The 411 Wrestling Top 5 7.21.10: Week 84 – Innovators

Hello everyone and welcome to 411 Wrestling’s Top 5 List. What we are going to is take a topic each week and all the writers here on 411 wrestling will have the ability to give us their Top 5 on said topic, plus up to three honorable mentions. Most of our topics will be based on recent events in the Wrestling World, looking at those events that make us think of times past.

I didn’t give any specific criteria this week, because being innovative can be shown in a plethora of ways, from in and out of the ring. Even if you don’t have the greatest body of work in the ring, you can still innovate with your actions and decision making that makes that in-ring work amazing.

So what did our group of writers select? Let’s find out…

Ryan Byers

HONORABLE MENTIONS (up to 3)

Nova – Nova invented being innovative.

5. Rey Misterio, Jr. – When we did the Top 5 Light Heavyweights just last week, I gave Rey Rey a lot of credit for his innovations south of the border, where he was the first man to integrate American wrestling psychology into lucha libre. The result was a sea change in the type of matches that we see coming out of Mexico that is still being felt today. To top it all off, Misterio was a key part of the revolution of US in-ring style that occurred in the mid and late 1990’s, as things got significantly faster paced and harder hitting thanks to a new band of smaller wrestlers invading WCW and later the WWF.

4. Martin Kardagian – Here’s another one that I’ve touched on very recently on the website, this time in my Into the Indies column on Argentinian professional wrestling. Kardagian’s promotion in Argentina was perhaps the first to market directly to children, it was the first to license hundreds of products related to its wrestlers, and it was among the first to have a roster that consisted of nothing but wacky, over the top gimmick wrestlers. Kardagian was a direct inspiration for Antonio Pena when Pena started up Mexico’s AAA promotion, and he was engaging in WWE-style marketing decades before Vince McMahon bought his father’s company. His wrestling may not have been the type that modern day smarks love, but it drew big and made a lot of important advancements in how the sport is marketed.

3. Gorgeous George – My colleagues have come close to saying everything that there is to say about George within the confines of two or three sentences. He wasn’t the best wrestler in the world, but, as one of the first guys to devote so much time and energy to a pro wrestling gimmick, well before that sort of thing became a prerequisite to succeeding in the business. Since much I wanted to say already has been and I have a little bit of extra space to kill, I will take a second to plug John Capouya’s excellent book about Double G for those who may not have heard of it.

2. Rikidozan – Before Rikidozan came around, there was no professional wrestling presented in Japan for Japanese people. Period. Riki took American wrestling, which he had seen presented for US servicemen occupying Japan after World War II, and turned it into something that he could market to his countrymen. (Well . . . the guys who were kinda, sorta his countrymen. Rikidozan was Korean by birth, though that was well-hidden.) It was immediately successful, and several wrestling matches are still among the top ten highest-rated television broadcasts in Japanese history. When you can essentially create pro wrestling in a country and define what it is for millions of people, you deserve a spot on a list of innovators.

1. Vince McMahon – This one strikes me as a real no-brainer. McMahon, over the course of the past twenty-five years, has constantly defined and redefined what professional wrestling is to most fans in the United States, and, more recently, the whole world. If nothing else, he deserves credit for his pioneering use of syndication (and later cable) to promote the WWF in every major market across the country, making it the first truly national touring wrestling promotion. Combine that with making pay per view the predominant means through which wrestling promotions make money, and you truly do have an innovative, revolutionary figure.

Aaron Hubbard

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Jushin Liger – Took what Tiger Mask did and brought it to the next level; in many ways, the forefather of modern cruiserweight wrestling.

Sabu – Creative, high-flying and violent, Sabu inspired plenty of cheap imitators who were never able to use props the way he was.

The Rock & Roll Express – Perfected the babyface formula of American Tag Team Wrestling; the inspiration for the Rockers, the Hardy Boys, London & Kendrick and the Motor City Machine Guns, among others.

5. Kurt Angle – It might seem weird to include a guy as recent as Angle in the list, especially when you look at the other ones on here. However, Angle is largely responsible for a huge style change across American Wrestling. His counter-heavy style revolutionized the way WWE main events were done, and everyone from Edge to John Cena has adapted that style for their big matches (not the moves, but the structure). He helped bring MMA-style offense and submission wrestling back to prominence, which caused established performers like Shawn Michaels and Undertaker to change up their offense. A few other wrestlers (Benoit, Shamrock, Guerrero) also deserve credit for this, but Angle was the big one.

4. Bruiser Brody – Bruiser Brody wasn’t the first brawler, but he was probably the best. While other wrestlers were able to use gimmicks and take huge risks to create creative brawls, Brody was a guy who got by on sheer intensity, intimidating size, pure athleticism, and blood. Lots and lots of blood. Paul Heyman says that the WWE Attitude Main Event Style was ripped of the ECW style, but the ECW style was a rip-off of Brody’s style.

3. Lou Thesz – In a time where many wrestlers were content to use headlocks and bear hugs for minutes at a time because everyone believed it was “real”, Thesz was a man who was constantly picking up the pace and looking for new moves to use. So many moves that we take for granted today, like the backdrop suplex, the double wristlock (surfboard stretch), STF, and even the powerbomb were innovated by Thesz. If there was an IWC in the Golden Age, Thesz would have been the biggest Internet Darling of them all. Almost every great worker since Thesz owes a large portion of their wrestling style to Thesz.

2. Tiger Mask I – Satoru Sayama, the original Tiger Mask, was doing things in the early 1980’s that most athletes still don’t do today. His mix of graceful lucha-libre and martial arts combined was mind-blowing at the time and holds up well today. Every high-flying cruiserweight owes a debt to the original Tiger Mask. His series with the Dynamite Kid produced outstanding matches, and they pretty much invented the style that the smart marks love.

1. Gorgeous George – Gorgeous George was an American pop culture icon. Some television experts estimate that in his day, no one was more visible than Gorgeous George, and that is something that even Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin cannot say. He invented over-the-top gimmicks; bleach-blond hair, extravagant robes, pompous struts, dastardly cheating. You would not have seen Buddy Rogers, Nick Bockwinkel, Curt Hennig, Ric Flair, or Shawn Michaels if not for Gorgeous George. Not the most innovative in-ring performer of all-time, but in terms of impact on the business and changing it from an entertaining sport to sports entertainment, Gorgeous George is one of the true greats.

Larry Csonka
This was a very hard list to compile. Michael gave us a wide birth to choose things, and that is great, but will also leave a lot open to interpretation. I have tried to pick a diverse collection of innovators in different areas to truly have fun with the list. Also, I try to go away from the norm in an effort to keep the lists as different as possible.

5. Innovator of “The Money Look”: Superstar Billy Graham – Superstar Billy Graham innovated what I call The Money Look. The Money Look is for guys with good promo skills, million dollar bodies, little or poor wrestling ability, but a lot of charisma. Superstar Billy Graham led to Jesse Ventura, which led to Hulk Hogan and later to Scott Steiner (when he was broken down from injury). Superstar Billy Graham was the man that set the stage, and all of them drew money.

4. Innovative Character: Gorgeous George – In the age of wrestling where being serious and straight laced was the norm, Gorgeous George. Gorgeous George in many ways is the Great Grandfather of sports entertainment as far as the outlandish character goes. Gorgeous George influences Buddy Rogers, Adrian Street, Goldust and even non-wrestlers like Little Richard and Liberache. His was the man when TV first hit, and someone that newer fans really need to research.

3. Innovative Tag Teams: The Fabulous Freebirds – While there are a lot of teams to look at for various reasons, when I think about innovative tag teams, I have to go back to the Freebirds. You had the entrance, the music, Michael Hayes acting like a fucking ROCK STAR, Terry Gordy being one of the BEST big men to ever grace the ring, and of course, Freebird rules, which have been ripped off for years whenever a decent three man unit comes along.

2. Innovative Lightweights: Dynamite Kid and Tiger Mask – We discussed these guys last week, but quiet simply when it comes to lightweight wrestling, THESE guys are the innovators. In the early 1980’s, these guys were the architects of lightweight wrestling. Their series of matches are so good that you can pop them in today and they will still blow away 90% of what is being put out today, in any promotion, anywhere in the world. Tiger Mask and The Dynamite Kid were THE reason that I got into watching the lightweight wrestlers, and I thank them for it.

1. Innovative Promoters: Vince McMahon – And finally, we come to the promoter and when it comes to the promoter, you have to discuss Vince McMahon. Whether you love him or hate him, Vince McMahon is a huge reason why the wrestling business is where it is today. He broke the word, he went after “the five fathers” as it were, and e led the most violent takeover in wrestling history and has been on top, for the most part, ever since. Vince went all in, and it paid off. Some view this as just a takeover, and nothing more, but breaking the word and looking to be completely national was innovative, and that is why he is #1.