Our Biggest Draws In Wrestling

In this edition of The Wrestling Estate roundtable, we reveal who the biggest draws in wrestling have been during our fandom. These are the stars we’ve specifically spent money on, either to see on pay-per-view, in person or via merchandise.

Chad Gelfand’s Biggest Draws in Wrestling

The Rock helped spring my wrestling fandom as a child. One of the first action figures I ever received was his. I owned several more of those figures, numerous T-shirts and one of the first WrestleManias I bought was WrestleMania 27 with him hosting.

Jeff Hardy was my number one guy for a long time. I had about five of his action figures, the Hardy Boyz autobiography, the Hardy Boyz DVD and the separate one that was just a Jeff Hardy DVD. I never did get those nylon sleeves with the holes cut in them, though.

Kofi Kingston has been my favorite wrestler since he debuted in ECW in 2008, so of course, I had his action figure. I even brought a “Kofi for World Champion” sign to a house show I went to on Super Bowl Sunday in 2011.

Chris Jericho’s longevity is insane. I have action figures of him from 2000 and I bought a ticket to see him wrestle in 2019 in AEW. Not to mention his four autobiographies that I’ve read in between then.

Seth Rollins is one of the few wrestlers where I’ve paid for their meet-and-greet autograph. This was right after Rollins came back from his knee surgery. He was very friendly and open about his recovery process and his return in his Q&A, which was also part of the package.

Steven Jackson’s Biggest Draws in Wrestling

I was absolutely crazy about Goldberg during my early wrestling fandom. T-shirts, pendants, posters, books, action figures, PPV events and everything else you could think of. I couldn’t get enough!

I have always loved Rey Mysterio. T-shirts, posters, pendants, action figures, DVDs, you name it. Bizarrely, I’ve yet to buy a replica mask.

Bret Hart is my favorite wrestler of all-time. With that statement, it only makes sense that I will buy a lot of his merchandise: DVDs, action figures, pin badges and his highly acclaimed autobiography. My collection will definitely continue to grow.

In 2002, when I finally got access to Sky TV here in the U.K., there was one wrestler who I immediately became a mega-fan for: the “Next Big Thing” Brock Lesnar! DVDs, posters, action figures, specific PPVs (wrestling and MMA), sticker albums and video games. Brock Lesnar has taken a lot of my money, but I have been pleased with every purchase I have made.

There was a time in my early to mid-teens when I believed John Cena was the coolest man on the planet (and I’m not ashamed that a bit of me still does). With that sentiment, it is no surprise that I bought as much John Cena merchandise as I could get my hands on. Posters, action figures, T-shirts, hats, sweat bands, pendants, books, DVDs, specific PPV events, stickers, his rap album and much, much more! My bank account is proof to how much I love the “Doctor of Thuganomics.”

Matthew Smith’s Biggest Draws in Wrestling

Kevin Owens is a very relatable wrestler for me and my family. I have enough KO shirts to be set for a good few days, and when I did have the WWE Network, it was because he was champion.

Whether it be going to see him at a Fozzy show or traveling to Las Vegas to watch him and Omega go at it, I’ve spent plenty of money on Le Champion. Chris Jericho has been supplying me with T-shirts since 1996.

On PPVs alone, whether it was Wrestle Kingdom or ROH, if the Young Bucks were in a big match, I was buying. Hopefully in the near future, I’ll be at another AEW event once more.

It’s safe to say if Bray Wyatt is in New Orleans, I’m coming and buying as much merch as I can. I saw him at WrestleMania 30 and the last time WWE graced The Smoothie King Center I was there to load up on new Fiend merch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK6ly5FQ7wQ

John Corrigan’s Biggest Draws in Wrestling

I bought Wrestle Kingdom 9 just to hear Jim Ross on commentary. I had never watched NJPW before then and still don’t. But with good, ol’ J.R. calling the action, staying up all night felt like a worthy investment.

Matt Hardy lured me to three consecutive House of Hardcore events during his feud with Tommy Dreamer. This was in the midst of his Broken phase and I just had to experience his lunacy in person. Their first match was a spectacle, featuring cameos from the Broken Entourage, Joey Styles, Beulah, Raven and Sandman. Their rematch was a wild steel cage brawl that surprised everyone when Brother Nero interfered. I brought my family to the series finale as we enjoyed Dreamer & Bully Ray finally giving the Hardyz their comeuppance, all while under contract to WWE.

In 2007, rumors that Chris Jericho’s return would happen at a Raw in Philly prompted me to ask my mom if we could go. We did…and Y2J didn’t save us (yet). Regardless, I have each of Le Champion’s books and definitely wouldn’t care as much about AEW if he wasn’t involved.

As most children of the Attitude Era, The Rock was one of my favorites. I never got to see him in person before Hollywood snatched him up, so as soon as he and Cena agreed to meet at WrestleMania XXVIII, I promised myself that I was finally going to WrestleMania. One year later, my friends and I were on a plane to Miami and a nearly seven-year tradition began.

Mick Foley is my favorite author. You may scoff, but the Hardcore Legend has a way with words that has tangled my imagination like a barbed wire bed. I have all his autobiographies and even his two fiction books: Tietam Brown and Scooter. I’ve bought his DVDs and T-shirts, and even met him in person three times.

Juan Bautista’s Biggest Draws in Wrestling

When NXT announced the first West Coast tour, I had to go to the Fresno show because of Shinsuke Nakamura. He is a different kind of performer.

When NJPW started to air on AXS TV, I made sure to tune in to see AJ Styles.

Wrestle Kingdom 13 was available for $40 on FITE TV and despite the time difference, I had to see what Kenny Omega was going to do.

Jack Goodwillie’s Biggest Draws in Wrestling

Eddie Guerrero is my favorite wrestler of all time. Need I say more? When he was a face, I wanted to see him get his title back from JBL. When he was a heel, I reluctantly supported him in his rivalry with Rey Mysterio, but always came away from those matches amazed with what both men were able to accomplish. Eddie was at least part of the reason I became a wrestling fan as a kid, so no matter his alignment, I was always going to watch.

I was always behind CM Punk. Even after he came to Raw and was working as a midcard babyface, it was super easy for me to tell based on the booking that this guy was at least intended to shoot up the card one day. He stood out in every segment he was in and obviously his run as an anti-hero babyface will always be special to me as it kept me around as a fan during the time the WWE product had grown exceptionally stale and young stars saw their growth stagnate. I was made a Punk fan for life during an angle involving Chavo Guerrero and La Familia celebrating his ECW Championship win in the middle of the ring at the Sovereign Center in Reading, PA (my hometown). Punk went undercover as a member of Chavo’s mariachi band, smashing a guitar over Chavo’s head and peeling off his disguise while standing over the champ as ECW went off the air and SmackDown began. I’m not ashamed to say I bought his shirt that night.

It’s going to be trendy to say Edge was a big draw for me because the circumstances surrounding his big comeback, but it’s true! And don’t get me wrong, I felt the nostalgia big time at the Royal Rumble, but when I was a kid, Edge was an irredeemable piece of crud. He was pure EVIL as a heel during his run as the Rated-R Superstar and if I was going to convince my Mom to let me buy a Raw pay-per-view, there were generally big stakes involving Edge’s match because I was not going to miss a chance to see him get what he deserves. Conversely, while I have generally been down on the WWE product in recent times, I tuned in to the Royal Rumble SPECIFICALLY to see Edge. If that’s not a draw, then I don’t know what is.

John Cena’s drawing power was tied to Edge’s for a while, and these two will be linked in history in a similar manner to Austin and Rock. But even before the Edge feud, when Cena was on SmackDown as a midcard superstar, he was always one of my favorites to watch and as excited as I could get for an Eddie Guerrero match, it was arguably just as gratifying to see Cena beat the hell out of Rene Dupree or Orlando Jordan. And when he got the nod at WrestleMania, it was his coronation, not Batista’s, that I was most looking forward to seeing. Cena’s drawing power waned heavily in recent years as WWE got too complacent with his booking, but when the going was good, it was great.

Hulk Hogan…bear with me here. One of the more notable wrestling events I have attended was Bound for Glory 2011, conveniently held on the campus of my alma mater, Temple University. I recently got to thinking about what most compelled me to want to attend that show, as the Hogan era in TNA had been trending down for some time at this point. And I THINK what most compelled me to attend was not an AJ Styles-Christopher Daniels match and not the possibility of seeing Bobby Roode crowned as TNA Champion (he wasn’t), but the prospect of seeing Hulk Hogan’s final match, against Sting no less. I didn’t have high expectations for the match and was really more expecting a car crash. But to TNA’s credit, the match did have stakes to it and WAS Hogan’s final singles match to date. Granted, this story encompasses just one match, but it does speak to Hogan’s status as a permadraw in wrestling.