singles bouts with the likes of the aforementioned Warlord, the washed up Skinner, and later with the likes of Scott Norton in WCW. Pretty bad.

21. Nailz
Should, by rights, be further down this list. ‘The Magnificent One’ Kevin Kelly, later Nailz, was a truly awful wrestler, but his menacing and memorable portrayal of the ex-con who was beyond rehabilitation was admittedly impressive. Away from the promo studio, this guy was worthless.

20. Jon Heidenreich
Bland, uncharismatic and, worse, the final nail in the coffin of the once great Legion of Doom.

19. Albert
This guy was around for years and contributed literally nothing, with the possible exception of being the inspiration of the comical “shave your back” chants. Never cut a single memorable promo, never had a particularly engrossing match, never got over despite continuous pushes (including a clean IC title victory over Kane!). Not seen any footage of Matt Bloom in Japan, but find it hard to believe he’s made any serious strides.

18. Steve Lombardi
Must have had more chances under more different personas than anybody else in Stamford history, yet failed to get over… ever! A solid hand at putting guys over means that he isn’t further up this list, but other than making others look good, The Brooklyn Brawler was useless.

17. Virgil
Jobber personified. After playing Ted DiBiase’s whipping boy for years, solo stardom got off to a good start with an emotional and exciting match against ‘The Million Dollar Man’ at SummerSlam ’91 to end their series and capture the Million $ Belt. Promptly plummeted down the ranks, became a joke, and ended up as a numbers filler in the nWo and West Texas Rednecks.

16. Brakus
Nothing but a physique. Nothing more to offer.

15. Bill Kazmaier
See Brakus.

14. Yokozuna
The most immobile, boring WWF Champion of all-time. No promo ability to speak of, very few matches worth watching in his back catalogue.

13. Sylvester Terkay
There is a theme emerging here. Chalk up another one for the “Boring List”, but quite frankly, if you don’t even attempt to adapt to the entertainment aspect of the business in the modern era, you have no hope of getting over.

12. Brutus Beefcake
Mediocre tag team with Greg Valentine led to a cheesy but memorable gimmick as the very 80s ‘The Barber’. Was at his most offensive in WCW where he worked some of the worst gimmicks and wrestled some of the worst matches US wrestling has ever witnessed.

11. Tiger Ali Singh
Wooden and unathletic, the second generation of the Singh family crashed and burned as a face, a heel and a manager. Waste of money.

10. Mideon
One of the patchy elements of the New Generation and later Attitude era was having to sit through Dennis Knight matches, be it as Phineas Godwinn, Mideon, Naked Mideon or under his real name as half of Southern Justice. Abysmal.

9. Outback Jack
Did Vince McMahon just pull this guy in off the street or what? Failed attempt to cash in on the success of Crocodile Dundee and the ensuing fascination with Aussies, Jack had a bad gimmick and was a worse wrestler. Waste of space.

8. Dave Sullivan
“The Equaliser” Dave/Evad Sullivan, the dyslexic wrestler. WCW’s precursor to Eugene was a piss poor wrestler, but the kid friendly character may have been bearable if he wasn’t shoved in our faces as a main eventer.

7. Dan Severn
Dreary from head-to-toe, from bell-to-bell. His lengthy NWA title reign could have come straight out of the 1960s, the man in the plain grey T-shirt had one redeeming quality: his WWF entrance theme!

6. Giant Silva
WWE’s second attempt to recreate Andre The Giant and their counter to the WCW success of The Giant (Paul Wight) was a giant turkey. Terrible.

5. Kamala
Questionable gimmick aside, this guy was the pits. Even if he hadn’t wrestled every match in character as a jungle savage, I still imagine he would be the pits, with his jelly belly and weak offence.

4. Brian Adams
When you think of great tag team wrestlers who went onto bigger and better solo things after their run, maybe you think of Bret Hart, or Shawn Michaels, or even Steve Austin. Chances are you don’t think of this man: Brian ‘Crush’ Adams. Repackaged more often than an unwanted Christmas gift, I can think of one solitary good match this guy had in a decade of big time singles matches; the night Randy Savage carried him to a more than passable Falls Count Anywhere match at WrestleMania X.

3. Zeus
I doubt I need to explain this one. Tiny Lister is an actor. Somebody somewhere decided this guy should not only wrestle on a PPV, but in the main event. Twice. The first company to give this a go is still in business. The second is not. Go figure.

2. Giant Gonzalez
Wrestling’s attempt to recreate the enigma and drawing power of Andre The Giant. Although in physically better shape than the broken down Andre that the majority of fans had seen in action, the failed basketball player just wasn’t a wrestling guy; I doubt he’d ever even watched it prior to taking it up as his occupation. His only positive attribute was his size, and he didn’t even know how to accentuate that to his advantage in getting over with the fans. When you stand at nearly 8ft and your debut is beating the Undertaker to within an inch of his life and having him sell for you like he has never sold for anybody, and you still can’t get over, you know you’re the shits. Take note, Khali.

1. Big Daddy V
Prone to injury (and to injuring others), Nelson Frazier has had more chances to be a bonafide main event player than any other wrestler may have ever received; the reason is simple – his massive size. But it is his massive size that makes Frazier probably the worst (certainly long term) wrestler ever to grace a big time promotion. It is now 15 years since Frazier made his WWF debut. Name one great match he has ever had. Name one incredible interview he has ever given. Name one truly impressive persona he has assumed.

The closest he has come, in my view, was as “The World’s Largest Love Machine”, a strictly midcard comedy act from 2006. Other than that, he has been a worthless drain on resources for a decade and a half (barring a few hiatuses). Whether he was stinking up the ring as one half of cringeworthy tag team Men On A Mission, parading around in a crown and seriously injuring the WWF Champion as the regal King Mabel, doing the evil Undertaker's dirty work as the mindless zombie Viscera or provoking images of male bras as the shirtless and gormless Big Duddy V, Frazier has been, in my opinion, the worst of the worst.