The WWE trained so many people what wrestlers are supposed to look like and they are still eating that.

There was a time when Steve Austin was a small guy by their standards dude was 6'3 250lbs.
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Jerry Lawler had the most "everyman" body ever and he absolutely OWNED Memphis.


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Yes Memphis but not the national scene.

The thing is the WWE is the company that is left and they trained the vast majority of fans that wrestlers are supposed to be ripped like body builders. Well now that the business is a bit different and they have smaller guys a lot of fans aren't accepting of it because if what they've always been taught.

10 years ago guys like Owens, Samoe Joe and Sami Zayn would have been laughed out of a WWE tryout and told to hit the gym. It goes to show you the huge dudes are fewer now and that Vince has less say than he once did.

It's also why guys like Reigns and Strowman have huge pushes they are the few guys that are big and ripped.
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Dude, you know something is crazy when these guys are considered "too small" to be champs. They are all lean and 225+ lbs as shown:








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Oh I know. My point was that there's a lot to wrestling besides muscles if the fans just suspend their disbelief and enjoy the show for a bit.
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By WWE standards Hart and Michaels were small and Eddie was tiny. Chris Benoit was considered too small by their standards also.

Hart and Michaels only ever got pushes because of the steroid scandal without that the WWE looks very different and those guys aren't viewed remotely how they are today.

There was a time when Scott Hall was an average sized WWE guy the dude is fuckin 6'7 280lbs
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Yep, and that killed Eddie...and worse in Benoit's case.

Bret Hart at least had the height, he was just never really ripped (neither was Stone Cold, but he was convincingly large). Shawn Michaels was short, but one of the best in and out of the ring (and I'm old enough to remember when he was wresting in KC with Marty Janetty).

EDIT: Eddie Guererro was only 5' 8" tall. Shawn Michaels is listed at 6' or 6'1" but is probably just under that. Bret Hart is about 6'1" tall (and is just a little taller than Shawn Michaels. For comparison: Rey Mysterio is 5'6" tall and Brock Lesnar is 6'3" tall.
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There are alot of people who really do think them hiring more guys who "look like regular joes" is hurting their business. I've heard over and over "larger than life superstars draw money, guy who looks like your neighbor does not."
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There's a reason why everytime Rey Mysterio turns up there he looks like he does, it's common perception to work for the E you have to gas up. Dude was tiny in WCW he shows up in WWE looking like a small tank.
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That's Vince's fault since he always went for the bigger more muscular guys like Hogan when he went national, and never really changed. Any change that is coming about now is likely due to HHH who does seem to value good ring work.

In Hogan's heyday, WWE talent were always big guys, but not always good in the ring (mostly because they were told how to wrestle by Vince--for evidence, go look up videos of Hogan in Japan....he was totally different in the ring there than he was allowed to be by Vince in the US).

EDIT: Mecca, I didn't see your post above to the same effect before I posted this.
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Things were much different back in the 70s/80s... the WWE killed all the local promotions and territories. I enjoyed the glammed up steroid fueled WWE of the late 80s/90s, but they killed wrasslin.

The Monday Night wars were fun, but I haven't tried watching it in years.
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Talk about "normal" bodies (I actually remember watching this on TV). Both Slick and Harley wound up in the WWE later in 1986. Vince, out of respect for his past, made Harley the second King of the Ring tournament that same year. This was taped at Memorial Hall in KCK.


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:-):-):-):-)
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Mysterio was in great shape at Royal Rumble.
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Mysterio is now going to New Japan for at least one match, although I think his first match is against Jushin Thunder Liger, who is about 127 years old and basically a glorified jobber at this point.
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