Who's the best professional wrestler ever?

Status
Not open for further replies.
mCImV0j4HYfu9M8dE3u72bw.jpg
 
Big Baybee said:
I liked the Million Dollar Man when I was a kid. Then I got older and realized Virgil was his personal slave.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it was pretty crazy. I can't believe no one had a problem with that even in the 80s. The WWF was massive and allegedly a family friendly show, yet they had a rich white dude who clearly had a black slave, racist caricatures like Saba Simba or Akeem, Jesse Ventura and Bobby Heenan definitely saying racist and sexist things on color which wouldn't fly today. It's pretty crazy to see how adult it was looking back on it.
 
Kurt Angle was amazing until 2003 when he started having his formula match with everyone, regardless if it made sense. He'd have the same match with Chris Benoit that he'd have with a rookie, a big man, or a cruiserweight. You shouldn't have the same match with Matt Morgan as you would Rey Mysterio, but that's his formula and he's sticking to it. At least Flair's formula really could plug in any guy and it would make sense.
 
alstein said:
Eddy Guerrero or Jushin Liger.

It's so subjective- I vote Eddy because he was one of the greatest technical wrestlers, and one of the greatest mic workers ever, and could do any match (which is why Flair isn't the best- just one of the best)

No idea how Liger's mic skills are in Japan, but he's probably the greatest ring technician in history, and was one of the greatest high fliers until the brain cancer.

Surprised no one mentioned Vader yet- he's not the top for me, but he's top 10 all-time. Deserves more love.
Click to expand...

Thankfully in Japan you don't need to be able to speak on a mic to reach the top.
 
Macho Man is easily my favorite of all time. Could work the mic like very few people could, and his in ring skills were right up there with the best of the 80s and 90s.

Although Hacksaw Jim Duggan is a close second. That patriotic goofball can still get an arena to erupt years after his prime. Its impossible not to like the guy.
 
Stopped watching when the attitude stuff become so silly. But I'd say some mix of Savage, Flair, and Michaels.
 
Flair for charisma, longevity, and having great matches with a bunch of stiffs.

When he was in with a Steamboat et al that was a great technical wrestler he was perfectly capable of switching it up and wrestling their style of match.
 
Benoit and Guerrero are up there. So is Michaels of course. Flair is overrated in the ring, but I guess we are taking charisma into account?

What about Shinjiro Otani? He was great to watch - great moveset, execution, and of course, the facial expressions.

Bret was definitely great, but honestly I liked Owen better. Owen was more exciting to watch overall, and Bret's matches could get a bit boring with the rest holds, but Bret brought more realism to his matches.

Haven't watched an Angle match lately, but he was pretty damn awesome back in the early '00s.

How about overrated? Chris Jericho. He was the anti-Bret in that none of his moves look like they hurt much. He plays up the comedy aspect, but that's pretty much it.
 
Either Kurt (like posted above) or Chris Benoit. Didnt have the best mic skills but he was a pure pro wrestler. Marvelous. Nobody tries to remember him but dont forget...Benoit was a in ring beast!
 
Fourth Storm said:
Benoit and Guerrero are up there. So is Michaels of course. Flair is overrated in the ring, but I guess we are taking charisma into account?

What about Shinjiro Otani? He was great to watch - great moveset, execution, and of course, the facial expressions.

Bret was definitely great, but honestly I liked Owen better. Owen was more exciting to watch overall, and Bret's matches could get a bit boring with the rest holds, but Bret brought more realism to his matches.

Haven't watched an Angle match lately, but he was pretty damn awesome back in the early '00s.

How about overrated? Chris Jericho. He was the anti-Bret in that none of his moves look like they hurt much. He plays up the comedy aspect, but that's pretty much it.
Click to expand...

Chris Jericho worked stiff in ECW when he was Lion Heart.
 
charsace said:
Chris Jericho worked stiff in ECW when he was Lion Heart.
Click to expand...

I've heard he could be kind of stiff. But it's not really about that. Benoit, Bret, and even Guerrero executed moves with more impact it seemed. As Bret has said, part of the art is to make it look stiff even when you're working light.
 
strobogo said:
Kurt Angle was amazing until 2003 when he started having his formula match with everyone, regardless if it made sense. He'd have the same match with Chris Benoit that he'd have with a rookie, a big man, or a cruiserweight. You shouldn't have the same match with Matt Morgan as you would Rey Mysterio, but that's his formula and he's sticking to it. At least Flair's formula really could plug in any guy and it would make sense.
Click to expand...

I feel that way about Jericho. In fact I feel when he came to the WWF he was just going through the motions in the ring and on the stick. His WCW work was the amazing - for me he was the reason I even tuned into the show after the NWO started to get stale. He was the best wrestler in all of wrestling at that time.

My favorite Jericho WWF match was when he faced Shawn Michaels and he told him in promos that he idolized him and emulated his moveset and career. That was the one match I could point to where it felt like he gave a damn and it wasn't just the same motions.
 
Jericho had a really shitty time in the WWF until Benoit/Malenko/Saturn/Eddie jumped ship. No one could work the style he was used to, and he wasn't used to the WWF style. I think 2001 was Jericho's best WWF year. His work with Austin and Rock that year was some of the best of his career, and some of Rock's best matches.
 
charsace said:
Austin was a great technical wrestler before the injuries. Especially in WCW where he put on some great tag and singles matches.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. People only remember 98-01 "Stone Cold" Steve Austin when he wrestled with a brawler style but that man could work his ass off in the ring. Dude was the total package.
 
I'll take Stunning Steve over Stone Cold any day. 2001 Austin was about as good of a mix of both characters as you can get. But Dangerous Alliance/Hollywood Blondes Austin was pretty incredible in the ring. Even Stone Cold until his neck injury, but specifically 1996, was just vicious in the ring.
 
2001 Stone Cold in the ring is so underrated.

You could feel the hate he had for his opponent with every blow he delivered.
 
There are so many names I could mention. I mean my favorite was Stone Cold but I can't say he was the best ever. Great but not best ever.

Hogan and Flair belong quite high on the list although I would actually go with Terry Funk.

Here's a guy who learned the ways of wrestling and constantly reinvented himself and then innovated the hardcore style and brought psychology to that.
 
In the Terry Funk vein, a guy who hasn't been mentioned mostly because there isn't a ton of footage of him is Dick Murdoch. I'm comfortable in saying he's an all time great in the limited footage I've seen.
 
Austin, Hogan, Rock were great entertainers.

Hitman in his prime was probably the best well known wrestler. In terms of pure mat work, I have to go with Dean Malenko and Lance Storm.
 
strobogo said:
I'll take Stunning Steve over Stone Cold any day. 2001 Austin was about as good of a mix of both characters as you can get. But Dangerous Alliance/Hollywood Blondes Austin was pretty incredible in the ring. Even Stone Cold until his neck injury, but specifically 1996, was just vicious in the ring.
Click to expand...

Extreme Superstar Austin was his best promo work IMO.

"Welcome to Monday Nyquil! Where the big boys play with themselves!"
 
I haven't watched wrestling in many years but I used to like The Rock, Undertaker, Stone Cold, Triple H and Razor Ramon.
 
It's one of these guys:

Hulk Hogan
The Ultimate Warrior
Perry Saturn
Silver King
Super Calo
Karl Malone
Ric Flair
Disco Inferno
Kanyon
David Flair
Honky Tonk Man
 
Macho Man wins. Rocky is probably my favourite (old Rock, not current Rock), but that is mainly just his charisma, Foley was awesome too.
 
GoutPatrol said:
I used to think Foley was the best ever, but I really can't watch his matches anymore. Alot of the chairshot/falling highspots take me out of the match.
Click to expand...


I feel the same way. I did reviews of the Royal Rumble 1998-2002 at legitshook.com and all the brutal chair shots and knee destroying bumps are really hard to watch after years of that stuff being eliminated from shows and seeing the end result of Foley today.
 
Macho Man and the Undertaker were the biggest wrestlers during my childhood, can't help but pick them.

Macho Man did the best promos.
 
Macho Man and HBK had the best combo of ring skills and mic skills/showmanship.

Bret Hart, as an example, was a master technician but was about as interesting as wet paper bag.
 
Striker said:
Fuck him.
Click to expand...
If we're gonna disqualify guys for being dicks it'll be a short list. Original monster heel HHH was great(he's shit as a face though so I don't think he belongs on the list but that's beside the point). Even if he was a dick, hell the most famous dick in Wrestling is HBK, is he disqualified?
 
My top 5 of all time with some highlights

Chris Benoit
-Kurt Angle vs Benoit Royal Rumble 2003
-Kurt Angle vs Benoit Steel Cage Match
-Benoit vs HBK vs HHH WMXX(Best WM Main even of all time IMHO

Mick Foley
-Foley vs HBK in your house 96
-Foley vs The Rock Royal Rumble 99
-Foley vs Taker Hell in a cell

Stone Cold
-Stone Cold vs Bret I Quit Match
-Stone Cold vs The Rock WM 99
-Stone Cold and HHH vs Benoit and Jericho

Eddie Guerrero
-Eddie vs Brock No Way Out
-Eddie vs Rey Mysterio HH 97
-Eddie vs Dean Malenko final match in ECW

HBK
-HBK vs Taker WM 26
-HBK vs Taker WM27
-HBK vs Taker Hell in a Cell.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Why Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Has the Best Space Battle Ever
20
1K
ClanOfNone replied
What the most you ever stole?
2 3
104
3K
Tams replied
Careless Whisper has the best intro / lead-in to any song, ever.
2
64
3K
WhamBamThankYouMaam replied
What is the best animes for adults
2 3
102
5K
rubik's dude replied
Best and Worst Accents
2
87
2K
Major Insano replied
Top Bottom