[4.0] "very obvious hes the type of person who got by when people still believed wrestling was real. cant knock him any less for that as he still had the crowds going seemingly but man he moved incredibly stiff from what ive seen. interesting character work but not enough to watch the matches, maybe hear about him in documentaries is enough"
[4.0] "Lots of people are unfairly rating him from his work in the 1980's, which I agree is unfair but honestly he kinda sucked even in his prime. I've always considered him as one of the first big "cartoon" wrestlers, even back in the late 60's when wrestling was taken seriously he was still an extreme character who wrestled 'The Battman' - literally a guy in a Batman costume. He does have memorability to his name, and talking to older wrestling fans who still remember him has made me look at him a little less critically... but that doesn't mean I'm going to rate him THAT well. I think 3 or 4 is a good number to rate him, he only really excelled at character work but became very popular for it. His 80's were his worst years but even then, he was still memorable with his feud against Randy Savage, and during this time he had quite a good amount of child fans due to his comedic character. He seemed like a nice guy who apparently worked as a gym teacher in Michigan, and he performed well in Tim Burton's movie 'Ed Wood' as well. RIP."
[1.0] "Fast forward time! I can't hardly believe no one else has given this a 1 or 0, because my lord this is some terrible stuff to attempt to endure. I feel bad for Randy Savage, for being forced to waste so much time on this during his Intercontinental run - which was no doubt a test of his patience. Then poor Ricky Steamboat had to put up with this thing being shoe horned into HIS Intercontinental program with Savage. One of the early shining examples of the fact that sometimes Vince McMahon is a terrible booker. Awful. EDIT: After what I thought would be torture, I put myself through a crash course of his material going as far back as '73. It's easier on my eyes than Abdullah the Butcher and any other "from the garbage can, blood everywhere brawlers" so with that comes a singular point. Still terrible and NOT recommended but I was able to not feel nauseas (just constant eye rolling and thanking the brevity)."
[7.0] "The people saying he sucked in the ring are judging him on his late career in the WWF, where he was a cartoonish character with short matches. While I haven't seen enough in the ring to call him a technical master(and from what I have seen he wasn't that) But he did have 20+ minute matches fairly often, in the '60s and '70s, and even fought Sammartino for the title. It's not fair to judge him based on his 2 minute matches with Kamala in the late 80's"
[3.0] "George Steele was definitely a character! One of the original crazy weirdo's inside the ring. 99% of what I have seen of him was from his mid-late 80's WWF tenure and he was more comedy act by that point, not a real threat to any championships. Just involved mostly in garbage comedy by that point."
[3.0] "George "The Animal" Steele was a good character, but I never got into his matches. He was too much of a character to actually perform a straight-up match most of the time. He felt like Eugene before there was a Eugene, except with less actual wrestling skill. It's sad that most people will only remember him for his creepy fascination with Miss Elizabeth."
[7.0] "George the Animal Steel was a great gimmick played to perfection. In the ring for his time, he was good. Most remembered for the end of his career but put on some great matches as a heel before the Rock and Wrestling era against stars like Sammartino and Morales. Not overly familiar with his work on the mic"
[8.0] "A hard one to rate unless you just rate him as an overall character. He was booked differently under Vince Sr. compared to Vince Jr. When he was a heel, the wild man thing where he's doing all these mannerisms, speaks very little, has the green tongue, chewing turnbuckles, etc.. was meant to make people intimidated by him when he worked against guys like Bruno. When Vince Jr, the current guru, got a hold of him he was nearing the end of his run, so they found a way to make the whole thing a babyface persona -- much as they done with the bushwhackers, alfred hayes, etc., and they made that work. Where i give him a lot of credit is he was able to take his look and thread together a character that he made work for well over 20 years, and continued to make off of until the day he died. You won't find too many characters with that kind of longevity."
[5.0] "Steele was not very good in ring or promos but honestly, watching him eat turnbuckle pads and make weird faces made me laugh and as kid freaked me out. Give him credit for characters work but not much else."
[5.0] "He was what he was, and played he role for many years admirable. Super intelligent in real life, but wasn't permitted to cut a promo based on the character he played. Out of shape, and minimal moves in the ring, but to be honest George the Animal Steele filled a niche. These are the hardest wrestler types to rate."
[7.0] "I watched him in the 1980s and he was definitely past his prime. However, I loved his ability to take on the persona of the "The Animal. " It was the The Animal Bautista, but it was more with the times. His best program was definitely with Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth. I definitely got King Kong vibes from the situation. Such a great storyline and George was never champion. It didn't matter. He was George "The Animal" Steele and that's a helluva title."
[7.0] "This may come as a surprise to some people, but George Steele was actually a pretty good worker (for the days) and especially a good talker. There's a good reason he worked so often for Vince Sr: he was actually pretty good as a higher-midcarder and he probably peaked in 1979-80 when he had a feud with Bob Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight belt. After that tear and wear on his body caught up with him and he became, well, the joke most people know him. I have never understood why he wasn't given a manager role considering he was light years ahead of Mr Fuji but there's a never-confirmed rumor Vince Jr offered him a lot of money to play the character he played in the late 80's. Another pretty good worker with a legacy tarnished by one stupid gimmick."
[7.0] "George Steele was really a unique specimen. Hairy as a carpet and out of his mind, The Animal was a legit draw in the early 80s. He was like a toned down version of Brody with his "wild man" antics. He could play a heel well when going against a guy like Hogan or play a face by softening his demeanor a bit, similar to how Mankind spun it 15 years later. Steele was pretty lame in the Attitude Era when he was handing out with the Oddities, but prior to that he was a fun act to watch."
[7.0] "A great gimmick but he could only go so far with it which is why I can't rate him as high as I'd like. I only know him from the post-Wrestlemania era and missed him in his prime."
[8.0] "Most of his points come from the fact that he is iconic. George Steele had one of the most outrageous gimmicks of all time, the Animal had a green tongue and ate the turnbuckle padding. It was always a bit gross, but Steele had an undeniable charisma which helped him in making his Gimmick one of the most beloved in all of wrestling."
[5.0] "I say 5 is a good rating. He is not horrible but he's not that good. He was more for entertainment than wrestling. I thought he was weird, wacky, and hilarious to watch. Tearing up the turnbuckles and making a mess is what The Animal is known for. He had the club and the stuff animal. The green tongue is catchy. He is in the hall of fame because of his entertainment."
[6.0] "his gimmick was super annoying to me, and I have to admit I didn't really watch his matches... but there is a reason he had a 20 year career. This guy could give the crowd a break from it's steady supply of serious wrestling contests. I guess he appealed to children? In his later days he did the face turn and did a storyline where he had the crush on Miss Elizabeth. This allowed him some main event matches against Randy Savage. Not my cup of tea, but it drew money and Steele played the gimmick with a lot of passion and commitment."
[5.0] "Für soviel Kult recht wenig Erfolg (zumindest lt. Datenbank). Er ist schon kultig, aber mehr wegen dem "Auffressen von Ringpolstern" als durch echte wrestlerische Leistungen."
[8.0] "George Steele ist einfach Kult. Ob er nun Stühle in den Ring schmeißt, ihm grüne Suppe ausm Mund läuft, oder er die Ringpolster isst. Der Mann mit dem Körperpulli hat eindeutig eine 2 verdient."
