Greatest Technical Wrestler....EVER

[pepentorresHHH]

So..... Benoit while he was still alive was called the GREATEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER ALIVE.....but is that really true???

i mean i ve seen benoit matches from Japan, WCW, ECW AND WWF/E and honestly there isn t a hold this guy doesnt know or hasnt applied sometime....
but is he the greatest???

we also have Dean Malenko...... the man with more than a 1004 holds.....
we have the olimpic gold medalist Kurt Angle........we have the best there is the best there was and the best there ever will be and finally we have the MAN Ric Flair......

WHO do you think of all this or any other wrestler i may be forgetting deserves to be called the GREATEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER EVER???

 

[ipswichicon80]

Bret Hart. In ring he had it all story telling,technical abilty. He was the best there is,the best there was...etc

 

[Loveless]

Benoit is out of this right away, Dynamite Kid was far better. Flair isn't that great in comparison to more recent technicians. I think it comes down to Malenko, Hart and Angle, in which case I take Hart. Malenko is just boring and I don't really consider Angle a true technical wrestler. Hart was flawless and truly technical because he didn't have the power game.

 

[KANE-A-KNIGHT]

big daddy v


joke
it has to be bret hart out of the names you mentioned but when you say ever you have to take into consideration wrestle from wwwf the old school hard men.

 

[owenhartfan]

I believe Owen was every bit as talented in telling stories in his matches and as technical as Bret. In addition to that he was capable of adding a little more flare into his stories with some high risk moves that always made perfect sense in his matches. I loved both of them.
I believe Benoit and Dynamite are as close to tied as possible, but i'd choose Dynamite Kid as the best technical wreslter of all time. I don't think i've watched any other dvd in my collection as much as my compliation dvds of Dynamite Kid and Owen Hart.

 

[brandogg]

Dean Malenko was the man with 1000 holds, Chris Jericho had 1004.

 

[Dexter]

What did I miss about Dean Malenko? The guy always bored the crap out of me but you guys are giving him some pretty big praise. I'm guessing I just didn't appreciate what I was seeing or something.

 

[shafe_41]

Angle. Angle. Angle.

How is this guy not the greatest techinical wrestler ever? I'd love to hear a legit argument. He won an Olympic gold medal with a broken freakin neck!!! By my evaluation, if you can win an Olympic Gold for actual sport wrestling...which is pretty GD technical, I'm pretty sure you've got to be the greatest ever (that we care about or for the sake of this discussion anyway). Yes Bret Hart, Benoit, and Malenko were great... but you can't deny that THEY didn't win any gold medals. However that's neither here nor there. Someone said they don't consider Angle a true technical wrestler. How? Why not? He leaves his feet just about as much as Benoit or Bret Hart ever did.

I think this thread is slightly flawed because we need to know what is the true definition of a technical wrestler.

 

[WWF Wrestling Fan]

Hands down the greatest technical wrestler ever Bret ''Hitman'' Hart second ''The Rocket'' Owen Hart third Hart Dungan Alumi Chris Benoit fourth Eddie Guerrero and fifth Iam gunna give this man his props Kurt Angle

 

[DRAGO!!!!]

I'm so shocked no one has said Mr. Perfect. To me its Mr. Perfect.

 

[Slam Master]

Bret Hart, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit...In Bret's book he said Malenko was tough to work with, botched spots, and was somewhat stiff. Hart really executed his moves excellently; they were crisp, tight, and looked incredibly painful and real. When the young guys today do side Russian legsweeps they look sloppy and loose.

Hart also knew all of the shooter stretch and submission mat holds that his dad Stu showed him. That's what made him versatile. He may have had ego issues and a holier-than-thou-complex but he is in my top 3 all-time favorites.

I don't know why people say Flair is a great technical wrestler. He was a routine guy who had basically the same match. I went back and watched a lot of his matches from the 80s and they were nothing special. Now he bashes Bret Hart and others that intimidate him.

He says Bret never wrestled the big name guys to establish him...no one would work with him!..Hogan refused to put him over, Flair didn't do it on TV or PPV when Hart beat him for the belt, The Ultimate Warrior(not great, but a big draw and fan fav) was fired, the older guys were in WCW or retired, and it was a time when the WWF was in the midst of scandals and took a big PR hit. There was no one for him to jolt him up to the next level. He was in a period of major change to the Federation and he was leading the charge.

 

[owenhartfan]

Shaf-

We are not talking free style olympic wrestling here. Technical wrestling in Professional wrestling is the man who knows how to work a masterpiece of a scripted pro wrestling match, full of realistic moves, counters, and holds. Kurt Angle was a natural gifted technical (Pro) wrestler because he incorporated his amazing amateur backround and athleticism when working a match. He got better each year while he was in the WWE, but IMO isn't comparable to wrestlers like Bret, Benoit, etc.. Kurt definitely relies more on spots more often then guys like Bret and Benoit did.

It is on a Pro Wrestling forum...If they were asking who was the most talented amateur in the history of wreslting then the answer would easily be Kurt Angle hands down.

 

[rayisawesomeness]

shocked to see that no one has mentioned william regal...hell, even finlay. well, idk about finlay but definitely william regal, every move he makes is just so crisp and he can attack the mat as good as guys like bret hart and chris benoit. every match he's in he'll always bring psychology to the match and will always tell a story. bottom line, he's a damn good wrestler who should get recognized for his abilities!

 

[ECDublegend]

1) Bret Hart
2)Dean Malenko
3)Kurt ANgle
4)Mr. Perfect
5)Shawn Michaels(IMO)

 

[XgringolocoX]

It's Bret Hart. He sold great, delivered great, truely told a story through out the match. His work rate on a match to match basis hasn't been duplicated. His consistancy also gives him an edge over the rest of those mentioned.

 

[Lithium66]

Bret Hart was the best.as above bret har was just one of these guys that made it look good.

My 2nd choice is Chris Jericho


3rd is hard dynmite kid i would say was very good and chris benoit was nearly on the same wave


4th is kurt angle.



i dont rate dean malenko he was just a man that know too much and was sloppy

 

[shafe_41]

Shaf-

We are not talking free style olympic wrestling here. Technical wrestling in Professional wrestling is the man who knows how to work a masterpiece of a scripted pro wrestling match, full of realistic moves, counters, and holds. Kurt Angle was a natural gifted technical (Pro) wrestler because he incorporated his amazing amateur backround and athleticism when working a match. He got better each year while he was in the WWE, but IMO isn't comparable to wrestlers like Bret, Benoit, etc.. Kurt definitely relies more on spots more often then guys like Bret and Benoit did.

It is on a Pro Wrestling forum...If they were asking who was the most talented amateur in the history of wreslting then the answer would easily be Kurt Angle hands down.

Thank you. At least someone took the time to define that better. If I were then to go by that, I would have to go with Bret Hart. His work was definately more fluid, smooth, and natural than anybody else's in the business. Now that you mention it that way, Kurt in a sense does rely on a spot here and there to continue the flow of the match. Back in the day before all these forums and discussions and such, it would be nearly impossible to identify a spot in a Bret Hart match. Same with Kurt. But now, it's still tough to find a spot in a Bret Hart match. Easier with Kurt, but also because he's aging and isn't wrestling at the level he did even 5 years ago.
So if you want my opinion on the best wrestler ever... I'll defend Kurt to the death. But in the sense of this definition and this topic of technical wrestler... Bret Hart would actually be the top of the list.

 

[ohb200303]

1)Dean"ICE MAN/Man of 1000 holds" Malenko
2)Bret"Hitman" Hart
3)Chris"The Wolverine/Crippler" Benoit
4)Taz "FTW"
5)Chris"Lion Hart/Man of 1004 holds" Jericho
6)Lance"Canada's Greatest Export" Storm
For those that don't know why Dean, go watch him Vs Rey or him Vs Jericho. And if you want to add the fact with no Dean, there would be no Sharpshooter or no Crippler Crossface.
And for those you that say that Angle is a "great" tech. wrestler, he is ALL spots. He wasn't original. "His" hat trick German Suplex's were Benoit. His regular suplex's were sloppy compared to Taz. Hell, I miss the Christian triple snap suplex.

 

[SSJPhenom]

I don't want to knock Bret "Hitman" Hart, but why do fans continue to shove their head so far up his ass? True, Bret was a damn good technical wrestler, but(IMO), he was no better than Owen Hart or Benoit, especially since they were all trained at the same place by the same person.

Greatest wrestling match that I have ever had the priveledge to watch was Ricky "Dragon" Steamboat vs Ric Flair in 1989. That match was damn near an hour and wasn't an iron man match. It was great. So fluid, so technical, no rest spots, it was damn near perfect, but I don't consider either of those two technical in the same sense that I would Benoit or Bret Hart.

So the next best Technical match that I have ever seen was Angle vs Benoit at WM. This was also a masterpiece and a great technical match.

So I'm going with either Angle or Benoit. The matches don't lie and I never seen a Bret Hart match with anyone as good as what those two did.

 

[I Beat Dan Gable]

Handsome Harley Race

 

[JenovasWitness]

Where is the love for the Japanese wrestlers? Technically speaking, a great number of the moves and holds seen on the American wrestling front were innovated across the Ocean first.

Tatsumi Fujinami innovated the Dragon Suplex and Dragon Sleeper, Hiroshi Hase innovated the Northern Lights suplex, Jun Akiyama developed the Exploder suplex series and the wrist clutch Fisherman DDT and Death Valley Driver and Muta developed the Muta Lock. All of these guys, while well rounded in other areas, are tremendously proficient technical wrestlers.

Which brings me to Kenta Kobashi, the man that does it all. He has innovated and utilizes so many throws and holds, I would fairly say he should get a vote for technical greatness.

On the North American side of things, Bret Hart, hands down. Not only did he have a great knowledge of technical wrestling, but the execution of his technique was crisp and believable.