What retired or dead wrestler did you start to appreciate only after they were gone?
Basically wrestler who you did not pay attention or weren’t a huge fan but within time learned to appreciate his talent after he was gone.
Simply a wrestler you took for granted while still active.
I’ll post my personal answer but since im on my iphone.
My answer is Jake the Snake Roberts. ( more details after I pick best answer)
andre the giant.
i now like eddie gurrero cause he always was a showman and now the show misses him well done eddie
Chris Benoit!!
eddie guerrero, I knew he was a good wrestler but I soon realized that he worked really hard on his craft and for the business. was a shock to hear about his death.
Eddie Guerrero, simply because I never noticed that he had so much talent in and out of the ring, I really wish he was still alive
Mr. Perfect
Eddie Guerrero is definitely a big one because it was so sudden. How can someone be such a great technical wrestler and such a great entertainer? No matter what he did, he amazed people.
Ric Flair is another big one. I think we all know why…
There are many others: Andre the Giant, Chris Benoit, etc., but those are the two biggest ones that stand out in my mind.
Besides those two, I wanna go with someone that not many people would pick: Road Warrior Hawk…
Ric Flair
I never really paid attention to his matches until mr.mcMaohn (idk how to spell his name) came out and said when he loses a match hes retired. but then i loved him when he retired
LIMOUSINE RIDIN JET FLYIN KISS STEALIN WEELIN DEALIN SON OF A GUN WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dead: I think most people jumped on the Eddie Guerrero bandwagon. He was a great wrestler with a great fanbase but most people did not lionize him in a manner similar to Shawn Michaels or Hulk Hogan until right after his death; before he died he was just a regular main-eventer who didn’t really do anything incredibly memorable.
So yeah, I was one of those people. Not so much Benoit, though, although I do wish he was still alive.
Retired: Ric Flair… never really thought much of the guy but damn his last match was good.
Lance Storm; I never really thought much of him but when he retired I was rather disappointed because despite his lack of personality he was a pretty good wrestler.
Lita; I was a huge Lita mark even before she retired but I really started to miss her once I read about her last match. I mean, the greatest mainstream North American female wrestler of the 2000s (besides Gail Kim) and she was given such a sh*t sendoff. I wanted a do-over.
Eddie Guerrero
Ric Flair
Dead: Owen Hart – So much untapped talent both on the stick and the mat.
Retired: Mick Foley – He so easily pulled off the comedic angels when needed, but also the “hardcore”, brutal matches when there was too much “blah” in WWE.
Dead: Owen Hart. And no, I’m not one of those fans who blindly praises him for his skill, I’ve actually went back and watched some of his matches in Japan, in the states, against his brother, and for the life of me I don’t know why he wasn’t more over than he was. He was more charismatic than Bret, looked more like a champion than Bret ever did, and wrestled a style that wouldn’t become really all that common or mainstream until 20 years later. I’ve seen matches between him and Lyger that could have honestly been taped yesterday. The man was just so far ahead of his time in some respects.
Retired: Dustin Rhodes. Beneath all of that Goldust makeup lies a really great old school wrestler.
Eddie Guerrero Chris Benoit and Owen hart.
Jake the Snake Roberts is not dead.
I HAVE TO SAY OWEN HART
RIP TO ALL OF THEM.
eddie guererro.. i wasn’t really a fan of him when he was still alive (maybe because i’m not really fond of heel wrestlers) but when he passed away & i watched his classic matches, that’s when i started to appreciate the man, even though its too late..
R.I.P. EDDIE GUERERRO
Mike Awesome.
Owen, Eddie, Benoit, Gordy, Pillman, Sherri, etc. I was long time fans of. But Mike Awesome I didn’t really think much of the first few times I saw him in ECW. Yet another big brawler who does hardcore stuff. Yawn. The Fat Chick Thriller and That 70′s Guy gimmicks in WCW just killed him for me.
It was really only after reading about his death (and the praises that followed) that I began looking for matches he wrestled in Japan. Yeah, he was hardcore but I discovered he was more than just barbed-wire and blood. He was a great wrestler and a talented entertainer. I went back and re-watched the work he did with Tanaka and Spike Dudley in ECW. Mike Awesome should have been a bigger star than he was. And I regret not giving him more credit when he was alive.
During the current time, I have to say, Eddie and Chris.
Wrestling in WWE just died down, there was not much more OMG moments anymore, like the oooo’s or the ohhhhh’ss from the flying head butts or the frog splashes
That is a good question. I was a fan of Owen Hart, Curt Henning, Rick Rude, Eddie Guerrero, and Chis Benoit before they died. After they passed away you looked at their work and looked at how great they really were.
As for wrestlers who are retired that I didn’t fully appreciate. The Rock comes to mind. He was so entertaining and I guess I really took him and Stone Cold for granted. After they both retied the WWE in my opinion has not been the same