The Perfect Wrestler

[spinningtorturerack]

As the IWC it is our (self-elected) job to criticise wrestling and say how it can be better and who deserves to be at top.

We also talk a lot about what skills a wrestler can improve to make it to the top or keep us entertained? But what are we comparing these wrestlers to?

My question to you all is what actually makes the perfect wrestler? What attributes should all wrestlers be aiming for?

I am talking about sports entertainment as opposed to straight wrestling so mic skills and so on should be included aswell.

Also which wrestler do you think comes close to this perfect mold?

I think that Ric flair is the closest to the mark as he has (or at least had in his prime) great mic skills, technical ability, appeal both as face and heel, a character about him. However he is not very muscular compared to a lot of wrestlers and doesn't necessarily carry the high flying and power of a lot of people.

What do you think?

 

[DigitalNight]

Curt Henning hands down.

First of all, his character was amazing. Mr. Perfect. How more ego-driven does a man have to be to name himself that?

Secondly, even though his championship reigns were a touch lackluster between NWA and WWE, he still was a fighting champion.

Tertiary, his microphone skills and video-promotion pieces were amazing. I personally loved his "Perfect at Sports" set of videos he recorded.

Finally, he was skilled in many forms of wrestling. Sure he didn't high fly as much as Superfly, or brawl as much as Piper. He was well-rounded and had a well-rounded finisher: The Perfectplex.

Now, as a man, he wasn't the most Perfect guy with his drug habits. But if we're talking wrestler/persona, my vote is Mr. Perfect.

 

[vintage-roc-damage]

Bret Hart is by far the perfect wrestler.

He is without a doubt one of the best technical wrestlers to ever lace up boots. When it came down to brawls,street fights and any other gimmick match you can think of he could always hang or even lead average wrestlers through them.

Whether he was a heel or baby face he could always have engaging fueds with anyone and could have some of the top promos with the likes of micheals,perfect,piper and austin.

 

[Alex]

The closest in my opinion is Shawn Michaels

The guy can gets a good reaction from the crowd, is a good promo cutter and can do many different forms of wrestling (brawling, technical, highflying, submission etc) and entertains the fans, this is an important part, entertaining and Shawn Michaels has done that consistently.

 

[Davi323]

In terms of who actually comes the closest? Shawn Michaels. He isn't the strongest wrestler, he isn't the fastest wrestler, he isn't the very best on the mic, but, when you take everything into consideration, I think he is the closest to being the best blend of everything it takes to be a successful pro wrestler. This is completely a judgment call, and there is no real "right" answer. But, for me, I don't think anyone can question HBK's stamina, he has proven that time and time again.

Nor do I think his actual wrestling ability can be questioned. HBK can fly high, when called for, he can brawl, he can fight with the power guys when need be. Overall, he is probably most reliable all-around skilled medium sized guy in the business. Shawn Michaels can flat out wrestle people. He knows a lot of moves, reversals, submissions, and while he doesn't display all of them all of the time, you never know exactly what he is going to do, because he is so versatile.

He also has that almost unique ability to automatically make a match better, just because he is in it. He has a habit of making his opponents have some of the best matches in their entire career against him.

Mic skills? fuggedaboudit. Shawn is one of the all-time best. Is he Ric Flair? No, but who the hell is?

So, there you have it. I think Shawn Michaels is the best blend of stamina, actual wrestling ability, he makes his opponents better, and his mic skills are right up there.

 

[JenksIX]

I'd have to say The Pope D'Angelo Dinero is very close to being a perfect wrestler.
He is right now the top baby face in TNA and has only been there a very short time (like 3 months) He also could become the top heel of the company if he wanted too. His matches are great, he has a look and a voice that just draws you to him, he's extremely athletic, also I have not seen a feud like he has with AJ/Flair in a very long time. D'Angelo just upstages everyone else when he is around them and can do ANYTHING in the ring. Nobody cuts a promo like this guy!
I'd have to say when it is all said and done, The Pope will have people forgetting about the likes of Stone Cold Steve Austin or Shawn Michaels. He's just so much better. We are witnessing the evolution of wrestling with the Pope.

Pope is most certainly Pimping!

 

[Dagger Dias]

What makes the perfect wrestler? A lot of things. Above all else he would need to be great at promos as both a face and a heel so that the fans have a reason to care about his character. His in-ring ability would need to be decent, and above average if possible. He'd need a cool gimmick that gets over with the fans. An awesome entrance is also a must, a great song to fit with his character and cool effects with the lights or pyro help out a lot, and maybe a pose here and there during the entrance. The last thing I'd look for is a long and dominant world title reign, as in a year or longer. If someone was "the perfect wrestler" they would be the best at every single one of these things though, and unfortunately no human being is perfect.

I think that the wrestler who comes the closest to being "the perfect wrestler" is Shawn Michaels. He's always been great at promos regardless of face/heel status, great in the ring, has a good entrance, multi time world champion with one of his reigns lasting 231 days, and has had a legendary career. He's been a big name among fans for nearly 2 decades. However.... like I said, no one is perfect. Shawn fits the criteria closer than most wrestlers, but he's not the best at any of the above. Being close to the top in all of the above is certainly saying a lot.... but The Rock was better at promos, Hart was better in the ring, Trips has a better entrance, and guys like Cena or Hogan had longer title reigns.

With that being said though, we will NEVER see "the perfect wrestler" since no human could possibly be the very best at that entire list all at once. Shawn Michaels comes closer to it than any other wrestler though.

 

[Chrome]

Perfect wrestler is still wrestling...

Kurt Angle..

Who else won gold medals and has mic skills, 5 star matches each time, and won multiple world titles in his career? and for multiple federations?

The man is also a freak of nature he wrestles hurt all the time, and even won the gold medals hurt.

HBK? = he takes every summer off.. he has been known too, Angle plays through pain consistantly.. he has taken no breaks of any substantial amount of time in his prime. HBK is good.. but Angle is better.

Bret Hart?= His mic skills were not on par with Angle or HBK (even tho I LOVED him more than HBK growing up) Angle is better on the mic and has different matches each time with people.. and has more moves than Bret. (Bret himself admited that Kurt is probably the best wrestler around today.)

Flair? = He had the same match almost each time.. he was a great promo guy though.. but in comparision with Angle? there about the same but Angle's matches are almost all 5 star quality.. and he has gold medals on top of that..

/end of discussion


Then again... there can be a strong arguement for the UnderTaker...

Who else can say they beat Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Macho Man, Ric Flair, Jake the Snake Roberts, Stone Cold, Kane, The Rock, HBK, Nash, Hall, Sid, Bret Hart, Triple H, Mr. Perfect, Rick Rude, Yokozuna, Kurt Angle, Bigshow all in there primes?

My vote would still be Kurt Angle but Undertaker would get an honorable mention simply for the info above. He beat all the big stars from the 80's and 90's and now 2000's in there primes. No one else can really say that.. (note* in there primes)

 

[dogman]

2 IMO

Kurt Angle has got it all

Great Matches
Great Mic Work
Tons of Charisma
Over With the crowd

the other

Christian

Great Matches
Great Mic Work
Tons of Charisma
Over With the crowd


Both haven proven themselves with 2 Big Companys

 

[Mustang Sally]

Like everyone else, I feel you have to define what "perfect wrestler" means.

If it's technical expertise, I'd say Kurt Angle or Bret Hart. If it's "bulk" as Vince McMahon seems to like, you'd have to name Big Show or Mark Henry......but who among us would call them perfect wrestlers? (leading to the conclusion that Vince doesn't want perfect wrestlers.)

If you're looking at the ability to excite the crowd and tell a story, you'd have to consider Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair.

To me, the perfect wrestler was Randy Savage. He was strong, fast and durable. He could stimulate a crowd to fever pitch with his dirty tactics. He used high-flying maneuvers along with some tough looking mat wrestling. His character was funny, obnoxious and misogynistic. (If he was a stand-up comedian, he would be Andrew Dice Clay). His interviews were inflammatory whether he conducted them as a face or heel.

His biggest adversary during his prime was Hulk Hogan, who defeated Savage every time. But if they ever fought a shoot match, Hogan would never get his freakin' 24-inch pythons around Savage and Macho Man would wear Hulk down to defeat.

Why?

Because Randy Savage was a perfect wrestler.

 

[L4L]

The perfect wrestler hmmmmmm well there could be a very good arguement for Kurt Angle. He is a true american Olympic Gold Medalist so he should always come to mind. Pope is also a strong canidate as well. But to me right now the perfect wrestler is John Morrison he just has everything needed to be the best in the world. The guy can fly as good as anyone in the biz, he looks great has decent size to him and is good on the mic. What else can be said to me he is it.

 

[spinningtorturerack]

Just in reply to some comments:

Who else can say they beat Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Macho Man, Ric Flair, Jake the Snake Roberts, Stone Cold, Kane, The Rock, HBK, Nash, Hall, Sid, Bret Hart, Triple H, Mr. Perfect, Rick Rude, Yokozuna, Kurt Angle, Bigshow all in there primes?

I don't reckon undertaker should be in here at all, sure he can cut a decent promo and has a great (if slightly stale in my opinion) character, but can be fairly predictable in the ring always coming out with the same moves (which do admittedly look quite good).

However Kurt Angle is surely up there among the top contenders!

leading to the conclusion that Vince doesn't want perfect wrestlers.

This is a great point, think about it, if vince had a load of perfect wrestlers, then it would be boring to watch as they would all be carbon copies of each other (imagine a whole roster of wrestlers like kurt angle or shawn michaels!)

Also Randy savage is someone I never expected to come up, but he is certainly someone to consider more closely, although I don't think compared to some other contenders, he has the titles reigns under his belt, I could be wrong but I thought a couple of his six reigns with world (wcw and wwe) were transitional.