9 Old School Wrestling Champs That Could Make It In Today’s WWE
6. Nick Bockwinkel
When Scott Hall (as Razor Ramon) was inducted into the WWE Hall of fame earlier this year, he memorably quipped, hard work pays off, dreams come true, bad times dont last, but bad guys do. This is certainly the case with Nick Bockwinkel, one of professional wrestlings greatest ever villains... Nick Bockwinkel was the son of pro wrestler Warren Bockwinkel, who was one of the first wrestlers ever to be televised and who was a star of the 30s, 40s and 50s. Trained by his father, as well as Lou Thesz, the younger Bockwinkel was presented to fans as a polite, respectful and talented young man. A career as a babyface wrestler led to him being a popular, if unspectacular, drawing card all across the Pacific Northwest. However, in the early 70s, when the veteran Nick Bockwinkel began working as a heel in Verne Gagnes AWA, it all clicked into place. The 70s version of Bockwinkel was arrogant, aggressive, conceited and boorish. In short, he was everything that fans loved to hate, the perfect heel. In fact, Bockwinkel was so despised, that he was personally selected by AWA booker and perennial Champion Verne Gagne to end the latters 7-year run as the promotions World Champ. Bockwinkel, despite being 40 years of age at the time of his first World Title win, would go on to hold the belt three more times over the next decade or so. To look at Bockwinkel with todays eyes, he still has the look of a star. Even in his twilight years, Bockwinkel looked great. With a broad, muscular chest, his tangled blonde hair swept back and a sly, scythe-like grin on his face, Bockwinkel was instantly recognizable as a nefarious nogoodnick. He just had all the charisma in the world, as well as the wrestling ability to back it up. In todays WWE, its likely that creative would book him as a heel straight away. His wrestling pedigree (being an excellent technical whiz and the son of an established star), would get him over with the IWC, but his charisma and promo skills would easily see him get over as a main event level heel. Bockwinkel, with youth on his side, would definitely be a shoe-in to headline the next 10 WrestleManias, combining the dominating ring presence of Triple H, with the insidious personality of Randy Orton, but arguably transcending both.
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