Honky Tonk Man

[4.0] "Decent, albeit corny, promos but generated good heat. It couldn't have worked in any other era past 1989 and in fact, it didn't. Why they had him sit on the IC title for a year and some change is a mystery. It sure as shit wasn't his work rate. Interestingly the only notable matches he had in that entire reign were the first and last."

[4.0] "I'm a bit surprised of how much of a run Honky had as IC champ. Obviously he could handle the spotlight with no problem. But the character and the work rate just wasn't anything that stuck out to me. He was solid and fine for what he was, but even having a long IC run was probably not the best idea."

[9.0] "Honky Tonk Man always had a great promo and a good bit of story to tel in and out of the ring, longest ever Intercontinental champion for a long time, and was a good hand in his time to have around and in ring"

[7.0] "My Rating 7.0: Honky Tonk man made a long career being promoted as the longest reigning intercontinental champion. I am amazed of how he could still stay entertaining while he was getting old. He definitely was more of a promo guy and you can find so many good shoot interviews with him on youtube."

[4.0] "He was a great Intercontinental Champion (even then, only because of his booking), that's the only positives I can give him. Aside from that? This guy sucked. He was a mediocre wrestler at best in the ring, forgettable promo and his gimmick sucked (despite that I love Elvis Presley's music). His entire legacy revolves around a title reign that would have never happened if Butch Reed was there to beat Ricky Steamboat, or even if Steamboat didn't take time off from WWF. I know he wrestled in Memphis, and maybe he was great over there, but I honestly don't have any desire to watch anymore Honky Tonk Man matches."

[5.0] "Honky was average at best in WWF and WCW. Hi Elvis gimmick was fairly unique but not a ton of substance to the character. His body build was not very intimidating, and his finisher was mediocre at best and many time not very believable. That being said he was entertaining at times and did the job as a cowardly heel cham with the IC belt."

[5.0] "A perfectly acceptable heel though not one who should have ever had the IC title, much less hold the record for more than 30 years. His theme music was pretty good at least."

[7.0] "For a brief moment The Honky Tonk Man was THE ALL TIME HEAT KING. I was there in the 80's when entire crowds wanted to murder him before he even spoke. He could sell his ass off too... unfortunately outside of that small blip of time, he has done absolutely nothing. Reliving it all is rather fun though I must confess. There is a hilarious "must watch" match on Primetime Wrestling: When he was booked as a face against Mr. X, it was the masked man who got all of the cheers; that's natural heat baby! haha! EDIT: Watching again (and again and on and on! ), his whole early WWF run is gold. He will sometimes surprise you with legitimately good matches & every altercation with Randy Savage is recommended. Also, that perpetually out of tune guitar pops me every single time and an interview segment without it feels empty. *CHeuUnNG! * 6.75"

[7.0] "I gave HTM a 7 he had a good run in WWF as intercontinental champion. His match with Savage on Saturday Nights MAIN EVENT was instrumental in the MegaPowers team up. In Memphis he was very entertaining and showed signs of the charismatic persona he'd evolv into"

[5.0] "Honky Tonk Man was a pretty good wrestler overall. By far his best quality was his charisma and character work which was what lead to all of his success. He struggled in the ring but for his era he was good enough especially if he got to work with guys like Steamboat and Savage."

[7.0] "Really fun gimmick with a solid IC reign. One of the original dastardly heels, always building a character throughout his match, and drew some great heat through always taking cheap shots. His skills on the mic aren't the best for someone with as elaborate a gimmick as the Honky Tonk Man is his only issue."

[9.0] "The greatest Intercontinental Champion of All Time, And decent promo guy to boot, Youre probably wondering why I consider Him to be the The Goat of the IC Title, While His title defends where good for a heel, And yes His wrestling left a lot to be desired, At the end of the day He is a great entertainer, Oh and His shoot interviews with Sean Oliver on Youshoot and When Worlds Collide Vol 2 are the stuff of internet legend. I see no flaws in Him. 9/10"

[7.0] "Pretty cool gimmick and made it work unlike Fuck Zumhofe. He was pretty smooth in the ring but his finisher sucked ass. His IC Title Reign should be praised more. Although his physique isn't great but he wasn't out of shape. I wasn't a fan of his commentary work neither."

[1.0] "I just don't like his stupid Elvis gimmick and his ring skills. He once held the Intercontinental Championship for 454 days, which his reign the longest in history. What? The Honky Tonk Man was never even average enough to win the IC title."

[5.0] "Jesse Ventura: What this guy lacks in ability, he makes up for being lucky. That was a perfect definition for the Honky Tonk Man character. Honky's style would be what I call "opportunistic" Not a speed or power wrestler, and was a coward who relied on distractions and cheap shots when a guy was down. Charisma and look carried him and he looked great with that IC title! Once Warrior figured out the best way to beat a guy like this is to just bum rush him and squash him, he just became another mid card jobber in the rogues gallery."

[5.0] "The Honkey Tonk Man is a one hit wonder who was able to be a pretty disliked heel to elevate the Ultimate Warrior. His work in Memphis ranges from "meh" and his post-WWF career absolutely sucks. I guess being cousins with Jerry Lawler gets you far."

[9.0] "Honky Tonk Man is a legend. He is great at promos and drawing heat. He overshadowed his below avg in ring skills with his charisma and promos."

[5.0] "Was entertaining enough at his peak but the Gimmick was one dimensional and hot stale. Longest reigning intercontinental champion ever due to retaining the title mostly by count out or dq."

[6.0] "Wayne Farris will probably most be known for his gimmick of The Honky Tonk man, but he actually had a good run in both in the southern territories and in Calgary before settling into the gimmick he would be most known for. Farris was never an elite level worker, but he was an excellent villain who you wanted to see get clobbered, which was never as clear as during his run with the WWF Intercontinental Title in the 80's. Farris was hugely successful in that role, and would regularly draw big crowds during his Title run as people hated him so much that they'd be willing to spend their hard earned money to see someone finally take that Title from him. Both the character and his in-ring work began to show its age as wrestling moved into the 90's, but his work in the 70's and 80's has stood up to the test of time in my opinion and he remains one of the more colourful and important characters of the WWF's 80's boom period"

[5.0] "He was fine if facing somebody trained in the same Memphis Southern Style. Not great, but fine for those who like that style of pro-wrestling. If facing anybody with a different style he was pretty weak and Vince McMahon did well in booking him the way he did to cover up his shortcomings. The whole evil Elvis Impersonator act was perfectly fine for the cartoonish 80's WWF but had run its course by 1990 and Honky Tonk Man was wise enough to leave the WWF at the end of the year. His 1994 WCW stint was pretty awful though as his feud with Marc Mero highlighted all the limits of the Memphis Southern Style and HTM was already suffering from tear and wear on his body making him far from the most compelling performer. All in all he did pretty well for himself and while far from a giant in the ring at least tried to give folks their money worth."

[6.0] "The Honky Tonk gimmick didn't really work for me. It was too much on-the-nose. No nuance or subtlety. His claim to fame is holding the IC title for so long, but let's face it... during his run WWE simply didn't prioritize that title much. Jake was who they wanted to hold the title, but he had some drug issues at the time & missed out due to that. They had no one else in mind, so Honky just held the title for so long by default. To his credit, he was able to get a lot of heel heat & did have decent matches with the likes of Santana & Steamboat."

[7.0] "His in ring abilities were nothing memorable but during an era with flamboyance and big personalities ruled the hour HTM was one of the elite. He had excellent heel charisma, mannerisms, and could bump. Honky was given a gimmick that should have failed, and ran with it."

[7.0] "A fantastic midcard heel act, Honky had a solid in-ring skill set in the '80s style, but his greatest strength by far was his personality, look and character, all of which he completely mastered. His still-record IC Title run was a classic heel title reign, with the fans putting money down hoping to finally see him lose, only for him to find a way to leave with the belt. When a popular babyface (Ultimate Warrior, in this case) finally did get one over on him to take the belt, it got over huge. Aside from his Memphis and WWF runs, he had a short run in WCW, and to this day still makes nostalgia appearances on the indy scene and at conventions (and even had a random cameo in Lucha Underground! )."

[6.0] "Whilst best known for his 80s run in the WWF, and a short run in WCW, Honky used to be a good worker and talker in his earlier days, and he was part of one of wrestling's most famous angles during his Memphis run."

[5.0] "I thought he was a good heel getting a lot of heat every night. Good on mic. Not the best in ring, but he didn't need to be. A comedy gimmick that got over well, but I'd give more credit for that to Jimmy Hart."

[5.0] "How he was IC champion for so long is beyond me but as a comedy act he was pretty good. Always entertaining but never because of his in ring work. Not bad but certainly not the best."

[9.0] "To the ones commenting HTM as worthless and poor performer, etc. this is what a real heel looks like. Honky does his best work as a heel. I can't think of a better performer in the golden era better at getting heat with a crowd than Honky. Honky could piss you off and make you boo him just by looking at the camera, and IMO that is the mark of a real heel. The Miz is the only active wrestler I can think of that has the ability to get heat as well as Honky did in his day. Honkytonk Man.... Ain't he great!"

[1.0] "I can't vouche for his earliest work, but I can say I really do not like this man or his in ring work. The Honky Tonk Man was never good enough to hold the IC title as long as he has and that his record hasn't been overtaken is a crying shame. Sure he has something of a grasp on psychology but the mans just not that good, and I doubt he was good in his youth either. Hes had precisely one match that I didn't think was completely worthless and that was his Lumberjack Match with Ricky Steamboat, and that was only worth a watch because he had someone as good as Steamboat to carry him and it was a title change."

[0.0] "The only thing he was good at was the shoot interviews he has had and very truth about the wrestling business and blunt. He complains a lot and does not like certain wrestlers. I never liked him as a wrestler. Just bland in his fighting style. With an Elvis Presley impersonator gimmick and a guitar that is more showing than wrestling. "The Greatest Intercontinental Champion" bullshit, there are way better champions than him. Like Pedro Morales, Macho Man, Tito Satana, Ricky Steamboat, Warrior, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Goldust, Ken Shamrock, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrerro, Edge, and Dean Ambrose, etc. He is still wrestling because of money and treat fans poorly. Stingy selfish Grinch!"

[9.0] "His Stampede years were brilliant. He came in as a friend and a face of the Harts and Dr. D David Schultz. Turned on them, and became an all time great heel. He was not Elvis at this point. He was still the Honky Tonk Man and he was fantastic on the mic. He also could make his matches absolutely brilliant with his comedic selling of his opponents offence. It is a shame that eventually, the WWF/E turned him into a cartoony version of Elvis and held him him to that. Had they let the man do the type of work in Stampede, his run in WWE would carry even more merit. He was a yes man in the WWF, a guy that did what he was told, sold his gimmick the way they told him to. In Stampede he was badass southerner who looked a bit like Elvis, but could bring the entire crowd to its feet with either his moves or his antics. His team with Rotten Ron Starr remains his greatest work, including the IC title run, imo. He smoked cigars, he rattled off poetry, he ranted and raved to Ed Whalen about all of the injustices of working against the Hart family. He was excellent in the role. When someone hands you a bucket of cash and says "Well, can you be more cartoony and pretend you are Elvis? " after working for likely 75 dollars a show previously, you don't question it. You take it and cooperate."

[8.0] "Good gimmick and a great worker Honky Tonk Man is one of the most memorable midcarders of the 80s. The longest reigning ic champ. His shoot interviews are pure gold and i think everyone should see them."

[7.0] "Entertaining character, though a very basic in ring worker and he never did a lot in the ring with anyone, with the exception of Savage. Even still, his ring work was less important than the overall character... His shoot interviews are among the most entertaining to me, especially the one he did with Raven."

[7.0] "Just OK. Had some in ring and mic skills. Added a dimension of humor at times. Adding one point for the signature guitar slam over the head. Had some nice longevity and was clearly a hard worker. The gimmick in and of itself, however really only went so far."

[7.0] "Decent worker with no major upsides and an ageless gimmick. Bonuspoint for speaking his mind in the shoot interviews."