Adrian Adonis

[5.0] "Before Curt Hennig and Shawn Michaels, you had Adrian Adonis bumping like a madman in the WWF. His pre 1986 stuff was quite good and was a good tag team with Dick Murdoch, then he let himself go and Vince Jr supposedly punished him by making him a gay character for letting himself turn into a fat tub of goo. Even when overweight, he could still bump like crazy. His premature death in a car accident robbed the world of a natural talent."

[10.0] "10s are reserved for those that always draw emotion out of me. It could be anger, extreme interest, or laughs. I give 10s to those I deem as better than 95% of the wrestlers I've watched as defined by those that draw emotion out of me. Indeed, only about 5% do that. Adonis always made me laugh. No matter if he was hosting the Flower Shop or wrestling. I did not watch him before he made his change to The Adorable One. I understand it was different. However, the fact that he made the courageous decision to play the character he did, was a very gutsy choice. It took confidence and determination to portray a controversial character like this in the 80s. Also, he was very agile for his size. This is exceptional as well. If I'm being honest and not looking at others' ratings, Adrian earns the outstanding rating of 10 without a doubt."

[9.0] "Crazy rating. Yes, he got fat and lazy in his last WWF stint, but before that, he was one of the best guys of the territory era. Went way too soon, too tragically, should be remembered as an all time great instead of for a silly gimmick during a silly era. His AWA run is amazing, as is his team with Jesse Ventura."

[9.0] "From 1981-1986, he was one of the best workers in any territory he was in. Good promo and tremendous wrestler in the ring. He was also a great tag worker with both Ventura and Murdoch. His matches against Bob Backlund as a main event heel were awesome !"

[8.0] "His infamous gimmick should not be affecting his rating this badly, he had an incredible career and could work amazingly, both before and after his weight gain. The tag team with Dick Murdoch was brillaint, and I really enjoyed his AWA work, I should check out his NJPW stuff."

"I just watched the Dark Side of the Ring Episode about Keith Franke aka Adrian Adonis. It's a shame more of the early voters weren't able to better understand what he was all about. Bret Hart called him a mentor and seemed incredibly impressed by what this man had achieved in his career. Anyone rating him very low I feel just didn't know enough about him. Wrestling isn't an easy life and at one point he allowed his weight to get out of control reaching 400 pounds. But he had managed to lose over 100 pounds and trying to make a comeback when he died far too soon in an automobile crash. His career trajectory was unfortunately not equal to his hall of fame talent. He was the real deal."

[9.0] "Was never going to be the guy who wow'd you physically because Adrian, unlike most from his era was not a body guy. He was more on the heavy set side, especially in his latter years, but under the same breath the stuff he could do in the ring being the size that he was was nothing short of incredible. His work rate was off the charts. He bumped around like a smaller guy and probably put more bumps on his bump card on a match to match basis for a guy his size than he really should've. And his selling of moves was so over the top, but so awesome to watch for a guy his size. He was wayyyy ahead of his time on that. He could hold his own on the mic when he needed to, but for the most part aside from maybe a couple exceptions, he was always tagging or paired with someone who could carry the weight of the promo themselves without him having to say too much."

[9.0] "Phenomenal worker and bumper, pretty good on the microphone too, and he could make every character he was given work. Not a fan of the North/South Connection, but thats due to the racist views of a certain Dick. The East-West connection with Ventura was far superior. I enjoyed his WWF Championship match against Backlund in January 1982, and unfortunately around 1983-84 is when Adonis gained a lot of weight. After that he went to the Adorable gimmick and like I said, he made it work, but it wasnt ever going to be taken seriously by the audience and it was clearly a punishment for his weight gain and his alleged homosexuality. Such a shame people held talent back for ridiculous reasons. RIP."

[8.0] "Adrian Adonis was an extremely underrated pro wrestler. Fantastic worker that could bump his a** off, especially for a big guy. His tag team with Jessie Ventura....Ventura would talk them into the building, then Adonis would work the match. Even when his weight ballooned, he was still a solid worker, that could still bump with the best of them. Check out his match in New Japan with Andre the Giant from June of 1984. Adonis looks like a junior heavyweight in the ring with Andre. He understood the psychology as well. Definitely gone before his time."

[7.0] "Strongly prefer his pre-Adorable incarnation. The dude could really go for his era and threw his body around with reckless abandon when he felt inspired. I didn't care much for his enhancement work/squash matches, the way he ate guys up wasn't my kind of "eating them up", uhm... hard to explain in just words, but I don't think he showcased his best offense in these matches. When put up against legitimate challengers like a Bob Backlund or a Scott Casey he could give you something compelling, notably good tag team worker as well. Very good stuff in the Blanchard/Southwest Championship Wrestling territory. His WWF tenure as "Adorable" Adrian left much to be desired in all possible implications but that's his most famous and well known role so... ouch. His stuff not touched by the hands of Vince McMahon JUNIOR is recommended"

[8.0] "Surprised at the low rating. A good hand who wrestled world wide, was saddled with a terrible gimmick late in his WWF career. He was on an excellent tag team with Ventura and a competent one with Murdoch. The North-South Connection had strong programs with the Samoans and Briscos. He also had a strong singles career with title runs at Hogan, Morales (IC) and Backlund. The Backlund program was top tier. He also had a red hot feud with Piper, culmunating a WM III. The Adorable Adrian gimmick costs him a point. RIP."

"Very unfortunate that he was saddled with that gimmick at the end of his career... That being said, he did a formidable job with the role he was given... He formed some excellent tag teams with the likes of Jesse Ventura and Dick Murdoch... A talented individual that was taken away much too soon."

[9.0] "Unfortunately remembered for his brief gay heel character, Adrian Adonis was a brilliant wrestler and even in that poorly aged storyline did everything he could to get it across well."

[9.0] "Adonis, while much maligned for his Adorable gimmick in WWF, was a great worker, bumper and heel. I strongly recommend seeking out his matches from AWA, his matches against Bob Backlund for the WWF title and his New Japan stuff."

[8.0] "Despite his large size, Adonis could bump around like crazy and get a meaningless or poor match over on his own. One of the most criminally underrated and underappreciated stars of the 80s. His feud with Piper was awesome. This guy deserves way more credit than given as far as I see."

[6.0] "Was not bad in AWA or the WWF before being burdened with the most homophobic Gimmick possible. Sadly this is what he will be remembered for."

[9.0] "Adrian is very underrated. Excellent selling, good abilities for his impressive size and charisma - the reason why he deserves a higher rating than the one he currently has. It's a crime to give him such low marks"

[8.0] "Hows this guy got a rating of 4, the people rating him 5 and below must only be rating on the gimmick he had in the E because this guy had so much talent, probably was the best bumper anywhere he went and for a guy his size he could almost move like a cruiserweight. The dude was tremendous and obviously the gimmick they gave him i guess was Vince's way of trying to shame him but he always was around the mid card to main event place but never really had a good run at the same time"

[7.0] "Adrian Adonis is a good wrestler. He is agile for a man of his weight. Unfortunately, he was remembered for his horrible gimmick at the end of his career at WWF."

[8.0] "Very underated, Adonis was a great worker who ended up with an awful gimmick and is unfortunately remember as such, which is a shame."

[7.0] "I think he is being unfairly scored because of the terrible gimmick (adorable) he was given in the WWF. That would give that gimmick a low score but not the wrestler, himself. Solid 7. Seriously underrated. Especially here."

[7.0] "Great in his early days. A lot of people don't know about his early years. His moves were great and could move very fast. I hated the "Adorable" gimmick. He got worst when got overweight. His WWF years did not meet his potential. RIP Adonis!"

[7.0] "Adrian was a bumping machine. He would fly over the ring like none for his size. Shame he got given such a bad gimmick, because he was ahead of his time in-ring."

[7.0] "Adrian's run as 'Adorable' Adrian overshadowed the rest of his career. People either don't know about his earlier work, or they underrate it because his last major run was with a really bad gimmick."

[7.0] "His gimmick is terrible. I really want to dislike him but he usually put on some great matches and shocked me with his athleticism in the ring on many occasions."

[8.0] "Adonis was a good wrestler for his size. He was agile, sold well and could draw heat. His workrate in the WWF wasn't what it was in other territories largely due to the "New York Style", but he was still accomplished and held multiple tag titles with Murdoch. He carried Ventura in the East/West Connection and stil maintained a decent singles career."

[7.0] "Im rating adonis as a talent for the first decade of his career and not as the gimmick he became at the end. He was never quite a main event guy in a major promotion but he was a solid worker and an above average tag team guy who held gold in both the awa and the wwf"

[8.0] "he was a very very under rated wrestler, people over look his in ring work was , even when he got bad body , he still out- work, out- sold, out-bump 95% of the wwf roster at that time, people get off with the gay gimmick , but wwf tried to turn him in to their own "Exotic" Adrian Street, it really hurt his career, just catch his match 1984: Adrian Adonis vs “Cowboy” Bob Orton to win Southwest’s World Heavyweight title (Tournament Final).. or some of his work over in japan, just great in-ring work , a real shame he died at the age of 34"

[6.0] "He's not as bad as WWF made him out to be. For 1 thing, the guy was good at selling. And in a way, McMahon did give him a memorable gimmick - but it was also 1 that solidified his place in wrestling History as a Gorgeous George after eating too many Big Macs. What's sad is the fact that he died while he was on the road to rebuilding himself back to what he wanted to be."