Van Hammer

[6.0] "Van Hammer was one of those wrestlers who looked like a star the second he stepped through the curtain. He had the size, the rock-star presentation, and a charisma that made people pay attention, especially during his early WCW run. At his best, he brought a fun energy and connected with the crowd in a simple, straightforward way. But he also struggled with consistency in the ring, and his push often felt bigger than what he was ready for, which led to some uneven performances and stalled momentum. Even so, he carved out a memorable place in early-90s WCW, and fans who grew up with that era still remember him fondly for his look, his vibe, and the charm he brought to the show. I think his downfall was complaining about being called Private Stash in MIA instead of being a higher rank. I kinda liked Van Hammer."

[0.0] "A meathead. No talent real talent must work through the card up and down, this guy has stayed in the very middle. And he was lucky to have that. He started with a nice hair metal rock and roll persona but in the 90s where it was dying out. Van went from being a bodyguard, an outcast, a hobo and then major stash. Although he had a IWGP heavyweight title shot on NITRO against SCOTT flash NORTON which thankfully didnt win, noooooooo achievements at all. This guy had a showcase match back in the 90s against Doug Somers on ppv that was a disaster until the pinfall from almost botched slingshot suplex. This guy was just horrible. All counts say he was decent enough person to get along with, still pretty bad. (Here on out is an update.) THIS GUY WAS WORST THAN MY ORIGINAL RATING. This guy doesnt have a single talent in his body or outside the ring. The worst student Boris Malenko ever trained. Look at his match against Big Sky, I dare you to stay awake for a min. And his interference in the DDP/Raven cage match was even more worst. He never had a single receivable match even with Scott Norton. BAD, the worst male wrestler I ever seen."

[3.0] "Van Hammer is one of those guys where he seemed like a perfect fit into a puzzle peace. A good look, A good body. Everything a promoter needed back in the days. But Van was another case of just because your big doesn't mean your gonna be the best! He worked mostly for WCW for the majority of his career before getting let go in 2000 for the second time and vanishing into independent wrestling limbo for the rest of his career showing up in some NWA shows. He was a rockstar, a hippie, a generic big guy heel and a major in a comedic Army group. They gave him many characters to work with but he never managed to take off with them. His in-ring work was also not that impressive due to the generic feeling behind all of it. He's mostly just been forgotten by wrestling fans other than the negatives in his career. Kind of a shame, He had potential but he couldn't figure out how to put two and two together."

[5.0] "There are two pluses I have to give Van Hammer. One was as a child with only a limited tape collection to watch wrestling on, I was fascinated by the fall count anywhere match with Cactus Jack. Second, the names. Heavy Metal Van Hammer just sounded cool and I cannot explain how hilarious I find the fact that he thought he was too good to be a Private in the Misfits in Action so he became General Stash and completely negated the pot joke."

[3.0] "He got a little better in early 99 when they ditched the hippie gimmick and tried pushing him as a big muscle heel. It didn't go anywhere like the rest of his career."

[2.0] "Van Hammer was one of the first guys I really wanted to like upon his introduction (I was always a headbanger) but was abruptly absolutely confounded by his extreme lack of skill or even "comfort" in the ring. The stark contrast between my desire to want to like him - and his incredulously bad ring work was almost too much for my own brain to handle. One of the worst workers to receive some form of push EVER. His runs were sporadic and each rather short lived, only memorable because he was legitimately AWFUL. He didn't spend much time in the ring and when he did - it never seemed like he ever improved much. 2 Points for that wild Cactus Jack match at Clash of the Champions 18, otherwise all signs point to "total loss"."

[1.0] "Horribly horrible. His '91 run was one of the worst runs in the history of professional wrestling. In '92-'93 he was terrible but not horrible. In '98 he was just a body, same thing happened in '00. In 2001 he got through WWF developmental? How? And he even did a 20 minute match? ! Poor guys that saw him. I'm going to give him a 1 because of his look, but I'm extremely generous because he was so botchy. I hope he gets better with his alcoholism"

[4.0] "As a kid watching WCW I thought Van Hammer was tremendous, until my Dad pointed out that never played his guitar. As time went on it became more obvious that Hammer was trying hard but could hardly do anything in the ring. His 0:35 second drubbing at the hands of a returning Sid Vicious at Slamboree 1993 was the last time I can recall seeing him until he bizarrely re-emerged in Raven's flock (Complete with nipple rings) a few years later. He bumbled around the midcard after that until finally being let go by WCW in the summer of 2000. Hammer had a hand in training the Brisco Brothers but has largely remained out of the spotlight since his retirement."

[5.0] "I thought he had a great look, everything else was not so great. They tried a bunch of things with him, nothing got over."

[1.0] "Ugh, Van Hammer was bad. I used to compare him to DDP in terms of looks, but he was no where near DDP in terms of talent. It's fascinating to me that he was able to stay in WCW for as long as he did because he was a poor excuse of a wrestler. They gave him a somewhat interesting character while he was in the Flock, but he could never back up his imposing look with decent matches. Hammer sucked, end of story."

[3.0] "Other than the fact that having a big brute in the stable, Hammer was the least interesting part of Raven's Flock and later the Misfits."

[3.0] "Hammer was a big, powerful dude, but lacked the finesse and charisma to make it past the undercard ranks. Mostly notable as an enforcer-type for Raven's Flock and the Misfits in Action. For me, though, his career highlight was the hippie gimmick - I thought he played it perfectly and enjoyed it far more than I probably should have."

[2.0] "Good late 80's/early 90's look but apart from that... yep, not much really. The Van Hammer gimmick fizzled away rather quickly partly because it was poorly received by fans and partly because Van Hammer apparently developed a serious attitude problem which made him even harder to work with. After a 3-4 years hiatus he was back in WCW during the Monday Night Wars when they were signing pretty much everybody to avoid them going over to the WWE (because Van Hammer was such an amazing gimmick, right? ) and got squashed left and right by pretty much everybody from Curt Hennig (fine) to Vampiro (not so fine). Seeing such a huge man lose in under 5 minutes from much smaller, albeit usually far more skilled opponent was kinda ironic as the WCW in those days was seeing the swansong of the big men era. In the final days of the WCW he became Major Stash, a stoner gimmick which went absolutely nowhere together with other memorable characters such as Captain Rection. Two point because of the giggles that stupid gimmick gave me but nothing more."

[3.0] "great look, charisma was goofy and wrestling skills were sub par. Felt like he was pushed down the fans throats, and did nothing memorable."

[0.0] "Van Hammer had a good look, but that was the only good thing about it. Wait, I take that back; he had a good head of hair."

[3.0] "A sad case of someone who might have eventually been a good wrestler but was pushed FAR too soon. He was as green as they come, but was put in the midcard before he was ready. They should have let him develop his skills and character, then slowly moved him up the ranks. Instead he just became a comedy wrestler. Major stash? Geez, a comedy bit based on someone with lots of drugs. He'd come out in military outfits looking stoned, Then say "Don't worry I have enough for everyone". Then when they started catching heat for promoting drug use, he became Private Stash. Apparently that was supposed to be better."