10 Wrestlers Who Had To Destroy Themselves To Get Over
9. Spike Dudley
Spike Dudley was a tiny, rake-thin pro wrestler who was removed totally from the 1990s norm, even in ECW, in which physiques were incidental to getting over. He looked incapable of winning a fight, and so Paul Heyman booked him under his customary, accentuate-the-positives, hide-the-negatives mentality.
Negative: Spike was tiny, and unable to project himself as a threat.
Positive: Spike had no regard for his own safety, and was really, really good at getting the piss blasted out of him.
His schtick worked no matter where you moral compass pointed. If you had any scruples, you were likely sympathetic towards him. If you didn't, and lent more towards schadenfreude, you could simply shout "Weeeeee!" as Spike got driven through tables from homicidal heights.
Spike wasn't just a punching/launching bag; as best demonstrated at the improbably dramatic main event of Guilty As Charged 2000, he could put a match together as well as he could break himself in two. It was a great, anxious spectacle, because Awesome nullified Spike's one, would-be advantage because where he was a fly, Awesome was a winged brick sh*thouse.
Spike had to draw on his smarts just to survive, in ECW's demented, brutal version of wrestling's timeless formula.