SOME WENT BOTH WAYS

In this case, I am speaking of wrestling 'philosophies' and nothing else...

Lately, I've been spotlighting 'good guys' and 'bad guys', but there was also a group of wrestlers who could work either way.

'Swerving' to the other side was automatic in terms of starting and building big programs in wrestling, and JCP was no exception in this regard.

GREG VALENTINE

This was a surprise to me, as Greg was such an engraved 'heel' in the minds of fans, that I wasn't sure he could really pull it off. And frankly, from my view, he was only moderately successful convincing me he was a 'good guy' in the ring. The fact that he feuded with DICK SLATER helped, but only so far.

JACK BRISCO

In my mind, JACK was the epitome of a wrestling 'babyface', right up there with JOHNNY WEAVER and RICKY STEAMBOAT. I never suspected he would 'turn' (along with his brother) and pull it off convincingly. But when the BRISCO brothers had their big program with STEAMBOAT and JAY YOUNGBLOOD, leading up to STARRCADE '83, I was convinced. Good job, JACK.

PAUL JONES

"Mr. # 1", to me, was a better 'heel' than 'babyface'. While I liked PAUL as a 'good guy' (and we were supposed to), I believe it was due, to a large degree, because of whomever his partner would be - - NELSON ROYAL, WAHOO McDANIEL, etc. But the night at the CHARLOTTE COLISEUM, when PAUL turned on poor innocent STEAMBOAT (excuse me, Paul), when that ungrateful STEAMBOAT turned on poor PAUL, the roof nearly came off the building. PAUL had worked 'heel' before, but never in CROCKETT country. It was a stunner.

DORY FUNK JR.

It was natural for the WORLD CHAMPION to be booed when he made his rounds throughout the NWA territories. Part of his job was to enhance the reputation of the local main eventers (even in defeat). FUNK did it with class, but we still wanted him to lose his belt to our local hero. That never occurred in JCP, however, his program with JOHNNY WEAVER had me believing it was going to happen. Later in the 1980s, DORY worked 'babyface' for the CROCKETTs for a while, teaming with JIMMY VALIANT and RUFUS R. JONES in their quest to destroy PAUL JONES and THE ASSASSINS.

ANGELO MOSCA

The man who "walked and talked the way he wanted" was born to be a wrestling 'bad guy'. He just looked the part (no offense Mr. Mosca). And he was a great one. I wasn't sold when he 'saw the light' and came over to the good side. Bringing in his son didn't help much either. He should have stayed in his element.

WAHOO McDANIEL

This is the turn that knocked my socks off. It was a gradual one, and if you were following the TV shows every week, it was apparent the turn would happen. It was well done, and WAHOO made the transition perfectly. He would be the hero who worked as hard as anyone in the business, didn't get any of the breaks and was growing tired of being the 'red-headed stepchild'. And when the turn was completed, we hated WAHOO as much as we used to love him. Great job, Chief.