RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Sports and Wrestling Pulse Wrestling's Top 100 of the Modern Era

Fact: Matt Striker is ripping off Shane's "Dean Douglas" character. No one is currently imitating "The Model". I agree with Grimm, Shane's more influential.

er, dudes! Snarfbaby was kidding!

Yeah, that bits true!

COOL!

Can you get me a place in the next Diva search!

I'll make it worth your while!

no he really likes grimm's cock!

46. BAM BAM BIGELOW

Real Name - Scott Bigelow
Aliases - Bruce Bigelow; Crusher Yurkof; The Beast from the East
Hometown - Asbury Park, New Jersey
Debuted - August 23, 1985
Titles Held - AWA Southern Heavyweight; ECW World Heavyweight; ECW World Television; NWA Northeast Heavyweight; IWGP Tag Team (with Big Van Vader); USA Heavyweight; UXW Pro Heavyweight; WCW Hardcore; WCW World Tag Team (2x - with Diamond Dallas Page and Kanyon); WCCW Television; WAR World Six-Man Tag Team (with Hiromichi Fuyuki and Youji Anjoh)
Other Accomplishments - Ranked #68 of the 500 Best Singles Wrestlers of the PWI Years by Pro Wrestling Illustrated; Ranked #36 of the 100 Best Tag Teams of the PWI Years by Pro Wrestling Illustrated (with Big Van Vader); Winner of Wrestling Observer Newsletter 1986 Rookie of the Year award

It’s become more than a cliché in wrestling that if a super heavyweight can so much as leave his feet for more than a second, the announcers will rail about how “he can really move for a big man.” Sometimes it’s earned, but more often than not the hype just amounts to Big Daddy V dropping an elbow. However, when it came to Bam Bam Bigelow, the “Beast from the East” more than lived up to the hype.

In his heyday, Andre the Giant could throw a mean dropkick, but when he entered the wrestling business in the late 80’s, Bam Bam Bigelow redefined what it meant to be an agile big man. At well over 300 pounds, Bigelow had the athleticism to bust out moonsaults and cartwheels while keeping pace with the likes of Bret Hart and other world class technicians over the course of his career.

With his physical tools and a unique look capped off by his signature tattoo-covered bald head, many feel Bammer never went as far as he should have, but over the course of a distinguished 20 year career, Bigelow earned a place as of the top one hundred wrestlers of the modern era more than once.

Scott Bigelow trained to be a wrestler under veteran Larry Sharpe in his native New Jersey and spent less than two years on the U.S. independent circuit and in Japan before debuting on the huge national stage of the World Wrestling Federation in 1987 as Bam Bam Bigelow. Vince McMahon and the WWF had enough confidence in the relative rookie that they built to his first television appearance with weeks of vignettes that saw every heel manager in the fed claiming to have signed Bigelow. When BBB did make the scene, it was as a babyface under the guidance of Oliver Humperdink. In his first pay-per-view appearance at the 1987 Survivor Series, Bigelow outlasted every member of his team, including captain and World champion Hulk Hogan, before being eliminated by Andre.

Bigelow burned out the year in mid-card feuds with the likes of Nikolai Volkoff, but injured his knee in early 1988 just as he was beginning to build a fan following. He worked through his injury in a loss to One Man Gang in the first round of a tournament for the vacant World championship at Wrestlemania IV.

For whatever reason, following Wrestlemania IV, Bam Bam Bigelow disappeared from the WWF. Too much pressure from being pushed too hard too fast for an inexperienced grappler? An ill-timed early injury? Though the world may never know why Bigelow left, many wrote him off as being unable to handle the big time less than a few years into his professional career. After making only a handful of appearances in the National Wrestling Alliance, challenging for Barry Windham’s U.S. title, Bigelow scurried back to Japan, seeming destined to become one for the “Could Have Been” file as far as North American wrestling.

Over the next three years, as part of Antonio Inoki’s New Japan Pro Wrestling, Bigelow improved his in-ring skills, toughened his mental attitude and formed a dominant tag team with Big Van Vader. After Vader left Japan to dominate World Championship Wrestling in 1992, Bigelow followed his lead, returning to the WWF near the end of the year.

While Bam Bam’s return to the WWF may not have been as heralded as his initial foray into the federation five years prior, the slower burn seemed to work for the big man, as he quickly found a comfortable niche as an upper mid-card heel. After defeating the Big Boss Man at the 1993 Royal Rumble, Bigelow became a frequent house show foil for World champion Bret Hart, who would later cite the “Beast” as one of his all-time favorite opponents. The two would meet on pay-per-view in the finals of the King of the Ring tournament in June, and while Bigelow lost, it cemented him as a legitimate star and skilled worker.

In the summer of 1993, Bigelow picked up veteran women’s wrestler Luna Vachon as his valet and “main squeeze.” While the duo found themselves embroiled in a comedy feud with Doink the Clown and his midget sidekick Dink for the rest of the year and well into 1994 culminating at Wrestlemania X—where Bigelow and Vachon won a mixed tag match—they proved entertaining when given an opportunity for more microphone time, allowing Bam Bam to demonstrate talent beyond the ring.

After a series of matches with Tatanka in early 1994, Bigelow dropped Luna and joined Ted DiBiase’s Million Dollar Corporation stable. While he wasn’t receiving many opportunities at either the World or Intercontinental titles, Bam Bam had demonstrated that his rookie burnout was a fluke and became one of Vince McMahon’s most reliable talents, able to consistently deliver good matches and make his opponents look good in the process. While he may not have been the star of the show, Bigelow was one of the key role players during a rebuilding period for the WWF.

1995 proved to be the most important year of Bam Bam Bigelow’s career, providing him with a wealth of exposure, though arguably at the expense of some of his credibility as a legitimate competitor. Following a loss in a tag match at the Royal Rumble, Bigelow endured taunting from football legend and ringside bystander Lawrence Taylor. When LT got in Bam Bam’s face, the embarrassed brawler shoved back, igniting a feud that would culminate at Wrestlemania XI and bringing the WWF mainstream publicity and notoriety it had lost in the years leading up. With Bigelow leading the gridiron great through the paces, the two put on arguably the best wrestling match involving a non-wrestler ever, and in the end, Bam Bam went down to a Taylor flying shoulder.

While the Wrestlemania match with Taylor had raised Bigelow’s profile in the eyes of casual fans, the more hardcore WWF fan base had trouble seeing the “Beast” as a legitimate threat to the likes of Hart and new World champion Diesel when he couldn’t even beat a football player. Bigelow was turfed from the Million Dollar Corporation and experienced a mild push as a babyface, but despite growing fan support, a combination of backstage politics and McMahon running out of idea for him led Bam Bam to depart the WWF a second time in late 1995.

Over the next two years, Bigelow went into something of a semi-retirement, surfacing occasionally in the Philadelphia-based Extreme Championship Wrestling to feud with the likes of Taz and Terry Gordy, while also embarking on an unsuccessful shoot fighting venture in Japan.

Bam Bam began working with ECW on a more regular basis in mid-1997, joining Shane Douglas and Chris Candido in the heel Triple Threat stable. In the fall, Bigelow turned on Douglas and defeated him for the ECW World title, the most significant singles championship he had ever held. While Bigelow would lose the belt back to Douglas in a brutal encounter the next month at the November to Remember pay-per-view, his reign made it clear that he was considered a main event competitor in ECW, a promotion considered on the cutting edge in North America.

ECW treated Bigelow as a respected and formidable veteran who posed a danger to every wrestler in the promotion, rehabilitating much of the damage the loss to Lawrence Taylor had done to his career. In 1998, Bam Bam rejoined the Triple Threat and renewed his old feud with Taz, defeating him for the ECW Television title in match that saw both men crash through the ring. Soon after, Bigelow would lose the belt to Rob Van Dam, helping to establish RVD’s star, and then put Taz over in a series of vicious brawls over the summer, cementing his burgeoning legend as well.

Having helped establish ECW and its key players, Bigelow departed the promotion at the end of 1998, heading to WCW where he would ride out his career. After an initial push into a feud with the red hot Goldberg, the “Beast from the East” settled into the mid-card, where he would win the WCW World Tag Team and Hardcore titles on multiple occasions, forming alliances with Diamond Dallas Page and Chris Kanyon while feuding with the likes of Brian Knobbs, Mike Awesome and more.

Bigelow rode out 2000 and 2001 as more of a special attraction than a key player for WCW, appearing occasionally because he could still pop the crowd, but never again having a true meaningful role in the promotion. In the final days of WCW prior to its sale to Vince McMahon in 2001, Bigelow had one final feud with Shawn Stasiak and then faded once more into semi-retirement rather than negotiate an unlikely WWF return.

After a few years of occasional returns on the independent circuit, Bigelow quietly retired in 2006. Sadly, he would pass away a year later from a drug overdose at the too-young age of 45.

While he may never have been able to remain at a sustained main event level in the WWF or WCW in his prime, Bam Bam Bigelow remains an important contributor to professional wrestling, be it through his redefinition of the agile super heavyweight, his high profile match with Lawrence Taylor, his key roles in rebuilding the WWF in the mid-90’s and building ECW in the late-90’s, or all of the above.

45. OWEN HART

Aliases Owen James; The Blue Blazer; The Rocket; The King of Harts
Hometown Calgary, Alberta Canada
Debut May 30, 1986
Titles Held IWGP Junior Heavyweight; Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight; Stampede North American Heavyweight (2x); Stampede International Tag Team (with Ben Bassarab); USWA Unified World; WWF European; WWF Tag Team (4x - 2x with Yokozuna, 1 with British Bulldog, 1 with Jeff Jarrett; WWF Intercontinental (2x)
Other Accomplishments Winner of PWI Rookie of the Year Award in 1987; Back-to-Back Winner of Wrestling Observer Best Flying Awards in 1987 & 1988; Winner of PWI Feud of the Year Award in 1994 (vs. Bret Hart); Winner of Wrestling Observer Feud of the Year Award in 1997 (Hart Foundation vs. Steve Austin); Recipient of PWI Editor’s Award in 1999; Ranked as #66 of the 500 Best Singles Wrestlers During the PWI Years; Ranked as #84 of the 100 Best Tag Teams of the PWI Years (with Davey Boy Smith); Member of Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame

He was the crown prince of Calgary.

Owen Hart grew up into wrestling royalty. He was the youngest of twelve children, all of whom ended up having some sort of ties to the wrestling business. Despite being the youngest, Owen Hart may very well have been the best in-ring athlete of the entire bunch, and that’s no knock on his brother Bret.


Like the rest of his brethren, Owen started out in his father’s infamous “Dungeon” training facility and then began working for the family’s Stampede Wrestling in Calgary. He naturally worked his up through the family promotion thanks to his flashy, high-flying style.

His skills got him noticed worldwide. He picked up the 1987 PWI Rookie of the Year award and soon headed off to New Japan Pro Wrestling. He was instant success in the Orient, and picked up the prestigious IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship quickly. Owen was the first gajin to hold that belt and one of only two Canadians to this day who has earned it.

After his stint in Japan he ended up the World Wrestling Federation. It was in 1989 after his father had sold the Calgary territory to McMahon. His older brother Bret was already an established performer in the WWF at this time so he came in under the masked superhero gimmick The Blue Blazer, so as to not cause confusion or storyline explanation. His unique look and style made him popular with fans but he just didn’t fit with the mold of the top card guys at the time, and he disappeared midway through 1989.

In late ’91, after dropping the Blazer mask to Canek in a mask for mask bout in Mexico, Owen returned to the WWF. He was paired with his brother’s old tag partner Jim Neidhart as The New Foundation. Following the dismissal of Neidhart and a brief singles run, Owen joined up with fellow high-flier Koko B. Ware as High Energy. The pair teamed for the better part of a year before Owen went solo, as “The Rocket.” His relationship with brother Bret, who was now a top star in the WWF, was played up more and they became part-time tag partners.

It was in 1994 when Owen finally turned on his big brother that his star began to rise. Owen played the jealous little brother role to perfection. After pinning Bret clean at WrestleMania X, the pair embarked on months long family feud over the WWF Championship. They put on a tremendous steel cage main event at SummerSlam ’94 and continued their rivalry through 1994. This run against Bret really put Owen on the map as a legitimate superstar finally out of his brother’s shadow.

In 1995 Owen picked up the WWF Tag Championship with Yokozuna and hired Jim Cornette as his manager. Throughout ’95 and ’96 he worked alongside Yoko, brother-in-law Davey Boy Smith and Vader as part of Cornette’s stable. Owen and Davey Boy picked up the WWF Tag Championships in late ’96 and ruled a weak tag division.

But his greatest run came in 1997. He and Davey Boy had started a mini-feud over the fledgling European Championship, but were reunited together by brother Bret. Together that trio, along with Jim Neidhart and Brian Pillman, formed a new Hart Foundation. Owen also picked up the Intercontinental Championship along the way. The group’s status was unheard of at the time as they were clear-cut heels to American audiences, but were wildly popular and over as faces around the rest of the world and especially in Canada.

During this time Owen had a feud with Steve Austin that led to the now infamous SummerSlam ’97 match where Hart dropped Austin on his head during a botched piledriver attempt. Austin’s neck was badly damaged, and that injury actually ended being the catalyst for a lot of changes in the WWF in the future.

After his brother Bret’s “Screwjob” at Survivor Series ’97, Owen became the remaining Hart family representative in the WWF. He adopted “The Black Hart” and then later “The Lone Hart” persona to reflect the changes around him. He went into a feud with Hunter Hearst-Helmsley that transitioned into a DeGeneration X-Nation of Domination feud when Triple H took over leadership of DX and Owen joined The Nation.

After The Nation dissolved, Owen worked with Ken Shamrock and then Dan Severn. They worked an angle with Severn where Owen “injured” Severn, playing off his real injury against Austin a year earlier. This led to Owen “quitting” the WWF and The Blue Blazer returning in his place. The Blazer angle also coincided with Owen “returning” and forming a successful tag team with Jeff Jarrett. The pair, loosely known as “Canadian Country,” won the WWF Tag Championships during their time together.

It was ultimately this comedy angle with The Blue Blazer that led to Owen’s very unfunny demise.

As Owen Hart was preparing to lower from the rafters of the Kemper Arena on May 23, 1999, in preparation for an Intercontinental Championship match against The Godfather he fell 78 feet into the ring. He died right there in the ring during the unfortunately titled “Over the Edge” pay per view.

Owen was only 34 years old when he passed away. He left behind a lot of family and friends that really knew him, but also left behind a void for wrestling fans that only knew him through his work in the ring. His career was become a major case of “what if” for many fans, including yours truly.

As a quick editorial statement I would like to say that to this day, of all the premature wrestling deaths that have happened over the years, his is the one that has affected me the most.

He came from wrestling royalty and died well before his time. His story seems like something found in a Greek tragedy or something. And as a professional he was one of the best. In the ring he was phenomenal as an aerial artist, scientific technician, and he could hold his own in a brawl. He was decent on the mic, but had a wicked sense of humor that helped his in-ring characters. He was the type of in-ring talent that any promoter would dream to have under their employ.

well that explains your shane douglas pick

Ok, I have a question about Owen Hart as I wasnt watching WWF back then.
From my reading of stuff and watching stuff, I can see that he was talented as people say, but it would seem to me he only really became popular because he died.

At first when I used to hear stuff about him, I thought he was some huge main eventer or something, but upon further investigation it sounded more like he constantly lived in the shadow of Bret, and nobody ever really talked about him.

Didnt Vince even using him as a bargaining tool when it came to Bret?

So exactly how popular was he pre drop?

44. AJ STYLES

Real Name - Allen Jones
Aliases - Mr. Olympia; Prince AJ Styles; Air Styles
Hometown - Gainesville, Georgia
Debuted - February 15, 1999
Titles Held - AAW Heavyweight; Ballpark Brawl Natural Heavyweight; CWE Heavyweight (2x); ETW Heavyweight; IWA Mid-South Heavyweight; IWC Super Indies (2x); IWR King of the Indies; Max-Pro Cruiserweight; MPW Universal Heavyweight; NKPWA Junior Heavyweight; NWA Wildside Heavyweight; NWA Wildside Television (3x); PWG Championship; ROH Pure Wrestling; ROH Tag Team (with Amazing Red); NWA World (3x); NWA World Tag Team (4x - 1 with Jerry Lynn, 1 with Abyss, 2 with Christopher Daniels); TNA World Tag Team (with Tomko); TNA X-Division (6x); WWA International Cruiserweight
Other Accomplishments - First ROH Pure Wrestling champion; first TNA X-Division champion; Three time TNA Triple Crown winner; Mr. TNA in 2003, 2004, and 2005; Winner of TNA Tag Team of the Year award in 2006 (with Christopher Daniels); Winner to TNA Match of the Year award in 2006 (with Christopher Daniels against Homicide and Hernandez)

Coming in at #44 on the Best Wrestlers of the Modern Era is AJ Styles. His nickname, well earned, is “Phenomenal” an adjective that is the only fitting to describe his incredible athleticism and skill inside the wrestling ring.

A former collegiate wrestler, AJ got his start in the business training under Rick Michaels and made a name for himself working for NWA Wildside. Achieving notoriety and a quick push, AJ was signed after a mere two years to WCW. Appearing in a junior tag team for awhile, AJ would not find much success in WCW before it was bought out by WWE, though the exposure would help him land premiere spots in the year to come. Styles then returned to NWA Wildside, winning their heavyweight title.

In 2002, two promotions caused AJ to gain an immediate and huge increase in visibility and quality of opponent. These promotions, for those with a sudden memory lapse, are Ring of Honor and NWA:TNA. In 2002, Styles debuted at ROH’s third show “Honor Invades Boston” where he had a classic match with Low Ki. Throughout 2002 he would challenge for the belt, being unsuccessful in attempts to dethrone Low Ki and, later, Xavier.

In 2002, TNA was a PPV only company. AJ Styles was immediately set up as the chosen man for their X-Division, which was a no-limits cruiser division made to set TNA apart from WWE. AJ, as the high flier with a ton of charisma, immediately became wildly over, winning the X-Title and having great feuds with Low Ki, Jerry Lynn and the Amazing Red. He also managed to win the TNA tag titles during this time, with Jerry Lynn in a short lived partnership.

2003 in ROH was another tag title win for AJ Styles, this time with partner the Amazing Red. Due to injury, Paul London was unable to compete and be AJ’s partner, and this lead to an amazing, one time only match between London and Styles at Night of the Grudges. Meanwhile, Styles and Red feuded with the Briscoes over the tag belts, winning in some great, eye-popping spotfests that only these guys can provide. Red’s eventual injury caused the titles to be vacated. AJ then, again focused on the World Title, but again fell short, this time to Samoa Joe.

In 2003 in TNA, AJ became the first X-Division wrestler to make it to the main stage and won the NWA Title from Jeff Jarrett after turning heel. Losing the title shortly thereafter, he had become a main event player and would remain in the title hunt throughout the year.

2004 was poised to be a big year for AJ, as he had officially become TNA’s one real homegrown talent and was given the ROH Pure Title, becoming the first champion by beating CM Punk. Unfortunately, scandal caused him to have to vacate that title and leave ROH, but he was still in TNA and being pushed to the moon. He began 2004 as a tag champion with Abyss with whom he feuded for much of the early part of the year in great matches, showing he was not only great with juniors, but could put on classics with heavyweights. After this, he was granted a title shot and defeated Jeff Jarrett in a cage, becoming a two time NWA Champion. After several successful defenses, Jarrett again caused AJ to lose the belt and Styles headed back to the X-Division. Once there, AJ immediately became the X-Champion again, and again defended the belt successfully against a new set of challengers like Kazarian and Kid Kash. Kash eventually cost AJ the belt and spent the next several months feuding with Styles, who finally moved on to feud with Hall, Nash and Jarrett to close out the year.

2005 saw AJ win the X-Title again and embark on a classic feud with Chris Daniels. Daniels would eventually win this through chicanery so AJ again went after the World Title, again finding Abyss in his way and again having great matches with TNA’s resident monster. This was just a pit stop for AJ who would become a three time NWA Champion, only to lose that belt, this time in the King of the Mountain gimmick match. AJ went again after the X-Division title. This lead to the best match and feud in TNA history, with Chris Daniels and Samoa Joe (the match was at Unbreakable). He spent the rest of the year battling Joe and Daniels in various combinations, producing great match after great match. Meltzer gave that match five stars. In 2003-2005 AJ was Mr. TNA every year.

In 2005 AJ returned to ROH to face former protégé Jimmy Rave in a series of solid matches. This was good, but failed to set the world on fire, although it was great to see AJ back in ROH.

2006 saw AJ beat one of the best wrestlers in the world Hiroshi Tanahashi in TNA and finished his feud with Daniels and Joe over the X-Title. Styles spent much of the remainder of the year teaming with Chris Daniels and being one-half of the tag team champions. They feuded with, and defeated America’s Most Wanted before moving on to a great, hot rivalry with LAX. Styles then finished 2006 winning the X-Division Title yet again, his fourth time, but didn’t hold it long as he ended up feuding with Daniels again shortly and Rhino for rather longer.

In 2006 ROH, AJ spent much of the year teaming with Matt Sydal to chase Austin Aries and Roderick Strong for the ROH tag titles. They failed in this pursuit, yet had great matches with the Briscoes and tag champions. AJ closed out his ROH tenure with one last match against Samoa Joe in the Summer.

2007 was AJ’s weakest year of the past four or five. He began the year in a midcard feud with Rhino and spent the remainder of the year as Christian Cage and now Kurt Angle’s cowardly comedy lacky. The one minor upshot to this is that he is a tag champion with Tomko in a surprisingly good duo. The team continues to hold the belts at present.

AJ is a stunningly impressive athlete who can have great matches with a variety of opponents. He is TNA’s main and arguably only homegrown star that didn’t originate in ROH or WWE. He’s stuck in a bit of a downward spiral currently, but talent talks, and AJ has talent is among the more talented and athletic wrestlers in the world.

aww, there's still hope. he could make it!

gotta disagree with '07 being "his worst year." people get in a snit about his comedic heel lackey role, but what they don't ever seem to notice is that AJ's really developed his heel persona by learning from Cage and Angle. when he first went heel, he was terrible at it. he's also developed a really strong team with Tomko and they've held the tag belts for quite a while now.

43. BOBBY EATON

Hometown - Huntsville, Alabama
Aliases - Earl Robert Eaton; Beautiful Bobby Eaton
Debut - May, 1976
Titles Held - WCW World Tag Team (with Arn Anderson); WCW Television; NWA United States Tag Team (3x - with Stan Lane); NWA Georgia Television; IWC Tag Team (with Dennis Condrey); NWA World Tag Team (2x - 1 with Dennis Condrey, 1 with Stan Lane); NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team (with Ricky Nelson); AWA Southern Tag Team (4x – 2 with Sweet Brown Sugar, 2 with Duke Myers); CWA World Heavyweight; NWA Mid-America Heavyweight (11x); NWA Mid-America Tag Team (6x – 1 with Lanny Poffo, 3 with George Gulas, 1 with Mexican Angel, 1 with Great Togo); NWA Six-Man Tag Team (4x – 1 with George Gulas and Jerry Barber, 1 with Gulas and Arvil Hutto, 1 with Gulas and Mexican Angel, 1 with Secret Weapon and Tojo Yamamoto); NWA Mid-America Television; Mid-South Tag Team (2x – with Dennis Condrey); NWA Bluegrass Tag Team (with Dennis Condrey); NWA Rocky Top Tag Team (with Dennis Condrey); SMW Beat the Champ Television; NWA American Tag Team (with Dennis Condrey)
Other Accomplishments - generally considered one of the nicest guys in wrestling; trained by Tojo Yamamoto

Bobby Eaton got his start in the wrestling business at an early age. At the age of 13, he was already helping to set up the ring for wrestling shows in his hometown. It didn’t take long for him to begin training under Memphis legend Tojo Yamamoto.

In 1976 Eaton debuted for NWA Mid-America – the Memphis wrestling company run by Nick Gulas. Eaton soon began catching Gulas’s eye, and he found himself on the way up the card.

Eaton’s first major feud was against the Hollywood Blonds – Jerry Brown and pre-Freebird Buddy Roberts. The angle saw Eaton recruiting different partners (including Yamamoto) to battle the Blonds, although they were never able to take the Mid-America Tag Team titles from them. In September of 1977 the Blonds lost the belts to Norvell Austin and Pat Barrett and left the promotion, going their separate ways. Eaton was given credit for running them out of Memphis.

Eaton got his first taste of gold in January of 1978 when he and Leapin’ Lanny Poffo (better known as the WWF’s Genius) defeated Gypsy Joe and Leroy Rochester to capture the Mid-America tag team titles. They held them for about a month before losing them to Gypsy Joe and his new partner Dutch Mantell.

By December, Eaton had allied with promoter Nick Gulas’s son George to form a team known as the Jet Set. They captured the tag team titles from Gypsy Joe and Tojo Yamamoto on December 16, and lost them to Terry Gordy and Michael Hayes on January 7.

Eaton wasn’t giving up that easily. With new partner Mexican Angel, they defeated Hayes and Gordy in February to regain the titles. Their reign was brief as the future Freebirds regained the belts later that month.

Eaton soon found himself in a feud with Chris Colt that centered around the Mid-America Heavyweight title Eaton had won in February. In April, Colt captured the title. The war became so heated that Colt found himself suspended for hitting Eaton with a piledriver on the concrete floor.

September saw the Jet Set winning the tag titles for the second time by defeating Yamamoto and the Great Togo. They held the titles until November, when they split up (when Eaton became a heel by joining Tojo Yamamoto’s stable) and the belts were vacated.

In October Eaton became a double champion as he defeated Dutch Mantell to regain the Mid-America Heavyweight belt. His reign lasted nearly a month until old foe Chris Colt captured it. In December, Eaton decisively regained the belt and found himself moved to the upper-midcard and main event level.

Interestingly enough, during this time period Eaton competed often against Dennis Condrey.

In January, the Jet Set was reborn as Eaton saved Gulas from a beatdown from the Blond Bombers (Larry Latham (better known as Moondog Spot) and Wayne Farris (WWF’s Honky Tonk Man). In January of 1980 the Jet Set began their third title reign after defeating the Bombers. They would hold the belts for about three weeks before the Bombers recaptured them.

February 17 saw Gorgeous George Jr. defeating Eaton for the heavyweight belt. Eaton quickly recaptured it and just as quickly lost it to Tojo Yamamoto.

Eaton had one final tag team reign in June as he teamed with Great Togo to take the belts from Rocky Brewer and George Gulas. It would be old foes the Blond Bombers who dethroned them in July.

On July 23rd, Eaton regained the heavyweight title. He would be the final champion under Gulas.

In October, Gulas’s promotion (which had been struggling for some time against Jerry Jarrett’s upstart company) finally shut down and Eaton headed to Georgia.

He didn’t stay gone long. Eaton soon returned to Memphis, this time to Jarrett’s CWA where he was again placed in the tag team division. Interestingly, one of his common opponents during this time was Stan Lane.

In March of 1982, Eaton and Sweet Brown Sugar (better known as Koko B. Ware) with manager Jimmy Hart won a tournament to crown new AWA Southern Tag Team champions as the New Wave. They held the belt for nearly a month before Bill Dundee and Steve Keirn defeated them.

In May Eaton once again won the Mid-America title (now being associated with the CWA). He held it for a week, and was defeated by King Cobra.

In July of 1982 Eaton defeated Dutch Mantell to begin his seventh Mid-America Heavyweight title reign. However, Bill Dundee soon captured the belt from him.

The New Wave wasn’t finished, however. In August they defeated Dream Machine and Jim Mitchell to regain the gold. They held the belts two weeks before they fell to Steve Keirn and Terry Taylor.

In December Eaton won the belts again with new partner Duke Myers. However, the belts soon went back to the dominant tag team in the promotion – the Fabulous Ones (Stan Lane and Steve Keirn).

Eaton regained the title from Jacques Rougeau on January 10 although it was soon vacated. Eaton would re-win the title in February, this time defeating Sweet Brown Sugar in a tournament final.

Eaton’s changing attitudes caused the New Wave to split as the former partners began battling over the title. Sugar won the belt on the 25th of February and Eaton immediately challenged him to a rematch on the 28th.

This time the match was a Loser Leaves Town match. Eaton won and Sugar was forced to leave town, although a masked man named Stagger Lee (Sugar under the mask) soon began attacking Eaton. Lee won the belt on March seventh to end Eaton’s tenth title reign.

Eaton soon joined forces with the Moondogs as they battled Jerry Lawler and the Fabulous Ones. During one match the Moondogs hit Eaton with a bone which wound up costing them the match. The Moondogs and Hart attacked Eaton after the match and he was saved by Stagger Lee.

Soon thereafter, Eaton left the CWA and headed to Bill Watts’s Mid-South Wrestling. There he was teamed with Dennis Condrey as the Midnight Express. To complement Condrey’s “Loverboy” nickname, Eaton was given the nickname “Beautiful.” The two were then given Jim Cornette as a manager.

The Midnight Express soon began feuding with tag team champions Magnum TA and Mr. Wrestling II. The Express were hated and even went so far as to tar and feather Magnum on television. On March 13, 1984 the Express won the tag team titles when Mr. Wrestling attacked Magnum during the title match.

But a new threat was on the horizon. The newest foes for the Express turned out to be Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson, the Rock ‘N Roll Express. In May, Morton and Gibson won the titles. Eaton and Condrey regained them later that month and held them until September when Morton and Gibson won them again.

After the final loss, the Midnights left the promotion and headed to Fritz Von Erich’s World Class Championship Wrestling. Here their main foes were Tommy Rogers and Bobby Fulton – the Fantastics.

The Express captured the American Tag Team titles in January of 1985 and held them until March when the belts were held up following a rematch which had seen Jim Cornette getting involved. The Fantastics regained the belts in May at the second David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions.

The next stop for the Express was Jim Crockett’s NWA promotion, where the Rock N Roll Express were already waiting. Eaton and Gibson dethroned Gibson and Morton in February of 1986 to win the NWA World Tag Team titles. Gibson and Morton took them back in August.

1987 saw a massive change for the Midnight Express. Dennis Condrey left the company and was replaced in the Midnights with Sweet Stan Lane.

It didn’t take long for the new Midnights to win gold. In May, the Midnight Express defeated Ron Garvin and Barry Windham in a tournament to crown new NWA United States Tag Team champions. They held these belts for nearly a year. In April of 1988 old foes the Fantastics took the gold away and the Midnights reclaimed the belts in July.

The Midnights were forced to give up the belts in September. They defeated Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard to win the NWA World Tag Team titles. This time they lost the gold to the Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal) on October 29. The battle turned the Warriors heel and turned the Midnights into babyfaces.

In late 1988, Cornette’s worst nightmare came true as his nemesis Paul E. Dangerously (Paul Heyman) debuted a new team – the Original Midnight Express, composed of former members Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose.

The two teams battled throughout the rest of the year with Cornette’s team coming out on top during a match at Starrcade. However, problems soon arose again with Condrey and he left the company. Dangerously’s team replaced him with Jack Victory.

The blowoff match happened at February’s Chi-Town Rumble as Cornette’s team defeated Rose and Victory in a Loser Leaves the NWA match.

The next feud the Midnights had was an unexpected one. Johnny Ace and Shane Douglas were teaming as the Dynamic Dudes. The Dudes came to Cornette and told him how they had idolized the Midnights before asking him to manage them as well. Against the protests of Lane and Eaton, he did so.

At the November 1989 Clash of the Champions, the two teams faced off with Cornette in a neutral corner to force him to make his choice. In the end, Cornette blasted Douglas with his tennis racket and the Midnights not only won the match but also returned to more familiar heel territory.

In May of 1990, the Midnights defeated Brian Pillman and Tom Zenk to win the NWA United States Tag Team titles for the third time. They held the belts until August, when they were defeated by the Steiner Brothers.

In November, the Midnights split up again with Cornette and Lane leaving the company.

May of 1991 saw Eaton, who’d been reestablishing himself as a singles competitor, defeat Arn Anderson to win the WCW World Television title. June 3rd saw him lose the belt to up and comer Steve Austin.

June 14th saw Eaton face World champion Ric Flair in a two-out-of-three falls match. Although Eaton won the first fall, Flair won the match with the two remaining.

Eaton went on to feud with Alexandra York (Terri Runnells) and her York Foundation until November of 1991. At the November Clash of the Champions, Lex Luger attacked Sting from behind until he was run off by several faces. Eaton urged Sting to get his knee checked out and told him he’d have plenty of time to get back to defend his United States title against Paul E Dangerously’s Ravishing Rick Rude. Sting did so and Dangerously revealed that if Sting didn’t make it back that Rude would win the belt.

Sting lost the match to Rude and on the next WCW Saturday Night the Dangerous Alliance was born consisting of Dangerously, Eaton, Rude, Madusa, Arn Anderson, Larry Zbyszko, and Steve Austin.

Eaton and Anderson soon became the Alliance’s premier tag team and they defeated Ricky Steamboat and Dustin Rhodes on January 16 to win the World Tag Team titles. They held the belts until May, when they lost them to the Steiner Brothers.

Shortly thereafter, at May 17’s Wrestle War, the Alliance faced Sting, Dustin Rhodes, Barry Windham, Nikita Koloff, and Ricky Steamboat in a War Games match. Zbyszko hit Eaton in the arm with a metal rod and Sting forced him to submit with an armbar. The Alliance soon collapsed and Dangerously left the company. Soon Eaton was released to cut costs.

Eaton contacted Jim Cornette and was welcomed into Smoky Mountain Wrestling. Eaton soon allied with the Heavenly Bodies (Jimmy Del Ray and Dr. Tom Pritchard) as one of the company’s top heels. He won gold on March 1, 1993 when he defeated Tim Horner to win the Beat the Champ Television title. He held the belt until April 19 when he was defeated by Brian Lee.

But back at WCW, things were changing. Bill Watts left the company and was replaced by Eric Bischoff. One of the first things Bischoff did was to rehire Eaton. Eaton found himself paired with Chris Benoit, although the two served mainly as an enhancement team.

Eaton also made a few appearances for ECW during this timeframe as part of a talent exchange agreement between ECW and WCW. This is notable because of Eaton’s appearance at 1994’s When Worlds Collide, where he teamed with Sabu to defeat Terry Funk and Arn Anderson.

Back in WCW, Eaton was beginning to team with Steve Keirn under the name of Bad Attitude. Again, Bad Attitude didn’t have much success and it faded away by January of 1995.

1995 saw Eaton being repackaged. Now known as Earl Robert Eaton, he began teaming with Lord Steven Regal as the Blue Bloods following Regal’s split with former manager Sir William (Bill Dundee). Squire David Taylor also soon joined the duo as did a new butler named Jeeves.

The Blue Bloods immediately began feuding with a team that stood against everything they stood for – the Nasty Boys. They also battled Harlem Heat and the Stud Stable (Bunkhouse Buck and Dick Slater) but were never able to win the titles.

In early 1996 Eaton left the group following problems with Taylor. After a short feud, Eaton was sent to Saturday Night, where he would defeat wrestlers who were farther down the rankings than he was and help to enhance wrestlers who were getting a push.

Later Eaton became a trainer at the WCW Power Plant and also began working backstage as a road agent. He was released toward the end of 2000.

Eaton still wrestles part-time, usually tagging with Dennis Condrey or Stan Lane under the Midnight Express name. In 2003, he made one TNA appearance where he lost to Kid Kash.

In September of 2006 Eaton was hospitalized following a suspected heart attack. Eaton issued a statement following his release that he had been diagnosed with high blood pressure and a hint of diabetes but that he did not suffer a heart attack.

Why is Eaton on this list? Apart from being a genuinely nice guy (when Bill Dundee found out that his daughter was dating Eaton and breaking his rule against dating wrestlers he was booking, Dundee said it was OK for her to go out with Eaton – the two are now married and have three children), Eaton was a key part of one of the most renowned tag teams of the 1980’s. Apart from that, he had successful runs as a singles wrestler before joining the Midnight Express, and was still valued in WCW enough to keep him working four years after his last push to help to enhance others, as well as to help with training in the Power Plant.

Even today, over two decades after he debuted, Eaton is still competing and still respected among wrestlers for his skilled wrestling style. Bobby Eaton has definitely earned his place on this list of the top 100 wrestlers of the modern era.

The entire Top 100 Wrestlers feature can be found here.

still Hogan and Flair havent had the same impact as Shane Douglas