Bob’s Opinion On: Justin Credible

He’s not the coolest and he certainly isn’t the best…

I first saw Credible’s work when he was working in the WWF under the name Aldo Montoya. The gimmick is possibly one of the least interesting ones the WWF ever created. Plus, he wasn’t exactly polished in the ring by any means. Credible didn’t have much of anything memorable happen to him when he was in the WWF from ’93 to mid ’97. He was mostly a jobber to the stars.

Then, he ended up in Extreme Championship Wrestling and was quickly promoted as one of the top heels for the company. Credible was excellent at being able to get great heel heat, though that may not have been overly difficult in the land of extreme to begin with.

His feud with Tommy Dreamer in early 1998 was some of his best, most interesting work. Credible even poked fun at Dreamer’s grandfather passing away. Even watching that more than a decade after the fact, and I got pissed off at the guy for saying it. So, Credible was good at something.

Later on, Credible formed a team with Lance Storm known as the Impact Players. The duo formed in early 1999 and dominated the company for most of the year. Had Storm stuck around instead of jumping to WCW in the summer of 2000, those two would have probably been the future of the company for a long period of time.

Credible was able to win the ECW World Heavyweight Championship in April 2000 by pinning Tommy Dreamer and would hold it until October when he lost to Jerry Lynn. Credible has a reputation for not being a good World Champion. Was he the ideal choice for the time? No, he wasn’t. He was a choice due to everyone else leaving.

However, Credible was able to carry himself well in the ring and managed to have solid matches on a consistent basis. His ability to gain heat made him a worthwhile champion, in my opinion.

It’s well known that Credible was friends with the Kliq (HBK, Hall, Nash and Waltman). His move set was heavily influenced by top WWF/WCW stars. He had the superkick (Michaels), a spinning tombstone piledriver (Undertaker, adding a spin) and doing the Flair Flip in the corner. Hell, Credible started to use a kendo stick, something that Sandman had used for years previously.

The argument could be made that Justin Credible used other wrestlers trademarks to get himself over.

It is funny that Credible was booked as a top guy in ECW and whenever he was in a company that actually made money (WWE) he was mostly on Sunday Night Heat losing to D’Lo Brown. Let’s face it, Credible was responsible for those 1.2 ratings for Heat in ’02.

Anyway, Credible is making a comeback after substance abuse issues. He even has his own blog where he shares his thoughts on the wrestling world.

I haven’t watched any of his new stuff, but I will be soon and my expectations are quite low. Aside from Stevie Richards and the now retired Jerry Lynn there haven’t been many ECW alumni who have kept themselves in good shape. Well, add Bully Ray and Tommy Dreamer to that list, too.

I’d never go out of my way to watch a Justin Credible match, but I’ve never found myself skipping his matches whenever they pop up on my television.

What are your memories or opinions on Justin Credible? Leave them below!

Thanks for reading.