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Jobbers are an important part of the wrestling business. Often unappreciated, these unsung heroes have the most important job when it comes to the Superstars. Make them look good, great, even.
A solid jobber can make the greenest of wrestlers look like the next Hulk Hogan or John Cena. Normally all it takes is the ability to sell a move, but the better jobbers add a bit to it, sometimes comically overselling to show how powerful their opponent is.
Most recently, Braun Strowman and Nia Jax have been running through the “hometown heroes” that dare try to challenge them. After the brand split, these two jumped to Raw and demolished their pathetically frail foes in minutes.
However, the art of the jobber was a bit lost on the WWE before this time. There were no hometown boys and girls trying to make a name by getting flattened by an established talent. The talent were the ones jobbing!
Groups like the Three Man Band, The Social Outcasts, Golden Truth and others have taken over the slot of the J.O.B. Squad, putting together great lines of losing streaks only outmatched by men like Barry Horowitz or Johnny Rodz.
Even some of the greatest wrestlers of all time started out jobbing. Daniel Bryan, arguably the greatest Superstar in the past decade, started out in NXT with a 1-10 record. He would later go on to beat the FORMER US champion, the Miz. If it wasn’t for that “former,” Bryan would be Number 1 on this list.
So it’s not uncommon for these wrestlers to at least get an upset victory over their opponents. And my job today is to give you a list of those who were able to grab pinfalls over not only established talent but champions.
So without further ado, let’s get started.
#5 Norman Smiley
We’re starting off the list with a WCW guy. Big Wiggle, Norman Smiley. His tenure with WCW lasted from 1997 until the company shut their doors in 2001, and every bit of that time was spent as a comedy act. The Santino Marella of WCW, Norman Smiley was a veritable goofball.
Doing his big wiggle dance after knocking an opponent down and straddling them for the Smiley Spank, Smiley was clearly only there to make the fans laugh. However, Norman somehow became a hardcore champion.
Screamin’ Norman, as he was dubbed by the WCW announcers, was the epitome of a coward. Often coming to matches dressed in padding and a football helmet, he’d yelp at the thought of being touched by a weapon.
For having such a specific fear, it was odd that Norman was not only involved in the hardcore division but was surprisingly successful. The former 2-time champion has the longest combined reign of WCW hardcore champions, with a record of 93 days.
But don’t let that record distract you from Smiley’s true purpose. He was even seen multiple times attempting to lose on purpose just to get out of the division that he hated so much.
Norman Smiley is one of the more well-known jobbers of the past three decades. As of the writing of this article, he is working with WWE as a trainer for NXT. Hopefully, there aren’t any trash cans or kendo sticks near those rings, for Smiley’s sake.
#4 Santino Marella
If we’re going to bring up the Santino of WCW, we might as well talk about Santino himself. Marella played the goofball loser role for a little under a decade in WWE, however, he was somewhat successful.
Being a former two-time Intercontinental champion, one time Tag Team champion, one time US champion, and... two-time Miss Wrestlemania, you might be wondering why he’s on this list. At least, if you weren’t watching WWE during his tenure, you’d be wondering that.
Anyone that was paying attention to the Milan Miracle knows exactly why he’s here.
Santino started his career with a win over the Samoan Bulldozer, Umaga. But that wasn’t because of his in ring ability or strength. No, Umaga battered and beat Santino for about five minutes before he was saved by Umaga’s then-rival, Bobby Lashley.
After Lashley hit Umaga with a brain scrambling chair shot and a devastating spear, he dropped an unconscious Santino over the Intercontinental champion and held Santino down. Santino’s debut was a big moment for the WWE and the Milan crowd ate it up.
Santino defended the title one time against Chris Masters before dropping it back to Umaga a month later. After a few years, he found his place in the WWE as the comical goofball with the cobra for an arm.
Santino Marella might possibly be the greatest jobber of all time, but he has quite a bit of competition.
#3 Gillberg
Duane Gill has a historic career as a jobber. Debuting with the then-WWF in 1991, he was losing from day one. Falling to the likes of the Undertaker, Kerry Von Erich, Sgt. Slaughter and more, Gill was a career loser.
Even when he formed a tag team with Barry Hardy, he could only manage a loss to whatever team stood across the ring from him. After a 4-year stint in the company, Gill left but returned in 1998. He came in with McMahon building him up as a man with a win/loss record that no other man could match.
However, this was only to hype up Mankind’s match in a tournament to crown a new WWF champion. Mankind quickly disposed of Gill, who went on to join the J.O.B. Squad.
The J.O.B. Squad was a, debatably, lovable band of losers consisting of Gill, Al Snow, 2 Cold Scorpio, and Bob Holly. While he’s well known for the J.O.B. squad, Gill is more known for being the parody of Goldberg, Gillberg.
Gill acquired this gimmick after beating Christian on November 17, 1998, for the Light Heavyweight Championship.
After one of the biggest upsets of the Attitude Era, the original plan was for Gillberg to mirror Goldberg’s winning streak of 173 consecutive wins... by losing 173 times. Gillberg rarely won with his new gimmick, and all but killed whatever prestige the light heavyweight title had at the time.
Gillberg has made sporadic appearances since his departure in 2001. He came back in 2003 so Goldberg could finally get his hands on him, and most recently was beaten up by Kevin Owens, who is also in a feud with Goldberg at the moment.
With a win/loss record as bad as Gillberg’s, his title win has got to be one of the biggest moments in jobber history.
#2 Damien Sandow
Damien Sandow had a bright future. Since his debut in 2012, the WWE Universe were crazy for the Intellectual Savior of the Masses. Berating all of his opponents before the match, and attacking them from behind while their heads were turned to the crowd, Sandow put together quite a winning record.
Eventually, it would end, but Sandow would continue to have success with Cody Rhodes as the Rhodes Scholars, being one of the best tag teams of 2013, although never actually winning the titles.
2013 continued to be a great year for Sandow, as he won the MITB briefcase for the World Heavyweight Championship. This, however, was the downfall of Sandow. He lost his chance to be World Champion when he took on John Cena on an episode of Raw.
Cena, who was injured during the match, still beat Sandow. Before losing to Cena, however, he was already in a slump, toting a 1-12 record after winning the briefcase. After the match of his career, he went on to have a losing streak lasting for about five months.
He lost his patented pink trunks, wrestling now in basic black, and stopped doing his well-received cartwheels during matches.
Sandow was then given a career-killer of a gimmick; the Impersonation Gimmick. It began with Sandow dressing as Magneto when Hugh Jackman came to Raw. It was goofy, sad, and at that point, fans of the Enlightened One almost gave up hope.
However, Sandow became probably the first person to ever make this gimmick work. Fans enjoyed his entertaining comedic acts, and once he latched onto the Miz, he became one of the most popular acts of 2014/2015.
The Miz needed a stunt double, and Sandow, now Mizdow, was happy to oblige. Not only would he wrestle for the Miz, he would also take beatdowns with him. Whenever Miz was slammed, Mizdow would slam himself. If he was thrown over the ropes, Mizdow would get in the ring, then toss himself over the ropes.
The fans ate it up and Mizdow rode the popularity to not only a victory over a champion but a world tag team title reign.
Mizdow was still racking up losses at this point in his career, but in the Fatal 4-Way tag match at Survivor Series 2014, Miz and Mizdow defeated The Usos, Los Matadores, and the champions Goldust and Stardust to become WWE Tag Team Champions.
Even after winning the belts, Miz and Mizdow rarely won matches, and they dropped the belts to the Usos on December 29. However, his popularity continued to rise, and Mizdow was ready to move on.
After the gimmick had run its course, Mizdow turned on Miz, returning to his Sandow name. However, he would be released shortly thereafter. It was a controversial move, as the fans continued to back Sandow, even after he was forced to go back to the gimmick that almost ended his career.
He became one-half of the Meta Powers with Curtis Axel, with Axel parodying Hulk Hogan and Sandow going for a Macho Man character. However, due to the Hulk Hogan controversy, this was quickly dropped.
Sandow rarely had a win after that point and was released in 2016 to universal heartbreak. Sandow became a Top 5 Twitter trend in the US, as fans and critics alike were furious over his release. He now works in TNA under the name Aron Rex, a Liberace-esque character, garnering mixed responses.
Whether he can make this gimmick work remains to be seen, but wrestling fans worldwide are still hoping for something great from the once-jobbing Damien Sandow.
#1 James Ellsworth
How could we talk about jobbers beating champions and not mention the latest man to achieve this, James Ellsworth? While the other men on this list won titles, none of them ever beat a current WWE champion while holding jobber status.
James Ellsworth started out in the company as a member of Adam Rose’s Rosebuds, accompanying Rose to and from the ring and dancing during party segments. He would make his in-ring debut against Braun Strowman, another former rosebud, and the rest is history.
Due to the beating that he received from the former Wyatt, Ellsworth became famous. The man waved goodbye to his family midway through a reverse chokeslam, and, in a way, waved to the fans. And we welcomed him with open arms.
What really stuck with us after his debut was his catchphrase “Any man with two hands has a fighting chance” that he had said prior to the match. It was this phrase, and Ellsworth’s goofy no chinned face, that won the hearts of millions.
He was famous overnight, becoming the greatest wrestling meme since John Cena.
The WWE noticed the popularity of Ellsworth and brought him to SmackDown. After a few weeks of being beaten down by the Miz, Styles and Baron, Ellsworth finally picked up a win. But it wasn’t some flukey win against Baron Corbin or the Miz. No, Ellsworth pinned the then WWE Champion, AJ Styles.
On October 11th, AJ Styles chose Ellsworth to be his opponent for the night. However, Daniel Bryan made Dean Ambrose, the man Styles was feuding with, the special guest referee. In a sense, Styles sealed his own fate, as Ellsworth, with a... little help from Ambrose, pinned the champ that runs the camp.
It wasn’t the first time Ellsworth would have a victory over Styles. In fact, he’s 3-1 against the former champion, gaining all three victories while Styles held the belt. Ellsworth fought Styles on the next week’s SmackDown Live, winning the title match by DQ, therefore not winning the belt.
Ellsworth fought (and won) against Styles one more time, this time for a WWE contract in a ladder match. Holding a 3-0 victory over the champion, though, went to his head, as he would cost Dean Ambrose the title at TLC.
His thought process was “I’ve beaten AJ three times. So I’ll beat him again, then give Dean a title shot.” That, however, did not happen. Instead, on December 20th, AJ Styles beat James Ellsworth in under a minute, ending any chance that he ever had of winning the belt.
Ellsworth would then go into a storyline with Carmella, who has been trying to turn him into a star. He’s yet to gain a victory on SmackDown Live, though, since his defeat at the hands of the Phenomenal One.
He did have a chance to take on the man he debuted against, though, when he was entered into the Royal Rumble.
Braun Strowman was in the middle of a ring cleaning frenzy when Ellsworth’s music hit. He would then wait on the outside of the ring until his former friend Dean Ambrose came out next, goading Ellsworth into the ring with the promise that he would back him up.
That did not happen, however, as Ambrose ditched Ellsworth and Braun quickly and mercifully ended Ellsworth’s chances that night.
For now, Ellsworth is hanging out with Carmella and that’s about it. But you never know when the Chinless Wonder’s No Chin Music could gain him another victory from an unexpecting Superstar.
So the next time a generically named man with no entrance is on your screen, maybe you should give him or her more credit than you’d like. You never know what could happen.
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