WWE's Bruce Prichard Says Junkyard Dog Captivated Audiences, Wasn't A Great Wrestler

During the early 1980s, with the wrestling territories going strong across the US, the big star of the south was The Junkyard Dog, who electrified crowds for Bill Watts' Mid South Wrestling. JYD was so big that he would have fans in other territories asking about him, something Bruce Prichard remembers from his days working for Mid South's neighboring promotion, Houston Wrestling. Prichard discussed the legacy of JYD on "Something To Wrestle," particularly what made the wrestling legend so special to the fans in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, and other Mid-South states.

"JYD was different, JYD was unique," Prichard said. "He had charisma. You can't teach charisma. And the Dog had charisma walking out of the locker room, and would own that audience as soon as he burst through those doors." While JYD is renowned as a wrestling legend today, he has often been seen as an inferior worker to some of his contemporaries. Prichard acknowledged that JYD wouldn't ever be seen as an all-time great in-ring talent, but ultimately believes that JYD was a great worker for an entirely different reason.

"You want to talk about great workers ... or talk about great wrestlers, Junkyard Dog wasn't a great wrestler, by any stretch of the imagination," Prichard said. "There's not a human alive who would say 'Oh, JYD was the best wrestler.' He was the drizzling s**ts. Best worker? JYD couldn't be touched, because he knew what to do and when. And that's where people, your experts of the world and your 32-star matches and all that b******t, means absolutely less than nothing."

If you use any quotes in this article, please credit "Something To Wrestle" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription