10 Wrestlers Who Piggybacked Their Way To Success

9. Steve 'Mongo' McMichael

Nikki Cross Becky Lynch
WWE.com

Steve 'Mongo' Michael, a proto-meme of a professional wrestler, wasn't very good - but he was accidentally really funny, so there's that.

They say that every pro wrestler on the planet can and does do a suicide dive. McMichael could not; in one of several GIFs that will preserve his legacy forever more, Mongo very carefully crawled through the ropes, as if considering the safety of his opponent in a nice gesture. Literally incapable of building momentum, let's go ahead and get him signed to WWE, so that we can avoid Michael Cole's unbearable commentary for 10 minutes or so.

McMichael was a professional footballer of considerable renown before entering the squared circle, and he didn't so much piggyback off that powerhouse reputation as much as WCW capitalised on a star name. This was all very reasonable, but the leaden McMichael struggled, often hilariously, to make the transition, and so WCW used the fading power of the Four Horsemen's name to get him over. This was all deeply bullsh*t, because originally, that awesome faction were a group of total ringers: the best and the baddest men in the industry.

Mongo was simply the baddest.

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!