| 1 | 30.01.2024 | BostonIdol | 8.0 | For a brief period in the late seventies and early eighties, Ken Patera was one of the most charismatic and exciting heels in the business, even going so far as to hold titles in multiple territories simultaneously. Ken had been a power lifter prior to getting into pro wrestling. In the mid-to-late seventies he still carried some extra bulk from lifting, and his ringwork was a bit limited as well. Around 1979, Patera shed the extra pounds and emerged as a great bumper and ring psychologist. His Texas Death (no DQ) match against WWF champion Bob Backlund at MSG on May 19, 1980 is well remembered, having won the Wrestling Observer Newsletter's "Match of the Year", but Patera also had several classic and very different matches with Pat Patterson during that stint in the WWF. Within a couple of years, Patera's star began to fade. He went to the AWA and for some reason agreed to don a turban as a member of Sheik Adnan's army, teaming with Jerry Blackwell against anachronistic babyfaces like Gagne and Brunzell or absolute fossils like Crusher and Von Raschke. When Patera returned to the WWF, he again got buried on a bad tag team, partnering with John Studd against Andre the Giant. Then he got involved in a dispute with the police that led to him spending a year in prison. By the time he came back to the WWF, the promotion was flooded with musclebound stars, many of whom, while lacking Patera's ring psychology and bumping ability, had cooler moves to showcase in short TV squash matches. Patera was also totally miscast as a babyface, robbing him of his last shreds of charisma. What is the net of all this? In 1980, particularly in the WWF, Patera was a 10, one of the top heel main eventers in the country. Prior to that he had the look and not inconsiderable talent, but many of his matches were forgettable. Once he went to the AWA, where he wasn't even positioned as a main eventer because Verne was too focused on legends from the sixties and seventies, the die was cast. Patera might, if things had worked out differently, had at least a memorable program with Hulk Hogan in the mid-eighties, but that honor went to David Schultz, of all people. |
| 2 | 23.12.2023 | eetasa2 | 4.0 | |
| 3 | 18.12.2023 | crs285 | 4.0 | Patera was a big guy but there wasn't a whole lot to him. He was okay in the ring for his time but he lacked the charisma and mic skills to get over with an audience. Haven't seen much of his pre-prison work but heard it was better than his later WWE run |
| 4 | 20.10.2023 | AidanArcher | 5.0 | |
| 5 | 18.10.2023 | celticinvader | 1.0 | I'm super uneducated on his work before his return to the Fed in the late 80s, so take this with a huge pinch of salt, but Ken Patera is one of the weakest in ring performers I've ever seen. As a jobber, he never made his opponent look particularly good, with his matches becoming incredibly formulaic and repetitive. You never believed Patera had a prayer against the people he was put up against, his offence was that bad. |
| 6 | 28.09.2023 | andytuga86 | 7.0 | |
| 7 | 16.09.2023 | Conquistador37 | 5.0 | Passable 70's/early 80s talent, post stint in jail though - he lost almost everything he had. His brief tenure in the WWF golden era is notable in it's worthlessness; comparable to Dino Bravo, but somehow much worse. EDIT: Pre-prison, even his interviews were stronger. In fact, that's where this edit comes in; his late 70's/80's promo skills were on the upper echelon at the time and he certainly played a vital role for American wrestling at that time. 4.5 |
| 8 | 24.05.2023 | Giantfan1980 | 4.0 | It's quite shocking how far this guy deteriorated after his prison stint. If you are familiar with his baby face return then you know how horribly lazy and basic formula his matches were. From his return until he left in late 88/early 99 he ALWAYS lost his matches to the same spot: Blind charge into the corner, missing and eating his opponents finisher and getting pinned. Then if you were to go back and watch his stuff when he was IC champ, it's like a totally different guy! A pretty good heel when he first started out, but injuries and age wrecked him by the time he came back and he was the definition of just collecting a pay check. Just jobbing out to low mid card heels for months on end. |
| 9 | 26.04.2023 | benh2 | 6.0 | |
| 10 | 28.03.2023 | conker8 | 9.0 | One of the best heels from 1977 to 1984. He has everything : charisma, physic and talent in the ring. You give him The Grand Wizard as a manager for promos and you get the total package. |
| 11 | 26.01.2023 | joaosousa20 | 6.0 | |
| 12 | 12.12.2022 | Squared Circle | | The absolute strongest guy I ever met. I've spent 50 years in gyms, working out with champion bodybuilders and international power lifting champions. I've been a power lifting judge. I worked out with Big Dick Dudley every day for two years. No one, and I mean no one came close to what Ken could lift. He'd warm up with weights guys would one rep max. Insane. Just a comment. I won't rate him because of personal bias. |
| 13 | 02.10.2022 | No One | 6.0 | |
| 14 | 03.04.2022 | Leo 4 King | 9.0 | Ken Patera was just great. He was a really good wrestler, a big name of his time. We should remerber him more. |
| 15 | 19.09.2021 | Den003 | 4.0 | |
| 16 | 15.08.2021 | krukster | 6.0 | Was great in the early 80's as a heel in the WWWF/WWF, and when he came back as a baby face was pretty much a mid card to lower mid card guy. His strength was his skill set, and as a baby face he lost most of that. Terrible on the mic, and was very good in the ring during his early 80's run. Loved his feud with Andre. |
| 17 | 26.07.2021 | wwetitlefan2 | 7.0 | |
| 18 | 21.05.2021 | Crippler Crossface | 5.0 | |
| 19 | 25.03.2021 | texasyosh | 6.0 | |
| 20 | 22.02.2021 | TGM | 9.0 | Patera was one of the top heels in the late 70's and early 80's, and rightfully so: his matches were always entertaining, his promos were convincing, he was physically intimidating, and his background as an olympic athlete gave him legitimacy. He was no Kurt Angle, but he was damn good. |
| 21 | 25.01.2021 | Brett1980 | 8.0 | Was really good in the late 70s early 80s and was one of Bob Backlunds better challengers for the WWF title. |
| 22 | 16.12.2020 | Strong Zero Machine | 4.0 | |
| 23 | 11.08.2020 | Mizzle Assault Ant | 9.0 | Unfortunately most known Patera from his post-injury, post-prison time in the WWF when he was broken down and given little to do by WWF. However, in the late 70s and early 80s Patera was completely awesome, incredibly powerful and excellent at eating up his opponents in the ring. Great Heenan Family member across two companies, great WWF main eventer, he even retired Gorilla Monsoon. Awesome talent. |
| 24 | 05.06.2020 | WCWSting | 2.0 | Man war der Mies konnte nie begreifen warum die im Ring so nen aufriss wegen dem gemacht haben, ok geschmäcker sind verschieden aber meiner war er devinitiv nie den hatt man meiner meinung nach nicht gebrauchen können. |
| 25 | 28.07.2019 | JEK 1991 | 10.0 | Ken Patera was great in the ring. He was very talented and had Greco-Roman wrestling background. He was excellent at taking his opponents down and great in ring psychology. The bearhug and the full Nelson were great moves he had. This man was a main eventer but never won a world championship. I think he should have. He was very exciting to watch in the ring. His stints in AWA, NWA and WWF were phenomenal. His biggest accomplishment was becoming the second Intercontinental champion beating Pat Patterson. His matches against Bob Backlund and Hulk Hogan were great. Whne he went to jail if affected his career. If he did not go to jail he could have been a bigger name. When he returned in 1987 he was a babyface. I personally think he was that good. He was excellent as a heel. One of the best heels of all time. |
| 26 | 16.04.2019 | respect-wres | 6.0 | |
| 27 | 03.12.2018 | Cameron621129 | 3.0 | He was meh. Nothing special. Nothing to make him stand out. If it hadn't have been for Heenan or his early success (when he was good), I feel like there would be nothing to remember him for. |
| 28 | 25.11.2018 | RatingsMachine | 6.0 | Ken Patera was a solid worker, and a decent interview, but he lacked a little in the charisma department and just about falls short of a higher rating. |
| 29 | 22.11.2018 | jajt1989 | 7.0 | Could of had a pretty decent career if things had of went differently, Came into the business late in his life and done pretty well for himself in such a short amount of time. |
| 30 | 04.09.2018 | Evan13 | 6.0 | |
| 31 | 20.06.2018 | TRowan | 6.0 | |
| 32 | 22.03.2018 | Gauntlet84 | 6.0 | |
| 33 | 03.02.2018 | Argylex | 5.0 | |
| 34 | 03.01.2018 | BJey | 3.0 | |
| 35 | 28.05.2017 | LuchaFan28 | 4.0 | |
| 36 | 04.09.2016 | SpruseJohnson | 4.0 | |
| 37 | 29.07.2016 | HudE | 4.0 | |
| 38 | 30.10.2015 | mdkarl | 7.0 | Another Guy who ran into personal life problems that derailed a promising career. In Patera's case, he went to jail for losing his temper at a McDonald's. Patera was almost 30 when he got into wrestling due to his Olympic career taking up his priorities as a youth. He was otherworldly strong, but his in-ring psychology suffered due to his lack of experience working in the ring. Patera was thrust right into the main-event picture due to his celebrity and imposing physique though. WWE soon came calling and wanted Patera for a program with Andre the Giant. Patera soon teamed with John Studd and the two of them injured Andre to allow Andre time off to film the Princess Bride. Patera/Studd cut Andre's hair in the injury angle. It was a huge main event program and should have been the catalyst to propel Patera into a feud with Hogan... but then came the McDonald's incident which effectively ended Patera's career as a main eventer. |
| 39 | 18.01.2015 | test85 | 3.0 | Ken Patera war, wie etliche andere Männer der 80er, ein ziemlich uninteressanter Charakter. Konnte den Hype der in in den Matches um ihn gemacht wurde nicht verstehen. Im Ring war er auch nicht gut. (Okay dass waren Brown, JYD und einige andere auch nicht, aber die hatten eine gewisse Ausstrahlung auf die Masse). |
| 40 | 05.12.2014 | tobimexican | 5.0 | |
| 41 | 07.10.2014 | Shentenza | 4.0 | Puh, wirklich sehr langweilig im Ring. War nicht schlecht, aber wirklich unterhaltsame Matches kamen selten bei raus. |
| 42 | 20.07.2013 | Boris The Menace | 4.0 | |
| 43 | 22.07.2012 | Witchfinder | 6.0 | |
| 44 | 05.04.2012 | Gruback | 7.0 | |
| 45 | 06.09.2011 | Rey2004 | 5.0 | |
| 46 | 05.12.2010 | Necron | 6.0 | Ein interessanter Mann aus der grauen Wresting-Vergangenheit. Ich fand die Kämpfe von ihm, die ich bisher gesehen habe, allesamt sehr unterhaltsam, vor allem von der Ringpsycholgie her. Darüberhinaus bestimmt kein sonderlich überragender Wrestler, der aber seinen Spot zur damaligen Zeit völlig zurecht inne hatte. |
| 47 | 22.12.2009 | Manu Adams | 8.0 | Wird hier ebenfalls viel schlechter gemacht als er in meinen Augen war. Natürlich war er kein garant für gute Matches, doch er machte ein ordentliches Powerhouse. Ein sehr unterschätzter Worker. |
| 48 | 29.07.2009 | ARIZA | 5.0 | |
| 49 | 23.07.2009 | Fountain of Misinformation | 4.0 | |
| 50 | 28.07.2008 | The Sick Lebowski | 6.0 | |
| 51 | 03.04.2008 | Asgaroth 336699 | 6.0 | |
| 52 | 19.03.2008 | Kennedy100 | 4.0 | |
| 53 | 24.02.2008 | LexLuger4ever | 4.0 | Ken Patera war für mich schon immer ein höchst uninteressanter Wrestler! Hat mich nie angesprochen, was auch immer er gerade machte! |
| 54 | 18.02.2008 | Giant2 | 6.0 | |
| 55 | 04.01.2008 | Brahma Bull | 6.0 | |
| 56 | 20.11.2007 | Masterpiece | 4.0 | |
| 57 | 12.11.2007 | renol2007 | 4.0 | |
| 58 | 27.10.2007 | Dynamite Kid | 4.0 | |
| 59 | 05.09.2007 | Obermacker | 4.0 | |
| 60 | 28.08.2007 | ecw forever | 2.0 | |
| 61 | 23.07.2007 | Kane-91 | 4.0 | |
| 62 | 09.07.2007 | Ywain | 4.0 | |
| 63 | 24.06.2007 | BigVanVader | 6.0 | |
| 64 | 24.06.2007 | Henne | 6.0 | |
#