The Greatest Old School Wrestler of All Time

[Keitel]

So far everyone has been coming up with good selections. My personal favorite is Harley Race. He was a badass that would come into a territory and take the local talent apart. Rick Flair took alot of his moveset from Race and it's no wonder,the wars they had over the strap were epic. The old school NWA champs were always legit tough guys who could handle it when somebody would start to shoot on them.

Harley Race is a great shout.

My choice is Lou Thesz - youngest champion in history, longest NWA title reign in history, well-schooled in amateur wrestling, he inspired many wrestlers who came after him - remember Austin using the Lou Thesz Press? Benoit hitting a German suplex? Cena using the STF?

 

[Pathogen]

I'm gonna go with Kerry Von Erich. He could talk, wrestle, and he looked the part. Though, my favourite of all time is Taker.

 

[Rikkia]

It's so hard to choose just one wrestler so many of them were extremely memorable in their own right due to wrestling ability or character but I'd have to say Bret Hart and probably Randy Savage have always been my favourite wrestlers, Hitman for his technical mastery of the ring and Savage for his colourful character and one of a kind persona during the late 80's and early 90's both of them made a huge impact on me while watching wrestling as a child.

Though Mr Perfect and Jake the snake roberts were favourite's of mine too.

 

[CraigThe13th]

Curt Hennig! He was the 1st heel I ever rooted for and was aching for him to turn face for years as a lad. Was over the moon when he turned on Flair and Razor and sided with the Macho Man. Shame he was past the peak of his powers by then was till awesome though.

The guy had everything, the way he carried himself behind the mike and in the ring. Maybe if he didn't do his back in he could have gone on after dropping the IC belt to the Hitman and challenged Hogan for the WWF title.

Well that's what I wanted anyway. Without a doubt my favourite old school wrestler of all time RIP Mr. Perfect

 

[TKO 3:16]

My vote has to go to The Hitman. The original underdog. His nicknames say it all. The excellence of Execution. The Best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be. Growing up in The Dungeon in Calgary n trained by his father Stu, being stretched day to day quite literally.
he is an amazing ring technition, and always gave his best. there's very few poor quality matches, if any. remember such bouts with The British Bulldog, Owen Hart, Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit and Curt Hennig (mr perfect) who are all great in their own right, but for me the one who brought them all together is Bret.
if you were to compile a top 10 of greatest matches in the 90's, Bret Hart would feature in probably 75% of them. nuff said.

I've said it before and ill say it again..
If out came from "The dungeon" you were a bad MF'er,the list of great compeditors to make it out of there is impressive and bret is no different, he was bred for this, and that's y I have to say bret hart is the greatest old school wrestler that ever was.

Granted, there are so many wrestlers we could name but still, bret has wrestling in his blood, and when he came out he was for more technically superior to over 80% of the roster.
He was a hell of a worker, great in the ring and didn't mind putting someone over every now and then.
IMO the true mark of a "great" old school wrestler is the gimmick. Bret's was 2nd to none, had the nick names and all of the credibility to go along with it.
That's why when I hear ppl bitch now about how he is being used bad and asking if we tired of seeing him, really piss me off. Someone once said "if you see it on t.v., its a work" and some people just don't get it. Its great to see bret back and I hope Owen's wife allows an induction into the HOF as it is well deserved for a fallen member of the most prolific family in wrestling, The Hart Family.

 

[phlewfy]

This is a very difficult question to answer. There have been so many that I have enjoyed over the years. However if pressed to pick one, I would have to go with THE HOT ROD ROWDY RODDY PIPER! I think Piper gets overlooked because he never carried much gold, but we all know when it comes to promos, Piper was and still is in a league of his own. Not only was his mic work absolutely priceless, his in ring work still stands out to me as some of the best of any generation. His feuds with Greg Valentine, Adrian Adonis, and yes Hulk Hogan have produced many great moments throughout history. From the Dog Collar match with Valentine to the War to Settle the Score to the first Wrestlemania to the Street Fight with Goldust, Piper has been involved in some of wrestling's most memorable moments. Rowdy Roddy Piper is the greatest old school wrestler of all time. "You don't throw rocks at a man who has a machine gun."

 

[Flair is Overrated]

Without a doubt, it's Hulk Hogan. Remember, wrestling is sports ENTERTAINMENT. You ask a room full of average people who Ric Flair is, almost no one will know. You ask them who Roddy Piper is, a few people will know. You ask them who Hulk Hogan is, almost everyone will know. In entertainment, name recognition and fame is the easiest measure of success. With the possible exceptions of the Rock and Andre the Giant, no other wrestler in the history of pro wrestling comes anywhere close to the level of fame Hogan has attained (outside of wrestling fans, Steve Austin isn't close).

 

[Bammbammbrody]

While I'm not going to single out "the greatest" because that's a very specific and somewhat challenging question, there are a few who embody the "old school" mantra quite nicely.

Ted DiBiase is probably the finest worker I can think of and his Funk-esque style was just so wonderfully matched with his athleticism, that when I think pure wrestling during the "boom period", I feel DiBiase was better than Flair, Steamboat etc, because his psychology was just on another level and all together, he was so so great. Add his tours in Japan with the style of Watts and I think Teddy is arguably one of the top three workers of all time. I feel he's a really underrated worker as a whole and never got the rep he deserved, but looking back at his career, I'd much rather watch his "old school" work over anybody else sans Bret, how I believe wasn't as athletically gifted as Ted was.

I've always felt the early 90s Barry Windham, when he'd gotten a little Mulligan-ier was the prototype for what I'd deam the "total package" for your old school wrestler, for his work was so damn great, he was solid on the mic and had a really great look. Maybe he lacked a bit of psychology, but I think he possessed such great skills that were never fully utilized.

I think the Freebirds and in specific Hayes and Gordy are probably the first thing I think of when I think "old school". Aside from Piper, I think Hayes is probably the greatest talker of all time and within the era, I can't think of a more vile and original tandem than the 'Birds. Terry Gordy is IMO, one of the purest workers of all time and was just a great, great worker, with a solid mind for how to really work a good match from a psychology standpoint. They were eventually watered down, but with either Buddy Jack Roberts or Jimmy Garvin as their third, I felt Hayes and Gordy were just so amazing at what they did.

Roddy Piper, hands down, is the most entertaining man in wrestling history.

I have alot of respect for Mick Foley's work during his time as Cactus Jack in WCW. He was so over and the work he did was ungodly good. The bumps and the match quality are second to none and he got ridiculously over because of it, even without much support backstage. If you get a chance to check out Cactus/Orndorff in a Falls count anywhere match from I believe Superbrawl 3, it's a treat and a real gem of a brawl. I feel during this period, Foley was given carte blanche to really get his character over himself and I strongly recommend rewatching his old WCW matches because they have this awesome mix of Japanese brutality and some really gracious storytelling.

My top ten all time are:
1. Bret Hart
2. Bruiser Brody
3. Undertaker
4 Ted DiBiase
5. Curt Hennig
6. The Freebirds
7. Roddy Piper
8. Randy Savage
9. Brian Pillman
10. Mick Foley

 

[montkvsting]

Macho Man Randy Savage is one of my favorite wrestlers of all time. Another wrestler is Sting from the NWA/WCW in the late 80s and early 90s. He was awesome. The other obvious choices are the Nature Boy Ric Flair and Lou Thesz, who are two of the greatest wrestlers of all time. They are #1 and #2 respectively.

 

[Ruthless-RKO]

My vote goes to Bret 'The Hitman' Hart.

The pink and black attack, the excellence of execution, the best there is, there was and ever will be. A true legend, will be remembered always.

He is part of what I will say wrestlings most famous family - The Hart Family.

8 PWI awards for great feuds, matches etc.
7 WON awards including two 5-star rated matches.

7 time world champion - 5 time wwf champion & 2 time wcw world champion

WWE
2 time Intercontinental Champion
1 time United States Champion (recently)
2 time WWF tag team champions w/Jim Neidhart
2 time KOFT winner (1991, 1993)
Royal Rumble winner (1994)
2nd Triple Crown Champion
WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2006)
4 time Slammy Award winner

WCW
4 time United States Heavyweight Champion
1 time WCW World Tag Team Champion w/ Goldberg

Also part of the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum (Class of 2008)

The reasons above is why I pick Bret Hart..

In 2nd place I would pick HBK, Taker, Hogan, Flair,well anyone of them..

 

[Charismatic Edge]

I'll go a different direction and say Ricky Steamboat. Everyone knows about him and Flair in 1989 but even before that in the early 80's with Crockett, he teamed with Jake Roberts and had some great matches with Flair. In WCW in the early 90's he had a fantastic match with Rick Rude. I believe they had the first 30 minute Iron Man Match ever. He may not have had the number of titles but all the skill.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

Gorgeous George.

I will never forget when my own grandmother walked in while some friends and I were watching WWE and that Hall Of Fame Inductee's video started playing ....she knew automatically who he was before they even gave out his name...

I was completely and utterly shocked. This woman wouldn't have a CLUE who Stone Cold Steve Austin was, or Bret Hart, Randy Savage or Shawn Michaels were.

But she knew who "The Toast Of The Coast" was.

Gorgeous George gave a LOT of inspiration to the flamboyant styles of many wrestlers today, but not only wrestlers mind you. Muhammad Ali and James Brown have both stated GG was the one that gave them an idea for their gimmick.

We can all sit here and babble on the list of "Who's The Greatest Old School Wrestler", but it's a shutout if your 80 year old grandmother can name one on sight (and remember their achievements mind you).

 

[WorldHeavyweightChampion]

My all-time FAVORITE?

STING:
13-time World Heavyweight Champion (NWA, WCW, WCWI, WWA, TNA)
2-time United States Heavyweight Champion (WCW)
1-time World Television Champion (NWA)
4-time World Tag-Team Champion (WCW, TNA)
1-time UWF Tag-Team Champion
4-time PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year, WCW Battle Bowl winner, NWA Crockett Cup winner, NWA Starrcade Iron Man winner, WCW King of Cable winner, European Cup winner, WCW/IWGP World Cup winner, and many more

next...
LOU THESZ:
15-time World Heavyweight Champion (Original version, NWA [Alliance], NWA [Association], AWA [Boston & Ohio], WWA, UWA)
1-time NWA International Heavyweight Champion
Countless other Junior Heavyweight and Tag-Team Titles
Wrestled 936 consecutive matches without losing
NWA World Heavyweight Champion a total of 10 years, 3 months, and 9 days
Held the World Heavyweight Championship for almost 8 years in one single reign
One of the last real “shooters” in the sport
LAST man to be Universally recognized Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World

also…
RIC FLAIR
25-time World Heavyweight Champion (NWA, WCW, WCWI, WWF)
5-time United States Heavyweight Champion (NWA, WCW)
6-time World Tag-Team Champion (NWA, WWE)
1-time World Television Champion (NWA)
1-time Missouri Heavyweight Champion (NWA)
4-time Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion (NWA)
3-time Mid-Atlantic Tag-Team Champion (NWA)
1-time Mid-Atlantic Television Champion (NWA)
1-time Intercontinental Champion (WWE)

and last….
GEORGE HACKENSCHMIDT
1st ever Universally Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion
1-time French Heavyweight Champion
1-time European Greco-Roman Heavyweight Champion
Undefeated in first 5,000+ matches of his career
Set many ‘World’s Strongest Man’ records in his day
Invented the bear hug

 

[JordanRHughes]

Ricky Steamboat had all the moves. I remember the walk on the ropes and then the elbow smash. I wonder what ever happened to him?

 

[JordanRHughes]

Rowdy Roddy Piper was a pretty good show. I remember having drinks with him and his family in Burns Lake. He is quite the character. I wonder what happened to him as well? I've also seen him in the cancun hotels.

He's actually a really cool guy if there's no camera around.

 

[nate dogg]

i am part of the younger generation and my favorite wrestler is the rock he had great mic skills and had ok mic skills but in my opinion the greatest oldschool wrestler of alltime is the nature boy ric flair no other wrestler has his accomplishments he is a 16 time world champion a 6 time winner of the pwi wrestler of the year and he was great as a heel or a face he just great not to mention the leader of 1 of the biggest factions

 

[The Great Ace]

Bruno Sammartino. Longest reigning World champion of all time, anyone? This guy was the most over person on the PLANET. Everyone knows Bruno. He was the best, hands down. There's not even a reason to provide evidence to support it. Saying his name is evidence enough.

 

[kidmills]

abdula the butcher is the best of "old school,i can remember seeing him in person i had nightmares for days after that

 

[WWFNWA78]

Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat, Bob Backlund, Harley Race, and Dusty Rhodes.

To me the wrestlers i mentioned above were terrific bar none in old school wrestlers. Heel or Face i admired these wrestlers for what they brought to the table.

 

[WWFNWA78]

Bruno Sammartino. Longest reigning World champion of all time, anyone? This guy was the most over person on the PLANET. Everyone knows Bruno. He was the best, hands down. There's not even a reason to provide evidence to support it. Saying his name is evidence enough.

Forgot to mention him..Bruno was the man in the east...if you were in New York he was your man... Bruno was a god everytime he was at the MSG. Before Hulk Hogan made the WWF a household name, there was Bruno, and it's a shame that the WWE and Bruno can't stand one another...Bruno definetly deserves to be in the WWE Hall Of Fame...period!

 

[The overtaker]

Some really good arguements here, and I have to agrre with most, so my thought is break it down to catagories (before people moan, I am an 80's kid, so I take the era 85 - 2000) I have heard and read all about Bruno, Andre, Arn etc, but not seen them, so am not including them. I do respect their legacies though, so anyone who argues for them, fair play. Here we go -
Best mic work - The Rock. Hands down the greatest to ever give a promo in wrestling. Some wrestlers are gifted on the mic (piper, savage, flair, jericho etc) but The Rock was something else. He could give a promo on quantum physics and be entertaining!
Best crossover appeal - Hogan. As mentioned several times, you ask anyone in any variation of a civilised culture who is Hulk Hogan, they will say a wrestler. Ask anyone to name 1 wrestler, they name Hulk. Whilst my opinion of hulk is low (never a fan) I do respect that he is THE most well known wrestler ever. He was in the right place, right time, with the right mindset to take the bull by the horns and appeal to almost everyone.
Best big man - Undertaker. Agile, powerful, intimidating. Many have tried to imitate him, a few get somewhere in the vicinity, but no one really gets close. 20 years of destruction (I know its his gimmick) but his gimmick could so easily have failed circa 96 when cartoon gimmicks started being rejected by fans. He took it to a new level then, kept evolving, and now is quite possibly one of the most respected and loved wrestlers in history. As someone in another thread said - "The undertaker could chokeslam a baby and get a face reaction". That shows how highly he is held in regard.
Finally, best technician - I've just got to go with Bret Hart. Accomplished amateur wrestler, solid mic work (not great, but could give a steady promo), good look, but in the ring, there was no one around at the time that could hold a torch to him. In Vince McMahon's own words (post screwjob, pre make up) "Bret was in a class all by himself when it came to telling a story in the ring". He could put on a match with ANYONE and make it amazing. Austin, Mr Perfect (although curt would be (or certainly should be) in anyones top 5 technicians as well) Taker, Piper, Flair, Yokozuna, Not to mention the incredible match with The British Bulldog at SS92, and of course HBK. I think the greatest match to never happen would be Bret (circa 1992) v Kurt Angle (circa 2000). Both were just raising their game to the highest level, going higher than anyone else were capable of in terms of skill, timing, and in ring mechanics.
Those are my opinions, for me, Bret comes out as the greatest all rounder.
Honorable mentions for Andre, Arn, Ric, Perfect, Ted Dibiase snr, Piper, Sting and HBK (although I think HBK's game was raised massively thanks to Bret making him raise it to try to be on a similar level to the Hitman) Too many legends to pick a single one, but, gun to my head I say the Hitman.

 

[Ismackayouface]

I'm gonna say The Great Muta/Mutoh. The guy was ahead of his time. He went straight to the top of the NWA because he was all-around phenomenal. His mist really helped his career. It was one of the best spots in wrestling, especially if you've seen it live. In ring wise, the guy was far ahead of his time. You rarely seen that level of performance from anyone in that time.

Later he went back to New Japan and reinvented himself, wrestling as Muta and Mutoh, where he would slip back and fourth between gimmicks. It's really interesting if you were able to follow how he pulled this off.

When he could not do the moonsault press(way better than a regular moonsault), he debuted the shining wizard. He also reinvented his characters once again. Muta now looked awesomely devilish. He now does his thing in All Japan.

The dude is an international superstar. The amount of moves he brought to the States was ridiculous. Some wrestlers today are influenced by him and don't even know it, that's how deep his moveset had been integrated into American Wrestling. I'd say he's easily one of the most influential wrestlers ever. Too bad American audiences haven't seen the mega-awesome blue mist. It's cheesy, but still a great idea. Watch as he puts out a legit fire with the mist in a WCW electric cage match, it's near the end of the video.

Well, can't seem to post a video but it would be worth your while to look up the many Muta mist tributes on youtube.

 

[mulkeymania]

my money is on sting for just one reason-how many wrestlers ever got so over with the crowd by not wrestling or talking for around a year like he did? that was one of my most amazing memories ever watching the sport

 

[Rhonda Rousey's Sports Bra]

The man I call the greatest Old School wrestler is "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. He helped revolutionize the business in what seems to be everyone's favorite era, the Attitude Era. Austin has sold out pretty much every arena he wrestled in, was at the top of the business in basically his own era, and has sold more shit than just about anyone. Austin was also involved in some of the biggest fueds ever, like with Mr. McMahon, Rock, and others. He headlined a few WrestleManias in his day too. I'm sure there are plenty of other reasons too, but that's all that really needs to be said.

 

[Hitman-1998-Hargreaves]

Okay .. Right ..
I Have 3 ..

1: Hulk Hogan : Was The Cena Of Wrestling Back Then . A Legend In My Eyes . The Best.

2:Bret Hart : He Got Screwed .. But He Had This Felling Of Power . EveryHart Is The Same.

3:Trish Stauts . StautsFaction . She Was One Of Womens Wreslties .




I Like Austin As Well As The Rock .



Best Thread On The Fourm .. Keep It Up .


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