WCW Region, Sydney Subregion, First Round: (8) Dusty Rhodes vs. (25) Brian Pillman

[klunderbunker]

This is a first round match in the WCW Region, Sydney Subregion. It is a standard one on one match. It will be held at the Kingdome in Sydney, Australia.

#8. Dusty Rhodes

Vs.

#25. Brian Pillman

​

Polls will be open for three days following a one day period for discussion. Voting will be based on who you feel is the greater of the two competitors. Post your reasons for why your pick should win below. Remember that this is non-spam and the most votes in the poll win. Any ties will be broken by the amount of posts of support for each candidate, with one vote per poster.

Also remember that this is a non-spam forum. If you post a response without giving a reason for your selection, it will be penalized for spam and deleted.

 

[Con T.]

CM Punk tosses and turns at night, dreaming he could be a watered down version of Brian Pillman.

Now with that, said, this is a battle of head and heart. Part of my love for AJ Styles is because, for some weird reason, it gives me the belief that Brian Pillman would have been world champion material in this era. And part of my disinterest in CM Punk is likely because I see an attempt to be Brian Pillman.... And I miss Brian Pillman. As cliche as this sounds, if Brian could have put everything together, with his awesome ring work and promos that legitimately ushered in a new era of wrestling, Brian Pillman could have revolutionized the wrestling business even more.

I say even more, because in a lot of ways, he already has. Fuck, I would even argue Steve Austin wanted to try and channel Brian Pillman at times, and just couldn't. I honestly believe he's one of the most talented performers to ever grace a squared cirlcle.

But so is Dusty. And without Dusty, there is no Rock, there probably isn't Hulk Hogan as we know it, there may not be a John Cena as we know it. Hell, Dusty Rhodes changed for the all of us the way babyfaces do business. I think you could make an argument that next to Hogan and Austin, Dusty is the greatest babyface of all time.

Dusty wins this, god damn it. I love you, Brian

 

[supernatural1981]

Ohhh why why why did these two legends have to be drawn together in this match??? Couldnt one of them of got the genius FFS.

Anyway we have one of the greatest stick men in the industry who had so many legendary fueds i have lost count against a man who is rightly credited by the IWC as being one of the attitude eras creators.

This is the toughest one for me to pick from because i friggin love Dusty and Brian is one of my fave wrestlers from as a kid.

Flyin Brian Pillman had some matches with Thunder Liger that really brought home to me just how good the light heavys could be. Star in japan, WCW, ECW and would of been huge in the WWF during the attitude era if he would of lived. Oh and the hollywood blonds are one of my fave tag teams ever.

Im sorry man but i gotta go with my heart and Dusty gets my vote because the guy changed the whole way promos were delivered. He had some of the best matches with the horsemen during the 80's and could still go during his ECW years with Steve Corino

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Where's all this "legend" stuff come from in regards to Brian Pillman? There was nothing remotely legendary about the guy. Like a lot of wrestlers, Brian Pillman is someone whose overall abilities and influence have been vastly exaggerated due to nostalgia. Not saying that the guy couldn't wrestle in his prime, we all know he could, but he's not a legend. Liger is a light heavyweight/junior heavyweight/cruiserweight legend, Mysterio is a light heavyweight/junior heavyweight/cruiserweight legend, Ultimo Dragon is a light heavyweight/junior heavyweight/cruiserweight legend. Pillman isn't on the same level as those men were/are and it's not even close. Things might have been different had Pillman not gotten injured and/or made different choices in his personal life, but he didn't.

Okay, rant's over. It just irks me to see damn near everyone referred to as a legend when they didn't do anything legendary.

Dusty Rhodes, on the other hand, is a legend. While not a technical marvel in the ring, Rhodes used his natural charisma & blue collar background to become one of the most over wrestlers in the history of the NWA. He had between 50-60 different runs with various NWA singles & tag team championships throughout his career, including 3 runs as NWA World Heavyweight Champion, and had memorable feuds & matches with the likes of Superstar Billy Graham, Harley Race, Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, Abdullah The Butcher, Terry Funk, and so on.

Pillman was certainly the more athletic of the two overall, but Rhodes' chubby build didn't seem to affect his stamina to any appreciable degree. On star power alone, Dusty Rhodes takes this. Pillman will get his shots in, especially with some of his high flying stuff. He'd eventually make a mistake, however, and Dusty would capitalize on it to score the W.

 

[PsychoBlack]

Dusty gets this one. In neither of their primes would Pillman be able to defeat Rhodes. Dusty was one of the greatest and most influential wrestlers of all time. Pillman could go in the ring but he was never booked as a major threat to any main event star. Although in today's wrestling world he may have been a world champion. Dusty win sthi sone and rubs his tits for the bitches afterwards

 

[deem]

Aah good. For years i've heard Dusty talked about as some all time great worker and I've never got it. It just never clicked with me and the american dream. Great on the mic, sells well, as good a babyface as I've ever seen, but I've just never rated his work as highly as I thought everyone else did. Nice to hear someone say his work is average. I've watched a lot too.

I agree with everyone, Brian would of been absolutely huge if he had lived. He was perfectly suited to the attitude era and I really, really get the comparison with modern day CM Punk.

Owell, he never made it and this is another guy revered in the light heavyweight scene participating in a heavyweight tournament. Like Pyscho said, he just hasn't gone over enough notable heavyweight main eventers to even be considered to bump off Dusty here.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Pillman is the classic case of "what if?". What if he hadn't died early? What if he hadn't has the personal issues? Would he have ever been world champion? Was he too small? Was he in the wrong era? We will never know...

Now Dusty Rhodes we do know. A multi-time World Champion, one of the greatest stars ever to lace up a pair of boots, Dusty was a hero to fans the world over, and his charisma influenced so many of todays stars and even encouraged Ric Flair to get into the business- Flair initially wanted to call himself "Rambling Ricky Rhodes" as a tribute to Dusty.

You cannot compare the two. Pillman was a great talent but never got anywhere near his potential. Rhodes did it all, did it before, and did it better than pretty much anyone in his era, or arguably any era.

Winner: Dusty Rhodes

 

[Tastycles]

Dusty Rhodes was a world champion with an army of fans, and Brian Pillman is a guy who some people kind of thought was kind of cool for a while. Pillman might have been a big part of the ideas of the attitude era, but that doesn't really matter - the fact is his career never really reached any lofty heights, and by the time he had died he was just another face on the roster and had never been better that. Rhodes wins.

 

[The Brain]

More than Magnum TA, more than Owen Hart, more than Eddie Guerrero, Brian Pillman is the biggest "what if" in wrestling. Most people seem to think if he hadn't died in 1997 Brian Pillman would have been a huge star during the attitude era. While it's interesting to think of what could have been I think it's better for the tournament to focus on what actually was. Pillman was a great wrestler who did very well for himself in the mid card. He certainly had his finger on the pulse of the way the business was going. Too bad we didn't get to see what he could have accomplished. What he actually did accomplish does not compare to Dusty Rhodes. The Dream moves on to round two.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

3 time World Champ vs 2 time Light Heavyweight Champ... yeah... Dusty - easily!