Most Dominant Wrestler of the 80's

[RVDgurl]

Who was the most dominant wrestlers of the 1980's??

In my opinion, Jerry Lawlwer would have to be the most dominant. afterall, he did beat both Hogan and Flair.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Hogan obviously. Despite his limitation's in the ring he made wrestling as big as it was in the 80's. The only reason I started watching wrestling was because I saw a Hogan toy in Toys 'R' Us and then had to check the show out. Piper deserves a mention because every babyface need's a great heel to help them get over. And in the 80's Piper got Hogan over beautifully.

 

[Kasey]

Commercially, it would easily be Hogan by a landslide. If you're talking performance-wise...then you could have an interesting debate. Hogan did, however, have like a four-year title reign so that's pretty dominant to me. Once Hulkamania started, he didn't lose cleanly until 1990.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

It's no secret that my favorite wrestler is Tom Billington. Everybody has there favorite's, just ask people who like Kane. The difference being that my favorite is possibly one of the greatest of all time. His match's with Tiger Mask in the mid 80's are as close to perfection as you'll ever get. People can go on about how Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage are the best wrestler's of the 80's but that just show's that they've never paid propper attention to a Dynamite Kid match.

 

[Kasey]

^Certainly, Jake. That's because most people don't appreciate solid wrestling, but will instead forgive a lack of talent for a catchy gimmick. Hell, I still flip in my WM 2 copy to watch the tag match between Beefcake/Valentine and The Bulldogs just to see Tommy hit shoulder blocks into the corner. He was so goddamn fast and intense that I thought for sure he was part animal. He made even the most basic of moves seem like Bruce Lee was in there dropping bombs on a guy. I just wish that Billington, Davey, and Hart were all given upper spots in the eighties to wrestle against guys like Flair, Steamboat, and Savage. Imagining the quality of the potential matchups is staggering because of what could've been done THEN to elevate the product to the next level and help it evolve faster instead of McMahon's "let's push a gorilla in the main-event" mentality that was in use most of the time. It's that stupidity that made it so that Japan and Mexico were light-years ahead of America in terms of workrate as a whole. Hell, the American promotions spent the majority of the nineties just trying to play catch-up.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I might have mentioned how superior Billington is to Flair, Savage and Steamboat but that's only because i.m.o. he was the greatest, absolute perfection in the ring. If you're on about wrestling quality in WWF in the 80's then Savage and Steamboat are at the top along with Rick Rude. Rude who's so good he made The Warrior have an exciting match. There is'nt many exciting Warrior match's but somehow Rude pulled it off, Savage also managed it and to some extent Hogan managed it too. Well Hogan and Warrior did'nt completley fuck up which is all you could ask for really.

 

[Shocky]

This topic is very vague, because you can go so many different directions with it. Dominant as far as name value, then without a doubt, you go with Hulk Hogan. Dominance for title runs, then you either go with Ric Flair or Hulk Hogan.

I do love the Dynamite Kid conversation though. Look at what all he has given us for a man that never really got the singles push that he deserved. Without him we wouldn't ahve guys like Chris Benoit, and for that, Dynamite is top notch in my book as well.

 

[Shadowmancer]

Can you tell me of any site where i can watch those matches your mentioning Jake? NZ doesn't get much in terms of Wrestling content from overseas Just WWE TV shows/PPVs and TNA PPVs. so any sites ican watch wrestling matches free would be good. I already watch stuff on youTube so anymore would be good.

As to who I think was the most dominant. I think that would have to be Jerry Lawler on the basis that Hogan has never beaten him even back in the 80's and from what I can tell he was a great heel Champion in Memphis for a long time. Plus he doesn't embarass himself when he gets in the ring except for his ring attire these days. He also had a legendary feud with that commedian Andy Kaufman.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

It's hard to get hold of Dynamite Kid stuff because the majority of his career was in Japan. You could try You Tube but most of his match's were between 25-45 minute's. I'm not sure if you can watch video's that long on there. Also try EBay, they'll probably be copies but there worth it. But it's pure wrestling so it start's off pretty slow and take's a while for it to get going.

 

[Shadowmancer]

Thanks I found a dynamite Kid- Tiger Mask match and it looks cool. I also found a couple of Rey Mysterio and Dean Malenko WCW matches.