Marc Mero

[7.0] "Marc Mero was amazing during his WCW run. Before the likes of Dean Malenko and Rey Mysterio got signed to WCW, Mero could be the one opening up a WCW PPV and steal the show. He had a good run with the IC title in the WWF under his Wildman gimmick before getting injured. When he returned, he got pushed down the card as Sable began to become more popular, ultimately making him leave the company."

[8.0] "I will always have a soft spot for "Johnny B Badd opens every WCW tv or ppv event for seemingly 10 straight years". Johnny B Badd and Marc Mero are about as far removed from each other as two characters could possibly be. That being said, while there are glimmers of excellence during the "Wildman" run, only his WCW work is thoroughly enjoyable. In fact, I'd say many nights the Johnny B Badd work was a diamond in the rough. Crazy great chemistry with Brian Pillman, Scotty Flamingo, Lord Steven Regal and many others. The WWF stuff is mostly there to tout 90's bimbo look Sable and I can't say I'm really on board with that portion of his career. For all of the great WCW work, the WWF run stops being fun after King of the Ring '96. 6.5 EDIT: Changing nothing in my review but upping his score because the WCW stuff really is *that* good and it makes up the *bulk* of his career. 7.5"

[9.0] "Although his run in WWE was fairly fogettable, he showed considerable talent and charisma in WCW as Johnny B. Badd. Making a gimmick like that work is a testament to his hard work, athleticism and charisma. Personally I believe that he would have been better off staying in WCW rather than going to the WWE where he was lost in the shuffle after a short Intercontinental tital run, and was eventually overshadowed by his then wife Sable."

[6.0] "Johnny B Badd in the lower mid card of WCW generally speaking was a lot of fun and seemed to get over pretty well. Once Marc Mero hit the little leagues of WWE he just was not very good and he seemed to fall off a cliff and he struggled to fulfil the roles asked of him. Just watch his early stuff."

[8.0] "Marc Mero could do anything in wrestling as a performer BUT be Marc Mero. He could do the character work at a high level, he could cut a good promo, he could do the flips, he could have the match of the night, he could work with anybody, or work in any spot on the card that was proven during his WCW run as Johnny B Badd. However, when he went to WWF, and was tasked with being an extension of himself he couldn't do it. To me, as much as I love Marc as a performer, that was his draw back ( a similar case to his would be a guy like Barry Darsow). I know people will say bullshit like his wife at the time outshined him, his wife at the time was the star of the marriage, etc, but I don't buy that. I think if Marc, as talented as he was a performer, could've found that extension of himself that he needed to be a key player going forward after times changed, then he would've been one of the biggest stars in wrestling."

[6.0] "A solid, TV/US/IC title contender. His peak years were 1994-1996 and then a knee injury really slowed down what he could do in the ring. Eventually got passed over by his own wife and by that point, no one cared about him anymore."

[9.0] "Great entertainer and story teller in the ring. Loads of charisma! Very underrated and underused in the major promotions."

[5.0] "I never really enjoyed Mero on the mic, and while he did occasionally have a good match, there aren't any specific ones that come to mind and most of them were just "fine" matches, but forgettable. Some of my lack of interest and appreciation for him can undoubtedly be attributed to the horrible gimmicks of his"

[6.0] "Quite underrated for what it's worth. I didn't see a lot of his WCW stuff but what I did see, he was a shockingly agile guy for his size capable of doing things that just weren't really a thing back then. He did botch a fair bit at times and he wasn't perfect with everyone, but when he was on, he was pretty solid. The only things that really held him back were his lack of quality gimmicks (I think both WWE and WCW dropped the ball with trying to get him over beyond the mid card stuff) and he wasn't the strongest on the mic. Not bad, but certainly not anything spectacular."

[4.0] "I never liked the Johnny B Badd gimmick but the fact that it was his best gimmick says alot about his personality. His run with WWE wasn't good at all."

[8.0] "Mero was a very underrated talent. A good talker with strong in-ring work that included both the legitimacy of his Golden Gloves boxing background and the ability to pull of some high-flying moves that were unusual to see in the US in the early '90s, such as his Shooting Star Press, Mero was able to rise above the silly Johnny B. Badd gimmick he was given in WCW by putting on consistently good matches to gain the crowd's attention. In the WWF he initially had a decent run as "Wildman" Marc Mero which became better when he turned heel with his boxing gimmick as "Marvelous" Marc, making him a reliable midcard heel act. His legs were cut out from under him when his on-screen split with wife/valet Sable was handled in such a way to deliberately humiliate him, and unfortunately his career never really recovered. He resurrected the Johnny B. Badd gimmick for a few attempted comeback runs in the XWF and TNA, but has since moved on to a post-wrestling career as a motivational speaker."

[7.0] "Great talent who could do stuff only a few cruiserweights would do back in the days, I remember him as very entertaining in the ring: he always worked hard to give the crowd their money worth, a refreshing change in the age of the various Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash. However he was a charisma black hole and would have needed a good gimmick and a good manager (Jim Cornette and Jimmy Hart fit the bill perfectly) to get over: he surely had the in-ring skills to do so. Instead he became a Little Richard impersonator and became overshadowed by his shall we say surgically enhanced wife. Poor guy, he deserved much better."

[6.0] "Mero is largely remembered as being a joke due to Sable's success, but it's nice to read most of the reviews from people who still recall his positive attributes. I actually liked Marc quite well when he first came to WWE & I thought he was a good addition to the IC Title picture. I remember the first time he used the shooting star press (which he dubbed the "Wildthing") and I was blown away. I know now that he was not the first guy to use it, but at the time, it's the first time I had ever seen it & I was amazed. I liked him much less when he abandoned his Wildman persona in favor for the amateur boxing one. Sure Sable eclipsed Marc as far as being the bigger box office is concerned, but I don't look back at him as being the huge loser like WWE likes to paint him as."

[7.0] "Watch his KotR match against Austin in 1996 and you see a prototype of the modern wrestler: high spots, high impact offense and selling. Unfortunately, he was saddled with bad gimmicks and in a charisma driven era of crash TV he couldn? t compete with splashier and more violent ring combatants. He was also resented by the audience who couldn? t believe a man so poorly endowed in the ? charisma? department would be coupled with such a beautiful and seemingly fecund woman. His lack of size probably hurt him in the long term both as a competitor and with Sable, who has since settled with the massive and beefy Brock Lesnar. But this is all speculation. He was also saddled with a Little Richard gimmick, complete with affectations and Jerry curls. People had problems accepting that Johnny B Badd, a confirmed bachelor with a taste for the highlife, had struck gold as a greasy and wellcoifed ring tactician. It was at this time that his entrance was enhanced to include a phallic contraption that fired glamorous confetti onto the crowd. It was a totem to masculine potency put Prince? s super bowl guitar to shame. It is a shame that he could not find a believable role he was comfortable in. Later in his career he donned boxing trunks to spotlight his pugilistic prowess and mask the glaring shortcomings that were so clearly evident when he donned his shiney wildman speedo, and made his coupling with Sable seem so improbable. In a different era, being such a small man would not have been so detrimental. At the time he seemed ubiquitous and too heavily pushed. In retrospect, it seems they didn? t get much mileage out of talent, albeit small, competitor."

[6.0] "Mark Mero was athletic, had decent charisma, and wasn't that bad on the mic. But he couldn't connect as Mark Mero to the degree that he did as Johnny B. Badd, which was itself a gimmick that had a ceiling to it. Once his wife became a bigger star than he was, to the point that it killed his credibility, Mero's career was effectively over."

[7.0] "Underrated for sure! He was very athletic in the ring and could entertain the crowd. His gimmicks like Johnny B Badd in WCW were horrible. He was great with his moves like Merosault, TKO and Wildthing. His biggest peak was from 1992-1996. When he went to WWF he had a great start with the company becoming intercontinental champion. His feud with Triple H was excellent after that feud he went downhill. Sable caused his career to go downhill. With Jacqueline I noticed his career was going no where. He has a background in boxing which made him a great wrestler. He is a great motivational speaker."

[7.0] "I really like Johnny B Badd. He was such a great World Television Champion, and was able to put a great PPV Opener on the card. For example the matches against DDP in 1995. He was a great midcarder. Nothing more, nothing less. In WWF he never had a fitting gimmick, sadly."

[7.0] "A very underrated athlete. Could do some really cool moves. Unfortunately, Sable got more over than him and he was saddled with crappy gimmicks."

[5.0] "Mero was extremely athletically gifted and had good charisma but he just never put it together to become the star he could've been. In WCW, he was saddled with the silly Johnny B. Badd gimmick, which precluded any chance of his moving above the midcard. By the time he got to the WWF, it seemed like he didn't know how to be anything BUT Johnny B. Badd. They tried on a few personas for him, but the only thing that ever stuck was the idea that he was overshadowed by Sable. That became his gimmick... but it was also true. Pity, he had the tools to be great."

[9.0] "His run as Marc Mero was ultimately not successful, but people often forget he spent many years as a very popular WCW midcard act Johnny B Badd, which he executed with great charisma and charm, and had many good matches as well. I'm a fan of JBB! EDIT: After watching more of his stuff, I think he is even more underrated. So much of his WCW work really is a pleasure to watch."

[7.0] "Great talent, Pure athlete, I can't quite sure what he was missing.... maybe a killing instinct ? Not sure but regardless he was a great to watch on the WWF mid card scene during the mid 90's, also threw down a killer SSP and that Mero-Sault... PERFECT. His matches with Hunter Hearst Hemsley were fun to watch during those times."

[7.0] "Marc Mero was the perfect definition of a great lower-to-mid-carder. He was never destined for World Heavyweight greatness, but he was skilled and flamboyant enough to get the fans behind him as he fought for WWF Intercontinental and WCW Television gold. I liked the Johnny B. Badd persona (I appear to be the only one! ) and I'm glad to know that he's dedicated his post-wrestling life to motivational speaking. All in all, a talented competitor and a cool guy."