Damn it
Somebody else beat me to this thread! I have been trying to get to 10 posts tonight so I could make this, but alas, it didn't work out. So, anyway, I am going to treat this like this isn't the spam section. So prepare for longness:
I thought about this a lot last night, knowing that this list was going to come out. In fact, I spent the majority of last night thinking over this question. This age old, eternal question that might never be answered: "Who is the Best Wrestler of All Time?" See, that is a tricky question because so many people base their opinion on different factors: drawing ability, performance in the ring, performance out of the ring, merchandise sales, championships, technicality in the ring, championships, etc.... In the end, I decided that there are only seven guys in the history of this industry that you could classify as the best wrestler of all time, all for different, but equally good reasons, and amazingly enough, it is the top seven of this list:
The Undertaker: Best Big Man in the History of Professional Wrestling. There are a lot of people who can make a case for Andre The Giant to have this distinction, and they would not be wrong in their arguments, but in my opinion nobody The Undertaker's size has had the in-ring ability that he possesses. The man is able to do move's designed for men much smaller than him with ease, and it is a wonder to watch.
Bret Hart: Best Technical Wrestler Ever. Again, there are other people who can lay claim to this title (Kurt Angle, Owen Hart, and Chris Benoit spring to mind), but in my opinion, Bret Hart is the best in this regard. He could wrestle circles around an opponent, and make his opponent look foolish for even daring to step into the ring with him and try to take things to the mat.
The Rock: Best Performer Ever on the Mic. Again, other people can make this claim (Piper, Savage, Hogan, Flair, to name a few), but good god, when the Rock holds a microphone you are captivated. He is enthralling and hilarious and poignent all at the same time which is a difficult thing to achieve.
Hulk Hogan: The Most Influential Man to ever step foot inside the squared circle. Without Hogan, Wrestling would not be where it is at right now. Now, skeptics like me can make the argument that without Vince and the platform he provided, then Hogan wouldn't be the Superstar he became. They helped each other. But that is an argument for another time.
Ric Flair: The Greatest Champion Ever. And when I say champion, I mean World Champion. A guy who would travel all over the country, all over the world, to wrestle the best that other territories and industries had to offer, and draw massive money doing it. Nobody competed as much or as hard in this industry as Ric Flair did in the 80's.
Steve Austin: The Biggest Money Maker, The Biggest Draw this sport has ever seen, or ever will see. The Ratings that this man brought in, the merchandise this man sold, the money this man brought in during the Attitude Era is astronomical. I still see people, to this day, who I know don't watch Pro Wrestling, wearing Austin 3:16 shirts.
Shawn Michaels: The Greatest In-Ring Performer this industry has ever seen. No Man provided more memorable matches than Shawn Michaels. Not just on the Wrestlemania stage either. But in House Shows (Correct me if I am wrong, but the first Ladder Match ever in the WWF happened between HBK and Bret Hart at a house show, right? I could be completely wrong in that), Raw (Shelton Benjamin 2005, and the hour long epic against John Cena spring to mind), lesser PPV's (Mind Games against Mankind, and The first HIAC against Taker at Bad Blood '97) Big, Non-Wrestlemania PPV's (1998 Casket Match vs Taker at Royal Rumble, and Summerslam 2002 vs HHH) and, of course, at Wrestlemania (I don't even need to go there). It didn't matter what the stage, you knew, as a fan, that when Shawn Michaels entered the ring, you were in for nothing less than a three star match. I don't think HBK ever had a stinker, but again, I could be wrong in that.
So yeah, IMO, The Greatest of All Time is one of these seven guys. Personally, for me, it is HBK, but you are not wrong if you choose someone else. It is all just a matter of what you value most as a pro wrestling fan.
