10 Wrestlers That NOBODY Hated

4. Ricky Steamboat

Kurt Angle
WWE

In 1989, people may have preferred Ric Flair to Ricky Steamboat, but only because Flair was both the coolest and best wrestler on the planet at the time.

Ricky Steamboat wasn't entirely the babyface in that programme, but he got the fans onside by blowing Flair away with every chop. Those matches were furious, lung-bursting sprints that were also, somehow, marathons - just relentless, gorgeous pro wrestling.

A lot of the same moves happen in every wrestling match by era. The art is in the timing and the pacing, and Steamboat encapsulated this perfectly at WrestleMania 25 against Chris Jericho. While it helped - enormously - that his work stood in contrast to the mummified Roddy Piper and Jimmy Snuka, Steamboat underscored his timeless brilliance by running through his 1980s repertoire and getting it more over, in 2009, than anything else on the card except the Undertaker Vs. Shawn Michaels match. Watching Steamboat skin the cat, making it feel like he needed your support to get back up, was the work of a true master.

Steamboat is shorthand for career babyface for a reason: he never turned because nobody ever wanted to jeer him.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!