Dean Malenko was never a major WWF name, he never headlined a Pay Per View or house show and he was never allowed to ascend any higher than perennially holding the WWFs Light Heavyweight Championship and successfully defending it against the same four opponents, week after week, in the early 2000s. If ever there was a wrestler that deserved more than the company gave him, it was Dean Malenko. Although not at all charismatic, Malenko was a superb wrestler. Had creative chosen to accentuate his toughness and legitimacy and given him some feuds with credible mid card opponents such as Chris Jericho, Rob Van Dam and/or former stablemates Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit, he could have had a great run as Intercontinental Champ and thus accomplished the recognition his vast talents deserved. Sadly, it was decided that eye candy was the correct way to push Malenko and so, he would enter the ring, accompanied by two scantily clad ladies, both of whom usually towered over his 5,10 frame. Only given a few minutes per show, the man of a thousand holds usually got to demonstrate about 5 or 6 of them. Flash back to his time in ECW, however, and one can really get a chance to see just how incredible a wrestler Dean Malenko actually was. Holds, reversals, slams, high spots, even cartwheeling around the ring the man could do it all. He had the wonderful ability to wrong foot his audience by doing exactly what you wouldnt expect from him and, as a result, his matches managed not to fall into the show off, exhibitive territory that many tech-heavy matches tend to do in the modern era. Even though we only saw him sparingly in the WWF (and his time in WCW saw him booked in much the same manner), this list would simply not be complete without Dean Malenko, one of the greatest technical wrestlers to ever set foot between WWE ropes.
I am a professional author and lifelong comic books/pro wrestling fan. I also work as a journalist as well as writing comic books (I also draw), screenplays, stage plays, songs and prose fiction.
I don't generally read or reply to comments here on What Culture (too many trolls!), but if you follow my Twitter (@heyquicksilver), I'll talk to you all day long!
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Oh yeah - I'm about to become a Dad for the first time, so if my stuff seems more sentimental than usual - blame it on that!
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Latcho Drom,
- CQ
