10 Wrestlers Who Were Way Ahead Of Their Time

9. Nick Bockwinkel

Brian Pillman Hart Foundation
WWE.com

In the late 2000s, Chris Jericho abandoned his Y2J persona in favour of a more calculated approach, donning suits and speaking in a meticulous manner using words that fans required a dictionary to understand. Jericho claimed that the character was based on Javier Bardem's character in 'No Country For Old Men', but it may well have been a former pro wrestler who it was truly based on.

Nick Bockwinkel was a big star in the AWA in the 1970s and 80s, a technical wrestling master who combined his wrestling ability with the type of articulate promos that truly distinguished him from many of his contemporaries at the time. Bockwinkel eschewed the sweat and anger in favour of a brutal intellect, setting him aside as the original Cerebral Assassin.

Bockwinkel's promos were calm, calculated and charismatic, stirring the vitriol in the crowd as he told them the truth, that he was the best and the championship he carried was proof of that.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.