The bulk of the work done to prove a wrestler's drawing ability in comparison to another wrestler has been done by David Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez. Even though they have done a great job compiling so much historic information about gates, it is beyond obvious that their 'drawing' stat system is inherently flawed.
First, it really is impossible to compare the drawing ability of a 1920s star like Jim Londos to a 1990s star like Bret Hart. For one, Londos drew gates only and was booked as the once in a lifetime draw. There was no real merchandise nor PPVs nor rival to really take his spot. In Bret's time, there were a number of legitimate draws in WWE and all over the world. In the 1920s, Jim Londos or Ed Strangler Lewis were two of the very few must see draws. These guys did not wrestle 200 times a year like the Hitman did but when they did they would often wrestle for nearly 2 hours. And when they did wrestle it was always a must see event with a massive attendance.
Secondly, the method used to tabulate who drew what gate at whatever show is impossible and therefore completely inaccurate. For example, WWE drew me to watch Wrestlemania 18 with the Hollywood Hogan vs Rock match. I was NOT drawn in by the main event of Triple H vs Chris Jericho. I would not have watched that Wrestlemania without that legendary dream match. But Hogan and Rock are not credited with drawing me. Only Triple H and Jericho are credited for drawing that audience and viewers. Same with Wrestlemania 7. I did not tune in to watch Hogan vs Slaughter. I watched the show, like a majority of the audience did, to see who would win the legendary retirement match between the Ultimate Warrior and the Macho King. Yet neither Warrior and Macho are credited with drawing because of the whole Gulf War angle. Savage was also not credited for his Wrestlemania 8 dream match against Flair (all the credit went to Hogan and Sid) nor Wrestlemania 3 where his match with Steamboat stole the show. It is assumed everybody wanted to watch David and Goliath. However, Savage had a massive following as a heel (he made the IC title feel like a second world title) and tons of fans tuned in to also see if Steamboat could get revenge for Savage putting him out of action for months. Long story short, in Hogan's shadow the Macho Man's drawing ability has never been calculated properly. Hogan got all the drawing credit as he always wrestled the main events at huge shows against crap monsters (by 1987 Andre could barely walk) in crap matches with the exact same crappy result against the likes of King Kong Bundy, Sgt Slaughter, Sid Justice, Earthquake, Yokozuna etc. Savage, on the other hand, mostly wrestled half way through the card to maintain audience interest. His matches were always super intense because he was always battling somebody in a crazy hot feud. Savage could elevate anybody to main event level because he was fantastic at selling his opponents offence. The thing is though that in any other era or organization, Savage would be the main attraction instead of Hogan. He was a far superior entertainer, technician, story teller etc. Undertaker is another wrestler who is not given enough drawing credit. The last 10 years he is probably most often the number one Wrestlemania draw because of his unbeaten streak and longevity. Everybody always expects his match at Wrestlemania to be his last. But, if Taker's match does not go on at the end of the night, then he's not credited as the draw. Even though it's clear the Undertaker in old age has become the biggest Wrestlemania draw since Hogan.
Third, this process of calculating who is a better draw over-emphasizes WWE, Japanese and Mexican/South American-based wrestlers where the shows are always in front of rabid fans in massive sold out arenas and TV audiences. For example, WCW, NWA, AWA, CWF wrestling could never compete with the bigger markets with a global reach where the wrestling organization is the main draw and where wrestling culture is enormous.
Fourth, missing from the top 100 draws list are some of the greatest workers who a) spent a good deal wrestling as throwaway heels for Hulk Hogan b) wrestled outside of the WWE where the gate revenues were much lower and the PPV access poorer C) were big time over but didn't usually work the last match of the night. These wrestlers definitely could have been put in a position to draw in any other era or organization. They include Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Mick Foley, Roddy Piper, Mil Mascaras, Terry Funk, Kevin Nash, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio Jr., Goldberg, DDP, Curt Hennig, Bruiser Brody, Big Van Vader, Lex Luger, Ted Dibiase, Scott Hall, Rick Rude, Jake Roberts and Scott Steiner. Any one of these faces could have been the Cena of the 2000s and any one of these heels could have been the HHH during this same period.
Fifth, big fish in little ponds get way too much drawing credit. A wrestler like Flair always got to main event in NWA/WCW or in any of the different territories he was free to roam. So Flair could tour America and wrestle every territories' main draw while WWE-contracted wrestlers all had to work the mid-card under Hogan and the flavour of the week heel. Also, Flair was permitted to wrestle every night for as long as he wanted. Had Flair been signed to WWE, in say 1985, he would have only main evented in programs with Hogan or Savage for no more than 10 to 15 minutes a match as schedule and then he'd be moved down on the card and out of the main events. Flair's main eventing as a WWE wrestler would be reduced by probably 75 percent.
Sixth, some wrestlers, like The Rock, are considered huge draws even though they had very short in-ring careers. The Rock is one of the all time greats, sure, but a lot of Rock's early success can be attributed to the Stone Cold Steve Austin, Vince McMahon, WCW and the Monday Night Wars. If The Rock missed the Attitude Era entirely, he would have had a lot more trouble getting over since he'd have risen the ranks of the PG era. The Rock's rise can be credited to this. Vince became the most hated personality after he screwed Bret. The fans wanted to see someone step up and kick Vince's butt. WWF had a very weak roster when Bret departed. Enter Stone Cold Steve Austin. Right place right time to elevate new stars and for business to explode. Since there weren't a whole lot of other options, Stone Cold Steve Austin became the big draw. And the big heel after Vince became The Rock. However, Austin had many injury issues around the time of his drawing peak. He did not always wrestle across the country in main events or at PPVs during his peak. A lot of the time he was on the shelf so another top face was needed to take his spot. Enter The Rock. Even though The Rock was now the top draw, Austin would show up to crash the main event. And often the fans were drawn not by Rock but by just Austin making this one appearance. Since Austin was not always available to main event, The Rock got to slot into Austin's spot and thus IMO gets exaggerated credit for drawing far more than Austin ever did. Same thing goes for Triple H. He gets far too much credit because the main events should have always been Austin-Rock not Rock-Triple H.
Another wrestler who doesn't get enough credit for his ability to draw is Sting. Hugely over with kids for his superhero-like gimmick, Sting never wrestled a day for the big pond WWE until Wrestlemania 31. And when he did, he was not credited as the draw that day although he was the draw that day for me and probably most of the viewing audience. Since he wrestled 27 combined years for NWA/WCW/TNA, he did not get to draw the massive gates he could have drawn working for WWF or in Japan. There is another issue with accurately determining Sting's drawing contribution. He was arguably the most over character in the history of WCW when he began his Crow Sting phase and wouldn't speak. Since he never wrestled in any of the main events from late 1996 to Starrcade 1997, however, he is not credited with drawing the gate or TV audience. But, in fact, Sting vs the NWO was responsible for drawing record TV ratings during this exact time in which WCW beat WWE for 83 straight weeks. The highlight of every single Nitro or Thunder that WCW put on in 1997 and early 98 was that moment at the end of the show where Sting would descend from the rafters to get revenge on the NWO. There is no way Meltzer or anyone can accurately record Sting's drawing ability during this time frame when he wasn't wrestling but was more over than almost anybody in the history of wrestling...And when he did return to action, he had to compete with 20 other legends vying for the main event. There was never an organization in the history of wrestling with so many main event caliber wrestlers competing for the final match on the card.
In conclusion, I believe the most accurate way to ascertain one's drawing ability in this day and age would be either merchandise sales and/or to look at the quarter hour ratings of TV segments during Raw or Smackdown. I can't speak on behalf of Attitude Era WWE because I was more focused on WCW Nitro and Thunder at the time. But from what I remember, the biggest quarter hours in WCW ALWAYS belonged to segments involving Hulk Hogan and the Macho Man. This was followed closely by Sting, The Outsiders, Ric Flair and Roddy Piper. And then in mid 97 DDP and early 98 Goldberg would get in on this drawing action. Ratings would dip a little when there'd be vanilla midget wrestling and a half an hour break from the NWO. And they'd go back up with the gang warfare of the NWO. WCW had so many legit main eventers that I don't believe any of these guys get a fair representation in Meltzer's overall drawing stats. However, these were the biggest draws during this period of time for WCW. No matter where they wrestled on the card, all these guys drew new fans to the product and sold merchandise like crazy. And just as well as anyone else before and arguably even after that era in any organization.
