Leatherface

[6.0] "Corporal Kirchner was satisfactory; hence the 6 rating. Nothing spectacular but he does fall on the favorable side of 5 (mediocre) since I do have fond memories of watching him as a kid. I used to love Prime Time Wrestling with Gorilla and The Brain and it seemed he was always one of the regular mainstays of that broadcast. He was a good looking guy with a great body, too. Easy on the eyes. The marine schtick wasn't revolutionary and he never seemed to get enough charisma to ascend higher. RIP to Michael James Penzel."

[5.0] "Penzel would be on the character side of the wrestling spectrum, with in-ring work on the other side. Apart from nearly killing Hiroshi Ono in a Double Hell Deathmatch with a bed of nails, his ring work isn't particularly notable. However, Penzel's character work is where everything comes together. Watch one of his Leatherface entrances or promos and you'll see what I mean: the guy knew how to portray a character and do it well. Not everyone can be a main event star, which is okay; sometimes all that is needed is to be entertaining, and Penzel was certainly that."

[6.0] "I absolutely do not like the gimmick of Corporal Kirchner, who came to replace Sgt.Slaughter, but Michael got used to the role of a mad maniac with a chainsaw just amazing. He was a man of few words, but his interviews were frightening, he was not particularly good in the ring, but he was not openly weak, he interacted very well with the audience, inspiring fear on people who came to watch the show. He had a good run in FMW, where he became a champion and was a member of villainous groups that were at the plain view. He also had experience performing in WING and IWA Japan. A good match to his most popular character does not allow me to put a score below 6."

[5.0] "Cpl. Kirchner was on the first show I ever watched live and part of this review is because of nostalgia. In hindsight, I recognize the WWF was trying to recapture that Sgt. Slaughter magic, but didn't succeed. Kirchner had a good look and good charisma. He's basically only remembered for his feud with Nikolai Volkoff and then being jobbed out until he left the WWF, but I always rooted for the guy, even after the WWF had given up on him. I've not seen much of his Leatherface work, but it's probably not my thing as it sounds like garbage wrestling. But I loved his character of Cpl. Kirchner."

[1.0] "As Corporal Kirchner had the look, i mean really - good looking, ruggedly handsome guy with piercing eyes and an impressive physique. Even had mic skills that were smooth in delivery and confident. But ah his work rate ... he sucked. No one could drag a good match out of him; no matter their level of talent, he constantly exposed his lack thereof. Even Harley Race couldn't get much from him. As Leatherface he worked garbage matches that I do not consider wrestling. He had so much potential with that look and the mic skills, but made Lex Luger seem like Shelton Benjamin at times. (Fkn CLUMSY! )"

[4.0] "Not good in ring skills. He just felt like we cant get Slaughter back so this is the closest we have. Leatherface was another not very original Gimmick."

[6.0] "He was the wrestler Leatherface? I had no idea. I thought he was pretty good as the Corporal character. I enjoyed how he wasn't a drill sergeant like Slaughter, but more like a real soldier. I don't know how well that really worked with the crowd, but I was like 8 years old and I thought it was great."

[5.0] "Completely devoid of any personality. I know he had a Leatherface gimmick in Japan but I only knew him as Corporal Kirchner. I can see why other wrestlers referred to him as stiff and that might be his one saving grace. Otherwise he was one of the most boring stars of the era."

[8.0] "With his Leatherface gimmick Kirchner portrayed one of my favorite wrestling characters of all times. 9 times out of 10 his entrance would last at least half as long as the match, and why not? His entrance probably was the most exciting things. He'd come out with a snorring chainsaw and would go immediately into the crowd scarring the living hell outta everybody. The Japanese loved the brutal Leatherface gimmick and so do I. There wasn't much wrestling involved in his matches in Japan but man were his matches awesome. He'd clime up unstable scaffoldings to fight and powerbombed guys on beds of nails. The guy is a pure brawler. 90% of his matches took place outside the ring, right in the crowd. Kirchner IS Leatherface. Many have portrayed the character but none of them have come close to the brutal charisma that Kirchner brought to the gimmick."

[6.0] "He was fun as Leatherface in Japan, wasn't too bothered with the rest of his work. Legend has it that he was 1 of the toughest wrestlers WWE ever had, to a point that many were scared to work with him."