[TSE]

Obviously DDP was never the main guy in WCW, but was always the guy who fought the main guy.

He was a unique wrestler. Good charisma, good mic skills, good look, the best finisher of all time... wasn't great in the ring, but always had big PPV matches and always made them feel greater than they were.

1. Where do you put him on an all-time list? Top 100? Top 50? Top 25?

2. Where would you place him if he was in the WWF at the time?

Me personally... Top 25 of all time. One of the few good things about WCW even when it sucked and besides Goldberg the only star they made.

I would put him on Triple H level during the Attitude Era.

 

[Sids_chickenleg]

Top 100. Was never sold on the guy. I think he got to where he was because he was buddies with Bischoff. I love what he's done with Scott Hall and Jake Roberts though.

 

[KingLobos]

Great wrestler, but an even better human being. What he has done outside of wrestling is a lot more impressive IMO.

 

[TSE]

Top 100. Was never sold on the guy. I think he got to where he was because he was buddies with Bischoff. I love what he's done with Scott Hall and Jake Roberts though.

Everyone that worked with the guy in his early days up until the day he retired said he was one of the hardest workers and had a chip on his shoulder. Was always the first one to arrive and last one to leave during his training, took insults from smarks personally, and had a drive that even Mick Foley and Stone Cold thought was impressive.

 

[petecrimson]

Great entertainer but not a spectacular worker, could have been good in WWE had he not retired. Don't think he would have ever broken the main event though.

Was one of the top 5 as far as WCW's homegrown stars though

 

[Leon Knuckles]

That diamond cutter though... made it look so good.

His matches with Sting were flawless.

ITS ME ITS ME ITS D-D-P!!!

 

[Jupiter Jack Daniels]

Top 10 in WCW. Maybe.


But on an overall level, nowhere near a ranking noteworthy.


I can easily name 50 guys better and if I put my mind to it, probably a good 100 better. Don't get me wrong, I like DDP with over 20 years of watching wrestling under my belt and multiple companies, I can't put him higher than 101 with a straight face.


But, his feud with Savage was great and to me, was the defining moment in his career. I also enjoyed his feud with Raven, the 3 way with Raven & Benoit and arguably, he gave Goldberg his best match. But, that's not enough.

 

[Ghost Lantern]

Top 10 in WCW. Maybe.


But on an overall level, nowhere near a ranking noteworthy.


I can easily name 50 guys better and if I put my mind to it, probably a good 100 better. Don't get me wrong, I like DDP with over 20 years of watching wrestling under my belt and multiple companies, I can't put him higher than 101 with a straight face.


But, his feud with Savage was great and to me, was the defining moment in his career. I also enjoyed his feud with Raven, the 3 way with Raven & Benoit and arguably, he gave Goldberg his best match. But, that's not enough.

Agree with this ^^^

A few years ago I ranked my top 300 American stars of the modern era (1970-2010), it was a thing I did for a few friends. I wrote small bio's for each guy. I had him around #65-70 I think, but I cannot find where I saved that so much work ;(

I never really liked DDP for years, because I just could not get past the fact that he was a manager for so long. It was like all of a sudden here's this guy whose been holding Pat Tanaka's coat for years getting pinfall wins over some pretty big stars.

However I came around and respected his work ethic. Probably will never be remembered as highly as his push in the 90's.

If he was in the WWF during his initial breakout he would have never gotten a push, because his push was Bischoff, and Uncle Eric was not in the WWF.

 

[pagi]

Lots of kids who's only knowledge of WCW is via youtube in this thread. DDP at his absolute peak was one of the biggest stars in wrestling.

 

[Tell em' Hawk!]

Great wrestler, but an even better human being. What he has done outside of wrestling is a lot more impressive IMO.

This. I had a minor car accident 4 weeks ago and done my back in. I thought a change was needed so threw out all my weights and bought DDP Yoga. 2 weeks in and after doing that and only push ups (ala Jericho) I feel better already.

 

[B. [R]]

Top 15 easy, had he enjoyed a little more longevity in his career, he could have catapulted even further maybe. If anything DDP is underrated.

 

[dddsssccc]

He's a cool guy.

I have no idea where to rank him as a wrestler or sports entertainer. He isn't elite but he was very good.

He had a weird career. He was super over in his feud with Macho Man but you could have heard a pin drop when he won the WCW title for the first time a couple years later in that 4-way match with Hogan, Sting and Flair with Macho as the ref. Although I think people were just stunned because he was far and away the smallest name in the match and he wound up winning it. I thought he was more over in his later WCW title reigns but the company was fading fast at that point too.

 

[HouseofPunk]

He was an incredible talent really, got into the business later in life than the majority and still managed to rise to the top. In his prime with WCW he was among the biggest names in wrestling, definitely top 10, up there with Stone Cold, The Rock, Hogan, Sting at the time. The problems came after WCW went out of business and Vince didn't want to do much to promote WCW guys, he came over to the company in a stupid storyline, still got a massive pop on his debut though, he spent the rest of his time in WWF/E being treated as a midcarder and wasn't given much to work with. That combined with injuries and age meant it was best to just retire. I think a lot of WWF/E fans that never watched WCW got a bad impression of how big he really was.
And his yoga also helped cure my bad back of 6 years after just 3 months, no pain at all anymore.

 

[billythechamp]

Top 100

 

[Longballplease]

He was over, no question, in 97 he was huge, his finisher got him over with the fans, his mic skills where ok to terrible I'd say, he used awful catchlines.

 

[StingGirl]

hes a awesome guy , and the diamond cutter was theeeee best

 

[Rick_James]

Great in WCW, in my opinion one of the few stars the company was ever able to make all by themselves. I wouldn't even know where to begin to rank him though, but the guy was surprisingly good on the mic, fans loved doing the diamond thing, and put on interesting matches. I think the stuff he did with the Diamond Cutter is better than anything Orton has ever done, it's hard to see someone use that move when DDP was like the Dr. J of that move lol.

His most over point was his feud with Goldberg which was an incredible match, after that though WCW treated him like they did a lot of their other big stars, they'd take a back seat and not really do much because the NWO guys were taking up all of the spotlight. In a way he sorta phased out, and while he did eventually have his Jersey Triad gimmick and did win the title (on a few occasions I believe), he kinda lacked that edge he had from a few years prior. His WWF runs was an absolute joke and they buried him despite him being able to draw - just my opinion but I think this guy could've been much bigger but the WWF politics got in the way.

 

[RyanPelley]

I wasnt a big WCW, but was a DDP fan when I'd watch. In 1997 and 1998, DDP's popularity and pops were ridiculous. The Savage feud is still a personal favorite of mine. He wasn't great technically, but I'd easily put him in the top 100 because of how over he was, his success, and for being one of the top stars WCW produced during the Monday Night Wars.

 

[Rugrat]

Should be a shoo-in for the next HOF.

 

[Jupiter Jack Daniels]

Lots of kids who's only knowledge of WCW is via youtube in this thread. DDP at his absolute peak was one of the biggest stars in wrestling.

..... please.



Let's not pretend that DDP was some mainstream attraction or that he carried a company. Take Malone and Leno out of the equation, no non wrestling fans would know he DDP is and probably still don't.


His star power in WCW is identical to Sting in '88. Popular as hell, but nowhere near the big star that people think. And the reason for that is DDP, just like Sting in '88, was never the focal point.



Good worker, don't get me wrong. But he wasn't a good wrestler and there is a difference. Anybody, IMO, that puts DDP anywhere near a top 50 all time list probably has Goldberg on that list too, which kills all logic.



I lived through DDP's era and outside of 1997 and 1998, there was nothing there. His glory came in those years and even then, he played second fiddle to Sting/nWo and Goldberg.


LOL @ one of the biggest stars in wrestling. Was barely pushed as one of the biggest stars in WCW. Working a match with Malone doesn't make you a big star all of a sudden. Because Malone and Rodman drew that, not DDP.




Yeah, you overrating the fuck out of DDP now.