Jerry Lynn

[8.0] "I have to wonder how much Jerry Lynn would have loved working in AEW today. In his prime he was one of the best I had seen back then. Incredble athlete. But his inability to cut a promo is at babyface Kenny Omega levels."

[9.0] "Whenever I go back to watch ECW what Jerry did there was great. It was always great to see him whenever he came back to TNA. I'm going through ROH on HDNet and even though he was old for a champion in that promotion at the time in the ring he held his own with those guys. Lynn is a great wrestler though he doesn't get a perfect score because I don't think he was great a promos."

[8.0] "Jerry Lynn is one of the most technically sound and respected wrestlers of the modern era. He might not have been the flashiest or loudest, but bell to bell, few could match his consistency, pacing, and smooth execution. Lynn built his reputation in the 90s across promotions like ECW, WCW, and later TNA, but for hardcore fans, he'll always be remembered as the guy who could go -- night after night, with anyone on the card. His defining rivalry was with Rob Van Dam in ECW, where they tore the house down in a series of matches that were years ahead of their time. While RVD was the flashy daredevil, Lynn was the technician keeping everything grounded. Their styles clashed perfectly, and their Living Dangerously 1999 match in particular became a cult classic. Lynn finally won the ECW World Title in 2000, a reign many felt came too late, but it was still a moment that cemented his importance in the company's legacy. Outside ECW, Lynn had solid runs in WWF (as Mr. JL), WCW, and later TNA, where he helped establish the X-Division and mentored AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels. His matches in ROH were high-paced and crisp, proving Lynn still had it deep into his career. While he was never a main event star in WWE or WCW, that wasn't due to lack of talent. It was timing and politics. Still, among his peers, Jerry Lynn earned universal respect. He could be counted on to deliver, and he rarely had a bad match. In his post-wrestling years, he's continued to contribute to the business, working as a coach and producer in AEW, where he helps pass on his knowledge to the next generation. Jerry Lynn is a wrestler's wrestler. The kind of guy you'd want in your corner, in your ring, and in your locker room. An underrated legend who elevated everyone he stepped in the ring with. Quietly brilliant, endlessly respected, and one of the smoothest workers the business has ever seen."

[9.0] "Easily one of the best in ring performers to ever step foot into Extreme Championship Wrestling. In ECW, Lynn arguably had his most success. He is a former ECW world champ and had one of the best rivalries off all time with Rob Van Dam. He also had a good run in TNA, becoming the first NWA tag team champs under the TNA banner."

[10.0] "While not a great character or direct ticket seller, Jerry Lynn through his feuds with Lightning Kid Sean Waltman, Rob Van Dam, and AJ Styles put these 3 guys on the path to stardom and created the blueprint for modern western wrestling match, then revised it every few years after gathering new experiences. If he received royalties for every match that was inspired by RVD vs Lynn or his early TNA run, he'd be incredibly rich. He continues to influence wrestling in the West as Road Agent & producer and I cannot rate his overall contribution to wrestling any less than Very Good (10)."

[9.0] "Other than Dean Malenko I can't think of another wrestler with such a marked difference between how good he was in the ring, and how bad he was at promos. From a technical standpoint Lynn was simply on another level. Bro carried the X-Division on his back for its first year (along with some others, to be fair), and I honestly believe it's those matches that kept TNA alive during its horrible, horrible first couple of years. You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone as crisp and clean in the ring, with an impressive moveset and understanding of wrestling psychology. Those promos though, goddamn. Jerry Lynn's character has always just been "guy with spaghetti hair who's good at wrestling" because that's literally all he could do. Weird how someone who was so good at telling a story in the ring simply couldn't translate that into any sort of substantive character work. I'm really torn here between rounding my 8.5 up or down here but I feel like it'd be more fair to just bump him up to a 9, if nothing else then because of the number of absolute bangers he put on over the years in multiple promotions."

[8.0] "Great technical wrestler. Had great runs in ECW, TNA and ROH. His WWE and WCW runs were short, and he did not stand out despite still putting on good matches. Still good as an agent and trainer today. He was a great performer on the indies and smaller major promotions but never made it in the larger promotions."

[8.0] "An underrated wrestler who worked for a lot of promoters. Lynn has worked with AWA, World Class, WCW, WWF/WWE, ROH, TNA, and now AEW. He worked for every major promotion pretty much. He was a solid technician in the ring, and had good matches with Dean Malenko, RVD, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, and others I can't name off of the top of my head. But his best feud was with Rob Van Dam."

"Always happy to see more Jerry Lynn, I kind of see him as the ultimate underdog. He's been the old veteran for what seems like most of his career, but it's always a thrill to see how he's going to keep up the pace and prove he's still capable of living up to prodigious legacy he defined in the ring so long ago."

[9.0] "Wildly influential, but underrated technical wrestler/high flyer that was an ECW mainstay and major influence on TNA's X-division. Lackluster WCW run. His programs with Sabu in ECW are the best high flyer matches I've ever seen in my life. That includes early X-division stuff in TNA. I can remember some of the spots now nearly 25 years later. Along with Sabu, he invented a number of them. JL was closer to the style of the high workrate AEW guys that folks fawn over nowadays than a Sabu or RVD though. Unfortunately, kind of like Terry Funk, most of the good stuff isn't on video, so there's a generation of people who never saw JL in his prime probably wondering how I got this rating. By the time he got to TNA and was being booked well and getting exposure, he was already long in the tooth. But he did manage to help put over some young up and comers like AJ Styles and Chris Sabin and had some solid enough matches. AFAIK, Lynn works for WWE as a front office guy nowadays."

[6.0] "Had a mediocre masked gimmick in WCW as Mr JL. Went to ECW and put on some kick ass matches, then had a cup of coffee in the WWF. Dude was before his time but he was sort of the prototype for the type of wrestling the fans fawn over these days."

[8.0] "Jerry Lynn felt like he was ahead of his time with regard to skill and style. Back in the day he really was something to see. His chemistry with a young AJ Styles felt like it made TNA into something fresh, new, and worth watching. Never much in the way of character, but as far as what happened between the ropes, Lynn was excellent."

[7.0] "A big inspiration for a lot of the smaller wrestlers who followed. His early matches with The Lightning Kid were pretty groundbreaking in the US but whereas Kid went on to bigger things in the 90's, Lynn kind of floated around a bit until landing in ECW. He then went on to do some great stuff in TNA and ROH. A beautifully smooth wrestler who had a good career but probably deserved a bit more so was nice to see him get a brief reign as ROH World Champion."

[10.0] "Jerry Lynn was the man time forgot about. Up until his late 40s, the guy could go with anybody in the ring. He's had classics with best stars when they were just starting out, Guys like Rey Mysterio, 123 Kid, Chris Sabin just to name a few. Jerry Lynn helped shape the 90s and 2000s wrestling scene, he is the standard."

[7.0] "I wish i could rate him higher but there are a few things holding him back. He did not translate/adapt to the WWF style at all unfortunately. I also wish he was more aggressive! With that out of the way, he is an outstanding technician who has pulled off some beautiful and absurd counters to countered counter counters. While I liked his luchador stuff as JL and dig his ECW run as a whole, I should enjoy it all more than just mildly so, but here we are. Fun fact: He wanted to do a "Death Metal Death Match" with Balls Mahoney while the band Immolation played, Paul Heyman told him it was too extreme for even Extreme Championship Wrestling. 6.75 rounded up, gotta circle back to the lack of aggression, a bit more would have gone a long way."

[8.0] "Jerry Lynn is one of the most influential workers of the 1990s while working in ECW, especially with his matches against the likes of Rob Van Dam."

[8.0] "Extremely long aged in the wrestling business. Lynn was one of the few guys who could keep up with a prime RVD (which was pretty damn impressive, considering he usually wrestled circles around people) and got him over in the long run. Even when ECW wasn't a thing, he kept having great matches in early NWA/TNA like he'd never missed a step, then he goes to ROH in his mid 40's, and manages to nag their top title because his workrate was STILL fantastic. In terms of his style, Lynn was a clean and safe technical wrestler who could flip around when needed. Was over in the indies because of his long stints in basically every major business around, the only thing that really kept him away from the main picture was his lack of size and relatively small stature, as well as a lack of charisma, at least in terms of appealing to a mainstream audience. Glad AEW is using his experience to help the business out: it's a pretty smart choice when considering how long he's been around."

[9.0] "Jerry Lynn is one of the most underrated wrestler of all time. ECW World Champion, One of the pioneers of the X Division and ROH World Champion."

[8.0] "In my opinion Jerry Lynn is tied with William Regal for the most underappreciated wrestler of all time. He consistently improved for a solid 10 years and put on so many great matches."

[9.0] "I have no idea why Jerry Lynn is ranked so low. The "New F'n Show" was incredibly underrated. What really worked against him was his size and general lack of charisma. He wasn't terrible on the mic, but not a great talker either. Very talented in the ring and able to carry matches, he made RVD with their series of matches."

[8.0] "Incredibly underrated technical wrestler who flourished in every role he was stuck in. Also had the most beautiful Cradle Piledriver I've ever seen."

[8.0] "One of the unsung greats of the business. Lynn is worth every bit of the praise he receives and could carry just about anyone to a good match at least. Most of his bouts with RVD are absolutely classic must watches. His one glaring flaw might be he wasn't too charismatic, but he was very good at covering that up with his stellar ring work."

[8.0] "Jerry Lyn is a vet who has been through all the highs and lows of a wrestling career, fighting all types of wrestlers in all types of promotions."

[9.0] "Jerry Lynn, along with Sean Waltman, who he came up with, helped to pioneer the American light-heavyweight style in the 1990s, and was the kind of ring general who could be counted on to put on good matches with virtually any opponent of any style, whether it called for technical wrestling or brawling. His only weakness was his mic skills, which were certainly not horrible but not electrifying. After a great run with ECW, which saw memorable feuds with Rob Van Dam and Justin Credible and claim the company's top title, Lynn's next major run was in TNA, where he served as a veteran presence to help put the X-Division on the map. Still later he had a successful run with ROH where he also claimed their World Championship. (Like Dean Malenko, who possessed a similar skill set, Lynn was lost in his brief WWF stint, as the company had little idea of how to utilize a performer like him. ) Called it a career in 2013 after a run anyone would be proud of."

[6.0] "Jerry Lynn proved he was an accomplished wrestler in every promotion he took a part of, but he never successfully remained at the top of them. Sadly, for all his technical acumen, his moveset, however large, became predictable, and his charisma, while adequate, never transcended above. That's why his runs as a top champion (ECW, ROH) ended up being short-lived and not really memorable. He could reach the sky, but never really stayed there."

[9.0] "Despite more or less working as a Jobber for the 1st 10 years of his career, Jerry Lynn proved himself to be an important part of any locker room he went into. Like CM Punk once said about Lynn "Jerry Lynn can carry a bag of sh*t", meaning he could wrestle a good match against someone inexperienced or not that good, guide them through it, and make it out the other end. He rarely made a mistake in the ring, possessed an arsenal of well polished moves, sold very well, and even continued a match were he almost died (ECW Hardcore Heaven '99). he helped path the way for smaller wrestlers to get into the business, and even into his 40s, he continued to wrestle very good matches against much younger talent. His mic skills were just okay, but people paid to see him wrestle and wrestle very well."

[10.0] "From WCW to ECW to WWE to TNA to ROH... Jerry Lynn was a TRUE F'N Show! Even now on his retirement tour in beat-up shape, almost apologetic, he's still putting on excellent matches... his Extreme Rising farewell against Homicide will leave a lasting memory for me. You don't hold the World Heavyweight Championship in both ECW and ROH unless you're pretty damn good!"