Steve McMichael

[6.0] "Steve McMichael (or Mongo, as he was known) was your absolute average wrestler. Could sort of do a job but he's not going to be in any fantasy rosters or big things like that. Just a chill guy who sort of existed"

[6.0] "Mongo was quite the walking behemoth. At 6'2" and 275 lbs he was quite the towering and intimidating presence on the football field during his time with the Chicago Bears. He was on the iconic defense of the infamous 1985 Bears super bowl team which was his big calling card for a long time. However, when he transitioned to pro wrestling, where obviously he wasn't the biggest guy anymore, he let his larger than life personality and character that he always had make up for where he lacked in size during his time in both WWF and WCW. That's why they wanted him on the commentary was because the guy had chops and could talk the chrome off of a bumper, and he was highly entertaining. In the ring, he wasn't a talented worker by any means, he didn't have the best timing, or the best execution most of the time, but he was still strong as an ox, and he took the business seriously unlike most outsiders who walked in the door and loved being apart of it."

"I know most people frown on Mongo's time as a Horseman but I actually kind of enjoyed him as one. He was far from the most technically gifted wrestler but you could tell he worked hard and he was kind of fun to watch. His use of the Tombstone was a bit terrifying though. Given his limited ability, it was always a bit nerve wracking to see him spike people on their heads. He was a fun commentator during his time in the booth. He wasn't very knowledgeable about the business or very vocal during those early Nitros, but you could get a sense of his passion for it, and I enjoyed his time there. It was always fun that his little dog was in costumes and one of these days, I will review each one of them. Maybe it's just me, but the guy definitely seemed like he was a candidate for CTE after 15 seasons on the defensive line. Maybe he was always that way, but he seemed a little....off. That's not to insult the man though because like I said: I for sure enjoyed him as a Horseman and actually enjoyed his work. That "happy feet" moment against the Dungeon of Doom is a hilarious telling highlight. Hilarious for obvious reasons and it really showed how enthusiastic, excited, nervous, and serious he was about being in the ring. RIP Mongo"

[5.0] "Mongo clearly loved wrestling and wanted to be there. Calling him limited in the ring is generous but I'll be damned if he wasn't charismatic, enthusiastic and it was infectious. It was the same way on commentary. He didn't really offer much insight but he was so much fun to listen to. He's what fans think Pat McAfee is."

[7.0] "Steve "Mongo" McMichael was one of those guys who could walk into a ring and instantly make you smile, even if he wasn't exactly putting on five-star classics. He had this big, chaotic energy that made every segment feel a bit unpredictable in the best way, like anything could happen and probably would. His charisma, his loud confidence, and the way he threw himself into every moment made him genuinely fun to watch. You could tell he loved being out there, and that joy rubbed off on the crowd. Mongo might not have been the smoothest wrestler, but he brought a personality and presence that made WCW feel livelier whenever he showed up."

[1.0] "He gets one point for having personality. If he had a good match that didn't involve multiple guys, I don't know about it. He was an elite football player, but he just didn't belong in a wrestling ring. I don't care how much Ric Flair sings his praises, he's wrong. Plain and simple."

[4.0] "He was not good, but I thought he was a decent part of the roster. Cornette has described him as having "happy feet" & I think that is a pretty good way of describing what he was like in the ring. Some people might not like him being a part of the Four Horseman, but he kind of worked in that role for me."

[2.0] "How the hell this guy stuck around for as long as he did in the WCW beats me. Couldn't wrestle, couldn't talk, and didn't even look like a wrestler. Guess that's what being a big name in football gets you."

[6.0] "I love Mongo, but I'll be the first to admit that he wasn't a great worker. He was always trying hard, but the poor guy always seemed lost between the ropes. However, his enthusiasm for the business was infectious, and I almost always enjoyed his matches. The only 80's Bear I don't hate as a Packers fan."

[6.0] "Steve "Mongo" McMichael is a textbook example of me being too purely invested in childhood to understand what I was seeing was bad. I will always have fond memories of him regardless of the facts, especially coming from a Chicago Bears-fan household."

[4.0] "Mongo wasn't a great in-ring wrestler, but he had a real charisma and he could have an entertaining match in the right setting (mainly when you put him in there with another big slugger so he could have a real life Kaiju Battle). It's horrible that he's suffered such health issues in later life. All the best to him and his family, and thank you for providing me with such entertaining over the years"

[4.0] "At the start of his wrestling bout, Mongo was the single worst in-ring performer I can think of aside from Khali. Seriously, wrestling did not get more atrocious than what Mongo was doing around his debut. Watch his tag matches from when he first joined the Horsemen and the skill gap between him and literally anyone else was night and day. Thankfully he started to clean up his ring work around summer of 97 and somehow got over during his feud with Jarret which put both of them in a much more interesting position than they were in previously. From that point, my primary issue with Mongo is the generic tough guy persona that he never really shakes off. I actually enjoyed his goofier side a lot during his small stint as a commentator, he and Bobby were pretty funny together. If he had leaned on his more comedic skills during his Horsemen run I think I would have been a lot more fond of him overall."

"Mongo had undeniable charisma and, while he wasn't technically gifted, he used the Tombstone as his finish with no formal training and he never hurt anyone. Mongo may not have been "good" but he was always entertaining"

[2.0] "Waddle down to the ring, hold up the fingers, point at his SB ring, chew up words in an interview, and blow some spots in matches. How were Paul Roma and Jeff Jarrett the worst Horsemen ever?"

[6.0] "You can't trust people who don't like Mongo. That man had a crack at everything he was asked to do. Man wrestled like a horny dog with a cone on his head."

[5.0] "This rating is honestly more for him as a commentator than as a wrestler. He was a goof, but he was a fun, enthusiastic goof, and I can't lie and say I wasn't entertained by him more often than not."

[2.0] "Can do a few good power moves and cut a semi confident promo but he was too green. Clearly got far in WCW because of his friendship with Flair, which I don't blame him because with the NWO going on it was hard to get anything if you didn't have a main eventer friend."

[5.0] "For the most part I will be basing my Wrestler ratings on five criteria four of which are based on in-ring ability and the last on charisma. I believe these five criteria are pro wrestling's version of Tommy Lasorda's criteria of "five points" in baseball. For pro wrestling those five criteria are power, speed, technical ability, hardcore & charisma. Steve McMichael scores are as follows: Power: 6 Speed: 4 Technical: 3 Hardcore: 7 Charisma: 5 for a total of 25 and an average of 5"

[5.0] "My most sincere of apologies for quoting another inmate but it all hits too close to home: "Mongo as a worker was the absolute shits and I mean that in the best way possible hahaha. That being said, the guy was absolutely hilarious to watch, had a good amount of charisma and maybe its just me but honestly I feel like you can't help but like the guy. His inability to do, well, anything in the ring well keeps his rating on the low end however." All of this is applicable. He is one of the crowned kings of "guilty pleasure". Keep in mind he had NO FORMAL TRAINING. everything you saw, was him learning on the spot. Of course the term "learning" is used to absurdly liberal levels. But i love him. Another inmate called him a "lovable oaf" and I feel that is spot on. You do you Mongo, it's a nice break away and keeps things from getting monotonous in retrospect: Watching a Mongo match is like slipping in and out of an alternate universe where all of the work is BAD instead of "whoa! awesome! "; before him could be Ultimo Dragon vs Dean Malenko and after could be Psychosis vs Chavo Guerrero ~ but in between? MONGO! Unfortunately the man is down to his final years and it will not be an easy ride into the sunset. 5 solid guilty pleasure points."

[2.0] "A man who couldn't bump or do the basics for shit. He was terrible in the ring. I'm not even sure how he somehow made it into the Four Horsemen stable. How he even somehow won the U.S. Championship in WCW is beyond me. He's probably a very nice guy in real life. He was just terrible in the ring."

[4.0] "Like a lot of people from 30 years ago, he wasn't as bad as you remember. Definitely a clumsy worker. but he was in some fun matches. Not great on commentary but compared to these days I'd take three Mongos over fucken sock face and JR/Tony who stopped giving a fuck in 2008. His angles were often stupid, too. However, there is something lovable about this big oaf. Watching back is kinda like comfort food. You know it's bad but it's an unmistakable reminder you of when things were good. It's Monday night, your homework's done, and Mongo's on TNT. Things are right. He also raised the profile of Nitro more than most wrestling fans care to admit. Back in the good old days, when wrestling shows were trying to appeal to a boarder audience and not 800, 000 neckbeard virgins."

[5.0] "Mongo as a worker was the absolute shits and I mean that in the best way possible hahaha. That being said, the guy was absolutely hilarious to watch, had a good amount of charisma and maybe its just me but honestly I feel like you can't help but like the guy. His inability to do, well, anything in the ring well keeps his rating on the low end however."

[4.0] "I think Mongo was alright. Had plenty of power & fire and was quite charismatic, and could hang pretty well in the ring. However, I think he should have stuck to wrestling other NFL guys. Shouldn't have been in such a high profile group as The Four Horsemen either in my opinion."

[1.0] "Mongo wasn't very good, that much is for sure. I will say that he looked like he was having a lot of fun out there, so good for him as far as that goes."

[8.0] "I think it's absurd to see Mongo rated so lowly. Could he look awkward at times? Sure could. Was he a poor commentator? Yeah, I'll give you that. But honestly for the most part I enjoy his matches just fine, he's ridiculously strong and even if he looks awkward at times, he also looks damn effective more often than not, and he always gave 110% unlike some other wrestlers in WCW at the same time."

[2.0] "Mongo didn't have a whole lot going for him in the ring or on the mic, but at least had a large stature and some explosive power to his credit. His offensive work was often very rough, though, and sometimes looked lost when on the defensive. To be fair, WCW threw him into the deep end well before he was ready with little training. He was pushed farther than he ever should have been presumably due only to his football name recognition - I can't think of any other reason he would have been made a Horseman or put in the US Title scene - but would have been generally OK as a lower-card attraction wrestler."

[0.0] "The botch machine . He could not wrestle neither could he cut a good promo. His character was stale and he was a mess in the ring. Garbage , pure garbage and it is a miracle how he was employed in WCW for that long. The fact that he made it in the four horsemen is abysmal . He could not do the basics such as running the ropes or putting a person in a headlock. How in the hell did he not figure out that he was a terrible wrestler and should have just retired. He should have gone back to NFL, was doing great there."

[1.0] "One of the wost ever. He only wrestled for a couple years, yet every day more than 20 years after he's been done wrestling, I see more botches of his. Never seen a wrestling have more botches in matches in such a short career than him. He was a horrible commentator and even more horrible in the ring. Clumsy, slow, and looked very awkward in the ring. Even as a child, I thought Mongo was terrible on commentary and in the ring."

[3.0] "By all accounts Mongo was a great person backstage, he knew he owed his place to his NFL career and didn't let that go to his head but that's about the only positives I can think about it. That and providing fuel for some obscure jokes CM Punk made on commentary which made me feel older and a bigger nerd than I already am. For the rest his promos were complete nonsense, his commentary somehow made even less sense and how he landed a place in the Four Horsemen will forever remain a mystery given in the ring he was just as bad as you'd expect a 39-year old guy with a body worn by years and years of top level football and minimal pro-wrestling training to be. All in all I cannot blame him for landing an easy paycheck and having some fun. The people at WCW who pushed him on the other side..."

[0.0] "Steve McMichael was one of the worst commentators of all time, and he was no better when it came to wrestling."

[1.0] "Given the amount of experience he had he really wasn't too awful in the ring, but he was far from good. He was a truly god awful commentator however and that really shows why he could never make it very far in the business. He lacked the charisma and didn't have the ability to make up for it. Honestly, I feel he's the worst Horseman and not Paul Roma but I get why some feel different."

[5.0] "I always thought Mongo got a little too much crap from the smark crowd. He wasn't a great wrestler or anything (and he was a genuinely BAD announcer, yes), but as a wrestler he wasn't THAT bad. He was adequate in the ring as a powerhouse. His mic skills were limited, but he could talk smack and draw heat. And you know what? He was over with the crowd. He shouldn't have been a Horseman, but Paul Roma was worse, and Mongo, while certainly not GOOD, was never actually as bad as everyone made him out to be."

[4.0] "Mongo was a pretty smart guy to capitalize on what little he actually had in the time frame that he did. There are more talented pro wrestlers that never reached the spot that he did using his name, and basically promo work (which was lousy at best) to be relevant. So much of the rating is subjective in that it depends on what it is you think makes a great pro wrestler. Is working for basically 2 years, and just about being in Main Events with the Four Horseman not a degree of accomplishment? Mongo got a push for being basically, Mongo, and did what he could with it."

[1.0] "terrible mic skills, ring presence, and look. as one reviewer pointed out, he looks like he sure loves pizza. and meat. just flat out boring, still not sure why he was pushed as long as he was."

[6.0] "Mongo was noooooooooooooooooowhere near as bad as he's being portrayed. He wasn't necessarily good, but he served his purpose well enough. His placement in the Four Horsemen made sense, considering his football background and established name."

[1.0] "Never Mind That Shit.... Here Comes Mongo! I'm giving him a point for inspiring a Botchamania Segment. The rest? Bleh..."