Who Was The Best WWE Wrestler Ever?

[D-Man]

Trust me, I know what makes up an entire wrestling match. Maybe if you read my previous posts in their entirety, you'd know that already.

And if you're happier with you're choice of words like "EXECUTING moves," then so be it. Any way you slice it, at least someone is finally understanding what is being asked for in this thread.

And if I had to give a TOP 5 of the best "Move EXECUTING" wrestlers of all time, my list would be:

1. Kurt Angle
2. Bret Hart
3. Shawn Michaels
4. Chris Benoit (unfortunately)
5. Curt Henning

Honerable Mention:

1. Ricky Steamboat
2. Triple H
3. Owen Hart

 

[eljay7i]

Savage was indeed an excellent worker, not sure where you're getting that he was strong as an ox though. I don't remember a single time that he showed anything above average strength, but I could be overlooking something. I could definitely see him as being way up there on this list. He's shown that he can indeed do it all in the ring and had a high flying aspect that Lesnar didn't have. While I think he was great, I'd still give it to Lesnar because outside of flying/acrobatics, Lesnar did everything just as well if not better.

I have to agree that he was extremely strong, but the thing is he didn't show it much...If you go back to FallBrawl 96 Savage body slammed The Giant.. Mach is also my pick for best wrestler that ever set foot in a WWF/E ring.. The guy could wrestle technically, brawl, high fly etc and made it look easy..

 

[TREE24K]

Wrestler, performer, entertainer, showman...4 different things, are the same thing???than yes hogan was the best, because he was one of the the worst at being an actual wrestler...being an actual wrestler has nothing to do with charisma, or being a showman or an entertainer...it's called being a wrestler...and this is the thread question
"I'm talking in terms of pure wrestling ability. Not promos, not mic skills, not drawing ability, merch sales, etc etc etc. Just based on one thing- wrestling ability. Who was the best pure wreslter that has ever stepped foot in a WWE ring? He or she can be from any era of the WWE."
read it and then answer it, you'll come up with names like Malenko, the Harts, Benoit, Angle, etc...PURE WRESTLING ABILITY...Hogan and Savage were not anywhere near the best, Savage was very good at least, but Hogan is just sad...and Malenko had no impact on the business?? Yea okay, that's why almost everyone uses one of the submission moves HE CREATED in EVERY MATCH, to say he was a shit wrestler is ignorant...he would destroy hogan, michaels, savage and flair in any match on any given day if it wasn't written in the script whether or not he would win or lose...if it was a real wrestling(pure wrestler's) match
So you sir are the ignorant one, read a question, think about it, then think about the shit that you type before you type it so maybe you can make some sense

I'm glad to see Malenko getting the proper recognition he deserves. Two moves off the top of my head that he invented were Chris Benoits finisher the Crippler Crossface (which has been used by the likes of HBK recently) and Goldbergs finisher the Jackhammer.

 

[Slyfox696]

Holy cow... I guess no one reads my posts.

Perhaps few people deemed it as important as you think it should be?

Speaking from personal experience, when people go to professional wrestling school and train, they are taught many things. There are classes on cutting promos, charisma, ring-psychology, etc... I think the subject that we are touching on in this thread is the skills on how to execute specific professional wrestling moves and holds inside of a ring.

If this is true, then why did the opening post mention "carrying workers", which has NOTHING to do with executing hold and moves, and refers more to the things that I have been talking about?

PLEASE stop talking about "psychology", "story-telling", "charisma", "amateur wrestling", "MMA", and any other garbage that you guys are thinking up.

Garbage? No, it's not garbage. It's legit.

The simplest way I can explain it is we're talking about the superstars that are the best at performing all of the specific moves like the bodyslam, suplex, and chain-wrestling along with THOUSANDS of other professional wrestling moves that are performed in a ring.

Are we understood yet???

You'll have to ask the thread starter, as it is his thread you are contradicting.

And if I had to give a TOP 5 of the best "Move EXECUTING" wrestlers of all time, my list would be:

1. Kurt Angle
2. Bret Hart
3. Shawn Michaels
4. Chris Benoit (unfortunately)
5. Curt Henning

LOL, ahead of guys like Barry Windham or Greg Valentine or Randy Savage, or even someone older like Lou Thesz, who were near perfection in the ring at "executing moves"? Please tell me you're kidding.

Who are you going to suggest next, Triple H?

Honerable Mention:

1. Ricky Steamboat
2. Triple H
3. Owen Hart

Well, I'll be god damned.


On a side note, if the answer isn't Randy Savage (which it is, but whatever), then the next answer is Barry Windham. No matter WHAT you are trying to use as guidelines for this fucked up thread, Barry Windham covers it. Good technical wrestling? Check. Good in-ring work? Check. Good psychology? Check. Good ring presence? Check. If the guy wouldn't have had the charisma of an anvil, he would have been a mega-star.

 

[agentmichaelscarn]

What I do however get is that you must like fairly boring matches. Hart's matches more or less consisted of him trying to score pinfalls before after about 3 moves, consisting of a backbreaker, an atomic drop and an elbow from the middle rope deciding he wanted the Sharpshooter, which makes perfect sense right? The only hold that he wins matches with is the Sharpshooter. Ok, why not go for that at the very beginning then? That's always been my issue with Kurt Angle. He spends the whole match beating someone down and then after an Angle Slam he grabs the ankle. Why not do that at the beginning? But I digress.

Im sorry I really dont know what you're getting at here KB. For one what you say about the Sharpshooter you could say about every wrestler and their finisher. How often did Hogan win without using the leg drop, or HBK without SCM and the list can go on and on. And those moves are easier to apply than the Sharpshooter so it would make sense for them to do it early in the match. Why didnt Hogan send somebody into the ropes and give them a boot as soon as the match started instead of sending him in and giving him a clothsline or shoulder block? After all if you could deliver those moves why coudlnt you deliver a boot to the head? Or HBk give somebody SCM as soon as somebody is getting up off the mat for the first time?

Not to mention Bret would normally try it early in the match but he wouldnt be able to apply it because the opponent would block it because he wasnt softened up enough. Plus the sharpshooter is obviously most effective after you already done damage to the back and legs which is what Bret normally worked on the entire match before applying it. He made sure that his opponent was softened up enough so the move would be most effective.

Also Bret won more matches without using his finishing move than just about any other wrestler in history. Out of Bret's 7 WWF single titles only 2 of them did he win by using the sharpshooter(1st IC against Henning, 1st heavyweight against Flair), every other one he finished the match differently. Hell when he won the King of the Ring tournament he beat 3 different guys without using his finishing move for any of them, I can guarantee that no wrestler in history could say that especially a face.

 

[Iscariot]

I must say I agree with Slyfox here. The fact is that too many people go "technical means wrassling! Technical is teh best! Wooo!" and ignore the fact that even the greatest technical wrestlers are sometimes incredibly boring to watch, or bring nothing else to the table. To be the greatest wrestler ever, you need to go out there and make me watch and wait on every single move you do. It doesn't matter if you perform the best suplex, as long as I'm paying attention to your goddamn suplex to see how good it is. Mark Jindrak had a simply ridiculous vertical leap that involved him dropkicking someone who was standing on the top rope, and Bob Holly has THE BEST standing dropkick in the world today, the thing is an icon of beauty. Both of them are crap wrestlers, because I just don't care.

The best wrestler ever, on terms of wanting to watch and skills he had, is Hulk Hogan. Always will be. Randy Savage is 2nd on that list, and to be honest I would put Kurt Angle 3rd, the man has every tool to become a legend. To be brutally honest, I'd look at putting Cena up there somewhere in the top ten, because hate on him all you like, the fact is you watch his matches closer than just about anyone.

=I=

 

[TREE24K]

Hey Sly I'm actually going to give you credit for something. Barry Windham meets my criteria. I would put him in my top 20. What was your take on Arn Anderson?

 

[golden miz]

When I saw Barry Windham, I was wondering if you were serious, to be one of the best you need a fan base, sure he was a grat technical wrestler but was he much moe then that?

 

[Slyfox696]

Hey Sly I'm actually going to give you credit for something. Barry Windham meets my criteria. I would put him in my top 20. What was your take on Arn Anderson?

I think he was a very good wrestler, although by the criteria people seem to want to use here (for which most people still don't understand the significance of), Anderson really wouldn't fit well in this conversation.

But, when talking about actual quality, Anderson was top of the line.

When I saw Barry Windham, I was wondering if you were serious, to be one of the best you need a fan base, sure he was a grat technical wrestler but was he much moe then that?

Thelaw18489 meet the first 82 posts in the thread. Read them. I'm not going to descend into this ridiculousness.


But, to answer your question, he IS a former World Champion. So, for what that's worth.

 

[JerryvonKramer]

Ricky Steamboat for me. Every single thing he did was just so crisp, clean and well executed. Just looked and sounded like it hurt. The chops, the suplexes, anything really. Steamboat was a wrestling god. And his string of ***** matches are all the evidence you need.

Sure, he didn't have the best WWF career, but in terms of pure ability, there were none greater in my book.