Most Well Rounded Wrestler of All Time

[Waylon Mercy]

Based on the criteria of: Mainstream appeal/charisma, speaking ability, mat/technical ability, high flying ability, brawling ability, and look

1.) The Macho Man Randy Savage
2.) Eddie Guerrero
3.) Kurt Angle
4.) Shawn Michaels
5.) CM Punk

I excluded guys like The Rock, Stone Cold and Hogan, because as wildly popular as they were/are, they didn't possess the ring abilities that the top 5 I listed had / have. I wanted to include guys like Bret Hart, Flair, Benoit and Taker as well, but again, they don't quite fit the criteria specifically.

[theBec2101]

Steve Austin- he was more technical when he was in WCW so he did have the ability everything else from ECW to WWE self-explanatory.

Kurt Angle -one of the best athletes ever and natural wrestlers. His promo skills came along way.

Rock- He two is up there with Austin in the promos but I just feel the Rock wasn’t as technical as Austin ever was in his career. and Angles wrestling skills should carry him just above the Rock. Although I should dock him for going to TNA

Jerichco- he would of beat the Rock but the Rock owned him when he made is debut on Raw. Only reason.

Roddy Pipper- Kinda like a smaller Austin. He could defiantly talk. He was a good wrestler as well. Maybe didn’t have the look so to say. But people know him more for his promos and assaults.

Undertaker- Big man can wrestle, also can perform high flying moves and when he was able to talk and cut promos he was pretty good. He has the demanding voice, that probably why he is the backstage general besides career wise.

Jake Roberts- Like taker he had the voice and demeanor that was you got to listen to him. One of the best minds in wrestling. He also was a pretty good wrestler.

Notable mentions
Hulk Hogan- was over, and had the whole “say your prayers and take your vitamins” but that was about it. And he has fewer moves then Cena.
HBK- didn’t have to many great promos let alone talk that much. But with DX he was great and with skits very entertaining. And his Wrestling is one of the best.
Cena- He has some pretty good motivating promos, what can I say. And it was entertaining for awhile with him rapping. Also he has a greater move set the Hogan.
Flair- no one really mentioned him. He could wrestle and talk for days. Granit when he talked we have no idea what he talked up until he said space mountain.
Randy Savage- Sorry. Legend yes. Great wrestler yes. Notable promos not really. I remember OH YEA!!, DIG IT!!, and SNAP INTO A SLIM JIM. He was better the Hogan cause Hogan said even less, but Hogan by the #'s was over more.

[Moneyinc]

wow^

please get on youtube and type in Macho Man promo. No notable promos? he was the best promo man in the business hands down in my opinion.

Funnier and more intense than ANYONE.

did this guy above me say Macho man did not have any memorable promos?????

Do you not know anything?

There is no freaking arguing that Macho Man wasn't a top 3 promo guy in the golden era.

[theBec2101]

Like you said Sir, top 3 promos in the Golden Era, The subject at hand was ALL TIME and not just for promos. Also I didn’t say he was garbage. In my opinion I didn’t think he was better than the others. Sorry. You act like the lists I do have him in are full of shitty wrestlers. I dont think he was more intense then Jake Roberts and he not as funny as DX or even Santino.

[FlairFan2003]

Ric Flair: The guy was doing stadium shows in the 80s without the WWE machine, was so popular that an entire region of the country was named Flair Country because no matter who he wrestled he was cheered and drew. They booed Hulk Hogan for crying out loud. Also a major star overseas, huge in Japan and main evented in South America, Germany, New Zealand, Singapore as well. Remained a major ratings draw during the Monday Night Wars and continued to draw numbers well past his prime during his last WWE run with matches vs Foley, Edge, Taker, Austin, HHH, & HBK. His work with Kerry Von Erich, Sting, & Lex Luger made them superstars.

Had wrestling clinics vs Barry Whyndam & Ricky Steamboat, among the very best matches of their respective careers. Easily adapted his technical wrestling style to brawl with the likes of Terry Funk or work very good matches vs large muscle types like Hogan, The Road Warriors, & Nikita Kolloff. Excelled in an era of longer matches with more drama and storytelling but adapted and thrived in the weekly prime time TV era of shorter matches with more high spots, quicker finishes.

Wrestled 60 minute draws and Iron Man matches, Hell In A Cell, War Games, and No DQ Steel Cage matches, TLC and Ladder Matches, Texas Death, Bullrope & Strap Matches, finding a way to excell in every gimmick.

Absolutely had the "the look", muscled arms & chest, platinum blonde, designer suits, porsche carerra sun glasses, he totally looked like a million dollar high roller, a superstar, add the futuristic orchestral music and gaudy diamond stud robes, he looked like a champion everytime he walked down that aisle.

Became a major force in pop culture, particularly pro sports culture. Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson often paraphrased Flair's "Talk The Talk...walk the walk" promo line. Ray Seals & Levon Kirkland paraphrased Flair's "60 Minute Man" promo line and turned it into a line of T-shirts proclaiming The Steelers Defense as "The 60 Minute Men", Charles Barclay made appearances on Nitro promoting Flair. He has done promotional work for the NHL's Boston Bruins, ESPN Sportscasters like Steven A Smith still reference his "To Be The Man...Beat The Man" quote, LeBron James recently was quoted explaining the aspects of Flair's personna that make him so popular among today's athletes (the origins of bling), baseball fans in Pgh start "Whoooo" chants during games, even Redskins QB RG III recently gave an interview listing Flair among his favorite wrestling stars.

Is universally regarded among the best mic guys ever. Wether he was playing the elder statesman of wrestling vs NWO, fighting for fairness and leveling the playing field for fan favs vs Mr McMahon, playing the hard drinking, womanizer rulebreaking leader of The Horsemen, defending American pride vs The Russians, playing the dedicated family man and ageing Icon vs Vader, or invading WWE as "The Real World Champion" , Flair ignited live crowds and TV audiences regardless of opponent or storyline, hero or villain.

Perhaps the greatest testament to His over all presentation was how much HBK & HHH by their own admission patterned their own characters.

[Brocky maivia]

In my opinion only one man deserves this. I imagine people may disagree with me but ive only been watching since 99 and that man is Kurt Angle. This is a guy that had amazing chenistry with just aboit any superstat he faced and could get a ibstant classic out of Hornswoggle.

If he was a face he could come down cut a promo intense as fuck and get the crowd going. He could be the chickeb shit heel who you hated. He coild be the suplex machine whod want to break your frickin ankle. Ive seen kurt play just about every type of emotion and gimmick going and he was always able to switch it to the next gear. Its a shame his talents have been wasted in TNA.

[Brocky maivia]

I didnt see the criteria so let me break it down.

Mainstream appeal. The man won a gold medal thats more mainstream than most in my eyes.

Charisma/Speakig ability. See my above post. I can remeber many times Kurt would have me in stitches, rooting for him, or just straight up wanting ti see him get his ass kicked.

Mat/Technical ability. One of if not the greatest Wrestlers to ever grace the business. Kurt has pulled coubtless classics off over his time. No way out 2001 vs The rock. Vengeance 02 vs taker and the rock. Summerslam 03 vs Brock. His countless classics with Beboit. His mania match vs Shawb. Nwo 2006 vs Taker. The list goes on im sure im missing some.

High flying ability. Maybe a lil short in this category but he did have the moonsalt. Which never connected!

Brawling ability. This guy could trade hands with the best and the sight of him stopping a mudhole into someone in the corner with spit flying was instense.

And finally look. Angle maube have been a little bit shorter than some of the ithers from hid era but he was stilk a hard lookibg mofo.

If i was looking for a match/rivalry where i wanted to see someone with these attribute i wouldbt have to look no further than Kurt Angle. Oh its true.

[HHHsWetSpot]

Eddie Guerrero. Chris Jericho. Bret Hart in 1997. Austin from 1996-1997, and 2001 to the end of his career. His peak Attitude Era brawls were unimpressive, aside from his matches with Rock and Foley.

I honestly can't remember a single Shawn Michaels promo that was great. I remember he was sitting in a chair in Montreal around 2005 and drawing cheap heat for the screwjob, but I don't remember him saying anything interesting.

[Used To Watch Wrestling]

I've always been very partial to Ric Flair. I could care less whether or not he was a great athlete, the man made you care about his matches. Seriously, how many wrestlers had gripping 1-hour matches night-after-night like Flair did during the 1980s? Flair basically carried the NWA/WCW on his back for an entire decade. The man was a consummate professional, which is really all you can ask for in any profession.

Flair's clean victory over Ron Garvin at Starcade in 1987 is one of my all-time favorite matches. How many heels get cheers like?? Not to mention his classic matches with Ricky Steamboat in 1989. There are very few heels who have ever had clean victories over quality competition like Flair has. Flair was bigger than any babyface in the NWA, which is why he was able to pull that off. He was one of a kind.

And Flair was better on the microphone than ANYBODY, except for possibly Randy Savage.

Unfortunately, a lot of people only remember Flair as the buffoon he became in the ring starting in the early 1990s, with all of the ridiculous flopping. However, I remember the Flair from the 1980s and he was a lot of fun to watch.