The Top 30 Physiques in Professional Wrestling of All Time

I began watching professional wrestling at the tender age of 4 in the summer of 1989. I caught a glimpse of it while at a neighbor's house one night and instantly fell in love. One of the things that fascinated me most was how big and strong the wrestlers were. How chiseled and defined their muscles were. I developed an interest in bodybuilding and was hoping that with enough hard work I'd one day look like one of the stars I saw on TV.

Unfortunately when I looked into the mirror last to see which superstar I currently resembled, the answer was Mideon aka Phineus I Godwin aka Dennis Knight.


My goal is to miss no lifting sessions, add in cardio, stop cheating on my diet and when I'm at lifting sessions lift till absolute exhaustion. I'm hoping by doing so I can achieve a look similar to a young Arn Anderson.

Who as you can tell looks pretty damn good for an average bloke, but in comparison to many other professional wrestlers, his physique is average.

It should also be noted that this list is a comprehensive list of 30 male wrestlers I feel have the physiques in professional wrestling of all time. Perhaps I'll make a list of female physiques later that impress me, but I can see a lot more arguments developing with people doing that, considering that how I define beauty and what I find stimulating and attractive is much different than what most men (and for that matter women) do.

On my list for example, you wouldn't find any Sables or Stacy Keiblers. I just don't find the bitchy, try and look tough look attractive on a woman. My list would include more the friendly, still hot as Hell, but girl next door look.

For example Molly Holly would top my list at #1 and I'm not sure if she'd even make anyone else's top 5 list. I researched and found four "most attractive women in professional wrestling of all time" list and only one of the four even had Molly on the list. And at that, she was #11 on a top 15.


Even though the following list includes thirty professional wrestlers in random order (I tried to rank them but it was way too difficult) I know I left some off the list that probably deserve to be on it. Keep in mind that I had to stop somewhere. Keep in mind that this is a highly subjective topic. 

I mean I don't see anyone crying about me leaving the late Dusty Rhodes off the list. We can all agree that while he's one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, ole Dusty had the body of a 40 year old couch potato that lived in his mother's basement. Guy could out perform, out talk, and out do 95% of the guys on this list, but we're not analyzing these guys talent and ability. We're strictly looking at their physiques.


A few of the guys who didn't make the list......

Brian Adams, who spent a majority of his professional wrestling career performing as Crush, was one of the strongest men to ever be in professional wrestling. During WWE runs, he had the size and the bulk but he was never really chiseled. It was obvious that he spent a lot of time in the gym pumping iron, but he didn't achieve the more chiseled, defined look until the last year's of his career in WCW. 

Scott Norton is another guy I left off of the list. While Norton had an impressive physique, and this picture is him at his best, for the majority of his career he was built like a big offensive lineman. A power-lifter's body, that was extremely impressive in its own right, but not as impressive as the bodybuilder physiques of others. 

And another wrestler I left off the list was Steve Williams, who I'll say had genetics working against him. He was hairy, and extremely thick. Nevertheless he still looked very good.


And now my top 30......

They called him "The Total Package" for a reason. The former Canadian Football star had a killer physique with no noticeable flaws. 

He'll be the first to admit that he achieved his chiseled physique with the awkward looking biceps through the usage of anabolic steroids, but do keep in mind when he was using them back in the late 1970's and early 1980's they were legal. Steroids didn't become federally demonized and criminalized until 1991. 

Another wrestler who had one of the most impressive physiques. The most notable feature of Atlas' was his back. Traps, deltoids, lats, the guy had one of the most impressive backs of all time. 

It's hard to believe looking at him now, but at one time Tom Billington aka The Dynamite Kid had an impressive physique. 

Paul Orndorff already had an impressive physique when he was playing football at the University of Tampa, a few steroids later, an unbelievable dedication to the gym and his diet, and Orndorff has arguably the best body professional wrestling has ever seen. 

If you look at the British Bulldog when he first started in professional wrestling, it would have been hard to have imagined the tall, lanky, skinny kid one day being one of the most muscular men in professional wrestling. 

He already looked like a million bucks when he won a Florida High School State wrestling title in 1971, and he just kept getting more chiseled as time went on. 

They called him The Model, for good reason. The men wished they could look like him and despite doing all he could to tick off everyone in the crowd with his arrogant gimmick, the ladies loved Rick Martel. 

An advocate for the legalization of steroids, The Warlord, admits to heavy steroid usage along with spending hours upon hours in the gym. He's still alive today and doing well, and says it is because the only thing he took with steroids was protein. According to other professional wrestlers, the Warlord would eat steak for breakfast, lunch, dinner and his three or four midday snacks. 

The Ultimate Warrior had damn near everything. He had an impressive chest, shoulders, abs, legs, and some of the most impressive biceps ever known to professional wrestling. Oddly enough the guy had no triceps. When questioned about it in an interview once, he said that he felt that training chest and shoulders put enough strain on the triceps as it was and over-training the triceps might take away from his biceps. He trained triceps later on in life though. 

If I had to pick out the best pectoral muscles/chest of all professional wrestlers, Kerry Von Erich aka The Texas Tornado aka The Modern Day Warrior would be one of them. 

Romeo Paul Roma is perhaps the most underrated superstar on this list. All around chiseled with no noticeable flaws, it's strange how he's not even considered for most list. 

Sid would most certainly give Paul Orndorff a run for his money as the #1 pick. 

I always thought it was strange that Ted Dibiase's manager looked 100 times better than he did. 

Even before he became the genetic freak, Scott Steiner had an extremely impressive body. While his biceps didn't peak the way that the Warrior's did, they were just as big, if not bigger. 

Another wrestler with an all around phenomenal physique, what stood out most on the mighty Hercules were his massive shoulders. 

Who had the better physique? Ron Simmons aka Faarooq? Or his tag team partner Butch Reed? 

And here is Butch Reed. 

The former standout football star for the South Caroline Gamecocks was already a defined piece of granite when he got into professional wrestling. Some steroids for bulk and some cutter, and you have yourself one of the best bodies professional wrestling has ever seen. 

It was heartbreaking for some fans when Ken Shamrock finally tested positive for steroids, as for years he was often labeled by many, "The best non-steroid physique" in pro wrestling. 

What's most impressive about Steve Blackman is that in the late 1980's he was a rookie professional wrestler on his way to stardom.Overseas he got a terrible infection that nearly ended his life and spent the next nearly 10 years recovering. He lost all of his size and strength, and had to start again from scratch to come back in the late 90's as The Lethal Weapon. 

Not many who are as big as Brock Lesnar are as defined as Brock Lesnar. Like Kerry Von Erich, his chest is extremely impressive. Best traps of anyone I've ever seen. 

The three time NAIA wrestling champion for Missouri Valley has a body that would rival anyone's. Another contender for the #1 spot. 

John Cena, another contender for the #1 spot. 

And yet Shelton Benjamin, another contender for the #1 spot. 

If anyone could give Brock Lesnar a run for his money on the most impressive traps, it is Dave Batista. 

I still think Tony Atlas wins "best back" but David Otunga is a close second. 

Marcus Alexander "Buff" Bagwell has said on more than one occasion that he never took steroids. Said he got his billion dollar body from intensive training in the gym, a strict diet and getting plenty of sleep. Either way, he has a look most would die for. 

No one had better abdominal muscles than Rick Rude. No one. 

Ivan Putski proves the importance of diet and cardio while you're lifting weights. The picture on the far right shows what he looked like when he was all about lifting.


So there are the best physiques in professional wrestling of all time in my opinion.  What do you think?

"Ah!!!!! Wa! Wa!"
*Cries like a little baby**
"You left Triple H off the list!!!  Ah!!!!!"


Yep

I also left off Jim Powers and a multitude of other professional wrestlers with outstanding physiques who are more than worthy of being on a "Best Physiques in Professional Wrestling of All Time" list. I got to thirty and decided that I already had way too many, so it was time to stop.

The Time Honored Tradition: How to and How Not to Do it.

In professional wrestling there is a terminology known simply as the "time honored tradition" where a wrestler who is leaving a particular company will do a job for another wrestler whom the company is currently wanting to push. The idea is that the wrestler leaving the company goes out of his way to make the wrestler whom the company is developing into a star, look like a million bucks. In return the wrestler who is staying, while gaining victory over the leaving wrestler, makes sure that his opponent still looks strong on his way out the door.

Although this tradition has been in the professional wrestling business for a very long time, the term didn't become a mainstream word among the professional wrestling fans themselves until the Montreal Screw-job at the 1997 Survivor Series. Bret Hart did not want to job to Shawn Michaels, on his way out of the WWE to the WCW. To be fair to Bret, is was not a matter of him simply not wanting to job on his way out the door. He's stated in many interviews that he would have gladly dropped a match to the Undertaker and that he had made it clear that he wanted to put Steve Austin over as he was leaving. Fact of the matter is, in all sense of reality, had it been anyone besides Shawn Michaels, Bret would have gladly dropped the belt in his last WWE match.

It's rather laughable to listen to Shawn complain about Bret and state that Bret should have simply done what he was told to do and done the right thing. Shawn himself for most of his career has been a big baby about doing jobs and hearing him complain about Bret, might be worthy of a Guinness World record for hypocrisy. Shawn has been on both ends of the spectrum. He's been the guy whom the company wanted to put over and he's been the guy who was putting someone else over. Neither time would qualify as doing it the "right way."







When Diesel signed with the WCW and put in his notice with the WWE, the powerful "Kliq" as it was known had so much political pull, that they didn't ask Vince McMahon if they could do something, they told him what they were going to do. Diesel was going to put his good friend Shawn Michaels over, and that was final. That decision in itself was fine as the WWE at the time was making Shawn Michaels the face of the company. Putting over a monster heel who had held the WWE title was huge for Shawn's image. However, the stint at the end of the match, where Shawn and Diesel (along with Razor Ramon and Triple H) broke kayfabe to hug, was a spit in the face to all of the many professional wrestlers over the years who have worked hard to keep it real.

Shawn was always happy to do anything that made him the star and to be fair, there was a time in his life where he was always happy to repay the favor. From 1994 to 1998, however, was not that time. If you go back through Shawn's career during that 4-5 year period, you'll notice something. Shawn didn't like to lose, and hardly did. After Shawn won his second intercontinental championship, he wasn't too keen on losing the title. So they stripped him of it and Razor Ramon won it in a Battle Royal contest final against "The Model" Rick Martel. A few years later, Shawn was more than happy to win the I.C. title again against Jeff Jarrett, but when it came time to drop the title, he once again wasn't up to it. He was too injured to perform after being jumped at a night club in Syracuse, New York and he forfeited his title to Dean Douglas. To further illustrate Shawn's refusal to do jobs for others, when he and Diesel defeated The Headshrinkers for the WWE tag team titles, a refusal to drop the belts to any other tag team eventually lead to a tag team tournament where Bob Holly and the 1-2-3 Kid defeated Tatanka and Bam Bam Bigelow to be crowned the new champions.

After defeating Bret Hart at the 1997 Survivor Series, Shawn was more than happy to publicly criticize Bret, as he carried around the WWE heavyweight championship, with victory after victory over a multitude of WWE talent. Yet, when it came time for him to drop the title to the hottest rising star in the WWE at the time, Shawn was reluctant to do so. Rumor confirmed, Shawn didn't want to go out and drop the title to Stone Cold Steve Austin. It took the persuasion of a promised real life ass-kicking from the Undertaker in order for Shawn to go out and drop the title to Austin. To credit the Heartbreak Kid however, he did sell his ass off for Austin and made Stone Cold look as good as he possibly could have.





Another similar incident to Shawn Vs Stone Cold happened six years earlier at Wrestlemania VIII when Jake Roberts did a job for the Undertaker. Now Jake had nothing against the Undertaker. He was more than happy to go out and take a three count for his friend, but he was not leaving on good terms with the WWE. Unhappy with how he was being used and how the WWE had lied to him, he held the company up for more money. Either they were going to pay him what he was asking for, or he wasn't going to take the tombstone and lose to Taker. WWE agreed to Roberts' demands and Jake gladly took a tombstone as he walked out of the WWE with a good chunk of change into the WCW.

It's unfortunate that Hercules had to take his frustration with the WWE out on Sid as he left the company in early 1992. Hercules was unhappy with how the WWE was using him at the time, and was hoping for a push after tag team partner Paul Roma left for WCW. WWE had other plans for Hercules, and he was not happy with them. Upon giving his notice, he was asked to go out and do a squash match for newcomer Sid Justice. Pissed the the WWE wanted to bury him in such a way, Hercules went out into the match and barely sold a thing that Sid did to him. A few minutes later, Sid hit the vicious powerbomb and pinned Hercules. The second after the referee's hand hit a third time, Hercules got up like nothing had happened and walked casually back to the locker room. The slap in the face to the WWE was most understandable but it was a shame that Hercules didn't have more respect for Sid. It's one thing to want to stick it to the WWE for being unfair to you, but Sid wasn't a part of that, and it was wrong for Hercules to make Sid look stupid in the process.





Then the wrestling world has a guy like Vader. A guy who is always more than happy to do anything that makes him look like an unconquerable God, but always seems to pout when told it's time to do the favor for someone else. When Vader first arrived in the WWE, he was coming off a career in WCW that had him hold the heavyweight championship on three occasions. He was a deity in the WCW, and the idea was that he would do the same in the WWE. At first it looked as if he were going to. In one of his first high profile matches, he dominated four time Intercontinental champion Razor Ramon. Even though he won convincingly he still took a fair number of bumps to make Ramon look good in his last PPV match.

Years later Vader realized that he was never going to be the mass superstar in WWE that he had been in WCW. Shawn Michaels who more or less ran the show behind the curtains, didn't care for him and there wasn't much left in WWE for him to do. A title reign was most likely out of the question and higher mid-card status was as good as it was going to get for the behemoth mastodon.  Vader put in his notice and was asked to do a job for up and comer Edge.

Now it's understandable that Vader felt insulted by the WWE. Here he was a three time heavyweight champion for a company who was at the time, just as big and just as important as the WWE, and they were wanting him to go out and job to a rookie who had yet to establish himself. It would have made anyone angry. However, if he had that much of a problem with it, then he shouldn't have agreed to do it. Edge was simply a new comer, wanting to go out and do a good job. For Vader to go out and purposely try and hurt Edge, both physically and his image, was uncalled for and selfish. He no sold a majority of Edge's moves and he made Edge's finisher look weak and harmless. Vader was pissed at the disappointing career he had in the WWE, and he took it out on an innocent Edge. Luckily for Edge, the WWE realized that all shortcomings in the pathetic match against Vader, were Vader's fault and Edge went on to have a successful and storied career.




There are a lot of things Ric Flair has done during his illustrious professional wrestling career that many would deem to be shady and selfish. The Nature Boy has been devious and mischievous more than once in the past dang near 50 years. However, he's done a lot of honorable, respectable and admirable things in his career as well, and one of them is the way that he's never been too good to put someone over. After a successful, but short stint in the WWE that had Flair hold the WWE title on two occasions, he saw that it was time to return home and back to WCW. Rather than think he was above WWE and too good to job to anyone, Flair was more than happy to put over up and rising stars on his way out the door. He started by submitting to Bret Hart's sharpshooter in dropping the WWE title to the Hitman at a house show in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Many felt at the time that losing by submission might bury Flair and felt that he should instead lose with a small package or type situation. Flair, knew he was too strong to be buried and gladly let Hart put the sharpshooter on him.  Then not long after, Flair lost cleanly in the middle of the ring, as he was pinned in Mr. Perfect's Perfect plex. Many at the time felt that Flair was burying himself by losing to Perfect in such a manner. Flair knew better. He knew that there was no shame in losing to someone of Perfect's caliber and talent. He went back to WCW and it was only a short amount of time before he became a top star there again, like he had been year's prior.





So are there superstars in professional wrestling who truly honored the "time honored tradition" from both ends of the spectrum. Workers who appreciated the job that another worker was doing for them, and showed that appreciation by making that particular opponent continue to look good despite the loss? Workers who later on found themselves in a position to do a job for someone on the way out the door, who were more than happy to help build someone's career as they were leaving?

The answer to that question is yes, and perhaps there is no better example than Bam Bam Bigelow.  When Bam Bam returned to the WWE, one of the first things he was assigned to do was to defeat the Big Bossman at the 1993 Royal Rumble. Having a ton of respect for Bossman and appreciating the job Bossman was doing for him, Bigelow went out of his way to sell enough during the match to keep Bossman looking strong. A short time later, he was asked to do the same thing for Jim Duggan and both Duggan and Bigelow sold tremendously for one another in Duggan's final match and final loss in the WWE at that time.

A couple of years later, Bigelow found himself wanting to test the waters in ECW and he put in his notice. Remembering what Bossman and Duggan had done for him during his career, he was more than happy to pay it forward to put Goldust over at the 1995 Survivor Series in the PPV's most entertaining match. Bigelow understood what the time honored tradition was all about and set an impeccable example for both those doing the job and those who the job is being done for.

Counting My Friends and I keep losing count.

At a wrestling camp my senior year of high school, Tom Brands, who was an assistant coach at the University of Iowa at the time, said something to a group of wrestlers, one of which was me, that has stuck with me ever since.

He held up his left hand and with his right index finger he touched the tip of all four of his fingers and his thumb. He then said, "In this life, you will find that you have more fingers on one hand than you do true friends."

At the time I thought what he said was a bit asinine as well as pessimistic. I certainly had at least five friends in life. Hell, I had a lot more.

Here I am nearly 13 years later and I've discovered that Coach Brands wasn't nearly as senile as I originally thought. Turns out that he knew a little more about the situation than I initially thought.

I do have more fingers on one hand than I do people in this life who I know for a fact are real, true friends. I would like to know when it came down to the wire that I had more true friends than that, but I don't feel as confident about it  as I once did. There are about 3 to 5 people in this life that I feel very confident putting on that list. The rest, I have my questions. I even have my doubts.

I've found as I've gotten older, that I don't like people as much as I once did. I still like people, don't get me wrong. I simply don't trust them like I used to. I've discovered how bigoted, narcissistic, and mean spirited people are. It's discerning and discouraging. I used to enjoy going out and meeting new people, making new friends and discovering people. I suppose I still do, but now I'm much more reserved and I make people approach me, before I dare think about trying to make a new friend.

From age 18-21 I went through some life altering moments that completely changed how I saw life and who I am. In June of 2007 I made the internal discovery that I was no longer a Christian. I lost a lot of "friends" during that time. For the most part it didn't bother me, but there were a few people who left my life, never to return again, that did bother me.  For those that remained my friend, it strengthened our friendship, at least from my point of view. I have a ton of admiration and respect for someone who chooses to remain someone's friend, who may think differently than they do.

Because most people don't.....

Most people want everyone that they associate with to think like they do, believe like they do, act like they do and feel like they do.  And maybe there's something wrong with me. Maybe I'm the one with the problem and that is how it's supposed to be. Maybe I'm screwed up because I'm not playing the game by the rules, the way it is "meant" to be played.

But I can't do that, because I don't agree with it. I think it's wrong. I think it's sick. I think it's a reflection of a society that needs a serious attitude readjustment.

You know why I dislike people? You know why I choose to stop being friends with someone? Because of something unforgivable that they do to me. For something they do to me personally. If you haven't hurt me on a personal level, then you have to do one of the following. You have to treat someone I care about very poorly or you have to be a miserable, mean individual in general. If you're abusive towards children or animals, I'm not going to like you either.

I won't like you for legitimate, justifiable reasons.

I'm not going to hate you just because you vote differently than me.  I'm not going to hate you, because you spend your Sunday mornings differently than I spend mine.

A lot of people will though.

And yes, it bothers me.

There are people I've known for 20 years. Some 25.  I'm only 31, so I can't know someone for much longer than that. These are people I would go as far to say that I love. These are people that if they were drowning in rough waters, I'd jump in and try and save them. If they were trapped in a burning building, I'd run in and try and save them. If they were going to get jumped in an unfair fight, I'd jump in and even up the odds.

And to know that they would let me drown, let me burn, let me get the tar kicked out of me, all because they've voting for Trump and I"m not or because they're voting for Hillary and I"m not....makes me sick.

To know that they'd turn their back on me, 25 years of friendship, 25 years of happy, fond memories of having each other's backs and sharing some good...great times...they'd forget about all of that, all because they're a Christian and I'm not. That is very depressing. It makes me want to lock myself up in my room, and forget that the outside world even exist.

And it works both ways. Don't think for a second I'm disillusioned about that, because I'm not.

I know good and well if something monumental were to happen in my life, and I were to become a Christian, that there are a far number of "friends" I've made over the years, that would leave my life. People who like me and like me only because I'm an agnostic.

If for some reason, I were to suddenly become a conservative and start leaning more towards Republican ideas, I'd lose a lot "friends".  A lot of people can't handle associating with people who don't think, act, believe and feel exactly like they do.

Matter of fact, it has happened to me already. I'm not nearly as liberal as many people believe me to be.  It's simply a matter that civil issues and liberty mean everything to me. I value liberty above anything else, and I am a ball of burning fire whenever someone tries to rob anyone unjustly of their liberty. As a result, that gives me the appearance of being very liberal.

Yet, don't kid yourself. I've lost just as many Hillary Clinton supporter friends this past election time as I have Republican supporter friends.

People often ask me why am I friends with people who are Republican and Christian. It's very simple. As odd as it may sound, if you take the time to think about it, it makes perfect since. They're ones, I know for sure are real. They don't associate with me, just because I'm a Bernie Sanders fan.  They don't associate with me, just because I'm not a Christian.


I think I'm most likely to remain an agnostic the rest of my life. I imagine that politicians like Bernie Sanders will always appeal to me and that politicians like Paul Ryan and Ben Carson will always scare the Hell out of me. I suppose a Ron or Rand Paul could come along again and you could see me supporting someone on the other side like that.

Frankly it scares me, it terrifies me to sit and wonder about it. Is there anyone that I'm really close with right now. Anyone that I value highly and consider to be a great friend that would leave me in the dust?

Unfortunately I think the answer to the question is yes. It happened to me before. There are people 5-10-15 years ago I thought I'd be friends with....GOOD friends with....till the day I died.

We never got into a fight. I never did anything nasty and unforgivable to them. They never did anything nasty and unforgivable to me. It was simply that they were going to vote for Romney and found out that I was voting for Obama. It's simply that they found out that I no longer identify as a Christian and now identify as a Possiblist/Agnostic.

I often use the word wish for things that I understand won't change. For things I know that there is little to nothing I can do anything about. For things I know will never be.

I wish I could sing. I wish I was a high school state champion wrestler. And I wish that people in this life weren't that way.

Movies that were filmed in Iowa.

The Hawkeye state certainly isn't California, but we've had a few Hollywood productions filmed amongst the corn and soybean fields throughout the years. Some are well known and discussed often. I think every Iowan is well aware of Field of Dreams but it is far from the only film shot in the state.

Let's take a look at films that were shot in Iowa.

Children of the Corn

This 1984 horror classic based on the short story by Stephen King was filmed in the communities of Salix, Sergeant Bluff, Sioux City and Whiting.

Citizen Ruth 

This 1996 comedy surrounding the controversial topic of abortion was mostly filmed in Omaha, Nebraska, although nearby Council Bluffs was used for various scenes. Laura Dern stars with appearances from the legendary Burt Reynolds and long time character actor M.C. Gainey.

Election 

Much like Citizen Ruth, Election  was filmed mostly in Omaha, Nebraska although there are scenes shot in nearby Council Bluffs. Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon star.

The Crazies 

This low budget horror film was filmed in various places, among them Winterset and Lenox, Iowa.

Whiteboyz

This 1999 film about a guy growing up in an all white community, who wants to be a star hip-hop rap artist was filmed in Muscatine, Iowa City, Davenport and Maquoketa.

IOWA

Filmed in the communities of Mystic and Centerville, this film with a focus on the meth problem that the state has endured, has appearances from Roseanne Arquette and long time television actor Mickey Jones.

The Puppet Masters 

Not to be confused with The Puppet Master or its many sequels, The Puppet Masters is a 1994 film starring Donald Sutherland. It was mostly filmed in California, but there were a few scenes shot in Des Moines.

COLD TURKEY 

This 1971 comedy about a small community that rallies together to have every citizen in the community be a non-smoker was filmed in Des Moines, Greenfield, Orient and Winterset.

Sugar 

This 2008 film about a young foreign baseball player who comes to the country to play minor league baseball was filmed in Burlington and Davenport.

Noise Off! 

This 1992 comedy classic with an all star cast was in partial filmed in Des Moines.

16 to Life

This 2009 Teen comedy was filmed in McGregor.

Miles From Home

This 1988 film about two brothers who start robbing banks after having a bank take their farm away stars Richard Gere, Penelope Ann Miller and Laurie Metcalf.

Pennies From Heaven

This 1981 period piece about the Great Depression was filmed in various locations, among them, Dubuque, Iowa.

Starman

John Carpenter directed this 1984 film starring Jeff Bridges. It was filmed in various locations, Cedar Rapids, Iowa being one of them.

The Straight Story 

This based on a true story 1999 film staring Sissy Spacek about a brother who rides his lawnmower from Iowa to Wisconsin to visit his dying brother was filmed in West Bend, Clermont, Lansing, Laurens, New Hampton, Pocahontas and West Union.

The Final Season 

 Based on the real life baseball team of Norway, Iowa, this 2007 film starring Sean Astin, Rachel Leigh Cook and Powers Booth was not only filmed in Norway, but also in Sutliff and Cedar Rapids.

Twister

Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton star in this natural disaster 1996 hit with scenes filmed in Ames, Whitten, Rippey, Boone and Eldora.

The Bridges of Madison County 

One of the greatest actresses of our time Meryl Streep, along with the legendary Clint Eastwood starred in this memorable 1995 film, filmed in Winterset and Adel.

Field of Dreams 

Saving the best for last. One of the greatest films ever made, Field of Dreams, was filmed in Dyersville, Dubuque and Farley.

Seven Times WWE Dropped the Ball

7. Power and Glory 

In all sense of reality, one could also say that WWE dropped the ball with Paul Roma and Hercules as single competitors as well. As a tag team, they could have been used to offset the powerhouse face tag team of the Legion of Doom and it looked as if at first they were going to do so. After annihilating the Rockers at Summerslam, P&G began a feud with LOD, that would unfortunately end in a 59 second squash at Wrestlemania VII. The purpose of the match was to make LOD look unstoppable, but in the process it totally killed any momentum that P&G had. A tag team that had once had competitive matches with WWE tag team champions, The Hart Foundation, soon disbanded as Roma left for WCW and Hercules was misused as enhancement talent, before leaving himself.

It would have been fun to have seen the Rockers WWE tag team title win over the Hart Foundation hold up and for P&G to have a continuous feud with the Rockers exchanging the belts on several occasions. A controversial victory for P&G to win the belts, setting up for a revenge match where the Rockers would regain the titles would have drawn money. The Rockers were extremely over and adding in the heat that P&G could easily add into the mix would have put butts into seats.

A P&G Vs LOD feud would have been more convincing and entertaining than the LOD Vs The Nasty Boys series of matches we were given instead. While the Nasty Boys were a good tag team, they often had to resort to using Jimmy Hart's megaphone or Helmet for a victory over tag teams shown to be much weaker than the indestructible LOD.  Having a wrestler like Hercules that could match the physique and strength of Hawk and Animal, along with the sly and clever Roma that could outsmart them, would have been a more intriguing match. It also would have been more convincing that P&G could have taken the belts from LOD, than it was having Money Incorporated do it.

When Roma left the company, WWE again dropped the ball by having Hercules resort to jobbing. They could have found him a mid-card position to fill, and who could blame him one bit for being upset and leaving the way he did in his final match against Sid Justice.

6. Shawn Stasiak 

The Attitude Era is often given credit for doing a lot of things "right" and helping to save professional wrestling from downward spiral it was headed towards from late 1993 to 1996, but that doesn't mean that there weren't a lot of mistakes made during that time. One of those mistakes was the misuse of Shawn Stasiak, a talented wrestler who could have been the Attitude Era's version of Rick Rude, Mr. Perfect or Rick Martel. He even could have been used for a major feud with Val Venis or as Venis's tag team partner. Never the less, a guy that could have been used to draw money, was treated as tasteless joke known as Meat.  From 1998-2000, Stasiak was nothing more than Vince Russo's sick and twisted version of humor in ridiculous storylines involving Stacy Kiebler and Mae Young.

After leaving for a year and coming back in 2001, WWE had a second opportunity to use Stasiak in a more productive way, but instead somehow managed to misuse him even worse than they had originally. He went from being a sex craved horndog, to simply being an idiot with no character development beyond being a klutz.

A former collegiate standout at Boise State University, Stasiak had a solid wrestling background, one full of technical expertise. He wasn't terrible on the mic either, and given the right character and push could have had a run as European or Intercontinental champion.

5. Marty Jannetty 

In many ways Jannetty dug his own grave, and their is no denying that. The man had ample amount of opportunities that he himself tossed away through drugs, alcohol or women. It also didn't help that when it looked like Jannetty might finally be on the right path, the Charles Austin lawsuit came up and he disappeared from television. To say the least, Jannetty's career met with a lot of bad luck. Some of which he brought upon himself and some of which he did not.

Nevertheless, he was severely misused for a spell during his WWE career. After his breakup with Shawn Michaels, WWE used him appropriately from 1992 to late 1993 where he feuded with Shawn Michaels and had decisive victories over Repo Man, Doink the Clown, Pat Tanaka and other low to mid card talent. During this little over a year time, Jannetty was right where he needed to be. Bret Hart and Yokozuna were handling the WWE championship with Shawn and Razor Ramon handling the Intercontinental title. WWE needed wrestlers to fill in the right below title carrier slots and Jannetty filled the role impeccably.

WWE decided to job Jannetty out in an embarrassing squash match against Ludvig Borga at Summerslam 93', which never saw Borga leave his feat the entire match. From that moment on, albeit a less than a week tag title run with the 1-2-3 kid, Jannetty's career was mainly nothing but jobbing out to other superstars.

Many call late 1993 to early 1996 to be one of the most boring periods in WWE's history. Many blame it on the departure of Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and others who jumped ship to WCW. While that did hurt the WWE, misuse of talent hurt them even worse and Jannetty is a fine example of it.

It's understood as many times as Jannetty screwed up during his career, why WWE would resort to using him as enhancement talent and putting him into a mockery tag-team with Al Snow, but it was also bad business. Instead of jobbing out to the likes of Savio Vega on a weekly basis, Jannetty could have been the mid-card face that WWE desperately needed at the time. If they insisted on turning him heel, they could have made him into a more interesting effective heel, than simply the stuck in the 1960's, jealous of Shawn Michaels bafoon that they did.

Whenever they would occasionally give Jannetty a small push, for example teaming him with Razor Ramon or putting him in a competitive match with Psycho Sid, the fans would react positively to him. Instead of running with this idea and doing something with it though, they'd instead have him come out a week later and do a job for someone looking totally harmless in the process.

The Attitude Era of professional wrestling happened because the Golden Era of professional wrestling came to an end around late 1993 and something needed to happen propel professional wrestling back to the heights of popularity, because the New Generation that lasted approximately three years wasn't getting the job done.  Had better decisions been made, including using talent like Jannetty more appropriately, perhaps the Golden Era never would have died.

4. Doink The Clown 

Speaking of mistakes that WWE made during the transitional period of Golden Era to New Generation Era, Doink the Clown tops the list. WWE had a phenomenal, everyone hated him and wanted to see him get his butt kicked heel, and they decide to turn him face. He downright scared little kids, he made adults uncomfortable and much like a horror movie icon such as Michael Myers or Jason Vorhees, he intrigued audiences to the screen to see what he would do next. His feud with Crush was ended prematurely and there is so much more that could have been done with him, that pardon the pun, it isn't even funny. He wasn't anywhere near as effective as a face, and had he remained Heel, and been put in more interesting storylines, the ratings might never have dropped. One of the reasons WWE struggled in the mid 90's was due to being excessively face heavy without interesting and compelling heels. Superman is only as good as his Lex Luthor or his Zod and once both Luthor and Zod become good guys themselves, where's the fun in watching Superman? Had Doink remained the evil, zealous clown that he started off as, his career would have lasted longer and amounted to much more than it did.

3. Crush 

Fans, especially kids, loved the laid back Hawaiian dressed like a giant can of soda. When the electric guitar sounded off his entrance music, everyone in the audience was giving the Kona Crush Cranium Crunch hand gesture to show their support. His only downfall was that he couldn't talk. The guy was terrible on the mic. He couldn't cut a promo. BUT, he didn't need to either.

WWE, dropped the ball twice with Crush during his face run. First and foremost they should have given Crush a decisive victory over Doink. Many felt that there Wrestlemania IX match was the beginning of their feud, not the end of it. A big payoff, which never came to fruition, was expected.

Imagine if you will, Crush Vs Doink the Clown Summerslam 1993, four months after their Wrestlemania match. Doink has caused Crush a series of victories through interference including a shot at the intercontinental title against Shawn Michaels. Vowing vengeance once and for all against Doink, he has challenged him to a steel cage match. During the match, it looks like Doink is once again going to be the victor as a second Doink interferes in the match. But, at the last second, out of nowhere Randy Savage (decked out in Crush type gear) interferes and Crush wins the bout.

This would signify Crush's friendship and allegiance with  Randy Savage and Savage much like Curt Hennig was for Ric Flair, could be his accomplice and more importantly be his mouth piece that he desperately needed.

Instead of giving Lex Luger the U.S. Express gimmick, it could now be given to Crush. Instead of having Yokozuna do a crossbody block where Luger catches him for a second and then drops him, Crush could legitimately pick Yoko up and give him a real bodyslam. Savage and Crush could have a tour, drawing money and being much more over with the fans than Luger was able to be.

Then when Crush did turn on Savage, it would have been even more epic and even more memorable of a moment than what it is today. Crush was a good face and a decent heel during the New Generation period of the WWE. His run as jailbird Crush years later absolutely sucked, but at least he redeemed himself as DOA Crush years later and had a fun run in WCW teaming with Bryan Clark as Kronic. Had WWE used him to his full potential, he could have been one of the biggest faces and one of the biggest heels, maybe even helping the Golden era to survive.

2. Hakushi

One of the WWE's most detrimental characteristics, was Vince McMahon's obsession with big men. No matter how talented and gifted a wrestler was, if he wasn't a behemoth monster in size, he was often overlooked. Japanese sensation Hakushi, was a high flying, exceptionally technical wrestler, that often wooed the crowd with exciting maneuvers that they had never seen. While they did test the waters with him against WWE champion Bret Hart for a short period of time, they did not capitalize upon the opportunity to make Hakushi a top talent. Instead they dropped him down the ladder, including having him drop a match to long time jobber Barry Horowitz.

After proving that he could get a reaction as both a heel and a face, it would have seemed that WWE would have pushed him in one direction or the other. Fans enjoyed his style of wrestling and often reacted rather loudly with "oohs" and "ahs" or applause when he would hit a devastating maneuver. Why WWE didn't decide to capitalize upon this and make a run with Hakushi, is a real head scratcher. He could have been put into the ring against anyone and given the right storyline, it would have drawn money. The only conclusion as to why this was not done, was because he was short and he was small. An opportunity missed  for an insufficient reason.

1. Papa Shango 

If one had to go back in time and look at what began the transition of Golden Era to New Generation Era, it might have very well started with the misuse of Papa Shango. A monster heel, that started off his run in the WWE as one to challenge the likes of The Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan. At the time, Warrior didn't have anyone to really challenge him and Shango,with his Voodoo curses proved to be the perfect adversary. Perhaps this is why his run as an effective heel was cut short. Once he lost in a series of matches against Warrior, what was left for him to do? He challenged Bret Hart for the WWE championship in a losing effort on Saturday Night's Main Event and from that moment on his career became a joke.

He'd talk a great game and would totally kill it on his promos, but it was hard to take him seriously when he was losing to the likes of Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Bob Backlund on a weekly basis. Had WWE instead kept him strong and maybe had him lose via disqualification, rather than submission against Bret Hart, he could have been used to continuously draw heat for many years to come.

His dark and sinister character wasn't a favorite of Charles Wright, the man who portrayed him, but it was initially over with the fans and it was much more effective than the Kama gimmick he did a couple of years later. Perhaps not as fun for him as The Godfather gimmick was towards the end of his career, but a much more effective heel.

Had Papa Shango been given a more proper push, it could have lead to a WWE title reign and an opportunity to build Bret Hart into an even more dominant face. Instead their was no build up to the match, thus taking the significance and importance off of the victory.

Four More of the Greatest Jobbers in Professional Wrestling History

Goliath.com recently posted an article about the 10 greatest jobbers in professional wrestling history.  It was a great list listing greats like The Italian Stallion, Special Delivery Jones, Jim Powers  and of course the three greatest of all time Iron Mike Sharpe, Steve Lombardi and Barry Horowitz.  When it comes to enhancement talent, and guys who went out of their way to help make other guys shine as much as they could, no one did it better than those three guys.  That's for sure.  However, there are some other jobbers, who Goliath did not include on their list, that I feel deserve recognition.  The role of a jobber has all but disappeared in the world of professional wrestling. A lost art, that is only displayed through the memories of those of us who were around when they were performing.

Phil Apollo

25-30 years ago, us wrestling fans didn't have the internet to look people up and find out about their past. All we had was what we saw on television, what we read in magazines and what we were told by fans who were alive before we were. While Apollo had a fairly successful career in the independents before joining the WWE in the early 1990's, I never knew anything about it. To me he was simply a guy that when I saw him standing in the ring, I knew might get in one or two offensive moves in a 5-7 minute match that would always end with him taking a butt whopping. Apollo was a man's man, who simply got into the ring, did his job, got paid his money and went home.  It's funny to think that in this day in age, where wrestlers are more "normal" sized individuals that he would probably be a mid-card contender. Never had much of a gimmick or a personality, but that seems to be the trend of today's superstars.

Big Bully Busick 

I don't know how you can make a list of "Greatest Jobbers of all time" and leave Big Bully Busick  off of it. Here's a guy that was always fun to watch. For many years of his career, he was a weekend jobber. A wrestler who had a day job as a police officer, who would work matches on his days off and on the weekends when he wasn't busy being a cop. What I loved about Busick, was that despite losing nearly every match, he always gave his opponents a decent match. Looking back, I hate watching matches where the star wrestler, just goes out and destroys  his opponent. I realize that it is supposed to make him look invincible and unstoppable but I enjoyed  the "Busick" type jobber matches much more.  The times when he'd look to have an upperhand, then make a mistake and end up pinned, looking around all confused, "What? Wha?!? What happened!!?!?"  Busick was a very entertaining wrestler, who didn't get all bent out of shape about losing. He made the most of his opportunity and always gave the fans something fun to watch.

Damian Demento 

It's hard to believe, as crazy, out-there and eccentric as the character Damian Demento was, that the person who played him Phil Theis is even crazier. Despite how insane, Theis may or may not be, there is not questioning his talent as a professional wrestler.  Most of the time, jobbers were regular people, with regular names, wrestling in either a plain colored singlet, tights or trunks. They had no personality, no colorful ring gear and there maneuvers and mannerisms were very plain and uneventful. Not Damian Demento. Here's a guy who took the characters of Papa Shango, The Warlord and The Legion of Doom smashed them together and created a very memorable gimmick.  While other jobbers resembled your local school bus driver, Demento made your turn your head and pay attention with his lunatic interviews and whacked out attire.  Despite the fact that he used to do jobs for Virgil, I always took him seriously because of how intimidating his look and personality were. I used to think he was one Hell of an actor, and I still do to an extent. Yet the more I learn about the real life Phil Theis, the more I question if he wasn't simply being himself to a large extent.

Sonny Rogers 

Now I realize that to be fair, Barry Horowitz and Steve Lombardi are unarguably the best enhancement talents of all time. However, my personal favorite and one that I feel gets the shaft is Sonny Rogers.  I love watching Rogers wrestler, and don't understand why he isn't remembered and loved by more hardcore professional wrestling fans like myself. There have been many wrestlers throughout the years that were great at selling. Mr. Perfect, for example comes to mind. Yet, I don't know if anyone knew how to sell better than Sonny Rogers. He would flop around the ring, taking bump after bump for anyone. When you hit him with a big move, he would act like you shot him with and AK-47.  Hit your finisher on him, he sold for you as if you shoved a grenade down his pants.  I remember once he wrestled Stone Cold Steve Austin  in a match when Austin has first made his transition from The Ring Master to Stone Cold. Austin hit him with the Stone Cold Stunner and Rogers flopped around the ring like a fish out of water as Steve crawled around the mat trying to get a hold of him to pin him. It was hilarious.  There is nothing that Sonny Rogers  wouldn't do to help you get over and make you look like $1,000,000.  He's extremely underrated and someone that some of today's talent should be watching. Professional wrestling is all about entertainment, and Rogers was a top notch entertainer, even though he lost all the time.