Michael Hayes' Cageside Evaluation

What you loved:

1. Fabulous Freebirds Era - One of the hottest teams ever in wrestling. They were hated heels wherever they went.
2. Von Erich Feud - The epitome of good vs. evil.
3. Charisma - He was a star during his time with the Freebirds, his strut and moonwalk in the ring. Always making faces to the camera, he always got reactions out of the crowd with ease.
4. Heel - Some people are born to be good, some are born to be bad. Hayes is the latter, and seems like he is the type to "live the gimmick." We'll get to that in a minute.
   
5. Great Wrestling Mind - He's been in the business for almost 40 years, no doubt he has a lot of great experience to offer the new talent.

Best comment comes via thehobodownthestreet:

"Is impossible for me to think of Purely Sexy without Bam Bam, Buddy, and even Jimmy. They were the cool heels that you wanted to see get their asses kicked, but damn if they weren’t the guys you wished you would be when you grew up. Was he the greatest technical wrestler ever? No, not even close, but it didn’t matter. He knew how to work a crowd, he knew what to say, and when to say it (ask Mark Henry!) to get that good old fashion heat. And what puts him/them over the top are two things. One, Badstreet, USA. Second, the Freebirds were in the Highlander, and that thing is a documentary done in real time. Oh, and smashing the cage door on my Kerry Von Erich?! Why you bastard. Anyways, got to give it to one of the most flamboyant man in wrestling, ever, and that’s saying a lot."

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What you loathed:

1. Ignorant - Just to combine all the dumb things he's said and done, I thought "ignorant" would work well. It's truly amazing that he's still employed with WWE between what he said to Mark Henry, and putting a recovering alcoholic (Rosa Mendes) in a situation to drink again. And those are two stories we actually know about.
2. Dok Hendrix - Punch-able face.
3. Attire - Right up there with Jerry Lawler.
   
4. Confederate Flag - Speaks for itself, no?

Best comment comes from The ShockMaster:

"Loathe: Trips has a reputation for burying people, but Hayes probably has a backhoe painted with the Confederate flag for all the burials he’s been in on. He is, by all accounts, a pretty lousy person; the Rosa Mendes thing being the best recent example of that. Jerry Lawler’s wardrobe makes me cringe a little bit because he’s an old guy trying way too hard to look young, but Hayes makes his fashion choices look sensible. The hair, those clothes, all of it – give it up, dude, you’re fat, old, and bald, and that’s totally OK. His look is the full-body equivalent of a comb-over – you might think it’s fooling people, but in reality it looks twice (or, in Hayes’ case, about 15 times) as ridiculous."

On to the poll! With 172 votes, Michael Hayes' average score is 3.1.

Thanks, Cagesiders! Tomorrow's pick came in like a wrecking ball.

Until then!