The answer is George Gulas . Everyone else is just wrestling for second place.

This is the correct answer folks

Honky may not have been a great in-ring performer in the WWF, but he had the resume before that in Memphis, where he took part in some very good traditional tag matches and wild brawls and held up his end very well. He had it in him, that's just not what he did on the national stage.

If Beefcake gets bonus points for "having a decent match with Ricky Steamboat," then Honky should as well. And hell, Honky's SNME match with Hogan is probably as entertaining as any Hogan-Beefcake match.

Did he have any other matches in the U.S.? I know there are some semi-legendary stories of guys wrestling him in Nigeria, but this is the only time I know of him traveling here.

 

After viewing the match he's obviously very unpolished but I don't think it's one of the worst performances I've ever seen. He still has those impressive leapfrogs and his botches aren't of the "make you embarrassed to watch wrestling" type I used to see all the time in Divas matches.

 

Revisiting both men's careers isn't something in my "to do" list but wasn't the Honky Tonk Man considerably worse than Beefcake?

I really haven't watched any 80s WWF house shows and it's really not even on the list of things I want to see but I know that Honky's pre-WWF career smokes Beefcake's.

 

I think that the last two decades of Divas matches have redefined what a bad match is. A few months ago (when I got the network) I rewatched Sid vs Nightstaker and I saw for the first time that Steve Austin capture the flag scaffold match from WCW and they were pretty bad but for a long time there was something as bad or worse almost every week on National TV.

 

Is there any good Memphis with pre-HTM Wayne Farris worth watching? Funny that you mention it as after I wrote my post I ended up seeing match lists for that 20 DVD set from a few years ago (the Maclin tapes) and the Blonde Bombers were featured all over a couple of the discs.

Tugboat had a great big splash, that really cool single underhook headlock suplex thing. and was more than competent showing vulnerability during the 92 Natural Disasters babyface run, and on the flipside pretty good in their squash matches. Not a great wrestler by any means, but I don't think he rates here.

 

 

I think Honky would only count in something like this if someone cared only about workrate.

 

FWIW my point wasn't that Honky is one of the worst ever, just that at least in WWF he was worse than Beefcake.

 

At least until the Divas era WWF was much better than WCW at keeping the embarrassingly bad off TV specials/PPVs.

Kendo Kashin is not at all the worst wrestler ever, but in terms of a talent gap between a wrestler and virtually everyone around him, the gap is probably bigger than anyone else I can think of.

Kendo Kashin is not at all the worst wrestler ever, but in terms of a talent gap between a wrestler and virtually everyone around him, the gap is probably bigger than anyone else I can think of.

I think 'guy most out of his depth in a single match' is a fun question. I submit Hansen/RVD vs. Kawada/Kobashi from '93.

 

Tugboat had a great big splash, that really cool single underhook headlock suplex thing. and was more than competent showing vulnerability during the 92 Natural Disasters babyface run, and on the flipside pretty good in their squash matches. Not a great wrestler by any means, but I don't think he rates here.

 

 

I think Honky would only count in something like this if someone cared only about workrate.

 

FWIW my point wasn't that Honky is one of the worst ever, just that at least in WWF he was worse than Beefcake.

 

 

I'm still not convinced. Maybe Rhythm and Blues Honky vs Dream Team Beefcake but that's not entirely a fair comparison, and frankly, I'd have to watch footage to decide and i'm not sure I want to do it. I do feel like HTM is someone who hasn't had a proper reevaluation since the metrics shifted a bit over the last few years. Again, I'm not sure I want to do it but I don't think anyone else is going to.

 

To me it feels like the main arguments against HTM are:

 

1.) Conventional Wisdom from an earlier age.

2.) The fact he didn't like to bump.

3.) The fact that he's wasn't Ricky Steamboat/Randy Savage and didn't work their more action-packed style.

 

That's not to say he was good or his matches were good (I don't know), but when I look at someone and see those as the main strikes against him, that raises a red flag to me. They're very much 1998 metrics.

Rocky Mountain Thunder was by no means anything close to good.

I don't think Beefcake belongs on the list. Some fun Dream Team matches and I really enjoyed his match vs Savage on SNME in '89. Vs Hennig at WM6 was good too. He could be carried.

 

I wouldn't put Honky anywhere near worst wrestler ever either. That just flat-out ignores the shittiness of say.........Ted Arcidi.

That WM6 match was awful. Not all Bruti's fault either.

Well, this exploded...

 

- Dennis Knight/Mideon/Henry O Godwinn

 

Dennis Knight/Mideon was Phineas, not Henry (Mark Canterbury).

 

 

Yup, you're right! My mistake!

 

Thread needs more Billy Gunn.

 

Hell, Bart Gunn, too.

 

Billy was solid in ring when he needed to be. He and Road Dogg were pretty entertaining as a team, they had some good matches together. Yeah, his main event push was absolute piss, and his Intercontinental Championship run in 2000 was garbage, but we can't really judge his entire career on a couple of mismoves, when he could be a dependable tag team wrestler and mid carder when he was needed.

 

Bart Gunn actually had a respectable stint in AJPW after the WWF.

Eric Watts. He might have some good performances, but I've never seen them.

His Raver WCW run in the late 90s had some decent matches on Saturday Night. Enough to move him out of Tiger Territory.

Tommy Dreamer

New Jack

Bubba Ray Dudley

New Jack isn't a completely terrible pick but Bubba Ray Dudley has shown himself to be a strong brawler at various points in his career, and I'm fairly certain Lawler and Tommy Dreamer had my personal favorite ECW match ever at Hardcore Heaven '97.

I'd say Bubba is legitimately leaps and bounds better than anyone else mentioned.

Could Bill Kazmaier be considered or was his run too short? Perhaps he came in as too much of an outsider as well.

Kendo Kashin is not at all the worst wrestler ever, but in terms of a talent gap between a wrestler and virtually everyone around him, the gap is probably bigger than anyone else I can think of.

 

Worst ever, I doubt it. One of the most annoying ever, he has a shot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Magee

 

also shame on whoever said Sabu

I have a soft spot for Stan "Plowboy" Frazier but he feels like a guy who might fit this topic. The Batten Twins were pretty bad also and were around for a long time. Haven't seen Jeff Gaylord mentioned yet but The Missouri Tiger wrestled at least a decade and never looked like he got any better.

Gaylord is an excellent pick. On top of being a horrible wrestler, his mannerisms and interviews were so utterly bizarre, like how an alien attempting to pass himself off as a human would act.

 

Kevin Kelly/Nailz belongs in the discussion, I think.

Someone mentions New Jack, I nominate his teammate Mustafa Saed.

The Batten Twins were legitimately good in Puerto Rico

I would second Mustafa of the Gangstas.