Jobbers – The Forgotten Men of Wrestling

Everyone knows the term jobber. Some wrestler, in the lower echelon, sacrificed to make the other guy look good. In the modern era, notable names that spring to mind that have been “jobbed out” include Heath Slater and Drew McIntyre. However these wrestlers cannot be classed as jobbers in the classic term of the word.

Drew and Heath, even in the face of all the reasons why they might be jobbed out, have won matches. Beyond this, they have entrances, finishing moves and, for the most part, are allowed a little offence in their squash matches. A proper jobber would get none of these.

Most people remember the ‘Brooklyn Brawler’ Steve Lombardi, one of the most famous jobber names of the late 80’s and early 90’s. He had a win/loss TV record in the WWF of 12 wins and a massive 228 losses (1). Most of these were squash matches against the likes of Earthquake, The Undertaker, Akeem and The Ultimate Warrior. What was telling is that more often than not he would get an entrance and have a few offensive moves.

The proper jobbers were known affectionately by myself and my mates as “dead men (not) walking”. This was because they would never be seen walking into the ring (the matches started with them all ready in it) and, after the inevitable destruction, they would not be seen walking out of it.

Rewind to the middle to late 80's and “The Superstars of Wrestling” era and jobber matches were rife. They would be used to massively get over middle card stars. The upper card did not usually have jobber matches; maybe it was beneath them. But for the likes of Bad News Brown, One Man Gang, Butch Reed and Jake Roberts, it would be par for the course seeing them rub some poor jobbers face into the canvas.

Take for instance the well-known Jim Evans (2). Who I hear you cry? Type in “Jim Evans wrestler” in Google, and his glory is there for all to see. Jim Evans had a total of 59 matches in the WWF. And he lost all of them. He was usually steamrolled by the who’s who of 80’s wrestlers and did it with aplomb. I remember him with his tailor made jacket, with diamond encrusted ‘Evans’ stuck on the back. I also remember him getting Press Slammed on his face by Butch Reed.

You could say that Evans was a master of his job. He was big enough to make it seem that his opponent was not just destroying a weed hand-picked from the crowd. He was athletic enough to sell the power moves bestowed on him to their maximum potential. He was also, unfortunately, dispensable enough to be pinned easily night after night. He never came close to winning, and he was barely even allowed to lock-up with his opponent at the beginning of the match. You could argue he did what he was paid to do…. which was to lose…. horribly. We would often laugh when he was bullied time and again, but in my later years, I can appreciate his role (as depressing as it was).

Jobbers like Evans could expect to maybe make a few hundred dollars, if that, for every match. They were expected to make their own arrangements to get to all the arenas in the country, often having to tape two shows a night, before travelling to the next venue for two more matches the next night. Depending on your viewpoint, you could say it was not much work for a tidy little sum but certainly not enough to live on,

You also have the embarrassment. “Superstars” had a big TV audience in the 80’s. Think about Evans kid, being told the next day in the school playground that his dad got beaten badly again. And this in the kayfabe era when wrestling was still classed as real.

However, for me, there is an appeal to a good jobber. The underdog who, now when I watch the youtube videos, was never destined for anything of greatness. There are hidden jewels to be found on youtube, maybe not the classic encounters of yesteryear, but the 3 minute squashes (that may have included a ring entrance) that can be met with humour or respect (depending on your demanour).

This brings me to Dave Stoudemiere…

Stoudemeire (3), for me, was a legend. He had 27 matches. He lost 27 matches. He showed comparisons to the Ultimate Warrior. Not a huge build, but long hair and coloured tassels on his boots. Stoudemeire had some classic matches, and he must be the only wrestler who never got a shot off at his opponent. Not even a punch. He had the knack of landing on his face look like the most technical of mat moves. More importantly, the term “Stoudemeired” was coined in our house to mean someone or something that had been completely obliterated. The Honky Tonk Man did it in one match against him. In 24 seconds….

His very first match was against Butch Reed in 1987 (2:30 to 5:00)

Spoiler:

If the throw into the turnbuckle didn’t welcome him to the company, then the vicious front face bulldog certainly did. When he was cut in half by a huge clothesline, he was a ready-made jobber to the stars. By the time the Press Slam came, he was ready to be a pro in staring at the lights. The elbow drop was academic.

There are a few more youtube videos of him (there is even a following on there for him). I recommend his match against The One Man Gang, where he received not one, but two inverted suplex slams. As you can imagine, the videos are very short.

Before you laugh too much at him, and believe you me I have, I just want to highlight something I found of importance. And something that made me respect Stoudemiere even more…

On January 26th 1988, Stoudemiere had the equivalent of jobber hell (4). He had four matches in 48 hours in two different locations. His first match was facing Dino Bravo in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Bravo was a muscle-man that would have loved to wipe Dave’s face to the floor. He was then involved in a tag match against Demolition that very same night. Again, Ax and Smash would have made short work of Stoudemiere and his partner.

Stoudemiere then had to travel 200 miles to Salisbury, Maryland for his next two matches on the 27th. Most probably he would have had to drive himself. Once there, he faced two notably stiff opponents in One Man Gang, and then later on that night Butch Reed.

The four matches in total lasted less than 10 minutes. I remember one HHH entrance at WrestleMania lasting longer. Although there are no videos of these performances, I can only imagine that there were fewer than 25 moves made. Stoudemiere would have accounted for none of them.

Stoudemiere left wrestling after his 27 matches in 1989, after being part of the company for 3 years. His last two matches were on the same day; a tag match against the Rougeau brothers and a singles match against Mr Perfect. What became of him then is unknown; I would certainly like to know how he ended up.

Next time you see a wrestler on Smackdown or Raw, getting squashed by the next monster heel, think first before you call them a jobber. Is that wrestler really in Stoudemiere’s class? If we owe anything to Dave, it is the respect that, although his streak was the total opposites of the Undertaker’s, he at least respected the company to take the hits day in and day out. And for very little.

When ‘insert wrestler name here’ complains on Twitter about not getting a push, just #Stoudemiere to them. He deserves that…