We all know the obvious candidates like Austin, The Rock, HHH. But what about guys who never get a mention.

I was watching my old Summerslam 96 video. It was a pretty much flat PPV at the beginning until Psycho Sid came out.
All the guy was doing was taunting throughout his entrance and during the match with Bulldog and the crowd was going absoloutly nuts!
I couldn't believe it.

Any others you can think of?

Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior were the two best in my opinion.

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Hulk Hogan had the crowd in the palm of his hand everytime he came out

Honestly, I do not know how you could argue with that

THE BEST-- Guys you would think of

Hogan
Flair
Dusy Rhodes
HBK
Austin
Rock
Foley
Harley Race
Billy Grahm
Roddy Piper
Jake Roberts
Ultimate Warrior
Road Dogg and Billy Gunn

GUYS YOU MISS-- self explainitory your retards
Junk Yard Dog
Bushwhakers
Bob Backlund
Psycho Sid
Goldust
Superfly Jimmy Snuka
Honkey Tonk Man
Diamond Dallas Page
Rick Rude
Scott Hall
Brutis Beefcake
Adrian Adonis
Koko B Ware
Rick Martel
Jerry Lawler

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Hulk Hogan with out question ! Watch Wrestlemania x8 and you will see for yourself ! ! !


Gav

Bobby Heenan
Owen Hart
Razor Ramon

Those are the first three that come to mind as never being mentioned. All three could get a great reaction out of a crowd in their prime.

Edit: I'm a little surprised that nobody has mentioned Shawn Michaels yet. I've always hated HBK, but you can't deny that the guy has always been so over that he can get any kind of reaction he wants.

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Julius Smokes

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Guys who had the crowd in the palms of their hands from beginning to end...regardless of ability in the ring.

Hogan.
Rock.
Flair.
Rhodes.
Jake Roberts. Why? I don't think I've ever seen a wrestler who has a better grasp of ring psychology, heel or face, that Roberts did.
Andre the Giant...his heel turn in 1988 was a shock to me because everyone loved the guy. Loved him.

Special mention to Bobby Heenan...the best manager I've ever seen at working a crowd. Heenan could get a reaction just by raising an eyebrow.

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"They hurt you at home and they hit you at school/They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool/Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules"--John Lennon

Easily Rick Rude. I saw him at UC Irvine and there were 100 people at most. He wrestled Koko B Ware. From the start to the finish, he ripped on this couple. It was the best. He would look over to my area, pose. We would yell and scream. Then, back to the couple. At the end, she was crying and the boyfriend, all 131 pounds, wanted Rude.

It ruled!

Austin, when he raises his arms on top of the turnbuckle during his entrance and
with his finger wackin and beer askin taunts

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned eddie g~ Face or Heel he was amazing at getting crowd responses. He could always get the reaction he wanted in every match.

If by Eddie G~(?), you mean Eddie Guerrero then I completely agree. The crowd almost always reacted to what he was doing in the squared cricle, whether it was firing up for the Frog Splash or struggling over his tendencies to cheat. He even was fantastic at building a technically perfect match, quickening the pace when flatness was approaching and slowing it down at the correct moments.

A great match showing his ability to engage a crowd is Los Guerreros / Team Angle at Backlash 2003. All he literally had to do was motion 'come on guys, cheer a little', and the audience would be doing just that.

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^^^ Yeah, he was a good talent who could also work the crowd rather well, but honestly i really doubt that he belongs in the same league as the likes of Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior in terms of 'crowd reaction'...

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almost forgot to make my pick here and i know that 'some' of you might say that i am about to have a "blind-mark-for-kurt-angle" moment... ;) ... But i'd say that its Kurt who belongs in there right after Hogan and Warrior...

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Yeah, especially towards the end of his WWE career when the crowd chants "you suck, you suck"

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SHHH! Quiet! You might piss somebody off!

^^^ Exactly! People always mention Hogan as No.1 for 'crowd reaction', but What's so special about Hogan? I'll tell you what's so special about him... Whenever he hit the ring the entire crowd popped... every single person! Ditto for the Warrior, plus when he went toe-to-toe with Hogan he did manage to hold his own... something no one else has ever managed to do, The Rock couldn't do it in his prime and even guys like Savage and Shawn had to turn heel before facing Hogan to protect their character's credibility! Those two are numbers 1 & 2 because of the cheer audience 'pop' that they generated...

And in his WWe run whenever Kurt came out, every single man, woman and child would in a synchronized manner go 'you suck'... hell, I've even seen mentally retarded people try and do the 'you suck' chant during Kurt's entrance, and they all seemed to do it with a vengeance! That's the heel's equivalent of a 'pop'... Who in the hell had a more consistent and crazy crowd response for sooooooooo many years, other than Kurt? Nobody! Even when he was a face, this crazy crowd frenzy could not be stopped... the music would play and they all started the chants!

That's why i'd put these three in a separate league of their own...

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I wouldn't place Eddie Guerrero on the same plane as Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan either. More an under-appreciated aspect of his game, as all the focus was usually on what he was doing in the ring.

Kurt Angle was good too, though again I wouldn't place him in the league of Hogan / Warrior. Those 'You Suck' chants, although requring a certain degree of overness to really gain momentum during his heel runs, persisted when he was a face too. As such, I think they became something the crowd wanted to do, with everyone joining in for the fun of it, regardless of how they thought of Angle as a performer. Kind of like the Team 3D 'get the tables' spot, the crowd usually said the line with Bubba Ray, but only because that's what you did when watching the Dudley Boys live.

But again, he still needed to be over to get that bloody chant started up in the first place. Kudos for that.

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Kurt has Edge to thank for that chant...he urged the audiance to chant it to the theme when they were feuding, and it turned into one of those things that immediatley stuck.

I always enjoyed watching the crowd chanting it and pointing to his opponent during his face run. This was during his crazy intense stage (2006). After his good match with HBK at WM21, they built his entire character up as a guy you HAD to respect, as highlighted by his 'I just plain don't like black people' promo at that years Royal Rumble.

The 'You Suck' chants followed him, but you're right; they quickly became positive, rather than disparaging.

I think it was just that the comments were totally appropraite for his music, kinda like the Angels " Am I ever gonna see your face again" (no way, get fvcked, fvck off!)

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SHHH! Quiet! You might piss somebody off!

Jake Roberts...owned the fans. Hulk, Warrior, HBK, Rock and Austin.

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I would say Rick Rude. The Fans hated the guy soo much, but like he would say the ladies loved him lol. The worst right now is Chris Jerico. Everytime I see a Jerico segment I turn the TV becuz he has gotten dull as hell. No emotion at all in his promo.

It sucks that today only one guy(Santina) gives me a kick when it comes to working the crowd.
To follow the thread i will mention MY favorite workers, not the best, Hogan of course. From Hogan im jumping to the late 90s and I have to say DX, Nwo especially road dogg and again hogan. Someone else who hasnt been mentioned was Goldust especially when he first had his thing with Scott Hall(Razor Ramon)

I'd throw Michael Hayes in the mix as well. He was ok mostly, at times good, but mostly just ok. His whole shtick was egging on the crowd. He really got the freebirds their heat, so he deserves credit for that much.

The other dude i'd put out there is Georgeous Jimmy Garvin. IN the 80s, Garvin to me was sort of the epitome of a guy who didn't DO a lot, but he REALLY knew how to work with what he had and as far as stooging, goofy but deceptively dangerous heels go, Georgeous Jimmy's gotta be up there.

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Paul Heyman, at an ECW show he was the messiah, at a WWE show he was the Anti-Christ either way you did what he wanted...

And Vickie Guerrero, I've never seen anyone get so much heat just by showing up, and the "Excuse Me" thing... I mean wow! Everyone hates that b!tch...

Then of course Bobby Heenan, the greatest manager of all time!!!

And as for today Santino is the man!!!

The Dudleys!!! Really, I couldn't believe the heat they were generating a decade ago in the original ECW... I really thought they were going to cause a riot!

And also, George The Animal Steele, he also was capable of causing riots, then as a babyface every mark in the audience bought into that retarded mammal gimmick. Amazing if you think about it, because who could do that now?

One of the best part of Eddie face run was the involment with the crowd. He made you feel part of the match becuase the whole arena new he was cheating but his opponent. In that way he was always the best.

I would also mention Jericho. Probably not in the list of the OMG BESTS EVA!! but in his currently character he works the crowd pretty well.

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thats easy.
Lance Storm

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Some of the old school wrestlers who could really work a crowd were the heels with the "hidden object in the trunks" gimmick. Baron Scicluna and George The Animal Steele come to mind. They would make the foreign object so plainly visible to the crowd, but the referee could almost never find it on them. This would get the crowd infuriated; they would yell at the ref, point it out, etc., but he could never find it. And the heel would shout back at the crowd to "shut up!", and then laugh at the crowd's frustration to get the referee to find it. This sort of interatction would really get a crowd going. I saw lots of matches like this in the 70's.

And of course, when the ref actually finally did find the object, and take it away, the crowd would pop big for the face making his comeback.

Rather than the obvious ones:
Face: Hacksaw Jim Duggan, I'm not even American but even I was tempted into a U S A occasionally.
Heel: Ted Dibase The Million Dollar Man, great gimmick, huge heat magnet, awesome technical wrestler, arguably one of the greatest never to hold the WWF Belt.

You beat me to Jim Duggan. Always a fantastic reaction in WWE. Stick t the basics, most people are patriotic so let them voice it!

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"Damn! I can't spell what I wanna say!" Just like Rampage

Another vote for Hacksaw. They could probably put a show on right now in North Korea and he'll have them shouting USA.

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Hacksaw is a very good shout.

Out of the guys rarely mentionned (I'm not suggesting they're up there with the best)

Rikishi - his crescent kick could silence a crowd, his opponent dropping down in position for the disgusting stinkface got the crowd going nuts, his dancing always got the crowd going.

Scotty 2 Hotty - the crowd just responded to him really well.

Jake Roberts is probably the best at getting a reaction. Never had to rely on being a champion, never relied on catchphrases or being the top guy. As a kid with no attention span I listened to every word he said and today I watched a promo of his where he stole the Million Dollar Belt, the crowd were going completely crazy.

Hacksaw is a very good shout.

Out of the guys rarely mentionned (I'm not suggesting they're up there with the best)

Rikishi - his crescent kick could silence a crowd, his opponent dropping down in position for the disgusting stinkface got the crowd going nuts, his dancing always got the crowd going.

Scotty 2 Hotty - the crowd just responded to him really well.

Jake Roberts is probably the best at getting a reaction. Never had to rely on being a champion, never relied on catchphrases or being the top guy. As a kid with no attention span I listened to every word he said and today I watched a promo of his where he stole the Million Dollar Belt, the crowd were going completely crazy.

[quote="ScToTeE"]I wouldn't place Eddie Guerrero on the same plane as Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan either. More an under-appreciated aspect of his game, as all the focus was usually on what he was doing in the ring.

Kurt Angle was good too, though again I wouldn't place him in the league of Hogan / Warrior. Those 'You Suck' chants, although requring a certain degree of overness to really gain momentum during his heel runs, persisted when he was a face too. As such, I think they became something the crowd wanted to do, with everyone joining in for the fun of it, regardless of how they thought of Angle as a performer. Kind of like the Team 3D 'get the tables' spot, the crowd usually said the line with Bubba Ray, but only because that's what you did when watching the Dudley Boys live.

But again, he still needed to be over to get that bloody chant started up in the first place. Kudos for that.[/quote]

Working the crowd denotes doing it throughout the match. If you ever saw Warrior's house show matches, you'd see he couldn't keep the crowds attention once his entrance was over. Warrior was good but was never in the league of Guerrero. Guerrero could work effectively as a heel or face in virtually any promotion he had ever been in. Warrior wouldn't of survived in Japan, WCW, and probably wouldn't of been a good heel either (in fact, Warrior probably knew that, hence why he turned the heel role down).

Ricky Steamboat could work the crowd as a face like few could.

No
He, bored the crowd
In his last days in WWE.

She may not be a wrestler but vicki guerrero, she had the most heat ive evr heard and i myself genuinely hated her, not hate her as in i hate her character but she makes it better like orton and stuff like that but hate her as in im glad shes gone because everything she touched just rusted, plain and simple

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Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and Shawn Michaels. Those are my choices. I would also say that Ravishing Rick Rude and Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig were good too. Triple H also has a way of working the crowd. There were alot of great wrestlers who could work a crowd but to me these were the best.

I forgot to mention this with my original post. I think it was like 4am when I did it so i was that out of it that I couldn't even spell guerrero but there is one thing that I've never forgotten about Eddie which is what I always think about when I think of him. He was tagging with Rey mysterio and I THINK but could be wrong that it was against the bashams. And Rey was getting worked on for a huge part of the match. And Eddie was clearly frustrated as hell working the crowd. The crowd was so into it. And as Eddie was desperately trying to get a tag from anywhere he could and the ref would keep forcing him back to his corner and shouting at him to hold the tag rope. After about 10 minutes of Rey getting beat on non stop eddie loosened the tag rope and slowly inched his way towards the middle of the apron dragging the tag rope with him with that mischievous look he always had and it got the crowd so pumped up. Rey was working on a come back and was about to make his way to the other side of the ring but was stopped. And by then the ref noticed Eddie and was pointed at him again to the corner and was about to shout but then he noticed the tag rope in on the middle of the top rope. The facial reaction from both him and Eddie were priceless and it's one of my favourite moments ever from Eddie. I've never been one to get totally sucked into matches (but it does happen). This was one of the rare occasions I was totally sucked in and so was the crowd. I didn't think the crowd could get any louder than after the bit with Eddie and the ref but when Eddie finally got tagged in the saying the roof got blown off would be appropriate. Pure brilliance by the man. Something I'd never seen or heard of before, and haven't seen since. And of course this is just ONE match. He was amazing at getting reactions no matter what he was doing.

I too think that Rick Rude was one of the best at this. From his pre-match promo to his flexing after hitting a move and hip swivels, he truly was great at working the crowd

^^^If you have a nice pair of shoes the crowd will be in the palm of you hand. Kurt Angle was pretty good at working a crowd because of that you suck chant. Even when he was a face the crowd would still chant you suck because they became so used to it, it was almost as if they were hypnotized.

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