8 Unfairly Maligned Wrestlers From The Monday Night Wars
A defence of those whose most derided run happened to coincide with wrestling's boom period.
For many, the Monday Night Wars marked both the critical and commercial apotheosis of the professional wrestling industry. Regardless of individual tastes and circumstances, the era had merits that appealed to most tastes.
Whichever bracket you fall under, there is no denying the presence of legitimate star power and genuine unpredictability set itself apart from the industry’s modern day composition. And when one company became grating, at least there was the opportunity to switch stations.
In recent years, the idealistic revisionism of the period pedalled by the WWE has begun to subside, not through their own endeavours, but from a more inquisitive fan base who, thanks to such avenues as the WWE Network, are able to watch and reach their own independent conclusions on just how good it actually was.
However, as long as the company continues to push it as so, the Monday Night Wars will always have pre-eminence over all other periods in wrestling history.
As a result, the vast majority of wrestlers who spent any considerable time active in one of the national promotions during these years have come to be defined by their portrayals and performances from 1995-2001.
This needs to be rectified. While many of the wrestler's featured in this list are worthy of the scorn they have accumulated, their careers should not be defined solely by a high profile period of inadequacy.
8. Hardcore Holly
Bob Holly’s unsavoury reputation in some circles of wrestling fandom stems as much from his perceived real life persona as it does the kayfabe portrayal of his character. Somewhere along the way, the two distinctions have been blurred to the point where it is difficult to distinguish where the character ends and the man begins.
As a result, his in-ring career is often reduced to an afterthought. Holly was never spectacular, but rarely was he disappointing. He possessed an aura of legitimacy that so many of his peers lacked.
His series of matches with Al Snow, the best of which coming at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1999, helped to usher in the Hardcore division. The introduction of his storyline cousin, Crash Holly, contributed to an upturn in his character work, his best since the brief run as ‘Hollywood’ Bob Holly in Jim Cornette’s Smoky Mountain Wrestling.
He was employed continuously by WWE for fifteen years between 1994-2009, outlasting the vast majority of his colleagues from the Monday Night Wars. At the time of his release, only The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels predated his tenure with the company.
Finally, Bob Holly can also lay claim to having the most sumptuous dropkick in wrestling history.