The Greatest Old School Wrestler of All Time

[aussietool]

What a great thread. Ok, I have a few. Firstly one of the most brutal heels of the 80's.. Paul "Mr wonderful" orndorff.. What a great physical specimen, good in ring skills, worked well in the roddy piper/ cowboy bob orton stable and pile drove hogan.. enough said.

Cowboy bob orton- for his sheer brilliance in the ring. Roddy piper once said to an interviewer, that he wished bob would make a mistake in the ring- because he makes everything he does in the ring "look so dam easy". Also the chemistry he had with piper- some of those segments they shared had me in fits of laughter (think shaving the midget wrestler's hair off).

Finally (i would love to say king kong bundy..) The 8th wonder of the world...
Andre the giant. Not for his in ring ability and his freakish size, but for the simple fact he gave so much of himself for the fans. He was in agony at wm3- his back was a mess and his overall health was in steady decline. Vince told andre there would be 93,000 attending wm3, andre not wanting to disappoint- went ahead with the match- which of course propelled hogan to immortality.

R.I.P ANDRE.. you are still sorely missed.

 

[theBec2101]

Im going with Roddy Roddy Piper. He had it all he could wrestle and he might be the best ever on the mic. If you wanted someone to promote your match or make a very good fued he the one that can do it. His ring work was great to the match with Bret Hart, one of the best. I mean he got people hooked on what he was goona say or do. the Mr T fued, bad news brown when her painted half his body, superfly and the coconut. They are all classics.

 

[TheExceLLenceOfExecution]

Well this is a tough one so I will break my answer into categories

Best Technical Wrestler
-Bret Hart -
He had some of the best matches of all time. He never seriously injured anyone in the ring, and he had a great amateur wrestling background to build off of. Watch ANY of his matches with Mr. Perfect if you actually need to be convinced (Mr. Perfect is also up there as one of the best technical wrestlers of all time IMO)

Best Heel
-The Million Dollar Man-
'Money is the root of all evil" What a great character idea they came up with for Ted DiBiase! He had his hand in almost every feud during the golden "WWF" days. He would bribe so many people to fulfill his evil desires! He would make fans beg for money and he was just all around the best heel of all time IMO. Also I have to mention I was a big fan of the way he would sell the moves applied to him, he would take absolutely hilarious flops!

Best Face
-Hulk Hogan-
He made wrestling what it is today, plain and simple. In the late 1980's he was EVERY kids hero. Bringing in so many fans to the sport!

Best Overall Old School Wrestler
-Hulk Hogan-
There is a LOT of negative things to be said about Hulk, from his actual in-ring performances, to backstage stuff. But he was the biggest superstar OF ALL TIME! He made wrestling mainstream, and he made it cool. He put a lot of heart into his character. If it wasn't for him who knows where wrestling would be right now!

Honorable Mentions
Macho Man
Jake the Snake Roberts
The Undertaker
The Ultimate Warrior (I know I know, but he just had such a presence)
Mr. Perfect

 

[TheReelHeel]

For me it has to be The Heart Break Kid, Shawn Michaels. He had great in-ring skills and has put on alot of awesome matches throughout his legendary career. He was great as a babyface as well as a heel. I always thought he one hell of an entertainer and I miss him heaps! I am looking forward to seeing him at WrestleMania where he is going to be the ref for HHH vs 'Taker.

Someone else who I think is one of the best professional wrestlers of all time is, The Deadman himself, The Undertaker. I hope that the streak will NEVER end.

 

[scomvp316]

The greatest of all-time is clearly Ric Flair. Name one other multi world champion that has put more guys over than Flair. There would be no Horsemen without Flair. Flair would not be as big as he is today if his whole career was besed in the WWE. He would of been treated similar to Randy Savage. Of all the great matches he had a very small percentahe happened in the WWE. He put Sting over,resurrected Dusty's career,help make Steamboat a great face champion. Some of the best work he ever had was with Steamboat and Windham. With a fraction of what VKM had Flair put JCP head to head with the WWF!

 

[snitskystilllovesfeet]

These 5 in any order:

Harley Race, Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Chris Jericho, and Dean Malenko

2 of the 5 can cut a great promo, all of them knew how to sell the match in the ring.

 

[ropeninja89]

the greatest old school wrestler of alltime would have to be the undertaker becasue he has such a persona that makes everyone cringe with fear everytime the chimes hit

 

[Peoples_Champ]

I want to say Steamboat but he wasn't as over as Randy Macho Man Savage. No matter what feud he was in, it was memorable simply because of Savage's insane promos and awesome in-ring talent. He was a one-man spectacle and never truly got the respect that he deserved. Sure there were others who were more successful (Hogan, Flair), but to me, Savage was the greatest old school wrestler.

 

[GuiltyBystander]

So many possible choices for this, but for my own favorite old-school wrestler I'm going back to my days as a kid watching Don Owen's Big Time Wrestling promotion out of Portland in the mid-1970's. This was a great indie circuit with guys like Dutch Savage (master of the Coal Miner's Glove Match), Ripper Collins, Rowdy Roddy Piper and others, but the guy who always captivated me was Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. Tremendous body, a guy who could go aerial and had a certain charisma. When a young Jesse Ventura came to the Northwest from Kansas City (I think), he and Snuka had some classic matches.

 

[Latinoeddy]

I'm not too knowledgable in pre-1980s, so while I should mention guys like Bruno, Backlund, Thesz, and so on, I'll only mention the ones I know more about.

Ric Flair is my all-time favorite old school favorite wrestler. This guy was the full package. He could talk, he could wrestle, he had charisma, and he had one of the best characters and formed the best stable of all-time. This guy is what most wrestlers should strive to be like because he is without a doubt one of the all-time best.

Randy Savage is one of my favorite old school wrestlers because he was a very colorful and charismatic character that you either loved or hated him because he was so good at what he did. He's cut some great promos and has had plenty of classic matches throughout his career.

Ricky Steamboat is one of my favorites because this guy was probably the best wrestler in the 1980s, besides maybe Flair, and was a tremondous babyface for his whole career. Steamboat's match with Savage at Mania 3, and his triology with Flair in 1989 are some of the best matches EVER.

Terry Funk is one of my favorites simply because he is awesome and he had a very believable character. His crazy man gimmick is just so awesome. His empty arena match with Jerry Lawler was great, his stuff in Japan is legendary, and his I Quit match with Flair in 1989 is one of my personal favorite matches.

As far as whose the best, then I have to say Hulk Hogan hands down. This guy is one of, if not, the most well known wrestler ever. He was the top guy when wrestling was at it's peak in the 80s, and he even found great success in the 1990s forming the NWO among other things. He's not one of my favorites, but he is a legend and the best wrestler ever as far as being a top draw, popularity, etc.

 

[OldSkoolFan]

Bruno Sammartino was great and I think he is the best of all time, but my vote goes to Hulk Hogan and Sting.
Hogan, he made wrestling a household name. He was and still is the man who puts butts in seats in whatever federation he's in. His promos while not great, were entertaining and he always brought the crowd into his matches.

Sting on the other hand, electrified the crowds with his promos. His entrances in WCW excited the fans. His charsima was top notch which brought him much success with winning titles. I'll never forget sitting in The Baltimore Arena July 7, 1990 watching him win his first world title.

 

[Owen 3:16 says I just stole your Slammy!!]

This is not a surprise for most of you, my favorite wrestler is "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Macho could do it all, He was a great wrestler, He could talk on the mic, He was very charismatic. Macho brought the best out of everbody, he made guys look great. He had great feuds with Hogan, Warrior, Flair, and Jake Roberts. He had an awesome feud with DDP in WCW in 1997 and he was in his mid 40's at the time.

Bret Hart is also one of my favorites. Bret is probably one of the best wrestlers of all time and he deserves it. Bret can have a great match with just anybody in the ring. He can have a great match with a brawler like Steve Austin, with a big man like 'Taker or Yoko or Vader or Sid, with technicians like Perfect or Rude.

Macho and Bret are my two wrestling favorites of all time!