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10 for the Top Tier - The Wrestler Magazine
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10 for the Top Tier
The Wrestler Magazine
November 2001
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There are currently two major U.S.-based wrestling promotions (both controlled by the McMahon family, of course), the are somewhere around 70 to 80 roster slots. And when we say roster slots, we're not talking about the plethora of guys the WWF and WCW keep on short leashes with developmental deals. We're talking about the positions that will get a wrester in front of a national television audience on a weekly basis.
Among these 70 to 80 positions, it can be argued that the vast majority of them are filled with wrestlers who will never achieve anything more than mid-card greatness. Some might not even achieve that. Only a select few will ever step into the top tier of their respective federations.
In fact, looking at the state of both companies, it's pretty apparent that the federations could use some new top tier talent. As of press time, the WWF was particularly in need of top tier help. It's most popular wrestler, The Rock, was absent from television because of Hollywood commitments. It's most valuable player, Triple-H, was expected to be side-lined for at least four to six months with a torn quadriceps muscle. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was in the middle of a potent heel run, but save for the Undertaker and Kane, he had no established opponents to go up against (and no one was anxious to see him wrestle 'Taker and Kane again).
Granted, Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit are regarded as slightly above the mid-card ranks, but in no way were they thought of as everyday main-eventers when their feud with Austin began. Maybe by the time you're reading this, that will have changed. We sure hope it will have.
WCW, at the time of this writing, was in a state of flux as well. It had yet to relaunch despite months of speculation. Its roster was also incomplete. When the WWF purchased WCW, the federation also purchased the contracts of 24 WCW wrestlers. Of those 24, not one had ever regularly main-evented in either the WWF or WCW. Because of this, federation officials were scrambling to get a select few WCW brand names to take AOL Time-Warner's buyout option and sign a new incentive-laden contract. The names of DDP and Booker T came up most often during this period.
That right there is your top tier breakdown as it existed in late-June and that's pretty scary. That's why THE WRESTLER'S staff decided to highlight the 10 wrestlers (actually, 9 wrestlers & 1 valet) who we think are the closest to reaching top tier status. Some wrestlers are missing from this list because we thought they'd be there by the time this came out (Jericho & Benoit) or because they have been main-eventers in the past and are just biding their time before joining that elite group for a second time (Kurt Angle).
There's no telling if any of these 10 personalities will make it to the top. It's also hard to say which wresters are the closest to making it happen. This is just an analysis of the 10 wrestlers we feel are the closest to jumping from mid-carder to main-eventer. Whether you think we are completely on the mark or completely off-base is for you and time to decide ...
[The 10 personalities in the review / analysis are: Rhyno, Edge, Raven, Jeff Hardy, Kanyon, Sean O'Haire, Lance Storm, Rob Van Dam, Mike Awesome, Stacy Kiebler.]
RAVEN
As a brooding malcontent, Raven drew fans and money for ECW. As the same brooding malcontent, Raven did very little for WCW other than introduce the promotion to hardcore wrestling via "Raven's rules." As a funny, well-to-do malcontent, however, Raven livened up WCW while refreshing his character. Now that he's in the WWF, Raven is still a brooding malcontent most of the time-but he's a brooding malcontent with a ton of potential.
WHY HE'LL MAKE IT
According to Raven, there are not a whole lot of positives in his life. We at The Wrestler, however, think otherwise. First of all, as he's shown over the years, Raven is one of the most resilient wrestlers alive. And that has nothing to do with the fact that he believes everyone is against him, yet he still manages to get out of bed every morning.
Here's a guy who's gone through a ton of ridiculous gimmicks in his career (remember Johnny Polo and Scotty the Body?), yet he stuck with the wrestling business until he came across a pot of gold. It was a dirty, grungy, punked up pot of gold, but it was a pot of gold nonetheless. Just the fact that he continues to plug away in the WWF's mid-card ranks points toward how determined he is to make good. That kind of dedication to one's profession is rare these days-even in wrestling.
The other thing that Raven has going for him that a lot of other wrestlers simply don't have is a long, successful history as one character. This could be especially advantageous for him given the fact that the WWF now owns WCW and looks to be positioning itself to clean up ECW's scraps. Imagine the video package that the fed will be able to produce for Raven in the not-too-distant future. There's nothing quite like having depth to one's character.
WHY HE WON'T MAKE IT
Believe it or not, Raven's no up-and-comer. This September, he'll turn 39, [scottlevy.com note - this is incorrect, check the biography and FAQ sections on scottlevy.com for Raven's real age] an age that finds most wrestlers sitting at home and wondering what happened to their burgeoning careers. This being the case, Raven's window to get to the top tier and remain there for any amount of time shrinks on a daily basis. It might not behoove the fed to position Raven for a main event run when there's no telling how much longer his body will hold up under the daily rigors of the sport. It's a valid argument, one that Raven will have to win convincingly if he ever hopes to reach that top tier.
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