Opinion

Cook: Jobbers Are The Stars Of The Show

Jobbers To The Stars are back in a big way–and according to Steve Cook, it’s making them stars in their own right.

Published

5 years ago

April 24, 2020

Steve Cook

Jobbers To The Stars are back in a big way–and according to Steve Cook, it’s making them stars in their own right.

It’s tempting to say that everything has gone downhill since the beginning of the Pandemic Era. I always try to look at the bright side during difficult times, and there are a number of things that I can say are improvements from the way things were before the coronavirus took hold here in America.

Traffic is so much better it’s ridiculous. I never have to worry about sitting in a long line unless I’ve got a craving for some chicken.
People are staying six feet away from me. As somebody that’s always been a bit anti-social, this is a welcome development.
I’m working the afternoon shift now, which means I can go to bed obscenely late instead of waking up obscenely early.
The Reds are undefeated, and I’ve convinced myself that the Louisville Cardinals won either the men’s or women’s basketball national championship. Heck, why not both?
Have you seen gas prices lately? If they could stay under two bucks a gallon the rest of my life, I would be a happy camper. I’d probably buy a camper and live in it.

Now I know what you’re wondering. Since this is a wrestling column on a wrestling website, you’re wondering “What has gotten better about wrestling?”. Well, that’s easy, sunshine! I’ve been watching pro wrestling for thirty glorious years. The first wrestling I watched was WWF Superstars & WWF Wrestling Challenge. Those of you who were around back then know that those shows didn’t exactly feature a ton of competitive matches. There were stars that would come down to the ring with their opponent already there, and they would proceed to destroy that opponent. They would hit their big moves, they would look impressive, and the opponent would die. Until a week or two later, when they came back to get killed by somebody else.

They became as recognizable as the stars.

The Brooklyn Brawler. Barry Horowitz. Duane Gill. PJ Walker. They and countless others would show up week after week, knowing they had little chance of victory, to take their best shot at the top stars of the World Wrestling Federation. If they got lucky and got a pinfall, they could advance to the next level. They could become WWF Superstars themselves. It rarely happened, but 1-2-3 Kid did get that win over Razor Ramon on Raw, so you never know! You get one win, you can become a star.

This booking strategy died off during the Monday Night War. WCW & the WWF both decided that they couldn’t afford to have one-sided matches during a ratings war, so they constantly booked stars against stars. The days of the hopelessly outmatched wrestler ended. We ended up in the era of 50/50 booking because nobody could afford to look bad. Everybody had to look strong, so nobody could really get over in the same fashion that stars back in the day did. You could build somebody up with videos, but the second they appeared on TV, they had to go 50/50 with somebody that hadn’t won a televised match in years, or had won one of two that everybody forgot about.

Nobody stood out.

Which was the idea. WWE realized that they were better off not making stars, because they might realize their worth at some point. WCW…well, who knows what the hell they were thinking. They usually didn’t know. All I can tell you is that pro wrestling shows were populated with 50/50 matches for many years, and nobody got over as a result of them even though they got many starsfrom the experts. Good wrestling matches are always fun for people like us to watch, but they don’t always get people over.

Killing people does. That’s why I love the fact that the Pandemic Era has brought us more one-sided matches.

This week’s episode of Raw had 11 matches. ELEVEN MATCHES. Even for three hours, that’s a lot. I saw some people on that show that had no chance of beating anybody. I also saw Santana Garrett, which was pretty awesome until the Street Profits did commentary on her match with Bianca BelAir. That…was rough.

Talk about somebody getting buried right out of the gate. As much as I appreciate the awesome husband/wife energy between Bianca & Montez Ford, as I know no other people with that type of energy, I wish WWE wouldn’t have put a microphone on Montez. We would have heard him fine without one! It made me yearn for the days of Corey Graves & Renee Young arguing over every match for no reason.

I was fine with Santana being cannon fodder though. She’s got the talent to do that. She’s got the look to stand out and be notable even if she loses all the time. Every promotion needs people that can do that. WWE has been feeding NXT talent to the main roster the past few weeks, which makes some people upset. I understand the fury when that talent is expected to be taken seriously on NXT. Akira Tozawa is expected to be taken seriously in this interim Cruiserweight Title Tournament where Drake Maverick is undermining other fired talent that shouldn’t be expected to come in for random bookings. Yet,Tozawa is the first one to be fed to whichever of Zelina Vega’s wrestlers needs to win a match this week. It doesn’t seem like the best choice, but at least the matches are good, right?

All Elite Wrestling has been feeding us a healthy diet of squash lately. It’s pretty good timing for some guys, as the likes of Brodie Lee, Lance Archer & Wardlow could use some easy wins. There’s no better way to put over monster heels than feeding them some jabronis. Or, you can feed some popular wrestlers some easy opponents and have some fun with it. Nothing wrong with that, especially when you’re a young company like AEW that can still use some talent.

They’ve already signed some of them!

We all know about the Dark Order expanding their ranks with guys like Alex Reynolds, John Silver & Preston Vance. It’s nice for them to have guys under masks that can take punishment, and the mask helps the guys retain some dignity for when they try to do good things later on.

And then there’s the story of Anna Jay. We’re talking about a young girl that’s had a very low number of matches since starting out. Very early on in her career. A product of QT Marshall & Ray Lloyd’s Nightmare Factory, which is a good way to get on AEW’s radar but doesn’t ensure a job. You might be able to get booked on an episode of AEW’s Dynamite or Dark, but you need to stand out to stay there. Anna stood out in her first match on television against Hikaru Shida, and impressed the brass enough that she got signed to a contract.

She might be a jobber for now, but she won’t be a jobber for long.

This is the way young wrestlers learn. Take a look at the career of Kenta Kobashi. Kobashi did nothing but lose for the first year of his career in All Japan Pro Wrestling. He learned. Once he figured things out, he became one of the company’s top stars. Fans had grown invested in him as he worked his way up the card.

Not that I’m comparing Anna Jay to Kobas-oh what the hell, let’s make that comparison. Anna Jay just might become to AEW’s women’s division what Kobashi became to AJPW’s men’s division. We can’t rule it out! Everybody’s been talking about the lack of depth in that division due to the fact that WWE has almost every female wrestler in captivity signed to a contract. They got a former WOW Champion hanging out to do jobs. It’s quite the situation. AEW has to look under the radar and find the future of the business because WWE has the past & present locked up.

Could Anna Jay be that future? It’s impossible to say, though based off her look & her ring presence this early in her career I would say 100% yes. Maybe it doesn’t pan out, but she’s definitely worth a look. I would buy all the Anna Jay stock right now and count on her being the Star of the Show for years to come.

That’s what can happen when you show up to be a jobber.

Anna Jay was on nobody’s radar before she popped up on Dynamite. Now she has a contract with one of the top two promotions in North America. There’s no reason that other people booked on her level can’t reach up and grab that brass ring. If you stand out now, you’ll stand out even more when people can actually go to shows. You can’t tell me that Anna Jay wouldn’t get a tremendous reaction from a typical AEW crowd right now. She’d probably be one of the most over people on the show because the folks that go to AEW shows love those types of stories. They’d have to turn her face.

Every jobber has their day. Barry Horowitz beat Bodydonna Skip. The Brooklyn Brawler got a title match against Shawn Michaels. Anna Jay hasn’t won a match yet, but she impressed enough people while battling Shida & Penelope Ford to get some attention. She’ll be heading to the pay window soon enough.

If there’s one good impact the coronavirus had on the wrestling business, it’s that we’ve been introduced to Anna Jay. And other folks that have come in to lose matches. But mostly Anna Jay. I like to look on the bright side, and to look at any side of Anna Jay I can look at.

Did that sound right? Probably not, but what the hell? Y’all know what I’m saying. Jobber matches are awesome. They remind me of the good old days. I’m not usually one of those guys that yearns for those good old days, but this is one instance where I’m on board. Make America Jobbers Again! OK, that’s probably not right either, but what the hell?

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Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)

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Opinion

Chairshot Staff Picks: Money In The Bank

Extra, extra read all about it… Chairshot Staff picks are in!!!

Published

2 weeks ago

June 6, 2025

PC Tunney

Sing it with me… money money money money moneeeeeeeeeyeeeeee… everybody’s got a price! MONEY IN THE BANK is here!!! How money will our staff picks be?!?

AJ – Roxanne Perez
Andrew – Stephanie Vaquer – *Bubba Sparxxx Impression* I don’t tell stories, I let them tell theyself.
Dave – Guilia – A stacked field but I just like her here.
DJ – Naomi
DPP – Roxanne Perez
Jason – Alexa Bliss
Patrick – Roxanne Perez
Rey – Naomi – If Naomi loses, we riot!
Rob – Naomi
Greg – Alexa Bliss – Bliss has had huge reactions since returning and is moving a ton of merch. While I can see them wanting to build Roxanne Perez, Giulia, or Stephanie Vaquer, I think Alexa Bliss.

Tunney’s Take: Rhea Ripley – I’ll make my case short and sweet… Mami in the Bank! You can’t leave that money on the table.

Chairshot Pick – Tie – Naomi 3 & Roxanne Perez 3 (Alexa Bliss 2, Giulia 1, Rhea Ripley 1, Stephanie Vaquer 1)

AJ – LA Knight
Andrew – El Grande Americano – Feels correct given his push and the fact he’s over.
Dave – Seth Rollins – Got to push that new faction.
DJ – LA Knight
DPP – El Grande Americano
Jason – LA Knight
Patrick – Solo Sikoa
Rey – LA Knight – Looks like another push, and he does have history with Cena.
Rob – Solo Sikoa
Greg – Seth Rollins – This company is extremely high in the El Grande Americano gimmick, but this match comes down to Seth Rollins or LA Knight. Given the Rollins storyline, it’s his briefcase to win.

Tunney’s Take: El Grande Americano – Picture this: Chad Gable wins the AAA Mega Championship and El Grande Americano wins MITB! WHAT A SATURDAY in LA!!!

Chairshot Pick – LA Knight 4 (El Grande Americano 3, Seth Rollins 2, Solo Sikoa 2)

AJ – Becky Lynch – Sadly
Andrew – Becky Lynch – I still don’t care about Lyra.
Dave – Lyra Valkyria – Starting to warm up to her and Becky has a lot to do with that.
DJ – Lyra Valkyria
DPP – Becky Lynch
Jason – Becky Lynch
Patrick – Lyra Valkyria
Rey – Becky Lynch – Put some fire on the Irish Beef.
Rob – Becky Lynch
Greg – Becky Lynch – I don’t think you do a rematch here just to have Becky lose again. Unless Bayley shows up to help Lyra.

Tunney’s Take: Becky Lynch – A big part of me feels that winning this title checks off a major box for Becks in her HOF career.

Chairshot Pick – Becky Lynch 8-3

AJ – Cena & Paul
Andrew – Rhodes & Uso – Easy way for Cena to lose without eating the pinfall.
Dave – Rhodes & Uso – Get the QB back on the winning track.
DJ – Rhodes & Uso
DPP – Rhodes & Uso
Jason – Cena & Paul
Patrick – Cena & Paul
Rey – Rhodes & Uso – Heels usually lose these kinds of matches. Logan takes the pin.
Rob – Cena & Paul
Greg – Rhodes & Uso – I hope Jey isn’t an afterthought here like Cody was last fall when he was paired up with Roman. I think Cody pins Cena to set up Cody-Cena 2 at SummerSlam.

Tunney’s Take: Cena & Paul – I don’t think Cena is involved in another loss until he loses the WWE Championship. I also think Logan Paul is NOT done trying to capture Jey Uso’s World Heavyweight Championship. …Travis Scott in the house?

Chairshot Pick – 6-5 Rhodes & Uso

In closing I want to thank everyone on the panel for participating with their picks! You can follow each prognosticator/podcaster on X @ the handles below. We all enjoy Pro Wrestling so remember three things… be respectful of others, comparison is the thief of joy and HAVE FUN!

AJ – @PhenomenalAJB
Andrew – @IWCWarChief
Dave – @AttitudeAgg
DJ – @TheMindlessPod
DPP – @itsmeDPP
Jason – @JediFett
Patrick – @WrestlngRealist
Rey – @itsreycash
Rob – @rbonne1
Greg – @gregdemarco44
PC – @PCTunney
TheChairshot.com – @ChairshotMedia

prowrestlingtees.com/TheChairshot – a PLETHORA of GREAT designs…MAKES A GREAT GIFT!

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SUNDAY – Keeping the news ridiculous… The Oddity / The Front and Center Sports Podcast

CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS

Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE’s PPV/PLE history)

TheChairshot.com PRESENTS…IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends

Patrick O’Dowd’s 5X5

Classic POD is WAR

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About Chairshot Radio Network

MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)

TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)

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SUNDAY - The Front and Center Sports Podcast

CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS

Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)

TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends

Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5

Classic POD is WAR

Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!

All Shows On Demand

Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!

Opinion

Chairshot Staff Picks: Backlash St. Louis

Chairshot Staff picks!!!

Published

1 month ago

May 9, 2025

PC Tunney

May is upon us and with that, so is Backlash from St. Louis! What does the first PLE after WrestleMania have in store for the WWE Universe? Let’s see if the Chairshot Staff can properly interpret the crystal ball of rasslin’ future.

AJ – Pat MacAfee – Gunther has to start losing control and who better than an announcer.
Andrew – Pat MacAfee – Goldberg getting involved does seem correct here.
Dave – Gunther – He’s not losing to a broadcaster.
DJ – Gunther – Pat is sent to the shadow realm until football season is over.
DPP – Gunther – Post match beat down leads to Pat time off.
Jason – Gunther – One massive spot and or bump from Pat.
Patrick – Gunther
Rey – Gunther – RIP MacAfee, t’was a good life.
Rob – Gunther
Greg – Pat MacAfee – Why? Goooooldbeeerrrrrgggggg!

Tunney’s Take: Gunther – Seems like the right pick here. Pat may be getting some time off and Gunther needs more heat.

Chairshot Pick – GUNTHER 8-3

AJ – Lyra Valkyria – Becky’s hopefully putting her over, still mad about Dakota.
Andrew – Becky Lynch – I have no real interest in Lyra currently.
Dave – Becky Lynch – Lyra is boring AF!
DJ – Lyra Valkyria – Bayley interferes.
DPP – Becky Lynch – Becky cheats and steals the title.
Jason – Lyra Valkyria – Bayley costs Becks.
Patrick – Becky Lynch
Rey – Becky Lynch – Story needs to jump up a bit, Becky Charlotte’s Lyra.
Rob – Lyra Valkyria
Greg – Becky Lynch – It’s been fun, Lyra. (It kinda hasn’t)

Tunney’s Take: Lyra Valkyria – Bayley’s interference should set up some type of program with Becky as we head towards Summer(Slam).

Chairshot Pick – BECKY LYNCH 6-5

AJ – Jacob Fatu – Great way to put him over w/ two former WHCs and LA Knight.
Andrew – Jacob Fatu – He’s Jacob Fatu!
Dave – Jacob Fatu – Too soon to pull the belt off him.
DJ – Jacob Fatu – Priest and LA can’t decide who’s is bigger.
DPP – Jacob Fatu – Your hardcore match, tables and chairs involved.
Jason – Jacob Fatu – The Champ retains due to or in spite of Solo.
Patrick – Jacob Fatu
Rey – Jacob Fatu – All gas. No brakes. Ain’t losing.
Rob – Jacob Fatu
Greg – Jacob Fatu – Someone from The Samoan Dynasty ain’t winning a title just to drop it.

Tunney’s Take: Jacob Fatu – Uncle Mo is on Fatu’s side and other than Knight, I don’t see Drew or Priest holding the US title in the current circumstances of this title’s landscape.

Chairshot Pick – JACOB FATU 11-0

AJ – Dominic Mysterio – Judgement Day shenanigans just leading up to Finn turning on Dom later.
Andrew – Penta – Dom’s fine having a short reign, could also work for pushing AAA.
Dave – Dominic Mysterio – He’s probably more over than Penta.
DJ – Dominic Mysterio – Dirty Dom takes home the gold and the girl.
DPP – Dominic Mysterio – Big Head helps Dom pull out the win.
Jason – Dominic Mysterio – By hook and crook.
Patrick – Dominic Mysterio
Rey – Dominic Mysterio – Latino Heat keeps burning. Finn gets closer to the edge.
Rob – Dominic Mysterio
Greg – Dominic Mysterio – Someone from The Guerrero Dynasty ain’t winning a title just to drop it.

Tunney’s Take: Dominic Mysterio – That belt looks good with the king of chicken tendys. I can see Penta and Rey reforming as a tag team sooner than later.

Chairshot Pick – DOMINIC MYSTERIO 10-1

AJ – John Cena – Why? Cena wins, lol.
Andrew – John Cena – Shenanigans ensue so it’s not a clean win.
Dave – John Cena – The last time is now.
DJ – John Cena – Randy hears voices telling him he needs an Attitude Adjustment.
DPP – John Cena – Cena tries to cheat but the ref doesn’t call for a DQ.
Jason – John Cena – Nefarious means, Randy not ready for Evil John Cena.
Patrick – John Cena
Rey – John Cena – Cena just counting down the dates. Should be fun though.
Rob – John Cena
Greg – John Cena – You know they want Cody to be the hero in the end.

Tunney’s Take: Randy Orton – Once upon a time Randy got himself intentionally disqualified and it cost John. Saturday, history repeats itself with a 180-degree twist. Cena retains via Orton DQ victory. This time, Travis Scott’s appearance takes care of that task.

Chairshot Pick – JOHN CENA 10-1