ktc

Dueling Chair Shots
by Kurt La Mont
column date 08/01/2000

The All Underrated Team

There are numerous wrestlers in ECW who are extremely talented but are often overlooked because of their position, their gimmick, their angle, who they wrestle, etc.. While the general wrestling public probably doesn’t view these guys as much more than complimentary wrestlers to ECW, they are much more important than that. These are the guys who help get the stars over, elevate other wrestlers and put on top quality matches nearly every time they are in the ring. Without these wrestlers ECW would more closely resemble a glorified indy promotion than a national promotion..

While there are definitely numerous wrestlers that fit this bill, I will limit myself and give you my top 5 underrated wrestlers in ECW right now:

5. Mikey Whipwreck - Mikey hasn’t been given a good feud since his return from his WCW vacation. While his fire gimmick with the Sinister Minister is hilarious he really hasn’t been given much of an opportunity in the ring. It seemed that he and Guido were building to a match at the PPV but that somehow was scapped. If you look past the comedy and the physique you’ll notice that Mikey can really put on a great match. Hopefully we’ll get to see more of him in the future.

4. Balls Mahoney - I said it before but it needs to be repeated. Balls is perhaps the most misused wrestler in ECW. While known more for his brawling than anything else, Balls can definitely wrestle, especially for someone his size. Who else that size does a frog splash like Balls? His match with Tanaka at Hardcore Heaven was one of the best and he’s proved that he can have a great match with RVD as well as we have seen NUMEROUS times. Yet despite this Balls is relegated to brawling matches and then worst of all getting squashed at Heatwave by Sal E.

3. Guido - The Sicilian Shooter has come a long way since teaming with Tracy Smothers. Since dropping the comedy routine about a year ago Guido has shown that he can wrestle with just about anyone. Guido definitely doesn’t get the credit he deserves. Just about every international wrestler gets put in a match with Guido and he puts on really good matches with them even thought there are likely a lot of communication problems. He has also seemed to master the 3 way dance as well as any other wrestler which is one of the most difficult matches for a wrestler.

2. Tajiri - Tajiri was impressive during his series of matches with Super Crazy when he debuted in the beginning of 1999 and hasn’t let up since. His matches are usually some of the most entertaining matches and his incredible facial expressions are some of the best in all of wrestling. He also brings a nice variety of holds including the tarantula and the octopus that you typically don’t see elsewhere. He is also surprisingly quite the innovator when using tables and chairs. And on top of that he has the best looking kicks in the business.

1. Jerry Lynn - If you read this column regularly you’ll realize I’m a big Jerry Lynn fan so perhaps I’m a bit biased but Lynn is the best pure wrestler in ECW right now. On top of that he always has great matches no matter who he wrestles. I can’t remember the last time he had a bad match. Lynn also brings out the best in other wrestlers as well. Who has had the best matches with RVD? Jerry Lynn. What about Justin Credible? Jerry Lynn. Lance Storm? Jerry Lynn. In addition to making the top of the card look good he’s also helped raise wrestlers on the lower half of the card. He pinned Steve Corino on the last PPV and yet that match helped elevated Corino. Pretty impressive indeed.

So there you go. While these wrestlers won’t get the attention that Justin Credible or Rob Van Dam get they are definitely a huge part of the success of ECW.

More good stuff next week. Contact me if you think someone was more deserving than the 5 I listed or if you have any other questions at [email protected].