Wrestlers that drew.

[catlady]

Daniel Bryan is obvious. People love him. Hogan, Rey Mysterio, Nash, Hall... I would even say Jake the Snake as he stood out with his gimmick and people love/hate snakes. Anyone big back in the day/now even... Undertaker, Kane, Big Show (not now obviously), Andre, even Khali in some cases. The larger then life deal. Macho Man and The Warrior are up there too. Randy Orton back in the day was a good draw and I think even Stephani did a nice draw back in the day.

 

[Lockard 23]

You really think it was Diesel's fault the WWe was in a dead period? First of all wrestling has these periods, you better than anyone know wrestling is cyclical and we had just left the Hulkamania era behind, so it was the worst time to try and become the new face of the company. Second look at who he was forced to work with. Sid, Mabel, Bulldog, ect. WWE had no stars left after Savage, Hogan, Warrior, ect all bounced out of town, how is that Diesel's fault? How many fans had already turned off the TV during Yokozuna's boring ass time on top of 10 minute rest holds during main events? He had Bret and Shawn to work with, and he put on decent matches with each.

I think its become fun to throw out 'oh, Nash, worst drawing champ ever!' when realistically he came in at a time when the company was sucking a lot of dick and faltering and he at least righted the ship to pull them out of a nose dive. 1995 They had Hall, Nash, MIchaels and Hart. that was literally. it. The main freaking event of Mania that year was Lawrence Taylor vs... BAM BAM BIGELOW. Come on, this is Nash's fault the year sucked dick?? 1995 was a disaster because WWF was still stuck in the 80s, none of this is on Nash.

Yea I'm basically just making up some excuses for Big Sexy, but can you dispute any of what I've said? Bret or HBK dawning the title in '95 wasn't going to go over any better than Diesel. He was in the worst situation of any champ and did a decent job of keeping things from sinking.

I don't think anyone can deny that once he fled to WCW Nash was indeed a very powerful drawing figure.

When did I blame Kevin Nash for how bad everything was in '95? All I said in passing was that Bret drew better. Of course the product as a whole was shit that year and the two years that preceded it and I'll be the first to admit it. A lot of Nash not drawing as champ also comes down to them neutering his character and taking away most of his edge. He was turned into a vanilla face (in their attempts to create their next version of Hulk Hogan) and started talking about shit like wishing his mother a happy mother's day and hoping she was watching him and also wishing good fortune on everyone else. This ran somewhat counter-intuitive to what made him stand out in the first place.

In fact, it was only after he lost his WWF Title at Survivor Series '95 that he gained a lot of what made him popular in the first place back. He cut promos saying how from this point on, he had no friends and was only out for himself (becoming much more of a tweener as a result) and even started attacking faces and getting in their face. His crowd reactions even became better as a result. Similar thing happened with CM Punk in 2012, where he became the antithesis of what made him beloved a year before but as soon as he went heel and got a lot of his attitude back, he went on to receive mega huge reactions. Thankfully, the company did not make the same mistake with Austin later on when he got over.

 

[Action Jackson]

I like listing who never drew.

Jeff Jarrett.

He's basically the first dude that comes to mind when thinking "Who didn't draw a goddamn dime?". Jeff Jarrett.

 

[Bort]

Lou Thesz, Buddy Roders, Gene Kiniski, the Funk family, Jack Brisco, Race, Dusty, all the leaders in the NWA system, drew tons of money. Bruno, Andre and Backlund are obvious answers for Vince Sr.

Lawler, Dundee and Idol drew tons in Memphis.

Texas = Von Erichs, 'nuff said.

The Funks, The Sheik and Abdullah the Butcher were huge international attractions.

El Santo was the god in Mexico. His son and El Dandy were big draws as well.

Rikidozan was a huge pop-culture icon in Japan. Baba and Inoki followed. Jumbo and Fujinami, Tenryu and Choshu. Then Misawa's generation came. Hansen and Vader drew a lot too. Atsushi Onita, Hayabusa, Satoru Sayama, Fujiwara, Maeda, Takada. MMA and shit.

I think Mysterio & Sin Cara will always be draws not for their talent but just because they have a mask. Every kid loves a masked wrestler.

lel

 

[Action Jackson]

oh, and Vince is a draw on Raw I believe

And he's a snuff film aficionado

 

[Action Jackson]

Lou Thesz, Buddy Roders, Gene Kiniski, the Funk family, Jack Brisco, Race, Dusty, all the leaders in the NWA system, drew tons of money. Bruno, Andre and Backlund are obvious answers for Vince Sr.

Lawler, Dundee and Idol drew tons in Memphis.

Texas = Von Erichs, 'nuff said.

The Funks, The Sheik and Abdullah the Butcher were huge international attractions.

El Santo was the god in Mexico. His son and El Dandy were big draws as well.

Rikidozan was a huge pop-culture icon in Japan. Baba and Inoki followed. Jumbo and Fujinami, Tenryu and Choshu. Then Misawa's generation came. Hansen and Vader drew a lot too. Atsushi Onita, Hayabusa, Satoru Sayama, Fujiwara, Maeda, Takada. MMA and shit.


lel

Real quick, kids do love anyone in a mask. Trust me on that.

I do love all the Japanese dudes you named. They're all pretty epic. I would throw Keiji Mutoh / Great Muta on that list. I can't think of anyone from Japan who's as well known domestically with casual fans as Muta was in the 90's.

How he reinvented himself by dropping the Muta gimmick and adjusting his style for age, without sacrificing match quality or psychology was really incredible. Shining WIZAAAAHD