Sean Waltman

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[Grimmas]

I think Sean Waltman is one of the best babyfaces ever in timing and performing hope spots. He was a great seller and had some amazing moves as well.

 

As a heel, he really came off as a uber dick. I need to re-watch some things, but he'll make my list somewhere.

[GSR]

Interesting candidate. If I was just looking at the first few years of his career you'd think he'd be a cert for me; from the PWA matches with Jerry Lynn and Wellington Wilkens, to the Global Light-Heavyweight stuff, to the 1993 NJPW Super Juniors Tourney to his first few years in the WWF there's a bunch of memorable, great matches. He was even doing it on the syndicated shows against the likes of Pat Tanaka, Ted Dibiase and Blake Beverly in the early days, add to his Raw match against Bret, the King of the Ring match against Owen and some tags alongside Marty Jannetty and even one with Barry Horowitz against the Quebecers. From there I'm drawing a blank up until his Chikara match with El Generico at King of Trios. I didn't watch much WCW from when he was there, so I'd like to think he has some good stuff in his resume from that period (the ladder match with Guerrero for instance), but he's one of the few candidates who's stints in the 'Big Two' (especially his Attitude era run in the WWE) I want to have another look at.

[Loss]

I think he has a strong case for the top 100 that may not be readily apparent unless it's spelled out, so I've been holding off on making the post in support of him until I have proper time to devote to it. But his career has been almost deceptively good. Magnum Milano touched on some of the reasons above. I suppose we can also talk about the concept of "X-Pac Heat" here and either throw it out or acknowledge it as something that's real. Might as well get that out of the way too.

[anarchistxx]

Just typed his name into Google and one of the first five results reads "X-Pac Shares The Full Story Of His Torn Anus". Only in wrestling.

 

I had a really cool three disc comp of his early indy stuff which I'd love to watch again but probably threw out with the rest of my unwanted discs when I figured I was done with wrestling. He definitely lost a step from 1998 or so onwards, not sure he would make my list.

[Lee Casebolt]

Was really good in his early career, then suffers from having his prime years dominated by being a bit player in the worst in-ring period in American wrestling history. I need to take another look at his WCW run when I can be more objective about it, because as much as I hated Syxx, the Lightning/1-2-3 Kid deserves some consideration.

[dawho5]

 

Just typed his name into Google and one of the first five results reads "X-Pac Shares The Full Story Of His Torn Anus". Only in wrestling.

 

I had a really cool three disc comp of his early indy stuff which I'd love to watch again but probably threw out with the rest of my unwanted discs when I figured I was done with wrestling. He definitely lost a step from 1998 or so onwards, not sure he would make my list.

 

 

Man, I had a cereal case (the ones that grocery stores get 16-20 boxes of cereal in) full of VHS wrestling I did that with. I believe there were several tapes with Best of Waltman on them too. Not that I have a working VCR anymore, but I always regret throwing that box away.

[BigBadMick]

 

 

Just typed his name into Google and one of the first five results reads "X-Pac Shares The Full Story Of His Torn Anus". Only in wrestling.

 

I had a really cool three disc comp of his early indy stuff which I'd love to watch again but probably threw out with the rest of my unwanted discs when I figured I was done with wrestling. He definitely lost a step from 1998 or so onwards, not sure he would make my list.

 

 

Man, I had a cereal case (the ones that grocery stores get 16-20 boxes of cereal in) full of VHS wrestling I did that with. I believe there were several tapes with Best of Waltman on them too. Not that I have a working VCR anymore, but I always regret throwing that box away.

 

Wrestling's like poor old decent Michael Corleone in Godfather Part 3 - it always pulls you back IN!

[anarchistxx]

I honestly think I chucked three hundred DVDs or more in the trash when I went travelling, either that or they are in a garage decaying somewhere. Copied ones, but still. Sold all my commercial discs as well apart from Joe vs Punk II which had sentimental value and The Chris Benoit Collection which at the time I expected to be worth something one day as this was a few weeks after the murders.

 

I'd lost all interest and was sort of thinking "time to put this adolescent portion of my life to bed and start doing more important things with my time", which I did for a while. But then I sort of got pulled back in the last year of university, professionally procrastinating to prevent work on my dissertation. Had a look for the discs once but to no avail. They aren't really necessary now with the internet but it was still convenient. I still have a spindle with fifty discs left though, mostly AJW Classics and some random stuff that has ended up there like a set of all the WON MOTY winners.

 

Anyway, I'm rambling, but the moral is to think before throwing things out, and that Sean Waltman will thus likely not be reevaluated into making a place on my list.

[Grimmas]

I hope people give Waltman a chance. His early pre-WWF run is better than you would expect in working a variety of styles. He was a highlight in his WWF run, wasn't very good in WCW, and then was really good in the WWE again but had the "X-Pac heat" shit going on.

 

Everytime I watch a Waltman match I am amazed at how great he is in controlling the crowd through timing of hope spots and comebacks.

[goodhelmet]

He just misses out on my Top 100 since Idon't have a personal connection to him and I don't think his peak was Wrestler of the Year level.

[Loss]

He was an absolute prodigy early in his career. It's the 1991 Global stuff with Lynn that has gotten the most play since more people have seen it, but he was phenomenal in PWA against Jerry Lynn in various matches. He had a match with Wellington Wilkins that is pretty high concept for U.S. wrestling, and something I'd recommend everyone check out. Then, in 1992-1993 he had strong matches in Universal and against Sabu before having his WWF run that most people have seen. I'm not one for really factoring wrestler comments into my opinions, but when so many guys have talked about how the company used him as the barometer to see who could and couldn't work, and then you watch footage and see how that's true, I think there's absolutely something to be said for that. He never reached his full potential as a worker because his personal life was in shambles much of the time, but he had a great grasp of psychology and knew how to get the most out of his athleticism. I wouldn't advocate him for the top 80 or so of a ballot, but for what it's worth, I think his 1990s surpasses that of Eddy Guerrero when taken in full. If Eddy is getting on your list on the strength of his 1990s -- meaning he'd place even without the WWE run -- you owe it to yourself to watch some more Sean Waltman.

[peachchaos]

Speaking of comparing Waltman and Guerrero...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WvtOltK3W0

[Grimmas]

Is anyone else putting Waltman on the list?

 

He's easily on mine anywhere from 50-90.

 

He's just an amazing babyface with great offense, selling and hope spots. Add to that he was a great slimy heel too with some subtle offense changes to get that over.

 

He had great tag and singles matches. You think the peak is short, but it was 5 years at minimum. Lots of good stuff post peak (96) too. His X-Pac run is really under rated, especially carrying a team with Kane.

[NotJayTabb]

Waltman is in my 55-60 section, think he's just been too reliably good not to be

[Childs]

He's looking like a "next 25" guy for me. He was a strikingly precocious worker in his early indy days and a heck of a TV worker in his 1-2-3 Kid run, but I haven't found anything he did after that compelling. His highs weren't quite high enough to make up for the letdown that was the second half of his career.

[InYourCase]

He's easily on mine anywhere from 50-90.

This is my issue with Waltman. He'll be on my list. He's way too good to not be on there, but I have no clue where he should be. I'm thinking he'll end up in the 60-70 range but I could buy an argument for him finishing in my high 50's.

[Matt D]

Is there any post-WWE Waltman that's necessary to see?

[El McKell]

Is there any post-WWE Waltman that's necessary to see?

​The El Generico match from Chikara's King of Trios 2011

[Jimmy Redman]

Also a TNA PPV match vs AJ Styles in 2005.

[Grimmas]

An upper half person for me in 2016, and they will most likely make my list again.

To me, one of the greatest underneath wrestlers and the BEST at hope spots. Just love watching them as a face. As a heel also super impressive. Also they stayed good for a lot longer than we thought.

[Kadaveri]

I don't think he stayed 'good' as a whole in his later career really. He was still capable of good performances, but there's a lot more crap in his TNA run at least.

[The Man in Blak]

On 3/7/2016 at 1:21 PM, Childs said:

He's looking like a "next 25" guy for me. He was a strikingly precocious worker in his early indy days and a heck of a TV worker in his 1-2-3 Kid run, but I haven't found anything he did after that compelling. His highs weren't quite high enough to make up for the letdown that was the second half of his career.

Yeah, this is basically where I landed with Waltman last time around. I figure I'm going to catch more of his TNA work, as I'm trying to do a more thorough journey through TNA/Impact footage this time around, but so much of his WWF and WCW work after 1997 left me cold.

Also, what are the standout heel performances to check out for Waltman? One of the reasons he barely missed my list last time around was that I thought he was disastrous as a heel in general (and especially late in his WWE run with X-Factor).

[Stiva]

I love Waltman but the depth of the field this time around has me reconsidering. He really was a phenomenal babyface, right out of the gate but I feel like I need to watch more of his 2000 heel run where he was positioned opposite Jericho for a couple of months and his TNA work before he hits my ballot this time round.

[strobogo]

5 hours ago, The Man in Blak said:

Yeah, this is basically where I landed with Waltman last time around. I figure I'm going to catch more of his TNA work, as I'm trying to do a more thorough journey through TNA/Impact footage this time around, but so much of his WWF and WCW work after 1997 left me cold.

Also, what are the standout heel performances to check out for Waltman? One of the reasons he barely missed my list last time around was that I thought he was disastrous as a heel in general (and especially late in his WWE run with X-Factor).

X-Pac vs The Rock at Capital Carnage 1998 is excellent work from both guys, standing out all the more because it's on an atrocious UK PPV. It's under 15 minutes and is probably the best Attitude Era title match that didn't involve Austin or Foley, imo.