We've been creeping around this discussion for several months now so might as well start a topic for it.

 

I'll start it off with the Crusher and Dick the Bruiser. Terrible wrestlers for the most part and a horrible look. They would never get a look from most indies, TNA or the WWF yet they were huge draws during their time.

Mick Foley is the obvious pick to me.

 

Bobby Eaton, Dennis Condrey and Ricky Morton are the next ones that come to mind.

Ric Flair.

 

He'd definately never get a chance in today's WWE unless he gained about 50 pounds of muscle and learned how to work WWE style.

Roddy Piper is another.

Adrian Adonis definately would've never seen a WWF ring.

Bob Backlund

Randy Savage

Randy Savage

Why not Savage?

Harley Race. Absolutely terrible on the stick and wasn't a huge guy either.

Dusty Rhodes. Self explanatory.

I would disagree with a few of these...Carlito is being pushed reasonably hard, and his look is no better than that of Piper or Savage or Backlund. Backlund would probably be viewed in the same light as someone like Shelton character-wise, and thus would never have gotten a serious push.

Mick Foley is the obvious pick to me.

 

Bobby Eaton, Dennis Condrey and Ricky Morton are the next ones that come to mind.

Foley I see as no different now as when he did break through. He had to make his break in WCW as there's no way WWF would have touched him. Then when he proved what he could do, he wound up in the WWF and was hugely successful.

 

Foley these days would be the same, if he had to make his name in TNA he would do, but through his ability he'd get noticed and called up to the WWE. Look is a part of the package, and certainly something that Vince in particular looks at but that's no different now to how it's ever been with Vince really. If you're good enough, you break through, the majority of wrestlers who supposedly had their pushes killed, or got screwed by the business simply weren't good enough at the end of the day. Nothing more nothing less.

 

Foley would still break through.

 

As for Eaton, his look would have held him back from any decent push in the WWF back then just as it would now. Same goes for Condrey and Morton I guess. Thing is, if people like Condrey, Eaton, Morton existed in today's industry they'd have trim toned physique's like the rest of them. That's just how it is today. Look has always been a crucial part in the success of a wrestler, and it always will be.

Randy Savage

Why not Savage?

He wasn't terribly big when the WWF brought him in. Maybe 220 lbs. I doubt they would've approved of his wrestling style too.

 

Watching Memphis footage I actually think Lanny Poffo's bigger than him at that point.

Thing is, if people like Condrey, Eaton, Morton existed in today's industry they'd have trim toned physique's like the rest of them. That's just how it is today. Look has always been a crucial part in the success of a wrestler, and it always will be.

This misses the point of the thread.

 

And I see what you mean about Savage. I was thinking about how huge he got in the late 80s, at least compared to his earlier years. He shrank again when WWE instituted the steroid policy, which is probably why he started wrestling with the shirt.

And the standards are totally different now than they were then. Wrestlers have always been expected to look a certain way, but that look was always achievable and realistic until Vince started pushing roid freaks and making that the standard.

I'm tempted to say Arn Anderson. I think the WWF would think he was too fat.

I doubt Pat Patterson would have been pushed these days, he'd likely be a Rico-esque character. Backlund I doubt would go far today due to his physique and attitude.

Stan Hansen would probably be deemed too ugly and fat. Slaughter would probably get passed up due to baldness and not really being built. No Iron Sheik either.

The Freebirds. Hayes might have made it due to his charisma, but Roberts and Gordy would probably never make it.

This misses the point of the thread.

Not really, you can't take wrestlers way back when when the industry was a different way, and expect that if they'd grown up in this industry they'd be the same people. It's just not the case.

 

If any of those guys were making their breakthrough in the business today they'd have developed in a different way. I imagine a Bobby Eaton that existed in today's more professional industry, wanting to make a breakthrough into somewhere like the WWE, would have a much better physique than he did back then, because when Eaton was a success he could get away with it.

 

And the standards are totally different now than they were then.

Indeed they are, which exactly proves my point. Those standards are different, what workers are expected to live up to are different, therefore a worker developing in today's industry will be developing with that in mind.

The sad thing is that if the Warlord debuted today he's be a shoe in for the WWF Title down the line.

Jeff Jarrett - he was really skinny when he started out in Memphis.

Dick Murdoch

 

Mike Rotunda

Jeff Jarrett - he was really skinny when he started out in Memphis.

Lowering the definition of legend with a few of these...

 

Jerry Lawler, I thought about. Short and never really in good shape.

 

Not a legend, but Taz came to my mind too.

Jarrett did at one point hold the record for most I.C. Title reigns.

My first thought when I saw the topic title was Dick Murdoch.