Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

The awesomeness of Scott Norton


stro

Recommended Posts

I was always a fan of Norton as a kid, mostly because if he was on TV, he was going to be murdering dudes and bouncing. He was huge and scary and had an awesome move set for Revenge. Over the years of actually covering wrestling, I've come to develop a great appreciation for him.

 

Not only was he an incredible bruiser with wonderful powermoves, but he tried so hard with his bumping and selling, going way beyond the level of a normal guy his size, and often his own talent levels. He was so earnest in his attempts that he could be a genuinely sympathetic FIP while being a barrel chested monster who could snap people in half. His work, particularly from around 1992-1997, both in WCW and NJPW, is a real treat to watch. He just tried so hard that it's impossible not to like him. He and his wife are also very nice people to fans on social media. I have a large collection of Norton gifs, and I'd like to open up discussion on what people think of him in comparison to other big men of his era, or just good memories of Scott Norton.

 

 

EHZwvn7.gifdax59nY.gif

MCVBhNN.gifxkKvmAL.gif

Oc1RvWp.gifboRmzcD.gif

3Zea6aF.gifEWnLL5C.gif

20cFzzK.gifkzJWzvn.gif

t2yK20E.gifj0FFngj.gif

 

I'm not going to say he's an all time great or anything, but man, he's a guy I'm going to consistently enjoy pretty much against anyone, because I know exactly what I'm going to get from him and I'm going to love seeing dudes get splattered. The running gag of him coming out and beating the shit out of The Cat for months is one of my favorite WCW side angles of all time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Every time I think of Norton, I think of that Cat angle. I remember loving the time that the NWO B-team decided to tell Norton that Miller was calling him out, when he was actually doing no such thing, just because they enjoyed watching him beat Cat up. Then the Cat knocked him out with loaded slippers. Such a fun angle

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a young mark in the late 1990's, my buddies and I were always convinced that Norton was the toughest dude in the world.

 

I'm with NJT as far as loving that whole angle with The Cat. it starts with Miller just talking his usual smack, and Nash decides to tell Norton that Miller called him out, so Norton kicked his ass. The next week, he really did call him out, and Norton kicked his ass again. By the third week, Miller came prepared and KO'd him with a pipe.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got to see Scott Norton Vs. Goldberg live at a Thunder taping, which was pretty cool. I was also the high vote on Scott Norton in the GWE voting & people thought I was crazy... but I've always been a mark for him. I have always been a fan of the big bruiser style. It's part of why I like Braun & Rusev nowadays. Scott Norton is one of those guys where he might not have the best match but if he comes out, I'm not changing the dial until whatever he is doing is over. He was so ox strong it was sick & everything he did looked like death. Shoulder-Breaker, Powerslam, Powerbomb... even his chops. Dude is a beast.

 

Also when I was in high school lifting weights (which seems many years and many pounds ago for sure) Scott Norton looked like what I aspired to look like. His chest is just ridiculously massive. He was also a legit arm wrestler.

 

I think my favorite kind of pro-wrestling match is when it's a big bruiser against a wrestler that has to try to outwit or outmaneuver him. Eddie Guerrero Vs. Brock Lesnar being a good example. In those matches, my favorite part generally tends to be when the monster cuts the plucky wrestler off & finally gets his hands on him. The Giant was pretty good at it too but Norton had this aura about him, where when he finally got his hands on someone, you felt like it might just be over. I remember genuinely feeling bad for The Cat when Norton chopped his chest & busted all of those blood vessels. :D

 

Norton has some pretty good matches too. I mean, he's no Big Van Vader but I don't think the distance between him & guys like Bam Bam Bigelow, John Tenta or Big Boss Man is that vast. He's also decent in tags where he's the guy the babyfaces don't wanna see get tagged in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hirose Hase & Kensuke Sasaki vs Rick Steiner & Scott Norton sometime in 1990 is an excellent match and a thousand times better than the überoverrated Dome show match from the same year. The fact Norton subbed for Scott gave the match a whole new dynamic instead of just being a stupid Steiner spotfest, and it turned into the natives vs two gaijin monsters. Hase being the worker he was back then, and Sasaki being game as hell made it a most surprising quality match. Probably best Norton match ever too.

 

And yeah, that Cat running gag was quite funny. Then again, The Cat was gold. Always liked Norton too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

Late to the topic, but I was also a big fan. I liked his team with Hercules.

 

One thing that I always enjoyed was the way he would go over the top rope to follow a guy to the outside. He had a unique way. Instead of stepping over he would often...I don't know, bounce? off of it and slide to the outside?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Every time I see Norton I like him even more. He really feels like an under the radar pick for one of Hashimoto's best opponents. I mean, he had the strikes to match up in a way that a lot of Hash's New Japan opponents didn't really have, he had the aura of a guy who could conceivably crush most people, he could fling Hash around, and he was willing to take the ugliest brainbusters possible (evident from some of those gifs up top).

 

There's a Norton/Tenzan v Hashimoto/Ogawa tag from 2002 - might actually be Hashimoto's last appearance in New Japan - that I had no real expectations for and it turned out to be completely awesome. I had no idea Norton had much of anything left in the tank at that point, but he was totally great in it and took a completely fucking insane bump off an STO/leg sweep double team. It's a killer match and a super performance from Norton.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He was so raw when he debuted in the AWA I honestly didn't know what he would do long-term as a wrestler. The 1989-90 AWA put a lot of people in a spotlight situation that they were not ready for. Norton was sooooo strong, they played up his arm wrestling background right out of the gate and it was pretty effective in making you notice him. And he handled his place on the card pretty well.

I did not expect him to continue to get better and get to the place in wrestling he ended up getting to. He was sort of like Leon White that way, someone that had "something" going when they started in the business, but seemed more fad-ish than something that they could grow and develop and make a career out of.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really loved his 3/19/16 NJPW match against Giant Bernard. He was clearly on his retirement tour (I don't think he worked 10 more matches with New Japan, and maybe no more singles matches), and he couldn't move nearly as well as he used to be able to, and had packed on some weight...but damn did he go out and burn it down. He takes a brutal bump off the apron into the guardrail, gets a big goose egg, really comes off as sympathetic despite still being a monster.

 

I love matches where the old vet is being challenged by a "young" guy, and this had the added emotion of a former top gaijin being roughed up by the current top gaijin, and Norton's performance made it feel like a huge deal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...