There is a long list of wrestling “cowboys” who used their Texas brand of brutality to scare opponents in the ring.  Bobby Duncum Sr. was one of those men, but he seemed to be overshadowed by others who had similar gimmicks.  Duncum competed all over the NWA and had a run in the WWE going after Bruno Sammartino and later Bob Backlund for their respective World Heavyweight Titles.  Duncum was good at what he did, but he was one of a few who looked and wrestled the same.  Sadly, this makes what was a very good wrestler easy to forget.

We actually liked Papa Shango when he debuted and as corny as the gimmick was, we know we are not the only ones who had a soft spot for the voodoo man.  Charles Wright would later be repackaged multiple times before he struck gold as the “Godfather”, a lovable pimp.  This character allowed Wright to use charisma that was muted in other personas and was a great fit for the attitude era.  If only he was given a chance to be more of himself earlier his career.

As the son of Afa of the Wild Samoan, Samu reached the big time early as the third member of the Samoan clan and even helped to defend the WWF World Tag Team Title when Sika was on the shelf for a bit.  Despite his young age, he was not out of place and held is own against much more experienced competition.  He would later team with his cousin Fatu and form a devastating tag team (The Samoan SWAT Team in NWA and the Headshrinkers in WWE).  Samu was a decent tag team wrestler, but as he did not go in with Afa & Sika, and with Fatu’s career eclipses his, it does not seem likely for this Samoan to get in.

Brian Adams was brought in as “Crush” to replace an ailing Ax in Demolition.  The last incarnation of Demolition just wasn’t the same, but Brian Adams would remain tied to the WWE for years after with various incarnations of the Crush gimmick and had a stable role in mid card feuds.  He was big enough to work as a monster yet not too big to work effectively with smaller wrestlers in even give and take contests.  Adams would later go to WCW where he languished until his Kronik pairing with Bryan Clarke.  That tandem had a failed final run in WWE and Adams wasn’t seen after.  He has since passed away, but he had a very solid career in pro wrestling.  It may not be Hall of Fame material though.