Top 5 Underrated WWF Wrestlers of ’90s

The 1990s heralded in a lot of great in-ring talent in the WWF with Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Shawn Michaels, Taka Michinoku, among others along with a ton of memorable gimmicks: Undertaker, Mankind, Steve Austin, The Rock, again with many others also on that list.

Nearly any fan can drop the name of the superstars of the era whether it be 1992 & Ric Flair or 1995 & Shawn Michaels or 1998 & Steve Austin. Many in the Internet Wrestling Community (aka IWC) will name drop athletic big men who kind of got schlepped into the background of the WWF such as Bam Bam Bigelow or the underutilized talents of Taka Michinoku.

Well I am here to count down, for you my loyal dozens of readers, the top 5 wrestlers in the WWF who were underrated in the 1990’s. As a caveat, I’m gonna dig even deeper in this list and I may surprise (or confuse) many. You will not be seeing heralded talents such as Adam Bomb, D-Lo Brown, Ahmed Johnson, Vader, any member of Kaientai, or any of the WCW Radicalz on this list. No no no… this list is for the truly underrated by both the mass fandom at large and arguably the IWC as well.

Kicking off the list is apparently a recent favorite of the Culture Crossfire website!

#5: Tatanka
Despite nearly becoming an NFL player in 1987 with the Miami Dolphins(!), Chris Chavis entered the WWF in 1991 and soon found himself debuting as the Native American hero Tatanka in February of 1992. Tatanka would make an impact immediately reeling off an impressive undefeated winning streak while feuding with “The Model” Rick Martel to set up a match at WrestleMania 8. By WrestleMania 9, he had transitioned into a feud with eventual Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels over the Intercontinental Title. His first televised defeat came at the hands of Ludvig Borga on October 30th, 1993 when he was actually pinned. Tatanka went over a YEAR without being defeated in the ring, take that Bill Goldberg!

Credit to NativeTatanka.comTatanka would soon feud with both Irwin R. Shyster and later Lex Luger throughout 1995 after Tatanka turned heel and joined the Million Dollar Corporation. In the span of 3 years Tatanka managed to feud with a future Hall of Famer in Shawn Michaels and somebody, in Lex Luger, who was literally pushed as the new Hulk Hogan in late 1994. After a so-so feud with Bam Bam Bigelow, Tatanka soon found himself leaving the WWF by 1996. Tatanka would eventually return to the WWE in 2005 and stay until 2007, showing he still had the chops to handle himself in the ring.

Despite never holding a title belt in the WWF, Tatanka was routinely around the IC Title picture and was part of several tag teams in the early era of the 1990’s. He was a very solid hand in the ring and did his job well, never quite capable of a 5* match perhaps but very rarely did he put in a bad effort either. His promos also reflected his ring work, never quite memorable but did what the purpose was.

#4: Johnny Polo
Before he became Raven in ECW and WCW, Scott Levy was known as Johnny Polo in the WWF. While not a wrestler per se, fans tend to ignore just how successful he was as a manager on the sidelines and remember him for his brief commentary run alongside Vince McMahon if anything else. While initially managing Adam Bomb briefly before Harvey Wippleman took over, Polo made his name as a manager of The Quebecers with Jacques and Pierre.

One of the ingenius aspects Polo brought was his cane and mental intelligence. Their first Tag Title win (of 3!) came whilst wrestling a match against The Steiner Brothers under “Quebec Province Rules” that allowed the titles to change on a disqualification. Sure enough, Polo goaded Scott Steiner into using a hockey stick that gave his team the Tag Titles. Genius! The Quebecers would regain the Tag Titles at a house show event against The 1-2-3 Kid & Marty Jannetty after losing the belts to them on Raw. The Quebecers would repeat this tactic, winning the Tag Titles back at a house show in 1995.

Credit to syracuse.bjp.tripod.comIn a lot of ways, Polo carried on the legacy set before him of managers such as Lou Albano but generally gets overlooked in terms of memorable managers of the 1990s partly because he didn’t have much in the way of competition outside of Jim Cornette. Also didn’t help that two of his Tag Title wins came at house shows but still, he managed a team to 3 separate Tag Title victories!

#3: Ken Shamrock
Okay, his promos usually weren’t that great but he said all that he needed to. He came out of the UFC into the WWF and immediately made a statement against Vader before being thrown head first as part of the feud against The Hart Foundation. By early 1998 he had transitioned into an equally memorable feud with The Rock over the IC Title and Owen Hart including a rather infamous “Hart Dungeon” match along with the introduction of the Lion’s Den Match. Shamrock would win the IC Title and feud with Billy Gunn, Val Venis, and Goldust after the inclusion of his on screen sister, Ryan Shamrock. As his WWF career was winding down Shamrock found himself as part of the Corporate Ministry before splitting away from them and then feuding with Steve Blackman and an ever so brief feud with new arrival Chris Jericho.

Credit to adamswrestling.blogspot.comUnfortunately, in many ways, Shamrock is usually seen as just another in the pantheon of failed King of the Ring winners or a guy who ‘underachieved’ in the wrestling ring. The guy held the IC Title and Tag Titles (with The Big Boss Man) and won the 1998 King of the Ring. He was an exceptional athlete in the ring and largely laid the foundation of the modern mix of submission tap out based wrestling with a brawling, athletic in-ring style. He could go from a Frankensteiner to a Belly to Belly Suplex to his Ankle Lock in a matter of minutes. For a guy listed at 5’11”, it’s a credit to Shamrock that nobody ever thought he couldn’t measure up to anybody in the ring regardless of his opponent’s size.

#2: The Headshrinkers
Breaking into the WWF with manager Afa in 1992, they quickly got themselves into the tag scene feuding with The Natural Disasters and High Energy. Samu and Fatu soon got recognition for their ability both as a memorable team visually (IMO a great influence on the current team of The Usos) and even in the ring. They had solid matches with a variety of teams in a pretty barren tag division in the early 1990’s including against The Steiner Brothers and The Nasty Boys. In 1994 under the leadership of Lou Albano, they finally won the Tag Titles only to lose them to Shawn Michaels & Diesel in a still curious move. Shortly after, Samu left and was replaced by Sionne in a forgettable continuation of the team. Fatu would later have much more recognition as Rikishi in the early 2000’s.

Credit to wwfringside.comThey were a surprisingly stable, solid in-ring team in the early 1990’s and really were somewhat the glue of the tag division when teams like The Steiner Brothers were jumping ship and Money Incorporated were breaking up. Their toughness was never questioned and despite only holding the Tag Titles one time, they were never considered fake or not credible when challenging for the belts in a given match. Their look also made them so memorable that their promos didn’t need to do a whole lot.

#1: Marc Mero
As somebody who got overshadowed by Sable and later became infamous for his appearances related to the deaths of wrestlers in the industry, Mero really is forgotten for how solid he was in the ring and as a character. Mero came over from WCW where he was Johnny B. Badd and immediately captured the IC Title while also feuding with a young Hunter Hearst Helmsley. After surgery, Mero came back as a heel and soon feuded with Sable before coming out with various valets including Luna Vachon and Jacqueline. By 1999, he’d be gone from the WWF due to injuries & a shoulder surgery, never wrestling there again despite having 3 years left on his contract.

Credit to WWE.comMero missed 6 months after his surgery and some could argue that it cut his career off at the knees. He came back and made a memorable character in his feud with Sable (I’d argue his character/feud was just as instrumental to her explosive career) but he kind of became a forgotten man by the time he came back. He had been in a solid feud with Triple H and should have been heavily in the IC Title picture but after his surgery the scene was being taken over by Triple H, Mankind, The Rock, Ken Shamrock, and Steve Austin leaving Mero with little room.

He did what he had to on the mic and became a rather natural heel in 1998 (after missing most of 1997) and could easily hold his own in the ring as well, rarely having a bad match and capable of classics if his health had held up. In a lot of ways, Mero could go down as another great “what if?” case in a myriad of them throughout wrestling history.