The history of wrestlers becoming bookers in wrestling featured mixed results ranging from strong success to strong failure. It is a huge shift to go from a talent performing in the ring to running the creative side of things with ideas for the entire roster. Wrestlers to make the move usually become polarizing figures in the industry.
The best stories showcased that experience in the ring can provide positive results of knowing what gets over or how to use talents in the right spots. However, it can also lead to disaster if the talent can’t figure out the right path to booking everyone outside of themselves. Find out which names had differing results with the best and worst wrestlers to become bookers.
10 Best: Kevin Sullivan
Not everyone in WCW loved Kevin Sullivan’s booking tenure, but he was the person most responsible for creative during the rise. Eric Bischoff and the top names had influence on their own segments with Sullivan putting together the rest of the events.
Fans loved WCW at the time with Sullivan playing a huge role in many of the mid-card and cruiserweight programs that connected. However, some wrestlers like Bret Hart claimed that Sullivan was in over his head when things fell apart at the end.
9 Worst: Jeff Jarrett
TNA starting was Jeff Jarrett’s idea for a new promotion to challenge WWE with WCW going out of business. Jarrett booked the promotion in the early years using his years of wrestling experience in the role.
Unfortunately, the results were not positive for Jarrett running the show. Fans were unhappy with Jarrett dominating the main event scene, especially since he was making the decisions. TNA found more success with other names like Dutch Mantell taking a bigger role on the creative team.
8 Best: Antonio Inoki
Antonio Inoki is one of the biggest legends in Japan and made the transition from wrestling to the office in grand fashion with the foundation of New Japan. The rise of NJPW made it the blueprint for success to wrestling in Japan.
Inoki was a great booker for many years with quite a few legendary eras. Names like Jushin Liger and Ultimo Dragon became success stories for NJPW. Even American breakout performers like Chris Jericho and Eddie Guerrero had stints there building their reputations before the rise in WWE or WCW.
7 Worst: Marty Scurll
Ring of Honor made a huge move when re-signing Marty Scurll under a huge contract as both a talent and a booker. Everyone expected Scurll to join AEW or WWE as a free agent until ROH came into the picture and offered him the chance to run the show.
The tenure only lasted a short while with Marty trying to add new ideas to change things up until COVID made ROH cancel their events. Various women spoke out against Scurll, making various allegations that led to ROH parting ways with him. Marty’s tenure will be remembered for all the wrong reasons as his career is now in flux.
6 Best: Pat Patterson
Vince McMahon was never fond of using the term booker, but most wrestlers viewed Pat Patterson as that for WWE in the 80s and early ‘90s. The ideas of Patterson saw him becoming the main person putting together the shows with Vince.
Patterson had a brilliant mind known for getting the best out of every talent and having unique concepts. The Royal Rumble match was the brainchild of Patterson and remains one of WWE’s biggest draws today.
5 Worst: Ole Anderson
WCW made a few risky moves when having various wrestlers take on the booker role. Ole Anderson was not the most popular wrestler in the locker room when he received the booker position running the show.
The run started in the early ‘90s when the transition from NWA to WCW began. Many of the ideas of Ole were flops and it saw the company failing to compete with WWE. WCW removed Anderson from the role with many wrestlers happy about the change.
4 Best: Gedo
Diehard WCW fans will remember the few appearances of Jado and Gedo in their early careers. Both wrestlers worked in Japan for years before taking control of New Japan. Gedo is viewed as the lead booker of the promotion over the past eight years.
NJPW’s rise has reached new heights with Gedo’s creative vision connecting. Successes like the Bullet Club forming, the expansion in the United States, and building new stars for the future make his run an outstanding period. Even with the losses of Finn Balor, AJ Styles, Kenny Omega, and Shinsuke Nakamura, Gedo keeps NJPW at the highest level of wrestling.
3 Worst: Ric Flair
WCW made Ric Flair the head booker of a committee in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. The incredible in-ring success of Flair made him a top star that had experience at the highest level. Reaction to Flair was polarizing from wrestlers to fans of the product.
Names like Scott Steiner and Shane Douglas spoke on the tension backstage with wrestlers believing that Flair was only taking care of his friends. The WCW product didn’t take the steps needed to compete with WWE and Flair was removed from his role.
2 Best: Dusty Rhodes
Dusty Rhodes is the first name mentioned whenever wrestlers talk about bookers they had respect for. There were critics of his style with the term “Dusty finish” describing matches that had run-ins and interference, but the excitement was always there.
Some of the best ideas from Dusty saw him inventing the War Games match and the Starrcade PPV. Dusty had successful stints providing creative contributions in Jim Crockett Promotions, WCW, NWA, and TNA. Even the NXT run featured some strong moments of his ideas leading to future stars being made.
1 Worst: Kevin Nash
The short stint of booker for Kevin Nash in WCW saw him becoming one of the most hated in the position. Nash taking control of WCW was a move done to make big changes when the ratings were trending downhill.
The moves from unmasking Rey Mysterio to having hours of Nitro without any in-ring matches showed that Nash was going to be controversial. Nash was blamed by many wrestlers for the decline of WCW during his time and was removed from the position.