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First of all, let's get one thing perfectly clear: The term 'jobber' is considered rude in the locker room of any given pro wrestling promotion. The preferred term is "Enhancement Talent."
These are the wrestlers who are paid to make other talent look good, ie, to enhance their image. Jobber is a slang term which is often used in a derogatory manner.
Often times, the talent used for a jobber/enhancement role are young wrestlers who are still learning their craft. This is not always the case, as some wrestlers make a career out of jobbing.
While the perception by fans is that the big name stars look down with disdain upon the enhancement talent, a lot of the times this is not the case. Wrestlers appreciate those talents who can make them look good in the ring.
For example, George South was an enhancement talent in the southern NWA territories, but he was well respected in the locker room. Ric Flair even went off script once to make South look like he could hold his own against the World Champion.
Whether you call them jobbers or enhancement talent, some wrestlers manage to be memorable even with terrible won/loss records. Here are ten of the most memorable WWE jobbers of all time.
10. Special Delivery Jones
Born Conrad Efrain, the man who would eventually be known as SD Jones was working for a telephone company before he received his training from Johnny Rodz (ed. note: who also gets an honorary mention here).
Efrain would take the name "Roosevelt Jones" after his debut, so he could be considered the kayfabe cousin of Rufus Jones, a popular mid card wrestler in the south.
Eventually Efrain made his way to the WWE during its Classic era. SD Jones played a role sometimes called "Jobber to the Stars," or gate keeper. Basically he would give the heel mid-card wrestlers a hard time, but always wound up losing.
However, Jones did win against lower card wrestlers, and even won a battle royal once, though he had to share the honor with Tony Atlas. The two would flip a coin to see who won the battle royal. Jones, of course, lost.
His greatest claim to fame was losing to King Kong Bundy in nine seconds--though the match was really closer to a minute--at Wrestlemania. This dubious record stood for a long time until The Rock defeated Erick Rowan at Wrestlemania 32 in six seconds.
Jones is a legacy member of the WWE Hall of Fame and even had an action figure, making him one of the most memorable enhancement talents of all time.
#9. Los Conquistadores
During the late 1980s, WWE made a habit of re-using their enhancement talent by utilizing different gimmicks.
Puerto Rican wrestlers Jose Luis Rivera and Jose Estrada wrestled sans masks under their real names as enhancement talents who primarily faced mid-card heels. But when the WWE needed a credible heel threat for an up-and-coming tag team, the two men donned the gold masks and bodysuits of the Conquistidores.
Los Conquistidores never wore any championships during their career, which is quite typical for enhancement talents. They did, however, make enough of their presence known to have been considered a fixture of WWE's classic era.
In the early 2000s, the Conquistodores gimmick was resurrected by Edge and Christian, who pretended to be the masked tag team in order to win back their WWE tag team championships.
Though the original Conquistodores never won many matches, they still managed to be quite memorable.
Fun fact here is that Edge and Christian, along with Matt and Jeff Hardy, have won tag team titles wrestling under the Los Conquistidores gimmick.
#8. Barry Horowitz
Barry Horowitz is a name and face that is well known to long-time wrestling fans.
During the first leg of his career, Horowitz wrestled in the Georgia-Florida territories as a low-to-mid-card face. He even reigned as the Florida State champion for a time before joining WWE.
Given his smaller stature than most wrestlers of his era, Horowitz was crafted into a heel enhancement talent. He would often pat himself on the back when he performed a move well, drawing the ire of the fans. While he usually lost, he did have some victories over other enhancement talents on a lower tier than himself. He also often performed curtain-jerker matches at WWE live events during this era, often facing other enhancement talent.
Horowitz defeated Bodydonna Skip on an early episode of Raw. The announcers treated this like his first win ever, which was certainly not true, but the fans exploded with cheers because no one expected Horowitz to win against a higher card wrestler.
Horowitz was so good at jobbing that WCW hired him to a lucrative contract after his stint in WWE ended. Horowitz was one of Goldberg's many victims during his infamous win streak.
#7. The Brooklyn Brawler Steve Lombardi
Steve Lombardi was a perennial WWE heel enhancement talent for years wrestling under his real name with no gimmick to speak of.
He frequently teamed up with Barry Horowitz, and the pair even picked up a few wins over other low card talents.
In the late 1980s, the WWE decided that even their enhancement talents should have readily discernible gimmicks. Lombardi was chosen for this minor elevation because of his long tenure with the company and the fact that he got along well with the rest of the locker room. Lombardi was 'one of the boys' and rarely complained about his role with the company.
Lombardi was re-cast as the Brooklyn Brawler. He was even managed by Bobby Heenan to add a little more credibility. Brawler was, much like SD Jones, used as a 'jobber to the stars'. He defeated lower card face wrestlers, but always tasted defeat when facing mid to upper card faces.
Lombardi also portrayed the character Knuckleball Schwartz, a short lived gimmick meant to draw heat from the MLB players strike.
The Brawler makes occasional appearances in the WWE during backstage segments or old school/legends night events. He also participated in the gimmick battle royal held at Wrestlemania X7 as Kamala's handler Kim chee.
#6. Salvatore Sincere (Tom Brandi.)
Tom Brandi wrestled in WCW for a time as Johnny Gun, though his tenure wasn't all that memorable. He does hold a victory over the Dangerous Alliance team of Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, and Michael PS Hayes, however.
When Brandi joined WWE, he was re-branded as Salvatore Sincere, a stereotypical mobster Italian who wore pink and white and falsely claimed to 'love' everyone even as he cheated to win.
Sincere didn't exactly set the world on fire. He quickly slid down the card and became an enhancement talent. However, the WWE did try to elevate him beyond this role.
During the early days of the Attitude Era, Marc Mero pulled back the curtain and exposed Salvatore for the jobber he was, outing his real name of Tom Brandi. This led to a short-lived push for Brandi, who flirted with stardom but never quite achieved it.
He is a one-time ECW tag team champion with the hardcore legend Tommy Dreamer. It was the only title he managed to win in any of WWE's associated brands.
#5. Gillberg (Duane Gill.)
During the Attitude Era, WWE programming began to feature some stars of ECW. Among those chosen to appear on Raw and Smack Down was a crew known as the J.O.B. Squad, which included Duane Gill.
Gill was considered a perennial underdog due to his short stature. However, he would wind up winning the WWE Light Heavyweight title from Christian.
What followed is what most people remember, however. Duane Gill was repackaged as Gillberg, a mockery of WCW's biggest star at the time, Bill Goldberg. Gillberg adopted all of Goldberg's mannerisms, albeit with a comedic twist.
Instead of a winning streak, Gilberg embarked on a losing streak. WWE has resurrected the gimmick from time to time since, but once Goldberg was under WWE contract Gillberg became obsolete.
Duane Gill was a decent in-ring worker, but his small size and lack of high flying ability pretty much guaranteed he would remain an enhancement talent until the end of his career.
FUN FACT: He also teamed up with fellow Enhancement Talent, Barry Hardy, to comprise the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-"inspired" tag tea, the Toxic Turtles.
#4. Zach Gowen
Zach Gowen was forced to amputate his left leg due to cancer when he was only eight years old. Despite this, he was determined to become a pro wrestler.
Gowen was trained by long-time indie star and ROH manager Truth Martini. Martini and Gowen came to the decision that the latter should not wrestle with an artificial leg, due to the dead weight and the fact that Gowen could not control the limb, making it dangerous for the other wrestlers.
Gowen wrestled for TNA/Impact for a time, but then joined WWE during the period when Hulk Hogan was wrestling as Mr. America. He saved Mr. America from a beat down administered by Roddy Piper and Sean O'Haire. Piper was the one who first pulled off Gowen's prosthetic leg.
Gowen and Mr. America teamed up for a time, but then Gowen became the ultimate underdog. While he seldom won, his amputee status made him an instant sympathetic baby-face jobber. Any heel could garner a ton of heat just by wrestling him.
#3. Damien Sandow
Damien Sandow is actually a great in-ring performer with plenty of size, speed, and athletic ability. But for whatever reason, he never really made it past the level of enhancement talent in WWE.
Sandow was initially pushed based more on his ability to work the microphone. As the intellectual savior of the masses, he was cocky and insulting. It looked as if he might be about to break out when he won the Money in the Bank contract, but he was unsuccessful in his cash in attempt on John Cena.
Sandow spent some time wearing various costumes and gimmicks before striking gold as The Miz's stunt double. The gimmick got Sandow over, but once he split up with the Miz he once again struggled for recognition.
Sandow would leave the company and wrestle for competition brands, but many fans often wonder what might have been.
If only the WWE creative team was able to utilize Sandow better.
#2. 3MB
3MB is a jobber team which existed for a brief time in WWE. Led by Heath Slater, the trio also included Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre.
Basically, both Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre took on Heath Slater's gimmick. They would come out, talk on the microphone about how great they were, and then proceed to play air guitar together.
The gimmick was meant to give more TV time to Jinder and Drew, who were relatively green talents at the time. Eventually both Mahal and McIntyre were released from their WWE contracts.
But the story of 3MB doesn't end there. Jinder Mahal was re-hired by the WWE, and even made it to the main event scene and captured the WWE Championship. Drew McIntyre, on the other hand, is a two-time WWE champion and one time NXT champion. He is the current face of WWE Raw and is sitting comfortably on a purple patch.
And Slater himself held the Tag Team titles with partner Rhyno, proving that spending time as a jobber doesn't mean the end of your career.
#1. Curt Hawkins
Curt Hawkins has wrestled on and off for WWE for the past decade. Initially, he and frequent tag team partner Zack Ryder were billed as the Major Brothers. Despite not being related, they bore enough of a resemblance to pull the gimmick off.
They were then repackaged as the Edge Heads. They used their resemblance to Edge to sow confusion for the Rated R Superstar's opponents.
Eventually, Hawkins left WWE while Ryder remained. Zack Ryder would become the Long Island Iced Z, and Hawkins wrestled for several different promotions before returning to WWE.
Curt Hawkins would embark on a long, long losing streak, perhaps the longest in wrestling history. This was done at first for comedic effect, but eventually the WWE used it to garner sympathy for Hawkins. This made Curt's eventual face turn and winning the tag team championship that much more memorable.
Though he is no longer associated with the brand, he is one of the more famous enhancement talents in WWE.
There you have it: Ten of WWE's most memorable jobbers. Questions or comments? Who are some of your favorites? Please leave them after the article, and as always thanks for reading!
